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Chapter 3: Magician in Training
🕑 Added 2024-08-09 09:50:45 +0000 UTC10+ Advance Chapters: patreon.com/Accel14
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I see, even though Magic was derived from Demonic Power, the way they're applied in practice are polar opposites. Magic is a calculated art and Demonic Power is a matter of intuition and feeling. Sort of like the difference between instinctual-type and calculative-type Generals hundreds of years ago.
For those who understood the reference, Demonic Power was Li Xin, and Magic was Ou Ki.
Right now Takauji was sat in the middle of the clubroom, thoroughly reading through an introductory book on Magic Theory that his contractor had acquired for him. Said contractor sitting on her desk nearby just in case he had any questions.
The first step to learning Magic is to be capable of channeling it in its rawest form and understanding what your affinity is, which I've already done. After that, I need to learn how to construct something called a Magic Circle.
"Ara, someone's awfully focused," Akeno observed as she passed by his contemplating figure. "Need any help?" She placed a cup of tea alongside some sweets next to him.
"Not right now, but I'll probably need to call on you once I get to the more advanced sections," being the learned man that he was, Takauji figured he should be more than capable of landing down the basics.
"It's only your first day of study, I'd recommend you not to rush things lest you build a shoddy foundation of which the rest of your Magic is constructed on," she advised him.
"Noted."
Hmm. So in essence one could say that Mana is just pure electricity, which is extremely hard to use on its own. However a Magic Circle serves as an appliance that works as a medium for electricity.
He took a bite out of the Daifuku she had given him as he fell even deeper into thought.
It's basically an equation, take "a + b = c" for example. In this case "c" is the spell, "a" is Mana, and "b" is a Magic Circle. Wait, maybe multiplying it would be more accurate? It's not as if you can remove either "a" or "b" in this scenario and still get "c". Which would make it "ab = c", or something. Wait, that can't be it either because you can't divide either by "c" to get- no actually you can can't you? Or not? I don't know.
He continued to turn through the pages with an eerie amount of silence, making it impossible for both the vice-president and his contractor to tell whether he was struggling or not.
No, I'm rushing things. I shouldn't be worried about the equation when I don't even have the tools to solve "b" to begin with. So let's start there.
The level of focus his mind was exerting as he flipped through the pages had caused him to forget to chew every now and then, as if he hadn't noticed that there was even food in his mouth.
This pretty much seems like a circuit board to me. Channel the mana, chant the incantation, and let the mana flow according to the formula as shown.
The book had a beginner's guide on how to form a Magic Circle which included a chant, however any competent Magician would normally be able to form their circle without one. The spells themselves were where incantations became much more important.
Those who could perform them without chants, were called prodigies.
The formula for a Magic Circle is like an arithmetic sequence, it'll continue to increase depending on the magnitude of the spell. But of course if the caster inputs the incorrect values, it'll result in an incorrect answer.
"Takauji," Akeno snapped him out of his stupor with a firm voice.
"Yes?"
"You weren't blinking," he was left at a loss for words as he only now felt the dryness and itchy sensation in his eyes. "Are you sure you're alright?" Both her and his contractor now seemed genuinely concerned.
Even the Knight and Rook were shooting somewhat worried glances his way.
"I'm fine," he replied bluntly. Not that anyone was buying it.
"Just try to be more mindful, there's no point in you learning Magic if you're going to compromise your health for it," she chided. Deciding to remain seated next to him just in case anything happened.
"Yeah, of course."
He extended his hand, closing his eyes as he started to channel the Mana from his core towards his fingertips.
Step one done. Now comes the tricky part.
All eyes were glued on him as they watched his Mana start to accumulate in front of him. Slowly fissuring out as it spread itself in a circular manner.
He grit his teeth, feeling the strain on his mind increasing as it began to taste the closest thing to real Magic so far for the first time. But he couldn't relent, he needed to succeed.
The numbers don't, just trust them and keep pushing.
Calculation after calculation, he preserved.
"You… already did it," the feminine voice beside him spoke.
He opened his eyes, an ecstatic grin appearing on his face as he witnessed the spectacle before him.
So this is a Magic Circle.
A black slightly luminescent circle hovered in front of his hand, filled with runic symbols making up its inside and the design of a face with four eyes on it right in the middle.
"Good work," his contractor recollected herself as praised him. Even though this hardly counted as the first stepping stone towards becoming a Magician, progress was progress. "The first time is always the hardest when creating a circle, from here on out you should rarely ever struggle with activating it."
He heaved a sigh of relief as he leaned back into the cushions behind him, bringing the book up to his face once more.
"You should take a break, if you overstrain yourself it's just going to reduce your effectiveness in the long run," Akeno placed her hand on the book, gently pushing it down.
But Takauji simply stared at her, looking her in the eyes with a very unnerving gaze as she slowly grabbed the manual out of his hands and set it aside.
