Chapter 2
Chapter 02 - Why No Magic?
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In my previous life I didn't know my parents, and by the time I became self-aware I was already in an orphanage. The orphanage told me that my family was destroyed by terrorism.
As the sole survivor I was without a purpose or reason to live, until a certain woman came and adopted me.
She was an eccentric person who lived in the deepest reaches of a mountain range of an unexplored region only visited by people who were in a word "abnormally strong."
The only reason I was able to survive as many as 60 years was due to that woman, due to the strength forged by my master.
Yet if you look at that another way, it meant that I was forced to taste the wrath of hell on earth until my master died.
Though I was never able to see the faces of my parents, I know that if I were to have met them I could puff out my chest with pride.
Well, whatever the case even though I have the mind of a 60 year old man, in this world I have Elena, Noel, and Dee so I won't be feeling lonely.
Though this world lacks many of my old world's modern necessities, all I need to focus on right now is training.
Half a year later
I manage to sneak past the eyes of the housemaid to start the day's routine training regiment.
Well I call it a training regiment, but its really just me raising an arm or a leg, if I work my body out too stressfully it'd only result in causing irreparable damage. The best thing to do is to take it slow and steady.
The original inventor of this plan was my Master.
"I bet that if I obtain an infant and train him from before the point where he becomes self-aware, I'll be able to make him a better warrior than myself."
"... Master, I'm sure you have killed people even before becoming a warrior."
"Well… in those cases… I killed to survive… ya know!?"
'Hell's Training from Birth!' was the name she tagged on it showing off her bad naming sense, yet my master was enthusiastic and splurged the details on me.
Who would have thought I'd end up doing it myself. The training is brutal with several of the regiments being extremely rigorous, yet each of them are well thought out and have specific purposes as to what they address. I'm happy that I can feel the progress with my own body every day.
That being said, it is extremely painful.
I started crawling a little while ago and when Noel saw her ears and tail pricked up in excitement and she ran full charge to Elena who called everyone in the house. Everyone was happy to see my being able to move about and threw a party, everyone, even Elena who is usually reserved when it comes to such things, happily partook in drink.
One Year after Birth
My body is developing well. I've stepped up my daily training to push ups and pull ups. I want to start training my stamina by jogging. Soon there'll be an announcement about my being able to walk.
"Hey~ Hey~ Sirius lookie here." Noel is the same as ever, even though she was scolded by Elena for using fire magic around me because its dangerous, I can tell that she is still happy to show me her magic. I hope one day to be able to use magic too.
"I beg of thee; reveal the truth within fire and release the might of the fire god. 『 Flame』!" Noel keeps her eyes shut as she chants the spell, in her palm a fireball appears.
No matter how many times I see it, it always manages to perplex me. What's the principle behind it, what's being used for fuel.
"Mhm~ How about it are you impressed by your onee-san's talent,... even if this is the only thing I'm skillful at."
Oi, your true feelings leak out for a moment there. I suppose she's doing her best to act the part of a dignified elder sister. She really does act like a child who's overworked themselves. In the end she is reprimanded by Elena who found out after all.
The next day after finishing my muscle training I decide to practice magic, I wish there was at least a textbook to use as reference but I've yet to see a book in the first place. Books are probably a rare commodity since they'd be hard to manufacture. The only time I've even seen magic was Noel's fireball, when I recite the spell nothing happens. Maybe my concentration is lacking or it could be something else. I try several more times but it all ends in failure, it can't be helped, its the same as trying to speak a new language after just hearing it, I think I'll need to find a teacher. Yet, I think I'd feel bad if they tell me I had no talent.
After lunch, everyone is gathered in the living room, the warm atmosphere from lunch having yet to vanish. Elena and Noel are knitting and Dee is preparing tea. I figure it is about time that I execute my plan.
"Elena, Sirius is looking at us."
"That he is, maybe he's interested in knitting."
"Ele-"
"!?"
Elena dropped whatever she was knitting in surprise.
"Sirius-sama, once more, please say it again."
"Elena."
"...aaa…aaa..."
She was so overcome in joy that tears leaked from her eyes.
"Sirius-sama, me too! Noel, No- El, Noel."
Her face is so close, it makes me wonder how the normally stoic Dee would act if I called him, yet I don't because I thought i might hurt Noel's feelings.
