Chapter 37: Of Magic and Mana.

Chapter 37: Of Magic and Mana.

To me, gather my embers, to me

From shadows to embers

From embers to flame

From flame to inferno

Cast away the darkness, burn brightly, oh, dear flames

Arise inferno hellfire, engulf the world in a sea of flames

For that is my Decree!

Imperial Hellfire!

Nothing. Not even a spark appeared when I finished my incantation. The magic circle that always appeared when I would cast a spell just vanished into thin air. The mana I invested into it? Wasted.

It was a bit of a hit to my pride as a mage, but I just have to bear with it. This is expected for somebody without formal magic education. I have to look at it as an adult and take it as a stepping stone towards my magical greatness!

[Taaaaassiaaannaaaaa. It didnt work, again!] however, that didnt stop me from whining, calling for my newest companion, Tasianna, for help.

[Princess Hestia, you constructed the magic circle wrong again,] from the cover of a giant boulder, Tasianna came flying to me, evaluating my execution. [I cant understand the words you spoke, but there seems to be no problem with Incantation. Your Activation requires more practice though.]

[I guess?] resting one hand on my hip, my whole body slouched in exasperation. [Doing all of this without the help of the System is really hard.]

Nodding to my complaints, Tasianna further added, [It was also hard for me when I started, but this is how you start learning magic.]

What I was currently doing is magic practice with Tasianna as my instructor.

During breakfast, Tasianna gave a short lecture on magic theory for Saori, who needed it urgently. Tasianna, being a resident of this world, had more basic knowledge of how magic should be used, making her the perfect magic teacher for Saori.

Me? I too listened to her lecture. I am inherently a better mage compared to Tasianna if you only looked at the stuff on my status board.

However, Tasianna has 87 years worth of experience living in this world. Fairies belong to the Faefolk, a mana composed race, so her magical knowledge should be superior to mine.

Ive only used magic for less than a year, and most of it was gained through the system with my cheat-like titles and skill points. Im essentially a newb that got lucky with her starting gifts. My ignorance of what magic really is, is baffling considering that I've been using it for six months now. My pride as a mage meant nothing if I'm not willing to improve. So, that's why Tasianna is helping me out.

Anyways, let me summarize the content of the lecture.

When it comes to magic, there are four parts to the whole process: Invocation, Incantation, Activation, and Release.

Through my own trials and errors, I kinda had a basic idea of how magic worked but its just a crude understanding. I didnt know the details.

My lack of experimentation is really coming back to bite me. Its embarrassing to think that I was acting like hot shit back then, despite how lazy I was.

First things first, Invocation. This is what I referred to as the imagination phase. The formal explanation would be choose your spell and control how the spell should be used. The more detailed the image, the better.

The second stage is called Incantation. As you might have guessed, this is the one stage that I never, ever had any experience in. [Casting Nullification] from [Primal Magics], now [Draconic Magics], allowed me to skip this whole part. Its a given that I couldnt explain it to Saori when she needed me to.

Simply put, in this phase, the System transmits a text into your head, which you must recite. The problem is that you require quite a bit of focus to fully chant the whole text. Its even more difficult if you have to do this while youre engaging an enemy, multitasking dodging, attacking, and casting a spell.

The issue can be mitigated with the skill [Concentration], or you can just avoid it completely with my favorite multitasking skill, [Parallel Thoughts].

The third stage is Activation, the phase where you start using your mana to form the spell. This is where I pour my mana to create those magical circles that the System uses to change, order and materialize whatever I wanted during the Invocation step.

Tasianna told me that the amount of mana needed to fully form the spell depends entirely on how detailed I was during the imagination phase. How large should it be? What should I heal? Be as specific as possible, essentially. That is how you can cast super cost-effective spells while maintaining the strength of it.

Of course, that only determined the base amount of mana you have to use to cast it. Like I have done until now, you may also add more mana into to strengthen the spell.

If you want to only heal a bone, then your [Minor Heal] will only heal that bone, ignoring any other parts like the nerves and flesh.

Magic isnt some kinda party trick in this world. It is a divine skill that is governed by gods System. If you have the skill and knowledge, the System is smart enough to accommodate you here.

Admittedly, I never went into detail about how my spells should behave. I always said, heal me or burn that. This meant that the System always had to accommodate my vagueness, resulting in using unnecessary amounts of mana. And the more mana you used; the more arcane corruption will be accumulated.

A cackle escaped my mouth as I waved her concerns away, [Dont worry about it. So, whats the third point?]

[Ah, yes! The last point would be how it would work with [Humanize],] I tilted my head at this point, not knowing whats she trying to point out. [I know that the royal family Iggdrasyl, the royalty of us fairies, are capable of humanizing into elves using the skill [Elven Transformation], the elven version of [Humanize].]

