Magic is simply a clash of perspectives. You can get the same result using so many different methodologies.

-Archmage Somebody (I don't remember the name) from the New and Improved Magic Textbook

"Mr. Binus!" (Pan)

It was a fine, lovely afternoon. If the weather kept up, the army could cover a good amount of distance and even arrive at the city ahead of schedule. Descal was busy trying to read the reports on how well the evacuation was going when he heard his name being called.

"Mmhmm. What do you want to talk about?" (Descal)

"Should I come back at a later time?" (Pan)

"No. I can multi-task." (Descal)

"Well. I came to talk about the textbook you gave me. It's... interesting to say the least. I have been talking with the other mages like you told me to, but none of them have ever seen this textbook so I can tell that it isn't the standard issue..." (Pan)

"Your point?" (Descal)

"Will this actually teach me magic?" (Pan)

"Yes. In fact, that book should be different from the rest considering that I wrote the damn thing." (Descal)

"You wrote the book?" (Pan)

"Yes." (Descal)

"If I may, you did a terrible job at some parts. For example, you wrote that there are three schools of magic, but you only talk about two." (Pan)

"I purposefully left the third branch blank. First, it is the secret behind my chantless magic, and second, you wouldn't be able to even understand half the things I talk about if I tried to explain the third branch." (Descal)

"Well. I have another question then. How is the current magic system utilizing the instinctual branch of magic? I thought we were using the chanting branch of magic considering that we well... chant in order to activate spells." (Pan)

"Yeah. I understand where your confusion is coming from. Hmm. How should I explain this? First, why don't you give me a quick rundown of what you know about the current magic system." (Descal)

"Well, from my discussion of the mages, after chanting a couple of arcane words and finishing the chant with the name of the spell, the spell will activate. Although, with enough practice, mages with good mana compatibility with the spell will be able to forgo the chanting of the arcane words and simply activate spells with only the name of the spell. This was the established truth until you came along that is..." (Pan)

"Yes. Now. Does anyone know what the hell the arcane words mean?" (Descal)

"No. Nobody does, but the currently accepted belief is that us not knowing what the words mean is what gives the word power. Like how the mysteriousness adds to the magic factor." (Pan)

"That is bullshit. The arcane words used to be real words with real meaning. It was part of an old language that apparently nobody speaks anymore. I can assure you that it was an old language." (Descal)

"Okay. However, I don't see what difference it makes. If anything, it only solidifies its placement in the chanting branch of magic." (Pan)

"Well, you read the book. What does the chanting branch of magic require for it to work? I am positive that I wrote that chanting magic isn't simply chanting a bunch of words."

"Well, according to you, chanting magic is weaving a story or speaking instructions for the mana and implanting your will onto those words to make it into a reality."

"Yup. Now, how the hell do you make a story with words that you don't understand?"

"...But you're still chanting."

"Doesn't matter. You can't make a story using gibberish. In fact, chanting magic doesn't require any knowledge of old, "arcane" languages. Using the common tongue is enough. Watch. I invoke the use of my will and mana to create a small fire that flickers with the colors red, orange, and blue on my hand. It will not use a lot of mana, and it will simply be a small flame. This spell shall activate with the words [Flame], and the spell will end when I close my fists. [Flame]."

As soon as Descal chanted the word [Flame], the spell activated, and a small fire appeared on Descal's right hand. However, immediately after the fire started, the smell of burning flesh permeated the air, and Descal hissed with pain as he quickly shut off the spell. Descal quickly conjured up some ice from his canteen and put it on his burned hand.

"Damn. I forgot to add in the part in which the flame won't injure me when conjured. What a blunder. But yeah, it's possible to do chant magic with the normal language. Of course, you can also shorten the magic by chanting it in your head, but you must still activate the spell with spoken words, and you run the risk of the spell going haywire if you mess up the chant in your head. It's far safer to just say the chant out loud."

"Now that I have actually seen it, this book is actually making a lot more sense now... But I still don't get why the current system is instinctual magic?"

"Have you heard of Pavlov? Of course not... All right. If you smell food, do you start salivating?"

"Yes? I don't see how this is related to..."

"Just humor me. Do you think about salivating or do you just start salivating when you smell the food."

"I just start salivating."

"Similar thing with the chanting. You essentially train your mana and willpower to react in a certain way that results in the activation of a spell after "chanting" certain words and the name of the spell. Really, it is nothing special. This is why there is such variation between individuals regarding the magic power. Those who have a stronger instinctual understanding of the spell subject will have a stronger spell output."

"I think I understand now."

"Oh. Pan. Starting from now, keep what I teach you a secret. The things I can teach you is mindblowing and can revolutionize the field. However, this country isn't ready for a revolution, and we sure as hell won't benefit from it. So keep your mouth shut."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, go along and start practicing. I bet you have a lot of ideas right now."

"Thank you, Mr. Binus."

Descal merely gave a nod and went back to reading the reports. It seemed that the evacuation was going smoothly. There should be enough money in the budget to pay the people for the lost property, and the Lord was promised land should Cecilia win so he was cooperating with emptying the city. The report of damming up the river was also going quite well. Everything should be finished by the time the army arrives at the city. While Descal was putting away his report, he saw a shadow approaching him from behind.

"What do you want Cecilia?"

"Gold. We're running low."

"Cecilia. I did the budget. We are not running low on funds. Besides, we used up all of the gold I took from that dungeon in the mountains. I don't have anymore."

"Oh please. I know that you can make gold. I saw you do it."

"Did you see the state of my hand after I made the gold? A hand that is radiated by alpha, beta, and gamma radiation is a nasty looking hand. Until I make the proper protective gear, I am not making any gold."

"You're gonna need to cause I ran out of the bribery money."

"Bribery money? This is something new."

"Yeah. I can't really write it on the budget since well you know. But that doesn't mean it isn't important. How do you think I keep up with the rumors and spread rumors that help my cause? How do you think I get blackmail material that keeps certain nobles neutral in this conflict? How do you think I got those reinforcements? Bribes and blackmail. Those two things aren't cheap. Which is why I have come here to petition you for some gold."

"I know that we agreed that I will be funding a crap ton of things for this war, but I thought we agreed that we are going to go easy on that type of money."

"I know. I am trying my best with it. Although why the interest in keeping your morals and ethics, considering your...er...past?"

"I know, but the morals and ethics I learned from my parents from the otherworld are some of the few things I have left that reminds me of the remnants of my humanity. It keeps me sane, reminds me that I am not who I used to be."

"Look. I don't want to do this, but I don't really have a choice. I have to keep my connections with the underworld or there will be devastating consequences. I am not asking you to get involved in this nasty business with me. I have promised that I would do things in moderation, haven't I?"

"How much do you need?"

"500 coins with a gold content similar to those old imperial coins you used when we went shopping during the escape."

"Here. These two Mythril stones should fetch enough gold coins. I'll leave the selling to you."

"Thanks! Oh, by the way, I was listening to a little bit of your conversation."

"Listening in? You weren't anywhere near listening range."

"Well... Lip reading."

"How do you see that... Right... magic eyes."

"Yeah. So, what is the third branch anyway?"

"I didn't tell Pan. Why should I tell you?"

"I'll take two stacks of paperwork from you tonight."

"So, the third branch of magic is essentially looking at the world and magic from the viewpoint of the natural laws."

"Natural laws?"

"Scientific natural laws like the law of thermodynamics, Newton's law, and you don't know what I am talking about."

"Nope."

"Well, it's what normally happens in this world when you don't use magic."

"Be a bit more specific."

Descal took out an apple from his dimensional storage and dropped it.

"Have you ever wondered why this apple dropped? Why doesn't it just float up? When this apple fell, obviously I didn't use any magic to manipulate it. So when I don't use magic, things fall down. Why? Have you ever thought about these things?"

"Not really..."

"Well, according to great men from the other world, such as Isaac Newton, the apple falls down because of this force called gravity. And...algebra exists in this world right?"

"Algebra? Could you describe what it is?"

"It's like a system of math equations in which you use variables. Here let me show you this. Do you understand this?"

"Ahh. You mean al-jabr! Yup. It's required for anyone who works in the court to have a decent understanding of this math system."

"Yeah... I'll just keep calling it algebra. So, I'll just show this to you while explaining. So gravity can be described by this equation F = Gm1m2/r2 with these m being mass of the planet, the mass of you, r being the radius, F being the gravity, and G being the gravitational constant. Now, with this equation as a basis, I use mana as my energy source to manipulate some numbers. For example, I can screw around with the Gravitational constant relative to this apple so that when I let go... it floats."

"That's amazing. Is this how you managed to fly?"

"It was definitely one aspect of it. I also changed my density so that I can float in the air, manipulated the magnetic field of this planet, yadda, yadda. However, I also utilized a good deal of chant magic."

"Why did you need to use chant magic?"

"I am not all-knowing regarding the natural laws so I used chant magic to fill in the holes. I have enough experience with chant magic to be able to do it all in my head. However, since my base for the spell is the third branch, I don't need to yell the spell name for all to hear."

"Hmm. This is very interesting. It's nice knowing a bit more about what type of magic you use."

"Why did you want to learn more about the third branch anyway?"

"To see if any of that was applicable to learning more about my magic eyes. I've plateaued with my training."

Descal was thinking about telling Cecilia about what he knew about the anatomy of the eyes, but he decided to hold off on it. There really was nothing to gain from telling her the information. If anything, he was curious if Cecilia could breakthrough this barrier herself.

"Well sucks to you that I can't be of much more help."

"You just had to phrase it that way didn't you. But you know. All this talk about magic had me wondering... what really is mana? What is willpower? Any ideas?"

"Let's see. Mana is a form of energy. A quite peculiar form of energy. So mana has the ability to transform into any different form of energy, and all types of energy can transform into mana. I have even seen heat turn into mana before. How mana can transform into different types of energy is something that will require some research. Willpower is the catalyst for mana to be converted. Without willpower, mana has a tendency to gather and coalesce into a higher energy state. When mana is at a higher energy state, weird shit can happen like the Annapurna Mountains or that forest. Now, willpower isn't the only catalyst. It is the most efficient, but blood and certain metals is also a catalyst for mana. When humans use magic or spells, they use the mana that their body naturally generates. Unfortunately, humans are unable to use mana that exists outside of their body. That's really all I know about mana and willpower."

"Weren't you a researcher with this stuff?"

"Yes. However, even researchers back then had trouble defining exactly what mana and willpower was. Yeah, we know what it can do, but what it is? Lot's of hypothesis were thrown around, but as soon as one prevalent hypothesis stood out, the next day someone found out that there were exceptions to the proposed hypothesis. In fact, mana and willpower were so hard to define that there are no theories that try to explain what mana and willpower is. Due to the mysterious ways of mana, there is actually over a hundred branches of magic, but I never really bothered to learn more than three."

"Huh. Even our ancestors struggled with this issue."

"Yup."

"Hmm. Are there any advantages and disadvantages between the different branches of magic?"

"Oh, definitely. One key weakness of the Natural Law branch of magic is the need to research and have a firm understanding of the natural laws in addition to learning manipulation of magic. In other words, you have a lot of things to study and discover. The fact that I still need to use chant magic to cover up the holes is a testament to how much information you need to properly do the magic. However, the big benefit is that this branch offers a lot of control over resulting spell, and it is easier to pace ourselves. Now chanting magic is probably the easiest of the three branches because of the need to only learn and train manipulation of magic. The problem is that it is very difficult to control at times. The reason being the multiple definitions of words and how subjective some adjectives can be. For example, the words large and humongous may be the size of that tree for us, but to that little ant over there, we are large and humongous. You can see how this can create uncertainty over the spell. Instinctual... I don't think I need to go into detail with that cause it's kinda self-explanatory. You practically see it every day."

"This was quite enlightening. I have to keep reminding myself that you are someone with extensive knowledge of this stuff. Every time you act like a dumbass it's hard to know that you are such a person."

"You act like a dumbass too."

"Oh really. Please list them."

"...Errr... What about... Hmmm... You're a crybaby."

"A crybaby isn't a dumbass."

"... I've got nothing."

"That's what I thought. It would be quite embarrassing if I did act like a dumbass because that would mean I learned nothing from the countless hours of etiquette lessons I was forced to suffer through."

"You are a cruel manipulative bitch though."

"I'll take that as a compliment. By the way, Yang is quite the useful person. I have made lots of connections through her. I approve of hiring her."

"When did you have the time to meet with her?"

"Well, now that I have someone to take some of my load, I have some free time."

"Well, it's nice to hear that you girls are getting along."

"Oh yes. I have learned a lot about Earth through our conversations."

"Is that so."

"I may even go as far as saying that we are friends."

"Say what?"

"It turns out that Yang is very happy to meet a royal who isn't as concerned with titles."

"Well, she did hate those things, but I know for a fact that Yang hates getting involved with politics... The number of times she emphasized that she would not participate in any sort of politics if she worked under me was quite overwhelming."

"Well, it may have helped that I was queen, and I already have you so I have no need to involve her in any power struggles."

"Hmm. Wait a fuckin minute. No. Absolutely not. She is mine. Don't you dare try to steal her from me. She is going to work for me."

"Ahh, Descal. Hasn't your mother taught you the importance of sharing?"

"Hahaha. No. I don't want to hear that from you. She is going to work under me and that is final. I met her first, and I offered a position to her first."

"I don't know... I did offer her a position with better pay..."

"May I remind you that most likely that pay came from my pocket?"

"I do have more work than you..."

"You are the queen. If you didn't have more work, I would be worried."

"Pretty please? It's so hard to find good, qualified subordinates you can trust..."

"You know... that face would have worked if I didn't know about what you are capable of."

"What do you want?"

"For you to keep your hands off of her. She is working for me and that is final. I'll give you the chance to hire her after this war is over, and I resign from my position."

"Darn. I was so happy to finally meet someone who doesn't try to butter up to me and speaks their mind. I need more people like you and Yang. Everyone else... as soon as they learn that I am queen, they immediately start acting differently."

"Good luck finding those people."

"Maybe I should try finding some otherworlders. It seems that they have the least resistance in being friends with royalty."

"Good luck. You will really need it to find one that is alive."

"What do you mean?"

"First, it is already super rare for someone to accidentally dimensional travel. I don't know much about the circumstances that occur when someone crosses worlds, but it doesn't occur often. However, it usually happens in areas with high mana concentrations. Second, Earth doesn't have any magic nor any monsters. So anyone who comes here will have a hard time trying to survive. To make it even worse, since these travels occur in areas of high mana density... Can you imagine a person with no magical ability nor any weapon training trying to survive the Misty Forest? I sure don't. Last, even if the person does miraculously survive long enough to reach civilization, there is the language barrier. In a world in which slavery, cults, scammers, deranged murderers, and cannibals run rampant, the survival rate of an otherworlder is like nil. Yang is already a lucky person. With her luck, she may even have the possibility of winning the jackpot in the lottery. But even then, she met some people that took advantage of her, and she has already met and done some very traumatizing things. The fact that she didn't go insane is a testament to her mental strength."

"That is quite pitiful."

"Yes. However, who knows. Maybe luck will smile upon you."

"Well, I have already met one otherworlder and someone who has gone to another world. There are legends of otherworlders in the past as well. I have hopes that I will meet another one."

"Oooh. A rare show of optimism from the Queen."

"Your sass will get you in big trouble someday."

"Isn't that a given?"