Basic Magic, Part 2
"Now then, what should we start with? Hmm... the origin of mana? Or maybe the effect mana has on the human body?"
After the lemon candy had finally melted away, class at last began.
Under a sky faintly veiled with clouds, beautiful enough to make one stop and stare, Professor Han Seohwa spoke from where she sat cross-legged on the grass.
"Well, where should we begin? The definition of mana, perhaps?"
"Y-Yes. I would be very grateful if you could explain everything from the very beginning, step by step..."
Alone in a space with another person, I held my trembling down as hard as I could and answered.
Of course, I could learn magic right away. But that would only be a stopgap. If I didn’t understand the fundamentals of mana piece by piece and build from there, I’d run into trouble every time I tried to learn a new spell.
If I only learned spell formulas and never studied the very concepts of mana or its basic principles, it would be like pouring water into a bottomless jar.
"Hmph~ Good, then. We’ll start by talking about where mana comes from."
My answer, given while bracing myself against my own fear, must have pleased Professor Han Seohwa, because she hummed lightly and began the lesson.
"Now, the huge meteorite that fell to Earth three hundred years ago, the mana contained within it seeped into the ground and gradually adapted to the human body, where it began to be produced... You know that much, right?"
Of course I did.
Even after I lost my memory, the history of this world had remained neatly organized inside my head.
"Yes."
Since I knew the history better than most, I answered with confidence.
"All right, then, quiz time! Where in the body is mana generated?"
"Uh...."
Mana was produced somewhere inside the human body.
And the magic power that was created then circulated throughout the body like the blood humans were born with.
So then...
"...The heart?"
"Wrong!!"
Ah.
Not that?
"It is true that it’s generated near the heart. Good instinct. However, mana is not produced by the heart. If it were produced by the heart, then why would the grass around us and the spring over there be filled with mana?"
"...Ah!"
That was right. Every living and nonliving thing in this world held mana.
Individually, it might be faint, but gathered together, it all formed one massive lump of mana.
And if I looked around me right this very moment, even the grass, the pond, the trees, and a single insect flying by were all radiating magical power.
"In most beings, the core that generates mana exists near the heart, if you think of humans as a reference point."
A separate core linked to the heart.
"And the moment this core fully activates is precisely when!"
Professor Han Seohwa went on with a gesture that said she was about to say something big.
"When an ordinary civilian awakens as a superhuman, as a hunter."
An ordinary civilian—an average person. They possess mana, but they cannot release it or refine it.
"The presence or absence of the core is a really important matter. It’s not just twice the original amount they produce? Or three times? No—some people generate more than a hundred times as much mana. And a core producing such a tremendous amount naturally converts mana into magical power and expels it through the body, and using that magical power is what magic is."
Magic power is what mana becomes after it is expelled from the body.
And artificially circulating the mana within the body also requires converting it into magical power.
In other words, magical power is refined mana.
"Now this is where the biggest difference between civilians and superhumans appears. The question is... can you refine mana into magical power and use it directly?"
There were many who held mana. Professor Seres and Professor Han Seohwa, of course, and even someone like me, who had never used magical power once, still possessed mana.
"Mana output? Sure, there are differences. But in the end, even civilians can produce it. However, civilians can never refine mana and release it outside their bodies for use."
The greatest difference between a civilian and a superhuman.
Can you control magical power? That tiny difference was what divided the ordinary from the extraordinary.
"All right! Now that you’ve learned where mana is generated and why the core matters, I want you to burn this into your head and remember only this."
"Yes."
"All magical power born from mana is a resource! Use it, and it is consumed. Leave it alone and wait, and before you know it, it fills back up. Depending on who uses it, magical power can realize limitless possibilities!"
I listened to Professor Han Seohwa’s explanation while sitting on the grass nearby.
Mana, magical power—it was a resource.
A resource whose possibilities changed depending on who wielded it.
If someone like Yoon Hwayeon used magical power, it would blaze brilliantly, transforming into a fierce flame that could incinerate anyone. But if Miel Norison used it, it would become a razor-sharp blade capable of cutting through a solid shield.
By fully utilizing the unique abilities each person possessed and the nature of their mana, they created their own distinct identities.
- Clap!
"All right, all right, focus up! We’re moving on to the important part now."
