Chapter 8

While standing alone in the luxurious palace library, which was almost as large as three noble rooms combined and filled with beautiful bookshelves filled with expensive books, I flipped through the pages of the small book in my hands, titled 'Introduction to the Concept of Mana and Magic,' while reading its contents relatively aloud.

“Mana is a mystical substance that exists omnipresent throughout the continent of Fredonia and throughout the world, serving as a driving force in the art of magic and the advancement of human arcane technology. Its very origin is a mystery, but it is believed to have emerged as a byproduct of the creation of the world at the hands of the gods.”

Despite its apparent omnipresence, mana has a strange tendency to have different concentrations in different spaces or environments, with its density being primarily higher in forested areas; although desert and rocky areas with high concentrations of mana have also been documented.

In areas with high mana levels, it is not uncommon to find crystalline minerals that store mana in forms we do not yet fully understand, and life is even known to exist from mana itself.

Mana also has the ability to flow through certain types of metals and substances, allowing humanity to use these materials to build their mana-based technology, or Arcanotheology.

The strangeness of Mana, of course, doesn't end there. While all living beings in this world have mana flowing through their flesh, blood, and magic circuits, only animals have demonstrated the ability to mutate and evolve to develop Mana Cores that allow them to utilize unique forms of Magic, becoming magical beasts.

Intelligent, bipedal beings like humans, elves, and dwarves, on the other hand, completely lack this quality; as if mana itself doesn't bless humanity with its grace, even though it allows them to wield its power with sufficient training…

However, not being blessed with the natural gift of manipulating mana, humans and other intelligent races had to develop their own means of using it.

Thus it was that humans and dwarves jointly developed the concept of the Science of Ma (Mana), more popularly known as Magic, while the Elves discovered the Spiritual Arts, techniques that use life forms based on spiritual energy to manipulate the world's mana, called Elementals. ...."

Sighing after reading the first few pages of the book, clearly designed for any reader's understanding, I reflected a little on its contents.

As far as I'm concerned as a former HAD player, magical beasts, the most common enemies in the game, were such a normal and ordinary existence that there was no reason to talk about them anymore beyond killing them for the loot they drop or turning them into mounts and pets (Surprise... horned rabbits were the most popular pets! 🤭)

However, in this world, it seems that humans and other races developed magic and other supernatural arts out of simple envy towards those same magical beasts.

The author of this little book even went and complained about how magical beasts were blessed with mana, unlike intelligent races like humans, who have to resort to complex techniques to control mana and benefit from its power.

That reminded me of a novel series called To aru Majutsu no Index.

In that novel, Mages originated from humans who envied the power of talented ability users called Gemstone, who could play with the laws of the world using their strange psychic abilities, and because of their jealousy and greed for similar power, they created their own power... their own Magic.

From there, as knowledge of the idol theory spread (Was it?), that magic would branch out around the world into its own unique magical systems for each culture, and the magicians of that verse would create magical societies called cabals or something like that.

Something similar happened in this world in the past... although with the birth of modern magic due to the arrival of the empire, the mage towers created by modern mages and the development of arcanotheology, the antiquated magical systems of ancient cultures were slowly forgotten by almost all mages, although there are still those who persist in their uses even today.

Furthermore, it was magical animals, not psychic ones, that led humans and other races to develop magic. However, I can't completely rule out that users of the unique force may have influenced it...

Leaving that aside and talking about that novel… Is it possible that that verse also exists as what you call IUS, a system of evil?

I call on you to have compassion and answer the questions of the humble and pitiful victim of your evil!

<Answer: Affirmative. In fact, that IUS is one of the most likely to become a new multiverse among many other IUS.>

Oh really!?

<Affirmative>

…And why didn’t they take me there?

<Answer: It is under the supervision of another Supervisor and his envoy>

Supervisor? Sent? Wait... ¿Do I have a supervisor?

<Affirmative>

And why haven't you spoken to me, your messenger?

