Chapter 68 : Magic Tutorial
“Now you can command your Grimoire to activate with just a thought. Every spell that you acquire will be stored within it’s pages.” Gigi replied. The tall red-headed woman then took a few steps back and asked Katrin to also show what she was capable of.
Agni watched as Katrin closed her eyes and the pages of the Grimoire began to flip until the spell she wished to use was activated.
“Darkness Tendrils. That’s really good for a beginner.” Gigi said as she watched several long, thick masses of darkness energy burst from the ground and flail about wildly.
After a few moments of deep thought Gigi then added some advice.
“Not to sound overbearing, pushy or condescending –”
*Wow she covered all of her bases before speaking..* Agni thought.
“But there are several basic flaws that you both need to correct in order to be able to use magic effectively. Let’s start with Katrin, since she has less work to do in this regard.” Gigi finished.
Agni couldn’t help but gulp upon listening to Gigi’s words.
*Does that mean I really suck at magic? I mean I know I’m not that good but…*
“Magic is easy to use, but your understanding of the principles of magic are what will set you apart from others. As an example of what I mean, everyone knows what fire is but very few people truly understand the nature of fire. Once you grasp this, because you understand how fire is naturally, your flame magic will also grow accordingly. The difference is like night and day.” Gigi said as she held up her hand and conjured a fireball. She then requested that Agni do the same. Upon comparing the two side to side, there were quite a few differences. The first major difference was that Gigi’s magic was controlled and effortless while Agni struggled to keep the form of her spell. The flames flickered wildly like a candle struggling to stay lit, oftentimes Agni’s fire wildly searched for air. The second difference was the duration of the spell. Agni could only keep her magic active for two minutes while Gigi had no problem conjuring her fireball indefinitely.
“Ok, I’ll bite. How do you do that?” Agni asked as she rested her hands on her knees, the act of using all of her mana was akin to being winded after a long run.
Gigi smiled before giving her answer.
“Magic refinement. It’s a common mistake that many beginners make. It’s simple to conjure the energy, but the moment you do it begins to slip away right? That forces you to continually conjure more energy in order to sustain your magical construct. Ultimately you end up spending so much of your mana that you tire yourself out to create a simple spell effect. Magic refinement is the answer to this problem. Instead of allowing the energy you accumulate to continually dissipate, you capture it and recycle it endlessly. Once you master this technique, you will more than quadruple the amount of mana you have available.”
“Ah!” Katrin exclaimed, as if she’d reached an epiphany.
Certainly it did make sense.
“Let’s assume that this amount of mana is equivalent to one unit.” Gigi continued as she used her free hand to create a small orb of mana. It was about half the size of a marble.
“Something like this only requires the bare minimum amount of my mana. What’s more I can sustain it infinitely. That means I can also use my mana now to do things like this..” The small orb of mana began to grow as it hovered above Gigi’s palm until it reached the size of a beach ball.
“This is almost 100 times larger. I’m basing this on the amount of mana I used. If the small sphere was 1 unit, then this one represents 100 units. At this point, all I need to do is wait for my mana to refill in order to further augment the technique. Why is this important? Because what you know as spells are essentially these steps combined into a magical circle. A magical circle is nothing more than mana script, the commands used to perform these actions. As a magic user, all you do is supply a spell mana and you must have either an affinity for, or understanding of the element you want to use. Fulfill these two requirements and a spell will activate.”
Gigi’s explanation to Agni shifted towards Katrin at this point so that they could both understand how magic works.
“So magic spells are commands that allow magic to be cast more simply. Does that mean you can’t scale the power of magic spells?” Katrin asked.
“Yes and no. Perhaps, power is the wrong way to describe it. The effect of a spell is determined by your understanding of the principles of that spell, your affinity and your own Soul stat.”
*Ah. So that’s what Soul is responsible for.* Agni thought to herself as Gigi continued the explanation.
“To make your spells stronger, you simply need to be more knowledgeable about the magic you use, on an intimate level. You also need to grow stronger as an adventurer. But, you can’t use extra magic to make your spell more powerful. This is because, as you might have guessed, a magic spell already has specific instructions on how to form and activate the magic.”
“Interesting.” Agni whispered.
“Indeed. That’s why I can’t get enough of using magic. Almost anything is possible with it.” Gigi said as she canceled the effects of the fire orb and instead raised her other arm above her head. The sphere of magic grew twice as large within seconds.
“Naturally, magic also follows the law of nature. The more mana you amass in a single area, the harder it becomes to control it. This is currently my limit for raw mana. And when you mix an element into mana it becomes even more difficult to control.” Gigi closed her eyes briefly, as if to concentrate, causing the large mass of mana to turn into a bright white sphere with a blue sheen outlining the lightning magic.
“Some elements are more difficult than others to properly manipulate. For example, lightning is unruly and free running. You can’t control it, rather it must be guided, pulsed or restricted to achieve the effect you want.” The large mass of lightning element quickly began to dissipate as Gigi dissolved the demonstration.
“So, any questions so far?” Gigi asked as she folded her arms and gazed at the two adventurers before her. Each seemed lost in their own thoughts as they made sense of Gigi’s instructions.
*I’ve learned more here in half an hour than I did in two weeks under Bracha’s instruction.* Agni thought to herself. She suddenly began to feel more and more confident that their decision to join a magic oriented chapel was the right one. As a mid ranged Specialist class she had access to all sorts of martial weaponry, while her selection of Elemental Manipulation was more a selection made on a whim. She rarely used her magic during combat save to protect herself or to strike close range blows. The main reason for this was the extremely high mana use associated with her abilities. Since Agni had been using magic at every chance, she couldn’t get rid of the ability even if she wanted to due to her current mastery of Elemental Manipulation.
Lately she’d begun to think that she chose poorly but Gigi had alleviated all of her concerns and even showed her even more potential for the ability.
“No. No questions.” Agni responded upon realizing that she was being spoken to. Katrin simply nodded.
“Well then. How about we put your new knowledge to use? Knowing something is great, but utilizing it makes all the difference.” Gigi said as she tapped her temple several times.
