Chapter 8: Chapter 8 – Awakening magic (part 2)

“How long was I asleep?” Noah wiped his face with his palm.

Casa handed him a water bottle from the storage compartment. “About an hour. Janice said the earth element awakening area is on the mountain nearby. So, they should be coming back soon.”

“Mhm.” Noah leaned on the bed once more.

Meanwhile, Janice raised her arm and looked at her watch. “Yes. Just wait for a bit.”

 

---

 

James, John, and Lukas returned not long after the conversation. Lukas had a smile on his face. The same with John. Noah noticed James’ pale face, so he asked him. “James, you okay?”

“Uh yeah.” He sat on the same bed. Casa casually passed him another water bottle, which he accepted.

Lukas stood before them. “Well then. James successfully awakened another element. Right now, let him rest for a while. Afterward, we’ll look at both of your elements after he had enough rest.” He placed a chair near Janice’s and sat before grabbing his phone out of his pocket.

John joined Casa and the two Transported’s conversation.

..

James briefly talked about his trip to the awakening area.

The trio had to travel to a mountainous region before going through a tunnel in twenty minutes before reaching the area. Afterward, they trekked downward a path to which they arrived in a massive and well-lit earth pocket.

The region wasn’t as grand as the first two, but he didn’t have to trek through a storm or avoid lightning. Moreover, it was a stone room under the mountain with only a maroon mat in the center. James didn't see any decorations, nor a safety room. There weren't even any magic formations. No earth magic, just pure land, dirt, and stone.

Carefully, he approached the mat and sat before speaking the awakening chant.

As usual, the mana gathered in his body. James then felt what Noah had gone through, although slighter better. He felt fullness spread across his body before getting hit with a massive headache. Then, he resisted looking at his soul sea as to keep their promise. Afterward, they rested for a bit before doing another boring trip back to the academy.

..

After about ten minutes of rest, Lukas approached them. “Are you two feeling well?” Both of them nodded.

“Good…” He called Janice to come over. “Now, look at your soul sea. Tell me the color of your new element star systems.”

Noah and James closed their eyes.

After the flash of light, Noah ignored the tiny specks of light and found the icy white star in his soul sea. Then he surveyed the surrounding stars. Soon, he found a silver-gray-colored star near the icy white star.

Silver-gray… As expected, it’s a failure again. He opened his eyes and faced Lukas.

“Well, it’s a failure like what Janice said. It’s not a purple-colored star but a silver-gray one.” Noah sighed.

“Silver-gray!” Lukas exclaimed with a cheerful spirit, which made Noah's eyes beam. Is it a good one? He could only form a guess why Lukas was so excited, so he asked.

The man laughed. “A gray-colored star means it’s a dimensional magic awakening! Good lord, you think it’s a failed awakening, but it’s actually a successful one. A very successful one.”

Oh, so it's actually good? A smile appeared on Noah's face. “Really?! What’s my magic type, then?”

Lukas calmed down, but his excitement couldn’t be masked in his voice. “Hmm. Silver-gray. It is the space magic type. Phew.”

Noah stuttered. “S-Space?! Isn’t that one with the blinking technique?” His mind wandered around. I could teleport. Amazing. Wait, I could also lift things. Goddamn.

Not noticing Noah’s expression, Lukas spoke. “Yes. Awakening dimensional magic at the beginner level. Aren’t you super lucky?”

..

Meanwhile, James finally opened his eyes. He smiled.

“Earth Magic. Successful awakening, let’s go!” He made a fist pump upward. But seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces, he stopped.

“Did something fun happen?” He asked.

Noah turned to him and smiled. “Yes. I have space magic, bitch.”

“Wait, really?”

“YEAH!”

“Oh, what about you? Did you get the earth magic type?” Noah asked.

“Hell, yeah.” James smiled.

“Damn… Why do you always awaken successfully?” Noah made a bitter face.

“Why did you awaken space magic?” James retorted.

“Fair enough.” They both laughed.

 

---

 

The group talked for a bit before walking back to the Magic Theory classroom with cheerful spirits.

Lukas wanted to give them a crash course on the magic theory since he only has thirty minutes left before the lunch break. Soon after that, the classes will start at one o’clock in the afternoon.

