CH 8

CHAPTER 8

Days of intensive magic training thus started for Reito.

He activated both Muscle Boost and Recovery Boost during his daily sword swings, and when he took care of the herbs he used Magic Boost. This was all part of Reito’s daily training.

At first, he could only use magic 10 times a day, but after just one month, that number had climbed as high as 30 times.

During the special training, however, another issue surfaced.

The Magic Power Herbs tended by Reito grew at a much higher speed than the others. Aria started suspecting something was going on, so he was forced to practice Magic Boost on something other than the herbs.

After testing various things, he settled on the apple tree growing in the garden. He was surprised that Magic Boost worked on what seemed like any other tree, but he practiced casting Magic Boost on the tree while pretending to nap under it, so he could continue his training without anyone noticing.

Even if he practiced every day, the proficiency level of Support Magic increased at a very slow pace, which was another reason why Support Magician was considered a hopeless job. Reito had more than enough time on his hands, however, so he could practice to his heart’s content every day.

Such days of fervent training passed one after the other: eventually, Reito reached his 7th birthday.

For Reito, it meant that he now had a new duty: studying.

◆◆◆

“Young master! It’s time to study! We have to do writing practice today!”

Reito was playing in his room, when a very eager Aria came in, carrying a small pile of textbooks.

Reito looked at Aria and sighed.

“I told you I can write already! Come on, there are other things I want to study! Like magic!”

“No can do, young master!! The basics are the most important thing! Even if your handwriting is better than mine, I will not allow it!”

“But why!? …you’ve got personal reasons, don’t you..?”

Thanks to the Translation skill, Reito did not need to learn how to read or write. Aria did not know that, however, so she made him practice both every day.

There was also another reason why Aria was so passionate.

When Reito’s studies started and she wrote him a character sample to practice with, not only could he already write, but his handwriting was better than hers. Aria was so shocked that she started practicing to improve her own calligraphy, disguising it as reading and writing practice for Reito.

Reito was a teenager when he was reborn in this world, so his knowledge naturally surpassed a child’s level. He had also learned all sorts of things about this world from Airis, so he had little need to study. He could not exactly say that, however, so he ended up having to do as Aria said.

That day, after reading and writing practice a history lesson would follow. Airis had told Reito about this world’s history, but he used Aria’s lessons to confirm and complement his knowledge.

“Listen well, young master. There are six races in this world: Humans, Elves, Beasts, Giants, Demons, and Dwarves. Do you know the differences between these races?”

“Humans are the most numerous race and have high intellect. Elves have especially long life spans and have powerful magic. Beasts have both human and animal-like traits. Giants have massive, sturdy bodies. Demons can have various appearances and abilities, but their intellect is on par with humans. Lastly, the Dwarves have an aggressive temperament, but many of them are skilled craftsmen. They can make special weapons like Holy Swords and Magic Swords…right?”

Reito answered without any doubt or hesitation, leaving Aria wide-eyed in surprise.

“C-correct…amazing, young master! It felt like you were reading from a textbook…”

“Oh, it’s nothing…”

I just repeated word for word what Airis taught me, after all.

Reito felt a bit guilty for tricking Aria, then looked at one of the books she brought, which detailed the kingdom’s history.

The kingdom of Bartros had a history of circa 300 years: it was the largest country in the world and was ruled by Humans. The other races that governed countries were only the Beasts, the Giants, and the Dwarves: Elves and Demons did not found their own state.

Reito knew that there were violent conflicts among the six races in the past, but he learned from the textbook that one of the past Bartros kings brought an end to such wars and made the six races sign a treaty.

He said it to Aria and she leaned forward, excited.

“The blood of a legendary king runs in your veins, young master! You must remember not to bring shame to such a legacy!”

“Even if the ancestors were legends, it doesn’t mean the descendants are too. Besides, I’m not even allowed to consider myself a member of the royal family…”

“Ah…I’m sorry…”

Aria realized her blunder and hurriedly apologized, then her expression clouded.

