"Mana manipulation, as mentioned, was created by the god of the multiverse upon its creation. He used it to construct the framework of existence, alongside the gods who filled it. When the god of our universe made it into a material realm, he created elements. These are simply lesser forms of mana, which exists in everything but was diluted to form the elements, which form our universe. Of course, the god of our own universe wasn't the only god to make use of many to form elements of some sort, but that isn't really of much importance to us. When the god of humanity created us, he attached our species to the skill system that had been created by the gods. He feared that humans would grow too powerful, and thus, by the way that the gods function, would weaken him. Thus, he made it so that only some humans would have access to elemental manipulation, and that it would be genetically passed along. He initially only seeded in a few people who had the potential to manipulate the elements, but they tended to do the best and had many children. This both increased the number of mages and their power, to the extent that some have been able to go beyond the elements and manipulate even mana itself. This was far from his expectation, and so weakened him beyond belief. That is what eventually allowed him to be killed by the Death Dragon.
"Anyway, as I have previously mentioned, artificery, enchantry, and necromancy are all also built into the skill system. Unlike elemental manipulation, which is unique among all skills in that only some humans are capable of obtaining it, these skills can be obtained and developed by anyone who practices them.
"The remaining magics were created by various gods, and they bestow the ability to use them based on various criteria. For example, straight magic was created by the god of magic, and due to his fondness for humans, he made it so that all humans have a chance of being born with the ability to use it. Blessings were created by Our Lady, and are usable by those who devote their lives to her: paladins, priests, clerics, and such. Curses were created by the creator of the hells, Zaerae, and are usable by a handful of his followers. Even we mortals have created two fields; Rjakavich modified straight magic to create sorcery, and the vampires long experimented with necromancy to create sanguimancy."
"Rjakavich? Vampires?" I ask, hoping that I am not inquiring about overly common information. Well, I guess I can probably fall back on a claim that I grew up in some no-name village; actually, that would also serve to explain my lack of a name.
"Oh, you are unknowledgeable of these? I suppose that is rather unsurprising. Not particularly common knowledge in this day and age. Rjakavich was the first and last of the drow. He betrayed the elves in the era before humans were put on this world and initiated the elven wars which lasted a millennium. As for the vampires, their kind is of unknown origin. What we do know is that they appeared in the uninhabited North a few thousand years ago and have been there since, heavily suppressed by the human kingdom in the region."
"How far back is history recorded, anyway?"
"While some knowledge has surely been lost, we know much of what has occurred since this planet was populated with life. In fact, a handful of the most ancient elves have been here since the beginning and remember their creator, god of the elves."
"And how many years back is that?"
"Roughly ten thousand years, to the best of our estimation; time was poorly recorded in the beginning. That is enough for questions! You are here to learn magic, not to learn history… though if you are really so interested, perhaps I can lend you a book on the subject?"
His tone shifts from authoritative to a bit eager, perhaps again showing his appreciation for a student eager to learn. I, of course, accept, after which we continue with the lesson.
"There is some debate as to whether one's level in magic sensory, manipulation, conduction, and the like influences how well they will be able to do these things or simply serve as a marker for the skill they have in the area. This is, of course, the same debate that occurs in all skill types. If a common man were given the right skills, would he immediately become a mage of immense power, innate knowing how to properly employ his newfound skills? Or would he still be unskilled in magic, capable of unleashing immense power but lacking the knowledge of how to do so? Some skills are clearly of the first type; for example, pain nullification. It's not that the practitioner masters methods of controlling pain and that this mastery is reflected in skills; rather, it is the case that the ability can simply be gained from enduring immense pain many times over and activated at will. On the other hand, there seems to be no way to get better at swordsmanship other than to practice at it, and the skill reflects this. As a swordsman becomes more versed in the practice, his capability will rise, and with it the level of the corresponding skill; in this area, his skill level merely serves to mark his capability in something that he would be capable of with or without a skill denoting it. The currently prevailing theory in most circles is that magic is a bit of both. Magic skills are something that you are either born with or you don't have them. There are no ways to acquire them, no action that one can take to get these skills if one is not born with them. Furthermore, to perform mana manipulation techniques one must activate a skill. On the other hand the only way to make these skills better is to practice with them. Whether it's the practice itself that makes you more capable and that the levels only rise to reflect that increased power, or that practicing is in itself meaningless and only levels up skills, and that the higher level skills increase one's power is still unknown. I personally hold to the first; it seems rather strange to me that practicing to master a specific type of mana manipulation is not actually making you better at it and is instead only leveling up a skill which seamlessly provides insight on how to perform the spell that you have been practicing; however, that's just my view so take it with a grain of salt."
