Chapter 27: Magic, Spells, and Runes i

The week passed really quickly. During that time Isbeth had perfected the Uris herb and Rockroot combination to not causing vomiting and Cerise had learned a few more spells as well. Though, [Shock Dispersion] had an opposite with [Reverse Cast], the resulting reverse spell actually hurt Cerise instead.

After having her arm convulse around for a few seconds, Cerise sealed that combination away swearing never to use it again and moved onto the next with the worried face of Isbeth looming over her.

Actually, hadn’t she been spending too much focus on the book?

Tsuru had told her what she’d been doing wasn’t true magic but she never listened. He couldn’t teach her magic so his words held no weight for her. It wasn’t only til now that she realized he was right.

The spells didn’t hold the freedom and flexibility of magic. Not only did the spells become more complex in preparation, the resulting effect didn’t change according to the user’s will.

The only exception being that blood red cross she had used a week ago.

Cerise stared at her left hand expecting for something to happen. She instructed her Mana to flow out of her body just as she had before but the Mana didn’t converge this time. It just floated in the air, completely out of her control.

She couldn’t even feel the connection like she did when it was in her body. The red Mana she released was foreign to her.

Wait, hadn’t she used magic before? Unintentionally but she had used magic. The [Blood Flame] was her first successful use of magic but it was a deadly one.

She tried channeling her Mana into her left hand but before it reached where she wanted, it was absorbed by the magic circle for [Heat] and casted the spell.

Is the reason why Mages and Wizards are incompatible due to this? The circles draw in Mana from the user’s body preventing the flow of Mana to go anywhere else. It was useful for lower classes but it didn’t possess the freedom that magic does.

The [Heat] was constant, reducing her own body temperature to emit a field of warmth in front of her hand. She retracted her Mana and the spell remained active for a second at best before faltering due to the lack of fuel.

She wiped away the circle and channeled her Mana again and had succeeded in doing so. Her fingers were clad in the red mana as her [Rendering Claws] activated. No wonder she hadn’t been successful in using it before. The damned circles leached and blocked her Mana flow!

Cerise immediately wiped away the two other circles on her body, [Reduce Weight] and [Cool]. After the last smudge of the ink was removed, she felt revitalized. Her Mana no longer avoided those spots and started flowing in full complete form.

Skill [Mana Circulation] has been obtained

Skill [Reverse Cast] has merged with [Mana Circulation]

A feat has been performed! Unique Skill [Dual Polarity – Mana Diffusion] has been obtained

Her Mana changed. The Mana spread across her body from her blood. She felt the Mana seep into every single cell strengthening them even further. However, she felt the strongest flow at the soles of her feet and at the top of her head. She felt faster and stronger. The Mana flowed throughout her, free and unbound within her body.

“So you finally realized huh?”

Tsuru had been watching the girl the entire time. Well, in fact, he only started watching her after she wiped away the first magic circle. By the time Cerise had removed the last circle, he could feel her Mana which seemed weak at first actually flow with boundless energy.

He had assumed that she wouldn’t be suited to be a Mage due to the weak motion of her Mana but now… It was simply untapped potential. Isbeth had told him that she was suited to be a Mage but he didn’t believe her.

Cerise turned around to face Tsuru. She pulled down the collar masking her mouth and spoke words for the first time in a week.

“Teach me.”

Her quiet voice was now filled with confidence and curiosity. Just how stronger would she become from now on? She was excited.

Tsuru happily obliged. His nose elongating as he spoke.

“This mighty Mage will assist you with whatever you please so long as it is within my own sphere of influence. Firstly, we need to check if you can control your Mana properly.”

He waved his hand in the air letting a stream of Mana trail behind forming a pleasant blue arc in the air.

“Try doing what I just did…”

He paused mid-sentence after seeing what Cerise just accomplished.

She had only moved a finger yet an arc of red Mana had formed from one hand to the other. She vibrated the string of Mana causing it to jump about between her hands. She gradually increased the energy to the point where the Mana collapsed on itself. Tsuru could have sworn that he saw a rainbow form just before the red Mana’s dissipation.

Tsuru coughed while covering his mouth as he tried to recover from his spellbound appearance.

