*Bam* *Bam*
[How long has he been whacking that thing for?] Conny squinted.
Specs shrug and said nothing.
[How long till he figures out that nothing will happen, should be the question.] said Chuni. He squatted down then back up in a repeated fashion.
[Fooooooooooood~] Leth exclaimed. Leaning a bit to the group as his way of talking is too soft to be heard clearly. [He~ wantsssss foooooood~]
Recently, Antique laid his attention to the "Food Shute," finding a way to gain more food to satiate his cravings. Or to binge. Both an entertaining display and irritating predicament for everyone.
[Specs, You did check it already, right?] asked Conny. [You were sure that there's nothing of interest can be done to that thing?]
[Positively] Specs quickly said.
[Oh! No, no, no. Hays! Don't put your head in there] Conny rubbed his temples. Apparently, Antique was inspecting the inside of the shute.
[And... he bent down.] Chuni with his arms beside his waist. Giggled at the unsightly image. [A coin in hand and some determination, we can have ourselves a pachinko machine!]
[Old man! Your butt crack is showing!] shouted Conny [No! Do not! Oh- tsk, and he's scratching it too.]
Specs clutch his stomach as he laughed together with Chuni [Uw wee! This humor was not lost to me!] as he wiped a tear and continued laughing on.
Leth was squinting hard with a deep frown of disgust.
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♪Cowboy Bebop - Odd Ones♪
"Teach me magic," I said in between chewing a slice of poultry meat thoroughly. Yes, a bit forceful sounding. Even so, I need to know if he'll take notice of it.
I played around my options based on all the things I learned from my time in the library. Only two subjects of interest that played with: There's no book here that tells you how to do magic. Nevertheless, there's a lot of books that tell you what magic is; Then, there's this name. Syris' name. Or more specific be is his alias and his family name, for the previous decade, this name was synonymous for the tumultuous event of the decade, House Schallful,
And boy, this name fucked this realm up, even to the point that a decade after they were defeated, their influences still ring true.
Going back, upon hearing about magic. Syris' eyes darted quickly upon me and froze for a moment due to doubt. He gave a side glance to Tilar, who was filling a plate of toasted bread with butter and gave a frown expression as a reply.
"Pfft!" Syris stifled laughter. "Stop jesting around, go. Eat. Tilar baked this bread fresh."
"Tilar always bake the bread fresh," I thought.
The Conscience told me to be bratty for those two will feel guilty, make conversation, progress, get magic, and celebrate. That was the idea. Instead, I got silence in return.
And I almost impulsive said about the Schallful name, better judgment has told me otherwise. Since this family can fuck up this realm, then imagine what these two can do to me.
After some time,
"Magic," Syris swallowed his food. "Can you tell us what magic is, to the best of your knowledge,"
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"It's POLL TIME! PEOPLE!" I roused everyone.
A game we talked about with everyone that if something of this sorts happens, we'll let everyone have their own perspective to it and see what can sound better.
[Umm, magic is chaos? That must be controlled?] - Conny
[Certainly, magic is when science became too advanced.] - Specs
[Aye! Magic. It, uh, full o' fun! haha!] - Antique
[Immmmagiiiiiiinayyyyyyyytiiiioooonn~] - Leth
[A dance between you and the world.] - Monk
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Rubbing my chin, as the two were waiting for my answer while eating candied fruit.
"To me, magic can be anyone's imagination," I smiled. I decided to go with Leth's happy answer. Obviously, Leth is the only one we got that has a consistent obsession for anything magic.
"And, do tell where you get this from," said Syris. He dipped his yellow-colored candied fruit to his teacup, oh wait, no, he dropped it in actually.
"From the library, sir," I replied.
Syris waved his hand, "How so?" he said. He laid further back in his chair, seemingly enjoying the expectation from me.
Ahem.
I cleared my throat. Conny consistently voiced out, that we were being tested that can make or break us from this opportunity.
"Any person who dwells in magic," I paused and carefully scolded everyone in the Conscience to stop talking too fast. "be it by own capacity, by agreement with the natural world, or be gifted by divinity thus all of this stemmed from the desire of curiosity, their imagination,"
Syris clapped humorously by clapping while his hand while holding a teacup. "My, My, I am glad for that. Yes, Truly. Unfortunately, My phrasing earlier must have been wrong. Hmm, do indulge me."