Reito did not care about not being allowed to say he was a royal or about his father’s lack of love: he was more worried about the fact that his words made Aria sad.

In order to change the topic, he asked her a question.

“By the way, Aria, can you use basic grade magic?”

“Basic grade magic? Do you mean lifestyle magic? Yes, of course. I’m not very good at magic other than Spirit Magic, though…wait? How do you know about basic grade magic, young master…?”

Reito quickly made up an excuse to sway Aria’s suspicion.

“I-I just read a picture book where the main character used it! Can you please show it to me? I really want to see what kind of magic it actually is…”

“Hmm, I have the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me here…oh, fine, it’s not dangerous anyway. Lifestyle magic is something you can use without the risk of causing trouble.”

Aria usually refused to show Reito any kind of magic, but basic grade magic was apparently an exception, thanks to not being dangerous.

Aria lightly rotated her shoulders.

“Okay then, let’s take a little break from studying, I’ll show you basic grade magic. Watch well…if you have enough affinity, you might be able to use it.”

“Affinity…”

“Let me explain in easy terms. You see, magic is…”

Aria’s explanation could be summarized as follows.

In this world, magic could be mainly categorized into seven elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Holy, and Dark. Affinity to the seven elements was more or less decided by one’s race and job: Humans were proficient in Fire magic, Elves in Wind magic, and so forth. Water magic was a specialty of the creatures called “Merfolk”, while Dwarves excelled in Earth magic. Very few individuals, of any race, specialized in Lightning magic, while many Beasts had a great affinity with Holy magic. Lastly, those with the Necromancer job often favored Dark magic.

Other than the seven basic elements, there were also higher grade ones, such as the Storm and Flame element, but individuals capable of using them were extremely rare.

Aria, being an Elf, had a high affinity with the Wind element, but it did not mean she could not use other elements: in fact, she knew Water and Earth elemental spells too. Elves, however, had a notoriously bad affinity with the Fire element, and she was no exception: she could not use any Fire spells. Only Dark Elves, a subspecies of the Elven race, could use Fire elemental spells.

“Basic grade magic, also called lifestyle magic, consists in spells with low offensive power. If you practice using them you can raise their proficiency level, but I have never heard of anyone actually using it as offensive magic in battle.”

“Really…so, what kind of magic is it?”

“Don’t expect too much…allow me to show you, then! Final attack, Wind Pressure!!”

Aria raised her right hand and chanted a spell.

At the same time, the wind started whirling on her palm.

“Ooh!?”

It was showier than Reito expected, so he couldn’t help but react loudly.

“Haah!!”

Aria thrust her palm forward and the wind swirling on her hand shot towards Reito.

Reito felt the wind on his face and instinctively braced for impact — but the mildly strong gust simply swept past him.

Reito cocked his head to the side, perplexed, as Aria turned off the wind and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“Phew…this uses up magic power, so that’s all for now.”

“That’s it!?”

Reito reacted with loud surprise, but Aria replied calmly.

“I told you to keep your expectations low! Honestly…anyway, this is basic grade magic.”

“Wow…”

Reito could not hide his disappointment: it was much more underwhelming than he anticipated.

Aria’s wind pressure basic grade magic had very low offensive power…if it had any at all. There was no way to use it in battle.

“The other basic grade magic spells are even more pitiful, you know. Do you want to see them all the same?”

“Well, just in case…”

“I will show you the water spell next, then…Ice Block!!”

“Ooh!?”

Aria clasped her palms together and focused: a baseball-sized sphere of ice formed from her hands, spreading cold air in the surroundings.

Reito’s excitement grew, but Aria suddenly released her hands and staggered a bit.

“Aah…I just can’t pull it off…”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

Aria held her hands in apology.

“I’m sorry, young master, that seems to be my limit. I did my best, but I cannot handle elements other than Wind well…”

“Then, someone good at using those elements can make it look more impressive, right? How does that spell really turn out?”

Reito’s question contained a glimmer of hope, which was flatly dashed by Aria’s answer.

“Eh? It makes ice, that’s it. Well, objects created through magic vanish quickly, so it won’t last long though.”