Just as I was thinking about the different kinds of mana, I snapped back to attention at Han Seohwa’s bright clap.
Han Seohwa was rummaging around in her subspace ring for something.
And what she pulled out was...
"Here! Take this."
Professor Han Seohwa handed me an object, and that object was...
"A detection pair of glasses. If you can’t feel or perceive mana, just put these on and look through them!"
"...."
Wasn’t I a superhuman who had awakened, though?
I didn’t know exactly when I’d awakened, but if my core was active, then I was definitely a superhuman.
"...I am a superhuman, though..."
"Ah! Right, right, these are the glasses I used when playing with the children we rescued. You just looked so young, Student Lim Paran, that I accidentally pulled them out... haha."
At my question, Professor Han Seohwa gave an awkward laugh and scratched the back of her head, looking embarrassed.
Wait, so I looked like a kid? That annoyed me a little.
Professor Han Seohwa coughed a few times and hurriedly returned to the lesson.
"Ahem... right, enough of that. Please pay close attention to the tip of the left index finger of my right hand, blue student. I’m going to let mana flow through it now."
Professor Han Seohwa was drawing mana up from her core.
A core holding an immense amount of mana—far more than an ordinary superhuman could ever manage.
If an average superhuman’s core was a lake, Professor Han Seohwa’s was more like the sea.
Mana wriggled along her arm and extended into her hand, flowing like a stream and heading for the tip of her right index finger.
"Now, you probably won’t be able to see it... can you feel it? If you have mana sensitivity, you should be able to. Student Lim Paran is in a state of mana erosion, so you’ll probably feel it much more clearly."
I could see it.
The flow of mana visible only to me drove straight into my eyes.
I could clearly feel the magical power wrapped around her finger.
Not only that magical power clinging to the finger, but even the whole process of the core generating mana, the mana being refined, and then surging out toward the finger—I could feel all of it through my body.
While I stood dazed, sensing the magical power through my mana sensitivity, Professor Han Seohwa noticed my reaction and spoke.
"Mm! Looking at your reaction, it seems you can feel it well. Then let’s wrap magical power around the whole hand!"
The path of mana that had been extending only to her index finger began spreading like a tree trunk, seeping between the other fingers as well.
Magical power began wrapping around the remaining fingers, and at that moment, I thought I might be hearing things.
- Wooooong
A sound like wind slicing past.
I strained to listen to that intense noise again, but it vanished quickly, as though it had appeared and disappeared in an instant.
"Hmph~ You didn’t think that was the end, did you?!"
With a cheerful laugh, Professor Han Seohwa poured more magical power into her hand once again.
The mana filling her hand spread outward and covered her right hand completely, each strand aligning with the next as its density increased even further.
"And if we lock it in like this!"
The magical power that had been trembling loosely beside her right hand, unstable and wavering, settled itself into a precise ratio.
- Woong, woong, woong
It felt different from the sound before.
Much steadier, much more regular.
The magical power wrapped not just around her right hand but all the way up to her forearm, taking on the appearance of an opaque suit of iron armor rather than something unstable.
"There we go! This is magi, the basic defensive technique most superhumans use all the time! It’s one of the essential skills combat students have to learn and be able to deploy. And even if you’re not a combat major, it’s still useful across the board. After all, it’s the most fundamental of all techniques for protecting the body, isn’t it?"
Magi.
A basic magical application technique that wrapped magical power around some part of the body to protect it.
No matter how low-ranked a hunter was, even those whose unique abilities were healing rather than direct combat had usually mastered the application of magi.
Because it would block most basic attacks and form the bare minimum line of defense that kept injuries from becoming too severe to heal.
"Now, that was magi. And I’m going to show you another technique that’s just as important, so watch carefully!"
- Srrrrk
She released the magical power that had been wrapping around her right arm and began gathering it again.
The ironclad magical power collapsed, and that mana once again started taking shape anew.
Even more lively and dazzling than before, the magical power blazed upward as if fiercely asserting itself.
The magical power arranged itself in a formation completely different from magi—more complicated, larger, and more vigorous as it bloomed.
The shape, like mana dancing lightly in the air, looked almost like...
- Fwoosh!
