…
"E-eh!? You b-became Ms. Francia's apprentice!?" Lyria's face looked comical.
The maid was shocked beyond belief when she heard from the man himself that he actually became an apprentice of the popular Alchemical Witch!
"Yeah, is there something wrong?" Rion acted dumbly as he asked this question.
But he knew just from the maid's reaction that Francia is one of those sensei characters from anime who is mysteriously popular, but doesn't accept students due to reason 'x'.
"N-no… It's just that Madam Hanelin is known to be one of the few witches who doesn't accept any apprentices."
'I knew it.'
"There were countless times when well-known beings wanted to be an alchemical apprentice of Madam Hanelin, but she instantly refused without even meeting them."
"This scenario happened for the past decades, that is until you appeared…" Lyria gave an amazed look at Rion as they continued walking.
"It is said that Madam Hanelin was the most talented witch in her generation at that time. It is even rumored that if she didn't focus so much on alchemy, her wind and fire elements would be on par with Her Majesty, Selene Moriethy…"
The Alchemical Witch, Francia Hanelin is a prodigy.
Francia awakening the element of
However, what made her a prodigy was that at such a young age of 11, she had an abnormal output of her magic.
The sheer firepower of both of her elements was nothing to scoff at. She was able to obliterate several houses just with her raw power alone.
That potential coupled with her intelligence and beauty made her popular and became a rising prodigy in the past.
The witches saw her as a prodigy of wind and fire elements, the strongest one above those who are in the same generation as her, as she even managed to beat some of those who are above her.
But much to their expectations, the witch chose to concentrate on alchemy. Something the witches were quite surprised to find out about.
But, only those who are close to her or those who witnessed her past know why she chose alchemy…
"Eh… I see." After hearing the brief background and the popularity of his master, Rion actually felt fascinated.
Looking at the titles section of his status, Rion felt it has something to do with the 'side character' that he has.
It might be the reason why all the 'lucky' things were happening to him… At least that's what he felt.
As such, the man felt hope… a hope that this time, things will be different.
"I guess it's just my luck then." The man just gave a smile.
"Well… You're one of the luckiest people I've ever met, Mr. Rion." The maid's eyes seemed to glitter at that time when she looked at Rion, which made the man a bit speechless.
…
A day passed, and the first thing Rion did was study the books he was given.
Rion is in a quiet room as he sat on a chair and placed the 'encyclopedias' on the table.
Rion is alone as of now, he invited Lance, Leona, and Daniel if they were interested.
Daniel said he would read it after his daily training, while Leona and Cindy went off to visit Francia.
Lance, on the other hand, debated if he should learn about magic right now or meet James and the rest of his group.
Apparently, Lance was interested in becoming an adventurer, and his only connection is James and the others.
Well, if only Lance knew Alterick is an adventurer too, and is ranked the highest at that…
Rion started with the book titled 'World's Energy Theory'.
…
"This is actually interesting…" Rion rubbed his chin looking at the diagram and magical figures on a certain page.
To be honest, Rion wasn't really excited to read a book that can be compared to an encyclopedia.
He was a bookworm, but only with novels and fantasy stories. As for academic books and writings, they bore the crap out of him.
His initial impression that the contents of the book would be some sort of academic theoretical knowledge was completely… correct.
However, the more he read about magic and how it works, and where it came from, made him interested to the point that he was completely absorbed in reading.
In the introduction of the book, it stated that everything in this world came from the originator and concept of everything, also known as the element of
Mana and various kinds of energies became rampant, and people who were able to adapt and nurture their souls with these energies and can control or release them are called 'awakened'.
Whether you're innate at a certain energy or you've acquired this energy through special training you are still considered as awakened.
"Awakened and elements, huh…" Rion looked at the ball of water in his hand and soon glanced at the other page.
Another topic he found interesting is all about elements.
Elements have four common types and these are fire, earth, water, and air. They are the most diverse and easily awakened and trained.
Then various elements were born from these four common types, and these are called derivative elements.
Such as the element
Derivative elements can be weaker or stronger, it depends on the person, their potential, skills, and mastery over it.
There are millions of derivative elements out there and the book Rion read, stated that up to this day, many derivative elements are out there only waiting to be discovered by others.
Despite countless years of study, the witches have not even covered 25% of the mysteries of elements.
This is because elements can give birth to new elements through combinations, situations, experiences, weird phenomena, and other factors that can affect the making of the new element.
