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Mana, one of the principal energy forms that make up the very world as we know it. It is an energy that exhibits the odd nature of both, existing in everything and nothing at the same time. And like every other principal energy is categorized in its very own element as It can neither be considered Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Light, or Dark. Its element is called the Arcane Element, and the very nature of this element allows for the very existence of magic.
But what exactly is magic? To put it in it''s simplest form, Magic is in it¡¯s entirety a wish, or command. But how do we know this? Well why don''t we take a look at the most mystical race in existence, and the race that most resemble the beings we refer to as the True Gods, the Spirit Race.
Spirits are a race prominent in only one Realm, a minor realm in which they and only they can exist. This realm is untouchable by Demons, and Angels alike, but Spirits can freely leave. Unfortunately, for whatever reason Spirits refuse to appear before Demons and Angels, so we have only been able to observe them when Mortals cast Spirit Magic a magic that is unique to Mortals.
Anyways, Spirits are beings whose very existence are dependent on Mana. Unlike other Races who will only be weakened by having their Mana drained, Spirits will temporarily die if they have their mana deprived. This is so simply because they are comprised of mana itself.
And Since Spirits are formed from Mana itself, similarly how Demon Gods are formed of Demonic Energy itself they too can freely manipulate it to their hearts content. Thus Spirits are the only beings in existence that are capable of using Magic from birth, and in them we can find the most primal of magics, the Spirit Tongue.
For Spirit there exist no form of chanting, they only need to speak a single word or willing an event to happen. If a Fire Spirit wills it a Fire will appear, if the Fire King commands it magma will form. Even when conversing one can see changes in the very environment.
So that answers the question, What is Magic, but where did it come from exactly? Why is it that other creatures are capable of using Magic as well? Well, you see we don''t exactly know why we are capable of using Magic either. All we have are theories, and these theories aren''t exactly proper answers either. But we believe like the formation of the 72 Demon Gods, the entire thing was just an accident.
As the Demon Gods just so happened to be formed out of Demonic Energy, the Gods out of Aetherial Energy, and the Spirits out of Mana. We just so happened to learn how to use Magic.
You see the Magic of the Gods is similar to that of spirits, or rather the magic of spirits is similar to that of the Gods. The Gods need but speak, and a world is created, they only need to want you to die for you to die. And in the Primordial Times when the very Universe was still forming the True Gods spoke bringing forth all of creation, and the words they spoke were carved into the souls of all life in existence.
So it was only a matter of time, before Mortals could take pieces of those words, words engraved into their very being and learn to speak. That language was known as the Magic Language, and was the foundation for the powerful Ancient Magics that became the very foundation of Magic.
However now those Ancient Magics are for the most part lost in time, and are referred to as Lost Magics instead. Most people even view Ancient Magic as being inferior to what they call Modern Magic. But the two are fundamentally different you see. Ancient Magic centers around a single part of Magic, the command.
In the past those who wielded Ancient Magic could command the very laws of the world like a God. With the Magic Language they were no different from spirits, and conversations of extraordinarily powerful mages could easily change the landscape if they weren''t careful.
So why did we choose to forget this Magic? It¡¯s because we choose to study a different part of Magic, the ability to will phenomenon into existence.
Now, as a mage you are presented with a variety of paths. What element to choose, how you will fight, and the type of magic you will use. Will you choose to study the Lost Arts of Ancient Magic, or the Modern Arts of Combat Magic. Will you seek the destructive power of chanting, or the speed of willing.
Which is right, and which is wrong is not something I can dictate, so I leave these two infinitely branching paths up to you.
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Satou diligently read the entire book of the Origins of Magic, the book held deep explanations to towards the history of magic itself, and explained a couple other principles. One of such was the principal energy Mana.
Mana in particular is for the most part, the most tangible principle energy. Unlike other energies which you can only feel you can touch Mana. The other tangible energy that it mentioned was Essence. The book didn¡¯t go into too much detail about the energy other than mentioning it as the energy that makes up one''s soul, and being the highest tier of the principal energies, but it did mention that in some cases with extraordinarily powerful beings Essence is tangible. Basically if your Soul is so strong it becomes possible to both see and touch it after you die. But for a Soul to reach such a level is extremely rare. Even Satou¡¯s Soul which is indestructible isn¡¯t strong enough to be touched or seen without special methods.
On the other hand Mana is such abundance and a since having such a large amount of isn¡¯t rare it becomes easier to perceive. The book stated that if you were to walk into a room with a high density of mana it would feel like you were underwater.
Mana also has other forms similar to physical objects. Those forms are Spiritual the intangible form of Mana, Gaseous the mana that exists in the surroundings, Liquid an extremely dense form of Mana, and Solid the highest density mana can reach.
For the most part someone will have Spiritual and Gaseous Mana in their Mana Pools, but since there is a limit to how much you can expand your Mana Pool everyone goes for the approach of increasing its density.
However most people only reach the point of having an extraordinarily thick mist of Mana inside of their pools, only a small portion of the Universe has Liquid Mana. Liquid Mana is so rare that only Demon Gods, Gods, God Beasts, Emperor-Rank beings, and Dragons have Liquid Mana. And Solid Mana is so rare that there¡¯s only been a few records of it¡¯s existence.
