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After that, mother taught me what magic truly was in the world, also explaining to me what Spirits were. Apparently, Spirits are made out entirely out of elemental mana, born in areas with large quantities of that certain element. They're part of nature and represent it. Well, that was simple to understand.
Hmm… I guess that's why they're able to use magic with so much ease. To think they can easily control the nature of their own existence as naturally as we breathe. So that's why when I required something to heal Aquarina back then, Naturia helped with the utmost ease to generate a spell, despite me not ever using actual spells. It finally makes sense.
After all, what my parents believe to be "spells" are just the usage of my System Skills. Even the Fire-attribute spells are just the combination of hundreds of Embers which I control using Mana Usage and fuel using my endless mana, an incredibly inefficient way to conjure magic that only works for me.
Agriculture could be said to be in the same boat. I can show its usage and make it seem as if it were several spells at once, but in actuality, it's just a single skill that can do many things thanks to my endless mana.
Of course, I can't just tell this to my parents! Sigh… it's gonna be hard to learn spells outside my comfort zone. I don't have a Fire Spirit yet… plus that annoying idiot Ignatius still doesn't budge. Well, at the very least, I can count on Naturia for Nature element.
"I like how you got a Spirit to aid you in these early stages, but I want you to practice spells without her aid today, Sylphy," mother said all of a sudden.
"Gah…!"
Just when I felt relieved that Naturia could help me, my mother won't let me use her help!
"If you always rely on the power of a Spirit to help you conjure magic, you'll become dependent on it and you won't be able to develop your true magical abilities, the innate power you have as a Sorcerer!" she told me soon after.
"Sorcerer?" I asked.
"We were just about to talk about that. Pay attention, sweetheart. Mages have all sorts of classes. Not all of us fall into the category of magicians and that would be the end of it. All of us have many classifications, actually. For example, your father is actually a Spellblade, while I am a Priestess. You're… a Sorcerer," mother started to explain.
"Huh? What's the difference in all of this?" I asked.
"Spellblades are magicians that excel at combining their magic with the usage of weapons, with swords being used most of the time. Your father isn't really that good at using magic alone, or well, he didn't use to be that good. But now that he has grown so strong, he can be pretty strong with magic alone. Yeah. Anyways, back then, all of his magic spells were around combining them with his swordsmanship. Therefore, he's a Spellblade, magicians that channel their magic into weapons to fight," mother replied.
"Ooohh…"
In other words, my father sucked at conventional magic but then decided somewhere down the road to merge it with swords, and discovered his true talent through that? Interesting…
"Of course, Spellblades rely a lot on their weapons in their earlier stages. In fact, your father was gifted a mithril sword by my family when we first met, so he was able to easily channel his magic into it. Mithril is a magical metal that has the ability to easily channel mana of any element. They're the ideal metal for magic staves, magical accessories, as well as weapons for Spellblades," mother said, going off on a slight tangent.
"I see… was father overpowered from the beginning?" Well, since she went on a tangent, then might as well.
"Oh, no. He was pretty bad at magic. He couldn't even properly aim with a fireball back then. I had to teach him a lot of magic theory and mana control… however, he had a talent at using swords due to his father's teachings, plus he had an innate talent of channeling mana into the blade and unleash powerful spells using it. Surprisingly, that was his forte," mother answered.
"So that's how it is… well, now papa can even summon beings out of nowhere using Creation Magic, so he got past that point already, right?" I asked.
"Yes, but it took him a while. Plus, his Familiars helped him a lot in that aspect. Well, he never had the knack for magic so he had to put extra effort into it," mother told me.
"I see…"
"Now, let's continue. Your father is an excellent example of a Spellblade. On the other hand, I'm a Priestess. We Priests are magicians that channel the power of Gods to fight, similar to Warlocks, but in the holy path. Since I was a child, I was able to channel the power of the Gods that blessed me to unleash powerful and devastating magic. The stronger my faith was, the stronger my magic would become. However, I also used to be a Witch, a proficient spellcaster that utilized curse-based spells, and also alchemy if I remember correctly…" mother continued where she left off.
"W-Witch?!"
I'm pretty sure witches in my previous life weren't regarded that well.
"Yeah, it was my strong asset. Back then, I was a rare witch that used Holy Light Magic. Witches are often not regarded that well in some places, since they're believed to bring misfortune and curse people without reason, but of course, that's all a lie. Curse Casting is an excellent way of using magic, as well as a precise and easy shortcut to conjure more advanced spells," mother said.
"I-I see…"
"But then, I awakened as a Priestess and concentrated more on that afterwards… and with that, we come to the topic of a Sorcerer… Sylphy, do you have any idea what a Sorcerer is?" mother asked.
"Erm… no?"
"Well, a Sorcerer is a person naturally gifted with magic. They can manipulate the elements without conjuring spells, nor magic circles, nor runes. Even without having an Innate Magic Circle, they're still capable of using high-level spells like nothing. They're gifted with mana and are often called the Children of Mana. There are very few of them all around this world, and I can count them on the fingers of my hands," mother started to explain as I stared at her in shock.
"T-There are less than 10?!" I asked in disbelief.
"Indeed, and you're part of that group now," mother said in response.
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