“What’s the point in making it…?”

“You can cool your body on a hot day. If you use magic for that, though, you’d start sweating even more…”

“There’s no point then. What about Earth magic?”

“Please wait a moment…oh yes, let’s use that.”

Aria pointed at a plant vase in the corner of the room. She brought it closer and pointed her palm at the soil inside.

“Watch well, young master. Earth Block!!”

Aria chanted another spell.

In contrast with her enthusiastic incantation, however, the plant vase was apparently unfazed.

“…nothing happened…?”

“Oh no, you must look closer!”

Aria excitedly pointed at the soil inside the vase.

“Can you see? The soil increased a little here!”

“Lame!!”

Reito, triggered by the utter insignificance of the spell’s scale, couldn’t help but react harshly. Aria was a bit shaken by his momentum but explained more in detail about Earth Block.

“It’s more useful than Ice Block, though. You can use it to send nutrients to the soil, so it can help create an environment where plants grow more.”

“Oh, it’s really surprisingly useful!!”

“It’s also one of the reasons why basic grade magic is called lifestyle magic. If you raise the proficiency level, you can manipulate soil with it.”

Aria paused for a moment, then seemed to recall something.

“Now that I think about it, we never checked your elemental affinities, did we, young master? It’s too expensive to do it with an Appraisal Tome, so I’ll use a simple method. Can you try doing what I just did?”

“What did you just do? You mean basic grade magic?”

Aria nodded to Reito.

“Yes. Humans are generally good at Fire magic, but sometimes they also have Wind affinity. Please try to activate the Wind Pressure spell I did first.”

“Okay then…”

Reito imitated the way Aria held her hands and chanted the spell’s name.

“…Wind Pressure!”

That very instant, a whirlpool of wind, far larger than the one Aria produced, rose from Reito’s palms.

Reito was surprised to successfully activate the spell so easily, but recalled Aria’s motions and pushed his palm forward.

The whirlpool then unleashed a powerful gust of wind.

Reito hurriedly waved his hands to cancel the wind, but all books and papers in the room were scattered everywhere.

“H-hey!? What was that power? How can it be stronger than my Wind Pressure…?”

Aria was naturally surprised: on the other hand, Reito was completely taken aback.

“That was shocking…”

The status window appeared before Reito’s eyes.

.

<Battle Art “Wind Pressure” acquired.>

.

“Wow, I learned it just like that.”

Reito checked his status and realized that he had also learned Ice Block and Earth Block, even if he just watched Aria use them.

It was thus revealed that Reito had an affinity to three magic elements.

Aria, wide-eyed, finally managed to open her mouth.

“Anyway…it’s unbelievable…to be able to cast basic grade magic with such power…young master, could it be that you’re a genius?”

“No, it was just a fluke…anyway, I wonder if I can learn other basic grade magic spells too. Is there anyone else who can use basic grade magic in the residence?”

“Well, the mistress can use Fire magic…but it’s more dangerous than other elements, so I don’t know if she will agree to teach you.”

“I see. Okay, I’ll ask mom!”

Reito immediately scampered out of the room.

“H-hey, young master! What about studying…gwah!?”

Aria hurriedly chased after Reito, but her feet were caught in the textbooks strewn on the floor, sending her face flat on the floor.

Reito took advantage of the opportunity to activate Muscle Boost and Recovery Boost, then used Leap to move quickly through the corridor. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at his mother Aira’s room.

“Mother!!”

“Oh, Reito. Did you run away from the textbooks? Hehe.”

Reito suddenly barged into the room and Aira smiled at him.

She often hid Reito when he was on the run from the servants, so she thought he had escaped Aria’s lesson and sought shelter in her room.

Reito immediately approached the main topic.

“Mother, can you use the Fire spell of basic grade magic?”

“Basic grade magic? Yes, of course I can, but…”

“Can you please show it to me?”

Aira was a bit confused by Reito’s sudden strange request but thought he had to have his reasons and nodded. She pointed her palm upwards and chanted the spell.

“…Fireball.”