When a small gem sized crystal of Mana ,called God¡¯s Tear, formed in the Demonic Realm, all 72 Demon Gods began fighting over it. Even Demon Emperors and Kings despite fearing the Demon Gods attempted to take it for themselves. However the density of Mana inside the crystal was so high that even getting close to it made a Demon King go insane, and touching it made Demon Emperors go insane.
The event caused so many High Ranking Demons that at one point there weren''t 72 Demon Gods anymore, and hundreds of countries lost their rulers causing a massive war to break loose. In the end it was stated that one of the True Gods actually descended and confiscated the crystal.
By the way Liquid Mana also has a similar effect on weaker beings causing them to go insane. As long as you are a Demon King or Emperor it¡¯s safe to absorb it, but even if you''re a Noble Demon absorbing Liquid Mana would damage your Soul leading to either an agonizing death, crippling you, or turning you insane.
Satou began pondering, ¡°If I find a source of Liquid Mana would it be fine if I absorbed it? I mean my Soul is indestructible so maybe it would prove beneficial to me.¡±
If the opportunity ever presented itself, Satou''d probably test it out. He''s confident enough that his Soul could withstand it, after all you only need to be Emperor level and Satou''s soul is God Level. Though it''s not like there''s going to be some Liquid Mana randomly floating around.
Satou opened the Guide to Magic, one of the larger books. This time however he merely skimmed through it.
It turns out that Spells are grouped into quite a few categories. Other than the type of spell it is, the other main category are their Level and Tier. These are on their difficulty, the amount of mana required to use it, and their strength. There are in total 10 Tiers, which are simplified and grouped up into 6 Levels.
Tiers 1 to 3 are known as the Elementary Level
Tiers 4 to 5 are known as the Intermediate Level
Tiers 6 to 7 are known as the Advanced Level
Tier 8 is referred to as the King Class
Tier 9 is referred to as the Emperor Class
Tier 10 is known as the God Level
Though most Tier 10 spell though are referred to as Forbidden Spells. To cast these spells you would need to be at the Level of a Demon Emperor, and you would have to pay an extraordinary price in order to use it. However the effects of a God Level spell are catastrophic.
Though there are Forbidden Spells that can be casted at lower levels however in most cases they either cripple you or kill you. The minimum level for casting a Forbidden Spell is the Noble Demon Level.
Other than these there are a few other categories for spells. For example a spell can either manipulate the surronding mana, or directly draw mana from ones mana pool. A spell can directly manipulate the world''s laws, or completely defy them. For example there exist the spells like [Aqua Forma], and [Terra Forma] who create water and earth out of nothing, a phenomenon that breaks the very laws of the world, but once the mana supply is cut they''ll disappear into thin air. While there are spells like [Create Water], and [Terra Form] spells that manipulate the surrounding moisture, or surrounding earth. But then there are spells that fit neither of those categories like [Ignite] whose flames can exist without mana and can''t exist without mana.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
After studying the book a bit more, Satou closed it and picked up the Elementary Spell Book. Satou flipped through the spells, and decided to test some out.
Satou picked up the book, and went over to the empty room to the left. As he entered he noticed the room was actually filled with a large amount of Mana and Demonic Energy. Naturally absorbing the Demonic Energy gave him quite a comfortable feeling.
Satou wondered, ¡°Am I able to compress the energy myself?¡±
Satou sat down on the stone floor, and began visualizing the black sphere inside of him constantly compressing and expanding. As he did so a sudden burning sensation filled Satou¡¯s body, and a painful pressure filled his chest.
¡°Ah there¡¯s that feeling¡±
Satou recognized this painful, squeezing feeling. It seems he succeeded in compressing the Demonic Energy inside of him. The abundant Demonic Energy around him began to flood his body expanding the shrunk black sphere back to it¡¯s original size.
As Satou repeatedly adsorbed and compressed Demonic Energy the painful feeling and the comforting feeling continuously clashed bring him to heaven to hell and back over and over.
¡°This isn¡¯t right¡¡±
Satou thought back to the time he was with Azule a bit earlier. There was a pressure on his chest when he was compressing the energy, but that feeling faded. It wasn¡¯t like this where pain and pleasure constantly interchanged.
¡°What if I do this¡±
Satou tried to slowly compress his energy while simultaneously increasing the amount of Demonic Energy he absorbed. The dark sphere of energy inside of him no longer fluctuated from small to large, and instead remained a constant size.
To anyone else it would nothing seemed to be happening, and basically nothing was happening really. The black sphere was growing denser and denser, at an incredibly slow rate that it''s difficult to even perceive But at least the pain subsided.
By trying to mimic Azule''s rate of compression, he ended up feeling the same amount of pain. But when Azule was compressing his energy he was entirely focused on absorbing energy, neutralizing the pain entirely. However now that he was alone he not only had to focus on absorbing the energy, but compressing the energy. And if he tried to match Azule''s rate of compression then he wouldn''t be able to match his previous rate of absorption.
