Driving his car back into the garage, Richard out it in park and stepped out.
Walking into the house, he briefly stepped into the kitchen, putting the few groceries he had purchased on his way into the refrigerator.
Without wasting a beat, whilst humming a tune, he left the kitchen and walked until he reached his bedroom. Observing the necessary, yet also unnecessary procedures, he stripped down until he was in nothing but what he had been born with.
Stepping into the bathroom, he let the water run for a few minutes before submerging his body.
Right now, the first rays of the evening sun were already peeking through the blanket of dreary clouds.
Night was approaching, meaning a day was approaching its conclusion...
Going over all the things that had happened today, Richard was filled with glee and dread at the same time. How two such conflicting emotions could exist at the same time was a mystery.
He chuckled to himself, feeling the hot water soaking into his skin, almost melting his bones.
'This is the good stuff.'
Nights like this were what he treasured the most. He was always happy to spend some time alone, away from all the stress and evil creatures of Hell.
'Shoil I go on a hunt tonight?' Richard thought to himself as he scooped a handful of water with his palm.
Shocking, the water managed to stay in his hand without spilling. After some times it even managed to float above his palm, levitating in place, only periodically changing stape and structure
Staring at the floating blob of water, Richard was reminded of the things he had learned...
'Magic, a force that has no beginning and no end. It was here before ethe beginning, and it would be here after we all turn to dust and bones.'
'Magic, source of supernatural ability that can turn mere men into God's should they find a way to tap into its source.'
'Magic... The recipe of disaster that brought ruin upon this world.'
'Magic, this world's only savings grace and hope...'
The existence of Magic was something that had been known to several small groups of humans for as long as the human race in general had crawled the earth.
All sorts of spells had been created, since the days of the old, till date, each requiring one to access this strange energy that had been unanimously termed mana.
Mana was like this floating blob of water. Somewhat immaterial, and yet it could be grasped with ones hands, only to slip away in the next moment.
It was strange...
Feeling the current flowing through his, Richard was once again reminded of a few more things.
Mana was a constant for all Sorcerers in the world, be they from the Vatican or the Dark Society, or the Circle of Magi. It didn't matter. Ever single one of them required to tap into the ever present power that fueled the occultic world.
All spells can be broadly classified into four categories;
Phenom-type Magic.
Soul Magic.
Divination Magic.
And Enchantments.
Of course, these categories were incredibly broad, with some spells even having elemental from more than one category.
However if one wanted to create some for of division, then this is what would exist.
Staring at the floating blob, Richard immersed himself deeper into his thoughts.
'Phenom-type Magic... Spells that affect nature itself. One can control the elements, manipulate reality, and even momentarily create and destroy concepts with these.'
'Soul Magic... Spells that completely ignore the physical world and travel through spiritual means. These are the most dangerous types of spells thanks to their sinister nature, as one can be casted without the affected ever realizing. It is use very frequently by Devils.'
Richard's eyes narrowed,
'Divination Magic... Spells that affect fate. With them, one can peer into the future and past. At high levels, some Sorcerers can even manipulate them to an extent, although it is advisable to not commit such folly.'
'And the final one... Enchantments. The most broad category for spells to fall under.'
Richard sighed,
'Enchantments are so broad because they can fall onto anything. A piece of wood can be enchanted to become as strong as steel, a bullet can be enchanted to fly faster. A human body can be enchanted to become as light as a feather and as strong as a Dragon's... And a small pool of water can be enchanted to float above ones head.'
Poking the little blob of water, it wriggled for a second before it popped, splashing water into the bathtub.
'Normally, using Phenom-type Magic to control elements like flames and water would be more advisable according to the master mages and Sorcerers. However...'
Richard sneered, 'I disagree!'
He had studied magic for years now, and calling him a genius was an understatement. Most low level spells had already been mastered by him.
However, he hadn't stopped there.
This was because he had noticed a fundamental problem with all these spells...
Remembering the words he had spoken that day, a nostalgic expression came over him.
"What did I say again? Oh, right... 'Narrow minds birth tunnel vision. With an opportunity as broad as the arcane arts, how are their minds so narrow?!' wasn't it?"
Richard chuckled, "I still think that is the case."
To him, the four categories of spells were very vague, leaving out a lot of complicated details and such. Not only that, but the spells born from those limits, in his eyes, were crude...
Summoning jets of flames, and conjuring up giant earthen golems was cool and all, but was it effective?
Richard could only say no to that.
'Magic is like water. When allowed to flow, it is the recipe for life.'
If something as simple as water can birth life, then the wonders magic coild conjure were far better.
All these realizations had eventually come together to become a new school of magic he had personally created.
Clocking his tongue, Richard got out of the bath. During his body with a towel, he thought about things more and more...
'I still can't think of a better name. AThe school of Arcane Prejudice sounds nice though...'
Shaking his head, Richard stopped those thoughts quickly.
As Sorcerers interacted with the world to produce magic, they needed mana. This mans was all around, and could be absorbed into the body through a process called Magic Synthesis; a process created by the Mages of Old.
By absorbing mana into their bodies, these Sorcerers were able to perform all sorts of wonderful feats. Some of them even managed to extend their lifespans for centuries.
Just like that, the art was passed down from generation to generation. Every single sorcerer of the modern world practiced this art. Richard sat into the med, still unclothed
To absorb mana into the body....
One mist first feel the existence of mana. The next step was to project your will into said mana, slowly guiding it until it reached the body.
And once that was done, the mana would saturate the body until it was still. Everyone had differentana capacities that were practically designed at birth, so there was almost changing that. What gave sorcerers the edge over one another though, was the speed of gathering.
The rate at which one gathered mana was heavily dependent on hard work and talent. This also affected one's rank as a sorcerer as well.
For First Rank Sorcerers, their mana gathering speed is usually very terrible. It might take them years to fill their bodies. But one it was filled and they become more in tune with mana, they become Second Ranks.
At the second rank, one would be able to use low level spells with immense easy, and intermediate spells with great difficulty.
However, this was very different for Richard. For one, his mana capacity was something that had never appeared in history before. If others had the capacity of a five liter gallon, then his was a swimming pool.
Filling something like that would obviously take a very long time should one have a normal mana gathering rate. However, his gathering rate was also out of this world.
It wasn't something a human should possess...
But he did. This was also the reason he had four Abyssal Palaces at only the Second Rank. This was the same number that a Bane family member at the Fourth Rank would have.
To climb ranks was not easy as well. Usually, the lower one's mana capacity, the slower they would be able to fill, and the less likely they would be able to ascend to greater heights.
Even though he had suffered a lot of tragedies in his life time, all that wasn't going to stop him from discovering the secrets to the arcane arts.
Instead, they only made him even more curious. His heart longed for, craved... answers.
Answers that the current world couldn't give him.
And then, one day, he thought to himself;
If there were no answers, why not just make them on his own...