Magic

"Here you go, lad." Mr. Selvig threw a book at Cæ one day.

"Woah…" Cæ caught it, perplexed. "What's this…?"

Mr. Selvig grinned. "It's a book about magic."

Cæ shook where he stood as eyes widened with shock. "What…?"

He turned the book slowly to its front with quaking hands. Faded as the title's magiprinted lettering was, it was still very legible. 

[The Foundations of Magic]

"You had mentioned in our talks in the past few months that you wanted to learn magic, right?" the older man said. "Well, there you go. That was the guide that I managed to sneak with me when I was discharged from the magic corps. This was before the Twilight Rebellion many years ago, so security was quite lax back then. You won't be able to get your hands on something this special these days."

Cæ understood the value of this book more than anyone else.

Although everybody possessed some tiny speck of mana at bare minimum, most people didn't know how to wield magic. It was a godly power of the elite, wielded by only a small portion of the human population.

Any and all knowledge of magic was special.

It was not something that you could get through open public channels.

On top of that, its spread was controlled by the magical association and was even partially regulated by the Ministry of Magical Affairs of the Elendir government in accordance with the provisions of the Magical Rules and Regulations Act of 1016.

That was why getting his hands on this book was nothing short of a boon for Cæ.

"Mr. Selvig…" His eyes flashed with pure gratitude. "How can I even begin to repay you for—"

"Don't worry about it, lad." Mr. Selvig shook his head. "I didn't just give it to you out of interest. I also gave it to you out of concern."

Cæ stiffened. "…Whatever could you be talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me, lad," the old man snorted. "You may have fooled my wife, but I was in the army. You can't hide those wounds from me."

His eyes swept over Cæ, noting well-hidden bruises, cuts, and wounds. "…This is from the slums in the past few months, isn't it?"

Cæ's expression grew grim.

After his return to the slums months ago, he had failed to blend in and keep himself out of danger.

While old instincts and habits for his safety and concern returned, he simply wasn't as adept at living in this environment like he had been prior to the five years spent away from there.

Partly because he had wanted to actively unlearn all those habits.

Why would he want to sleep lightly in order to wake up at the blink of an eye to danger when he could sleep deeply in a safe and secure home? The same was true for a lot of different habits that he had cultivated and then actively unlearned.

And now, that decision had come back to bite him in the ass.

"I don't know what you'll be able to learn with just the foundations, but… I know you've changed a lot after you woke up. You've gotten sharper. And your mind… you've grown so much brighter than before," Mr. Selvig remarked. "I have a feeling that… we might see a surprise. It's a pity that there's no one to teach you, though."

"What about you and Mrs. Selvig…?" Cæ wondered aloud. "I have seen you use magic, even if only on very small stuff, from time to time. You used to be in the military, too! Can't you teach me magic?"

The man shook his head. "I haven't touched that stuff since before you were born, Cæ. Not since I started this restaurant. We can barely do the most basic stuff, but if you're serious about your ambition to learn magic, then inheriting our many, many flaws will be bad for you. It will be best if you find yourself a teacher. You could even enter some of the magicademies around the nation if you truly wanted to."

Cæ wasn't too optimistic about that. 

Magicademies were notoriously difficult to get into. They were usually very expensive, and often came with some strings attached if he successfully gained a scholarship.

There was no such thing as a free lunch; nobody would just foot the bill to produce a mage without anything in return. Scholarships were usually accompanied with decade-long work contracts from whichever party offered to foot the bill.

Even banks that offered student loans for magicademies demanded magical labor for highly extended periods in return. If he applied to the national universities that were among the most prestigious in the entire nation, he would need to commit to extensive periods of governmental services.

The only other hope was being taken on by a Mage as an apprentice, but that was even more unlikely.

"Well, you can think about it in the future." The elder man shrugged. "You're not going anywhere until this project of transforming the restaurant is complete."

Cæ nodded. "That's true. Thankfully, we're in the final stretch. Just another two weeks, and we will be done. Though, there is plenty of work to be done even after. I suppose for now I will have to be content with just this book."

"As long as you get that, have at it."

Cæ did just that. He excitedly finished his work for the day, managing supplies of food ingredients, art, posters, while tracking customer activity. And when he was finally done for the day, he quickly buried himself in the book with alacrity.

[Introduction]

[Magic. 

A power that allows one's imagination and willpower to bend reality. A tremendous power that has come to shape the modern world with its titanic impact on human civilization. In this book, we will explore the foundations of magic not just as a phenomenon, but also as a vast field of human pursuit. 

We will explore the many ways that magic can be categorized based on operations, requirements, and applications, among other things. We will also explore the fundamental laws of governing magic and later even introduce the tenets of mana cultivation.

