Chapter 19 - 19.Magic

After the group finish with their meal in the cafeteria, they are lead straight into Ms. Layla's lesson in the big classroom on the third floor. When we arrive in the classroom, the 1st row is already full so we choose to sit behind them.

Following after them, waves of students fill the class before finally, Ms. Layla shows up with 2 other people in tandem – 1 male and 1 female; the man looks like a scholar from fantasy novel wearing round glasses and book on hand; the girl looks like a magical girl that you will only often see on anime – staff, red hair, big eyes, and excessively fancy clothes. Ms. Layla stands in front of the class while her two entourage sits behind her.

"Mana is the energy inside your body that you control according to your will. Mana has 3 distinct features; they are stable, harmless, and it acts similarly as energy. Mana possesses the same characteristic as energy and it also complies with the first law of thermodynamics; Mana can neither be created nor destroyed; mana can only be transferred or changed from one form to another..."

"Our body can only withhold a certain amount of stable mana at a certain time period. Each person's capability is different and some can withhold more while others not so much. This amount is reflected perfectly by MP in your status tab..."

"When you cast a spell, you're using you're forcefully controlling your mana to do your bidding. Mana that is under your control no longer considered as stable mana; Due to this, you would lose some of your MP when you cast a spell as your body can't withhold unstable mana."

"Now the number one question would be how do we regenerate back our mana, right. Similar to how tree produces oxygen the world take unstable mana and slowly turn it into a stable one before they release it again. Then we could absorb the stable mana to regenerate our MP -making an endless loop of mana circle..."

"Similar to how blood moves around the mana inside our body are also in a constantly moving state. To control your mana you have to feel your mana flow and try to control the flow instead of controlling the mana itself....."

Half of the students in Ms. Layla's class already lost their way when Ms. Layla explaining things about mana to them. The clock shows that it's only been 1 hour; It took her 1 hours to explain basic theory and she didn't even touch more advanced stuff such as element

"Now, for those who want to learn a magic-based skill, listen and watch carefully, I'll teach you how to cast a spell but be very careful. To cast a spell, you are required to change your mana characteristic. I'll use my water magic as an example but this would apply to every single magic-based skill."

"To cast magic-based skill you need to learn about rune; Rune is a catalyst that can change your mana characteristic into a bunch of different aspects. All magic-based skills require at least 1 rune. And this is how my water rune looks like" Ms. Layla explains as she waves her hand, creating visible calligraphy in the air.

The students exclaim in awe as they see the floating scribble in front of Ms.Layla. Albert observes the rune closely but he did not recognize the character that she writes at all. It's not Chinese, and it's definitely not Japanese, as Albert is proficient in Japanese. Whatever it is the character seems really complex though.

"Now to create a rune, you only need to do it with your minds. Just imagine every stroke and dot and voila! There you go. You'll get used to creating rune as you train casting your spell, but for now, you can just watch the demonstration."

"With this basic water rune, I can change my mana characteristic into water." Suddenly the inscriptions that are floating in the air changing from a dull grey colored character into a bright yellow character with a shade of gold. Glowing brightly the rune start to fade as a stable ball of water starts to form on top Ms. Layla's hand

"To successfully cast a spell, you need to perfectly draw the rune in your mind and supply it with enough mana as energy. Every stroke in a rune has its own meaning. When you miss even a dot, there's a possibility that it could ruin your spell."

"When you reach a certain level, you can try to tweak basic rune to fit you better and even create a new rune from scratch. I advise you to not do that until you're really proficient and understand the meaning behind every line, curve, and dots on the rune you plan to modify. Now that the demonstration is over.Any question before we move on to individual practice?" Ms. Layla halts her explanation as she sees that most of the students are daydreaming and cannot keep up with her fast-paced teaching.

Students start raising their hands asking questions, mostly they ask her to repeat or clarify certain part of what she explained before. Some of the stubborn once ask her on how to modify their rune so it can be stronger. Ms. Layla didn't answer that question and just straight up ignoring the said student.

"You." Ms. Layla points at Albert as he raises his hand.

"You said that to cast a magic-based skill, I need to change my mana characteristic using rune as some kind of mediator, right? Does that mean that if I can copy your water rune, I can also cast a water spell like you even though I don't have the mastery to compliment it?"

After Albert ask his question, the room suddenly erupted in loud noise as the students realize that if what he said is possible, then it will be HUGE. Doesn't that mean that everyone can do magic regardless of their class and mastery?

"Good question!!! The answer to that question would be yes and no."

"Yes, in theory, if you can recreate the rune perfectly and supply it with enough amount of mana you can copy someone else skill. But, even after 2 years of testing, no one has ever successfully done that."