The Magic Lesson That Broke the Genius
"Ouch, ouch..."
Ryude was once again using a stone as a cold compress. Alicia looked at him with a sheepish expression.
"I already said I was sorry. I'll teach you magic, so cheer up already."
That night, the two of them went down to the stream and lit a campfire. It was still too early to sleep, and the food they'd eaten for dinner hadn't fully settled yet. They sat on a suitably large rock.
"So, how do we do this?"
"Have you ever heard of mana?"
"Mana?"
"Yeah. Think of it as a kind of energy that flows through your body, like blood."
Mana. It was a word that came up all the time in fantasy stories. Ryude nodded, roughly understanding the concept.
"Does everyone have this mana thing?"
"Of course. The only difference is how much mana each person possesses."
"Really? For something so common, I've never seen a single person using magic."
"I'll explain that later. First, you need to learn how to sense the mana inside you."
Alicia placed her hand on Ryude's back.
"Since this is your first time, I'll help you. From now on, I'm going to send my mana into you. When someone else's mana flows in, your body heats up from the resistance, right? I'm only sending a tiny amount, so don't worry. Anyway, the part that gets hot is where your mana is flowing. You need to be able to feel that. Got it?"
"Uh, I don't really understand, but sure, I get it."
"Then let's begin. It'll probably be easier if you close your eyes."
Ryude closed his eyes. He felt something slowly creeping in from his back. At first it was a pleasant warmth, but it gradually grew hotter, like it was boiling.
It's getting hot, so I guess I do have mana after all.
He'd been worried he might be completely talentless, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
"How is it? Can you feel it?"
"I think I can?"
"Oh, that's fast~"
Was he really supposed to sense this on his own? It seemed doable enough. "Wait, take your hand off."
"Huh? Is it too hot?"
"No. I need to be able to do this without your help anyway."
"That's true, but... Wait a second."
Alicia gave him a mocking smile.
"Don't tell me you think you can do it alone just because you felt it once?"
"What are you talking about? Whether it works or not, I have to try. I can't keep relying on you every time."
Alicia's eyebrows arched into perfect semicircles. It was the exact look of a veteran watching a clueless newbie.
"Ugh, just stay still and let me help you. Normal people need at least a month of practice to sense their mana. Of course, I managed it in a week."
"Agh, seriously. I said I'd try it myself."
Ryude suddenly stood up. Alicia's hand slipped off his back.
"Fine. Go ahead and try then."
It was common for ignorant beginners to be overconfident. In these cases, it was better to let them fail spectacularly and learn from the frustration. It was a hundred, no, a thousand times better than letting them crash later.
There's no way he'll succeed.
Alicia was a mage called a genius. If even she had needed a full week, there was no chance he'd manage it in a single day. Not even a day—only ten minutes. If you compared it to a newborn, he'd barely just come out of the womb and started crying.
"Huh? I think I got it."
"See? It's not working, right? Now just give up and... Wait, what did you say?"
Alicia was momentarily stunned, but she quickly turned away, assuming he was joking.
"Isn't this how it's supposed to work?"
"Th-this is..."
A pure white glow was radiating from Ryude's hand. It was the so-called mana discharge—a phenomenon that occurred when mana was condensed at a single point. It was a technique that normally required some proficiency in sensing mana first. Besides, she hadn't even taught him that yet.
"H-how did you do that!?"
"It just... worked?"
Alicia's jaw dropped.
Mana Discharge
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"You're asking me that!?"
Alicia suddenly puffed up in irritation. Ryude couldn't understand why.
"You lied to me! You said you couldn't use magic!"
"I really can't."
"Stop lying! Then how did you do that in ten minutes!?"
...What was he supposed to do if it only took ten minutes?
"You said you'd teach me magic. This isn't magic, is it?"
He condensed mana at his fingertip again, just like before. It glowed white, but any decent flashlight would be brighter. Was this supposed to be some kind of flash spell?
"...You really don't know?"
She stuck her lips out in a suspicious pout.
"I really don't."
"For real?"
"For real."
"Swear on the heavens?"
"Ugh. Just teach me already. If you don't, I'll seriously kick you out."
"...If you're lying, you're dead meat."
She still looked doubtful. Still, he had no explanation to give her. It really had just worked—what was he supposed to say?
Alicia cleared her throat.
"Ahem. So where was I?"
"Up to sensing mana."
"Right. You won't need to practice sensing mana every day... I guess."
Alicia shot him a resentful glare before continuing.
"Sigh. Next is elemental affinity."
"Elemental affinity?"
"Yes. It's determined from birth. I've never seen anyone change it later in life."
"Interesting."