"No~el"
"Yay! Now call me Onee-sama Sirius-sama!"
Woah, what is this young lady trying to make me say amidst the confusion? I see Dee in the area and decide to take my chances.
"Dee"
"...yes."
There is no real big change in his expression as per usual, yet his eyes are closed seemingly to relish in the moment. My turn hasn't ended yet, I concentrate the strength of my body into my legs and take a step, my first step, towards Elena and wipe the tears off her eyes.
"Si- Sirius you'r-..."
"He's walking! Sirius-sama is walking!"
I think it would be creepy if I were to start walking naturally, so i walked slowly, pretending to stumble every now and then.
The distance wasn't that far, only about 5 steps, so I reached Elena's embrace quickly.
"You've done well! Very good Sirius-sama, Elena is proud of you.
"He's a genius, without a doubt Sirius-sama is a genius!"
It was a little painful to be in between Elena and Noel and they danced gleefully, and instead of stopping them Dee announces that tonight we'd have a feast to celebrate. Maybe I overdid it.
I had a hard time stopping Noel who was drinking wine as if it were water.
The next day I increase the distance that I jog for training, it seems that the people in the house haven't been able to realize how abnormal my growth rate is through their eyes, that are like that of a doting parent's. So far my training is paying off, I'm now able to jog the distance that half a month ago would have left me tuckered out, without breaking a sweat. The problem is magic, since it didn't exist in my past life at all, I don't understand a thing about it. I get past this by asking Noel.
"Today, I'll show you a new magic, because I'm so reliable this one won't be dangerous at all!" Noel says while clutching a thick book.
Nice going Noel, this is what I've been waiting for. I point at the book eagerly waiting for her to show it to me.
"Hm? Are you interested in this, please just wait a little."
Noel most likely ran off to get permission, just a little bit ago she wouldn't have cared even without permission, is this a sign of her growing up? While I was impressed by her growth Noel returned.
The book is a "Beginner Class Magic Tome" Noel picks me up and places me on her soft knee, opening the book toward me so I can read the book with her. However when the book was opened I noticed that I couldn't read any of the text, I was inevitably forced to wait for her to read the book aloud.
"...umu.. Magic is… first of all, an unexplained phenomenon, yet its an all powerful force that can bring blessings to all things… or at least that's what it says… I don't really understand all that."
I respond to her with a smile.
Even though I can't understand the words in the book, if i learn the basic principles I should be able to improve with practice. Even without being able to understand it, Noel kept on reading, the book was awkwardly written, with terrible grammar, roundabout descriptions, and handwriting so terrible that entire paragraphs were illegible#.
For now I'll just go over what I understand. Magic is a phenomenon caused by harnessing mana#. Though mana is invisible, it exists everywhere, including inside of living beings such as humans, when one consumes the mana in their body they are able to use general magic like Noel's fireball.
It's possible to use magic with pre-drawn formations# and directly pour ones mana into them. The night-lamp and cooking fire seem to be magic tools which work on this theory. Expending a large amount of one's magic power into such magic tools seems to make a person feel exhausted mentally.
It also seems that you only have to draw a circle once and it can be reused time and time again; making daily life much more convenient.
There is also something known as spirit magic, its a type of magic that allows you to borrow the strength of spirits.
Spirits eh, sounds like something a person with Chuunibyou# would love. The problem with learning this type of magic is that you have to have a born affinity for it which is quite rare. Not to mention the fact that spirits can't be seen or touched so you have to wait for them to come to you. Its unknown how to increase one's affinity towards spirits.
There are many mysteries surrounding spirit magic, what is known is that you must use a chant to cast magic. When the mana has gathered you can begin to chant the aria of spell words, from there the magic is invoked once you speak the spell's name in other words the chant or aria isn't an unchanging script, for example Noel's "Flame," even if one were to slightly tweak the words the result would still be the same. There are researchers studying day in and out working on methods of shortening the aria. That being said, the aria for "Flame" that Noel uses is the exact same one from the book.
If a person uses magic, their internal stock of mana will decrease causing them to feel fatigued, the more magic they use the weaker they'll feel until finally they lose consciousness, if they are too inefficient in their use of mana they could potentially die.
