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Ethan took one of the scrolls and opened it. A magic circle was carved on it, and there were also handwritten explanations. And there was also a name written above the magic circle. It was 'Mana Heart's First Circle, Fire element'.

[Do you know what it means?]

[Um, yes. It's fire elemental first circle magic circle for mana heart.]

[Do you think I didn't know how to read? I asked for what reason it's used.]

[Um... I'm sorry. I don't know much about it.]

[You useless. Doesn't your mother teach you about it?]

[Uhh, she taught me, but I don't remember much about it.]

[Then try to remember.]

And Ethan started to rummage through his fuzzy memories. He should remember it, but he wasn't listening very attentively to his mother when it was related to his study. After all, learning theoretical knowledge wasn't very interesting, like playing with other kids or asking his mother about this and that when she was making artifacts, potions, and pills.

After some time, Ethan managed to find some fuzzy explanation that he had heard from this mother.

[Um, I heard that this circle needed to stabilize Mana's heart. And, um, a person might explode if he doesn't have this circle and attempts to use magic from the first circle onward.]

[Hmm, I guess you didn't know why they might explode.]

[Um, yes.]

[Fine then, let's see what's inside other scrolls.]

[Okay.]

Most of the scrolls had magic circles for the mana heart with different elements. Some were for single elements, like the scroll with the fire element; some were for two, three, four, five, and a maximum of six elements. And they varied from the first circle up to the fourth circle. There were even circles with non-elemental magic. But what caught Ethan's attention were four scrolls with the letter that were tied together with a cord.

Ethan took the letter and unfolded it. It was a short letter from his mother.

'Dear Ethan,

If you read this letter, then it must be because you are curious about these scrolls.

I know that you can use all known elements, so I left these scrolls with

all-elemental mana heart circles. But you must not hurry to use them.

After all, the more elements you use in your circle, the less powerful your

spells going to be. Because a magic circle cannot contain too much information,

which is needed to use all the elements at full power, I recommend that you use

only four elements at most.

And before carving this circle around your mana heart, you must have

precise control over your mana. After all, no one can help carve it

to you.

I love you, your mom.'

'P.S.: Of course, you can change it later; for more finer details, ask Brenda'.

After reading this letter, Ethan was slightly dazed.

[Hmm, so the fewer elements you can use, the more powerful your spells are going to be. But why not use a sphere instead of a circle?]

[Sphere? Um, like a ball?]

[Yes. I think it can help you use all the elements without losing power.]

[But is this even possible? I didn't hear that someone used a magical sphere instead of a circle.]

[Even if someone didn't use it, it doesn't mean that this is impossible. And maybe someone already used it before, but you don't know about it because your knowledge is lacking.]

[But isn't it dangerous?]

[It might be, but first I'm going to test it on myself.]

[But if something goes wrong, you're going to die, teacher.]

[You shouldn't worry about it. I can't die in this place. After all, I tried to send a bullet through my head and tried blowing myself up with explosives.]

[What!?]

It wasn't what Ethan expected to hear. He became slightly afraid for his well-being. So afraid that his voice started to tremble and stutter.

[U-umm, H-How do you have s-something so dangerous inside that cage!?]

[Simple, with the power of imagination. I found out that I can recreate some things that I know inside this cage, which is not a living creature.]

[But it's dangerous if you start shooting and exploding inside my head!]

[I get that you are angry, but there's no need to worry; it's not affected you.]

[How can you be so sure!?]

But instead of an answer, there was only a muffled bang.

It was too unexpected that Ethan forgot to talk.

[Do you feel anything? I blew my head with a gun just now.]

[I felt nothing. But you... You're just unbelievable.]

[You can only accept it.]

[Uhh, fine.]

Ethan took some deep breaths. He didn't say anything for awhile; his mind was preoccupied with what had happened earlier. And his teacher didn't say anything else either, as if he was waiting for Ethan to calm down.

