I walked into my mom's study and looked at her. It looked as if she was deep in thought.
"Hey mom." I said. "What are you doing?"
She noticed me walk inside. "Hey Rin! Sorry, I was thinking about a spell that I was going to teach you in today's lesson."
"What kind of spell is it?" I said.
As some of you might have already guessed, my mother was a magical practitioner. In this world, magic could be taught by means of books or practical usage. Depending on your class, you could cast self-buffs, offensive magic, and buffs/debuffs to others. My mother's class was that of a Sorcerer, meaning that she relied on tomes and sigils to cast spells of various elements. Early on, I had shown an aptitude in mana control, meaning I could become a Wizard, if I tried hard enough.
"Alright, so today, you're going to learn about Shackle." Mom said.
"What's Shackle? Is it similar to Bind?" I said, confused.
"Well...yes and no." Mom said
She picked up her tome.
"Let me demonstrate."
She began to chant a bit and, bit by bit, mana started to flow around her fingertips. Not long after, it seemed that her chant was completed and the magic was stored in her tome.
"Alright, let's go outside, I'll show you how Shackle works." Mom said.
---
"Okay, stand back, Rin." Mom said. "You see that wooden plank?"
"Yeah?" I said.
"Shackle!"
Suddenly, mana shot out from her palm in the form of a light-blue colored rope. It began to spin in a circular motion faster and faster, until it finally came into contact with the wooden plank.
𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘤𝘬!
The mana rope had tied up the wooden plank to a nearby tree, immobilizing it- if it could move, that is.
"Fuuu, how's that?" Mom said.
"That was cool! It's like if Bind was a projectile!" I said.
"Exactly. Whereas Bind is more of an instant cast that constricts movement for a short while, Shackle- if you can manage to hit the target, can immobilize them for a long period of time, giving you a chance to escape, or maybe even get another hit in." Mom explained.
"Cool! How do I learn it?" I said, brimming with excitement.
"Same as the other spells I've taught you so far, Rin." Mom said. "You're more of a practical user and learner of magic, so try to imagine a rope made of mana and make it."
"Okay." I said as I began. "Fuuuuu"
I closed my eyes and imagined a rope similar to my mom's. Slowly, mana began to condense around my hand as a rope-like object began to appear.
[MP: 15/20]
"Okay mom, I made the rope. Do I just send it flying?" I said.
'I knew it, Rin's ability to imagine and manipulate mana is insane. I've only gotten that much control only recently, and yet he's only 7 years old!' Hina thought to herself.
"Yeah, try to propel the rope forward at the plank again with some rotation. Don't push yourself too hard, or else you'll get mana fatigue!" Mom said.
"I know, Mom. I'll try not to use too much mana" I said as I prepared to launch the rope.
Mana in this world- or MP, as some call it, is often very limited: Use too much of it and you'll get mana fatigue, causing dizziness and headaches. Unlike HP, which regenerated naturally at a slow pace, mana could only be replenished by mana potions made of bitter herbs, or by sitting down and harnessing the mana in the air. Everything in this world is made of mana, and so by essentially following the Law of Equivalent Exchange, you can gain, create, and destroy mana, and it would just return to the world.
I began to visualize the rope being propelled forward as I did a throwing motion.
'Hmm...what if I add some wind magic to this?' I thought.
As soon as I launched the mana rope, I began to channel some wind magic speeding up the spin of the rope.
[MP: 10/20]
Eventually, the rope began to spin so fast, it looked like a giant blade saw was being hurled towards the already immobilized plank. And then it struck.
[Spell Learned: Elemental Shackles!]
𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮!
"What?! What happened?!" Mom said, shocked at what she just saw.
As the dust began to clear up, we could see the rope, wrapped around the tree glowing with a light-green hue, and what seems to be the remains of the plank on the ground, shattered into pieces. The tree looked like it was being squeezed.
"How did you do that?! I've never seen something like this before!" Mom said.
"I-I don't know Mom. I just wanted to make the rope spin faster so I added a little bit of wind magic at the edges." I said.
"Oh. my. god...You are a genius! That's my little Rin!" Mom said with a huge grin. "Come here, Rin!"
Mom hugged me with all her strength. It felt...warm. I've always wanted to have a loving family. Mom and Dad in real life were always fighting. Whether it was about Dad always coming home so late, or about Mom not letting Dad spend money, there was always something to fight about. But here....here I felt like I was loved.
"Love you, Mom." I said with a soft smile.
"Love you too, Rin" Mom said. "Now, let's go inside and tell Dad all about it, shall we?"
"Sure." I said with a smile.
And we both went inside, not knowing what was about to happen next.