Bab 5: Chapter 5. Casting the first spell
2 years passed.
To be honest, after I reincarnated in the beginning I mostly saw this new family of mine as a means to an end. People of this world that might allow me to grow up and grow stronger, a family from a fictional work that I was thrown into.
And the main reason that made me feel detached was probably Rudeus's nasty behavior.
But as the time passed, I began to grow grateful.
For these people who I have 'tricked' into being their child, and who cared so much for me, I at least wanted to somehow repay them in the future. Make them happy that I was their child.
In general, I think I'm a little strange.
I'm a rather coldhearted and detached individual most of the time, but I also have a strong empathy and can sometimes be overly affectionate and caring toward the people important to me.
Perhaps it was because in my past life I was treated terribly, betrayed and pushed away by the people I trusted most as a child - my parents - that I valued those who showed me kindness, whereas I treated strangers especially coldly.
These people that I wished happiness began to be Zenith, Lilia and even that guy Paul whom I didn't have the best impression of from the books.
In regards to Rudeus. As the two of us continued living together in the same space, with the same parents, the two of us weren't exactly distant anymore.
Rudeus remained a bit gloomy and antisocial, while I could still recall his disgusting giggles as he groped Zenith, but we tolerated each other, didn't fight and simply got along.
I guess we were at the level of 'acquaintances' or colleagues.
"Shh, Seraph and Rudy are reading again."
"Mm, the two young masters are very fond of books."
"Let's not disturb them."
I heard Zenith and Lilia whisper as they were probably spying on me and Rudeus behind the door of the study room again.
I let out a silent sigh and expressionlessly returned to what I was doing.
I waved my legs slightly as I laid down on the ground on my stomach.
A book was displayed open in front of me.
At the side, Rudeus was reading another book.
These were the five books at home in total. No less, no more.
<Traveling Around the World>, <Fitoa's Monsters, Ecology and Weaknesses>, <Perugius's Legend>, <Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth> and finally <Guide to Magic>.
What I was reading right now was the Guide to Magic.
Zenith had read it to me many times in the past while explaining particular words, so I was not a stranger to this book.
At this time, I was revising the information I learned from the book after re-reading it on my own.
1. Firstly, magic is classified into three main categories.
They are: Attack Magic, Healing Magic and Summoning Magic.
Magic can be used in a variety of ways, but according to the book, it was originally developed as an instrument of war.
The main use of the spells included in the guidebook is to defeat the enemy or to slay monsters.
2. Next, there are seven difficulty ranks to magic.
Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor and finally God.
It was said that an ordinary educated magician can improve his single specialized magic up to the Advanced rank, while the typical uneducated one is able to cast Elementary to Intermediate ranked spells.
The guidebook itself included spells for Fire, Water, Earth and Wind Magic, ranging from Elementary rank all the way to Advanced, so it is certainly quite comprehensive!
If I could reach Advanced rank in these 4 magic styles without a tutor just thanks to this book, wouldn't that be amazing?
I am not entirely sure yet if it is possible with just the information from the book though.
3. Using magic consumes mana.
There are two ways of using mana: to use mana within the body or to draw out mana from something that contains mana, the example given being a magic crystal.
At first glance, the first one was about using one's own reserves to cast magic, while the second one used an external mana source as a substitute, like a magical battery.
Due to the development of magic, those with lower amounts of mana are unable to use higher tiered magic. Thus, the use of magic crystals or magic tools that acted as batteries became more common.
4. There are two ways to activate magic.
The first one is through an Incantation, and the second is through the use of Magic Circles.
Incantations involve voicing out a magic spell's chant through one's mouth, while the use of magic circles required to draw a magic circle at a predetermined location or on a magical tool beforehand.
Magic circles were popular a very long time ago, but in the current times incantations are the mainstream way of casting magic.
In the distant past, the simplest incantation required about one to two minutes. It wasn't exceedingly long, but this method made magic very difficult to use in combat.
In contrast, once a magic circle is drawn, it can be used repeatedly.
The guidebook includes methods for using magic circles as well, but starting with Incantations was my goal.
I have a feeling that the magic circles included in the guide book will be quite useless if I can manage voiceless incantations instead.
In the end, I will probably only learn useful high-level magic circles in a Magic School, like the Ranoa Magic University.
