I nodded eagerly and approached him to pick up my two swords, then waited expectantly. He gave me a small smile, then lightly touched my shoulder, and before I knew it, the scenery around me had changed. We stood at the entrance of the old mansion. We had just teleported, right? My first teleportation experience! As I stood there open-mouthed, he walked briskly up the steps of the porch and put a hand on the door. I couldn't help noticing that he only had four fingers on each hand. Was that a characteristic of elves, like the pointed ears?

He opened the door and frowned at the dust coating the floor. Then he gestured with his right hand and the dust vanished instantly. W-what had he just done?! Was there some sort of cleaning magic that was every housewife's dream?

Noticing my amazed expression, he chuckled and said that he only teleported it all outside. Well, that was a bit of a let-down, but still amazing nonetheless. "Well then, let's get started with our lesson," he said in a pleasant tone, turning around to face me. "You've already invoked the healing aspect of your Light magic, so I presume that sword has already explained to you how to use magic," he added, pointing at Deux. "However, you seem to have the Conjuration affinity as well, so I will help you to invoke that. The rest will depend on your own visualisation and practice."

I nodded, and he began to explain further. Apparently breathing evenly was important, as well as concentration. The magical particles in the air, known as macli, allowed one to cast magic when shaped by their thoughts. It could be either external or internal, although the particles inside the body could be more easily controlled. The amount of macli in one's body was referred to mana and could be transferred to other people or things by touch. The scope of one's magic depended on which affinity they had.

For example, for Conjuration, it largely depended on the imagination, whereas for Elementalism it depended on mana. The higher the mana an Elementalist had, the more or larger spells they could cast at one time. For a Conjurer, mana would determine the amount of space they could have in their Void or the size of the objects they could create or uncreate.

I was slightly disappointed that I only had two affinities, but Feyril smiled and shook his head. "The fewer affinities one has, the stronger they can become. Those with only one affinity have the potential to possess the most powerful magic. Of course, that also depends on the amount of mana they have and how good they are at visualising, as well as practice."

"Ah, so like a 'jack of all trades and master of none' situation," I remarked, nodding. "That makes sense in a way."

To help in my visualisation, he produced illusions one after another to explain how a Void worked. "Unfortunately, I do not have the Conjuration affinity myself, but many of my friends do, so I have learnt about it from them," he explained. "Their visualisation methods differ, but most have a common point. You need to think of a container or bag to store things and imagine yourself putting things inside it. Obviously, if you're storing a sword, you need to have a container large enough for it, or your brain will reject the idea subconsciously. The clearer and more practical the container, the easier it is to invoke. Most beginners use the 'sack' visualisation since cloth is very flexible and can fit most objects."

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine a large sack and putting both Eins and Deux into it. Then I let go of them and opened my eyes, half expecting to hear the clang of metal dropping onto the wooden floor. The swords had disappeared from my hands and were nowhere to be seen. I had succeeded! But... "How do I take them out again?" I asked hesitantly.

Feyril grinned at me mischievously, looking like a young man in his teens. I thought this look fitted him more than that fake gentle smile. Maybe that was just a made-up persona to not scare the "player" at first. Frankly, I felt it did the opposite and made me more wary of him though. "Just do the reverse. Imagine the same sack and pull them out of there. You can do it one at a time though," he instructed. "I was rather surprised you put them both in at the first try."

"I've always had a good imagination," I bragged, before closing my eyes and taking Eins out again. I wasn't going to take that chatterbox Deux out if I could help it! Although it hadn't spoken in a while...maybe it didn't want to reveal it could speak in front of a stranger? Or perhaps I had to be holding it. Anyway, I concentrated on imagining Eins and pulling it out of the sack. Feeling the familiar grip in my hand again, I opened my eyes in relief.

"Good job," said Feyril, clapping his hands with a smile. "Now if you use 'Inspect' again, the brackets should be gone from your magic column."

I did as he said and my magic stats now looked like this:

Magic:

Light, Class 1 - Healing, [Blessings] [Shield] [Dispel] [Immunity]

Conjuration, Class 1 - Storage, [Creation] [Multiplication] [Conjuring] [Uncreation]

Feyril glanced at a watch-like device on his wrist. "Well then, I should be going. Do you have any further questions?"

"Is there any way I can contact you again if I need help?" I asked, putting Eins back into my Void. "Also, what happens to items in my Void when I return to my world?"

"The items in your Void will stay there indefinitely. It's somewhat complicated, but they are actually in a different dimension that you access when you use magic. Let's see, to put it in your contemporary terms, it would be like accessing the so-called cloud database with the Internet? I'm not sure if I got that right...anyway, it's a similar concept but using magic instead," explained the elf. He then withdrew a shiny blue stone set in a square pendant about the size of my thumbnail. "Keep this pendant somewhere on your person and charge it with mana when you want to contact me in an emergency. We have a hands-off policy with our 'players', so we try not to interfere as much as possible."

I accepted the pendant from him and examined it. The square-cut gemstone was a light blue but turned greenish or purple depending on the angle. Maybe it was some sort of tourmaline? I could probably put it on a chain or cord and use it as a necklace. Putting it into my Void was also an option. "So, I'm just supposed to go around exploring the map and kill monsters to level up? Is there an ultimate goal?"

"Yes, of course, but we will only provide you with further details once we are satisfied with your performance," stated Feyril as he waved and then started to disappear. "Meanwhile, you can just have fun and do try not to die in the process."