“Wow…”

A flaming sphere appeared on Aira’s palm.

She then manipulated it, making it fly all around the room.

Reito looked at Aira’s control of the spell, then tried imitating her. He pointed his palm upwards, as she did, and chanted the spell’s name.

“Fireball.”

The globe of fire formed on his palm, all too easily.

“Oh my, you can use it too!?”

Aira was impressed by Reito successfully casting the spell on his first try, but quickly noticed the abnormality of his Fireball.

Its size was about two times larger than Aira’s.

Reito then tried moving the Fireball. Slowly but surely, it started floating around him.

“Hmm, it’s pretty hard to make it move…”

“Yes…that’s right…”

Aira looked at Reito manipulated the Fireball with utter shock.

It had taken her about one month of practice before she could control the Fireball at will. Reito, however, had learned how to cast the spell and control it — all in one day.

Reito was too focused on practicing the spell to notice his mother’s reaction. After a little while, he could already control the Fireball perfectly.

After a bit more exercise, Reito reduced the size of the Fireball and put it out by clasping his hands together. He then looked at Aira with a bright smile.

“This spell seems really convenient. You can use it for cooking and other things…”

“R-right…”

“Oh, I should go now. Thank you very much, mother!!”

Before Aira could say anything, Reito ran out of the room.

Now alone in her room, Aira was still dumbfounded. She was moved by learning that her son possessed a natural talent for magic, of course.

As such a joy grew within her, however, she recalled his particular situation and her expression stiffened.

“To be able to control magic so well at his age…if only he wasn’t born a Support Magician, he could have become king…”

Reito was already too far for his mother’s laments to reach his ears.

If he had heard her words, he would surely be hurt — as even his own mother pitied him.

~

After leaving his mother’s room, Reito did not return to his room to study with Aria but decided to go practice magic by himself.

If he did it in the rear garden or other open spaces he would be found in no time, so he decided to go on the roof.

After drawing this conclusion, Reito immediately went to the garret and climbed the ladder onto the roof. He looked around to make sure no one could see him, then started chanting.

“Fireball…yeah, I can use this easily already…”

Reito created a fireball on his fingertip and made sure he could manipulate it at will. He couldn’t move it as quickly as Aira did, but felt that he would become able to control it nimbly with more practice.

After that, a new idea flashed in his head.

“I wonder if you can create two Fireballs at once?”

He tried focusing on this concept and a Fireball appeared in each of his hands.

He made the Fireballs float in midair before him, then tried creating more: there were now a total of four.

It all went rather smoothly until now, but no matter how much he concentrated, he couldn’t create a fifth Fireball.

“Hmm, so my limit is four. But if I raise the proficiency level, I bet I can make more.”

Reito put out the four Fireballs for the time being.

He then started practicing the other magic spells.

“I used Wind Pressure already, so let’s try Ice Block and Earth Block, since I only learned them. Earth Block doesn’t look like it could be useful in battle…no, wait. I could dig pitfalls or use the earth to block enemy attacks. That could be pretty useful.”

Reito wanted to try Earth Block first but then realized that there was no soil to be found on the roof. He felt kind of disappointed at himself, then switched to the Ice Block spell.

“Ice Block!!”

He focused magic power on his palm and a block of ice appeared on it.

The Ice Block Aria created was more or less the size of a baseball, but Reito’s was easily double its size.

He then tried manipulating it, as he did with Fireball.

It didn’t work as well, however. Compared to fire, ice was much more difficult to move freely.

“I can move it somehow, but it’s pretty hard to control…it doesn’t work like Fireball, huh. Why does Water magic create ice, anyway?”

Reito decided to call on Airis to answer his questions.

She promptly responded and started explaining.

『Only merfolk can create water via Water magic: if any other species uses it, they can only create cold air or blocks of ice. That’s why you can’t create water either, Reito.』

『I see…by the way, can you become immortal if you eat a mermaid’s flesh?』

『Absolutely not. You’re confusing them with myths from your world.』

Reito’s doubt was dispelled, so he thanked Airis and cut the communication.