On and on he talks about mana manipulation. Theories and methods of usage are explained in as much detail as I could ever ask for, and then some. He expounds on details and concepts related to the field, prompted on by my endless questions, until the first rays of the morning sun begin to shine into the room.
"Well, I suppose that we better make our way to the main hall. Breakfast will be starting shortly."
I stand and stretch, my body sore from a night of sitting upright. I feel oddly exhausted, though I don't feel at all physically tired. [This must be the unrelieved mental exhaustion that he warned of. Still, it is a small price to pay to be able to be productive over the night.]
Together we travel the short distance to the dining hall. There he informs me that he will be unable to sit with me today, as he apparently must discuss with the other trainers/commanders. This leaves me to find a spot to sit on my own. [Yesterday I had sat with other newcomers, primarily the slaves. However, today I feel no need to do so again; after all, I am no longer one of them. I was selected by a mage as an apprentice on first sight, after all. I hardly need to cower in fear and awkwardness surrounded by other newcomers! Though I did say that I would talk to Jorgenson in the future, perhaps I should sit by him… yet again, I did bring the book that Lector gave me last night, perhaps I should take advantage of this meal time and read it…]
My thoughts quickly flit from one option to another, causing me to briefly freeze when told that I would be on my own for this meal. However, I quickly get my thoughts in order and head for an empty stretch of table, intent on finding out as much about this world as I possibly can. After all, my main interest in Jorgenson was to learn about this world; however, I now have a much more direct method to learn of it right in front of me!
After taking a seat I place down the heavy tome and flip to the first page. There, I am immediately confronted by a problem. [I can't read this language!] I had completely ignored the fact that this world may have a different writing system than the one that I am accustomed to, simply assuming that whatever magic that allows me to speak their language would also allow me to read it, but apparently such is not the case.
[Well, the best I can hope for is that this writing system uses an alphabet and phonetic spelling. Because I can already speak the language, that hopefully wouldn't be too difficult to learn. However, if the language uses characters to represent words, then I am screwed. I would have to learn a whole new writing system with thousands of unique characters…] I look over the book and am slightly relieved to find that the characters are relatively simple and that each one is repeated many times over. Though that is no guarantee that it will be easy to learn, it does hopefully imply that I won't have to learn to recognize a thousand unique characters,
[Well, no matter what the case may be, I'm not going to be able to learn at the moment anyway. I guess I'll be spending the meal interrogating- er, I mean 'talking with' Jorgenson after all.]
I glance around and am lucky enough to find him rather quickly in the sea of soldiers already seated and the cascade more that enter by the second. He, too, is seated alone, three tables away from me. I quickly get up and go over to him. The slamming of my book against his table startles him, causing him to quickly glance up at me.
"Oh, it's you! Knowing this place, I thought it likely that you may be dead! I'm glad to see that's not the case!"
As I take a seat next to him, I ask him why he thought that I would be dead.
"Well, after seeing that boy murdered yesterday by our swordsmanship instructor, I immediately became worried about the danger of this place. Then I see another instructor enter yesterday, carrying a dead body with you trailing behind. He then gives a speech that justifies his murder before shortly after leaving with you in toe. How could I not worry for you, being in the presence of a murderous madman on a power trip? As you can see, both he and the swordsmanship instructor remain comfortably at their table, seated in positions of power, apparently unpunished for their crimes. It infuriates me seeing evil go unpunished… Please forgive me, I've gone off on a tangent again."
I'm honestly not so sure what I think of his sense of justice. While the swordsman's murder of his student was certainly unjustified, and Lector's duel was perhaps heavyhanded, it seems a tad bit unreasonable to expect the life of a soldier to equate to the importance of a commander's position. Well, at least he has a sense of justice, perhaps the first that I have seen in this world. Even I tend not to care all that much. After all, my previous life was ended by the justice of others after I did plenty of things that were outside their understanding of justice. Well, at the bare minimum he should at least have the good sense to not criticize our commanders, especially in front of someone that he barely knows.
"You know, I am that mage, Sir Lector's, apprentice now."
"You're what?!?!" he cries out in shock, his volume drawing the attention of other soldiers towards us.
"It's true," I say quietly. "He apparently appreciated the questions I asked him and the respect that I showed him enough to offer me an apprenticeship only a few hours after meeting me."
"U-um… if I could ask you to, um… n-not mention me calling him a madman on a power trip…?" He says with evident trepidation.
I laugh before replying "Of course I won't mention it. Though you would probably be fine even if I did. While he has a bit of a temper and limited patience, it took quite a bit of needling for him to issue a challenge to a duel, a challenge which the now-dead cadet accepted. Honestly, I would describe him as rather eccentric more than anything."
He sighs in relief before saying "Must be pretty eccentric to take on an apprentice he only just met, eh?"
"Well, that's how it would appear to me. He gave me this book on history, but I am unable to read. Do you know how?"
He shakes his head, replying "No, I, like most commoners, never learned. I don't really know what he was thinking giving it to you, a slave. The odds of encountering a slave who can read are a literal one-in-a-million."
"Yeah, I'm not really sure why I accepted it, for that matter. He offered and I accepted without really thinking about it. I was going to read over breakfast, but I flipped it open before being reminded that I have no idea how. I really don't know what I was thinking."
"Yeah, that is a bit strange," he laughs. "Anyway, I never asked yesterday. Where are you from?"
Deciding that now would be a perfect chance to establish my official backstory, I tell him that I lived my entire life in a no-name village in the dusty plains to the North. I went out to scavenge food one day, during which I got lost in the barren planes. I was then picked up by slavers, brought to this city, and sold to the army.
"Must have been a pretty remote village to be in an area where slavers feel safe enough to pick up free Erenese citizens and force them into slavery. That's clearly against the law, though that brings no benefit to you now; once a slave is sold, whether they were acquired legitimately or not, they are locked in. A filthy, evil system is slavery, though I suppose I don't need to tell you that."
I nod in response, both in agreement and thankful for any small piece of information as to the functioning of this world. I then ask him the same, inquiring as to his origins.
He shrugs, saying "I lived a pretty normal life. I come from a moderately large village wherein my family were shopkeepers. I was set to take over the family business when the wave of conscriptions caught me up in this predicament. To be honest, I've always been quite opposed to war, even in concept, and so my conscription was quite disheartening in more ways than one. Our enemy, the Arenese empire, poses little to no threat to us at the moment. They face a powerful demon on the border between our territories, constant tides of monsters from the North, and the threat of attack from a hostile nearby nation and two separatist states. This is all common knowledge, and this situation is being capitalized on by our kingdom, hopeful of finally expanding our lands north of the mountain range that forms our border. As it is, the demon in our way poses more of a threat than the Arenese do."
"Are you sure you really should go around professing your lofty ideals? Anti-war, anti-slavery, rejecting the power held by commanders… seem to be rather dangerous opinions to hold."
"To be honest, I'm not usually very open about my beliefs. I slipped up when seeing that soldier being murdered yesterday, and you didn't move to report me. I guess from that I gleaned that you would be safe to talk to. Though I guess, as a slave, if your master is ever suspicious of me he could force you to talk. All the more reason to avoid the suspicion of others, I suppose."
"I sure hope so. I wouldn't want your death to be the third in less than a day of training here."
"Heh. I suppose I don't really want that either. This place is ridiculous. To think that their goal is more to produce a handful of very capable and hardened warriors as opposed to the standard of large and well-oiled armies… it's quite an interesting choice, that's for sure. It's not usually the standard because the large groups of weak soldiers working in a unit are bound to be wiped out by a single powerful enemy if they have no powerful allies of their own interspersed within them. Though it does make sense in the context of crushing an already weakened nation. Just send in a handful of strong troops that aren't shackled by a large and slow division and let them destroy the enemy's force. Then sweep across the land with us weaklings, occupying the already cleared out territory while kept far from the front. If they can get this strategy to work, if it is indeed their strategy (though that's what it sounded like when it was mentioned yesterday), casualties should be brought down immensely."
"Well, let's hope-"
I am interrupted by a wave of power, like I felt two days ago, being released. I immediately turn my attention to General Lion, who is standing to deliver an announcement.
"Soldiers. Only one announcement today. And one reminder as well. Tomorrow all swordsmen will be tasked with killing monsters outside the city. Your swordsmanship instructor will inform you of the details. As for the reminder, in three days we will be having our monthly mock battle. Official preparations have already begun, and I would advise you to prepare as well. That is all. Return to your food."