“Hiro, let’s go for a walk. I want to show you my Magic.” (Max)

Leaving the tent together, Max briefly stopped by one of the Knights, letting them know that he was going into the forest to practice some magic, and not to be disturbed. With that said, the duo started walking towards their destination.

Along the way, Hiro began to theorize how magic would work, and the different possibilities that could be done based off of magic he knows from multiple fictional works. Once they were deep in the forest, they came to a stop near a clearing.

“First, some basics. Magic is used by channeling mana, and turning it into different phenomena by using your knowledge. New magic is created by imagining an effect, and using knowledge to support and fuel it. Magicians will use different ways to shorten the process. Hand or body gestures, incantations, even eye movements. Skilled magicians can conjure magic simply by thinking about it. If you’re smart, you’ll understand the difference in applications.” (Max)

Saying so, Max turned to the sky and started to gather his mana together with no motions or words, demonstrating the skill of a Magus. Within seconds, he had decided what phenomenon he wanted to bring forth, and raised his hand above him. Suddenly, a large heat burst forth as flames shot out into the night sky, lighting up their surroundings. The several meter long flame last a few seconds before being stopped, the Magus lowering his hand and not looking tired in the least.

“Now, I’ve proven magic to you. Let’s see if you can copy it, shall we? First, imagine the creation of a flame, the foundation of fire, and then channel your mana into it. Give it a try.” (Max)

With a nod, Hiro turned towards the sky, raising a hand up as he constructed a flame in his mind. He stirred his mana pool, drawing three thin strands of energy separately, and imagining them composing the three elements needed to create a fire. In his mental landscape, one stand turned transparent to represent oxygen, another becoming reddish orange to represent heat, and the last one remaining a glowing blue to represent the fuel; his mana itself. Spinning them together, he sent the combination out of his hand and ignited them.

The result was… decidedly larger than the flame that the Magus made. If Max’s flame was equivalent to a car in size, then Hiro’s was the size of a logging truck. In a panic, the mage shouted for the youth to stop it, to calm his emotions. Looking confused at that knowledge and reaction, Hiro ignored the old man and instead focused his attention to the flame. Reducing the amount of fuel strand, the flame became smaller, until he eventually managed to bring its size into that of a small ball in his hand.

From here, seeing the color being orange, he decided to test if his knowledge truly worked. With a thought, the mana being sent to the flame changed, and it became blue as it achieved full combustion. Excited at having succeeded in his experiment and confirming his thoughts, Hiro grinned widely as he spread out his mana and created a total of nine small balls of blue fire, using his thoughts to control his magic and guide the flame to spin circles around him.

Strangely enough, he seemed to feel some heat, but not as much as would be expected, and the flame wasn’t burning him. It seemed that by channeling his mana outward caused the heat to be repulsed.

After he finished juggling the flames, he cut off the mana and let it vanish. With a wide smile at his accomplishment, he turned to the old man to see him slack-jawed, astonished at what he had just seen. Tilting his head, he was about to ask the mage what was wrong, when Max grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him furiously.

“What the hell happened?! Let alone ignoring my instructions to stop the emotional link to the fire, you even went so far as to change the fire blue and play around with it! What did you do?!” (Max)

“Max, calm down. I think I understand the problem here.” (Hiro)

After taking a minute to cool down, Max took a deep breath before sighing and shaking his head, looking at Hiro.

“I think I’ve realized the problem, too. Our knowledge is too different. Too far apart for this worlds methods to work for you. Tell me. How did you do that?” (Max)

“You’re quite quick witted yourself, old man. In my world, we had no magic, so we had to discover how phenomenons worked by ourselves. Fire, for example, is made up of three key elements. Oxygen, which is present in the air we breathe. Heat, which can usually be accomplished with flint and stone, such as when lighting a fire. And finally, Fuel, such as the logs burned in a fire pit. By changing how much of each is used, the flame’s properties change.” (Hiro)

“Huuuuu… I didn’t think I would be taught the principles of fire at my age… Let alone discovering a different foundation - or perhaps the true foundation - of fire…

But how did you manage that with your mana?” (Max)

“There’s a lot of different concepts and methods imagined by the creative people in my world, on how to use mana. Because we didn’t have it, and were never taught how it’s used, with our freedom of thought, we came up with many ways.

For what I did specifically, I pulled three strands from my mana pool, turned each one into a different element, and then combined them to cause the effect.” (Hiro)

“That is… quite the interpretation. Majority of magicians imagine their mana pool as water, and using it as if it was a wave being sent out. To interpret them as strings, and even succeed on your first try is… truly astounding. I have much to learn. Honestly, I find it hard to understand and come to grips with myself. Perhaps I’m just too set in my “old” ways…” (Max)

“Nah, it’s alright, Max. You’re a scholar, right? You live to learn. It’s never too late. Though I do have a question… When using magic, can you create any phenomenon you wish to, as long as you understand how its created?” (Hiro)

“That’s right. While there are some exceptions, that’s generally correct. As long as you experiment, it should work.” (Max)

With a bit of a devious grin, Hiro rubbed his hands together, a bit of a first expression of emotion from him compared to his logical, rational, neutral disposition so far. Smiling a bit wryly at that, Max did feel some warmth in his heart. It was always a pleasant sight to see young people be so enthusiastic about magic. Reminded him of himself when he first started learning magic.

