"Grandpa! You're back!" a young boy's excited voice chimed as soon as we entered Merlin's house.
"I'm back, Shin, and I've brought a guest." Merlin replied, as he gestured towards me.
Shin looked over, examining me for a moment, before excitedly saying "hello there, my name is shin. What's yours?"
I began examining the kid, blue eyes and hair, a child no older than 7. So this was Shin Wolford, the protagonist of this world? Well I've gotta say, seeing him like this was surreal, to the point of being uncanny. It wasn't obvious due to the style anime is drawn in, but seeing shin in real life was a weird experience to say the least.
"David." I replied curtly.
"Well David, it's nice to meet you. Say, do you know how to perform magic?"
I reply, this time with a bit more interest "No. But I've been meaning to get into it recently."
"Really?! Well I've been studying magic for a few months now, and I can help you learn! Say, how about we go and learn together?" he asked.
'Don't mind if i do. If Shin could use his knowledge of the previous world to become that strong in this world, with the scientific knowledge of a common japanese salaryman, then with my expertise I'll be able to do things the people of this world wouldn't even be able to comprehend.' I thought to myself.
"Yeah. I'll be in your care, so please lead the way." I replied.
"Alright! Grandpa, we'll be in my room learning magic so please don't disturb us!"
And with that shin led me to his room, it was relatively simple, with a bed in one corner lit by a lamp on top of the side table placed next to it. On the other side of the room was a table where I saw a large number of books piled up. The only other notable things were a wardrobe as well as a window, with the curtains currently blocking the outside view.
"Come here! I'll show you a few spells first before I help you cast your first one!" he said, gesturing to me to sit on the bed.
After I took a seat, he began to explain "So the core of all magic is visualization. Say you want to conjure a fireball…" he began.
With a single gesture, a fireball appeared in his hand, before he continued speaking "you need to visualize it, before using mana to form a circle that brings it into reality. The process itself is a bit more complicated than that, but for a beginner like you, this should be the simplest explanation of magic."
'Holy shit! I know that magic is real and all in this world but, man that really fucks with my head. I mean, the guy just started a fire out of nowhere, and it's real as well. I can feel the heat coming off that fire.' I thought. As someone who came from a world of science, it was just soo cool seeing magic for the first time.
"Can you show me more?" I asked, in a voice oozing enthusiasm.
He then proceeded to conjure a bit of lighting, an orb of water, as well as a gentle breeze.
"How do you do it that easily?" I asked absentmindedly.
"It's mostly practice. The most important part of visualization is to not limit yourself by just imagining the result of the spell, but to also think of the entire process behind the visualization. For example, while casting a fireball, think, 'What is the source of this fire? What is fueling it? What would make it brighter, hotter?' adding things like this in your visualization should help with your spell."
"Ok, but how do I turn that visualisation into a spell?" I asked, getting into the conversation, my student brain activated.
"Oh, you should ask grandpa's help for that part. He'll help you awaken your ability to sense mana first, after which you'll need to train for a couple of weeks before your body can control mana well enough to cast a spell,"
"That seems like a lot of hard work." I commented.
"It is. But it's worth it. Nothing compares to the satisfaction you get when you fire your first spell. Trust me, hard work is about 80% of the process of learning magic." he told me.
"Is that so? Well thanks for the heads up." I replied.
"Children, I've prepared our dinner so get to the dining table. We will eat dinner, and then you can talk about magic all you want! I'll even join in." Merlin's voice rang out.
"We'll be out in a bit!" shin called out in return.
"Ok, let's go eat something. We'll talk about how to visualise lightning after dinner." shin tells me.
"Alright. You go on ahead. I'll join you in a bit." I replied.
After Shin left, I looked up at the ceiling, trying to get my thoughts straight.
'Wow, it's finally setting in, huh. I'm really in another world. Man… I don't know how to feel about this. On one hand im lucky as fuck and most people would kill for this type of opportunity but i cant get over the fact that my life ended. I guess I'll have to keep moving for now, no use dwelling on the past. I just need to make sure I can live this life to the fullest. And the fact that I'll probably be able to use magic in the near future, not to mention I'll need to worry about Schtrom in the future as well… phew, my new life sure is going to be a hectic one.'
"DAVID! COME OUT TO EAT DINNER BEFORE IT GETS COLD!" I heard shin yelling in the other room.
'I guess 'future me' will have to think up something. For now, dinner.' I thought before yelling out "I'll be right there!" After which I joined my new acquaintances for dinner.