Instead of climbing the stairs like they did for every lesson, Bori led Sage downstairs to the ground floor, through the door to the outside of the tower and into the clearing. When they were a fair distance from the tower the necromancer turned to face her, robes fluttering in the wind. It was midday, but the sun was hiding behind the clouds. That was probably the reason why he chose to begin the lesson now.
"First of all we're going to learn about the ranks of magic," he began. "How much do you know about them?"
Sage scoffed. "That's easy. There are ten ranks of magic ranging from the Zero Order to the 9th Order."
After staying in the company of a mage for an entire week she would have to be an idiot to miss that little detail.
"Not exactly," the man responded, his face grim. "There is another rank above the 9th Order, more commonly known as the Ultra Order. But we won't be fixating on it today." He raised his hand and continued. "For now I want you to watch me."
He raised a finger and cast a spell he had used so many times Sage was tired of seeing it. Weak flame appeared above his finger, but it only lasted a few seconds before the wind blew it out. The Zero Order spell [Candle Flame]. Bori did not seem bothered by the fact that it had been snuffed out. His attention was back on her.
"You saw that right?" he asked. Not waiting for answer, he continued. "I will repeat it again. This time I will slow down the movement of my mana when I cast the spell. I want you to feel the way my mana moves and try to emulate it."
The necromancer raised his hand and cast the spell once more, only this time slower. Another flame sprung up from his finger only to suffer the same fate as the previous one. Unconcerned, his attention returned to her.
"Try it," he said.
Sage nodded and raised her hand in the same way Bori did. She stuck out her finger like his and tried to simulate mana the same way he had when he cast the spell. She was able to do it without much trouble. However, when it came to the last part, which was releasing it, she felt something within her resist the casting. The spell fell apart shortly after.
"What happened?" the geezer asked, he looked as confused as she felt. "You just had it now. How did you fail at the easiest part?"
"I don't know," she replied. She looked at her hand with a frown. "I was sure I had it too, but at the last moment something in me seemed to reject the casting."
"Try it again," Bori told her.
And so she did… only for the same thing to happen again. It happened the third time, and the fourth time, and-
"Fuck!" she yelled, kicking the dirt in frustration.
Bori's reaction was the opposite of hers. "Don't be so impatient. Most of acolytes take months before they can cast their first spell. It took me two months."
"I cannot wait that long!" she yelled at him. "Why don't we try again? This time show me a different spell."
"If that is what you want," Bori replied casually.
This time he opened his hand and pointed it at the rock Sage had lifted to test her strength a week ago. Sage sensed the mana in his body move as he cast another spell. Then, a thin stream of green liquid spewed from his fingers and landed on the rock. The rock began to corrode in the place where the stream hit.
Sage stared at the corroding rock in contemplation. He remembered the wraith back in the Deadlands using a similar spell on its zombie, though that one was far stronger than the one used right now.
"That was the Zero Order spell [Acid],"the necromancer geezer told her. "Why don't you try it?"
She nodded and pointed her hand at the same rock, forcing her mana to mimic the movements she had seen with the necromancer's. This time there was no blockage when she cast it. Immediately after, a green stream shot from her palm and landed on the rock. The collision brought about the same results as the one caused by Bori.
Just then she felt a shift in her mana. She did not know how to describe it properly, but it felt as if her mana was constricting and increasing in density. It was over in an instant. However, she was not taking any chances. Immediately she looked down at herself and triggered the {Index}.
Race: Phantom (Undead)
Physique: Grade 4
Mana: SS (Cream)
Title(s): Darkborne
The colour of her mana had changed! Quickly, she turned to Bori, who had a calm look that contradicted her agitated one.
"Don't worry," he assured her. "That is just the quality of your mana improving. You will undergo something similar whenever your Order increases. This time it was just a short while, however, the higher your Order, the longer it takes for the mana to complete the transformation."
Sage nodded before raising her finger like she had been previously doing. Then she tried to cast [Candle Flame] again. The mana gathered as usual but faltered at the last part once again.
This time however, there was something different. The mana went through her body as if in a guiding motion. It simulated a pattern similar to the spell she had just failed to cast. Confused, Sage tried to manipulate her mana like she had just felt. This time there was no resistance. A small flame appeared above her finger. Unlike Bori's, her [Candle Flame] did not die in the wind. Also, it was black in colour.
Seeing this, Sage turned to the magic expert for an explanation. However, Bori looked just as lost as she did when he stared at the little flame.
"It must be because you are Darkborne," he concluded matter-of-factly.
"What exactly is a Darkborne?" she asked.
"We'll get to that later," Bori told her. "Right now let us continue with the lesson."
