Studying magic was tedious, it soon became clear that this book was meant for people without an affinity for magic. The first part of the book was literally a variety of practices to discover what type of magic one hand. Essentially there were three types of magic.
Mind, body, and soul where the three types of 'mages'.
Just as i thought when i first read it, people with mind magic seemed to be this world's version of psychics. Not only were their affinities usually based in literal physics-energy based magic like light, fire, lightning, and water elements. On top of these elemental alignments, they were gifted in 'mystic arts' which included powers like telekinesis and astral projection.
Body mages had greater affinity for the elemental magics than anything else and, as the name implied, worked magic with their bodies. Reading their descriptions made me think of cultivators and other nerdy stuff because they usually required martial action to use their powers. Body mages were usually what people without affinities became.
As well, body mages required actual physical training to use most forms of combat magics.
Soul mages were something of a combination between the two and often had the most or most varied affinities, including opposing magics like fire and water. They could also use magic by 'will', which was the combination of the thought process mind mages used and guiding actions of body mages. Rather, will was probably what the other two magic types were trying to achieve.
Where a mind mage would have to understand the process of creating fire to make a flame and a body mage would have to perform an action related to fire- the book advised gestures of friction like snapping or clapping- a soul mage would simply have to think of a flame and look at where they wanted it.
Once i figured out that each of the practice magic sections were divided by those three types, my studies started to pick up speed. But only a little, i still had to read through the basic needs of each mage and what was advised to have at hand while practicing magic. Of course, an experienced mage- age unspecified- was the first requirement.
After a little more reading, i came to the first real magic section. This entire area of the book was about the different elements, but this first section was toward 'prime elements' such as fire and water and lightning. In fact, fire was the very first actual magic in the book.
I went ahead and read the practice magic while looking for my mother, and when i finally found her out back i did not even say anything. The book was huge in my hands and full of small, serious script, so i was working hard to commit everything to memory. However, she looked up and just watched me with a faint smile the entire time.
Finally, after i had taken the time to gain all the insights provided for each mage, i decided to test myself as a mind mage- or wizard- first. The book described in an odd sort of detail the process i should use, which was to hold out my hand and visualize the gathering of warmth or heat into a single spot. Alongside this was a the odd part that i could only chalk up to my Divine Translation, the book described starting fire in scientific detail.
The point of this practice was to spend time meditating on the energy that creates fire and the properties which sustain it. The process described was the same as starting a friction fire with sticks, so it was not hard for me to concentrate on the process. However, almost as soon as i held out my hand and closed my eyes to think about the warmth of my body and generating friction, there was a sudden warmth in my hand.
Of course it was the usual generic blah, as soon as i tried to use magic I USED MAGIC.
No bigger than the flame at the end of a struck match, a little ball of bright orange fire and burning in the palm of my hand. As it burned, i could vaguely feel the pull of something around my body toward the flame. But it was not just around me, there was some small invisible force being drawn from within me as well as the surrounding area.
Widening my hand while imagining the flame within its cupped palm growing, i can feel the pull grow stronger as the flame actually starts to grow as well. Finally, it clicked in my head that this pull was the draw of my magic in use and expending energy. Then, closing my hand, i extinguish the flame with but a thought.
"So, you're a wizard just like I'm a witch," my mother seems to muse, smiling widely to flash shiny white teeth in pride. "With a mind like yours, there is little else you COULD be."
I was not sure why, but something about her statement was dissatisfying. After a few seconds of mulling it over, i realized that it was more than that. it was disappointing.
Not only was it too damn easy to use magic on my first try, but it barely used any energy. The book had warned that using too much magic caused magic deficiency which caused mental and physical ailments. The first time i used magic, i barely felt anything at all but the use of magic.
Then again, i was sent here by some crazy-eyed godly being. It would not surprise me if i turned out to have infinite magic. For just this reason, i felt the urge to try a few other tricks.
Holding my hand back out, i keep my mind clear of everything else but the image of the flame i once held. Then, only a little surprisingly, the flame reappeared in my hand. Closing my hand to extinguish this flame, i quickly open it again and keep my mind completely clear before snapping my fingers.
Instead of a fire in my hand, my hand simply caught on fire this time. My last two tries were basically the same, but this new flame confirmed my suspicions.
"Mother... i have all three magics," i inform her after a second of consideration, wondering if i should tell her or not. She was already looking at me in confused shock, the second type of magic fire would have given it away eventually.
My mother said nothing for a while, just stared at my hand enclosed in a glove of bright orange fire. Then, after almost a full minute of silence, she asks, "Is that even possible? Empress Avera was only a soul mage, affinities aside. This... this goes beyond 'unheard of'."
Giving my mother a very bland stare, i say, "You're asking me? I'm a one-year-old."
