Chapter 14: The First Step as a Mage

"All right, for now, try shooting at that target over there."

With that, Viktor demonstrated the four basic elemental attack spells.

By the way, the target that Qiu Nuoya had destroyed earlier had somehow already been restored.

Apparently, the training ground itself had been enchanted with a repair spell, allowing anything damaged there to automatically fix itself.

Magic really was incredible and extremely convenient.

The spells Viktor taught him were as follows.

Earth magic was [Sand Shot], a spell that launched small stones or sand at an enemy.

Water magic was [Water Ball], a spell that fired a mass of water at a target.

Wind magic was [Wind Cutter], a spell that created a blade of wind similar to a slicing gust.

Fire magic was [Fire Ball], which was essentially the fire version of Water Ball.

All four were the most basic magic arts, so their attack power was low.

However, by adding new formulas to these foundations, it was apparently possible to create much stronger magic arts.

That was why Viktor told Qiu Nuoya that learning these four was absolutely necessary.

"Like I explained earlier, formulas are exactly what they sound like. Just like 1 + 1 becoming 2 in mathematics, magic arts are created through formulas. For example, Sand Shot is made from sand plus shot. Water Ball is water plus ball. That is the basic idea."

"I see..."

So that was what a formula meant.

If someone simply wanted to create a small flame, they only needed the element of "fire."

That was ordinary magic.

But by adding a formula called "sphere shape" to change the form, it became something like "fire ball."

That made sense.

However, Qiu Nuoya noticed something.

Viktor only explained the structure and theory before telling him to try it.

Was Viktor perhaps not very good at teaching?

With an explanation like that, Qiu Nuoya had no idea what he was actually supposed to do.

"People who can do something naturally tend to give terrible explanations."

As Qiu Nuoya struggled, Igor once again interrupted.

Come to think of it, earlier Qiu Nuoya had succeeded because he simply followed Igor’s instructions.

Maybe Igor was actually better at teaching than Viktor.

Also, the idea that people who were naturally talented often gave poor explanations made a lot of sense.

Such people could accomplish things without thinking, so they often did not understand why others could not do the same thing.

Then they would ask, "Why can’t you do it?"

Qiu Nuoya had experienced that many times in his previous life.

His former boss was exactly like that.

His boss was not a bad person, but there were many occasions where the boss looked genuinely confused and asked why Qiu Nuoya could not perform certain tasks.

It had caused him a lot of trouble more than once.

"Since the only magic I can use is fire magic, I’ll explain using Fire Ball."

Igor began demonstrating.

"First, just like before, feel the magical power inside your body. Then, take in the fire element magical power floating around you and combine it with your own. After that, shape it and throw it."

He shrugged.

"I don’t really understand formulas. I’ve always used magic this way, so I don’t know any other method."

The movements Igor showed in front of Qiu Nuoya were much slower and easier to understand than Viktor’s.

He was able to see how Igor gathered magical power in his palm and how he wrapped it with fire.

Qiu Nuoya unconsciously clapped.

Viktor had also demonstrated the spells earlier, but since the magic was released at the same time he muttered the spell name, whether it was an incantation or simply the technique name, Qiu Nuoya had not been able to understand the process at all.

When casting Fire Ball, saying "Fire Ball" was probably the incantation.

Igor did not do that, yet he was still able to release the spell.

However, compared to Viktor’s Fire Ball, Igor’s spell had far less force and disappeared much faster.

Was this the difference between users?

"Although you normally don’t use it, casting without an incantation reduces the power by half."

"I use proper methods when I’m actually fighting, so it’s fine."

So the technique name really was an incantation.

But even if an incantation existed, what exactly changed because of it?

"Is the incantation really that important?"

"For simple spells like this, casting without an incantation is fine. However, the more complicated a spell becomes, the greater the difference in power. That is why memorizing each incantation is a basic requirement, and it is very important for mages."

"I see..."

So that was how it worked.

Following Igor’s instructions, Qiu Nuoya gathered magical power into his palm.

This time, he did not close his eyes.

He looked directly at the target.

He imagined mixing fire elemental power into his magic, then he spoke the incantation.

"Fire Ball!"

When he threw the magical power from his palm as instructed, the magic was properly wrapped in flames and shot toward the target.

However, it disappeared before reaching it.

"...Huh?"

Qiu Nuoya stared at his hand in confusion.

He had done the same thing as before.

So why had he not produced the same overwhelming power?

It seemed Qiu Nuoya was not the only one confused.

Igor tilted his head.

"Why?"

Meanwhile, Viktor folded his arms with a serious expression and remained silent.

"Maybe what happened earlier was just a fluke," Igor said. "Why don’t you try the others too?"

At Igor’s urging, Qiu Nuoya tried the other elements as well.

However, the results were exactly the same.

Each spell weakly flew from his palm, only barely reaching the target before dispersing.

They were incredibly pathetic.

The only exception was water magic, Water Ball.

It did not have enough power to destroy the target, but it actually reached it.

Qiu Nuoya clenched his fist in victory.

"Well, I guess that’s barely a passing grade," Igor said. "You can use magic, after all. From here on, it just depends on how much you train."

Igor gently patted Qiu Nuoya’s head.