He then continued practicing the control of ice created through the Ice Block spell. There was not much improvement, however: he couldn’t control ice as well as fire.

Compared to Fireball, he needed more concentration and used up more magic power when casting Ice Block. He couldn’t make multiple blocks either. He might become more skilled if the proficiency level rose, but at the moment it would be difficult to use it offensively.

“In any case, I’ve got to practice a lot more.”

So Reito whispered to himself, then realized something peculiar.

“Oh, yeah, when I fell from the roof, Aria used Wind magic to save me, right? So maybe Wind Pressure can soften the impact of landing…okay, let’s try!”

Reito looked down at the ground and jumped off the roof, with eager momentum. If his mother or Aria saw him, they would surely lose their minds.

Just before he crashed on the ground, Reito activated Wind Pressure.

“Wind Pressure! Whoops!”

A strong wind spun on his palm. He used it as a cushion, successfully erasing the momentum of his fall, and landed without a scratch.

“It worked! I can use this whenever I need to go down from high places. Okay then, since I could jump down here, I might as well practice Earth Block.”

Reito then headed towards the flower patch in the rear garden, while paying attention not to let Aria find him. As soon as he arrived at his destination, he touched the soil in the flower patch and chanted the spell.

“I really hope this magic isn’t only to cultivate the fields…Earth Block!”

A ripple traveled over the soil, with Reito’s hand as the center. The ground had swelled, responding to his chant.

“Whoa, awesome…but it sure is exhausting too!”

The Earth magic spell consumed much more magic power than other basic grade magic.

Reito, a pained grimace on his face, tried to keep the spell active, but could only endure for a few more seconds before giving up.

“Hah…hah…I thought it would be useful to cultivate the field with magic, but it’s easier to do it manually…”

Earth Block’s sole usage seemed to be giving nutrition to the soil. Reito reached this conclusion and decided not to try using it in battle.

As he restored the patch to its former state, he recalled something Aria told him once.

“Phew…oh yeah, elemental magic has affinities, right…?”

For example, Fire magic was canceled by Water magic — elements had a good or bad affinity with each other.

Reito thought that combining together elements that did not have bad affinity could maybe create more powerful magic, so he immediately put it to the test.

He created a Fireball from his palm and made it float in place, then activated Wind Pressure with the other palm.

“Point Wind Pressure at the Fireball and…whoa!?!”

The moment Wind Pressure formed, the spiraling wind was sucked in by Fireball.

The Fireball changed to a lance-like shape and flew off. The flaming lance proceeded straight at incredible speed, then vanished after a flight of about five meters.

“W-what was that…?”

The trembling Reito saw the usual status window appear before him.

.

<Craft Skill “Flame Lance” acquired.>

.

Reito immediately checked the details: the Craft Skills list now showed a new offensive spell.

.

[Craft Skills]

Flame Lance — Fire/Wind compound magic spell

.

The skill’s description stated it was a compound magic spell — a term Reito never heard before.

“So if you combine different magic elements, you get compound spells…”

Reito thought about the Flame Lance he had created.

“The range wasn’t very long, but it definitely had more offensive power than a normal Fireball. Awesome…there’s nothing ‘lifestyle’ about this magic, anyway. You can definitely use it in battle!”

Learning that lifestyle magic could be combined in battle-oriented spells, Reito became a bit excited.

That same moment, his head suddenly jolted with pain, forcing him on one knee.

“W-wha…?”

Reito’s body staggered and wobbled.

He could hear Aria’s voice calling him.

“Here you are, young mas…ter!? What happened!?”

Aria noticed Reito was not acting normally and ran up to him.

He tried telling her he was all right, but his voice wouldn’t come out. Soon enough, he lost consciousness.

◆◆◆

A few hours later, when Reito woke up again, he was lying on his bed.

A water pail and a towel were placed on the table next to the bed. Reito, thinking that Aria probably carried him here, tried to sit up.

His head, however, was struck by another flash of dull pain.

“Ouch…head hurts…”

Reito pressed his temples and grimaced.