After calming down, Ethan started to think that shouting at his teacher was wrong, even if he knew that what his teacher had done was wrong. And it was unusual for him to shout at another person. I might be because many things happened in the short time of his life.

[Um, teacher...]

[What? Are you calmed down?]

[Yes. I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier. And I'm sorry that I didn't manage to control my emotions. So, please forgive me, teacher.]

[Hmm, it doesn't bother me even in the slightest. But if you ask for forgiveness so earnestly, then I forgive you.]

[Um, okay. Um, and I became curious: why don't you blow that cage up if you can create an explosive using your imagination?]

[Guess. It might be difficult for you, so I'll give you some hints. 'Are you thinking that I'm dumb?' is your first hint.]

'Are you thinking that I'm dumb?' Ethan was sure that his teacher wasn't dumb; even more, he was smart and a very knowledgeable person. So Ethan knows what to answer to this question.

[No, you are a smart teacher.]

[Then, if I'm smart and you know that I can use explosives without thinking about my safety, what am I going to do?]

Ethan thought for some time. And his eyes slowly started to open wider.

[Um, are you saying that you already tried it!?]

[Bingo. Yes, I already tried it, but it didn't even leave a scratch on this cage. Was it difficult to come to the right answer with proper questions?]

[No, it was easy.]

[So you should think first before asking questions with obvious answers.]

[Okay, I'll remember it.]

[Good, but asking questions isn't wrong. I'm only saying that you should think before asking. And you should ask questions even if the answer is obvious, even if you are sure that your conclusion is right. After all, sometimes these questions might have non-obvious answers. So to be sure, you should ask.]

[Okay.]

[Good. Then let's read that book about magic circles and symbols before you go to lunch. Of course, you should put all the other books inside the ring. After all, I might be unable to restrain my curiosity, so you will be forced to help me read through all of them without going to lunch.]

His teacher said the last sentence jokingly. But Ethan was sure that he wasn't joking. So Ethan started to shove all the other books and scrolls frantically inside the ring. In the process, when Ethan lifted one of the books carelessly, a picture that had previously been between the pages of this book fell out.

So Ethan became curious and looked at this photo.

It was a black-and-white photo of the family. A young man and woman, and a boy about six years old, were smiling happily at the front of the train station. It was Ethan with his parents.

But there was an unexpected reaction from his teacher.

[Do you know who these people are?]

His voice was cold, almost growling.

[Um, they are my parents. Is something wrong with them?]

But there was only silence.

Ethan waited, and with every passing second, he became more and more anxious. It lasted for awhile, and Ethan, failing to keep his bottled-up anxiety under control, asked,

[Teacher, is something wrong?]

[It's nothing. No need to worry.]

His voice sounded calm, but Ethan was sure that his teacher wasn't calm at all. But Ethan thought that it would be bad if he started to inquire about his teacher's emotional condition.

[Um, okay.]

[Can you tell the story behind this picture?]

[Um, yes. We took it before we bought tickets on the train to go home. It was two years ago, in the winter. I came with my parents to the capital to see the New Year's parade. Besides the parade, there were also other festivities. like a fireworks show. And these festivities went on for five days straight.]

Remembering how happy he was to see the New Year's parade and fireworks show for the first time in his life, Ethan's anxiety started to fade away, and a smile started to form on his face.

[There were also stalls with different and delicious foods. And we looked through all of them in these five days. I was happy, like my mom and dad. After the festivities were over, we decided to go home on the train. My dad bought me ice cream near the station. There were some people with photo cameras, so my dad gave one some money, and that man took this picture and gave it to us. So this is the story about this picture.]

[It looks like your parents are good people. And your story reminded me about my parents and family.]

[Um, do you have similar memories to mine, teacher?]

[Yes, but I don't want to talk about it. And you can go to lunch. I'm not in the mood to read right now.]

[Um, okay.]

Ethan put all the things on the table inside the ring, along with the photo, and left the room.