Alicia raised a single finger. A glow appeared and began emitting a blue light. It was the same mana discharge Ryude had produced with his white light.
"As you can see, the color of mana changes depending on your elemental affinity."
"Whoa, that's cool. So you're ice attribute?"
"No, this is water attribute. The ice magic you saw before is derived from water magic."
"I see."
They seemed somewhat related.
"Can people only have one attribute?"
"Not necessarily."
Alicia picked up a tree branch and drew on the dirt where she'd cleared away the pebbles.
"There are seven attributes in magic: fire, water, earth, wind, light, darkness, and void. Most people have just one of these. However..."
She unfurled her remaining fingers. Her index finger still glowed blue, but her middle finger emitted red light. Then her ring and pinky fingers took on brown and green hues respectively. Finally, her thumb glowed the same white as Ryude's.
"There are people like me who can use multiple attributes."
"What...?"
He'd thought her blue hair meant she could only use ice magic. Turns out she was an elemental master.
"By the way, how many mages can use five attributes like you...?"
"Probably just me?"
"........."
Then why had she made such a fuss? She was the real cheat character here. Ryude was speechless.
"Sigh. So what attribute am I?"
"You're void attribute."
"Is that pretty rare?"
"No, it's the most common one."
Of course it was.
"But it's also the hardest to handle, and its limits aren't clearly defined."
"Hardest to handle?"
"The other attributes are all connected to nature. So they can't defy the laws of nature. But void is different. It uses the power of mana itself. I only use it for body reinforcement, but other skilled users incorporate it into swordsmanship."
"Incorporate it into swordsmanship. Like shooting sword energy through the air?"
"Huh? Now that you mention it, it's pretty similar."
"For real?"
This was a world of swords and magic. If you asked why swords were involved, the answer was simple: because the swords here used magic. Honestly, if slicing through space with a sword wasn't magic, what was it? It was an impossible feat with pure swordsmanship alone.
Anyway.
"Then what about the other two attributes? Light and darkness."
"Ah, not much is known about those two. They exist, but if you searched the entire world, you'd probably only find enough users to count on your fingers."
"That rare?"
"Yeah. The Saintess, who is the proxy of the creator god Ollun, probably has light attribute, and the famous Blood Witch likely has darkness. Well, it's not confirmed."
Those two made sense. They seemed to be the truly rare attributes.
"Whew."
After hearing everything, Ryude stood up.
"I roughly understand the theory. Now teach me practical magic."
Alicia didn't answer for a while. When he turned around, he saw her hesitating.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"Ah... well, you see..."
She rubbed her thighs awkwardly and glanced at him before speaking.
"The thing is, void attribute is a bit... hard to call magic..."
"?? Didn't you say there was body reinforcement magic?"
"That's just condensing mana into the body part you want to strengthen..."
"Oh, really? Then teach me how to shoot sword energy."
"...I don't use swords, so..."
In short, she had no magic to teach him. When Ryude frowned, Alicia quickly turned her head away.
"So?"
"Y-yes?"
"What did you say you'd do if your magic lessons sucked?"
When you thought about it, she'd only taught him how to sense mana for ten minutes. Everything else was stuff he could learn by reading a book. Alicia stubbornly played dumb until the end.
The next morning.
Ryude left Alicia sleeping like the dead and headed to the stream alone. He wanted to put the knowledge he'd crammed into his head last night to use as soon as possible.
First, body reinforcement magic. He focused his internal mana into his feet.
"Whoa, it actually works?"
She'd said it wasn't magic, but to Ryude, it was definitely magic. His feet felt incredibly light. At this rate, he could run or walk for hours without getting tired.
Next, he focused on his thighs. His jumping power increased dramatically.
Boing. Boing.
"Holy shit!"
If this wasn't magic, what was? It felt like riding an amusement park ride by himself.
Just then, a branch rolling at his feet caught his eye. A man's romance. It was time to try out space-cutting.
"Do I just gather mana in the branch and my hand?"
When in doubt, just try it. Ryude closed his eyes and focused on the mana inside his body. Gradually, the mana traveled down his arm and into his hand. A pure white glow rose up, just like yesterday.
"Now."
He felt it click. He put strength into his forearm, used his core, and swung the branch.
Shiiiing—
Along the exact path of his swing, a translucent blade of energy shot forward. It struck a tree across the stream and vanished.
"Ah~ It worked, but the power is still pretty weak."
It wasn't strong enough to cut the tree. Maybe about twenty percent of the way through.
Thud.
"H-how did you just do that?"
Alicia, who had come out late, dropped her bathing basket. Her mouth trembled as she stared in shock.
"Hm? It just worked?"
Alicia's jaw dropped once again.