Though the amount of mana each person has is extremely variable, training until exhaustion during childhood will increase mana capacity and skill; if you haven't reached your maximum potential by the time you're an adult then it is near impossible to do so, as training once reaching adulthood has a significantly reduced effect. It also seems that maximum magic potential & how quickly you'll advance is largely decided before birth, and the potentials vary greatly.
It also seems that maximum magic potential & how quickly you'll advance is largely decided before birth, and the potentials vary greatly.
The training method mentioned in this tome has an exponential growth effect; so if I started training it along-side my physical training now while I'm still only one years old, then my magic-power should grow extremely fast. Though compared to physical strength the potential for this to cause trouble is much higher, so maybe I shouldn't.
This all raises the question of why one can't rely on external mana sources if your internal stock is low? Especially since the mana that is constantly flowing in the atmosphere is rather strong not to mention abundant. This was also mentioned in the book, the main reason not to use external mana sources is the difference in the quality of the mana gained. An example being to compare the mana inside one's body as black and the mana in the atmosphere as white, since the only way to use magic is to use black mana, one would have to convert the white mana black, and even with the tremendous amount of white mana in the atmosphere this is extremely cost ineffective.
There is also something known as an "Attribute," to be taken into consideration. A person's attribute is decided at birth and is as important as the quality of one's mana, a person's attribute will never change within their life. Because Noel used the spell "Flame" her natural attribute is "Fire" since her attribute is fire, she is naturally talented at fire magic, while a person who has the attribute of "Water" would excel at water spells. It is also important to know that the strength of one's magic falls dramatically when using a spell that is of their attribute.
After we finished the part on Attributes Noel shut the book. A significant amount of time has passed since we began reading the book.
"Fuu~ let's quit here today, I'm tired from reading out loud for so long."
"Good work. Here, I've prepared tea for you feel free to take a break."
"Wah! Elena when did you get here!?"
Elena simply returns a smile to her as she holds the tray of black tea.
"Only a moment ago, you must be thirsty, I'll take care of Sirius-sama."
"I appreciate your kindness."
I'm moved from Noel's knee to Elena's, I've got to say, even though Noel's knee is soft, there's a certain sense of security you can only get from Elena's. She picks up the book and begins to lovingly stroke my head.
"You seemed to be studying in earnest, it could be that Sirius-sama will be able to use magic soon."
"Ahaha! I doubt it, it took me forever to get past the beginner-level, besides he can't even read yet right?"
"That's true, but I can't help but to imagine him managing to do it."
"I can't deny that, yet it'll take time even so."
The two laughed while drinking their tea.
"We may be placing too many expectations on him, let's wait till he learns to read at least."
"Attribute eh… are you interested in Sirius-sama's attribute?"
"I wonder too, I don't mind his attribute whatever it turns out to be, but I think it'd be nice if it were Fire or Water."
"Should we check, I have the judging device in my room."
"I see, I'll fetch it, it should only take a moment."
Noel brings the Attribute Judgement tool, it is simply a crystal ball held neatly in a small cloth wrapper. It seems to be something easy to make, however, the wrapping paper has a complicated pattern painted on it - this probably being the 'magic formula' mentioned in the book.
The basic attributes; Fire, Water, Wind and Earth, were written on the magic formula. It seems that you place your hand on the crystal, and it lights up with a different colour to indicate your attribute.
"I'm done filling it with magic, we're ready any time."
"Sirius-sama, please place your hand here."
"umu"
I am getting excited, I put my hand on the crystal ball. The change lasts only for a moment, the crystal glimmers a dazzling light causing me to close my eyes, if I were to look at it from point blank range it would be dangerous. When I open my eyes again the light has vanished before I got a chance to see what color it was.
"Elena, that was…"
"Yes, the light was very strong but…"
What? The expression on their faces hardened. Should I try again since the light went away? I can use my opposite hand to cover my eyes so that I can confirm the colour this time.
"It's colorless afterall…"
"No way…"
What's wrong you two, why do you look so sad? The light was pretty bright could it be that being colourless mean that I'm talentless? Is that why they look so sad?
Elena closes in on me and gently embraces me with a face that made it seem that she may start bawling at any moment.
"Why must god be so cruel, don't worry Sirius-sama, I'll protect you forever."
"Me too."
Why are their eyes so filled with pity? Please explain it to me. The two of them have begun to coddle me more than usual.
"Colourless , eh?"
It sounds as if a terrible premonition is attached to it.