Childhood
To get straight to the point, my plan to spread the magic of book creation across the entire world had ended in failure.
It was impossible to reduce the severe mana consumption of Carta and Biblion any further.
The root cause lay in the fact that both spells were built upon basic magic.
Basic magic barely cared about an individual's mana attributes, but its efficiency was terribly low in return. I'd intended to make the spells usable by anyone, yet that very choice had inflated the mana cost to the point where no one could actually cast them.
After pondering ways to improve them, I finally handed Hesti a sheet of paper covered in dense equations, convinced this was the only path left.
“Wouldn’t it be better to incorporate calculations into the magic? You’ve already seen for yourself that filling the vague parts of the mental imagery with concrete math reduces mana consumption. We’d weave in formulas that express the positional values of the fibers inside the wood chips right into the spell activation.”
“That’s completely out of the question! Magic is the act of turning mental imagery into reality through mana! Adding calculations so complex they could make your head explode would shatter the imagery and disrupt the entire casting process!”
“But I managed it just fine.”
“In the first place, there isn’t a single witch in the whole world who casts magic that way except you, my disciple! This is the first time your genius actually feels annoying! You little—!”
“Hehe.”
“More importantly, what is this soft little cheek? It feels exactly like a baby’s bottom! Let me knead it just a little longer!”
Hesti squished both my cheeks like dough, claiming I was irritating her, but her eyes sparkled with delight. I suppose I made a decent stress ball. At least she was enjoying herself.
I let my head loll weakly under her hands while my mind wandered back to the relationship between magic and mana consumption.
After all my experiments, only one method truly lowered the cost: making the information required for the spell’s manifestation crystal clear. The mana drain would then decrease naturally.
Take my spell that creates a fireball at a moderate distance. It normally consumed around one hundred mana.
By precisely calculating relative position, height from the ground, size, shape, and temperature, I could bring the cost down to seventy.
The problem was that forming such a vivid mental image on its own was already difficult. Most people simply didn’t have the mental bandwidth to run those calculations at the same time.
It was like trying to draw an intricate picture with my right hand while simultaneously solving a complex equation with my left. The process was that demanding.
‘Then what if there were a calculator to help with the user’s math…? No, that’s not the real issue.’
That would only raise the average mage’s skill level. It wouldn’t fix the fundamental flaw that my Carta and Biblion were defective spells.
Besides, those two spells couldn’t be improved by inserting calculations anyway. I had already built complex math into their original designs, which was why their mana costs were as low as they currently were.
No wonder Hesti couldn’t use them no matter how many times I explained. At this point, it seemed no one in the world except me could cast them.
“Sigh… I wanted to create a world where books outnumber people.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help…”
“It’s all right. The idea was flawed from the start. …Thank you for your hard work, Master.”
It had been a full year since I first showed Carta and Biblion to Hesti. I was now twelve years old, and I finally gave up on improving the spells.
No matter how often Hesti called me a genius of the century, changing the world was no easy task. Perhaps I had grown a little arrogant.
The failure stung more than I expected. To heal my wounded heart, I spent nearly a week curled up in bed, clutching a book tightly to my chest.
Hesti had left on sudden business a few days earlier, so there was no one to look after me. I passed most of my time right there on the mattress.
Then, after a long silence, Hesti finally returned. She threw the door open with a confident shout.
“Rejoice, my disciple!”
“Hm? What for…?”
“Hehe, your master has brought you a book!”
“A… a book? How…?”
“I went to that person’s house for the first time in ages and explained the situation. He never listens when I ask for anything, but the moment I said it was for my disciple, he became incredibly generous. Hmph. Hmph hmph.”
It was a completely unexpected gift. I never imagined that my slight depression would drive her to visit the master she usually disliked just to borrow a book for me.
I stared at her blankly for a moment, then set down the book I’d been hugging, dashed forward, and threw my arms around her. The sudden embrace clearly caught her off guard.
“D-Disciple?!”
“…Thank you.”
“Aww… Ufufu, are you that happy?”
“Yes. I like it… so much.”
“Then I’m glad.”
With my spirits restored, I accepted the book from Hesti. It was the first new volume I had seen in nearly a year. The overflowing joy refused to let my smile fade.
That’s right. It wasn’t as if I had only failed once or twice before. If this didn’t work, I simply had to try another approach. There was still plenty of time.
After that day, Hesti began leaving the house more often. Perhaps she had noticed how happy new books made me. She would periodically return with a volume she had obtained somewhere.
No matter how rare books were, a witch usually kept a few at home. It seemed she was visiting acquaintances to borrow them.
I couldn’t simply keep receiving without giving back. So I created books with magic and asked her to offer them as thanks for the loans.
These were the only modern-style books that this world’s technology could never produce. Word must have spread, because the witches soon grew desperate to lend me their own collections.
Yet I knew this method wouldn’t last long. Hesti wasn’t exactly overflowing with friends. Even if I rationed myself to one book per month, my reading material would eventually run dry.
‘I’ll have to travel after all. It might be wise to start planning.’
Three years remained until I became an adult. If possible, I wanted to learn which regions held which books.
I devoured the borrowed volume with my eyes while mentally sketching out my future schedule.
It was an ordinary morning like any other.
My separation anxiety had grown so severe that I could no longer sleep without a book in my arms. Today I clutched one meant for bedtime.
I usually woke just as the sky began to brighten. Shaking off the last traces of sleep, I headed to the kitchen and started preparing breakfast.
“Aqua.”
One of the best things about learning magic was being able to handle most chores without lifting a finger.
Back in the countryside, fetching water from the well had been necessary for even a single cup. Now a simple water spell produced drinking water instantly.
