"I… have to study this thing?"
She had handed me a thick book with a metallic silver cover with a lot of complicated things written in it in a language that I could not even understand.
"Of course not, silly. You can't read that script anyway so why would I even bother giving you that thing."
Looking down at the special looking book with a little confused look, I flipped through the pages first and saw the magic circles that were drawn after very few pages.
"Just try memorizing the magic verses associated with the spells or memorize the spell structure.
Understanding the spell itself is the fastest way to learn it, but since you don't know how to read it, memorizing should be enough to give an idea about the spell's affinity."
"So…"
She simply meant I just had to chant the incantations or recreate the spells in my mind to cast them.
"Seems simple enough."
Being an artist meant having a good imagination. And though I do not have as great of a memory as hers, what I have developed with my experiences in various fields is enough for something like this.
"Let's start with the simplest one in the book."
She gave Az a simple looking magic scroll for a water attribute spell and the cute slime was 'feeling' the scroll since a while ago, trying to comprehend the spell's structure somehow.
It was doing its best, so I also had to do the same.
"Natural Magic: Earth attribute: Restriction series spell– Grass binding."
Natural magic was a little different from elemental magic since it was not derived from the independent elements existing in nature but from the elements that were part of nature itself.
'Normally, to cast a (Fireball), one would use the fire element's power directly from the nature when they use Elemental magic. It is simpler and more direct. However, when using natural magic one has to rely on the natural elements.'
To cast a fire element natural spell, a naturally lit fire is necessary. To cast water elemental natural spells, water sources of nature: Lake, rain, rivers are necessary.
And just like them, to cast an earth attribute natural spell, the earthly elements are necessary…
"Focus and think about the spell structure."
She guided me through the process with her hands on my shoulders.
"Think about how the spell looks, what it is about and how it might feel if you touched it with your hands."
She was holding one of my hands with some soil between our hands.
"Do it from the inside out, just the way you do it."
Forming the center of the spell first, I drew the spell inside my head and connected the lines just the way I remembered them.
"Now, Channel the Mana inside of you and try to move the Mana in the atmosphere. Lead the Mana and draw the spell the same way you drew it inside your head."
-Oooooooooooooong!
I had no idea what I was supposed to do to move the Mana inside me so I just followed the lead of her other finger which was moving from my chest area- around the place my heart was- to the end of my finger, where I was supposed to manifest the circle.
"Take a deep breath."
"Huuuu…"
I didn't really do anything, but as if it was instinct, something inside of me followed the path she had shown and followed the lines I had made in my imagination.
"When the spell structure is on point and when the Mana input is enough…"
-Ooooooooooooooong!
I could feel a new, warm sensation before my hand so I opened my eyes– and saw a spell manifestation of my own for the first time.
"Magic, is born."
Just like I had seen in the book, there was an attractive looking magic circle before my eyes.
It was my first spell– a (tier-1) basic spell of Natural magic.
"And when the spell is released…"
She moved my hand to an empty area away from where Az was 'working' with his magic scroll, and moving her face closer to mine, she said something completely unexpected and inappropriate that the concentration I had on my spell was broken instantly.
-Oooooooooooong.
"Alex!"
I was angry at her for doing something so unexpected so out of the blue, and thanks to her, the spell that I had made with such difficulty flew away to the place it was pointed at.
"...It creates the phenomenon that it was meant to."
-Oooooooooong!
I did not see it before, but the place that it was pointed at had a small plant growing– which, when the spell manifested, was instantly covered in strong looking, long blades of strange grass that did not belong to this environment.
"Congrats on casting your very first spell, dumb one."
She smiled at me warmly and resealed the hand with the soil that she had been holding since earlier.
[Ding!]
[You have cast a basic (tier-1) spell for the first time. Rewarding Exp.]
[Ding!]
[Level up!]
[(Level-13) > (Level-14).]
With the Exp I got from the reward box earlier, this level up was at least within my expectations.
So it was not that surprising.
"Looks like you can cast the Restriction spells-... hun?"
But, what both of us did not expect was what happened right after I succeeded in casting my magic.
-Oooooooooong!
"Shrrrrr…"
[Ding!]
[Your tamed Mana slime has succeeded in casting a spell!]
[Your Mana slime has obtained the skill: {Magic comprehension}.]
[You have earned Exp!]
[You have earned an achievement!]
[Master of magician beast (Rare) has been achieved!]
"Wow…"
Az, who was working with its water element magic scroll had somehow created a small fountain of water that did not seem anything impressive from a general point of view… but the fact that it did it with magic, with a spell that was supposed to create drinking water, made all the difference.
"Looks like I'm going to be working with two magic geniuses, hun?"
"Muuu! Muuu~!"
The scroll that she gave to Az was nowhere to be seen so she could tell how the slime might have gained the knowledge of magic after only a few hours of 'practice'.
"This one's special as well, hun?"
Az was different from the other Mana slimes that she had seen.
It had skills that she has not seen even in other slimes all over the world, much less in the other Mana slimes.
============
[Mana Slime: Az] (Tamer: Elio.)
(Level: 3)
T-T (Physical stats)
Strength: 5
Agility: 6
Endurance: 4
Intelligence: 9
T-T (Functional stats)
Energy: 8/10
Stamina: 5/10
Fatigue: 4/10
Mana: 15/30
{Skills: Curiocity, Emotions, Magic comprehension.}
============
It was not a simple slime.
"Muuuuu~!"
Just the fact that it could cast magic made it Very special, but from an understanding of someone who understood these creatures, from an understanding of someone like Alex– this simple blob that was now jumping joyfully with half of its Mana gone, was a unique existence even among its unique kind.
"Now then, let's check the other types as well and quickly go on hunting~!"
Alex had now become even more excited and though it was not there before, there was a new kind of spark in her eyes.
'A spark that one could simply see in anyone excited for the most sought after activity of these kinds of games… hunting.'
She knew I was not going to kill anything.
But, since she was here, we knew I would not need to do the killing myself…