My legs and waist had grown stronger, and I was now able to walk upright. I could also start speaking the language of this world.
---
Deciding to live my life seriously, I first considered what to do. In my previous life, what had been necessary? Studying, exercise, and skills. A baby could do very little. At most, I could bury my face in someone’s chest when lifted up. If I did that to the maid, she made a face of open distaste. That maid definitely didn’t like children.
Thinking exercise could wait a little longer, I dove into the books in the house to learn the characters.
Language is important. In Japan, the literacy rate is nearly 100%, but many people struggle with English, and many hesitate to go abroad. Knowing a foreign language is counted as a skill in itself.
Therefore, I decided learning the characters of this world would be my first task.
There were only five books in the house. Either books were expensive in this world, or Paul and Zenith weren’t readers—probably both. It was an unbelievable level to me, who once had a library of thousands of books. Of course, they were all light novels.
Five books were enough to learn to read. The language of this world was similar to Japanese, so I picked it up quickly. The shapes of the characters were completely different, but the grammar came naturally. All I had to do was memorize the vocabulary. Having learned the words beforehand helped a lot. My father had read the contents of books aloud to me several times, which allowed me to learn the vocabulary smoothly. The good memory of this body might have played a part.
Once I understood the characters, the book contents were interesting. I once thought I’d never find studying interesting in my entire life, but when I thought about it, it was like memorizing info for an online game. There was no way it wouldn’t be interesting.
That said, did my father think a toddler could understand the contents of books? It was fine because it was me, but a normal one-year-old would cause a huge fuss. They’d cry their lungs out.
The books in the house were the following five:
* A guidebook with names and characteristics of countries around the world. * The ecology and weaknesses of Fittoa’s monsters. A book about the ecology of monsters in the Fittoa region and how to deal with them. * A magic textbook for sorcerers, containing attack magic from beginner to advanced levels. * The legend of Perugius, a fairy tale about a summoner named Perugius who, along with his companions, fought a demon god and saved the world. * "The Three Swordsmen," an adventure epic where three genius swordsmen of different schools meet and venture deep into a labyrinth.
Setting aside the two battle novels at the bottom, the top three were educational.
The magic textbook was especially interesting.
For someone like me who came from a world without magic, the descriptions about magic were truly fascinating. As I read on, I learned several basic things.
1. First, magic seemed to be broadly divided into only three types.
* Attack magic: to attack an opponent. * Healing magic: to heal an opponent. * Summoning magic: to call forth something.
That was it. Just three.
It seemed like you could do more, but according to the textbook, magic had been born and bred in combat, so it wasn’t used much in areas unrelated to fighting or hunting.
2. To use magic, you needed mana.
Conversely, as long as you had mana, anyone could use it. There were two ways to use mana:
* Mana from within one’s own body. * Mana drawn from a substance containing it.
One or the other.
I couldn’t find a great analogy, but the former was like self-generated power, the latter like a battery.
In ancient times, people only used mana from their own bodies to cast magic, but as generations progressed, magic was researched and became more difficult, and the mana consumed increased exponentially. Those with a lot of mana could manage, but those with little couldn’t use much magic. So, ancient sorcerers came up with the idea of drawing mana from things other than themselves to power their spells.
3. There were two methods to activate magic.
* Incantation. * Magic circle.
No detailed explanation was needed. Either you spoke to activate the magic, or you drew a magic circle to activate it.
In ancient times, magic circles had been the main method, but now incantation was the standard. This was because ancient incantations, even the simplest, took one to two minutes. They were utterly impractical for combat. Magic circles, on the other hand, could be used repeatedly once drawn.
Incantation became the standard because a certain sorcerer succeeded in greatly shortening it. The simplest spells were reduced to about five seconds, and attack magic was used exclusively through incantation. However, summoning magic, which didn’t require instant speed and needed complex formulas, still primarily used magic circles.
4. An individual’s mana was almost determined from birth.
In a normal RPG, MP increased with each level-up, but in this world, it didn’t seem to. Everyone was a warrior class. “Almost” meant it could fluctuate a little…
What about me? The magic textbook said the amount of mana was inherited. My mother could use healing magic, so maybe I could hope to some extent.
