Each morning, after some simple martial arts training, I make my way to the forest and quickly complete the day's chores by hunting game and gathering the materials necessary to convince my family that nothing is amiss. Afterwards, I travel into the depths of the forest so that I can practise magic.
Thus, my days that were once used for hunting and gathering are now dedicated to intense magic training.
I have even started carrying my lunch with me when I leave the house each morning. Maybe my family thinks that I enjoy hunting and gathering.
Currently, I was reading a book called "Guide for Intermediate's Class Magic". As I have now completely mastered First level spells, I now advanced to the Second level ones.
According to the book,"Attack Magic"can be further divided based on attributes. Until now, I only knew about the primary magic attributes"Fire""Water"and"Earth".
However, as one advanced deeper into the branch of magic, new attributes are discovered.
Now, the book introduced 2 new attributes in the Second level. The two new attributes were"Ice"and"Lightning".
Spell related to them were also listed and more spells of the previous attribute were added.
I tried out everything.
Even though each spell was elementary, the amount of mana it took to cast them varied.
Using the Water Ball as my standard. A single cast expends two to twenty water balls worth of mana based on the spell.
In spells related to Ice, it seems the amount of mana used is correlated to the temperature. The higher the amount of mana used, the colder the ice got.
The book had also explained how to change the spell's size and speed.
Let's try it out then.
After that, I tried various means to change the spell's size.
I tried casting two different spells at the same time.
I tried changing the size of the spells at the same time.
However, I couldn't change either the size or the speed of any spell. Was I doing something wrong?
Hmmm...
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[1 Week Later]
By now, I've gotten a basic understanding of the concept behind incantation.
There are certain steps to incantations.
「Creation」 → 「Setting of size」 → 「Setting of firing speed」 → 「Activation」
Within this, the magic spell is done once the user determines the size and speed.
Which means after the chant,
1) The spell automatically takes shape.
2) After this, within a fixed time frame, increase the mana input to adjust the size.
3) After the size adjustment, during a fixed time frame with extra mana input, was the adjustment of the speed setting.
4) Once the preparation period's over, the magic spell leaves the caster's hand, and automatically flies towards its target.
This is the sequence of the entire thing.
This is most probably correct...I think.
The trick is that after chanting, I need to add more mana twice.
If there's no adjustment to the size, the firing speed adjustment won't occur. It's no wonder that when I tried to fire the spell, the only thing that happened was the size-changing, nothing else.
And to add on, the book has introduced"Voiceless Incantation".
It supposed to be an upper-class technique that is several times faster than an incantation. However, it's incredibly hard to learn.
The way"Voiceless Incantation"works is for the caster to recall the feeling of using that spell and imitating it in his mind. However, this requires redoing the flow of the mana in one's own body which was very hard to do.
As such, many magicians only use incantation. As in Incantation, there's no need to replicate the feeling; he can just complete it if he let out his voice.
『Incantation will automatically cast magic.』
There'll be several advantages to using incantations.
Firstly, it's easy.
Instead of explaining it as gathering the blood from the blood vessels in my body, every one can simply recite it and succeed instead? Both teacher and student will have an easier time.
And after teaching this over and over again, it'll become「Incantation is something quintessential」.
Secondly, It's convenient to use.
Needless to say, attack magic's meant to be used in combat.
Instead of closing your eyes and going "Mmmmmmm...." while concentrating, it's faster to recite it quickly.
It's a question of which is easier, to run with all of one's strength while drawing a clear picture, or to run with all of one's strength while chanting.
「It must be different for various people. Maybe some would find it easier with the former.....」
However, I was going to learn"Voiceless Incantation". There were 3 main reasons for this.
1) Even though it's a hassle, it can reduce the time needed to change the size and firing speed.
2) It's possible to be several times faster than an incantation, as such it will be insanely helpful in combat.
3) Also, modifications can be done during the creation phase of a voiceless incantation.
This is becoming interesting!!
...... But the basics are definitely important.
I'll have to wait until my overall mana increases before experimenting any further.
「Increase my mana capacity」
「Use Voiceless Incantation until it's as easy as breathing」
These are my two assignments for the time being.
Alright, time to work hard.
And so, I kept practising elementary magic until I nearly fainted.
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[The next day]
Today I will be trying the new spell I recently learned. The past week I had been experimenting around a little so I haven't used them after the day I discovered them.
I hold the guidebook in my left hand, stretched out my right, and read out the words.
「"Electro Ball"」
This spell was a"Attack Type","Lightning"attribute,"Dino"level spell.
The moment I recited the spell, a basketball-sized lightning ball was formed in my hand.
It flew towards one of the trees at high speed.
Crash.
The branches snapped easily, and I could still see the sparks from its after-effect.
W-Woah!
I knew that the difference between the First and Second level spell was huge but I didn't think it would have been to this extend!
Next, I tried the Ice attribute spell.
I raise my hand once again and recited.
「"Ice strike"」
This spell was a"Attack Type","Ice"attribute,"Dino"level spell.
In front of my hand, a column of ice started to appear. I could feel the coldness it was exempting on my palm.
The ice flew out with great force and a whoosh.
And another tree falls over with a loud crack.
I started to look rather excited by the strength of new spells, and just when I was about to cast the next spell,
「AHHHH!!!!!!!!!」
I heard a scream behind me.