Aria left the office and closed the door behind her. The last glimpse she got of the Guildmaster was her sitting behind a mountain of paperwork.

Work hard Guildmaster! You got this!

She entered the Guildmaster's room. It was a simple room with a desk, chair, and a bed. The desk was on the far side of the room, and the bed was to the right of it lined against the wall. A window presented itself behind open blinds above the desk.

It's a nice room.

Aria walked over and sat on the bed, scooting over into the middle of it before shifting her focus onto the book in her hands.

“Introduction to... Rudimentary Magics.”

She flipped to the first page. There was a sentence on the very front written in neatly:

‘By the end of this book you will build a sturdy foundation for your knowledge of magic and hopefully, my budding flower, you will realize the true purpose of magic.’

There was another part mentioning how the book was dedicated to someone, but the name itself was smudged out. She traced her finger over it in an attempt to make sense of it, to no avail. Giving up, she moved to the next page, and the next. There were descriptions of words like matom, attributes of a person, what a mage was, and so on. The handwritten book seemed almost like a journal but did well to explain and teach the subject. After carefully reading and making sense of what she could, she came upon the page where the book began to teach spellcasting.

'Matom: the source of all magic. The building blocks of magic. Environmental matom density depends on the location. Personal matom comes from one’s soul, it is said that the stronger one’s soul and will is, the stronger the outcome from your matom.

*Special Note: If the matom density of a location is significantly higher than a person or organism’s matom, they will receive matom poisoning where their body is unable to defend itself from the natural environment’s matom. In this case, they are likely to die within a varying range depending on the severity. Extreme cases recorded have shown deaths as soon as 30 minutes.*'

But what she read as she flipped through the pages basically confirmed what she learned from the Guildmaster with a few extra, interesting tidbits. Aria flipped to the next page.

'To begin a hands-on practice attempt at magic, proceed with the following steps:

Hold your hand out with the palm facing the sky. Chant ‘Water Sphere’ while imagining the picture provided. At the same time, imagine or ‘feel’ your matom moving and gathering in your palm to form the image of the picture.’

She placed the book down next to her onto the bed. Looking at the image which depicted a spherical shape of water swirling and spinning, she put her hand out with her palm facing up. After quickly re-reading the steps, she closed her eyes and pictured the image while also recalling how it felt when she previously manipulated her aura-- her matom. Slowly, she imagined it, her matom, snaking its way to her palm and forming a sphere over it. While the matom moved over to her palm, she imagined it turning into water.

“Water sphere…,” murmured Aria, her eyes still closed and her mind imagining the spell.

Immediately, Aria let out a gasp as she suddenly found that something cold touched her arm and moved. It moved in correspondence with the image she just pictured. She could feel the water sneaking up around her wrist and into her palm before simply lifting into the air. Her eyes slowly opened and she examined the spell in progress. It was slow, to her surprise, but the book didn’t specify how fast it should be. That said, she did imagine it this way.

Before long, a full sphere of water was created. The result was stellar. It formed into exactly what she pictured.

That was easier than I thought…? I didn’t expect to get it immediately. But now what?

It was great she managed to get it on the first try but there was now a small complication. What will she do with the water? She didn’t read on what to do afterwards. How long does she have before she loses control of it? With her heart starting to race, Aria frantically looked back at the book and started skimming through it.

‘When successful, a sphere of water should form in the image that you pictured, similar to the image above. If you have reached such a result, congratulations! If not, do not fret. It is no easy task. However, with enough practice anything is possible. The most important thing is to have a strong will, and an unwavering determination.

*Note: It is best to practice this outdoors as when one does not have complete mastery over their magic, it is not quite yet possible to disperse the spell.-- Umm... Thanks note, but it’s kind of too late now! --With that out of the way, when thinking of releasing the spell you can launch it at a target or simply ‘let it go’, causing you to give up control and drop the spell.*

“Let it go? Well, I can’t just do tha- AHH!”

The sphere of water she procured dropped from the air causing it to splash off of her palm soaking Aria and the area around her. Aria stared in shock, her face frozen with her mouth agape. Her dress seemed to absorb the majority of the water, but there were still spots on the bed that were inevitably soaked. Luckily, the splash didn’t seem to have touched the book. Aria was especially worried about that as she examined the book.

