Magik - CHAPTER TWO

Looking across his cloth-strewn room, across his small, albeit appropriate for his short stature, bed, and through the window to a view of the sandy bay with the slow setting of Solara and its rays on the speckling waters of the Synara Ocean, the child was glad that he had been able to convince his mother to send him to their beach-side retreat for at least a few months. His only other option would have been to stay in their estate with the rest of his family until his inauguration; being constantly hounded on by his sisters and bullied by his brothers. With a weekly delivery of ready-made meals from home and his own regimen of eating only to survive, Samuel was a healthy but thin child for his age.

"If I can just figure out how to cast it, I'm sure father will at least consider the Matheus Academy for me." the child thought while looking forlornly at the sight of freedom separated to him by a glass window. Glancing at the time showed that he had about an hour of studying left before he would be able to go out and at least relax, albeit without any form of entertainment. But Sam was fine with that as he had recently been practicing a new trick of his, one that he had kept hidden from the rest of his family after he discovered it so far. He distinctly remembered the event that had set forth the inception of, what he guessed, would become one of his inborn traits.

The boy had been sitting at his desk about a week ago, reading his materials like any other day, when his boredom-induced mind decided to actually practice some of the exercises that were recommended after people gained their classes. Specifically, he had been going over external magik-manipulation based classes, or [Magi] as they were commonly referred to by the System. A required trait of most academies for them to accept a student as a potential [Magi] was being able to see magik in its raw aerated form. This would generally present itself as a vision-based trait such as [Magik Sight] or some such, usually taken during inauguration. Some have learned variations of the trait as a [Skill], which is for more common, or while progressing as an [Apprentice Magi].

The specifics would vary based on any number of factors but they all had one thing in common; it was a growth trait, meaning that the trait itself would develop his class with practice and use; unlike set traits such as [Enchanting Visage] or [Righteous]. The largest benefit of these types of traits over the more passive kinds was allowing the user to generate and absorb ingress more readily. Due to traits intrinsically providing more ingress, and being able to see magik is a requirement for a lot of [Magi]-related progress, you would generally get double the value for half the effort. On the other hand, they were also very draining to use and started off rather weak.

So, upon finishing his studies, Sam had decided to head to the living room that evening and practice the stances that were recommended for [Apprentice Magi] in his family; specifically the manual [Solara's Guidance]. Going through the stances had been exhausting at first, his young body seemingly using more energy than it should. After about an hour of rigorous practice, repeating and polishing moves as he looked at the mirror in the gym, Sam had noticed "something" in the corner of his eyes.

Startled and thinking that he might have pushed himself too hard, the boy had ceased his practice out of fear. He had never heard of anyone practicing this particular manual before they were inaugurated; physical exercise and visualizations were practiced pre-inauguration but stance-based practice for growth traits, he had only read that they were performed after. And so, being worried about any adverse effects, the boy stopped his practice while rubbing his eyes and exiting the gym. He ate one of his premade meals and went to bed; waking up the next morning to continue the dull routine of education.

Finishing his assignments for the day, the 9-year-old child had decided to continue the stances once more as he did not notice any untoward side effects from his practice the evening prior; and as he went through all of the stances dozens of times over the next hour, Sam noticed the same oddity in the corner of his vision. Choosing to focus on it this time instead of stopping, the boy saw a miniscule red mote floating along the breeze before eventually fading away. Excited about his discovery, he restarted his practice, repeating the stances over and over again until his exhausted body could not move further.

Unfortunately, he was unable to figure out what he had seen. So, with a heavy heart, Sam ate his dinner and went to sleep. Throughout the next day of classes, he delved into his materials with a drive to find out what he had experienced. After hours of perusal from different authors, watching recordings of various experts, and taking down any sign of a hint that could sate his curiosity of what his discovery was, he finally found a small journal written and codified within the archives of his family's online library; a journal made by a Professor Jore Menar. a famous [Combustion Magi] responsible for the discovery of the modern enriched fuels used throughout Lynthia. Perusing through the journal, Sam noted a small snippet of the then young [Apprentice Magi]'s experience in developing his trait after his inauguration:

"...and so I had started to go through the motions as Instructor Nathan had directed, lifting my leg to my sternum, visualizing the radiation of my senses to detect the aerated magik, relaxing and shifting, constantly trying to feel for what I could only then wonder would always be away from my grasp. And yet, even though I had not been given the [Magi's Eyes] nor any sight trait during the selection of my oft-considered foolish choice of class, I was able to see it. A shining red and yellow ball of light, radiating warmth unlike any I had felt before. And so I reached out to it with my senses, asked it to come towards me, begged the invisible flames to land on the tip of my fingers, and as the unfamiliar but soon to be familiar particle descended towards my outstretched palms, I learned to truly see."

Pouring through each and every word over and over again, young Samuel had been ecstatic. He didn't understand why or how; but he believed, truly in his core, that he had seen a mote of magik. This would not excite the boy as much if this was after his inauguration and he had a skill or trait for seeing magik; but it was not. He had yet to even see a glimpse of his interface, but he had seen magik. Sam felt akin to his ancestors; those who had yet to grasp every aspect of the primitive system and the gifts that they were born with through rigorous practice and rote study.