I was worried. Even if my parents were excellent, my own genes probably wouldn’t work.
For now, I decided to try the simplest magic.
Basically, the magic textbook had both magic circles and incantations, but since incantation seemed to be the standard and I had nothing to draw circles with, I’d practice that way. For larger-scale spells, the incantation grew longer, and you might need to use a magic circle as well, but for the beginning, it should be fine.
Experienced sorcerers could apparently use magic without an incantation. Silent casting, or incantation shortening.
But why could they do it without an incantation when they got skilled? If their total mana didn’t change, leveling up didn’t increase their MP… Conversely, did their MP consumption decrease with skill? No, even if it did, that wouldn’t explain why the steps were reduced.
……Well, whatever. Let’s try it. Holding the magic textbook in one hand, I thrust my right hand forward and read the words aloud.
“May the great blessing of water be upon your sought-after place. Let a cool, clear babbling brook flow here and now. Water Ball.”
I felt blood gathering in my right hand. As if that blood were being pushed out, a water bullet the size of a fist formed at the tip of my right hand.
“Whoa!”
The moment I was impressed, the water bullet splashed down and wet the floor. The textbook said it was a magic that shot a water bullet, but it just fell on the spot. Maybe when my concentration broke, the magic didn’t persist.
Concentrate, concentrate… It felt like gathering blood in my right hand. Like this, this, like this… Yeah.
I raised my right hand again, recalling the sensation from before, and imagined it in my mind. I had no idea how much total mana I had, so I should assume I couldn’t use it many times. I intended to concentrate on succeeding with each practice. First imagine in my head, repeat it many, many times, then try it for real. If I stumbled, I’d imagine that part again in my head. Perfect success in my brain until it was complete.
In my previous life, I’d practiced combos in fighting games that way. Thanks to that, I rarely dropped combos even in matches. So this practice method was correct… I wanted to think.
“Soo… haa…”
One deep breath. Like sending blood from the tips of my toes and the top of my head toward my right hand, I gathered power. Then, like softly exhaling it from my palm… Carefully, carefully, matching the beat of my heart, bit by bit. Bit by bit… Water, water, water, water bullet, water’s bullet, water sphere, water sphere, water sphere pants… With stray thoughts mixed in, once more. Squeezing it out hard, water water water…
“Hah!”
The moment I shouted like someone born in a temple, a water bullet formed.
“Whoa, eh…?”
Splash.
“………Ah”
The moment I was surprised, the water bullet fell pathetically.
But I didn’t just use an incantation, did I? Why did it work?
All I’d done was copy the sensation from when I used magic earlier.
Could it be that if I reproduced the flow of mana, I didn’t need an incantation? Was silent casting that easy? Normally, it was a higher-level skill.
“If it’s this easy, what’s the point of incantations?”
Even a beginner like me could activate magic with silent casting. Gather the mana from my body to my fingertips, and determine the shape in my mind. That was all. Then, incantations shouldn’t be necessary. Everyone should do this.
……Hmm.
Perhaps an incantation was a way to automate magic. Instead of having to concentrate and mentally command blood to gather from all over your body, just speaking the words did everything for you. Maybe that was all it was. Like the difference between a manual and an automatic car—maybe you could do it manually if you wanted.
‘An incantation automatically uses magic for you.’ This had great advantages.
First, it was easy to teach. Rather than explaining, ‘Gather blood from all the blood vessels in your body like this…,’ it was easier for both teacher and student if you just did the incantation and anyone could do it instantly. Over time, as people were taught this way, ‘incantation’ became something indispensable.
Second, it was easy to use. Needless to say, you used attack magic in battle. In the middle of a fight, closing your eyes and focusing with ‘hmmmm’ was slower than quickly reciting an incantation. It was like the difference between drawing a detailed picture while sprinting at full speed versus reciting a tongue-twister while sprinting at full speed.
“Though for some, the former might be easier…”
I flipped through the magic textbook, but there was no mention of silent casting. That was strange. From what I’d done, it wasn’t that difficult. Maybe I had special talent, but it wasn’t likely that no one else could do it at all.