John left and Casa informed the duo that he’ll visit the local Adventurer’s guild hall while they start their studies. Janice bid her goodbye and went back to the administrative building.

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Lukas opened the projector, while the two-seat in their seats earlier. “Since we have a few minutes left, I’ll just go briefly over the magic circle instructions, so you can try to practice magic during lunch.”

A video appeared on the project screen to which Lukas played.

Lukas paused it after four circles with words appeared on the screen. “Casting magic using a magic circle is broken down into three essential steps, but there is actually another step that is commonly used to easily remember the magic spell. We will talk about it after the three essential steps. The first one is creating the magic circle. You will provide a set of instructions compiled into various lines and shapes. The instructions are made of two parts: the activation sequence which are the instructions to activate the magic… obviously, and the content which is the magic itself…” Lukas moved his red pointer clockwise. He stopped at the next circle with an image. In the picture, a bright blue star shone by itself.

“After creating the magic circle, also known as the set of instructions, you will need to invoke mana from your corresponding star system. That is connecting the star system to the magic circle…”

“The third and final one is placing the magic circle. Starting the activation instructions in the magic circle, the magic will be cast. How and where do you place it? That is your choice.” Lukas gathered his breath.

Noah raised his hand. “So, in short. Creating the magic circle needs an activation sequence and the effect of the magic. Then I just need to connect my mana to the magic circle before activating it?”

Lukas played the video again and paused in the next image. “Yes. A basic fire trap, for example. The activation sequence will be when we place a monster into the platform designation we placed the magic in. The effect will materialize fire in the pit and moving it upwards. Next, you will place the magic circle on a surface like the ground. Tada, it's ready to toast a monster.”

“However, placing magic like this is inefficient. It is better to use formations for long-lasting spells. For example, to levitate an object or place, you would need mana gathering lines to- huh, do you guys need a break?” He noticed Noah rubbed his eyes, while James downright yawned in front of him.

It was Noah who replied. “No, it’s fine. I just didn’t expect creating a magic circle would be so complicated.”

“Same”

“I guess so. But if this overwhelms you, it will be a massive surprise when you reach a certain level of difficulty. Lukas chuckled. "Alright, let’s stop there for now. Why don’t we try to create basic magic circles?”

“Sure!” Both replied cheerily.

"Follow me." Lukas turned off the projector, while the duo scuffled and tailed Lukas as he left the room. Meanwhile, Lukas thought he forgot to mention something, but he quickly ignored it and proceeded onward.

 

---

 

The trio exited arrived at the student training area. As usual, most if not all students are on the regenerating wall which is on the right side, so Lukas led them towards the opposite side, which had simple circular tables spread evenly within. They picked an unoccupied table.

Lukas opened his mouth, only to close it again. He placed a palm on his face. “Oh, I forgot to give you the basic magic circle manual.”

“Wait here, I’ll get the books quickly.” He said as his body suddenly duplicated, as if a mirror had manifested in the air. Soon, he disappeared. Noah gave a whistle at the sight.

I can do that too. He pouted.

The two sat down and waited. Though, it didn’t take long before Lukas came back.

He came back a few minutes after, phasing back into reality while carrying three thick booklets of the same kind. The books were like old textbooks Noah was familiar with, with blue-gold engravings on the cover titled Fundamentals of Magic. They were thick, clearly displaying the amount of knowledge between each magic type. Within each face of the cover, they could see several magic circles of different magic types.

Lukas handed them one each and kept one for himself. After some thought, he opened his booklet and rummaged through the table of contents. He spoke a minute after. “James, open page 52. That’s the basic magic circle for wind magic. As for Noah, go open page 65. That’s the basic ice magic circle.”

“Mhm.” Noah flipped the thick book slowly, while James immediately jumped onto the page Lukas instructed him to read. Fire magic, water magic, wind magic… Skimming through each page, Noah realized distinct elements behaved uniquely to each other, though quite obviously. Fire spells tend to spread, while water spells moved in a cohesive manner. Likewise, wind spells moved in a uniform flow of motion but can be circumvented to take sharp turns with extra mana usage.