It wasn't intimidating by any means, it was just, plain creepy.
"Takauji?" She called out to him.
"Sorry, I spaced out for a second," he said as he averted his stare, closing his eyes as he allowed the back of his head to sink into the pillows. "If you insist then I suppose I'll take a rest for a bit."
She felt a weight lift off her shoulders as he seemed to return to normal. His resting face actually appeared a lot more peaceful unlike when he was immersed in Magic.
I need to familiarize myself with the process of creating a Magic Circle as soon as possible. From what I've read thus far, one's proficiency in Magic is determined by how much they can subtract from a process. The less effort I need to exude in order to create a Magic Circle, the better off I'll be.
But if there was one thing he struggled to do, it was knowing how to turn off his brain.
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Three days passed, and right now Takauji was in his room clenching his forehead as he tried to wrap his head around the spell before him.
He had a stack of mini whiteboards all laid on top of one another on his desk, each of them covered in scribbles as he tried to figure out how to use the formula for the spell known as Shamak.
It was a low-grade spell that contained the ability to separate the target's senses to varying degrees. The most basic application of the spell made the affected person unable to sense where they are, however they would still be capable of feeling the ground beneath them and sense what's happening to their body.
Many of the spells found in darkness magic demanded one be capable of Shamak, some even requiring complete mastery over it.
"This is starting to get mind-numbingly difficult," he muttered to himself. Ruffling his hair out of frustration as he resisted the urge to bang his head against his table.
I've figured out how to formulate the 5 senses in general, but this "low-grade" spell requires me to go even a step further than that. I have to actually grasp the individual senses in equation form, and then choose which to affect. I know being able to affect all 5 right out of the gate would be too easy, but how the hell am I supposed to turn the concepts of "senses" and "perception" into a formula?
Since affinities such as Darkness and Light were so rare, the amount of research conducted on them paled in comparison to that of the four basic elements for example.
This meant users of rarer elements would have to figure out a majority of their affinities on their own, whereas more common ones had a wealth of teachers, materials, and studies to back their growth.
Put simply, the more uncommon your affinity was, the more holes you would have to fill should you wish to excel in it.
He tossed the whiteboard in front of him across his room, picking up a new one as he steeled himself to persevere.
Alright. The brain is the root for the senses, and senses themselves are received by it. But this spell aims to get in between that process of receiving and warp it to a certain extent. However, a low grade spell shouldn't be capable of targeting the central nervous system itself.
His eyes twinkled with a spark of understanding.
Hold on, maybe it had nothing to do with the brain itself this whole time. Shit, how could I let myself get so tunnel-visioned? It's just going after the mana around the target, that's why the spell itself takes on the form of a cloud-like eruption of smoke. There was never any need to go after the process of receiving information to begin with, I should've been focusing on the information itself to begin with.
Takauji wrote down every last detail that was swimming through his mind, the numbers finally seeming to connect as he could feel his lament gradually being replaced with elation sequence after sequence.
"So this is Shamak?" He held up the whiteboard, fastening it to a board with a tack and taking a few steps back. "I guess there's only one way to find out," he took a deep breath.
He conjured a Magic Circle in front of him, the runes on it constantly twisting and turning as if to adjust to what his brain was trying to enact.
Yes, this feels right.
One by one the runes started to light up, successfully linking with one another as they endeavored to form a successful chain.
Mana welled up from his gut and coursed through his veins, pouring into the circle as he neared the casting of his first spell.
And now for the finishing touch.
The last of the runes connected, causing the entire circle to light up with bright white text as the words left his mouth.
"Shamak," he ordered, causing a controlled cloud of black smoke to encompass his surroundings. Obviously he would need to use it on an actual target to see its effects in action, but he was confident that this was a successful casting. Everything just felt, right.
I did it! I actually casted a spell!
It was absolutely cause for celebration.
I have quite a bit of pocket money saved up, maybe I should go spend it on Korean BBQ or something?
He grabbed his wallet and shoes with haste, heading straight towards the door as he prepared to go treat himself.
"Oh. Good afternoon, Ashikaga-senpai." but upon opening his door, he was greeted by a certain Knight who looked like he was just about to ring his doorbell.
"Why are you here?" He asked impatiently, eager to fill his stomach.
Also who told you my address? That wasn't in the contract.
"Buchou wants you to go to the clubroom," he answered.
"That's fine and all but why did she send you? She can just summon me whenever she needs."
"She wanted to make sure she didn't disturb you while you were in the middle of anything, and by the looks of things it appears she made the right call," the Darkness Mana in the air was still pungent.
"Fair enough. So, what does she want me for?"
"We have a new member in our peerage," Takauji raised his brow.
"What does that have to do with me?"
Kiba could only shrug, "No clue, she just told me to get you."
