CH.35 Magic lesson p.2<h4>[Alice POV]</h4>
<span style="font-weight:400">“Your jacket looks nice. Where did you get it?” My teacher asked me. I don’t know if this is a jacket.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It was given to me by Brian.” I said to him as I pointed at Brian, who had returned to the table and was enjoying tea.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Is he your fiance?” He asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“No…” I can feel my face getting hotter as I answer. He really isn’t. But I guess father did want him to marry me… NO! I need to focus. Brian gave me an attribute and I will act up on it. I WILL cast a spell today.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see. So not yet.” Trystan teased me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Stop that! We need to focus on this lesson.” I bark back at him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You don’t usually have this much enthusiasm for our lessons. Did something good happen yesterday?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes!” I answered excitedly. Well some of it happened today. But I did gain an extra skill yesterday.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well then, let’s begin.” Trystan said. “We’ll start with our mana cirction practice.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes Teacher.” I answered and took his hands.
<span style="font-weight:400">This was his way of teaching mana cirction and mana control. He would send mana to me through my left hand and I would send it back through my right. This would cause a mana loop between us and was a good way to teach someone who has a lower level of mana control than you. The teacher controls the amount of mana sent and the speed at which it is sent, then the student tries to match it. It’s also rtively safe and doesn’t consume much mana, as the mana is just going back and forth. As the student learns more, they begin to mix their own mana into the cycle instead of just using the teacher''s mana. This is why even higher ranking mages would do something simr. They would just adjust the mana on arger scale.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Your mana feels different fromst time. Did you perhaps gain a new skill?” Teacher asked me.
<span style="font-weight:400">I don’t know if I should answer or not. I did gain a skill, but what if he asks what that skill is. Or how I got it.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I did, but…” I said to my teacher.
<span style="font-weight:400">“But you can’t tell me about it.” Teacher guessed my hesitation. “If your father ordered you to stay quiet, I won’t pry into it. Now, put some more mana into the circle.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes Teacher.” I do as instructed and send a stronger pulse of mana. These pulses of stronger mana help train Magic Boost.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Good, let’s keep this up.” Teacher said to me.
<span style="font-weight:400">—
<h4>[Brian POV]</h4>
<span style="font-weight:400">Alice’s lesson seems to be going well. I don’t really understand what they are doing, but luckily Laura could exin it all to me. This sending mana pulses back and forth seems like an interesting and efficient way to practice.
<span style="font-weight:400">(The best way to train magic is simply to cast spells until you are out of mana, and then recover. This gives the fastest results. But to Alice who didn’t have an attribute, that kind of training would be very boring and basically consist of her trying to chant spells that will never seed.) Laura told me.
<span style="font-weight:400">(I see. Laura, can I perform magic?) I asked her.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Master does not have any of the six attributes, so no.) Laura said to me. So I’m like Alice in that regard. (No, you are not. Everyone from this world has at least tiny amounts of each attribute. Alice simply did not have a high enough of an affinity with any of them to cast spells. Master has no affinity at all.)
<span style="font-weight:400">(So not enough means no spells? And you told me I don’t have any at all. Isn’t that bad?)
<span style="font-weight:400">(Having no affinities at all also means you don’t have any elemental weakness. It could also be considered a strength, if you don’t use magic.) Laura told me.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Does that mean that I also gave Alice a weakness?) I asked Laura.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Every attribute is also a weakness. But it is down to the user to counter that weakness. And as Alice said, you gave her the dark attribute which is rare. As such, counters to it are less known.) Laura answered.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Doesn’t light simply counter dark?
<span style="font-weight:400">(Master is thinking of magic too simply. Magic is aplicated system of many skills and spells. Just because one attribute is the opposite of the other, does not mean it is a counter. By Master’s logic dark would also counter light.)
<span style="font-weight:400">(...yeah. You are right. As always.) I said and took a sip of my tea. I guess it’s not always ck and white. And I really should not have assumed that light counters dark. Opposites are not always counters.
<span style="font-weight:400">(The easiest weakness of dark is fire. Fire can brighten things up, making dark magic more difficult. Same as wind can make using fire more difficult.) Laura told me.
<span style="font-weight:400">So it’s not opposites that make magic more difficult, but other attributes.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Could I still train in mana cirction like Alice does?)
<span style="font-weight:400">(It’s not necessary for Master. I can train Master’s mana control skill if Master gives me permission.) Laura offered.
<span style="font-weight:400">(You really can do that? Laura, you are amazing. Please do it.) I told her. Free skills. You can’t beat that. Even if I don’t have any attribute, I can gain one with my cards.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Sorry to tell you about this Master, but you can’t. You don’t have any attributes at all and your cards simply boost what is already there. They can’t make something with nothing as a base.) Laura burst my bubble.
<span style="font-weight:400">Well I guess 0x10=0
<span style="font-weight:400">At least I can still do summoning. And use spells like Sparks. Now I wish I could get something like Hinotama or Ookazi so I can ce it into a sleeve and a toploader. Well, they would still be only once a day.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Master, should I add training magic skill to the daily routine?) Laura asked me.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Daily routine? Do I have one of those?) I asked her.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Current daily routine consists of epting daily pack tokens. Nothing else.) Laura told me. So she does it for me. I thought it was automatic. Nice work Laura. Next thing you know and she’ll be opening the packs for me. And sleeving the best cards.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Yes, you can do that. At least if the magic training won’t bother you too much.) I told Laura.
<span style="font-weight:400">(If I do it at night, it shouldn’t bother Master at all.)
<span style="font-weight:400">(Well, let’s try it tonight. Can you do it for a bit right now, so I get an idea of how it feels?)
<span style="font-weight:400">(Of course, Master.) Laura told me.
<span style="font-weight:400">I could feel something flowing inside me. Like a small clump of colder blood running through my body. But it’s not cold. It’s … well I''m not really sure. I guess it’s a clump of power. Magic power.
<span style="font-weight:400">—
<span style="font-weight:400">After a little while I can feel myself getting a bit tired. I guess running lower on mana would do that.
<span style="font-weight:400">(Laura, I think you should stop the magic training for now. Or do it less intensely. I don’t want to run out of mana in the morning.)
<span style="font-weight:400">(As you wish, Master. But you aren''t actually running low on mana. That is mental exhaustion.)
(... Am I that weak? Mentally?)
(Early on, mana control takes arge amount of concentration. Everyone is like that at first.) Laura reassured me.
(I see...)
<span style="font-weight:400">Looking back at Alice and …Trystan was it, they are getting up from the nket and seem to be moving to a different part of the lesson.
<h4><strong>[Alice POV]</strong></h4>
<span style="font-weight:400">“Now, spell casting practice. Are you ready?” Teacher asked me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes!” I answered with enthusiasm.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Good. Let’s just go through all attributes, like always. Begin with fire.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Fire, appear at my fingertip, Torch.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Nothing happened. I knew nothing would happen. I also know that dark is thest one we will try. I’m not going to skip ahead just to get to the one I have a chance with. I have waited my entire life to cast magic. I can wait a few more minutes. If I knew I could use dark magic, it would be strange and Brian’s secret might be revealed. I’m not going to tell anyone that he is the reason I gained an attribute.