What Is Magic?

'I knew it.' I thought, as I hardened my gaze on the rod in my hand.

'But could it really have been him?'

I knew how stupid I sounded when I was saying it was him to my father. But now, it feels strange. Even I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with my head. Who was this person; who is Hiro? In my mind, I knew he was strong. But that was all I knew. It was a mystery.

Although I couldn't make out the numbers on the mirror, I could tell from mast—Ms. Scarlet's expression that he was abnormally strong. That was the only explanation I could accept, seeing how fast his Reinforcement was.

'But if Daniel was Hiro... Why? Why did he want to hide it?' I couldn't stop myself from doubting.

I could still remember how in that class, he tripped and made clumsy mistakes whenever he fought. Yet, he would somehow always win. Even if you were trying to hide, you wouldn't act that hideously, would you? And how exactly was he able to win like that? I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Does Hiro—does Daniel have a reason to do poorly? I didn't know.

The mana started tickling my arm, bringing me back to reality. The rod I held was now back to its original appearance, no longer glowing. I couldn't help but lookover at Rachel who was still working on Reinforcement with her eyes closed. She seemed to be unperturbed, almost as if she already knew of Daniel's...power? Was that it? Was power the only correlation between Hiro and Daniel? No, that didn't seem—right. It was right. But how? I had this sneaking intuition that he was Hiro. Everything from his composure and listlessness...

But I still couldn't wipe the thought. 'What if he wasn't and it was all just a coincidence.'

—Daniel's PoV—

'Magic Missile.' A casual blue bolt blasted out from my hand and into a tree, leaving a deep mark.

It was just as I had imagined it to be, a blue energy arrow that struck the tree.

'Magic Missile never misses.' I wonder if they had that same saying here.

"That was surprisingly good for a first try. Try doing multiple now." Scarlet advised.

'Magic Missiles.' This time, I imagined twelve blue bolts blasting out of my one right hand as if I were Rockman(or megaman). I sort of imagined it to be a barrage of blue bolts twirling around each other like a spiral until it hit its target.

That same image in my head was then replicated right before my eyes as I watched the consecutive bolts striking down the tree.

"That was...actually really good." Scarlet applauded.

"Keep in mind what I said. Just because you can visualize the final product doesn't mean it will turn out the exact way you want. Like how an artist needs to be skilled enough to draw the idea, you also need to be flexible enough in controlling your mana as well as having a good sense of the space around, in other words: mana—eye coordination; being able to manipulate magic as you intend for it."

"Well, I'll leave you here to practice for now." She said, suddenly disappearing. I didn't really mind if she was here or not since she already showed me how to do it. I was actually pretty glad that she left me alone, because I can now start experimenting with it.

The question I had always been asking myself was why there was such a limited amount of elemental spells. And now, I have a feeling that arcane—I mean raw magic, may have the answer to that.

'Let's see... So the first step is visualization or imagining it.' I started thinking about a giant blue orb floating above my palm.

'See the space.' I started visualizing the area around me; there was a half broken tree right in front of me, a shack behind, and fresh green grass everywhere else.

'Imagination.' When I blast the blue orb forward, it would suddenly start to expand until it was as large as that large ass slug, and then smash into the tree and swallow it whole, leaving nothing of its remains.

'Mana.' I started exerting the mana outside of my body and controlled it like I had planned, starting with the blue orb.

Stretching my right hand out, a magnificent blue orb formed in the space above it.

'And finally...'

In the wise words of a certain warrior, "SPIRIT CANNON!!!"

Throwing it like a football, the blue orb started expanding ever so slightly that I could have sworn it was still the same size. When it finally made contact with the tree, it exploded with a "poof," as if it poofed out of existence.

Making my way over, I inspected the tree. And I just had to say in all honesty, the damage was very—minimal.

At most, the impact left a small hole in the tree which could only amount to the damage of a couple magic missiles.

I may have overestimated my abilities a tad bit too much...

Yeah, I need practice.

I wonder if I can become a super saiyan if I practice.

Huh.

Should I start practicing now?

"..."

What are you looking at me for? I'll have you know, I'm immune to copyright strikes.

Last words? I guess I do have some things to say.

'I'm never screaming the name of an attack like that again.'

I knew there was no one here, but I couldn't help but feel embarrassed that I, a grown man, was reenacting my childhood fantasy.

What? You have a problem? I'll have you know, by the time I perfect the power of imagination, I'll be finishing all my enemies with a kamehameha...though, maybe without shouting the name and taking multiple chapters to charge it.

"..."

Okay, I'll keep practicing my magic missile now like a good boy.