"Magic, you say?" the old man asked as he gently stroked his beard and looked up. "I assume it's only natural for you to be curious about it." Taking a deep breath and placing his hands behind his back, he paced slowly back and forth around the room.
"Well, if you must ask," his demeanor changed to that of an educator or mentor, "magic is an essential principle of life. It's what makes the difference between one man and another. While one may be blessed or have trained for an impressive amount of physical strength, magic changes the battlefield in which both skill and mana reserves matter the most"
"Mana reserves?" I questioned.
"Yes," Mr. Gonzo answered. "Mana reserves are a person's natural limiter on their mana." He put his two hands together with minimal space between them. "Think of it like this—the more a person's body can produce and store mana at one time..." He began to widen the gap between his hands until there was a significant amount of space between them, "the bigger a person's mana reserves are."
I imagined small chambers of pure energy roaming around between the spaces in his hands. The energy wasn't chaotic, but instead it steadily floated around in a continuous cycle in the space.
"However," he said as he pinched his fingers together, "Everybody has magic, but not everybody can harness it nor do they have the reserves to actively draw it out. For the average commoner, they may be incapable of using magic or just barely able to use it for things like simple spells, alchemy, or everyday use like creating small flames as a light source."
Alchemy, the word strung along my thoughts, and then my thoughts became stuck on his earlier words: "not everybody can harness it nor do they have the reserves to actively draw it out." Do I have the reserves? Am I incapable of using magic? What good is my eagerness to learn magic if I'm damned to be some magicless commoner? How can I protect myself, Mia, Romeo, Mr. Gonzo, or anybody else if I'm just some useless kid? The thoughts ran rampant in my head as feelings of anger, resentment, and sadness fought for triumph over my emotional wellbeing.
"That's fine though. Through modern achievements in blacksmithing and alchemy, even commoners can wield magic or become adventurers through magical equipment and weapons."
A spark of hope reignited within me upon hearing those words. My eagerness was at full drive unlike before. My heart began to pump and my skin prickled.
"Teach me!" I blurted out. "Can you please teach me how to use magic?"
"Hmm," he said as one of his eyebrows raised. He folded his arms over each other and used his top hand to scratch his beard. "I suppose, I can..."
"Thank you," I said as I kneeled and bowed my head and hands before him.
"For starters," he held his finger up, "there are different types of magic. I'm sure you're aware of this after watching the first couple rounds of the Adventurer's Tournament. There's elemental magic which includes the four elements of fire, water, earth, and air... but, there also exists other types like healing, telepathy and telekinesis, or other forms of magic. These deviations from nature are called arcane magic."
"I see," I said in understanding.
"But... what is really important beside the attribute of a mage's magic is their class. All users of magic are divided into two main characters: Conjurers and Manipulators. However, there exists a third class. They are called Divergents. Most of the population will be either a Conjurer—bearing the ability to cast external spells, long range spells, and summoning spells—or a Manipulator—their counterpart capable of enchanting their bodies and objects while also possessing the ability to draw magic from their surroundings." The old man smiled. "That's where Divergents come in. Making an extremely small number of the population, they are able to both conjure and manipulate. Their abilities give them the upper hand compared to the other classes and often times increase the variance of their spells."
"Conjurers," I repeated to myself. They'd excel in both mid-to-long range battles while having the advantage of a variety of spells to cast, I thought. On the other hand, Manipulators would be better in close combat or using weapons as they can enchant both their bodies and weapons or even output larger bursts of magic. But what's even better are... the Divergents. Having the ability to both enchant and conjure, they can fight either class or another divergent without being at a disadvantage.
"And what is your class, sir?"
"Me?" he asked. "How about I show you?"
The old man gently mouthed a couple of words. While indistinguishable, it was clear that he had cast a spell. Assuming no physical change was noticeable, it would be safe to say he wasn't a manipulator.
I looked around, turning my head constantly, but I still couldn't understand what he had done. Did he cast a spell? Maybe he was enchanting something? I thought. My eyes darted from one direction to another. Nothing. My mind began to race as I analyzed every little thing within the room. What did he—
I looked down to find the floor no longer beneath my feet. In fact, it looked as if it had gotten further away from where I stood. Slowly and more calmly, I spun around. Not only was the floor away from me, but the ceiling was much closer than before. Everything else was still in place... and then I realized. I was floating!
"Woah!" I said, as I instinctively flailed my arms and legs around. "I'm floating?" I asked and gave a nervous chuckle. "You're a conjurer?" I asked. My confidence in my answer wavered.
"Not quite," he answered. "I'm a Divergent, but what I just showed you can also be possible as either a conjurer or a manipulator depending on the skill of either class."
"And your magic?" I asked. "Your magic is levitation?"
"Wind magic," he corrected me. Opening his palm, a ball of wind formed. Maintaining the shape of a small ball, the wind danced around his palm. Although the wind itself was very hard to see, its movements were somewhat visible.
"And that will begin our first lesson," he said. "It'd be easier to tell if you had magic but it's harder to sense a person's mana when they are inactively using it or possess a strong amount of it. Luckily, there are ways to channel mana and train it."