<He is more interested in observing what you do with your limitations and knowledge>

Ummm, well... forget it, I got distracted by this unimportant question~

Where was it before? Ah yes, magic!

He was talking about the origin of magic from the envy and greed for power of intelligent beings, right?

Well...to summarize what was in the book, in order to mimic the magical abilities of magical beasts, humans and dwarves developed primitive methods of mana manipulation by studying them that initially gave rise to the Arcane Arts, before magic finally emerged from their experiments of over a century.

It began as a slightly religious art, although it was called science by those who worshipped manna as a gift from the gods, but as stated, it gradually evolved into a more logical and reasonable discipline with the birth of the Hazar Empire, until it could finally be called a real science in this world.

Thus, in Heroes and Dragons, Magic would be distinguished from other games by being a strictly scientific discipline, rather than a means of pure combat against monsters.

That's not to say that Combat Magic doesn't exist, but rather that NPC mages use magic to gather knowledge and create powerful technologies that help improve the quality of life in the world.

Most of them hated even thinking about using magic to fight, they were pure scholars who despised such atrocities, and those who thought differently were no different from the outcasts in magical society.

For them, compared to conducting scientific research to understand mana, creating new spells, improving or even inventing new forms of arcanotheology, fighting was something completely inconsequential to them.

Furthermore, combat magic was slow and inefficient compared to arcanotheology.

Arcanotheology is a product of the magic of this world, being the objects and items that characters rely on to better fight hostile mobs or overcome various obstacles. Creating these things required magic to be more than simply saying a few words like "Let there be light!" and that's it.

Magic then was a complex science in this world that required complicated formulas made of mana to work, and was very different from the Arcane Arts.

While Arcane Arts were combat or support techniques used with a 'crude' method of manipulating internal mana, magic was a more logical procedure that required complex calculations to construct its magic formulas with delicate control of the flow of mana in the atmosphere.

However, there are Arcane Arts that have proven to be almost as complex as Magic, so there is debate as to whether they should really be treated as separate things, especially when both use mana.

Despite that, magic could hardly be used in combat even if mages wanted to. Why? Because this world's magic system is extremely inefficient when it comes to combat itself.

The magicians of this world created formulas not to automate the process of summoning magical phenomena, but to precisely and efficiently control the generated phenomena at will by continually altering the spell formula through manipulation of the surrounding mana, which is more abundant than that of the body itself.

That in itself made it inappropriate to use spells to fight in combat.

Normally, if a mage had to fight for his life or collect materials that he couldn't leave in the hands of others, he would usually use magical puppets or hire magical beasts to do it for him.

Of course, it's not as if there weren't eccentrics who had tried to create magic formulas that allowed magic to be cast almost instantly to enable combat. The problem isn't just that it's impossible to do so with ambient mana, but that every attempt with internal mana ended with the researchers fainting and suffering brain damage for some reason that remains unknown to this day.

In fact, the only civilization that could create magic capable of doing that were the ancient dwarves, but they are few in number in this Age and keep their distance from humans to the point that many commoners consider them only legends.

So research into the possibility of allowing mages to use spells to fight in combat came to a complete standstill, as they saw no path to success. Since those mages who proved to be especially talented despite acting differently couldn't make it happen, it was thought that unless they had access to the knowledge of the ancient dwarves, there would be no way forward.

It was a pretty strange situation, wasn't it? Or is it just me who thinks that way?

<Who knows?>

Evil system….

Anyway… in that game, there was a more talented and eccentric magician than any of them who, with the help of a certain talented woman, managed to create a method that allowed them to use magic to fight on the battlefield, although not by themselves.

Both invented the so-called magic scrolls; an object capable of storing unaltered magic formulas through specific materials and that can be used almost instantly a limited number of times in combat before completely disintegrating.

This completely changed things in the history of Arcanotenology and human Magic.

Although mages were still unable to use magic in combat without dying needlessly in the process, the use of these scrolls allowed them to more effectively aid in the fight against demons. This naturally made them popular among mages who wished to fight these beings for the good of all Fredonia or for their own reasons.

