Chapter 5: Magic Lessons

The next day, all the tools that I needed were set.

Rulers, compasses, 45-45-90 triangles, 30-60-90 triangles, mechanical pencil and eraser. If I could only have a protractor then it's all set.

The manadite chalk was reshaped into a 0.5mm diameter cylinder spanning a total of 10cm length.

Just using the first Manadite alone managed to make 30 of these. Looks like I wouldn't need to process ores for a while.

When I introduced all the tools to Mary and Nina, they stared at it intently. It seems that it was their first time seeing drawing tools such as these.

I heard that the drawing tools sold at the capital was powered with magic, which made it expensive.

When I told them how to use each, Mary started jumping around saying that with these she would need less time to finish drawing.

It seemed that the mechanical pencil was the one that caught her attention the most. It was easy to hold and she can draw clearly with it, as it was mixed with charcoal that made it easy to see on white paper.

She even conducted a test to see if the efficiency fell but instead discovered that the addition of coal made it much efficient.

Also, probably due to the tool's influence, even Nina started to have an interest for being a Magic Artificer.

The conclusion? That afternoon, Mary's students ended up becoming two.

"The first lesson would be on the easiest level of Magic circles. The elements."

She started the class while showing us a paper with 4 circles drawn. The words fire, water, earth and wind are written clearly in cursive in the middle.

It was basically a square inscribed in a circle with a string of words on the middle representing the element.

These circles were really basic just as she said.

"The fire magic circle is used to call upon a small fire."

She picked up a small paper set aside with the fire magic circle drawn. After it received mana from Mary, the paper suddenly got lit with fire from the top-left corner. It was burning the paper slowly.

"Next is water magic circle. It is used to call upon a small amount of water. It is effective against fire."

As she explained, she picked up a paper with the water magic circle. After applying mana, water started to drip from the paper.

The drops of water reached the flame from the other magic circle and it got extinguished.

"Following that is the earth magic circle. It is used to call upon the power of the earth. It is effective against water element."

When she picked up an earth magic circle and activated it, the paper suddenly turned into sand and fell on top of the water, sipping it dry.

"Last is the wind magic circle. It calls upon a light breeze. It is useful against earth element as it cannot be restrained."

When she activated the wind magic circle, a gust of wind came and wiped the table clean from the sand.

"Conversely, wind element works to strengthen fire element so you need to be careful."

She warned us too about the compatible elements.

"What will happen if I write two elements in a single circle?"

I asked. Mary nodded and quickly gave an answer.

"In case of two elements being inscribed, the elements will be reacting with each other. For example, if fire is mixed with wind, when the circle is activated, it will produce a hot breeze of air."

So there was really that function. This is getting more interesting.

"Can the user stop the magic once it's started?"

Nina asked innocently while raising her right hand.

"Unfortunately, no. Once the circle is activated, until either the surrounding mana or the supplied mana is used up, it wouldn't stop."

There's even a drawback to using it. The more I hear, the more I want to study it.

"There's also a method of adding some protection for the user but that is an advanced skill. A newbie like me can only dream of learning it."

She added with a wry smile.

"Then, let's get to the next level. This time, it will be emission of elements."

After saying that, she picked up the ruler beside her and drew lines on top of the elements' square to the top of the circle and from the bottom of the square to the bottom of the circle.

On the top side of the square, she drew a small circle.

The finalized drawing looked similar to the «Luminescence» magic circle with the only difference being the written core element.

Then, holding the paper with the drawing of the four elements, she applied mana to it.

Immediately after, 4 spheres of different colors were floating around her. One red, one white, one blue and one brown.

"With just a little modification, you can make an element to appear in a condensed form like this."

After 3 seconds of the end of her words, the spheres vanished as if it was an illusion.

"… However, the mana consumption is a level higher than the basic elements. You should take note of this."

Assuming that Mary used the same amount of mana on both cases, the provided mana could make a normal elementary scroll last for a minute while it could only last less than 10 seconds if emitted. The efficiency was definitely lower.

The lessons proceeded smoothly until the time for dinner came.

I felt respect for Mary's skills for the first time. It seems that drawing the Magic Circles weren't that easy. When I tried, I only made one success over all my dozens of tries.

I felt depressed due to that fact.

After we ate dinner, I continued practicing. I couldn't accept that I have more failures than successes. I will continue practicing until I can make it a 100% success rate!

Mary even lent me her book of spells. She briefed me with each sections and types of magic and then left me alone.

I got immersed in practicing and reading. The large bundle of papers disappeared like smoke.

Though, I have the habit of losing track of time when focusing on something.

And as expected, when I noticed, the sun was already peeking through the window. I even lost count of the number of «Luminescence» Scrolls that I have used as lighting and as experiment materials.

Still, my efforts didn't go in vain.

By now, I could draw elementary fire, water and wind magic circles perfectly. Earth magic circles still had about 5% failure rate but I almost got it.

About the event when I almost ended up burning the table, I kept quiet. There were things better left unknown in this world.

"You must be tired from staying up all night. Here's a glass of hot milk. I'm sorry as the meal will be prepared an hour later."

Mary came to my side carrying a steaming hot milk.

"Thank you."

I replied with a short smile. Looks like I was more fatigued than I thought.

I received the hot milk and carefully took a sip.

The sweetness spreading on my mouth and the heat filling my stomach blew away my sleepiness. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"… How is it going? Have you made some progress?"

Mary quickly inquired. She must be curious of how I fared after pulling an all-nighter. Other than the half-burnt table incident, I have no problem in telling her everything though.

"Let's see… I basically mastered all elementary elements. I also found some patterns and proved some of my theories. All in all, it looks like I did quite well for one night."

"Wow. So you mastered elements… Which element?"

"Hmm? I mastered all of it."

"Please stop joking. Learning a single element is the most one can do in one night. Even my master, who is considered a genius, mastered her first element in half a day."

"No. I'm not lying. See?"

"…"

When I showed her the pile of papers that I had made, she turned quiet. Then, one by one, she checked each circle if they were functioning properly.

It took her over 10 minutes to finish even when using both hands to check. Right after, she limply sat down on the chair as if a puppet that had its strings cut.

"You really did… To think that you could make over 400 magic circles in one night…"

She muttered in a low voice.

"There are circles that looks different though. Still, they seem to work just fine. What are those?"

"Experiments. They are circles that are the byproduct of me proving some theories."

"Amazing… This may be what master means with 'working one step ahead'…"

I kind of get what she means. But to me, instead of one step ahead, I felt like working while being three steps behind.

Still, now that she upheld her end of the bargain, it's now my turn.

"Then this afternoon, our lesson on reading ancient letters will start."

After my declaration, Mary's eyes turned wide with surprise. Then, with a really bright smile, she answered.

"Yes!"

I smiled after seeing her innocent reaction.

I felt like I wouldn't get a wink of sleep for quite a while more.