"From what I know, magic spells are words or phrases that cause supernatural effects by consuming mana." I said sincerely.
I didn't know much because I hadn't gotten the chance to read the spell books I had asked my maid to find for me.
⌈Good answer.⌋ Virgil nodded in approval. ⌈Magic spells are simply incantations or rituals used to produce a magical effect.⌋
Virgil opened his palm and in a heartbeat, a flame lit up on it. ⌈Things like these...⌋ He opened his other palm and three forms began taking shape. A wisp of wind, chunks of earth and a small ball of water formed and floated above his hands. ⌈All of this has to do with spells. Spells can be used in your daily life, not only in battle.⌋
Virgil leaned back and sat down on an earth chair that rose up from the ground beneath him. He waved his hand and another one formed where I was standing. I found myself sitting before I even thought to sit.
⌈These are all basic spells that you should be able to learn. Then there are more complex ones, like teleportation.⌋
A dark purple circle appeared under my feet and before I could even ask what was happening, I found myself standing a hundred meters away from Virgil.
"What the—" I muttered, looking around in confusion.
He had just teleported me across the garden in an instant. It was truly fascinating what a single spell could do. More surprisingly, I hadn't thrown up from it. My stomach felt a little funny, but that was it.
⌈Spells like teleportation are harder and far more complex because they involve moving a living being from one location to another. And with living things, one single mistake could kill. Sure, you could teleport someone, but what guarantees they come out in one piece? Miscalculate the destination and they could reappear inside a wall, the ground, a rock, or even inside another person. Matter cannot occupy the same space. Or worse, they could be lost in a magical void, trapped between dimensions with no way out.⌋
I listened quietly and then opened my mouth. "So does that mean I could have died just now?"
⌈Uh, yes and no. My mastery over it is too perfect for something like that to happen.⌋ Virgil said flatly.
Even with the reassurance, chills still ran down my spine.
I had always dreamed about the power of teleportation. But unlike in the anime or movies I had grown up with, where characters could just blink from place to place without a second thought, here you actually had to learn it from the ground up. Like driving a manual car. No shortcuts.
"I definitely do not want to end up as a pile of meat." I looked over at Virgil and raised my voice a little since we were still far apart. "What exactly is a magical void?"
⌈Hmm, it is a dimension or space that exists outside the normal world. Usually filled with darkness, raw magic or pure nothingness.⌋ His voice carried clearly as if he were standing right next to me.
"So it is basically like a limbo?"
⌈Close enough. A magical void can be similar to limbo, but they are not always the same thing.⌋
Virgil snapped his fingers and I was back in front of him.
⌈Let me ask you something. Did you notice anything off about what I was doing?⌋ His cosmic gaze settled on me.
"Anything off..." I thought for a moment before my eyes widened.
"You didn't say any incantations. Your mouth never moved!"
He had said himself that magic spells needed incantations to be cast, and yet he hadn't said a single word. Unless...
"You... did you just silent cast?"
⌈Correct. I did in fact silent cast.⌋ Virgil smiled. ⌈There are two ways of casting spells. Normal casting and silent casting. Normal casting involves speaking the incantation, using gestures and maintaining focus. Silent casting does away with all of that. Instead of saying the incantation, you think it. You direct the magic entirely with your mind. It is such a difficult thing to achieve that people since ancient times have called it pure magical control.⌋
His words made sense. This wasn't the first time I had heard about silent casting and how difficult it was to master. Only a very small number of people could do it. Even mages who had reached higher ranks sometimes went their entire lives without ever managing it. That was how significant it was. And I had read about it before in my past life, in books where the main character could cast spells without saying a word.
It really was a remarkable ability to have. Magic spells could be countered if an enemy heard what you were casting. Silent casting took that away entirely. And on top of that, it was much faster than normal casting. Just an all-around convenient ability to have.
I turned back to Virgil. "How do I learn it?"
Virgil snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. ⌈It is not that simple. To reach that level you need to understand magic at a very deep level, and you will need a tremendous amount of focus as well.⌋
A frown formed on my face. I had hoped it might be something I could pick up quickly, but it sounded like it would take a long time.
⌈But of course, you have this deity as your mentor. I will teach you how to achieve it.⌋ Virgil smirked.
My eyes lit up. "Really?"
⌈Yes, but it all depends on you. If you are meant for it, it will happen. If not, then that is simply that.⌋
"I see." Now that I knew it was something I could actually learn, excitement was already running through my veins.
⌈Back to what I was saying. Do you know how incantations actually work?⌋
"Uhm, don't you just say the incantation to cast the spell?" I answered, not entirely sure of myself.
⌈Yes, but that is only the surface of it. What is really happening underneath is something else entirely. Do you know what that is?⌋
I shook my head.
⌈Listen carefully. To cast a spell you do not only need to know the incantation. You also need to know what its magical circle looks like and its rune.⌋
I frowned at the last part.
Rune? What does he mean by rune?
Seeing my confusion, Virgil continued. ⌈By your reaction, it seems you were not aware of Origin Runes. Origin Runes are what determine the nature of the spell you are trying to cast. If the magic circle is the blueprint, then the rune is the type of material you are going to use to build it.⌋
I hadn't known that runes worked that way. Sure, I had read about rune masters in fantasy stories who used runes to create or enhance things like weapons, but I had never come across runes being essential to casting a spell. From what Virgil was describing, they seemed to be the very foundation of magic itself.