I was about to speak when Syris interrupted me. "And, the question was about how you arrived at that idea. As I clearly remember, every book and every note inside that library does not tell that kind of story as you have told us."
"Yes, it has," I answered. I took a bite of the buttered bread first cause I am still hungry... and a sip from my glass of milk.
"Authors." I tapped the table with my fork. "Each book of lore, history, and theories about magic has resulted in compounded phenomenological results, often becoming contradictory to each other."
"For example, the book "Magic Be Upon Us" by Dilhelm Tuh Oponno is highly detailed, especially with your notes. In summary, that magic must follow a set of rules to be materialized accordingly. It was a mind-opening experience. Ironically, upon further reading of this subject lead me to one book. Unnamed. Written by Yogum Illty. A memoir that describes his travels and on one of his travels, he portrayed a nation's magic usage that is outside of Sir Oponno's theorized rules."
"These findings go on and on, Each one has a different take on how to use magic, nevertheless, of the many methods, they use, It just works."
Syris took a sip from his cup "If my impression is correct, then by your inference, magic is anything you want it to be?"
I nodded. I praised myself first and everyone in the Conscience. It's impossible to learn everything in that library in a short amount of time. Fortunately, we can record and replay back everything I can see, haha!
Syris smiled and looked at Tilar, who in return, smiled back, "If Arch Instructor Oponno heard that, much less, from a child, He will be livid,"
"Based on this discussion," He added. He sat straight up and pointed his index finger at the table. "If we say, I want to make my drink to turn into ice, I just have to imagine it?"
"uh, yes?" I said, unsure.
Syris smiled again. However, he shook his head this time. "If maybe I just lay it down outside at night, it'll turn into ice for a few moments. For magic, it's strongly not that simple."
"I agree with you that magic can be all to any what you want it to be. Additionally, Arch Instructor Oponno is right about one of his theories. For magic to be "persuaded" a Bridgeway or a catalyst foundation must be laid down first. Since you have read most of the related literature in the library, are you aware of the foundation he meant?"
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*click*
Before I can ask around and play another game with everyone, I heard a click, and someone was talking so very slowly, and I realized that it was Leth that was talking.
[woooooorddddsss... looootsss offfff woooooorddddsss.]
*click*
Obviously, I have no idea what Syris was talking about.
Conny decided to wander away from this conversation and just continued on flicking his booger at Chuni.
Specs tried his fastest to search for any keywords or footnote he can find that closely associate with what Syris meant.
Chuni argued that the answer was magic crystals... or was it stone?
Monk sat down and meditated. Continued to ignore everyone.
Leth... well, he's the best bet I got.
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Words.
I composed myself first. Leaned more to the chair's backrest. Closed my eyes. PANIC!
I did not bother to turn on my speaker to the Conscience. They were busy in their own guesses that it doesn't even matter to even ask.
Uh, ah, fuck it!
The best and only lead I got is from Leth, who by the way, looked like a post-pot-session shaggy, and I am not confident in my chances to stay alive if I handle this awfully,
Here goes nothing.
Syris twirled the butter spoon around as he eagerly waited from my dumbass answer. I sat straight up and took a deep breath.
"Can it be? The answer must not be that easy." I bluff. I need time.
"Sef." Syris sternly said.
Oh boy, this is not going swimmingly.
"Sigh. Can it be that the answer you are looking for is words?" I shooked my head as I resign to a fault.
What follows was something out of anyone's expectation. I am eagerly reminded by Conny that if my luck has run out, I can expect the wrath of what we suspect is the last remaining member of House Schallful.
And my luck still holds on it seems. The reason for this is as soon I said that Tilar laughed. Syris, who was staring down at me, couldn't help but wonder and gazed at Tilar.
Tilar waved us off and prompted told Syris to not worry and adding to his sentence when Syris was a child and some other parts I don't understand.
"Are you not aware of the first step in magic?" asked Syris. He mellowed down his tone to a more understanding position.
I nodded in reply.
"Maybe you're right," Syris said to Tilar.
