What in the world is this?

I had stopped on one of the pages of the book, the one detailing the chant of a fireball spell.

I still remember the chant I heard that day, when that ball of fire flew towards the sky right onto the windows of the First Prince’s party.

[For the flames shall be our savior]

[For the flames shall be our guide]

[May we bask in its flames]

[May we bask in its glory]

[Fireball]

All things considered, it was a rather grand chant for such a simple spell, but after seeing the damage that single spell could cause, perhaps that chant was earned.

When I opened this book, I expected to find that chant in some form or another, perhaps written in another language or perhaps even that direct translation that I caught.

But no. What was here was straight up gibberish.

During your conjuring, picture the image of a spark lighting the darkness and form your tongue into the third Samonian shape. Expel a voice between the tongue and teeth in a recursive tonal, and continue into the second step.

What does that even mean?!

Samonian shape…

Recursive tonal…

Those sound foreign to me!

But then, through Feyt’s ears, I heard those exact same words echoing inside the arena.

“Mirabelle! The third step requires the fifth Samonian! Do it again!” yelled Instructor Cowell.

“Oh, but I was doing the fifth! I certainly—”

“You are certainly wrong. Next!”

“Wha—”

Samonian again.

Judging from the way it was written into the book and how Instructor Cowell mentioned it during her class, it seemed to be something quite fundamental. Something fundamental that I had missed.

Thinking I missed an entire book or two, I quickly got up from my seat and walked back to the shelves housing different tomes. This time, I scoured the basic magic section of the library, and frankly, there were a ton of books. Way more than the books I had read about magical foundations before.

But my eyes were glued to a few spines. All containing that special word. Samon.

After picking a few and making my way back to the table, I plopped my second stack of the day right next to my first stack of books. I promptly sat down and began reading from the top-most pile.

I skimmed through the first chapter, labeled History.

Sarasa Shara Samon was a prominent scholar in the northern empire of Alinda, mainly for his invention of the Samonian system. Before him, to cast spells, you had to mimic sound exactly, but many had trouble even remembering the chants.

He created a system meant to streamline the process of casting spells. He categorized seventy different shapes your mouth and tongue should take, twenty-five different tonal inflections, and twelve types of breathing patterns.

Ever since then, it has become a standard for chanting. Thus, mastering a chant relies on your accuracy and memory of the different types of Samonian stuff.

I flipped open to the next page, which detailed the first shape of the Samonian system.

I continued to skim absent-mindedly. But I was genuinely dumbfounded.

This was it?

Was this how magic worked?

Was this what was going on through a mage’s mind when they’re casting their spells? Which shapes to use? Which tone to adapt?

Just like that, the wonder I’d always felt toward magic gave way to plain bafflement.

I sat and stood there in silence for a second, my eyes and ears taking in absolutely nothing as I racked my brains.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

This. This was the true way one learns a spell in this world.

I thought that by just remembering the sentence, be it in the original form or the translated form, it would work. But this Samonian system… it changed everything I ever knew about magic.

To be fair, I didn’t know much about magic in the first place.

But how in the hell was I going to teach Ricent spells now?

I might remember everything written in all these books, but how do I even translate that for him?

But I didn’t know how far he went with his lessons yet, and frankly, I didn’t hear his voice at all in the mage class. I figured he had slowed down and didn’t cause any trouble.

With the lunch break ending soon, I thought it was best to end today’s expedition here. I gained valuable insights, but I won’t be able to teach him anything until I know his progress.

But to be sure, I didn’t have to wait for another day just for testing, I picked up several basic books of several basic spells of different elements. Fire, water, earth, and things like that.

However, when I brought the stack to the front desk, dropping it with a heavy thud on the oak wood.

“I’m sorry, Lady Carine, but books regarding spells and magic aren’t allowed to be borrowed.”

I froze; a small twitch of annoyance flared in me.

“Is that true?”

“I-I’m sorry, Lady Carine. But it’s policy…” she said apologetically, almost sweating.

I raised an eyebrow. Why was she so nervous? If she couldn’t do it, then so be it.

I placed the stack onto a nearby table and quickly skimmed until the first spell shown for each book. After basically taking a screenshot of each of them in my memory, I closed them all and turned to the receptionist.

“Shall I bring these back upstairs?”

“N-Not at all, just leave it here at the desk and we’ll take care of it.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

And with that, I turned on my heels and left the library. It was a shame I couldn’t bring all the books, but I really only needed one spell of each type for testing with Ricent; all I needed to know was his affinity.

