Vol. 4 Ch. 5

“I only know magic…” Lexia worries.

“That’s alright!” he said with an earnest smile.

Lexia sees the bright smile and decides to smile back at him.

“You’re pretty motivated for this, aren’t you?” she asks him even though she already knew the answer.

“Of course, mom!”

“I’m glad he’s getting better,” she thought.

“Alright then! We’ll start teaching you tomorrow! You better not slack!” she warned him.

“I wouldn’t dream of it!”

Another day ends and the day starts once more, at a clear plain field only a few meters away from the hotel they live in.

Clash. The sound of wooden swords hitting their blades is heard on the fields. Both the father and son fight. Vhint holds his wooden sword against Phize, he’s clearly panting.

He tries to provoke him, “Come on, son! I’m sure you can do better than that!”

“I am doing my best!”

They stare at each other, carefully observing the other’s actions.

He pants, “You know what? Let’s take a break here.”

“Oh, ok then.”

They sit down next to each other.

“You have the brains, that is one thing I can say. But you need to improve a bit on your reaction time,” Vhint recommended.

“Oh.”

“This is probably because I don’t really go out and exercise,” he introspected.

“You don’t have much form. But overall, you’re doing pretty good. Your moves are a 50-50, half predictable and half unpredictable.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“One tip from me for you to work on for the time being… when trying to fight your opponent, try being observant. One of the most dangerous aspects of a warrior is being able to predict your enemies’ moves. Try to use your peripheral vision more often.”

“Peripheral vision?”

“Hm? How do I define it? It’s probably the area of your vision that you don’t really focus on but can see. If you keep looking at your opponent, you are bound to lose them at some point, especially those who can use magic. Did you get all that?”

“Make use of your peripheral vision… Alright, I think I got that.”

“Great! Well, that should be your lesson for today. Tomorrow, your mom’s going to teach you magic and I gotta hand it to ya bud, she’s got a lot of spells. Better prepare yourself.”

“I will!”

“That’s my boy,” Vhint held his son in full pride with a bright smile on his face.

Phize smiles back in regard.

Tomorrow arrives, and on the same field, the mother and child fight with magic, with magic circles placed close to them.

Lexia chants, “BLINDNESS!”

A few seconds after, Phize’s vision fades away.

“Oh no, I didn’t catch it in time,” he perceived.

“I-I can’t see.”

“WATER BULLET: MINIMUM POWER!”

Lexia positions her index and middle finger to form a handgun.

She aims it at him and a straight trail of water shoots out. The strong wave of water hit him in his gut.

“GWAH!”

He’s pushed back a few meters and falls to the ground utterly defeated.

“Ow.”

“Impressive, Phize! You knew more spells than I thought!”

“Mom, when will the blindness spell wear off?”

“Hm… probably for about 1 more minute.”

He sighs.

“I’m proud of you! Your applications are splendid! But you need more spells to master. I’ll try to write them on a piece of paper for you.”

She tries to find something to write on from her pockets but finds nothing.

“Oh, I don’t have any paper. Let’s head back home, Phize, I’ll give you the spells you need to memorize there.”

“I’ll follow you there, mom, you can go ahead.”

” Alrighty then! Last one there is a rotten egg. Just kidding!”

She heads back to the hotel.

Phize’s view comes back.

“Oh, the blindness is gone.”

He stands up.

“I’ve been trying to analyze how I’ve been able to cancel magic all this time because simply interrupting the magic line doesn’t seem to be logical at the moment.”

He intellectualizes, “I’ve thought about it and I came to the conclusion that… when a magic spell is cast, the direction it’s headed upon,  which I call and see which is the magic line, the moment it enters the field of the radius of a person who is also casting a spell, also known as, the Magic Field, taught in school; the spell that person makes either goes against or goes with the magic spell and the Magic Fields of the two people connect, and when an interruption is caused, typically the one I do, where the mana flows to an unnecessary part causing the magic spells to fail. In short…”

“It isn’t only their magic that gets canceled, by my magic as well.”

“Though, it’s only for a short period of time…” he thought.

“But it also means I can’t cancel and cast a magic spell at the same time, there has to be a time gap.”

…

..

.

“Now that I think about it, I can only cancel magic at point-blank range… I have to practice that too.”

“I’m getting closer. I’ll become a strong person someday,” he confidently declares in his mind.

One more day passes by, Phize is in the classroom listening to Hasha’s discussion.

“Remember children, don’t forget the difference between mana and magic. If we were to compare them in an analogy, the closest thing to it would be what magma is to lava is the same as mana and magic. Magic is the form mana takes when it is out of the body.”

She spots him listening to class and taking notes in his notebook.

“Wow, you sure are taking this seriously,” Hazel commentated.

“Of course, I’m planning to get stronger. I’ve finally found a goal to look forward to and that’s to become stronger.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Thanks.”

“Also, have you heard of the High Hill Veril Event Tournament?” she asks while briefly looking in front of her to listen.

“Yes, of course, that’s what I’m planning to join.”

“Wait, really? I’m glad I won’t be alone then.”

“What do you mean?” because of the unexpected answer, she was focused to concentrate on him.

“What else could I mean? I’m joining the tournament.”

…

..

.

“You? Join the tournament?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Um…”

“I’ve never really seen her fight before, it’s kinda making me nervous,” he thought.

“I hope we become teammates at some point or maybe we could even become enemies!”

“Uhhh, u-uhhh, uhhh…” his mind was trying to sort the thought of her being a rival.

“What is it?”

“N-No, no, nothing at all. That’s great. Good luck to you, too Ahahahahahahha…”

“Goodness, now I have one more opponent to look out for,” he complained.

Meanwhile, Hasha continues with her discussion, “According to Phrozwell, there are three main elements in spell casting, it is abbreviated as SFV, S for structure, F for the flow of mana, and V for Visualization. Structure means the words needed in the spell, how they’re placed, their tone, intonation, grammar, and pause. The flow of mana means that by controlling the flow of magic, you are able to create the spell, if words were only what was needed, then I’m pretty sure everyone who had mana would probably be able to cast even the most ancient of spells. Now for V, visualization, the form of the magic you would create is very essential to its creation, it helps the mana to flow through and accurately follow through with the spell. Half-baked visualization would only result in the spell ending up failing and you would not be able to get the output you want.”

“I see. I see. Too bad, I wanted to copy the Witches’ spells too,” he thought.

END OF EPISODE 23