Unlike well water that needed boiling, water created by magic required no such treatment.
I could even shape a pot with earth magic, move it with wind magic, and bring the contents to a rolling boil with fire magic.
Of course, basic magic was inefficient by nature. Using it nonstop would consume a tremendous amount of mana.
But for someone born with an overflowing well of mana like me, it wasn’t much of a burden. A bit of meditation restored it quickly.
“We have some nice fresh meat, too. Shall I make stew this morning?”
Stew with meat needed quite a while to become tender.
But it was still the crack of dawn, and Hesti usually slept in. By the time she woke, it should be perfectly ready.
I tossed every ingredient into the magically created pot, confirmed it was boiling, covered it, and looked around the house.
“What a mess. She must have stayed up late with her research again.”
The living room was scattered with clutter. Since Hesti was nocturnal, she had probably been experimenting with magic deep into the night.
I sent a wind spell flowing through the room. The scattered odds and ends and papers aligned themselves neatly in an instant.
If Hesti had seen this, she would have called it an absurd waste of mana poured straight into the floor.
I still hadn’t learned any attribute magic, so I had no better options than basic spells.
‘I don’t even want to imagine life without magic.’
Looking back now, I was truly fortunate to have followed Hesti that day. Without magic I would still be suffering in that ancient civilization.
I nodded in satisfaction as I surveyed the now-spotless house.
After finishing the cleaning and checking the stew once more, I returned to the table and opened the beloved book I had been hugging all morning.
I had already read it, but there were no other books available right now. I focused on the text with such intensity that I seemed determined to memorize even the shape of every letter.
Suddenly someone hugged me from behind. The sensation was familiar. When I turned, I found a drowsy, half-asleep Hesti.
“Disciple… good morning…”
“Good morning, Master.”
“What’s for breakfast today…?”
“Meat stew. I made it a little spicy.”
“Meat stew! No wonder it smelled so good!”
Even while still half-asleep, Hesti swallowed audibly and showed her appetite. Her honesty was charming, but it hardly suited the dignity of a witch.
At least wash your face before eating. I set the book on the table, placed my hands on her swaying back, and gently pushed her toward the bathroom.
Returning to the kitchen, I prepared the dishes and carried the finished stew to the table. By then a refreshed Hesti had taken the seat across from me.
She gave the stew—packed with ingredients, spices, and fresh meat—nothing but rave reviews. She even whined that she couldn’t live without me.
“It’s delicious again today! I could eat your cooking for the rest of my life!”
“I don’t particularly want to cook for you for the rest of my life.”
“How cruel…”
“The cruel one is the master who meant that last comment seriously and not as a joke.”
Perhaps half of it really had been a joke. Hesti clicked her tongue in mild disappointment and helped clean up after the meal.
After breakfast came the usual magic research period. She cleared her throat lightly and finally spoke the words I had been waiting for.
“Disciple. It seems the time has come for you to learn attribute magic.”
“Attribute… magic?”
In this world, the mana flowing through a mage’s body carried an attribute.
Simply put, it was like a characteristic of the mana itself. Magic specialized for that attribute was called attribute magic.
For example, since Hesti possessed the plant attribute, she specialized in plant magic that could grow trees or make flowers bloom.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible to use magic outside one’s attribute. The efficiency simply dropped dramatically compared to using a compatible spell.
The standard path was to practice basic magic for about five years, then learn one’s specialized attribute magic and finally become a full-fledged mage.
For me, who had only been learning magic for two years, this was both early and late. The truth was that I had already mastered basic magic the previous year.
Yet why had I gone so long without learning attribute magic? There was an unavoidable reason.
“Has my attribute finally been identified?”
“Indeed.”
The reason was simply that until now, no one had been able to determine what my mana attribute was.
Mana attributes usually followed the four-element system: fire, water, earth, and wind.
Hesti was a dual water-earth type that manifested as the plant attribute, and most people stayed within those boundaries.
I, however, showed no affinity for any of the four elements. Such cases were apparently called special attributes.
Without knowing one’s mana attribute precisely, it was impossible to develop suitable magic.
There was also the risk of talent heading in the wrong direction. Hesti had advised that I should not learn attribute magic until we identified mine.
I didn’t mind; basic magic let me handle most tasks anyway. So I had simply replied that it was fine.
But after investigating together with Hesti and her own master—my grandmaster, by my reckoning—they had finally determined my mana attribute.
“So what is my attribute?”
“Your attribute is… star, my dear!”
“…Wait, star? You mean the stars that shine in the night sky?”
“Exactly!”
This was completely unexpected. Why would stars suddenly appear here…?
I blinked, unable to hide my bewilderment. Hesti took both my hands in hers, her face glowing with joy.
“My master says you are the first witch ever born with the star attribute! The very first star witch in history! The magical genius Liber! A legend that will be recorded in eternity!”
“Master. Even someone as shameless as me feels embarrassed when you praise me that much.”
Just how highly was this person rating my talent…? My face grew hot from Hesti’s excessive flattery.
Right. Time to change the subject. I cleared my throat lightly and asked the question that had occurred to me while listening to her.
“Then what kinds of magic are there for the star attribute?”
“Hm? Didn’t I just say you are the first star-attribute mage in history?”
Thump. A sense of foreboding rose at Hesti’s reply.
“First” had a nice ring to it, but… somehow I suspected this wasn’t going to be a pleasant story.
Before I could tell her she could stop there, Hesti continued with a bright, innocent smile.
“We’ll have to create them from now on! You, my disciple, are going to become the founder of the star magic school!”
“Ah…”
It looked like I had just gained a lot more annoying work…. Speechless, I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut.