<120 - Results of Magic Practice>
Professor Weird is often referred to as a crazy lady with flowers in her hair, a primitive frenzy born of nature, and a carnivorous plant that has devoured fourth years.
Yet, despite her reputation, she can teach the Fundamentals and Understanding of Mana Usage course for first years, as she manages to solidify their basics well, regardless of the controversies surrounding her personality.
“Rosgini, you’ve collected too many fire attribute mana pieces. The vines must be quite hot, so do not touch them carelessly!”
“Sandkooker, you have a lot of earth attribute mana pieces. They may crumble like sand at the moment, but if you appropriately add water and fire attributes, they can be moistened and then baked like pottery, becoming very solid.”
“You don’t seem to have any talent. No specific properties are manifesting, and the amplification level is quite insignificant. Still, if you work hard, you might learn how to make sugar water, so do your best.”
The student, marked as talentless, teared up and shouted, “Amplify! Amplify!” casting spells repeatedly and drawing sympathetic gazes from those around.
While it’s cold-hearted, magic does rely heavily on talent, so it’s better to be straightforward.
Truly frightening professors often coddle hopeless students, assuring them that if they work hard, they can become errand runners or apprentice disciples, using them like pawns.
“Talent is determined by how good your mana affinity is, how well you conjure images of magic, and how powerful the spells you manifest are, so it’s not entirely futile to put in effort…”
If one works hard to build empirical knowledge that can replace science, and capture concrete images through seeing, hearing, and experiencing phenomena, they can enhance their output.
However, if the power and intensity of magical manifestation are inherently low, even casting the same spell will yield lesser effects.
If you struggle to gather attribute mana properly, you’ll often be stuck at the level of non-attribute daily life magic or end up wrapping your career around magic missiles.
“You have many dark attribute mana pieces, Oknodie.”
Before long, Professor Weird had arrived at my desk.
She stared at the darkened vines.
“That’s quite a lot.”
With her tiny wand, she poked the vine, causing pitch-black smoke to waft out in puff.
“Absolutely, tremendously a lot.”
Dorothy beside me looked on with concern.
“Is that bad?”
“Not at all. You could consider it a blessing. From what I see, your dark attribute affinity seems to be over 50%, which is seriously impressive!”
“Wow. Oknodie has talent?”
“Your affinity for a single attribute surpasses that of Rosgini and Sandkooker.”
The professor lingered at my desk, praising endlessly, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Isn’t it just my imagination? Maybe I got lucky.”
The innate attribute affinities that characters are born with also have a random element.
It’s possible that Oknodie could have been born with high affinity, but it might be a mere fluke.
“Then, try casting a spell on some water.”
[Concentration Amplification]
The clear water in the cup turned pitch black.
There was no doubt that it was heavily infused with dark attributes.
It felt like something that shouldn’t be amplified had also been amplified alongside the essence.
“Maybe it just looks that way!”
Professor Weird took out a dropper, attempting to suck up the black water.
Bubbling
Ignoring the strange noises from the dropper, she dripped a drop onto the darkened thorny vine.
The vine perked up, eagerly absorbing all the moisture.
Slurp
Seeing the vine grow about half its size made the professor exclaim.
“You’ve created a Dark Nourishment Elixir!”
“What’s that, Professor?”
“It’s a type of attribute enhancer that boosts and strengthens the energy of dark attribute creatures. Naturally, it poses a danger to creatures of other attributes, so Dorothy, do not drink it.”
“I wouldn’t even if you told me to! That’s obviously dangerous liquid.”
“And you too, Oknodie!”
“What about putting it in food?”
“If you want to kill someone, you could, but the relevant component would be detected in their corpse, so if a mana inspection takes place, your guilt will be revealed quickly!”
“I just wanted to fill my Cooking Handbook, not to poison someone!”
Anyway, that was a personally disappointing outcome.
When practicing wand magic at Jonna’s mansion, I primarily focused on gathering and releasing mana, so I had never actually cast any spells.
I knew all too well how dangerous it was to use magic outside of Gift Academy.
So my expectations were higher.
What attribute would I be strongest in?
Ice magic.
Fire magic.
I thought any attribute would be fine.
But specializing in dark magic seemed no good at all.
“Oknodie, you happen to be attending Professor Sadako’s class.”
“That’s the Night-time Activities for Adventurers course!”
“Typically, dark sorcerers or necromancers should roam at night, so it makes sense to take the night activities course as a fundamental class. A splendid choice for your future.”
“……”
Was I unknowingly branching out into a tech tree?!
A newbie player would have been scared stiff.
Of course, being a veteran player, I was already aware of this.
But knowing didn’t make it feel any less unpleasant.
Everyone has their preferred and disliked play styles, don’t they?
As someone who enjoyed smashing things with brute force attacks, I never liked the idea of using dark mana or associating with those of the shadows.
Besides, dark mana is treated as a sinister power wielded by demons and their minions.
“Oknodie will grow up to become a splendid dark sorcerer.”
“I’m going to be a magic swordsman!”
“Right. When you were young, you dreamed of becoming a World Tree, didn’t you?”
Hmph. I truly might!
“Anyway, Oknodie needs to train to intentionally mix in different attribute mana to mitigate the risks of using magic. Dark mana is a foreboding attribute, so you never know what results it may lead to, even with the same spell.”
Thus, the practice session that left only injuries concluded.
[You have learned the Root Generation Spell for Dark Thorn Vines.]
[You have learned the Creation Spell for Dark Nourishment Elixir.]
Is this really the result of nature magic practice…?!
*
After the disappointingly gloomy Oknodie left the classroom, Professor Weird fielded questions from Dorothy, who always sat next to Oknodie.
“Why does Oknodie have such high dark affinity?”
“You have a pointedly inquisitive mind for a typical magic student, showing a strong thirst for knowledge.”
“……”
“The high dark attribute affinity is closely related to darkness and death.”
“Death?”
“Death is eternal darkness. The return to everlasting darkness, unable to see light again. It’s the closest act that boosts dark attribute affinity.”
“So, do you think Oknodie’s dark affinity was raised due to environmental factors?”
“That’s quite likely.”
Professor Weird continued.
Having seen many corpses.
Grew up playing among the graves in childhood.
Experienced wars, plagues in towns, and famine-stricken periods.
“Or, they must have killed many living beings. Such death-affiliated experiences can raise one’s affinity.”
Professors specializing in necromancy are quite fortunate.
Unlike the professors who looked at Oknodie with envy, the students were engulfed in fear.
“Come to think of it, I’ve heard rumors. Oknodie might have been raised as an assassin in a noble family.”
“Killed many living beings?”
“Did they really kill enough people to reach that level of affinity?”
Oknodie is scary!
Faced with the students’ fearful reactions, Dorothy regretted publicly asking her question.
If she had known, she would have gone to the professor’s classroom later, just the two of them, to ask separately.
But it was too late.
The students who heard the rumors were busy gossiping about Oknodie.
“Everyone, don’t talk carelessly about Oknodie!”
Dorothy snapped.
It was unfair for Oknodie to be blamed because of her.
Feeling a need to actively defend her friend’s honor, she pressed on.
“The professor mentioned that killing people increases dark affinity.”
“Not just killing. It also rises from living closely with death, right?”
“Even with assassination training?”
“That’s just a rumor! It’s not confirmed as fact! Plus, Oknodie is young. Do you really think they’d allow a child to conduct actual executions?”
Having been around societal nuances, Sandkooker, the apprentice mage of the Yellow Magic Tower, expressed agreement.
“They don’t allow children or apprentices to conduct actual practices without first having years of preliminary training.”
Rosgini, the apprentice mage of Red Magic, asked.
“What kind of preparatory work do apprentice assassins do?”
The students cautiously ventured their opinions.
“Perhaps they transport bodies?”
“Or clean murder tools?”
“Wouldn’t they bury corpses in the mountains?”
A silence fell over the classroom.
A mix of pity and fear spread, making the students’ emotions complicated.