“Now… Let’s move onto the next step. Elemental affinity. I don’t really have any method to tell what yours is so you’re on your own now.”

Tsuru had planned to teach the girl how to manipulate her Mana for the next week or so since the average learning time is about a month. But how would he know that she would instantly be able to manipulate her Mana? To be fair, he had seen her cast spells earlier but he thought that she merely used a Catalyst to move her Mana. This fact slightly annoyed Tsuru as even he, the prodigy, took a full day to learn how to wield his Mana.

Now he had to help her find her elemental affinity which is the hardest thing to find out. If he were to judge by the standards of his old world, he would say she was a Dark type judging by her demeanor but she could also be an Ice type. Who knows? He needed an excuse to get out of it so he made one.

Cerise was rather upset though. She had finally gotten the man to teach her but he taught her nothing. She created more arcs, twisting the lines and strings around her in the manner she had previously. Her centripetal technique was fully displayed at that moment.

The Mana threads entwined with one another, strengthening the binding power they possessed. Eventually, a thick red rope had coiled around Tsuru preventing him from escaping. The red Mana itself drawing from Tsuru’s own Mana to strengthen it. After expending nearly 200 Mana, a lightheaded feeling struck Cerise causing her construct to collapse in place. The threads unraveled and dispersed in the air. A thick red veil covered the entire dimensions of that room.

Skill [Null Affinity] has been obtained

Cerise checked her status and saw that she only had 7 MP left. She had already run through about 196 MP in that short period of time? But when she looked at her status again, not only was [Reverse Cast] replaced by [Dual Polarity – Mana Diffusion], there was an additional box at the top of the rest of the skills labeled ‘[Null Affinity].’

What was that?

No seriously, what was that?

Cerise stood dumbstruck at the words. According to what she knew, ‘Null’ should mean something along the lines of ‘Zero’ right? Then the reason why her Mana possessed the neutral alignment was because of her [Null] affinity? Then what about [Dual Polarity – Mana Diffusion]? How did her affinity affect it?

In fact, what did affinity do to her Mana? She lacked the answers but someone had them. Cerise crouched down to move her face closer to his and asked another question.

“What does Null mean?”

“…Null what?”

“Null Affinity.”

“You mean you have no affinity? That’s because you still need to obtain the skill for it.”

“Null. Affinity.”

“Ah…”

Tsuru himself didn’t know what Cerise was talking about. According to his master, Mana existed everywhere. Each person’s Mana is unique and is tied to a certain element. He had heard of abnormal elements such as River, Mountain, and Sky affinities from legends but even if they were weird, they were still affinities. He never heard of a case of someone having no affinity at all, at least, he didn’t learn of one. He traced back his memory to the countless books his master had at one point before disappearing, his mind wandered amongst the ancient pages and smell of dust only to be stopped by Cerise pulling on his robes.

“Magic.”

She pointed back to the staff that Tsuru dropped on the ground clearly wanting to use it herself.

“No.”

Tsuru grabbed his staff lifting it upwards at a height double that of Cerise’s own. He didn’t know the properties of Cerise’s Mana. His staff was designed for a Water Mage and not anything else. He didn’t know whether Cerise’s Mana is compatible with all elements or incompatible with them all. The only thing he knew was that Cerise was an oddity, having Mana rivaling that of his Master’s yet possessing the appearance of a young girl.

He dismissed Isbeth’s remarks about her being normal and decided to act more cautiously. Even if the girl meant no harm, Tsuru won’t risk the integrity of his artifacts. Instead, he pulled out a small blue crystal that he had kept from his first apprentice days.

It was the Mana Gauge, a tool created by the Tower to shine when in contact with Mana and used to measure a person’s own MP. Granted, they can just say the maximum amount of MP they had but that isn’t an entirely accurate depiction of their Mana since each person has a unique amount of MP. ‘Never trust the status,’ was what his master said and he took it to heart, ‘though it might be useful, don’t blindly put your faith in it.’

He handed the Mana Gauge to Cerise and a bright blue light began to emanate the moment the tips of her fingers touched it. The light surpassed Tsuru’s own brilliance and flooded the room in azure.