What if I thought of it this way?
Normally, sorcerers from beginners to experts all continued using magic with incantations. After using it thousands, tens of thousands of times, their bodies became completely accustomed to the incantation, and when they finally tried to do it without one, they didn’t know how. Therefore, it wasn’t considered common practice and wasn’t written in the textbooks.
“Oh, that adds up!”
Which meant I wasn’t common right now. Awesome, wasn’t I? It wasn’t like I’d cleverly used some secret technique, was it?
‘No way you’re casting spells without a magic circle?’ ‘I just normally cast the spell and opened the channel.’ Something like that?
Wow, I was getting excited!
……Whoops, no, no. Calm down. Cool off.
In my previous life, I’d been fooled by this feeling and ended up like that. Because I was above average with computers, I developed a chosen-one complex, got cocky, and failed.
Restraint, restraint. The important thing was not to think you were above others. I was a beginner. A beginner. A bowling beginner who got lucky with a strike on the first throw. It was beginner’s luck. Don’t mistake it for talent, just practice diligently.
Alright.
First, use incantation magic, copy that sensation, and then practice exclusively with silent casting. That was the plan.
“Well, one more shot then.”
As I held out my right hand, it felt strangely heavy. Moreover, something heavy seemed to be pressing down on my shoulder area.
Fatigue. Was it from concentrating?
No, I was a self-proclaimed online game pro, someone who could stay up for six days hunting without sleep if necessary. I shouldn’t have such low concentration.
“Does that mean I’m out of MP…?”
Oh no… If the total amount of mana was determined at birth, then my mana was only enough for two water bullets.
Hmm. That was definitely too little, wasn’t it? Or maybe, since it was my first time, I’d lost mana, or something like that? No way.
Just to be sure, I tried one more and passed out.
---
“Honestly, Rudy, when you get sleepy, you have to go to the toilet properly and get into bed.”
When I woke up, it turned out I’d dozed off while reading and wet the bed. Damn it. At this age, to be thought of as having wet the bed… Damn it… damn it… Wait, I was still two. Bed-wetting was forgivable at that age.
Anyway, I had too little mana. Sigh… This sucks…
Well, even with two water bullets, it depended on how I used them. I’d practice at least so I could use them in a pinch. Sigh……
---
The next day, I was fine even after making four water bullets. I felt tired after the fifth.
“Huh…?”
From yesterday’s experience, I knew I’d pass out with the next one, so I stopped here.
Then, I thought.
Hmm. Maximum of six. Double yesterday’s amount.
I looked at the bucket of water—enough for five water bullets (in case I passed out)—and thought.
Why had the number doubled from the day before? Was I tired from the start yesterday, or was the mana cost higher because it was my first time? Today I’d done everything with silent casting, so whether I used incantation or not shouldn’t have made a difference.
I didn’t know. By tomorrow, it might have increased again.
---
The day after that. The number of water bullets I could make increased.
It was eleven. It felt like it increased by the number of times I’d used it. If that was true, tomorrow it should be twenty-one.
The next day, just to be sure, I used it five times and stopped for the day.
The day after that, it was twenty-six. As expected, it increased by the amount I used.
“Bullshit…!”
What was all this about ‘a person’s mana total is determined at birth’? They just arbitrarily decided something invisible like talent. A child’s talent wasn’t something adults got to decide on their own!
Well, it meant don’t just blindly believe what’s written in books. Maybe what was written here was on the level of ‘there are limits to human happiness.’ Or perhaps it was about the results after training. Even if you worked hard to train, there was a limit to your mana capacity.
No, wait. It was too early to conclude that. I could still form hypotheses.
For example… Yes, for example, it increased with growth. If a child used magic during their growth period, their maximum capacity could increase dramatically. Oh, the idea of it being my own special constitution was also hard to discard. …No, don’t think you’re special.
In my original world, too, it was said that exercising during the growth period could lead to a dramatic increase in ability. Conversely, after the growth period, the rate of increase was poor even with effort.
