Chapter 69 : Omni
The next fifteen minutes were spent practicing magic refinement by the pair of newbie magic practitioners. For Agni she found her newfound knowledge refreshing. She cycled through each of her magic elements, Fire, Wind, Water, Earth and Lightning using each to create a sphere. It took her only a few moments to understand Gigi's explanation intimately.
Mana was like an extension of one's body, or rather it was more like having an extra limb in some ways. She could "feel" the mana even with her eyes closed. Due to this, she could also feel the mana particles slipping away initially. After a few tries Agni identified and anticipated the way that the stray magic particles would move and began to recapture them, sending them back to the center of the magical mass. Mana behaved more like a mass of matter in space might, with a center of gravity. Due to this a sphere was the most common shape of all magical constructs and also the easiest to practice magic refinement on.
At first, Agni practiced with immutable energy, that is mana without an affinity. This energy was generally blue in color. Within the first few minutes she managed to cut down the lost amount of mana to 50%, and within the first five 90%. She could tell that it would still take some time to master, but the fatigue from using prolonged magic was significantly diminished. What's more her mana was able to outpace the amount of energy she used to sustain the technique so Gigi's words were indeed true -- she could sustain this indefinitely. She would practice to avoid wasting any energy at all in the future, but for now she decided to move to the next step -- moving her mana.
This was something Agni managed to accomplish almost instantly. Once she acquired the ability of Elemental Manipulation, she could already perform the task. The main issue that prevented her from using the technique effectively was once again the mana expenditure. After moving a mass of magic particles a certain distance from her body, she would be forced to endure a dip in mana. This dip wasn't constant, but it occurred based on distance. First three meters, then two meters, then eventually every one meter.
With Gigi's help Agni learned that she was also doing this wrong as well.
"It's better to think of magic manipulation in terms of pushing and pulling rather than exerting constant force. For example, imagine playing baseball or tennis -- when the ball is struck it travels regardless. Magic is the same."
After putting Gigi's guidance into practice Agni once again was surprised with the results. She could force an orb of magical energy forward over six meters before the mass of magic would extinguish on its own. The distance was related to the amount of mana she used to "push" the construct, while the life of the construct was related to the amount of mana she infused within it.
Finally, after getting even more familiar with her magic she decided to incorporate elements into the mana sphere and perform the same actions. The effects were roughly the same, although Agni found that dealing with elements required a certain level of consideration when handling all of the aforementioned aspects of magic use. At her current stage of proficiency, she could only accomplish everything she needed to do at 50% effect. Still, this was enough to more than double the amount of magic she had for use. She couldn't help but beam with pride as she watched the flickering orb of fire element hover in her palm.
She felt it was a good stopping point, so she decided to watch Katrin at work. Now that she got a good look at her, Katrin looked absolutely smashing in her witch's outfit. Her dark hair and emerald green eyes shimmered as she diligently put effort into her tasks to activate magic. She found that Katrin was even better than her, for she created several spheres of different elements and was manipulating them independently. The grimoire she had given life to just minutes before hovered next to her, taking on a different outline of magical aura with each mental instruction Katrin gave it.
"Gigi.." Agni said as she watched Katrin practicing with her free-magic.
"Yes?"
"Why doesn't Katrin have any magical tattoos?" Agni asked.
Gigi thought for a few moments before responding.
"Oh!" She said, finally understanding Agni's question.
"You mean magic veins. That's actually a good question." Gigi responded.
"There are two methods for conjuring mana. Inner and Outer. Generally, people fall into one category or the other. In Katrin's case, she's an Outer user. I guess the best way to explain it is, Outer users rely on the ambient energy within the environment to conjure spells, in fact that energy makes up the majority of their spells. Inner users use more of their own mana reserves, the amount of ambient energy they use is much smaller."
"So...what's the difference?" Agni then asked as she watched beads of perspiration shimmer along Katrin's brow.
"There's a few key differences. Inner users have magic veins to quickly move the mana power around their body. Since it's local energy, it's much quicker. This makes Inner users better with free-magic. Outer users have to gather the energy, so it takes longer, but because the energy they pull is largely from the environment it's much more potent and pure. This means it's also more powerful."
"Oh..that makes sense. But..then why don't my magical veins activate all of the time?" Agni asked.
Gigi stared at her for a few moments, seemingly as if she was lost in thought before a lightbulb went off in her brain.
"No way. You're an Omni?" Gigi seemed legitimately excited, so much so that she grabbed Agni's hands and held them as she drew face to face.
Agni couldn't help but notice the freckles on Gigi's cheeks as her pale skin grew flush from the excitement.
*She's so cute.*
"What's that?" Agni asked, trying not to get too wrapped up in Gigi's aura.
"That's someone who can do both! You can literally choose whether you want to use Inner or Outer depending on the situation. You may even be able to use both at the same time."
Gigi was clearly more excited than Agni about this. It didn't seem like that big of a deal, but then again Agni's knowledge of magic was also very limited at this point.
"That's like-- really rare! I only know one other person who's an Omni and that's the co-leader of the chapel!" Gigi resorted to unabashed excitement the moment Agni's energy didn't match her own, she even bounced as she spoke.
"This….this is great!" Gigi said with a spin before finally turning to face Agni yet again. Katrin, who'd been listening to the conversation as she practiced also stopped at this point.
"Let's spar!" Gigi said as she took a few steps back and pulled her weapon from the sheathe on her waist.