“In my world, there is a word. Thaumaturgy. It means Miracle Work, or miracle worker. Because of our differences in knowledge for how magic works, I’d like to call my version as Thaumaturgy. The magic seen here is based on different principles and foundations than what I use, so I feel like there should be some sort of distinction. Is there anything preventing me from doing that?” (Hiro)

Looking a bit sheepish about creating his own branch of magic, the Magus could see the shyness and nervousness in his face. Hiro had never been one that liked standing out or doing things that were unnecessary or beyond what he was willing to do. But that didn’t mean he didn’t dream of childish things like this. With a bit of a chuckle, Max pat the youth’s shoulder.

“I see no problem with that distinction. It’s the truth, after all. In fact, do you want me to announce it to the King when we visit?” (Max)

“Hmm… I don’t like attention though… I’d rather live peacefully and freely…” (Hiro)

“I see… Well, I could say that I’ve discovered a new branch of magic by the name of Thaumaturgy, and have begun studying it under the tutelage of a hidden master. With your permission, of course.” (Max)

“That sounds alright, I guess. On that note, I guess we need some kind of background for me…” (Hiro)

“That’s true. My words can only hold so much sway. People will still be suspicious. Do you have any wished in that regard?” (Max)

“Hmmm… Well, it can’t be helped that I was a bard who had encountered a magic phenomenon that sent me to this unfamiliar land. Maybe I’ll take up work as a traveling merchant. Earn a stable living.” (Hiro)

With a shrug, Hiro spoke that and thought such a scenario would work well enough, giving him enough flexibility to travel and stay away from most problems, while avoiding revealing his prowess. Max put a thumb and finger to his chin, arm under elbow as he contemplated it, working it through his head and imagining future interactions.

“Yes… yes, that could work. Nice thinking, Hiro. Very well, I shall help keep your secret.” (Max)

With a slight nod, they smiled at each other.

“By the way, the knights call you Eisenwald. It reminds me of some of the most common elven words and names used in stories from my world. And with the knowledge you’ve accumulated, I can only guess that you are an elf above the age of 200. To become a hero, a legend in the eyes of the humans here, you must have been around for quite some time.” (Hiro)

“Wonder deductions. Yes, I’m an elf. I’m about 272 years old. It seems we are both older than our bodies suggest.” (Max)

“Speaking of bodies, it seems things don’t match. In my world, even if I looked like this, I wouldn’t have such the strange feeling of power in my body as I do now. Not only that, my mind… my thoughts have become much more powerful. What used to take a bit of time to think of now happens straight away. Like making the formula for that fire earlier. Perhaps its a difference in worlds, or an effect of having arrived here, I’m not sure. Any ideas?” (Hiro)

“Hmm… I need to study more, but this kind of situation is one I’ve only heard of in legends. Until then, you’ll have to adapt to this new body. Though there is one test I’d like to do as soon as possible.

I hypothesize that your world had a low connection between the mind and body, based on what you’ve been saying and what we’ve experienced so far. In this world, one’s knowledge, one’s mind has a direct effect on one’s body. It is quite possible that any knowledge you have on combat could be used immediately, as your body now understands precisely what your mind knows and wants.

That’s my theory anyway. The quickest way to test it would be having a quick spar.” (Max)

“No, that’s alright. I think I understand. By taking what you’ve said, and extending on it using my knowledge and theories, it seems the most likely. For example, in our world, everyone had access to a plethora of knowledge on how to train the body. But even when knowing that, one has to exercise and repeat those methods thousands of times before it becomes ingrained in the body, in what we call the muscle memories.

I’ll test it on my own at another time. You’ve seen what’s in my mind, so you should know just how dangerous some of my knowledge is. I wouldn’t want to make a mistake in understanding it and cause you harm. It may be a repeat of what happened earlier with the flame, after all.” (Hiro)

“Yes, fair enough. My my, so much we can learn together by speaking theories. This is an excitement I have long missed.” (Max)

With a pat on each other’s shoulder, they smiled to each other before deciding to head back to camp. Along the way, Max noticed that Hiro’s eyes had gone vacant. It seemed he had drifted off into thought. Though he managed to return to normal rather quickly this time, as he spoke up as they walked.