Virgil paused for a moment to let it sink in, then continued. ⌈There are different types of Origin Runes for different affinities and different spells.⌋
⌈Take fire for example. To cast a fire spell, you need to connect to the rune of fire, which is called Ignis.⌋ His finger lit up with a small flame and he drew a symbol in the air. The letter looked like an (į), similar to an 'i' but with a small tail curling beneath it.
⌈You must have the image of this rune clearly in your mind when casting any fire spell. Without it, the spell will fail.⌋
Virgil leaned forward and tapped the table with his index finger. A red magic circle spread across the surface.
⌈Now look closely and take it all in.⌋ He gestured toward it.
I nodded and moved closer.
The circle was filled with different writings and shapes, but what immediately stood out to me was the fire rune (į) appearing on four different sides of the circle, with one more right in the center. They were noticeably larger than the other symbols written around them.
I looked up at Virgil. "The fire rune appears five times in the circle."
⌈Correct. The origin runes are embedded into the magic circle. To cast the spell, you need to have both the rune and the full circle memorized.⌋
That was harder than I had expected. My memory back in my past life was never my strongest point, and I wasn't entirely sure if that had carried over here.
Having a poor memory really is a curse. I just hope that particular curse didn't follow me into this life. I thought.
"So what you are saying is that I need to mentally draw the entire magic circle, every single detail, while saying the incantation at the same time?"
⌈Precisely. Easy, right?⌋
"Easy my foot." I snorted and pointed at the circle. "How am I supposed to cast something like this with all of these runes in it?"
Virgil paused and looked at me with a confused expression. Then a smile crept up his face.
⌈Ah, no, no. You will not be casting that kind of spell at your current level.⌋ He said with a light smile.
"What?" I said, still confused.
Virgil pointed at the fire runes. ⌈The number of origin runes determines which circle the spell belongs to.⌋
My eyes widened as it clicked.
"Ah, so—"
⌈In this case, there are five origin runes in this magic circle, meaning it is a fifth circle magic spell.⌋ Virgil answered before I could finish.
That was a genuinely interesting way to rank magic. This was my first time coming across a power system like this and it was nothing like what I had expected. I was starting to feel more and more curious about it.
⌈The fireball spell I cast earlier was a first circle spell.⌋ Virgil tapped the right side of the table and a smaller red magic circle appeared. Looking at it closely, there was only one fire rune, sitting in the center, and far fewer writings and shapes compared to the previous one. ⌈See the difference. The larger the magic circle, the higher the rank, and the more mana it costs.⌋
Yeah, I really need to start reading those spell books as soon as I get back and start memorizing. I thought.
Then Virgil tapped the table again and several more magic circles formed across it. Green, brown, blue and gold.
Those are wind, earth, water and lightning magic circles, probably.
⌈This is the spell for wind(Ventus)⌋ He pointed at the green circle with a (V) rune in the center. Then he pointed at the brown circle for earth(Terra), which had an (Ţ) in the middle. Then the blue one for water, which was the (Ą) symbol for aqua.
⌈And last but not least, lightning(Fulgur)⌋ He pointed at the gold magic circle, marked with a (ʩ). ⌈Do not let the colors confuse you. Blue lightning and gold lightning share the same rune symbol.⌋
I nodded and studied each one carefully, making sure I had every symbol committed to memory.
⌈Now that you understand how they work, let us return to cosmos. I am not here to teach you everything, only cosmos.⌋
"What about lightning?" I asked.
⌈That blood sucker will handle that for now. I blessed him as well, after all. When we meet again next time, I will teach you a few things about it myself.⌋
My body went still.
Huh. How does he know about Arthur?
"How do you know about Arthur? Have you been spying on me? And wait, you said you had never blessed anyone or taken a successor."
⌈I was not spying, I was watching! Those are two completely different things. I thought you understood that a god can observe his successor?⌋ He noticed me click my tongue and scratched the back of his head. ⌈I suppose I forgot to mention that. As for blessing that blood sucker, he was simply the only person I ever blessed without a trial. He had a natural compatibility with my affinity, so I blessed him in passing. I was asleep when he awakened, so it slipped through. If I had been awake, I probably would have refused.⌋ Virgil shrugged.
So Arthur had been lucky enough to awaken during the one time Virgil was too deep in sleep to say no. That was how his lightning affinity had come to be.
I let out a quiet chuckle.
Lucky bastard.
More importantly, I hadn't fully understood before that gods could actually observe what their successors were doing in real time. I had assumed they could see us somehow, but not to that level of detail.
My thoughts were cut off when Virgil suddenly started laughing to himself. ⌈Ahaha, these past days have been anything but boring watching you get beaten around all day. I might as well reward that man with the cosmos affinity just for the entertainment alone.⌋
I frowned and clicked my tongue. "Sure, go ahead and laugh all you want."
That only made him laugh harder.
I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose and said nothing.
*****
Fixed the Origin Runes symbols and changed runes to Origin Runes to differentiate from normal runes.