I looked through my skill shop, but the skill couldnt be found. Maybe I locked myself out by buying [Humanize]?

Tasianna continued, [You lose a certain amount of your stats whenever you humanize, dont you, Princess Hestia?] I nodded to this question. [When smaller creatures, like Faefolk, use [Humanize], we grow in size and our stats adapt to our new body. The only exception would be for mana. The amount will stay the same, but it spreads around our transformed body.]

In other words, fairies that use [Humanize] will, instead of losing a percentage amount, gain stats. Fairies, being made of mana, will also keep this trait in their humanized form; the only difference is that the condensed mana will be spread around the body.

[Wait, doesnt that mean that you dont have to pay mana to sustain your humanized form?!] Tasianna gave an affirming nod, confirming my suspicion. A mana dragon would follow this exact same rule, which means that I could keep all my mana in human form.

[However,] like a wrecking ball, Tasianna interrupted my daydreaming. [I dont know what would happen if somebody with huge amounts of mana would turn into a smaller being. It might be dangerous.]

Wait, what? Thats the reason? Thats stupid!

[Wait, Tasianna, that sounds like youre just trying to find a reason so I wouldnt turn into a mana dragon. Thats not a real reason!] my assertion forced Tasianna to make a wry smile, while she kept flying in front of me.

[I have no knowledge about it, so it might be dangerous, Princess Hestia.]

["Mana dragons should exist in this world,"] I argue. [I think it would be weird if they had these problems in the first place. There has to be a way.]

[Maybe, but I havent seen a mana dragon in my life before. You will walk into the unknown if you choose to switch to a mana composed body. I just wished to inform you of this, not persuade you.]

[Well, I guess.] I gave a sigh in resignation while massaging my temple. [I guess there is time until my evolution. Thanks for your insight, Tasianna. Itll help me make a decision in the future.]

[I am in your service, Princess Hestia,] She bowed, hiding a smile that formed after I thanked her.

[Well, I guess this is enough for today. We need to start being productive.]

Turning my whole body around, my eyes caught the sight of a giant rock cube that was constantly moving up and down.

Looking under its shadow, a giant monster was lying there. That was Saori and she is currently doing a reverse push up using the rock as her training partner. She wanted to push herself with her new body and asked me if I could create something heavy, which was simple.

Shes been doing it for a while now, so she must be enjoying it. Just in case, Ive set up a trap using [Trap Creation] that will automatically activate when the rock falls to a certain distance, to stop its fall.

Using [Telepathy], I shouted to her, [Hey, Saori! Im finished. How much longer do you still need to train?]

No answer came from my wolf friend. It was likely that she didnt have any concentration to spare for any pleasantries.

[Uhm, this is a surreal sight. I hope Madam Saori will be alright,] Tasianna said worriedly.

[Shell be fine ~]

I hope shes enjoying it.

Wruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!

I hope she doesnt spend the whole day on it

Hestia's skill update

Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Draconic Barrier Lv. 4] [Poison Creation Lv. 4] [Noble Aura Lv. 4] [Mental Stability Lv. 4] [Mental Warfare Lv. 4] [Probability Correction Lv. 4] [Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 4] [Draconic Fangs Lv. 4] [Piercing Enhancement Lv. 4] [Leadership Lv. 4] [Enhanced Vitality Enforcement Lv. 4] [Enhanced Wisdom Enforcement Lv. 4] gained. 9750 SP remaining

Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Prediction Lv. 8] [Presence Killer Lv. 8] [Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 8] [Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 8] gained. 8950 SP remaining

Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Parallel Thoughts Lv. 7] evolved into [Parallel Thoughts Lv. 8] gained. 8650 SP remaining

Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Enhanced Mana Growth Lv. 10] [Enhanced Mana Capacity Lv. 10] [Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 10] [Enhanced Intelligence Enforcement Lv. 10] [Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 10] [Enhanced Agility Enforcement Lv. 10] gained. 3550 SP remaining

Skill requirement fulfilled. [Enhanced Mana Growth Lv. 10], [Enhanced Mana Capacity Lv. 10] merged into [Arcane Conduit Lv. 1]

Skill requirement fulfilled. [Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 10], [Enhanced Intelligence Enforcement Lv. 10] merged into [Sorcerers Power Lv. 1]

Skill requirement fulfilled. [Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 10], [Enhanced Agility Enforcement Lv. 10] merged into [Speed of Sound Lv. 1]

You have bought [Mana Leak Resistance Lv. 1]. Your current SP is 3300

You have bought [Dark Resistance Lv. 1]. Your current SP is 300

Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Humanize Lv. 7] evolved into [Humanize Lv. 8] gained. 0 SP remaining