Lothar kept quiet as he and the maid walked through the corridors. Passing by other elf maids and guards, Lothar felt the stares of fear and disgust rolling on his back, which he promptly ignored in favor of continuing with his walk.
Hushed whispers and voices entered his ears, the words too quiet for Lothar to get an understanding of, not that he needed it since the glares gave him all the information he needed.
It wasn't long until they reached their destination, giant double-doors blocking their way.
"Lady Millana is waiting for you behind these doors." The maid motioned to the door, then bowed. "If you'll excuse me, I have some other matters to attend to."
Leaving Lothar alone in front of the giant double-doors, the maid turned around and walked through the hallway, turning left at the first fork in the corridor.
Now staring back at the double-doors, Lothar sighed and placed his hands on the doors and pushed them, a creaking sound coming from the hinges.
The door now opened, Lothar peered into the room, spotting Millana sitting in front of a desk with a book in her hands, and Elora standing behind her, hand on the handle of her sheathed blade.
The creaking of the door alerted the two of them to their presence, golden eyes and green eyes staring at his figure, respectively.
"Lothar, welcome to the library." Millana closed the book she was reading and placed it on the table. The chair she was sitting on slid back a few inches as she got out of it. "If you wish to read some books, this is the place you want to go."
"… Noted." Lothar headed inside and closed the doors behind him, his eyes wandering about as he took in the sight of every book neatly lined up on the shelves with no dust gathering around them. "For a library, there is little dust around here. Magic?"
"Yes, magic." Millana nodded as she approached Lothar, her golden eyes staring directly into Lothar's. "Regarding that, I told you yesterday I would teach you magic, and today is the day I start."
Lothar was still pissed at his current situation as a prisoner and slave, but truth be told, he was a little giddy at the thought of learning magic.
And then he recalled Millana talking about his affinity with the void element, which instantly erased his giddiness and replaced it with fear and anxiety.
"Hmm…? Something wrong, Lothar?" Millana, noticing his current state, approached the human and tugged on his shirt, knocking him out of his daze.
"… Yes… I'm fine…" Lothar sighed and looked at Elora, who was staring at him with a neutral expression but with an underlying tone of hostility after his outburst yesterday. Looking back down at Millana, whose golden eyes seemed to captivate Lothar, his lips twitched slightly as he opened. He continued. "Anyway, should we start right away with the lesson?"
"Yes… Indeed, we shall." Millana turned around and returned to the table, where she grabbed the book that was on top. "Here, take a seat."
Adhering to Millana's request, Lothar took a few steps forward and plopped his ass on the cushioned chair where Millana had sat earlier. Once done, Millana gestured to Elora, who nodded and moved to drag a blackboard over.
Grabbing a chalk in her hand, Millana reached over and drew seven circles, a giant one in the middle and six surrounding it. She then drew some symbols on each circle, except for the giant one, which she shaded completely without leaving any space.
Once done, she placed the chalk back on its placeholder and looked at Lother.
"For now, I'll explain the basics. We can go over advanced topics in the future." Millana knocked on the blackboard, and Lothar nodded. He didn't want to suffer from an information overload right now. "This is how the magic system looks. There are six main elements, two of which are rare types. Those rare types are Light and Dark. The rest are the common types, which consist of Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind."
She then grabbed the chalk again and drew a straight line from one circle to another, each of them intersecting at the middle.
"Notice their positions, the elements opposite of each other have a special kind of interaction. For now, I'll just say that mixing them tends to result in varying consequences, some good, most bad." She then tapped on the giant circle in the middle. "This giant circle in the middle represents the strongest element, but isn't a part of the six main elements. It is an element all of its own and is hard to master by even master mages. You, Lothar, have an affinity for it. Void magic."
Lothar winced, but kept on listening, no matter how much his stomach began to churn.
"I won't go into too much detail, but today we will be more on theory than application, other than the demonstration and you trying it for yourself." Lothar nodded and Millana continued. "Moving on, there are factors you must consider when using magic. First is your current mana pool, then your affinity. As for how to use magic, it is determined by your imagination and calculation."
Millana approached me and held her hand out, leaving the chalk back on the placeholder. A sphere of water began to coagulate out of thin air, hovering above Millana's outstretched hand.
"First, imagine the spell you want to use, then do a series of calculations such as what it should do. Should it be big? Small? Should it rotate? Fly in a direction or follow a target?" Millana then dispersed the ball of water, the water vanishing as if it was never there in the first place. "Now, you try."
Lothar gulped. Stretching out his hand, Lothar imagined in his head a ball of water forming on his hand. Lothar tried hard, willing the mana inside his body to adhere to his command, but was rewarded with nothing.
"Lothar, please use the void element. I sensed that you were trying to use the water element, but I'm afraid that with your inexperience, you should practice with your main affinity at the moment."
Gritting his teeth, Lothar imagined a ball of darkness appearing in his hand. He then felt a strange pull at his core, the energy flowing through his body as it traveled through his arm and into his hand.
Opening his eyes, Lothar was greeted by the sight of a ball that held nothing. No light, no air, nothing. In essence, it was just empty space, but to Lothar, it was more than that.
It was his fear.
Screaming, he threw the ball haphazardly, causing Millana to duck and Elora to move into action. The ball of nothingness collided with the floor and erased the area where it landed before vanishing.
There was no sound, no indication that the floor was erased. It simply disappeared, like it wasn't there to begin with. Millana stared at the spot where the ball landed and gawked in astonishment.
"Amazing…" Her whispers went unheard as Lothar's panic attack continued to increase.