Smiling wryly, my mother simply shakes her head and says, "If I hadn't given birth to you, I would call you a liar." Then, more to herself than to me, she says, "I doubt even my parents would know anything about this... I'll get in contact with an old teacher. Go ahead and continue practicing magic, you'll be fine since you have will. I'll be right back."
Left alone to my own devices, i simply continued reading into the next element and practice magic. Water. The details this time were not as odd, but the precipitation process was used to teach mages about the constant presence of their element around them.
Since i was also a soul mage who could use will, i did not even bother reading all of the practice material. The introductory lesson about the element of water itself was more than enough for me to work with. I mean, i already knew the air was full of water to begin with.
Instead of working with any of the meditations or physical practices, i went straight for conjuring out of thin air with will. I held out my hand without closing my eyes and simply said, "Water." Like magic, the air around my hand grew heavy and cold for a few moments before the moisture in the air condensed and started dripping into the cupped palm of my hand.
Unlike with fire, i decided to try playing around with water magic. The practice magic was simply to coalesce water from the air and nothing more, the first step to any of the actual skills and spells of water magic. Of course, since i had soul magic and a decent Earth education, i was not worried about any in between steps.
Exerting my will on the water in my hand by whim, the same way i had conjured the water, i command it by thought to rise.
I held little more than an ounce of water, but that ounce thinned upward into the air like a thin vaguely moving twig. Then, remembering the different types of magic i had read about, i divide the stick of water into two halves for experimenting. On the first twig, i decided to reach for mystic arts and imagined all of the thermal energy being stripped from the water.
At the same time, i wordlessly commanded the other half of the pseudo-solid water to simply freeze. The second half, obviously, froze in an instant but the first half slowly solidified for real. It honestly was honestly pretty cool to watch, like liquid glass cooling into a blob but without the glow of heat.
Flicking my wrist to dismiss the pieces of ice without any real goal in mind, i end up sending them flying across the yard where they shattered like glass against the fence. Unlike anything else so far, the pull of energy from within me to perform this feat of magic was incredible. My breath caught in my throat from the surprise and a light sweat broke out on my forehead.
Even the hand i had used to send them flying was vaguely trembling.
After a few breaths to collect and steady myself, i flip back through the early pages of the book. Here, i found several methods for checking one's overall magical capacity as well as self-recovery methods for replenishing lost energy. Once i had a feasible set of methods in mind, i closed my eyes to try meditating.
With a slight push from my soul magic will, i quickly found myself within the darkness of my own mind. It was scarily familiar hear, motionless nothing that stretched out as far as existence. This was the same nothing as when i was dead.
Focusing on myself, i was soon aware of a force or energy that permeated the void within myself. This was the same energy that had been drawn into my spells earlier, my innate magic. This was also one of the first skills early mages were supposed to learn.
Because this would usually come before the use of magic, and was also how people without an affinity would initially learn magic, mages could feel the differences in how much magic they had before and after. For me, i had already used a lot of magic so i had no idea how much i should- or should not- have.
"Show me how much mana i have," i command with my soul, using an Earth term i thought might apply, hoping to make my life a little easier at the moment.
Then, within the darkness suddenly appeared a bar of light as tall as i was and only a few inches away. The bar itself was outlined in white but the color within was currently green. A few inches of the top of the bar was empty and black, showing how much 'mana' i had used.
This was literally a power meter, and even though i had used so much to cause physical reactions i had not even used ten percent of my overall capacity. Opening my eyes to break my meditation, i honestly find myself relieved to know that my power was not unlimited. Although i could do whatever i wanted with magic because of will, it was at least limited by how much power i had.
Now, i needed to find out how much power i had relative to another mage. Did i have the usual amount for a noob magic user or was i already at a trained level? My mother would probably know.
Lightning, earth, wind, light, dark, and healing magics all came and went as easily as fire and water. Since i already had two methods of making ice, i did not bother reading the extension of the water element. However, the earth element was broken down into three parts.
Wood, stone, and metal.
Healing magic was the most interesting and came in several different forms. For body mages, they were relatively limited to healing themselves, but the other two magic types had access to different forms of healing. The practice healing magic for mind mages was what i tried, which was simply to project raw magical energy into a wound.
Of course, this meant that I had to injure myself, but at least my mother was not around to be upset by it. All i really did was make a small razor of glass by combining fire and earth magic. Then it was a light swipe across the palm of my hand.
Blood flowed way more freely and heavily than i had anticipated, it especially hurt like hell. Once i started gathering my mana into my injured hand, though, with the intention of healing i felt a soothing warmth spread through my hand and forearm. It was almost exactly like when my mother had healed my butt when i fell out of the crib, but there was no light this time.
After having gone through the first half of the book in just a couple of hours, i decided i had done more than enough magic practice for today and checked my meter before going back inside. I still had fifty percent- at the least- left.
*