This is the info dump of the magic system. If you don’t wanna read but know about the system in its entirety, check out the Notes: Magic System Doc at the end of the chapter. It’s dry so I don’t recommend it.

[Experimental]* Serina POV

The moment Nathan, Riley, and I were transported to this weird place, I was immediately against staying here out of sheer principle. However, now that I think about it more, it might not be so bad. There’s no competition from those jackals at school and the only one I have to compete against here is Riley. In all honesty, I’m willing to share if it comes down to that.

Despite the fact that we’ll have to combat some sort of Great Calamity, it can’t be all that serious if the Kingdom of Noodles is any indication. Just look at the name! It’s all just too fantastical and benign to be serious. Not to mention that I can have Nathan all to myself if something untoward happens to befall Riley. Sure, Nathan may be upset for a while, but I’ll be the shoulder for him to lean on and have him all to myself after that.

I seem to be getting ahead of myself however. Let’s just take this one step at a time. It’s best to start small, then go big. Earlier Bob helped us pick our weapons and now we’re going to learn magic! Real-life magic! Perhaps I can learn something that will make Nathan notice me more…

“Ahem, Hero Serina? If you aren’t going to pay attention to the lesson, you can always come back when you’re more ready to learn.” Oops, that old dude is looking at me now. Nathan is giving me this intense stare, too. Aww, don’t look at me like that, I think I’m starting to blush!

“Well?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I’m paying attention now.” Don’t forget, Serina. Baby steps first, then comes conquering Nathan’s heart.

“Good, now that I have all of your attention, let’s begin the lesson properly.”

“To get things started, let me formally introduce myself. I am Samuel Simmerson, great sauceror, magical mage of magical sauces and all things magic, but you can call me Sam. Now with that out of the way, I’ll be teaching you of the basic magical alignments and will have Bob participate in some examples. From there, we shall have you practice manipulating mana in a safe and supervised manner until you feel comfortable with it.”

After ducking behind a large desk, Sam pops back up with several glass flasks, a block of wood, cup of water, a candle, and pot of dirt before beginning.

“In order to use magic, you need to know what it is. Simply put, magic is the manipulation of mana in a structured will and strong projection. In other words, you can will mana into magic by projecting your will and intentions upon your personal mana. As for mana, there are two types, personal and ambient mana. Personal mana is the mana created by any living organism and is contained within its body while ambient mana comes from the environment and takes on the elements most closely related. We can only control our personal mana as ambient mana has no ties or signature as our own does. Some glyphs and materials may draw from ambient mana but more on that later.”

So, if I wanted, I could probably manipulate this ‘mana’ without even saying a word. I know what I’m practicing later.

“Since personal mana is produced and maintained within a person’s body, it is believed to be an extension of one’s life force, soul, or energy and the results of overuse, called mana burn, are similarly telling. Symptoms of mana burn include nausea, headaches, fainting, bloody noses, and shortness of breath. In the rare event of a person containing too much mana, you will suffer mana overload and must burn off this excess mana as it will, in some cases, make a person explode. The power high may feel good or even addicting, but a mana overload can just as easily kill you, if not provide a worse fate. Some cases of frequent mana overload have resulted in mutations, more commonly known as demonification for the twisted forms its victims bear.”

“Anyways, the four basic elements magicians can manipulate are Earth, Fire, Water, and Air.” Hehe, everything was fine and dandy, until the fire nation attacked.

As he says each element, Sam holds his hand over the flasks one by one. The dirt and water are the most plain as it just sits there, but the fire and air elements swirl about in a vortex around the contours of the flask. Similarly, he mirrors the flasks with forming the dirt from the pot into a pillar, the cup of water into an ice cube, waved his hand to send a breeze through the room, and enlarged a flame on the candle until it looked like a blowtorch.

“Additionally, secondary magics such as magma, ice, and lightning may be achieved through specialization and/or combining the basic elements. There are many paths towards the same destination so don’t worry too much if you don’t think your element can achieve the goals you want. Each person handles mana, and therefore magic, differently so when in doubt, throw Logic out the window and have at it to be sure.”