Interestingly, the book that I was reading was published by the Ranoa Magic University, seemingly in order to popularize magic.
Surprisingly, it even included Advanced rank spells. Was it because the publishers thought that an average person would not be able to master them without attending their university anyway? And someone talented could get access to these spells second-hand regardless?
I think that might be the case.
Going back to the topic of incantations, there was a certain magician in history who successfully reduced the incantation time. Thus, incantations became the norm.
These days the simplest incantations take about five seconds, so basic magic attacks could be used with an incantation.
5. Another point in the book - a person's mana is set when they are born.
I already knew that this point is false.
If a person trained during early childhood, it was possible to grow one's mana reserves.
Myself, I have grown my mana reserves tremendously during the last two years. I had no way to properly judge my mana capacity, but I felt that it was certainly huge for a two year old.
Hopefully, I'm still far from reaching my maximum potential.
At the very least, I still seem to be improving. It would certainly feel nice if I could grow an even bigger mana pool than Rudeus or at least Laplace, if only for satisfaction.
6. Last point - reducing the chant or using voiceless incantation is only something that expert magicians can do.
It isn't something that's expected from a newbie.
Hopefully, I will be able to bust that myth today.
'Alright, let's try it.'
I flipped the pages several times.
The book contained the following Elementary Water spells:
-Water Ball: A water bullet that can be shot out.
-Water Shield: Water that rises from the ground to form a wall.
-Water Arrow: A 20cm dart that's fired.
-Ice Smash: Creates a column of ice to smite or freeze an enemy.
-Ice Blade: Forms a sword of ice.
I got up from the ground, getting to my knees. I briefly glanced to the side at Rudeus who silently glanced back at me with some curiosity, then I returned to looking at the guidebook while kneeling.
I stretched out my hand, focused on the text, and started reading the Incantation: "...Let the great protection of water be on the place thou seekest. I call a refreshing burbling stream here and now. Water Ball."
As my words finished, I felt the sudden sensation of a small amount of mana flowing through my body and gathering in my right hand.
Then a sphere of water materialized and formed to begin floating in front of my palm, the size of a handball.
'I did it!'
It was my first time casting magic, so it was impossible for me to not be excited.
From the side, I heard Rudeus's humm.
I was already mentally prepared, so I luckily suceeded in maintaining the spell.
As I did so, I then willed to gradually reduce the size of the waterball, aiming to get rid of it this way.
However, as I exercised my imagination and will, nothing happened.
After a moment, I lost control of the spell and the fist-sized water sphere dropped down to the ground with a splat, a bit of water splashing onto my feet.
"Hm…"
I guess this kind of thing can't be done with chanted magic.
To manipulate a spell so freely, voiceless magic should be a must.
Let's go again.
I walked to the side and dragged out a wooden bucket that I prepared beforehand from a corner, then stretched out my hand over it.
I slowly closed my eyes and focused on relieving the feeling from earlier.
Water Ball, Water Ball, Water Ball… Water gather…
As I tried to replicate the feeling from earlier, I could feel a faint warm current flow through my veins, then small amounts of mana suddenly started gathering and being released through my palm.
At the same time, I heard some quiet burbling sounds.
I opened my eyes and saw a water ball that formed in the air, this time without me even uttering a single word.
"Without a chant?" I heard Rudeus's shocked voice.
I faintly glanced at him, then returned my focus to the sphere of water in front of me. "Hmm."
Great!
I can to voiceless magic!!!
And it was not even that hard.
Was I also born a genius or is it the result of my mana practice and mindful meditation for the last two years?
Let's try the earlier experiment again.
'Become smaller, smaller...'
At my command, the water sphere gradually shrinks to the size of a chicken's egg.
I could do that much.
However, as I reached the size of an egg, I suddenly lost control of my spell and the small sphere of watter dropped down to the bucket.
Feeling excited, I quickly formed another water ball.
Doing it for the second time, it felt even more natural.
I directly dropped the ball into the bucket, then tried again.
And I succeeded again.
Without a fuss, without a chant and without my eyes being closed.
It was not difficult at all!
I made it bigger, then smaller, then eventually dropping it into the bucket.
With each attempt it was becoming easier and more natural.
'Easy!'
I felt extremely happy and excited.
