Time passed with alarming speed: before I knew it, the hot summer had arrived, and Sugawara-sensei dragged me out into the wilderness for special training. Just like in the anime: a strict teacher with enviable muscles and his unfortunate student live on the shore of a lake/river, eat whatever they can and train under a waterfall.
In my case it turned out a bit different from the "canon". I should start with the fact that I'm on a strict diet, so I can't eat or eat every other time — I'll get weak and short (the healer explained).
I also take special supplements to strengthen various parts of my body. By the way, I managed to find this course on supplements, how to calculate them for a boy/girl, how to prepare them, etc., in the library. So, adapted to my diet, we eat well and satisfyingly, even if Sensei murmurs that the thing is not right, sir.
In addition, they assigned me a young man of inexpressive appearance, who continues to teach the most necessary lessons in a reduced format: history, magical laws (most of the class time, very detailed), as well as ritualism and symbolism. The latter is part of ritualism; it explains what and how to change and replace in ritualism.
Sugawara-sensei himself took me seriously: we woke up early, ran a lot, did a lot of acrobatic tasks and techniques, and other various physical exercises for different muscle groups. What is remarkable is that Sugawara-sensei did all the tasks together with me, which created a deadly incentive "I'M A MAN TOO, I CAN DO THIS TOO!!!" and I don't care that there is an adult master next to me who is capable of much more — my instincts are stronger.
So I tore my veins, but I did not give up, sometimes I stupidly lost consciousness during some tasks: I was doing something, then BAM, everything turned red in front of my eyes, then the light went out, the next moment I opened my eyes with a cold bandage on my head.
Sensei paid special attention to deep meditations, trances, and the theory of magical combat. The meditations worked well to quickly restore strength and improve the process of understanding what was being studied. Every night before going to bed, I meditated, sorting out the whole day, getting to the point where hints were made, catching the understatements, understanding my mistakes.
Also, such deep meditation allowed me to better discover the feeling of the world around me, and significantly strengthened my perception of other people's magic. And if before I seemed to be able to catch the faint scent of someone else's magic, now it has become much easier to turn that ability on, catch the scent, and turn it off. Now you don't have to suffer for an hour and a half or two to get rid of it.
At the same time, trance opened up to me from a new side. No, the main advantage of trance — extreme concentration — remained unchanged, but the fact that my perception expanded, I began to notice more details, and the possibility of multitasking thinking opened up — this is new.
This is not the notorious second or nth stream of consciousness, not at all. Multitasking in the sense that a complex task can be broken down into components and solved at once, or one can perceive several "pictures" at once. Noticing this, he immediately created several simple shikigami, sent them in different directions, fell into a trance, and began to observe and perceive the images of all the shikigami at the same time, normally.
But I can't control them all at once, so everything remains the same: I formulate a command in my mind and send it to the recipient or broadcast it to everyone in a wide area. Well, if anything, I will make an excellent guard at an observation post where you have to keep an eye on a bunch of pictures. That's a plus — I won't die hungry.
On to the theory of magical combat. Sensei said it's too early for me, but in a year or two we'll take it up. In the meantime, we will accumulate a theoretical base and analyze the tactics and strategy of various scenarios, such as fighting alone, in a group, or commanding formations of various sizes. These activities alone were enough to make your head spin.
So three months passed, during which I was thoroughly tanned and "shaggy" — my hair grew to my shoulders and was always tangled. Sensei, an old snake, forbade me to cut it with a knife, and when I did, he conjured something and it grew to my waist. I suffered for a week. As soon as I returned to the estate, I immediately cut my hair (with the help of a maid) almost bald, and smiled into the night, for which I received more than one sidelong glance.
Over the summer, I had a lot of different thoughts and ideas, and I didn't want to push them, so the very first night, my shikigami men brought me a thick book called "Spatial Magic". But after a few days, I realized that I had overestimated myself, and I couldn't even understand most of the words in the text — I hadn't been taught that.
My task is to rewrite, to copy from the library everything that might be important, interesting, or has the possibility of making a profit. I haven't given up the idea of leaving the clan, but then I have to live somehow, and in Mahoutokoro they won't let me go, and I won't get a diploma.
It's possible to live among ordinary people, but without a diploma and education, they won't hire me for a normal job... and why am I learning magic so I won't have to use it later? No, of course, it would be a shame to throw such a bun in the garbage, and so I need something to ensure a normal life among magicians. The library will help me with that — there is a lot of stuff there, and I will definitely find something for myself.
When you think about it (which I did over the summer), a wonderful picture emerges, wonderful in its kindness and humanity: The majority of the clan members only get the education that the clan heads decide on within the clan itself, without getting any diplomas;
A person receives a certain level of professionalism, occupies a certain niche in the clan, and sits in it until he is blue in the face, in the end it turns out that even after leaving his clan, a person without a diploma will not find a decent job, will not be able to return to his clan, He won't be able to go back to his clan because it will be worse than begging — he will be severely retaliated against as an example for other freedom-loving people, and he won't be able to go to another clan because a dossier is always compiled on a person, that's all, a dead end.
It turns out that the clan members have no choice but to piss off their masters — the clan chiefs. I don't want to live like that, and I think I've found a way out. You can't rush, you can't make a mistake, and I have to find a way to take my mother with me — you can't leave her here under any circumstances.