Chapter 4 Learning About Magic

My days were just that very quiet. While I was not offended by what Trent said that day, my brother would only allow me to play in the backyard right behind the house. I understood why he was doing this, but I still felt a little sad about not being able to see more of the area from outside the house.

There were days, though, that when my mother was done with her chores that she would take me outside to the front yard. So I always took this chance to look around and take in the view. It was very important to me to see the outside world. It was a place without tall buildings or densely packed housing. More like what you would find back on Earth, except to get to the next town would take you a few days to a week or more instead of ten minutes to an hour.

As the days went on, my mother discovered that I knew how to read. I was caught reading one of the books on the basics of magic. After a bit of questioning, I finally gave in and said I understood how to read some of the books. On that day, my mother shouted out happily: “My little dear is so smart and bright!”

In a way, she was not lying. I mean not to toot my own horn, but when you are in a new world with a new language, you have to learn things from the ground up. But maybe because I was someone who remembered their past life from the very moment they were born that I was able to comprehend things much faster than an average kid. But since that day I was caught, I finally began getting proper lessons in magic. Although I have not been allowed to put any of it to practical use.

There was a disease called ‘Mana Sickness.’ It was something that kids under the age of five would get if they began using the mana built up in their bodies. In this world, mana was part of everything. The air we breathed, the plants on the ground, it was everywhere. Even the food I ate would have strands of mana in it.

But because my body was still young, it was dangerous to move the mana within our body. If I did, it could cause my body to react to the mana, and I could end up with mana sickness. Every living being, when first born, needs time to allow their bodies to strengthen. While I was pretty sure my dragonkin body was most likely able to handle it, I did not dare risk it. My mother scared the pants off me when she told me that those who get mana sickness not only have a shorter life spans but are also unable to cast magic.

To be honest, when I learned of this, I began sweating buckets and thanked my smart brain for not being stupid and trying to use magic at such a young age. I can not even count how many times I thought about trying to put into practice the things I learned during the days when my brother was being taught practical magic.

So right now, the lesson I was being taught was very much a tease. “As I said during yesterday’s lesson, magic consists of many different calculations. The faster you can process the calculations, the faster you can cast a spell. While some spells are as easy as adding a few runes together, when you begin adding in runic calculations, things get very complicated. Not only will you need the correct amount of mana to cast such spells, but you will also need to be able to calculate the spells fast enough to even make them viable.

“It is not like you can cast a spell and take your time during the process of it. When casting, you have at a maximum of five seconds to cast a spell. This includes even the highest tier spells such as Grand Fall, which has over a hundred runic calculations.” I watched as my mother waved her finger around and created a small magic circle in front of her. It shimmered with a bluish light as it floated gently in the air. I could see the runic markings within it, but only half the circle was filled up with these runic markings.

“This here is a simple everyday water spell. If completed, it will fill up a bucket of water. But as you can see here, I only completed half the calculations that were needed. (?????) These big runes are the main runes that correspond with the element, which in this case is water, while the smaller runes, (???? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ??), indicate what the you want to do with this spell. For this rune, it would be, fill the bucket in front of me. But as you can see, I do not have a bucket in front of me which would then turn the house into a bucket. Which is why when it comes time for you to actually practice magic, you will only be allowed to use magic outdoors under strict supervision.” My mother smiled as she said this, but there was a deep meaning within her words. It was one of those, if I catch you doing magic indoors, I will spank your butt and make you clean up the mess, meanings.

“As you may have noticed, this is only using runes to tell the magic circle, which element to cast, and what to do with it. The runic calculation comes in on the activation sequence. We will not go over that today. Eric, you already know all of this, so I won’t ask if you understand.” My mother turned her gaze to me and smiled warmly. “Faith, if you have any questions, please let me know.”

It seemed my mother was doing a refresher course on magic today. But it was quite informative, and to see a magic circle actually formed in front of me while being explained helped a lot. While it may seem weird, the first half of the circle had the element name spaced out with the conditions being written in between. When you put the whole formula together with the runic calculations for the activation sequence, you could then cast the spell. But a question came to mind when I looked at this. And since I was one to always ask instead of holding back, I raised my hand. “Mother, if someone already knew the answer to the runic calculation, could they just use the answer of the calculation with the condition to quickly cast the spell under a second?”

I guess my question was not what my mother was expecting. She looked at me with round eyes of shock before her lips curled up to a big smile and began clapping her hands together. “Faith, you truly are a genius! Your question is actually a very good one.”

My mother seemed extremely happy that I was so smart for my age. Even my brother Eric nudged me and gave me a thumbs up. I am glad my family does not find me weird for being unlike a normal two year old. Normally I would do my best to act like a child of my age, but when it came to things that I am very interested in, all my acting skills went out the window, and my desire to know more about my interest takes over. Like now in how I asked such an un-little kid like question. At any rate, I was still happy for the praise, and this could be seen with how my tail was wagging back and forth. Sometimes I wonder if my ancestors were part dog or if dragons really wagged their tails when they were happy.

“To answer Faith’s question, the answer is simple…. No. it is not possible to just place the answer of the runic equation into the magic circle and make it activate. The runic equation is what is used to channel the flow of magic into the magic circle. It regulates the magic in the magic circle in order to use the proper amount of magic that is given within the condition. Now before you ask, ‘how does the runic equation understand what the correct amount is?’ The question is much more difficult to answer, and to this day, no one actually knows.

“Magic has always been part of our world and has been in use since even before the first civilization to document it was created. We do not know how or when the first spell was created, it could just be something that was just known from birth and is still an ongoing topic within the magic academy in the capital city.

“We only know that the magic is being restricted within the runic equation to limit the amount of output the magic creates. This is why without a proper activation sequence, with its runic calculations, no magic circle will ever be able to produce magic.” It truly amazes me how my mother knows so much. From what I understand, my parents have never left this village and were childhood sweethearts who got married at fifteen and had my brother by the time they were sixteen. The only education they got was from their own parents. This was just how small villages like mine worked. But the way my mother explains things was very simple and easy to understand. I was soaking this information up left and right, and now I felt a challenge. I wanted to be the first person ever in history to create magic circles without needing the lengthy activation sequence.

And so now I have a short term goal. Of course, I still had to wait until I was five to actually cast any spells due to the fear of getting mana sickness. But just the idea of being able to do something no one else was capable of was something I couldn’t help but dream about. Just thinking about pointing out towards my target with my finger and instantly sending a fireball out without much effort made me shiver with excitement. This was the same excitement I would feel when reading light novels back on earth when the main character would suddenly burst out with some amazing power. Those kinds of scenes would send chills of excitement down my spine, making me want to cheer the main character on out loud. I, of course, refrained from doing that as it would be embarrassing, but I would giggle like a fool when I read such parts. At any rate, I now had a firm goal in mind.