Noah flipped back to the first few pages that he skipped. After seeing various shapes and lines within each magic circle he saw earlier, whether or not he wanted to, he knew he needed to comprehend the runic instructions. Else, he will always copy the book’s spells, unable to create his own.

A combination of eight shapes and three line-figures are needed to construct a magic instruction. Eight shapes allow and restrict the flow of mana inside the magic instruction. They are a circle, oval, triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, and a star. The three line-figures are a helix, a double helix, and a triple helix, which represent the data used by the magic circle. This mixture of shapes, or abstracts, and data, or factuals, result in an effect.

For example, in creating a simple fire burst effect, you would need circles, triangles, pentagons, stars, and factuals arranged in certain positions such that the triangles define the activation to be an immediate cast upon completion, pentagons contain the factuals, and the circles to use the factuals. This will cause a ball of fire moving in a straight line before puffing out some distance away.

After reading, he continued on, trying to understand every magic spell after reading the tutorial. He had some success, but it was nothing worth boasting over. He stopped when he reached his target. The basic magic circle for the ice magic type.

Looking at the magic circle, he more or less understood the process. With pentagon and circle abstracts, icicles will form and fly in the direction he wanted. A single step, two instruction magic circle just like the fire burst before.

He placed the book in his armpit. As per the instructions, using his beginner-level authority to move mana particles or psion particles as the manual defined, Noah raised his hand and tried to create an icy white outline of a basic magic circle.

BAM!

The magic circle created a loud sound and disappeared before the solid outline could reach halfway. What happened? He looked at the glowing magic formula on the page. I did nothing wrong, though.

He heard Lukas’ amused voice. “You were focusing too much on the magic circle that you lost control of your authority.”

“Oh. That makes sense. I knew I did it correctly.” Noah mumbled. He raised his hand again. This time he equally split his attention between controlling his authority and creating the outline, but it still broke.

“What now?” He sighed.

Lukas laughed. “Spells are a complicated matter. So don’t worry about it. You just had a psion gap when outlining the circle. In fact, you’re doing great as a first timer.” He raised his thumb to Noah, who nodded.

Then his gaze switched to James, who was still looking at his own assignment. “James, what’s your status?”

“I know how to make the magic circle. I just don’t understand what the shapes and lines are for.” James closed his book and raised his hand. Next, he tried creating a light-green magic circle outline. But it also broke after he drew the third pentagon.

“You didn’t end the last shape properly. Let’s stop here for now. You can practice later. As for the shapes and lines, they are…” Lukas repeated what Noah had just learned to James. He also added to never place a magic circle inside a part of their bodies unless they knew what they were doing, as they could easily lose a limb or two, even their lives if they’re not being careful. Which made sense to Noah, since placing a basic magic circle like ice spikes would create the ice spear inside your body and tear apart your muscles and bones as it flies through.

Lukas also warned Noah to not use the space bridging properties of the space element before he familiarized himself with magic casting and the space element’s telekinetic properties. Since he could accidentally teleport part of his body somewhere or get himself stuck under the earth and die a slow, painful death.

Of course, Noah followed his instructions with trepidation. If magic can dispose of monsters and people alike, it should come as no surprise that even their own magic is dangerous to the casters if they were abused. Still, Noah had to wonder why Alex Miller didn’t fix that problematic issue. Maybe it is for balance, such as what the proverbs say. ‘Great power comes with great responsibility.’ If you’re irresponsible, you deserve to lose a limb or two. He chuckled at the thought.

The duo spent their last few minutes before lunch solidifying their understanding of the casting process. Noah reached three-quarters of the magic circle before it dissipated, while James only got as far as halfway before it exploded. As they moved slowly due to excessive usage of mental energy, the bell rang.

“Looks like time is up.” Lukas stretched out. “Come, let’s replenish our stomachs.” He picked up his book beside him.

Meanwhile, the two struggled to get up and Lukas had to support them with telekinesis so they can walk straight. Eventually, they arrived at their destination.

By only seeing the simple kitchen and cafeteria in the adventurer’s area, they thought the cafeteria would look simple and plain, however; they didn’t expect its massive size or incredible architectural design poured into it.

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