I wonder if I could use fire magic to cool instead of heat. Fire is considered another form of energy and if I take that at its base form, energy, I could possibly draw energy out of an object instead of increasing energy to produce a flame or heat. Conversely, drawn energy may then be transferred to another state or location if I apply the conservation of energy. If I had a molten piece of metal, could I then convert its heat energy into kinetic, therefore creating a bullet or explosion?

“Outside of the basic elemental systems are the chaotic pair, light and dark as they are in constant conflict yet maintain a balance with the other. Despite their names, do not associate one or the other with good and evil. All power is fully capable of both inflicting pain and helping those in need. Some of the more common uses of light and dark mana is illumination, darkness, healing, and hexes.”

Good. I’ve always found the whole, light is holy and darkness is evil situation to be a bit contrived.

“Now, who can tell me the difference between when I used magic in the flasks and magic with the objects on this table? Yes, Nathan?” To my left, Nathan raises his hand energetically.

“I noticed that with the materials, you manipulated a pre-existing material, but formed the element within the flasks. I’d assume that the mana consumption between the two instances differ on the application. With the dirt, all you had to do was form it into a block while in the flask, you created dirt, seemingly from nothing.” Oh, he’s so cute when he’s acting smart. I could just hug him!

“Correct. It is far easier to produce a desired magical phenomena if you simply manipulate pre-existing factors within your environment. That isn’t to say that you can’t produce a flame over the ocean, just that it’s much more mana intensive than striking a flint to a lantern.”

“Lastly are mediums, glyphs, and controlled burn of mana. Mediums such as mythril, mana stones, crystals, staves, or even just something a mage has a strong personal attachment to can serve to channel and focus mana more easily.”

Cool, now I can be practical and cosplay as that sexy mage from Nathan’s RPG. That’ll be sure to catch his eye.

“Glyphs, while very limited in versatility, yield consistent results and are often the only way for one to create more complex spells. An example of this is the hero summoning spell which required no less than fifty distinct glyphs and forty-six geometric control units.”

“Finally, mana can be used at controlled rates. This is achieved by either channeling mana directly into a spell, such as a flame or light spell, or by charging a medium and controlling the stored charge with a prearranged glyph or self maintaining control spell. Anyways, who’s ready for some magic?”

“Finally!!!” I exclaim while my friends answer, “Yes please,” and, “Unh.” I can’t take much more of this sitting around and doing nothing. It’s almost as bad as my history teacher’s lectures.

Bob, on the other hand, starts from his nap and yells, “Finally! Do I get to blow stuff up this time? Last time, all you had me do was dig holes.”

“Yes, Bob, you can blow stuff up this time. Meet us on the training grounds behind the Tower of Glory.” With a hop, skip, and a dash, Bob is out of the room in three seconds flat. I swear he left behind an after image like in the cartoons.

“Well, shall we?”

...

A few minute later, we were out of the Hall/Hole of Glory. Rounding the tower, I was surprised to see a person buried head first in the dirt, his legs slumped in resignation to his fate within the ground. The only one who doesn’t bat an eye at this is Sam, and he greets the pair of legs no less!

“Hey Logic. How’s it hanging.”

“Murmph mmph-mphm emph. Mmph mrm mrr.” [I’m doing fine, don’t mind me.]

His muddled greeting returned, Sam continues on like this is normal. I guess I’ll just have to get used to it if this is the norm around here.

I can’t wait to learn how to use magic!

Notes: Magic System Doc

^Specific rules, instances, and full coverage of magical rules. Will be edited as needed.

Spoiler: A/N I made myself a little cover so check it out… Yes, it looks like Jurassic Park’s cover simply for the fact that the book was sitting in front of my face at the time. Beware the giant noodle… BEWARE!!!

Also, Shadow_Eater21, I haven’t forgotten about you. Good luck with writing your story. If you still plan on writing it, I suggest just taking what you’ve already got and jumping straight into it. Things will work themselves out eventually and if not, the experience will help you on your next attempt.

*I’ll be changing these [Experimental] chapters if either nobody likes them or if I feel they just don’t work right. The originals will still be up, but will be shoved in a spoiler box in favor of a different perspective.