Alright, let’s meet him at the usual place after classes.

—

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T GO TO CLASS?!”

“Wait, there’s more than one?!”

I wanted to drop onto the floor right then and there.

I stared at him, waiting. Any second now, he’d laugh. Say he was joking. Admit he skipped on purpose or got lost… anything!

He just tilted his head, utterly clueless.

“You’re messing with me,” I said flatly. “Please tell me you’re messing with me.”

“N-No?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose so hard it felt numb. “Why… Why do you think there was only one class?”

“I mean, no one told me to go anywhere else,” he said, scratching his cheek. “The guy from yesterday didn’t tell me to class, so I thought there wasn’t one today.”

“The guy?”

He nodded. “He helped me move my stuff in, too!”

That was just a temporary handler!

And why did you get one while I didn’t?!

And why were you still lost even with one?!

But, he never attended anything like a school before, so perhaps the concept of a ‘schedule’ might be out of the box for him. And seeing the first staff member he met told him to get to class, of course, he’d think that guy would be there to remind him every day.

I opened my mouth, ready to explain schedules and all that, but stopped. My gaze drifted instead to his stupidly earnest expression, completely unburdened by guilt or awareness.

There was a more immediate problem breathing down his neck.

I let out a long, defeated sigh. “Forget it. We’ll deal with your classes later. Right now, that duel is a bigger issue.”

“Oh, that!” Ricent brightened immediately.

I winced. I didn’t even dare to ask what made him want to agree to a duel in the first place.

I crossed my arms, trying to refocus. “Alright. I need to ask you something. How far did you get with magic? Did you learn any of that Samonian stuff?”

“Salmon?”

I paused.

Right. He never went to the second class. Of course, he didn’t.

“…Never mind,” I muttered. “What kind of Magical Talent do you have?”

Ricent straightened, as if this was finally something he could answer confidently. “Sure! It’s [Affinity for Water], I think.”

I blinked.

“…Water?”

“Yeah!”

I stared at him for a moment longer than I intended Water magic was supposed to be calm and controlled, right? Ricent was none of those things.

I shook my head. “I guess Talents really are random.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“No, nothing…” I said slowly. “Just… unexpected.”

I fell silent for a moment, recomposing my thoughts.

I looked back at him, a smirk on my face. “Ricent, listen well. From now on, I shall be teaching you magic!”

He froze.

“…Really?!”

I nodded once.

“You know how to do magic, too, Feyt?”

“Well, not exactly,” I muttered. “But, I can at least help you get a headstart considering how far behind you are already.”

He tilted his head. “Why, though? Won’t I learn magic in class?”

“You have an upcoming duel, you remember?”

He struck his palm with widened eyes. “Oh yeah!”

Seriously, what is up with him?

“Well then, let’s head to the training yard!” I said. “Our goal is to get you a single spell before tomorrow!”

His eyes lit up. “Alright! You’re the greatest friend ever, Feyt!”

I felt a small spark of excitement settle in my chest. It was like a small sense of pride that I finally got to show off my knowledge.

“We’re starting from the basics, though,” I added quickly. “No complaining!”

“Got it!” Ricent grinned.

We made our way to the nearest training yard, and the sun began to set on our way there.

—

The moon hung high above the academy.

Tomorrow had technically come.

I stared at Ricent, panting lightly in the center of the yard, surrounded by absolutely nothing to show for the past few hours. No water. No puddle. Not even a ripple.

“No, no, no, the fifth shape is this.” I imitated an A-shape with my mouth. “ And then, you use a forward tone, like saying ‘aah’.”

He lowered his hands slowly. “…Feyt?”

I stopped mid pose, staring at him with heavy eyes. “Yeah?”

“I don’t want to complain or anything,” he said carefully, “but I think we need to go to sleep…”

…Right.

If we kept going like this, he’d oversleep. And if he overslept, he’d be late again. I didn’t even want to imagine the chaos that would ensue

I let out a slow breath. “Alright. That’s enough for today.”

Ricent brightened immediately. “Really?”

I felt slightly offended by how quickly that cheered him up.

“Yes,” I said. “We’ll call it here. Get some rest, and please go to class on time.”

“Don’t worry! I’ll try!”

That was not a reassuring answer.

I rubbed my temples as we left the yard together. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep