《On a Blank Canvas》Chapter 3: Learning About Magic
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After a bit more experimentation, i was able to edit and add anything and everything on my canvas, kinda like typing on a text file, i just had to think of what i wanted to add and it would appear there instantly, the only reason the information on the book i read appeared slowly, was because i had no prior knowledge on it.
I tried just spewing a lot of novel names and anime names i knew and it my canvas was filled with them in under a minute, a lot of the time was just used to recall the name.
I also tried just filling my canvas with information that seemed like i would forget them after a while or things I'd take a long time to recall slowly, such as math formulas i remember from school, some elements, and other mundane stuff to see if can also remember them with perfect accuracy.
After that, i noticed how cluttered and messy my canvas was, well since i can just feel everything on my canvas rather than look at it, my imagination did picture it like a giant white rectangle just filled with text.
It felt just like a typing a document... Where i could add and remove text at will, and just leave it there, anytime i needed any information from it, i could just call it into focus and it would be there in literally an instant.
Only about another 10 minutes have passed since I've started experimenting because there is no lag between what i want to do with the canvas at all.
Seeing as how it was similar to txt file or document... I wonder if i could create... Folders,
the computer folders you use to organize all your files.
I was too focused on just adding text onto my canvas, i didn't even try to see if anything else could be done, so while experimenting i tried "drawing" a little bunny in the corner, and it looked exactly like how i pictured it!
You know those times you have this amazing image in your brain but when you draw it out it looks like shit? That's the exact image of the rabbit that is now on my canvas! Well obviously since it was sent directly from my brain it would be more accurate than my drawing skills.
On to those folders... I tried imagining a folder icon appearing on my canvas with the ability to store... anything, anything that the canvas can store of course.
[Folder]
And there it was.
Let's see... I imagined all the text excluding my name and quote to enter the folder, and they disappeared in an instant. Wow, easier than expected.
I willed the folder to open and unlike a computer folder that overlayed and covered everything else, it was like i could see two canvases at the same time! One with my name, quote, and folder, and one with all the text i put on there.
Though it felt much cleaner, the text was still everywhere, but if i could make a folder... Whats stopping me from making a txt file?
Thus I imagined a lot of txt files, one for the book i read and a whole load more for the relative information i dumped, their only purpose was to store text.
[Mystery of the lake]
[Anime Titles]
[Novel Titles]
[Math Formuals]
....
Ahh... nice and clean, going back to my canvas' capabilities, it obviously pulls on the knowledge that i can remember because in order draw onto it, I'd have to imagine what to draw, and i can't draw what i can't remember.
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That would mean that in order for me to become a genius solely using the memory capabilities of my canvas, I'd have to read all the relevant books... one by one.
During my experimentation, i tried reading a book that was in French, and while i was able to perfectly remember the text, i was unable to understand any of it and i more or less just copy pasted some French from the book onto the canvas.
Actually. I haven't checked about anything related to this world in the slightest... Being too busy messing with my newfound ability, though i say that, only an hour has passed since I've entered the library, and it just only passed noon, so i still have a lot of time to research before having to sleep in an alleyway.
I had looked around the library taking note off all the subjects and book topic that each lane of bookshelves represented, being surprised and elated when i found a lane labeled "Magic"
I had assumed all the amazing things i saw was due to advanced technology but was actually a combination of magic and technology!! Though a famous quote did say any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and to me and a lot of novels i read, magic was created due to the presence of tangible energy that was used and researched by sapient lifeforms to be used as a tool.
I had entered the lane with excitement, searching around and picked up a relatively thin book titled, "Introductions to magic".
With such a simple and understandable title like that, i excitedly sat down on a nearby table and opened the book to read it.
The content of the book had met up to my expectations and was seriously unlike a brief or vague description of what magic is like in most works of fiction, further solidifying that i was in another world, it had explained that since the big bang, which was also a theory in this world, an ever-present energy was everywhere in the world, permeating and changing everything around us, living and non-living.
This energy was called Vaes, the same term that the nurse used, and that all living things had Vaes that had slowly seeped into them, not there originally, so living things would still be able to live normally if the Vaes in the atmosphere were to suddenly all disappear, but after millions of generations, living things have evolved to easily merge with and absorb Vaes and use it to their advantage, Vaes changing the DNA and internal structure of many living things since the beginning, giving them amazing abilities they were able to passively use or actively call upon.
And it had given humans the ability to perceive and shape it, allowing us to draw upon the Vaes that within our body.
Magic had always been perceived in novels and fiction on earth as either something with complex formulas and rituals, or just imagining what you want to happen, but the book explained how both methods were possible for it, one method not being better than the other but having their own distinct advantages.
The method of imagining called upon your image of the spell and your will, as well as a unique and vivid perception of the world, and was mostly used by children who had great imagination and had only just recently entered the world, and those who have experienced a lot of different and unique things in their life, magic was totally affected by the state of your mind and thus emotions would also affect it in great ways, and some have attempted to become stronger by using their emotions and the method of imagining to strengthen their magic. Though it wouldn't on those who rarely expressed or felt emotion. This method was powerful but lacking in complexity, anyone was able to use it easily, but it was also very hard to master.
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The method of formulas was for those with a detailed understanding of the world, those who relied on the rules of science or mathematics, as they believed if Vaes was part of the world, it also followed the rules of the universe, despite its capabilities that seem to break the rules.
This method was used by those who depended on stability and rules, as well as those who studied the world and wanted to apply rules and formulas to it. Majority of schools teach that method of magic as it was easier to teach and separate into different levels of advancement but without a good mind one wouldn't be able to go far using it, thus only geniuses were able to reach the highest tiers of magic using this method.
The book had described that in order to use magic, you had to first perceive the existence of Vaes inside your body through meditation, a clear state of mind and achieving a semi-conscious state with little distractions as it the perception of magic or Vaes was equal to another sense entirely.
It had stated that those talented in magic, had great imagination or unique perception of the world was able to perceive their inner Vaes easily and in about less than an hour to less than three hours when they started meditating without external help, whereas normally it would take at minimum 8-16 hours with external help and guidance, and even days or weeks without any guidance in this day and age.
In the far past, the average person would also take weeks to perceive magic with help, providing evidence that today's average person had a greater talent for magic than previous generations.
This had greatly disappointed me for a moment before remembering that i had an amazing power...but i had no idea how it would help me in this situation.
But... It didn't hurt to try right?
Hmm... Let's try making a mana..err... Vaes bar, like in RPGs, I imagine a rectangular bar with the purpose was to store Vaes...
I had imagined it to appear just below my name and quote, appearing with no problems, now let's see if it actually works...
I imagined the Vaes bar being able to absorb the Vaes within my body and fill it up... but another problem was how much the bar able to store... well let's try it first.
After making the changes I immediately felt something moving and draining from my body with movements that I was able to feel, I also saw a strip of blue appear on the Vaes bar, signifying it had worked.
With the feeling of a strange energy moving through my body, I hurriedly closed my eyes and focused on the movement of the energy, feeling it move through me as it slowly filled up my Vaes bar.
After like a minute or so of focusing on that movement, i felt as if i entered a state of sleep, but was still conscious enough that i could wake up at any time, this must've been what the book meant by semi-consciousness.
When i had felt that i was able to feel the movement of the energy without conscious effort, i had willed myself to awaken from my semi-conscious state, looking at the time and seeing that around one hour had passed since i created my Vaes bar and had started to meditate.
I was a little happy that i was technically in the realm of talented in magic, technically as i had some help from my canvas, though that wasn't what i planned as i originally wanted to just use my canvas to draw Vaes from instead of my body.
I looked at my canvas and it seemed like the Vaes bar had filled around 4/5 of the total, though i still don't know how much it had stored... the Vaes in my body was constantly being drained of Vaes as i could feel, just wisps of Vaes entering then disappearing to what i assume was the Vaes bar in my canvas.
Huh... i thought i would feel more excited after being able to perceive magic flowing within me, but to me, it felt like i was able to perceive Vaes since i was born... was this how it always felt to those who had recently achieved magic perception?
No... it must be because i had stored Vaes within my canvas that was able to make me become extremely familiar with everything on it. That must've helped me while i was meditating or i bet i would've been meditating here for at least 8 hours, luckily that had not happened...
I went back to continue reading the book on introduction to magic and the next subject was literally stating a lot of the elements and types of magic invented and or discovered throughout history, the ones that everyone knew and had appeared in stories of magic everywhere were
Fire
Water
Air
Earth
No surprise there, and there were much much more, especially in the field of formula magic where almost anything was possible, the ones stated in the book were just the most common ones and it seemed there were hundreds and hundreds of types, just stating the ones here we had...
Nature, Darkness, Metal, Light, Life, Summoning, Contract, Ice, Soul, Neutral, Flesh... and many more,
there were even some weird ones like Soap and Party magic...
After that, it had begun explaining how to perform your first spell, stating that it was going to teach the method taught to young children which were imagining magic as it was the easiest, it had recommended having a visual representation or even a real representation when starting off as it was able to supplement your imagination and made the image much clearer, though did state not to depend on it entirely as it had to come from your imagination in the first place after all.
Just below the instructions was a picture of a realistic campfire, obviously for anyone who was too lazy to look for another reference. Since i was one of those lazy people i had looked at the picture and formed in the image in my head, imagining a similar flame appearing on my open palm... and forgetting that the Vaes in my body was still being drained into my Vaes bar, it seemed like it was almost full.
I had imagined the Vaes inside the bar draining out back into my body and the feeling of draining had reversed and i felt Vaes fill my body, draining the bar exactly 1/10 of the total as i was perfectly familiar with everything on my canvas. Wait, was that it? did that mean that the Vaes bar was able to hold exactly 10 times that of my bodies capacity?
Once again i felt how amazing my canvas was and swore to utilize it as much as possible!
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