After the derivative elements, were the world elements or they are also called the 'fabrics of reality'. One of the rarest and oldest elements in existence.
They are elements that are only second to none with
The world elements, just like their name, is what make up the reality and 'truth' of this world.
"What a limitless world…" Rion muttered as he continued reading.
Rion felt that the power ranking is awesome.
Why?
That is because he also read that the potential of any element is actually boundless!
Take the element of
According to the book, theoretically, if a person trained hard enough in the element of
The same can be said for the other 'weak' elements.
But of course, that is just theoretically speaking. So far, very few beings have managed to do that, and those are beings who specialized in the element of ice… Also, the potential of the person is also a factor to be considered.
"The potential of a person is what determines how far they can achieve in a certain field…" Rion read a sentence in one of the pages as he pondered about it.
Every soul is a being with potential, and this potential is what determines how far they can propel and exert themselves at a certain aspect, field, or craft.
But nonetheless, a person may have a low potential in magic, but they might have a high potential in swordsmanship.
Just like how an engineer can do all kinds of mechanical stuff but might completely suck when it comes to the aesthetics of the house.
…
"Thanks, Mylene." Rion nodded appreciatively at the maid.
"..." The maid didn't say anything as she just smiled and bowed before leaving the training backyard.
Rion went out to try and experiment with magic.
Looking at a certain page in the 'Basics of Magic' with human illustration and nerves all over its body. Rion put the book down on the floor as he tried to do what was instructed.
Standing in position, he tried to 'feel' and sense the mana in his body.
Whoooosh~
A soft breeze flew by, as Rion fully concentrated on sensing the mana in his body.
"..." After a few moments, Rion can feel a constant flow of energy through his blood vessels.
Feeling the countless nerves all over his body, Rion felt lost.
After tracing back a certain nerve, he saw a clump of nerves as he followed that flow and soon he saw his own heart releasing vibrant light.
"...Is the heart the source of magic? But it says it's in the soul…" Rion felt confused. The book clearly indicated that all of the energy and roots of a person came from the soul.
But sensing the heart pumping blood and energy all over his body, Rion doubted.
"I must be missing something." He just sighed in defeat.
But soon, he once again became excited and went for the main task that he is looking forward to training with.
Mana Control.
On that day when he tried using magic casting a simple fireball, he felt almost all of his energy leave his body, and today he wanted to reduce or at least control that.
Rion read in the book that a person who has awakened can train their control by guiding the energy through the right set of nerves in their body, and through desire and resistance they could control the output and flow of the energy they release.
"Hmm… Apparently, this is how all of the awakened beings train the energy they specialize in…"
Well, in this case, mana is the specialized energy he needed to guide through his veins.
Rion once again closed his eyes as he sensed the mana in his body.
With the same posture, Rion raised his right hand and tried to imagine shooting earth bullets.
Sensing the flow of the magic, Rion guided the mana through the right set of nerves the book indicated.
He is doing the process as slowly as possible. It is his first time doing it and doing it carefully with quality is much better than rushing.
The first part was done easily. He was able to guide the energy through the veins in his right hand, and now comes the second part.
In accordance with the book, he tried limiting and regulating the flow of the output of his mana to form his desired spell.
Pop!
But to his surprise, the nerve ends of his right arm popped!
"Argh! What the hell!" Rion cursed in pain, but before he was able to inspect his wound, golden flames surrounded the damaged part of his right arm.
Rion was taken a bit by surprise, but sensing the warm sensation instead of burning up, under his stunned gaze, the golden flames slowly disappeared along with the wound.
Inspecting and slowly moving his right hand, Rion remembered the set of passive skills that he got.
"... Phoenix regeneration, huh." Rion's smile curved upward a bit.
Looking back at what happened, when he tried to limit the flow of mana, instead of limiting and regulating the flow it appeared as if the end of his nerves were clogged, which caused the mana to suddenly build up and explode.
"What did I do wrong…?" Rion pondered about it.
Rion once again read the book. But seeing that everything he did was on point, Rion can only do try-and-fail tests.
"It hurts a bit though…" Rion was a bit apprehensive since any mistake can cause damage to his body.
Although he might be able to regenerate, that doesn't mean he can't feel pain.
"Aghh! No pain no gain!" Rion slapped his face with both hands to motivate himself.
Sensing that his whole body is fine even after that magic failure, Rion once again trained and experimented with his control of mana.
…