1.4 Learning Magic - part 1

The next day we went to the village library. It was my first time visiting this place but it was quite small and had only a few hundred books. Most of the books here had wooden covers and few of them were quite huge. Since I couldn't read and write Sistina and Marina will help me with it. The language used here is called Fiore language based on the name of this country. Sistina has gone to collect the books that will help me with learning and Marina is showing me around the library. I am not sure why but every time our eyes meet Marina looks down towards the floor. With her cute cat ear and tail, this is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen.

"Hey Nara, Marina, come here. Let's sit on this table. I have brought some books that will help you learn how to read and write."

Sistina brought some books with her and put them on the table. There were four rectangular tables with 4 chairs on each table. We were the only ones in the library since it was the harvesting season and everyone was busy. We sat on the table and Sistina selected a book from the ones she brought.

"Let's start with this one. This is about how different letters and words are spoken and written. Marina can you pronounce the words I point at. Nara, you can try copying the letters and words in these papers."

Sistina who was holding a book in one of her hands gave me a pile of papers and Marina passed me the inkpot with a quill that was on the next table.

"Okay let's start. This one is 'A' and this is 'B'."

After Marina started pronouncing the letters I understood that only the script that is used was different. The grammar is the same and the letter looked somewhat similar so I picked up quickly. If I practice more, I think I will be able to read properly soon. Being able to write is a totally different matter. It's going to take me a while to be able to write properly.

"That's all for today. We will study more tomorrow."

"Yeah. Finally, it's over. Sitting around without moving for a while makes you feel tired."

After Marina and Sistina said that we put the books back on their place and came out of the library.

"Okay, we are going to the temple to help Rose and Nina. See you in the evening."

"I will go to the field behind orphanage and see what Ronald and Arica are doing. See you in the evening."

After saying bye to them I came to the training ground behind the orphanage where Ronald and Arica were training.

"Hey there Nara. Did you come here to play with me?"

I really wanted to answer yes but since this is a story for people of all ages I brushed it off. And replied with another question.

"Are two of you training with Magic?"

"Yes, since we want to join Magic Knight Academy next year, we are training for the entrance test."

Ronald was the one who answered me. I knew Ronald was hard-working but I never thought Arica worked this hard too.

"Hey Ronald, can you teach me how to use magic? I am not even sure if I am even able to use magic."

"Ah.. okay. Do you know the kind of magic you have the aptitude for?"

"I am not sure. How do you find that out?"

"There are holy stones in the city temples which glows into different colors when you pass mana through it. You can find your aptitude based on the color. Since we don't have any such stones in our temple, we use simple spells to see if it produces results."

Ronald answered my question. Since I am not even sure what mana is, I don't think it will work.

"First you need to know what Mana is. If you close your eyes concentrate on your breathing you can feel something that you are breathing in along with the air."

Arica answered the question in my mind so I tried doing as she said. I closed my eyes and started concentrating on my breathing. I could feel something that comes into my body with the air. I could feel it being absorbed in me. I could sense a small white glow coming out of my body even though my eyes were closed. It smelled somewhat like soil but different.

"Yes, I can sense something glowing in me."

"Woah... You learned to sense mana so quickly. It takes at least 6 months of training to be able to sense it."

Well, this part was easy but I am not sure what can I do with it. I opened my eyes and found Arica almost about to kiss me in my cheeks and stepped back in surprise. She made a face of a spoiled child who wants a toy that is displayed in a toy shop when she saw me step back. But she quickly moved on. I know she is just toying with me but this is not good for my virgin heart.

"Okay, now the next part is converting raw mana into magical energy. For that, you need to visualize the magic and chant the words. Since I have an aptitude for fire magic, I just need to say 'Come forth fire' and it appears. "

When Arica said 'come forth fire' a small fireball appeared on her hand. It's was the size of a ping pong ball but for the people like me from another world, this is probably the coolest thing.

I decided to give it a try. I closed my eyes focused my mana into the hand and said 'come forth fire'. As soon as I said that I could feel something warm outside.

"Stop! that's too big,"

"Stop!"

As soon as I heard Arica and Ronald shouting, I opened my eyes to find out a big fireball of around a meter in diameter in front of me. I was scared at first since I thought I would get burned but later I realized that it was not burning me. I could feel the heat it was emitting but it was not burning my skin. I stopped concentrating the mana in my hand and it disappeared.

Ronald and Arica breathed a sigh of relief when it disappeared.

"You need to more careful with it. It may not burn you since it is your fire but it can burn everything else you know."

Ronald started scolding me since things could have gone out of hand if I hadn't stopped in time.

"You have got a lot of power. Cute boys with a lot of potentials are really my type. You can see this is the biggest fireball I can create."

Arica showed me a fireball that was as big as a soccer ball.

"If you practice more, you will be able to do it without chanting like this. You need to be able to visualize it properly to do this."

Arica made a fireball of the size she made first without chanting.

"Now concentrate only a little amount of mana on your hands and try doing it."

As Ronald said, I tried concentrating little mana and doing it. A small fireball which was as big as a cricket ball appeared. I didn't use any chanting and only visualized it but it worked. The feeling is similar to when I created a big fireball but I need to concentrate a lot to maintain its size and prevent it from getting bigger.

"Oh my, you are already able to use magic without chanting. I am not sure how far you can reach like this."

"I think I was just lucky this time."

This is not just lip service. I honestly thought it was just me being lucky and I said the same thing to Arica. I pulled mana back from my hand and the fireball disappeared.

"Since it looks like you have an aptitude for fire magic let's move into another type of magic. You can train more on the types of magic that you have an aptitude for."

"Yeah, so which one is next?"

"I can use wind and holy magic so I think we should try wind magic next. Arica has an aptitude for Fire and Dark magic so she can help you with those."

So, Ronald has Aptitude for Holy and wind Magic while Arica has an aptitude for Fire and Dark Magic. Since only one person among a hundred has an aptitude for 2 kinds of magic, they were quite lucky ones. But I am not surprised about this since they were the children of Knights and magicians who fought in the great war against demons.

Next chapter: Learning Magic - part 2