In order to understand what happened to him, he opened communication with Airis.

『Aisman』

『Oh, I am a primitive human being frozen in ice now…do you really want to see me angry?』

Reito let Airis’ comment go without reacting and asked her about what happened.

『Of course not, ma’am…more importantly, can you tell me what happened to me?』

『Yes, yes. The reason why you collapsed is simple: you used too much magic power. You’ve had headaches before after using magic, didn’t you?』

『Yeah, I think I did…but I never lost consciousness before.』

Reito practiced magic every day after learning his first Support magic spells, in order to raise their proficiency level, and had indeed experienced light headaches.

Airis’ explanation continued.

『You were so excited after learning basic grade magic that you didn’t notice how much magic power you consumed, I suppose. So you used it to the limit and lost consciousness. Even if basic grade magic doesn’t consume much magic power, you shouldn’t push yourself so hard.』

『I see…yeah, I did lots of experimenting…』

Reito seemed to regret his mistakes, so Airis continued.

『But I was impressed that you could make a compound spell with basic grade magic. If you raise its proficiency level, you might even be able to make it as powerful as a Blast magic spell.』

『Really!? Great, I have to practice a lot!!』

『Please use compound spells sparingly, though. You are still immature…I mean, your body hasn’t grown enough yet. In any case, compound spells consume a great quantity of magic power. It is very dangerous to use them frequently while you are still growing.』

『So I have to wait until I get bigger?』

Airis paused for a moment after Reito’s complaints, then continued.

『…if you have to practice no matter what, you should expand your magic power capacity first. If you fight monsters and level up, your magic power will increase…but there’s a quicker method. You have SP, don’t you?』

『SP? Oh, you mean this?』

Reito opened his status window: the characters “SP” were displayed on it in a large font.

Next to it, the number 1 was displayed.

『SP stands for Skill Points. You can use them to learn new skills or raise the proficiency of skills you have already acquired. You can only gain SP by leveling up, by the way. Once you’ve used them, they never come back, but be very careful.』

『Ooh…eh? Why didn’t you tell me about something so convenient until now?』

Airis answered Reito’s question with a mischievous tone.

『If you knew that you learn skills with SP, you would have stopped making efforts to learn them, wouldn’t you? If you stop trying to learn skills the usual way, thinking that you can just use SP, then it’s all over, you know?』

『Okay, I get your point…so why tell me about it now?』

『I simply judged it appropriate to tell you at this point. Moreover, there is a skill I think you should learn now, to help your future growth. Unfortunately, there are abilities that you cannot learn, no matter how much effort you pour into it.』

Airis had something in mind, apparently.

Reito thus decided to use his SP to learn a new skill. He thought about using his SP and the status window showed a “List of Learnable Skills”. The screen showed a long list of skills Reito hadn’t learned yet.

『Whoa, there’s so many…which one should I learn?』

『The Unique Skill called “Magic Power Recovery Speed Up”. As the name says, this skill lets you recover magic power faster, so it is perfect for your current situation.』

『Wow, this “Oriental Fang” Battle Art seems cool…』

『Sir Reito? Are you listening? That skill is only for Beasts, you can’t learn it anyway.』

『Tch…okay then, this is it, right?』

Half pouting, Reito mentally expressed the desire to learn Magic Power Recovery Speed Up. His SP was consumed and the skill was acquired.

Magic Power Recovery Speed Up was Reito’s first Unique Skill. The skills in this category were always active, so once they were acquired their bonuses were always present.

Airis spoke up again.

『This skill will lessen the burden on your body when you use magic. When you level up you will gain more SP and will be able to learn new skills, so please let me know.』

『Okay. Thanks for everything.』

『You’re very welcome. Well then, my tea time is approaching, so if you will excuse me…』

Airis then closed the communication.

Time started moving again and Reito realized his headache was completely gone.

The skill he just learned apparently activated immediately, refilling his magic power quickly.

“This skill is really something…but I guess I’m going to be training all day from now on…”

Reito lay back down on his bed, thinking of ways to reduce studying time in order to train.