Being able to do something magical like this simply with a thought was an indescribable feeling.
Now, if I could grow my mana amounts to above average at least, chantles magic was enough for me to dominate a small part of this world.
Of course, my ambitions and hopes were much greater. Hopefully I won't be disappointed.
Training very early was shown to allow people to improve their mana capcity and magical talent, but I have no idea to know how far it could get me in case my base level is low.
My best option was to give it my all in training and see where it gets me.
Soon enough, I'll have to try to test my current mana capcity.
For now.
I turned to Rudeus with a genuine smile. "Rudi, you try it."
"... Oh. Okay."
…
[Rudeus's POV.]
As months passed by, my new sibling who previously looked at me with scorn turned out to be rather nice and just ignored me for the most part as we both focused on the books.
Him ignoring me was just right for me.
But the fear and anxiety that I would be laughed at at any moment still remained.
When Seraph first started learning about magic and carried the magic guidebook everywhere with him, I always faked a lack of interest.
In truth, I really want to learn about it and try doing some magic as well. I think it would be very interesting.
I'm in a fantasy world, as a nerd of course I would love to try doing magic!
But what if I failed?
He'd certainly laugh at me. Even if he did not show it outwardly, he would laugh at me.
And I didn't want to be laughed at again, that was all.
Because I didn't want to be made fun of due to having slower progress than my reincarnated brother, I didn't step out to begin learning the language either.
Instead, I started learning it first in secret.
I couldn't take that first step to ask our parents to teach us together, stepping forward to begin learning at the same rate as him.
I knew that it was a little pathetic, but I guess my trauma was simply too deeply rooted.
I also think that I might not have much talent for magic anyway.
The fact that Zenith was capable of magic meant that I could probably hope to have inherited a bit of affinity for it.
But unlike my brother who had blonde hair and blue eyes like her, I seemed to have taken more after our father.
It's a little worrying. Even if my mother is talented, I don't think my genetic makeup is capable of any high-tier magic.
Of course, I still didn't want to pass on the chance presented to me.
I'd just regret it too much if I did that.
After seeing my brother's first display of magic, his first success, I felt a little more motivated once he invited me in to try it.
I concealed my enthusiasm as I got up and slowly approached the guidebook.
From what I roughly remember from the magic guidebook, for the Elementary level spells, just chanting the incantation with focus was enough to cast them.
As long as a person has mana and talent for it, they should be able to learn Elementary magic.
I wasn't yet able to understand the meaning of all of the words of the incantation, but I knew the alphabet, so I could at least read out the chant. I think my brother was probably in a similar position.
Whilst reading at the page of the guidebook, I stretched out my hand over the bucket filled with water and muttered, "Let's see… Let the great protection of water be on the place thou seekest. I call a refreshing burbling stream here and now. Water Ball."
At that moment, I felt the sensation of blood gathering in my right hand.
My blood felt as if it's being squeezed out, and a water bullet the size of a fist appeared in front of my right hand.
"Whoa!!"
I did it as well! On the first try!
The moment I showed amazement, the water bullet fell into the bucket.
The book said the water bullet should be shot out, but it had fallen instead.
Perhaps my concentration had been broken, causing the spell to fail.
But my brother had a similar result, so I didn't worry.
This way we didn't cause a mess and didn't leave behind any proof, so it was also good.
Glancing at my brother of this world, I curiously asked, "How did you do it without a chant?"
"Just repeat the feeling from earlier," he replied.
Hm, so it is just that?
There are no instructions for voiceless chanting in the book. I think it was briefly mentioned something about skilled magicians being able to cut the incantation short or to cut it. Something like that.
I'm not sure if I have talent for it, but I wanted to still give it a shot.
There would be no embarrassment if I failed.
Concentrate, concentrate…
The sensation of blood gathering in my right hand. This, this, this feeling… Mmmm.
I once again raise my right hand, recall that feeling from before, and imagine it in my mind.
I send the blood flowing from my toes and top of my head into my right hand, using that feeling to gather power.
And then, I have the feeling of firing it out from my palm…
Carefully, carefully. With every heartbeat, gathering it bit by bit…
Water gather, water droplets gather, wet water, wet panties…
Ups, evil thoughts were mixed into it. One more time.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone