Magic Lessons and a Dizzy Princess
I was in the training grounds with Latynia.
"...There are various ways to use magic. Do you happen to know about runes?"
"No. I've only started learning about magic after enrolling in Prism."
"That's fine. Runes are just one of many methods for casting magic anyway. You don't need to know them to use magic at all."
Somehow, I'd ended up learning magic from Latynia.
At first, I hadn't trusted her at all, but as I kept listening, her gentle, methodical explanations turned out to be surprisingly easy to follow.
It didn't match her usual demeanor at all, so it was hard to get used to.
"Think of it like a staring contest. Compress your mana like this, pressing it down... and voila!"
Latynia held a glowing orb in her hand.
The azure sphere shimmered brilliantly, captivating my gaze.
"This is the mana ball, the foundation of elemental magic. Depending on what attribute you imbue it with, it changes properties. Like this."
The glowing sphere froze over, exuding a chill.
Latynia casually tossed the frozen orb into the air and caught it without a care.
"Imbuing mana balls with various attributes like this is the basic training method for elemental magic. Just think of it as starting from here."
"How do you imbue attributes?"
"This takes some getting used to... Imagine visualizing the attribute."
"Visualizing?"
"There are ways to engrave mana circuits into the body to alter the mana attribute's nature itself, but that's really advanced. Even I can't do it... The easiest method is visualization."
I think I'd heard about that method in Instructor Nephrian's lecture.
She'd explained it as just one of many methods, but it was actually that difficult?
Every time Latynia tossed the mana ball into the air, its attribute changed.
The sphere caught fire, then froze, then scattered like wind, then glowed brightly, then darkened...
It was like watching a circus act.
"Typically, elemental magic highlights five representative attributes: fire, water, wind, light, and darkness. See why?"
"Because they're easy to visualize?"
"Yes, exactly. They're intuitive. Fire, water, wind, light, darkness—all have strong symbolic imagery, right? Of course, you can subdivide them further and it gets complicated, but there's no arguing that they're easy to visualize at a basic level. That's why most elemental magic revolves around those five."
Latynia was using some pretty advanced terminology, which wasn't like her.
...She seemed really into it, so I decided to just let her go on.
"There are also cases where something counts as elemental magic but overlaps with other types. For example..."
Latynia conjured another mana ball.
"Have you heard of the spell called Fireball?"
"Yeah, it's famous."
The mana ball in Latynia's hand burst into flames.
It looked exactly like a fireball at a glance.
"So, is this sphere a fireball?"
"Isn't it a fireball?"
"No. Hyah!"
Latynia hurled the burning sphere.
It hit the training ground's barrier and
*Ting!*
vanished with a clinking sound, without any explosion.
"That spell just now was a mana ball coated in fire attribute."
"What's the difference from a fireball?"
"It's the imagery infused into the magic. This part gets a bit technical, so it might be hard to understand..."
Latynia's explanation continued.
Sorry, Instructor Nephrian, but this suited the "Intro to Basic Magic" title way better than his lectures.
That wasn't basic magic at all!
In the Prism dean's office, I was having a private chat with the dean.
Or rather, it was just our usual idle chit-chat.
I'd come to hear how the Demon God Church matter had wrapped up.
"So, how did things with the Demon God Church end up?"
"I've cut off all their contacts for now. However..."
The dean's expression was oddly peculiar today.
Was there some problem?
"Remnants of the Demon God Church are still around. I don't know who, though."
"I-is that so?"
Ji-ah's still hanging around!
I hadn't even considered that.
Well, I had thought about it, but I didn't expect the dean to pinpoint it that accurately.
I'd definitely smashed her phone, though?
As she spoke, Han Myeong-sin's aura shifted.
"Cleverly destroyed the receiver. But she couldn't erase her distinctive presence."
"What do you think should be done? By the book, all Demon God Church followers should be exterminated."
"Uh... well..."
Han Myeong-sin was approaching.
My joker card was stabbing my hand.
Was it not a safe play after all?
Had I been too optimistic?
Before I knew it, Han Myeong-sin was right in front of me.
"Heh, I figured you'd agonize over it."
With those words, her aura vanished as if washed away.
Han Myeong-sin held something out to me.
"What's this...?"
"An artifact from the Great Labyrinth. It slowly purifies mana when carried."
It was a small brooch.
A striking violet gem glimmered on it.
"Give this to that girl, and there won't be any big issues. Students need to study mana a bit more, though."
"She was caught because of mana?"
"Exactly. Demon God Church followers all use a special mana called demonic qi. If you can pinpoint the location, it's easy to find them. This time, I never suspected they'd infiltrated Prism, so I missed it... but thanks to a student's help, we wiped them out."
"Be a little more careful around students with demonic qi. If she leaks it during practicals or something, any instructor who knows about the Demon God Church will get suspicious."
So the incident from basic magic class had reached Han Myeong-sin's ears.
And she'd investigated, deciding there was no issue?
Normally, she'd have taken care of Lee Ji-ah too, but since she's close to me, she went another route.
Even prepared an artifact...
I gratefully accepted it.
"Demonic qi reminds me of the old days—about 16 years ago... when the Demon God Church was rampant. I don't know how, but they figured out how to artificially open gates and started kidnapping people. I caught wind of it and took my party to the gate they'd created. That place was..."
Han Myeong-sin started talking more.
She was back to her usual self.
She launched into the story of the final battle in Demon God Descent mode.
Sorry, but I already knew it all, so it wasn't that interesting. At first.
Her memories must have been vivid because she got more and more animated.
I was half-listening at first, but even though I knew the content, hearing it from someone who'd lived it made it engaging, and before I knew it, I was sucked into Han Myeong-sin's old tales.
"...And so, the party member who wielded our strongest magic left the party. She said she was going back home to recuperate, but then one day she brought her daughter, claiming she was her child—talk about a shock... Come to think of it, she's around your age. That girl's at Prism now too, so make some time to meet her sometime?"
"Ah, sure..."
"She's a bit headstrong, but not a bad kid. I'm sure she'll get along with you students."
When I snapped out of it, she'd shifted to talking about her old party member's family life.
Classic Han Myeong-sin.
"You can't imagine how surprised I was. I thought she had zero interest in romance, and then suddenly she shows up with a daughter. And the daughter was clearly an adult. Meaning she'd been with someone since back in our prime gate-subduing days, right? People really are unpredictable."
"I... see."
No, she was even more talkative than usual.
Asking her to teach me basic magic had been a casual remark while figuring out ways to use Thousand Changes, but things got serious fast.
After that, I learned basic magic from Latynia several more times.
She was knowledgeable not just in elemental magic but in various types.
However, as a princess, she hadn't learned offensive spells useful in combat.
I still hadn't reached the level of using magic through Thousand Changes as a medium, but it was worthwhile time regardless.
Then I mentioned to Ji-ah that Latynia's lessons weren't bad, and she jumped in wanting to learn basic magic too.
Poor Latynia was the one suffering now.
"Uh... sorry about that."
"No, huff..."
Today, Ji-ah had left saying she had something to look into, so it was just me and Latynia in the training grounds.
Latynia, explaining space magic, let out a sigh, looking exhausted.
She'd been demonstrating examples nonstop, burning through mana, so no wonder.
Space magic in particular consumed a ton of mana, making it even tougher.
"I told you, you could've just explained it verbally."
"No! Magic is really hard to learn without experiencing it firsthand. That's been my experience. Especially space magic—it's tough to grasp the concepts without trying it like this."
From my own experience, she was right.
Instructor Nephrian's lectures had been turning into a total maze.
Her head was usually full of flowers, but when it came to magic, she was diligent.
"You need to see it with your own eyes to understand easily... Urk."
"Latynia!"
Latynia clutched her head, swaying dizzily.
I caught her as she started to fall, but her unstable posture pushed us both down.
"Ah...?"
Latynia's delicate face was right in front of my nose.
We were so close our breaths mingled.
Dazed, I just stared at her face, and something seemed to flicker in Latynia's eyes.
"Do-jun? Y-you're too close..."
Holding her face steady to focus, I spotted a hazy something floating inside.
As I leaned in closer to examine it, Latynia's expression changed.
Her condition worsened by the second.
Her face flushed bright red, her eyes spinning in circles.
And then,
"Hii...!"
Latynia let out an inexplicable noise and passed out.