บท 54: My Mother Is An Old Lady

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What is magic? Well, I gave my mother an answer I learned in my previous life. Then again, I do wonder what it could truly be in here. Maybe the beliefs of my world don't apply here, and that would be understandable. Different world, different logic, right? But then, she told me it was partially correct.

"So, what's the full answer?" I wondered.

"Well, not even I have been able to completely grasp how it works. After all these years of studying it…" mother replied, letting out a light sigh soon after.

"Huh? H-How old are you, mom?"

I do remember my father telling me she was older than him. Plus, I remember that my father's fox, that one familiar named Nikko, said she was an old hag… I think this fox was against their relationship due to how young my father was compared to her! But my mother looks so young! That must be an exaggeration, right? I do know Elves in this world live very long lives, way longer than humans live, but… still.

"Well, I'm considered rather young in my family. I'm the youngest child between all my other seven siblings… if I remember correctly, I am quite old… over a hundred years old at the very least. I dislike revealing my true age." Mother answered my question, dropping a massive bomb on me at that moment.

"W-What?!"

I couldn't help but spit a bit of foam out of my mouth from pure shock. To think she really is an old lady… should I call her grandma now? No, that would be quite disrespectful. I wish I could know her true age, but I suppose she doesn't really want to reveal it. Perhaps it is an elven thing and I don't want to force her. …Though I am sure she's way older than a hundred years old then. If I ever learn her true age I might be shocked and surprised once more. I have to prepare for that.

"Elves live approximately for 5000 years, but there are some elders in our family, especially my grand grandfather, who have lived for longer than that figure. The closer we get to nature and magic, the longer our lifespan becomes," mother quickly explained.

"I-I see…"

"Of course, Half-Elves are no exception! You'll probably have as long of a lifespan as me." Mother chuckled.

"O-Oh…"

I don't know what I'll even think about when I get that old… In the first place… would I even reach the age of 5000?

"Of course, this topic isn't that important for now. Then again, you must not think that because your life is long that you have to take things for granted. Life is dangerous. We Elves know this. Even if we can live for a long time, we can have our lives taken away from us if we become careless. A dangerous world teeming with monsters… not even humans live their full life expectancy due to all the dangers sprawling about. Because of that, you must be careful and grow stronger," she reminded me.

"I see. I get it now, mother…" I said in response.

"Now, let's get back to our original topic. Magic is indeed an essence of nature and exists in all the elements that make up the world. However, it does not only encompass the world. I learned this from an ancient spacetime magician I met in my lifetime. She was able to see through the sky itself and even beyond that. Magic is not only part of our world, but far beyond that, countless other worlds, the "outer universe" as she termed it." Mother started to teach me what magic truly was.

"So… all of creation? And existence?" I asked for clarification.

"Pretty much. It is considered the very fabric of all. Or well, those would be the elements, while magic is our key to using these elements that we would normally not be able to properly utilize. You see, it's very rare for prodigies like you to be born. Usually, people cannot develop magic naturally and require intense training and effort to be able to wield the elements… and this is why…"

Mother suddenly waved her hand as a magic circle emerged in her hand.

"Fireball."

FLASH!

A small fireball emerged, floating above her delicate hands. The magic circle shaped itself to her words as runes danced to her mana.

"We use mana as the fuel of our runes, while runes and magic circles are the actual thing that brings forth the phenomena of magic. We've constructed runes long ago so we could express our words as magic. Through words, we can manipulate the elements of the world. Cancel."

FLASH!

And then, the fireball suddenly dissipated into nothingness.

"And like this, we cancel these magical phenomena," mother said.

"Ohh…"

I can kind of understand it. Even my Ember skill uses magic runes, but I can't see them because they're contained within the System itself. She did tell she was a construct of billions of divine runes, which are probably advanced forms of magic runes made by Gods…

So, in essence, the System… She's just an incredibly large magic circle. It seems runes are the foundation of our method to utilize magic and shape it in all kinds of forms. It's our expression of the natural elements that encompass our universe.

I see! Now I get it!

"You're a prodigy because you're like a Spirit, Sylphy. You're able to directly manipulate an element from the very world itself without the need for runes or magic. Then again, the Innate Magic Circle that we magicians create also aids us in this. The more runes we add into it, the faster and shorter spells could be conjured, until we're also capable of conjuring them without the need for chants or magic circles. However, that's only because the magic circle itself is just inside our souls… but you, you're able to conjure magic without any of this even before getting your Innate Magic Circle. Such talents are one in a billion, if not even more," mother told me.

"Like… a Spirit?" I pondered.

"Indeed. Why do you think that Spirits, when they become our Familiars, can enhance our ability to conjure magic and support us so greatly? Even a young spirit such as yours can already help you greatly. This is because they're connected with the world's nature and all its elements. They're living expressions of the elements, they're the purest form of them, beings made completely out of elemental mana," mother explained.

"Oohh… Naturia is like that?" I asked.

"Of course. She's an expression of the purest form of Nature-attribute mana. After all, she was born from Yggdra. She can help you conjure magic with ease because she gives you shortcuts to reach the purpose you want magic to shape itself as. When Aquarina's incident happened, you strongly desired to heal her, so Naturia helped you shape your own magic into the needed spell," mother replied.

"I see… so that's how spirits work…"

This world is truly filled with wonderful things. Hearing more and more of this only makes me more fascinated with everything this world has to offer.

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