nro_8

  [Alice POV]“Your jacket looks nice. Where did you get it?” My teacher asked me. I don’t know if this is a jacket.

  “It was given to me by Brian.” I said to him as I poi Brian, who had returo the table and was enjoying tea.

  “Is he your fiance?” He asked.

  “No…” I feel my face getting hotter as I answer. He really isn’t. But I guess father did want him to marry me… NO! I o focus. Brian gave me an attribute and I will act up on it. I WILL cast a spell today.

  “I see. So not yet.” Trystan teased me.

  “Stop that! We o focus on this lesson.” I bark back at him.

  “You don’t usually have this muthusiasm for our lessons. Did something good happeerday?”

  “Yes!” I answered excitedly. Well some of it happeoday. But I did gain ara skill yesterday.

  “Well the’s begin.” Trystan said. “We’ll start with our mana circution practice.”

  “Yes Teacher.” I answered and took his hands.

  This was his way of teag mana circution and mana trol. He would send mana to me through my left hand and I would send it back through my right. This would cause a mana loop between us and was a good way to teaeone who has a lower level of mana trol than you. The teacher trols the amount of ma and the speed at which it is sent, theudent tries to match it. It’s also retively safe and doesn’t e much mana, as the mana is just going bad forth. As the student learns more, they begin to mix their own mana into the cycle instead of just using the teacher's mana. This is why even higher ranking mages would do something simir. They would just adjust the mana on a rger scale.

  “Your mana feels different from st time. Did you perhaps gain a new skill?” Teacher asked me.

  I don’t know if I should answer or not. I did gain a skill, but what if he asks what that skill is. Or how I got it.

  “I did, but…” I said to my teacher.

  “But you ’t tell me about it.” Teacher guessed my hesitation. “If your father ordered you to stay quiet, I won’t pry into it. Now, put some more mana into the circle.”

  “Yes Teacher.” I do as instructed and send a stronger pulse of mana. These pulses of stronger marain Magic Boost.

  “Good, let’s keep this up.” Teacher said to me.

  —

  [Brian POV]Alice’s lessoo be going well. I don’t really uand what they are doing, but luckily Laura could expin it all to me. This sending mana pulses bad forth seems like an iing and effit way to practice.

  (The best way to train magic is simply to cast spells until you are out of mana, and then recover. This gives the fastest results. But to Alice who didn’t have an attribute, that kind of training would be very b and basically sist of her trying to t spells that will never succeed.) Laura told me.

  (I see. Laura, I perform magic?) I asked her.

  (Master does not have any of the six attributes, so no.) Laura said to me. So I’m like Ali that regard. (No, you are not. Everyone from this world has at least tiny amounts of each attribute. Alice simply did not have a high enough of an affinity with any of them to cast spells. Master has no affinity at all.)

  (So not enough means no spells? And you told me I don’t have any at all. Isn’t that bad?)

  (Having no affi all also means you don’t have any elemental weakness. It could also be sidered a strength, if you don’t use magic.) Laura told me.

  (Does that mean that I also gave Alice a weakness?) I asked Laura.

  (Every attribute is also a weakness. But it is down to the user to ter that weakness. And as Alice said, you gave her the dark attribute which is rare. As such, ters to it are less known.) Laura answered.

  (Doesn’t light simply ter dark?

  (Master is thinking of magiply. Magic is a plicated system of many skills and spells. Just because oribute is the opposite of the other, does not mean it is a ter. By Master’s logic dark would also ter light.)

  (...yeah. You are right. As always.) I said and took a sip of my tea. I guess it’s not always bd white. And I really should not have assumed that light ters dark. Opposites are not always ters.

  (The easiest weakness of dark is fire. Fire brighten things up, making dark magic more difficult. Same as wind make using fire more difficult.) Laura told me.

  So it’s not opposites that make magic more difficult, but other attributes.

  (Could I still train in mana circution like Alice does?)

  (It’s not necessary for Master. I train Master’s mana trol skill if Master gives me permission.) Laura offered.

  (You really do that? Laura, you are amazing. Please do it.) I told her. Free skills. You ’t beat that. Even if I don’t have any attribute, I gaih my cards.

  (Sorry to tell you about this Master, but you ’t. You don’t have any attributes at all and your cards simply boost what is already there. They ’t make something with nothing as a base.) Laura burst my bubble.

  Well I guess 0x10=0

  At least I still do summoning. And use spells like Sparks. Now I wish I could get something like Hinotama or Ookazi so I pce it into a sleeve and a toploader. Well, they would still be only once a day.

  (Master, should I add training magic skill to the daily routine?) Laura asked me.

  (Daily routine? Do I have one of those?) I asked her.

  (Current daily routine sists of accepting daily pack tokens. Nothing else.) Laura told me. So she does it for me. I thought it was automatiice work Laura. hing you know and she’ll be opening the packs for me. And sleeving the best cards.

  (Yes, you do that. At least if the magic training won’t bother you too much.) I told Laura.

  (If I do it at night, it shouldn’t bother Master at all.)

  (Well, let’s try it tonight. you do it for a bit right now, so I get an idea of how it feels?)

  (Of course, Master.) Laura told me.

  I could feel something flowing inside me. Like a small clump of colder blood running through my body. But it’s not cold. It’s … well I'm not really sure. I guess it’s a clump of power. Magic power.

  —

  After a little while I feel myself getting a bit tired. I guess running lower on mana would do that.

  (Laura, I think you should stop the magic training for now. Or do it less intensely. I don’t want to run out of mana in the m.)

  (As you wish, Master. But you aren't actually running low on mana. That is mental exhaustion.)

  (... Am I that weak? Mentally?)

  (Early on, mana trol takes a rge amount of tration. Everyone is like that at first.) Laura reassured me.

  (I see...)

  Looking back at Alid …Trystan was it, they are getting up from the b ao be moving to a different part of the lesson.

  [Alice POV]“Now, spell casting practice. Are you ready?” Teacher asked me.

  “Yes!” I answered with enthusiasm.

  “Good. Let’s just gh all attributes, like always. Begin with fire.”

  “Yes.”

  “Fire, appear at my fiip, Torch.”

  Nothing happened. I knew nothing would happen. I also know that dark is the st one we will try. I’m not going to skip ahead just to get to the one I have a ce with. I have waited my entire life to cast magic. I wait a few more minutes. If I knew I could use dark magic, it would be strange and Brian’s secret might be revealed. I’m not going to tell ahat he is the reason I gained an attribute.