The brilliantly flaring magical power suddenly gathered at the center and turned into a flame, bursting with fierce heat.
With that transformation completed in an instant, Professor Han Seohwa pointed at the floating fireball playing above her right hand and continued.
"This is a technique completely different from the magi I just showed you. It’s what people call magic. It’s totally different from magi, isn’t it?"
"...Yes."
My mouth hung open as I nodded blankly. The magical power around her arm had crumbled, flowed downward, and then, in a single instant, turned into a brilliant flame.
She had gathered the loosened magical power and used it in a way entirely unlike magi, which gave it a completely different structure and feel.
- Swish
She clenched the fireball dancing above her hand, and the flames vanished without a trace.
"All right, there are many different ways to use magical power, but for a beginner like Student Lim Paran, that would probably be a little much. Right?"
"...."
I couldn’t deny it.
What she’d just shown me was simple because someone as skilled as Professor Han Seohwa was the one using it. But whether I, who still knew absolutely nothing about controlling magical power, could use such techniques properly was another matter entirely.
"So today, for Student Lim Paran, who’s still short on the basics, we’re going to start with the fundamentals of magical power application! Set aside everything I’ve shown you so far! For now, let’s focus on magical power control!"
As she said that, Professor Han Seohwa sprang up to her feet. In her bright, eager eyes, I felt as though rainbow light was shimmering.
"Here! Take this..."
Professor Han Seohwa extended her arm toward me, and in her hand was a translucent hexagonal object.
"This is a measurement stone used to gauge the amount of magical power in a dungeon. It’s mostly developed for dungeon use, but there’s also a separate version modified for education like this one. It’s incredibly expensive..."
My hands trembled as I took the item she handed me.
There was a person right in front of me, and I was already close to losing my mind, but now she was telling me it was expensive, which made my whole body shake even more.
"All right, all right, don’t be nervous. It’s simple, so listen carefully. Basically, this magic tool is specialized for absorbing the magical power around it. And the more magical power it absorbs, naturally, the faster the tool wears out and breaks."
A magic tool that absorbed the magical power around it.
It felt strangely familiar, almost like my own body.
"So while it absorbs magical power, it also releases that power quickly. In other words... it means this magic tool is difficult to keep continuously filled and under control. That’s why most students use it to train their magical power control."
It absorbed and then soon after released everything.
Because the magical power couldn’t settle in one place and kept being pushed out, you naturally had to keep pouring more in and learn a more efficient way to control it. That was why it was used for training.
Professor Han Seohwa watched me from a minimal distance where I wouldn’t have a breakdown.
"What you need to do is simple. First, pour in magical power. Second, maintain it as long as possible while replenishing the mana that gets released. Third, completely fill the magic tool with your own mana!"
Simple, right?
She finished speaking and stared intently at my hand.
She was probably going to see how I did it and then give me feedback.
"I-I’ll begin!"
Because of my trembling heart and body, I stuttered.
I stared at the magic tool.
Just like I could see with my eyes, I could faintly sense it absorbing the surrounding magical power.
After watching it for a moment, I carefully took the magic tool in my hand.
"The first step isn’t that hard. You just have to feel the mana in your body and release it as magical power."
Feel mana and convert it into magical power.
Recognize the core near my heart and move the mana.
Shift the path of mana toward my arm, then direct it to the magic tool.
I lightly wrapped my hand around the tool, closed my eyes, and focused every nerve I had.
I gently guided the mana, which wasn’t used to moving, and converted it into magical power.
Since I’d been absorbing magical power through my body until now, it was easy enough to understand what the sensation of absorbing it felt like.
Now, in reverse, I was expelling it.
"Feeling unused mana is hard enough... and converting it into magical power isn’t familiar either, so most people struggle with it, so don’t worry—huh?"
I let the magical power filling my hand seep slowly into the magic tool.
Making a tiny opening, I carefully let it make contact with the tool.
I could see the magic tool’s opaque color gradually turning blue, and I glanced at Professor Han Seohwa to see her reaction...
"Wait... why are you doing that already? That doesn’t make any sense!"
?
Wasn’t this how you were supposed to do it?
When I turned to look for her reaction, Professor Han Seohwa was staring back at me with a face full of confusion, as though she couldn’t understand what she was seeing at all.