POV Javier
We sat together in the room we already knew well. Today magic theory was on the curriculum. Finally, I could begin my magic training properly. I was curious to see what other forms of magic there were besides the six elemental magics and light magic. I shifted back and forth in my chair, completely restless.
“I know you're excited, Javier. I'm just as curious, but you're making me nervous. The teacher is almost here.”
Cornelius had a good time talking, he didn't have any magic at the moment. But he wanted to learn some later and hoped that that was possible.
“Pooh, that’s boring. What am I supposed to do here? I can't get any magic anyway and I don't want any. I just want to continue training with weapons.”
Ansgar was a rough guy and will always remain one, a complete barbarian. But he's always been like that. He was happiest when he could dismember his opponents with a huge battle axe. But he should also know what forms of magic there were and how to recognize them. But I preferred to save my breath, otherwise we would start arguing unnecessarily again. It's been that way ever since we started role-playing. Then the door to the room opened and a man in his 50s with a long beard and a robe entered the room. He carried a long staff with him. We already knew this man. It was Roman, the deputy leader of the Imperial Wizard Guard. He has already been introduced to us personally.
“Coughcough. Then let's do it. Nobel heroes, today you will learn the most important basics about magic and its application. As you already know, intelligence is the most important characteristic when it comes to magic. Not only does a high Intelligence score provide greater amounts of mana, but it is also the case that a high Intelligence score is necessary to bring magic to its true greatness. But what forms of magic are there? We differentiate between four categories in which our magic spells originate.
On the one hand there are the six elements, fire, water, earth, air, ice and lightning. Most magicians start with two of these six elements and learn the basics from there. But there are exceptions, aren't there, noble hero Javier?"
The older man looked in my direction. One of the perks I chose as a bonus for my reincarnation was Master of Elements. This gave me direct access to all six basic elements from birth without any disadvantages when using them. This was discovered when we got the status appraisal on our 5th birthday. It also became clear that we are the four heroes that the entire empire has been looking for.
“Another exception is the noble heroine Eleonore, who will called to be a priestess. She starts with light magic, the most important form of magic, because it is the form of magic with which we serve our one true god Lumos."
He looked at Eleonore, who then nodded eagerly. A quiet murmur could be heard from Ansgar, certainly not confirmation.
“The six basic elements can develop in many different ways. On the one hand, there is the possibility of developing them from basic rank to advanced, to expert and then to master, which makes increasingly stronger spells possible. Legends even report the grandmaster rank, which is probably only reserved for gods. I don't know of a single living person who has ever achieved this rank, and even masters are rare. But in the Empire, we have masters in four of the six elements. We just don't have any of ice or fire.
Another method is to specialize in specific specializations. In the advanced rank there is one specialization possible, at expert there are two more, and a master can learn three more, for a total of six. A specialization is an application to modify a spell. This makes it possible to speed up a magic formula and thus make the spell take effect more quickly. Other options besides speeding up a spell are slowing down a spell, increasing the effect, weakening the effect, increasing the range, decreasing the range, extending the duration of the effect, shortening the duration of the effect, forcing the effect of a spell and delaying a spell for the best point in time. Further specializations are still being researched or tested. Each of these specializations always has a side effect. Most of the time it's either increased mana cost or longer cast duration. But they all have their uses and can make all the difference.
In addition to the six elemental magic, there is another category that also includes six forms of magic. These are Object, Nature, Gravity, Illusion, Familiar and Aura. Object Magic is about enchanting artifacts. Nature Magic is all about plants and transforming into animals. Gravity Magic and Illusion Magic do exactly what the name suggests. Familiar Magic is all about animals. We only know Aura Magic from old books and seems to be about strengthening your own body. You can only cast them on yourself, but they allow for a greater improvement than those from other forms of magic. In addition, they can probably be spoken in advance and appear similar to personal artifacts."
“So no transformation into beasts? Just objects? How boring.”
“No, that’s not possible for two reasons. The transformation into living beings lies largely in natural magic and we master it thanks to a dungeon in the empire. However, some monsters seem to have corresponding abilities. But in all elemental magic there are master rank spells that can transform you into the element itself. Where I would advise caution. In the transformed form one obtains a sensitivity to the counter-element. Even a bucket of water can have a devastating effect on someone who has been transformed by fire.”
I nod eagerly.
“And then the second point, noble hero Ansgar. As a warrior you can't cast magic, but that's only temporary. There are ways to change classes or update your class and then learn magic. But the first requires careful consideration, and the second requires certain prerequisites and is therefore difficult. Questions so far?”
None of us raise our hands.
“Okay, then let’s move on to the third category of magic. This is the duo of light and darkness. Light magic is dedicated to the god Lumos, while dark magic is the domain of the goddess Luna. Both forms of magic have the same thing: a magician who has mastered them cannot normally learn any further magic. We don't know why that is. Both can be developed further. Evolution of these magics means that you unlock new forms of magic once you reach the advanced rank. For each rank you gain an additional form of magic. The most popular form of advancement is healing magic. While there are basic forms of healing in other forms of magic, the great art can only be found in light magic. It is later even possible to regrow lost limbs and the masters are said to be able to even bring those who have recently died back to life. The head of the Lumos Church is rumored to be a Grand Master in light magic, but unfortunately this has never been confirmed. Other forms of light magic include enhancement, purification and summoning. Enhancements are temporary improvements in status values, characteristics, skills and ultimately even resistances. Purification spells include the removal of status effects such as sleep, paralysis or confused, up to the removal of spells in effect. The expulsion of the undead also falls into this area. Summoning calls in an allied creature to help you either in combat or with other tasks. Popular creatures range from light fairies to griffins. You will get the more precise theory in another lecture.
Now let's move on to the other form of magic and therefore the most dangerous one, dark magic. Dark magic includes the worst and most despicable form of magic imaginable. These include necromancy, curses and shadow magic. In necromancy, the dead rise again and become undead. Curses are the exact opposite of enhancement spells and lower the corresponding stats or provide status effects. The least information is available when it comes to shadow magic. This is probably because they serve to support your own abilities and cause little direct damage. Few reports tell of shadows rising up and attacking. It also appears to be used for diversionary purposes. The main reason the information is so sparse is because dark magic is forbidden in the Empire and therefore there are only a few who have mastered the magic. There is also summoning here, except for undeads that are bats, rats or even monsters such as poisonous snakes. Everything that has to do with darkness, stealth or even poison has already been reported. One can say with certainty that while light magic brings enlightenment and can also illuminate dark places, shadow magic does the opposite and covers places in darkness. Therefore, light mages have an advantage during the day and shadow mages at night. This makes them our most natural enemies and must be fought against whenever possible. How to do this will come at a later date.
The last category of magic is also the least known. It contains spells that no one knows about, but whose effects have already been reported. These are spells that deal with the manipulation of space and time. A well-known artifact is the storage bag, a bag in which you can transport things and which is significantly larger on the inside than on the outside. Unfortunately, our masters of Object Magic cannot craft these artifacts themselves, but they are rarely found in the dungeon. Therefore there must be a corresponding spell. Bags in which food does not rot are also known. We conclude that time is stopped in them. Therefore there must also be time magic. However, no one in the Empire is known to have ever mastered one of these spells. Corresponding objects have been part of research for a long time.
If there are no further questions, we'll meet here again next week at the same time and I'll introduce you to the most important skills in magic. Noble heroes, I say goodbye then.”
With a bow he left the room. I learned a lot today and was only strengthened in my decision to take Master of Elements. There were so many possibilities in magic and I wanted to learn them all! I particularly wanted to learn the magic of space and time. Hopefully I got the opportunity to do that. If necessary, I had to slow the others down and keep them busy somehow or crawl in dungeons until I will get the magic I want.