Chapter 9 Magic and Psychic

____When Phantom was compared to the priests in the church, those people could use his magic several times more than Phantom . Although most people could only use one or two elements, the efficiency and quality of their magic usage far surpassed Phantom .

____It was true that it might not be proper for Phantom to compare his childish body to that of an adult, but compared to some of the 15-20 years old Novices who could use magic, these apprentice mages still had many times more mana than Phantom. This led Phantom to guess that he might have less mana than the average mages. This made Phantom realize his own problems and limitations.

____This problem made Phantom very uncomfortable. The Dark Magic World History and the Records of the Legendary Great Magi had records of many powerful great magi of the past, but strangely, this world did not have any book on magic theory that dealt with the cultivation of magic power.

____Most of the time, powerful mages were born from magical practitioners with high magical talent or senses. They were then able to improve themselves by practicing magic until they were proficient. There were almost no books that recorded that children with weak magical talents could successfully develop into legendary mages.

____Phantom knew that the world had never been truly fair, but Phantom didn't expect that this dark magic world would be so cruel. Phantom finally came to a clear conclusion that those with low-level magical talents definitely could not become high-level magicians .

____This was a sad story, but Phantom wasted no time in grieving. Phantom thought back to the night he had caused the library to shake, and how Phantom had awakened magic. The events of that night gave Phantom hope and direction to continue practicing magic.

____First, Phantom believes that scientific imagination will give him access to true magic, and it may make his magic more powerful than it should be.

____Second, if he could control his magic to be awakened all the time, Phantom firmly believed that his magic would definitely be more effective than it was.

____Third, since this world did not have any mana cultivation techniques, he would find a way to create them himself. This should not be too difficult, as Phantom had the original memories from his previous world. He also speculated that the meditation and psychic cultivation techniques he had might be the key to increasing his mana and the power of his magic.

____Fourthly, since Phantom was still too young, he had not yet started exercising and training to make his body back to the strength and power of a superhuman in the past. Phantom wondered if his physical condition might have something to do with the mana that a human's mana had increased accordingly. Considering that adults whose bodies were fully grown usually had more mana than children, it was normal for Phantom to have more mana than children. This meant that if Phantom could develop his own body to be strong enough, it might help him increase his mana even more.

____Phantom had many ideas , but all of them had different urgency. The first was the quantity of mana. Mana was the foundation of a mage. It was the beginning and the end. That's why Phantom began to practice concentration and meditation whenever he had free time. It wasn't difficult for a four years old boy, because free time was the most he had.

____While other orphans were running around, Phantom sat with his eyes closed amidst nature. He imagined that he was absorbing the wind into the core of mana in his body all the time. But whenever Phantom was running around the playground with other children, he would focus on how the wind was embracing and controlling his body, making it sway and move according to his magic , and his body moved according to the electric currents in his nerves. It was true that young children were like strange creatures with inexhaustible energy, but while other children were lying around panting after having fun, Phantom did not feel the slightest bit of fatigue. Instead, he felt a constant stream of energy inside him. The secret of this matter was really strange, but it seemed that Phantom was gradually opening this door more and more.

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____Every day after that, Phantom never stopped seeking opportunities to practice magic even for a second. He delved deeper into the specific techniques of practicing magic and drawing mana into his body. According to the principles of magic, how powerful and effective a person can be in using magic depends on two main parts: the amount of mana in his body and his magic senses. Everything that is part of it that makes one use magic better is often called magic talent. Every person has different levels of talent, but this dark magic world usually divides talent into low, middle, and high levels.

____Phantom considered that he needed to increase his mana and enhance his magical senses. Meditation and concentration seemed to directly increase his magical senses. Every day that Phantom meditated , he could almost see the rapid improvement in his magical senses, visible to the naked eye.

____But his low Mana was a serious problem for his magic practice. So, Phantom devised a new technique based on meditation. Every time he meditated, Phantom imagined that he was absorbing and storing natural energy from outside. Normally, whether he was consciously or unconsciously, humans needed to inhale air all the time. Phantom simply imagined that the breath he inhaled was transformed into concentrated natural energy. After inhaling, Phantom would hold that breath for about 3 seconds, not allowing his body to exhale as quickly as it normally would.

____As the weeks passed, it seemed like these techniques were gradually becoming more and more effective. Phantom felt that the breath he was taking in was especially cool and refreshing. Phantom felt as if he had inhaled the fresh, cool air on Mount Everest. However, what had entered Phantom's mana core in such a large amount was not oxygen, but pure natural energy that had been converted into his own mana. Although it had caused his mana to increase little by little, with every passing second, he could feel the amount of mana circulating in his body increasing more and more.

____As time passed by, everything seemed to be on Phantom 's side . Even Phantom's personal problems, when he had a fight with Dahad 's men , did not escalate as quickly as Phantom had initially prepared for. It was clear that Bishop Vanessa and the priests of St. Maria's Church had been aware of the orphans' problems all along. However, now that Bishop Vanessa had decided to fully support Phantom, they did not want to cause any more serious problems for Phantom .

____The first thing Bishop Vanessa did was to make Phantom not yet five years old enough to attend St. Maria's School, but Bishop Vanessa elevated Phantom from a humble orphan to a full-fledged Novice. This was a privilege that few in the Cathedral of Light received.

____Because within the Cathedral of Light, there are many priest positions, but the first position before becoming a priest of the Cathedral of Light, that person must prove themselves by being a Postulant for about 1-2 years to prepare before becoming a Novice , which this position is actually a requester or applicant.

____As the postulants were no different from the lowest servants of the priests, they had to learn the basic practices of the priests in the Cathedral of Light for a period of time. However, since Phantom had been living in St. Maria's Church for almost five years, Bishop Vanessa believed that the boy should already be familiar with these details, so she allowed Phantom to be promoted to Novice without any further ado, skipping the process of becoming a postulant.