“I’ve made a temporary fix to my mind using mana. I’ve used methodology based on programming from my world to separate my mind into different segments, where I can allocated processing power to each. I’ve also made some things into processes and moved them about. Now, any idle thoughts will stay in my subconscious mind, so that my conscious mind isn’t taken up all the time and causing me to go vacant. I’ll probably find another use for this in the future.” (Hiro)

Looking over to the mage, the youth saw him looking bewildered, before he remembered what he had just said. He had rambled a bunch of technological terms that don’t exist in this world.

“Well, easiest way to explain it is, I’ve used mana to clear my thoughts using a mixture of hypnotism and mind magic. Don’t know what the side effects will be, but at least it will keep me aware of my surroundings for the meantime.” (Hiro)

“I… I see… it seems there is much for me to learn…” (Max)

“Oh, I also took the time to sort through some of my knowledge, and create what I’ll call the Telos-Style Swordsmanship.” (Hiro)

“...” (Max)

“Something wrong?” (Hiro)

“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry… You say you’ve just created a new swordsmanship school right after having learned and created a magic discipline… I think I’ll just leave it at “as expected of Hiro” from now on…” (Max)

“???” (Hiro)

Like that, they returned to camp in silence. Upon arriving, some of the knights mentioned how they saw the flames from the camp, praising the Magus for his talents. Scratching the back of his head, Max smiled wryly at them while Hiro snickered silently to the side. Before long, a Knight came to get them, telling the mage that the Knight Captain requested their presence. Heading to Bhalrom’s tent, the duo entered shortly after and took a seat across from the hardened knight.

As a meal was brought to each of them, consisting of hard bread and watery soup, the Knight Captain spoke his thoughts.

“The King has requested a report on what has happened here as well as what was discovered. If it would not be too much to ask, I am curious as to what you have discovered.” (Bhalrom)

“The first tremor seems to have been caused by an Astral Alignment combined with the buildup of mana in the forest over a long time. The mana seems to have burst out after the alignment caused it to rapidly expand. The second one was simply the cliff and ground giving out in the forest after the first tremor.” (Max)

“That makes sense, I guess. But then, why was the First Army sent out here?” (Bhalrom)

“Hmm… That would be because I requested so of the King. I had suspected the involvement of Argos, or perhaps even worse, the Twilight Council. The Endher Forest is such a place that would attract the attention of those foul beings.” (Max)

“I understand now. So that’s why we were sent. In either case, I am glad that it wasn’t so, and I thank you for your guidance, Eisenwald.” (Bhalrom)

“Don’t mention it. We all play our part some way or another.” (Max)

“How about the youth? Uncovered anything else?” (Bhalrom)

Having the attention suddenly directed at him, Hiro stopped soaking his hard bread in the soup and looked up at the two adults.

“Yes, actually. His appearance was an unfortunate matter. A magic phenomenon with no solid evidence, where a person disappears. It seems he appeared here after being spirited away from his homeland, possibly due to the Astral Alignment and the mana burst. I’ll be looking into this matter more deeply, since there’s a chance it may occur again in the future to another unfortunate soul.” (Max)

“That truly is unfortunate…” (Bhalrom)

“Young Hiro here was a traveling bard with some merchant experience. However, maybe there was some side effects to the event, but he isn’t able to perform like he used to.” (Max)

“Yes. I seem to have trouble expressing myself now… As if my emotions have been blunted... I can’t be a true Bard like this. When everything is over, I’m thinking of becoming a merchant. I need to make a living still, after all.” (Hiro)

“That… I can’t help but say sorry, young man. Hiro. Your entire life has been changed with no clear reason or person to blame and vent to… I can only imagine how you must feel right now…” (Bhalrom)

“Well, not much actually. I suppose that’s a bit of a positive.” (Hiro)

With a shrug, the youth responded as so, being nonchalant about his ordeal. Max gave Bhalrom a pat on the shoulder, telling him not to worry about it. He couldn’t really blame the knight. After all, the mage felt more shocked about current events than the actual person causing them.

“I’ll be teaching him a little about magic during our three week travel back to the castle. I’ve talked to him about it, and it seems he’s too uncomfortable with combat. I’ll see if he can learn some basic defensive magic. What happened to him was no fault of his own, and we were the ones that found him. I’d feel better about letting him go his own way later if I knew he wouldn’t die an early death.” (Max)

“Sounds reasonable. That’s a shame. The First Army is the best there is. It would have been a great opportunity to learn something from them.” (Bhalrom)

“Sorry about that. I’ve never been good at combat oriented professions. Some people just aren’t cut out for some things.” (Hiro)

“No need to apologize. There’s a tailor I could introduce you to in town, you may be able to make some connections from there. May help you when you become a merchant.” (Bhalrom)

Saying thanks, they returned to their meal. It wasn’t exactly pleasant to eat, but it was better than nothing. And it was certainly tastier than some alternatives.