It took multiple shifts of maids and many a nap time, but I finally finished the book "The Basics of Magic: Volume 1".
And I can say with utmost confidence as a man of science and having more than a decade of modern education under my belt… that I did not understand half of what was in that book.
The whole bloody book was riddled with terminology I did not know, I mean, sure, at this point, I could pronounce the individual words in my head, but I did not know what any of them meant or have any context to understand what the word meant.
But even if I missed half of what the book said, the main thing I gleaned from the book was that when most people in the world use magic, they do not actually shoot fire or water, they are shooting a concept of fire or water, or in other words, they are shooting a mana that acts like fire or water.
Another thing I gleaned from the book that disappointed and scared me, was the reason why there were no instructions on how to even get started with mana.
It was because before one can learn magic, one must learn to sense mana. But techniques to sense and wield magic for the first time are usually not put in unrestricted books that any young child can pick up and read.
This was done because it was tried before and it resulted in many unsupervised children trying to sense and wield magic before they were ready, only to get seriously hurt or die. Now it is a common practice and law in most countries that children taking their first steps into magic, be it as simple as non-circle/household magic like what the maid did to light the fireplace, be supervised by someone who can perform at least 1st circle magic.
The ranking of magic in this world being, non-circle/household magic that can be used by quite a large number of people with a little training and practice, followed by 1st circle magic, all the way to the legendary 10th circle magic, and some saying there is a level that exceeds the 10th circle.
This seriously dampened my spirits, but then again, I am not really a child am I? But how am I to learn to sense mana, if the instruction to sense mana for the first time is not in unrestricted books, what is this world's definition of restricted?
That was a question that was answered a month later when my mum brought me along into her personal study and put me in my booster chair. After a while, of doing some personal research, she had to refer to some material.
Mum went to an ornate fully wooden and polished bookcase and pulled an equally ornate key out of her cleavage. After inserting the key and turning it, runes and glyphs lit up all over the bookcase, Mum waited for a few seconds for the light to fade before opening it.
I was lucky that the bookcase was right next to me so I managed to get a good look at what was in there.
There were some trinkets of both ornate and mundane in appearance, a fancy looking dagger, some jewelry, followed by a bunch of books.
There were the basic looking books like, "Herbology Handbook: Mastering the Magic of Botanicals" or "Alchemy Made Easy: Transforming the Mundane into the Magical", all the way to the pompous looking and grandiose sounding titles like, "The Grand Grimoire of Arcane Elevation: An Opulent Odyssey into Mystical Mastery" and "The Tome of Mystic Mastery: Illuminating the Path to Unparalleled Wizardry".
The latter books sounded like the author was blowing hot air up his own ass.
After skimming through the titles on the shelves, my eyes finally landed on a dusty corner that had yet to be populated with books. In that dusty corner was a thin and slightly crumpled book, but the title was clear to me, "Introduction to Sensing Mana: 3rd Edition"
Mum had already grabbed what she needed and was closing the case. I must get that book read to me! Baby Tantrum Powers Activate! I started crying while grasping at the shelf.
"Oh dear, what's wrong honey?" Mum said as she left the bookcase open and rushed towards me to pick me up. She saw where my attention was and went toward the bookcase.
As we got closer to the bookcase, I willed my baby body to ease up on the waterworks until I was just in front of the bookcase.
Mum took a necklace from inside the bookcase and dangled it in front of me "Does Luke want the shiny necklace?"
Ok, I got to play this smoothly. I take the necklace and do what babies do, I shove it in my mouth. After sucking the necklace for a few seconds, I pretend to have my eyes wander to the book I wanted.
After locking eyes with the book, I drop the necklace from my mouth and begin reaching towards the book in the dusty corner.
Mum sees the book I want and grabs it from the shelf and picks it up, "Oh my, does Luke want to become a mage like Mommy and Grandpa?"
To that question, I did my best puppy eyes at Mum while pointing at the book.
"Kaah! Why is my son so cute?!" Mum said as she showered me in kisses. After she was satisfied, she sat me down in my booster chair, pulled her chair up next to me, and opened the book.
"You should not be reading this book at your age, but it is not like you can understand what I am saying." Mum said as she stroked my head.
Yes. Yes!! Soon all the magic will be mine! Muahahaha. As I engage in my evil victory laugh, what actually comes out of my mouth is an utterly cute happy baby laugh which prompts Mum to rain down kisses on me once again.
No Mum, less kisses, more reading!