『 Congratulations, you have learned a new spell [Water Sphere]. 』

Oh… Welcome back Guide. How do you do?

『 Good. [Water Sphere] has been added to your list of acquired spells. Acquired spells can be seen under [Guide]’s sub-skill [Spell List]. Once a spell is added into this list, you can simply chant the spell’s name to activate it. Imagery of the spell is unnecessary for acquired spells unless modifications are desired. 』

My acquired spells? Sub-skill? Spell list?

『 Through your skill, [Status], this information is attainable. 』

“[Status]..? Oh?”

After she said [Status], information inserted itself into her mind. It was strange, but the information received was displayed as if written down on something.

STATUS

Subject Name - Aria

Race - Half-Human

Age - 7

Condition - Healthy

Unique - N/A

Skills (* = New) - *[Guide], *[Pocket Dimension], *[Status], *[Infinity’s Eyes] (restricted), *[Creation]

Passives (* = New) - *[Sharpened Senses], *[Weak Regeneration], *[Pain Reduction], *[M. LIMITER]

“There’s a lot I don’t really get. What’s a passive?”

『 A passive is a skill with continuous effects that can be turned on or off depending on the owner’s will. They are generally active unless willed otherwise. As for [Infinity’s Eyes], when activated, it would normally be at full strength, but is partially dampened for safety. 』

“What do you mean by partially dampened?”

『 Due to its strength, it could only be partly affected by me, [Guide]. It is important to note that [Infinity’s Eyes] is a skill that has passive effects as well, but remains in the skill category. Thus, a part of it is still active which is why you are able to see the aura of others. However, numerous other effects of this skill are disabled. As you get stronger, more of this skill will be unrestricted. 』

"Numerous other effects..? Ah, well I’ll think about that later. What I saw earlier, that was Master’s aura? It was so different from how aura usually looked that I didn’t even recognize that it was simply Master’s aura. Her aura was… scary. Like it was threatening me."

Aria shivered as she recalled the dark tendrils of matom that seemed ready to pounce on her. Shaking her head, she returned her focus back at herself and the soaked areas of the bed.

Well… I can’t just let everything stay wet. Can the book help me?

Aria looked over to the book and flipped to the next page where another hands-on practice attempt presented itself.

‘Next we will not create a fireball, a water sphere’s.. slightly more destructive rival, but instead generate simple heat. A fireball requires a higher mastery of magic and a calmness that comes with confidence of mastery. A wavering mind will put you in a dangerous bind. Thus, we shall generate warmth at varying levels with [Heat].

Please proceed with the following steps:

Reach out with the hand of your choice. Picture the matom flowing within you gathering in your hand. With this gathered matom, imagine it radiating away from your hand like the warmth of a gentle fire heating its surroundings.

You will know you have succeeded properly casting [Heat] when the heat is felt at least an arm’s length away.’

Aria closed her eyes. Her hand remained splayed out in front of her as she focused the matom within her to flow over to her hands. Steadily and gradually, just like it did with [Water Sphere], her matom accumulated in her hand. But this time, it didn’t go over her palm to create a sphere of water. It was simply warmth that the matom became. Aria’s eyebrows furrowed as she recalled the heat of the sun enveloping her skin, and she recalled the fiery heat of the Xilisk’s attack that nearly claimed their lives. She remembered this heat, but tamed it, turning it into a blanket of warmth that exuded from her hand. It was when she could feel the caress of her magic’s warmth that she loosened her concentration.

Aria opened her eyes. To her surprise, little embers floated here and there, appearing and disappearing within seconds. A generous amount of light was actually produced around her hand and from the matom, taking on the signature orange color of fire.

She smiled and held it out, pointing her hand towards the bed. No more than a couple minutes later, the bed and herself were both dry and toasty. Comfortably toasty. Aria lay down on the bed next to the book and sighed contentedly.

I’m kind of.. sleepy.

Her eyes drooped as she fought to keep them open and a yawn escaped her. Before long, she was curled up and sleeping peacefully.