This book will only explore the basics and foundations and is not meant to serve as a means to actually master magic at all…]

Cæ impatiently swept to the first chapter, unwilling to read the boring drawl in the introduction.

[Chapter one: The Fundamental Phenomenon of Magic]

[In this chapter, we will explore the very core phenomenon underlying all magic without exception. To do that, we must first uncover the very nature of reality itself.

All reality is comprised of two fundamental aspects: Form and Physicality.

Form refers to the information that describes any given phenomena while physicality refers to the existential substance that operates in accordance to the information of the form. Any without both is not real and is not subject to causality.

Magic is the process of warping reality by creating the form of the magic, known as eidos, in the mind through imagination and memory and imbuing the eidos with mana, which serves as physicality, through the force of willpower. The convergence of eidos and mana results in the birth of reality known as magic.]

***Insert infographic***

Cæ's eyes widened with shock at this simple but stunning revelation. "Form and physicality…"

His tone betrayed the wonder that hid beneath it.

"Magic is truly magical." His face lit up with amazement. 

Thus far, his drive to learn magic had always been entirely because he deemed it a necessary tool for his quest to destroy and rebuild the world as he saw fit. 

And yet, comprehending magic for the first time ignited a different fire from within him.

One of passion.

"I…" A faint whisper escaped him. "I want to learn magic."

Simultaneously, the grief, hatred, and anger he felt at the world erupted within his newfound passion. 

"I need to learn magic." His gray eyes flared with an intensity that he kept hidden from the Selvigs. 

And yet, he now found himself thrilled at the prospects of having learned it. 

"More…" A hungry murmur escaped. "I need more."

The next chapter moved on to a topic that very naturally followed the first chapter.

[Mastery of Eidos]

[As explained in the first chapter, the eidos is the information detailing the form of magic, dictating how the magic will manifest, interact, and appear in reality. The actual information exists exclusively within the mind as a three-dimensional image overlapping with the real world and can be created in many, many ways. Let us explore some of them in this chapter…]

Cæ's eyes lit up as the second chapter of Foundations of Magic explored the various ways in which mages created the eidos. 

A lot of forms of eidos mastery boiled down to memory.

Strongly associating an eidos with a particular external trigger such as a magical circle constructed out of runes linked to special images in the caster's mind or incantations associated with said trigger that one say aloud to trigger an associated memory. Cæ grew fascinated that one could even create eidos with a pattern of body movements!

"Wow…" he whispered in fascination. "Mages are so incredible for inventing so many creative ways to create form for their magic. But… why not just create the eidos out of pure imagination and thought?"

Visualizing extremely vivid, clear, and detailed images had become child's play for him ever since he woke up in the hospital. It helped with creating his plan for the restaurant, fleshing out the details, and foreseeing unforeseeable problems.

"Maybe it doesn't work if you create it out of imagination or thought?" He frowned as he read on.

Much to his surprise, as if anticipating his questions, the book readily supplied the answer.

[Creating eidos out of imagination and thought alone is almost impossible simply because of how extraordinarily difficult it is. While one might think that it is simply easy to visualize things in one's head and have them materialize in the real world with mana, in reality, visualizing detailed and clear images with the level of precision and consistency needed for it to serve as an eidos through pure imagination on the spot is extremely difficult to do.

The average person cannot even begin to visualize high-definition three-dimensional eidos with a lot of information contained in them limited to vague blurs and flashes that are fleeting and do not last very long.

Ultimately, is it too difficult for the conscious mind to be able to visualize the level of detail and the amount of information needed to constitute an eidos through spontaneous imagination and thought alone.]

Cæ frowned. "Really? Too difficult?"

He had gained a decent amount of mana in his body in the past few months thanks to having come to own magicapita in the form of currency from his salary and his loan in addition to profits of the restaurant.

"I wonder if I can…" He turned to a sheet of paper at his desk. 

As he gazed at it, his imagination overlapped his vision, picturing it burning. He exerted himself, closing his eyes as he visualized even the finest details of the magic. He could see how the fire enveloped the paper, burning it as it turned the white paper black, as it curled and began crumbling. He visualized with immense detail how the plumes of smoke erupted from the fire. He pictured, with deep clarity, the flickering and glowing form of the flame consuming the paper.

And it was just that, an empty image in his mind.

"It needs physicality…" he realized. "It needs mana."

He recalled what the book had told him. 

"Imbuing eidos with mana through the force of willpower." His eyes flared with determination as he let both his burning determination to master magic and his newfound passion for it drive the mana within his body to the empty form of the flame consuming the paper.

What followed shook him. 

FWOOSH!

The paper burst into fire as the quivering flames burned it to ash.

Just as he had imagined.

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