Standing, Sian walked to the side of the table where he was under the sight of all. "As magic is something very comprehensive, I'll start with the basics and explain what magic is."

“In a simple way, magic or mana, it's up to you what you want to call it, is a mystical energy without a defined form that exists everywhere, even within living things. The natural state of magic has no attribute and can be transformed into 9 different types known as main elements."

Raising his right hand, Sian stretched out four fingers. "Among those 9 types, Water, Earth, Fire and Wind are known as the basic elements that anyone can use as long as they have enough training."

Raising his left hand, he stretched out three fingers. "Lightning, Light and Darkness are the advanced elements that require innate aptitude to use."

"And lastly-" Stretching out the remaining fingers of his left hand, he continued. "Space and Time, both are known as special elements, and it is even harder to find someone with an aptitude, especially for Time. To date, the only person who has managed to use that element is..."

Taking a purposeful pause, Sian checked the faces of the people in front of him, and they all seemed to be looking thoughtfully, especially Illianna, who was holding a notepad and pen.

'Despite showing an ever dismissive attitude towards me, it seems she recognizes that I am an impressive mage.' Sian thought.

With his pride invigorated, he ignored the 3 guys who were also looking intently at his explanation a little further away from the table they were at and continued. "The God of Time, Feeus, besides him, there was no other being, even among the gods. Are you all understanding up to this point?"

"I saw in the book that there are more elements, why didn't you mention them?" Illianna asked.

"Because it is not necessary to learn about them now, apart from the ones I have mentioned, the others are derived and compound elements, but I shall talk about them some other day." Resting his index and middle finger on the table, he continued. "Effectively, there are two ways to use mana, by manipulating it directly or in the form of spells."

"Direct manipulation is known as Primordial Magic, and manipulation by means of spells is known as Progressive Magic. While it is possible to achieve the same end result with both, the steps that must be followed to completion are different."

"Which is the easiest?" Tina asked.

After thinking for a while, Sian replied. "Well, I can't say that one method is easier than the other, for in both ways there is an extremely arduous road to travel, but I can advance that one method is safer than the other."

"Being a method that was widely used in the early Calamity Epoch, primordial magic simply consists of manipulating mana directly. You need to make a mentalization of the magic you want to create and shape it to your will. But while it sounds simple, this kind of direct manipulation is more complex and dangerous than it sounds. When it comes to shaping magic, it is quite volatile, so extraordinary concentration and precision is required."

"For example, in the case where someone directly manipulates magic and infuses it into their own body to gain a physical attribute increase, if this is not done carefully, there is a risk of an internal injury due to the misuse of magic. In the case of trying to cast a magic, if there is not enough control and concentration, the caster may end up hurting himself or may even end up killing himself.

Hearing Sian's words, everyone except Illianna seemed to have shrunk slightly at the possibility of dying while trying to use magic.

"Clearly this will not be the method I will be teaching you." Sian said, trying to calm the spirits of all. "Because of these risks that direct manipulation brings to the user, Phitos, who was one of the Combatants, along with the God of knowledge Ejun, developed a new way to use magic, which later became known as progressive magic. This method consists in manipulating the mana to use the spells as intermediates in the realization of the desired action. "

"Although it is not an easy task to perform the enchantment of a spell, if you get it wrong, you will not take any risks. That's the difference between the two methods, any questions?"

"Disregarding the dangers to the user itmself, what is the difference in efficiency of the two methods when it comes to using them?" Illianna asked.

"Hmm, that's a complicated question." Sian put his hand on his chin. "That will depend on the situation and the user's skill, for example, if I have a deep cut on my arm and use primordial magic to heal, if I'm not careful, the wound might end up healing with a foreign object inside. Whereas in the case of progressive magic, I don't have to worry about that, because the spell has already been created taking every possible precaution and concern."

"Another example would be in case I want to quickly cast a fireball, since it's something simple for me, I don't even consider using spells." Sian shrugged as he looked at Illianna. "But I don't think you need to worry about that, since you have a cheating skill that can create spells and conjure them almost instantly."

"My skill cannot create spells." She replied.

“Yes, it can.” Sian affirmed. "You spent most of yesterday using spells."

“I did it?” Illianna looked in doubt.

"You did it, there's no way my senses could be wrong." Seeing Illianna's still incredulous face, which seemed to say that she really didn't know, Sian cogitated on a possibility. "Well, it's possible you didn't realize it because your skill does all the hard work for you."

While Illianna seemed to be immersed in thought with sudden shock trying to digest Sian's words, Ophilia looked at her curiously. "You have a divine skill?"

It was only then that they both finally realized the slip up, talking about the skills that others shouldn't know about.

'Luckily, Ophilia got things mixed up.'

“Yep.” Sian answered for Illianna. "She turned out to be one of those lucky people."

"What's a divine skill?" Tina asked.

"Well, according to the church, it's a blessing given to people chosen by the Gods." Sian replied.

'Although it is a skill given by the Gods, Illianna's case is different.' Sian thought.

"Can I get one?" Emily, who had been strangely quiet since early in the morning, asked anxiously.

"That's not possible, the people who get these abilities seem to be as random as possible. Furthermore, they are already born with the individual, and that is an extremely rare event."

Seeing Emily's countenance being shrouded by sadness, Sian complemented. "My little princess need not be sad, even if they seem good, these divine abilities don't follow a pattern and are random. Most of it are just controlling the elements, anyone can do that if they try."

Walking over to her and taking her in his arms, he continued. "Besides, if my little princess had been born with a divine ability, you would have been abducted by the church and brainwashed. That would be very scary."

"Really?" She asked with moist eyes.

"Really-really." He sat up as he filled her tender cheeks with kisses.

"I've never seen it, but I heard that when a child is born with a divine skill, a phenomenon happens in the sky and emits a blinding glow that slowly fades out, is that true?" Francionia asked.

“Yeah.” Sian affirmed. "The church claims that this phenomenon is a message from the gods to warn the church when a child with a divine skill is born. Because of that, they always take the kids with them, saying they'll give them a better education and some bullshit like that."

"If that's the case, then..." Francionia looked at Illianna.

"Even the church can't easily take a Duke's daughter, if they insist, it could cause several problems for them." Sian replied.

Returning to herself, Illianna complemented. "There was also no reason for them to insist on me because of my lineage, since even an ordinary child has the potential to become Pope."

"I heard about that." Ophilia said. "Mr. Badonis commented that recently a new Pope had been elected, and he was one of the children taken by the church."

"That's right, despite the young age, due to the enormous potential of its divine skill in controlling light, the new Pope quickly rose through the ranks to the current position and became the symbol of the church." Illianna said.

"I guess that was to be expected, since the God of Light is the big shot among the Gods." Sian shrugged. "Well, since we're short on time and magic is a complicated subject, we'll stop here and continue tomorrow."