"Oh, of course, I am." Tilar grinned at Syris.
Syris sighed. His demeanor change. The suffocating feeling was gone, replaced by a teacher kinda feel. He told Tilar to clear the table, even the table sheet was grabbed, only three things he left in the table: A container of salt, a jar of bread crumbs, and water;
"Let us lean on basic knowledge, but first, I will be needing you to write down your name on the table with these three here."
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[A curse scam... I'll allow it] said, Conny.
[Hmm? Explain.] Specs was taken aback.
[Usually, the devils ask your full name for in exchange for miracles.] Chuni explained
[That hoax- Ignore what I just said, why are we agreeing to this?] Specs protested.
[Fooooooooor Magic.] Said Leth.
[Do it! Do it! Do it!] Antique cheered on.
[Monk! Are you perhaps seeing this?!] Specs asked.
[No. But I am listening,] Monk formed a smile. [No harm has been done. The water is still, and we must observe the calmness.]
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"Let's repeat that one more, shall we?" said Syris "Your first name is Sephiroth, your sobriquet is none, the succeeding name is Clive-Strange then followed by Kratamuth- Oh? My apologies, krar-taxez-muth was it? Yes, moving on. Followed by a middle initial of E (Eih in Ryt) this last part, I can imply will be your family name, Dovsenjuelric. Are you trying to pull a jest on me, boy? What sort of lowborn- Nevermind. Let's continue on with the magic lesson." I heard a cough from the doorway behind me.
"Kindly bunch up the salt and breadcrumbs you used and put it at the center of the table." Syirs laid his elbows on the table, resting his head on his hands. "Done?"
I nodded.
"This brings me back to the time when I was a kid. Sit where you are comfortable when listening." Then he pointed at the small hill I made "Remember when Tilar laughed when you answered with words about the foundation of magic? Magic is words that came from sentences that came from phrases that came from languages. You may rejoice for you were somewhat correct."
"The foundation of magic is languages. Before we took on how magic can be done, we must look at who can use magic. Frankly, almost anyone and anything can use magic. Heavy emphasis on "can" as you are required to sense and touch the magic all around us. Thankfully, in this time of age, we can inspect your affinity to magic by using contraptions."
Syris grabbed the cup of water. "With this, the actions I have told you: Writing your name with those two ingredients, laying them in the middle of the table. Leaving you with water. The writing of your name is the base form of your magic which is language, the two ingredients serve as the thoughts and intent of what you meant,"
"Moving all of it in the middle of the table means that your magic is ready to be form, but it is the initial forming stages," He poured the cup of water in the mixture. "Is the water enough, Sef?" he asked.
"No, sir," I replied.
"Indeed. The water can represent the source of magic. Mixing it together will create something out of it, but our mixture's water is not enough, and we must add more to produce what we need." He lifts a pitcher of water from the side and poured water to the mixture until a desired wet texture is accomplished and continued kneading it.
"Since our mixture is in a desired and able form, we must now temper it to our desired shape. Remember now, this is the crucial step of materializing intended magic to reality."
"Focus and Relax," said Syris. Then Tilar suddenly appeared to the sides with a cart that has a miniaturized oven on it. He put his hands on a sack of flour and threw dashes of flour on the mixture before tossing it in the oven.
As the mixture of salt, breadcrumbs, and water snuggled and expand in the oven. I stared at this man in white clothes, furry sandals, and his fancy ash-silver hair. DAMN YOU! HOW DARE YOU EXPLAIN MAGIC TO ME IN A BAKING FASHION! HOW DARE YOU RUIN MY EXPECTATIONS! WITH YOUR SMUGGY LOOKING FACE!
Oh hey, it's smelling like smoke salty here, and not in a good way,
Tilar grabbed the bread-like stupidity in the oven and threw it haphazardly at the table.
"What? This is what usually magic is." Syris shrugged my doubtful glare at him. He pinched a piece of the monstrosity and ate it. "Ptui! Oh! That destroyed my tongue. So salty! Ugh! Tilar, why didn't you warned me beforehand!"
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[Hot! Damn! Teaching magic through baking... so cool! Why didn't I think of that!] Chuni hopped and shouted.
*PAK*
[LANGUANGE!]