In this world, they talked about mana and such, but the structure of the human body shouldn’t change. The basics were the same. Then, there was only one thing to do. Train as much as possible before the growth period ended.
---
From the next day, I decided to use mana until I reached my limit each day. At the same time, I increased the number of magic spells I could use. Once I remembered the sensation, reproducing it with silent casting was easy. For now, I wanted to completely master the beginner magic of all elements soon.
Beginner magic was, literally, the lowest rank among attack spells. Water Bullets and Fire Bullets were particularly introductory even within that category.
Magic difficulty was divided into seven levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint-class, King-class, Emperor-class, and God-class.
Generally, a sorcerer considered fully competent could use Advanced magic in their preferred element, but only Beginner or Intermediate magic in other elements.
If you could use magic above Advanced, you’d be respected with titles like Fire Saint or Water Saint, depending on the element.
It was a bit admirable.
But the magic textbook only contained spells up to Advanced for Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth elements. Where could I learn magic of Saint-class or higher?
No, I shouldn’t overthink it. If you start with the strongest monster in an RPG Maker game, you’ll most likely give up. Start with the first slime. Though, even if I started with a slime, I’d never finished making one.
The beginner magic of the Water element listed in the textbook were as follows:
Water Bullet: Shoots a water bullet. Water Ball. Water Shield: Erupts water from the ground to create a wall. Water Shield. Water Arrow: Shoots a water arrow about 20cm long. Water Arrow. Ice Smash: Hits the opponent with a chunk of ice. Ice Smash. Ice Blade: Creates an ice sword. Ice Blade.
Ice apparently also fell under the Water element. I tried them all.
Even though they were all called beginner, the mana used varied. If Water Bullet was 1, the others ranged from about 2 to 20.
Basically, I stuck to Water. Using fire might cause a fire, which would be dangerous. Speaking of fire, the mana consumption probably related to temperature too, as the more advanced the ice, the more mana it seemed to take. However, even though it said Water Arrow could be shot, it didn’t fly. What was wrong? Was I making a mistake somewhere? Hmm. I didn’t know.
The magic textbook also described the size and speed of the magic. Perhaps after creating the bullet, I needed to manipulate it further with mana?
I tried it.
“Oh?”
The water bullet got bigger.
“Whoa!”
Splash.
“Oh…”
But it still fell. After that, I tried various things: making the water bullet bigger or smaller, creating two different water bullets at once, changing their sizes—there were new discoveries, but it still wouldn’t fly.
Fire and Wind were unaffected by gravity and floated in the air, but they disappeared after a certain time anyway. I tried blowing a floating fireball with wind, but it felt like something was missing.
Hmm……
---
Two months later, after much trial and error, I finally managed to shoot the water bullet!
That breakthrough led to the incantation’s mechanism being solved.
An incantation followed the process: generation → size setting → launch speed setting → activation. Among these, the spell was completed by adjusting the size setting and launch speed setting.
In other words, when you incanted, first the desired magic shape was automatically created. Then, within a certain time, you added mana to adjust the size, and after adjusting the size, you added mana again within another certain time window to adjust the launch speed. Once the preparation time ended, it left the caster’s hand and was automatically fired.
That was probably correct…
The key was adding mana in two stages after the incantation.
If you didn’t adjust the size, you couldn’t proceed to adjust the launch speed. That explained why it just got bigger but nothing happened when I tried to fire it as is.
Note that when doing it with silent casting, you had to do all those processes yourself. It seemed tedious, but because you could shorten the waiting time for size and speed input, you could fire much faster than with incantation.
Also, with silent casting, you could even modify the generation part. For example, freezing the water bullet into an ice bullet, which wasn’t in the textbook. If I practiced this, I could probably do the Kaiser Phoenix (smug face) too.
The possibilities for application were endless depending on ideas. This was getting interesting!
……However, basics were important.
I’d experiment with various things after my total mana had increased more.
Increase total mana. Become able to use magic with silent casting as naturally as breathing. Those were the next two tasks.
Setting big goals from the start led to giving up. Start small, step by step. Alright, let’s do this.
And so, every day, I spent my time using beginner magic until I was on the verge of passing out.