Naturally, it was also possible for even ordinary people to use it.

Furthermore, as a byproduct of the magical scroll, the art of arcane enchantment was created; a technique that, through magical materials, allowed magic to be inscribed on objects in the form of magical enchantments, being very important in the creation of the scrolls themselves.

Before enchantments, adventurers and other combatants who could afford them relied on items such as armor and magical weapons (guns, cannons, etc... yes, as you can see, those things existed!), which were extremely complicated to craft and whose capabilities increased depending on the materials they were made of and the mana they contained.

But with the advent of enchanting arcanotheology, the new generation became easier and less complex to make, and items were practically mass-produced thanks to how cheap they now were to manufacture.

This increased the power of the Hazar Empire to a vast extent never before thought possible, and the two individuals who made it possible were granted noble titles of count by the Emperor himself...

Those two, as you might have guessed, were Arthur the Great von Jairus and the main female character of the game (she didn't have a pre-established name, you chose that...And I used the name Hot Slippers, hahaha) who joined together in that magical investigation that would change everything.

By the way, that wasn't one of those inevitable Big Events mentioned above, but rather the result of the players' choices and efforts alongside Arthur as wizards.

It was very gratifying to see him abandon that almost perpetual indifference on his handsome face as he smiled happily when we achieved all of that in the last game, if I'm honest.

Although of course, I'm not Homo (Seriously!)

Regardless, Arthur's very existence is central to the creation of the magical scrolls and enchantments, so capturing him was imperative if this great empire was to be further strengthened in preparation for what was to come.

It also makes it essential what profession I should choose... and that is to be a magician!

It was important to aspire to be a mage to gain more affection points with Arthur... and personally, I'm not that interested in leather or hand-to-hand combat.

Plus... it's magical!

Who doesn't want to use magic?

"I'm back, Ekaterina-sama."

“Ah, Jessica,” I nodded at the warning from my maid who was returning from the bathroom with a small smile as I quickly went back to reading the book in my hands.

It's not that I didn't feel like chatting or that I despised her or anything... it's just that this maid didn't seem as interested in me as the others and barely spoke to me, so it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Well, though it might be even more awkward with a servant treating me like a very adorable idol... It would be great to have my mother to talk to whenever, but she was busy at the moment, so it couldn't be helped.

Anyway… keep studying!

♦♦♦♦

I finally finished my studies!

I passed all the tests my mother gave me (she knew quite a bit about magic, arcane arts, and mana for some reason) and now I'm ready to face my father!

I'm nervous...how will he react?

He's clearly the typical father who behaves recklessly for his daughter... His daughters ask for a man's help? Somehow, I have a strange belief that in his mind, it would sound as if I or my sister expressed interest in the male gender...

He's going to go crazy, isn't he?!

The worst part of it all… is that, even though I myself am secretly reluctant… I intend to steal the heart of my future magical tutor through a display of intelligence and… ugh… flirting!

Somehow making his fear come true... Will he have a heart attack?

No matter how much he's doing for the good of the world, it would be bad if he suffered a heart attack from shock, right? He's not that old yet, but...

Maybe for another occasion…

“Duke, Ekaterina Ojou-sama has requested an audience with you.”

Of course, as cowardice grew within me, the Dranalian family advisor informed Father of my visit in a calm and receptive voice.

Wouldn't it be nice if you at least noticed if I get nervous before I speak, mister with the unnecessarily shiny silver hair...?

Don't worry, Ekaterina, she's just doing her job... She looked at the elegant double doors in front of me, gathering her courage as she finished speaking.

“Does my Ekaterina want to meet me?” “Let her in quickly, Daniel!”

At the command of the excited Duke, the advisor named Daniel respectfully opened that same imposing door for me, and I entered with small steps, swallowing nervously as I stared at the happy, handsome man with blond hair and blue eyes sitting at an elegant and luxurious desk. …

Father, soon you may not be so happy...