By slowing down and moving at his own pace Satou was able to lessen the pain caused by compression, and increase his rate of absorption. But now instead of feeling either pleasure or pain he felt neither, and instead just a great sense of fatigue.
Satou sat there in the room compressing his energy for only a few minutes, but in those short minutes he quickly became covered in sweat. The process of compressing energy was a tiring process in and of itself and absorbing and equal arduous task. If absorbing energy wasn''t so pleasant than most people would have been left exhausted afterwards. However now that the pain of compressing is mixing with the pleasure of absorbing they naturally canceled each other other leaving only the fatigue.
Satou sighed, ¡°It seems like moving up ranks is harder than I thought, well whatever I wasn¡¯t planning on doing this today anyway. Let''s get down to business.¡±
Satou opened up the Elementary Spell book once again. Satou looked at the few spells available. Most mages would normally pick only one Element or one type of Magic to study for their entire lives, while dabbling in another for every now and then.
For example Nevil is in his entirety a Necromancer, even after dabbling into the world of Magic Knights he still couldn¡¯t be considered a real Magic Knight. Only by relying on his Necromancy could he really acquire the level of strength of a True Magic Knight.
To reach mastery over a single category of magic in and of itself takes years and years of practice, and experimentation. To master more than one type of magic is rare, and few have more than three.
But Satou with a literal eternity on his hands, and nothing really else to do Satou decided why not learn them all?
¡°Let¡¯s see all the complex what not¡¯s gonna take some time to get used to so I suppose I should practice each of their respective Tier 1 Elementary Level spells.¡±
Satou walked outside of the room, and asked Rosalie, ¡°Rosalie can you grab me an empty cup?¡±
¡°Very well my Lord,¡±
Rosalie maid an empty glass cup appear in her, hand and handed it to Satou.
Satou looked at the cup, and wondered, ¡°Where do all of them keep these things? Is it Spatial Magic? There was no mention of Spatial Magic in the Elementary Spell Book or the Origins of Magic only the Guide to Magic but that only mentioned it a few times.¡±
He walked back into the room, and set the cup down. He flipped the page of the Elementary Spell Book, to the water element. He chanted, ¡°Form o¡¯ Water [Aqua Forma]¡±
From Satou¡¯s palm a small glob of water formed, as Satou directed it the small glob of water moved into a small stream floating in the air. The stream moved in between his fingers and circle his arm as if it were a fish swimming in the air.
Satou thought,¡°I should be able to get a hang of Water Magic pretty easily since Blood Magic is a sub-category of Water Magic.¡±
Satou directed the water into the cup, and released the magic. The water slowly disappeared from the cup, and when Satou felt the cup it was completely dry. It was just as the books stated [Aqua Forma] is relatively easy to control as it''s made by my mana. He chanted, ¡°Gather o¡¯ Water [Create Water]¡±
Satou watched as small glob of water slowly formed in his hand, the amount of mana used to create the same amount of water was far larger than with Aqua Forma. As Satou tried to direct the Water into a stream and move it around, it refused and just moved as a ball of water.
Satou moved the ball of water into the cup and released his spell. Just as predicted the water in the cup remained. Satou extend his hands towards the cup, but instead of chanting a spell he gathered the water in the cup into a ball, and raised it up again.
¡°I see [Aqua Forma] can be created in greater quantities, but I can maintain [Create Water] far longer. [Aqua Forma] needs to be maintained constantly, but it¡¯s original cost is low. Whilst [Create Water''s] starting cost is high, but maintaining it is low. Not only that but it¡¯s far easier to control Aqua Forma, the water formed from Mana, rather than already existing water.¡±
Satou looked over at the Elementary Spell Book. He thought, about the descriptions left in the book. It described [Aqua Forma] as an elementary water spell that creates water for combat, and [Create Water] as an elementary water spell that creates water for logistics.
But Satou thought about it differently, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it depend on the situation? In specific circumstances [Create Water] could have other uses other than logistics. For example this Tier 3 Elementary Level Spell. [Aqua Field], it¡¯s a shield of water created using [Aqua Forma]. If you switched the base spell from [Aqua Forma] to [Create Water] you would have a weaker but longer lasting shield. In most cases you might not require it, but if it''s a battle of attrition where you''re trying to last as logn as possible it would be better to utilize the shield that''s far easier to maintain. ¡±
Satou tried to change the ball of water in front of him into something of a film. But the most he could do was make a sort of squarish blob of water.
Satou sighed, ¡°I¡¯ll have to grasp a better control over water if I want to make that shield possible. I doubt I¡¯d even be able to use Aqua Field as it is anyway. But I guess I can¡¯t just read about the spells huh. These books only talked about a few things in regards to the spells, even the spell book gave a slight summary. If I really want to be come a mage I''m going to have to do a lot of experimenting.¡±
When Satou thought about the hardships to come he couldn''t help, but want to give up. Yet as Satou, thought about the possibilities of future spells, of future discoveries a childish smile couldn''t help but show on his face. It was as if he found himself a new toy to play with, well I suppose for a soon to be God, Magic really is a toy.