He curled his hand and raised it in random direction. Once more she felt his mana shift as he cast a spell. A palm sized black ball shot out of his hand and landed on the ground a short distance away. When it impacted the ground in suddenly exploded into what could only be considered darkness. This darkness covered a diameter of one metre and rose two metres high.
"This is the 1st Order spell [Ball of Darkness],"the necromancer told her. "Why don't you try it?"
Sage lifted her hand in the same position, pointing it in the direction opposite to the one chosen by Bori. She emulated the movement of his mana and cast the spell. As with him, the [Ball of Darkness] was released and exploded when it impacted the ground just like the geezer's.
Then she felt another shift in her mana. She felt the same thing she had after she cast [Acid], only this time to a greater effect. This time it took around ten seconds before she returned to normal. Somehow it seemed that the spell she had just cast was ingrained in her being. Without waiting, she quickly checked her status again.
Race: Phantom (Undead)
Physique: Grade 4
Mana: SS (Yellow)
Title(s): Darkborne
A wave of excitement went through her when she saw this. I learned a magic spell. It's so easy! Why did I wait so long to learn it?
She hurriedly turned to the geezer, who could not rid himself of his surprise fast enough. "Quickly show me a 2nd Order spell!"
Instead of going along with it, Bori raised his hand to stop her.
"Don't be impatient," he said. "From the 1st Order onwards things are different if you want to learn a spell of a higher Order."
Hearing this killed her momentum. "How different?" she asked with a frown.
"When you first cast a spell of the 1st Order and above it settles into the core of your being," Bori began. "After that, as long as you have enough mana you will be able to cast it."
"What does that have to do with learning a 2nd Order spell?" Sage asked.
"Just listen. When you first cast a spell of the 1st Order and above it is permanently ingrained into your being," He said. "To learn a 2nd Order spell you need to have ingrained at least six 1st Order spells within you."
"Okay," Sage responded, her impatience rising again. "Cast five more 1st Order spells for me to learn. Then teach me a 2nd Order spell."
"As I was saying," Bori continued without heeding her request. "Once you ingrain a spell it is impossible to unlearn it." Sage tried to speak but he was faster. "You might be thinking it is nothing but the amount of spells you can learn are limited."
Hearing this, she was a bit taken aback. "Why didn't you say so before I cast that spell?"
If she had known she would have opted to learn something other than a fucking smoke bomb spell!
"The amount of mana you have is no doubt more than mine so losing one 1st Order slot should not be much of a loss for you," Bori explained casually.
"How does the amount of mana I have relate to the amount of spells I can learn?"
"Your mana aptitude is directly proportional to the number of spells you can learn," Bori told her. "Commonly, the amount of mana a person has is ranked from H to A. Because of their meagre capacity, those with H ranked aptitude will never be able to learn magic.
"Those with G aptitude can only learn one or two 1st Order spells. Those with F can learn three to six spells and those with E seven to twelve. D aptitude can learn thirteen to twenty spells, C aptitude twenty-one to thirty spells and B aptitude can ingrain thirty-one to forty-two 1st Order spells. Everything above that is A and beyond. There are less than a hundred people in existence with that much mana"
"Okay," Sage followed, a sly smile playing upon her features. If an A aptitude was considered that rare then what about a double S aptitude?
That arsehole at least did one thing right by me.
Bori, ignorant of her expression, continued to preach. "Earlier I told you that a mage needs to ingrain six 1st Order spells before they can learn a 2nd Order spell. The same applies to the other tiers as well. You need to learn six 2nd Order spells before you can learn a 3rd Order spell and so forth. The amount of lower Order spells ingrained should always be at least five more than the learned spells of the higher one. That would mean that to learn a 3rd Order spell you need to have ingrained at least six 2nd Order spells and at least eleven 1st Order spells." He gave her a meaningful look. "Do you understand that much?"
"I am not an idiot," she grunted in response.
"It's good that you follow." Bori nodded in satisfaction. "If you remember what I said about said about a person's aptitude than you must have realised that a G aptitude that can only ingrain one or two 1st Order spells can never become a 2nd Order Mage. Only the most talented of among those with an F aptitude can advance to the 2nd Order and even then they can only ingrain a single spell…"
Sage nodded. Getting the gist of things.
"… My aptitude was the best among C class," Bori said. "But that only allowed me to learn thirty 1st Order spells, which meant I was unable to ingrain a 7th Order spell because I was only able to ingrain five spells of the 6th Order."
"So the improvement of aptitude allowed you to ingrain more spells?" Sage asked with an enlightened look. "That is why you are now able to reach the 7th Order?"
"That is exactly it." The geezer had a stupid smile again. "Usually, when one is born their aptitude is set and cannot be altered unless there are some very under very special circumstances."
"So the bond with me gave you more mana?" Sage said, a scheming look etched itself onto her features. "Doesn't that mean you owe me?"