Though she was not relieved, Max calmly followed him out. Ruth looked around, settled down in one of the vacant lots where the snow was cleaned up, and drew something on the ground with branches. Max approached aesthetically and looked down at it. On the ground, there was a basic magic trick that she had learnt yesterday.
“From now on, I’m going to use this basic magic formula to run mana. I’m sure you’ve memorized it. Here… we’re going to rotate the mana through this path.”
He continued his explanation by moving the end of the branch along the magic design.
“And at this point, I’m going to turn the path and inject Mana into your Ma Ryok. Then, Mana will go through the palm of your hand to the heart, and discharge through the other side. And then we’re going to circle around this magic clock again. In a word! I’m putting you in as part of the magic.”
Max rolled her eyes at the strange explanation.
“Well, C-Can I do it?”
“Your Ma Ryok is well developed, so it won’t hurt your body. In fact, it’s an expedient approach, but… I’ll sure it’ll work. You’ll learn how to operate mana at a fast pace.”
She put her head in front of him, saying, “You can make the calculation so complicated that you can get a cramp on your head.” She doesn’t trust him. However, Max finally nodded as she was tired of holding and groaning stones that had no effect.
Ruth smiled confidently and held out his hands.
“Now, hold out your hands like this.”
“L-like this?”
When Max held out her hands, Ruth put them on top of it with a span of distance. She was wondering what he was going to do, but a strange heat began to come down from her palm. Max flinched her shoulders in surprise.
“Focus. We’re artificially creating a flow in Mana. You have to be familiar with this feeling.”
“Oh, I got it.”
With Ruth’s sincere voice, Max was nervous and paid attention to the itchy heat of the palm of her hand.
It felt like he was dipping her hand in the warm water that was flowing. Focused on the soft wave for so long, Max shuddered at the sensation of a thin thread that was soon invisible, crawling through the skin and into the body.
“Don’t lose focus.”
Ruth immediately warned. Max pouted her cold sweat and paid attention to Mana’s flow. The thin thread, which flowed smoothly through the forearm, wrapped the heart roundly past the elbows and armpits, then went out again on the arm and began to flow along the complicated magic hour.
If Magic was a finely woven fabric, Mana was a thread. Magic was similar to the process of unwinding a few strands of thread called mana from a fabric, rolling them round in the body, and pulling them out as necessary and squeezing them into new patterns.
It was only then that Ruth’s repeated explanations were finally understood. Max looked down at her palms with awe-inspiring eyes. Mana began to spin at high speed in the hand, emitting strong heat, and soon created a small ray of light.
“The first thing God created was light.”
Ruth smiled, looking down at the faintest light than the fireflies.
“Remember that. This is the magic that underlies all magic.”
“M-my hands are hot… I- I’m a little out of breath.”
“You can’t cry with this much. High magic rotates mana at the speed of this.”
Max gave a short breath and nodded. She could see why he looked so tired every time he used magic.
“I’m going to take my time to get out of here. You try to keep this pace and rotate your mana.”
Ruth slowly took her hand off. Max was at a loss as she didn’t know what to do, but she tried to use her magic spell.
At first, however, the flow of mana, which had been maintained at a certain speed, became disorganized over time, and the heat in her hands escaped like sand. She tried hard to keep it somehow, but even the small ray of light went out helplessly. She drooped her shoulders with discouragement.
“Don’t be so disappointed. You did a good job at first.”
“R-Really?”
“Am I some kind of empty talker? I would have told you right away that it’s terrible if it’s terrible.”
It’s definitely left for this guy. Max laughed bitterly because she was relieved by his rudeness. Ruth smiled face to face and rolled up his sleeves curiously.
“Well, let’s do this one more time. If you repeat it a few times, you’ll get the hang of it.”
“Oh, I got it.”
Max continued to focus on the energy as Ruth induced. After seven such attempts, Max was able to keep the small light on her own for about a minute. When she showed Ruth proudly with joy, he applauded as if he was proud.
It was a little embarrassing but it is an achievement, the feeling of pride and excitement was rarely calmed down. Her heart was overflowing as if she had created a moon ball, even though she had only created a very small light that could not reveal a single small room properly.
“I’ll teach you healing magic when you get used to it. Please practice the basic magic repeatedly until then. If you keep going, you’ll have more mana in your body.”
“I-I don’t think I can do it alone.”
“If it doesn’t work, I’ll induce you a few more times, so give it a try.”
He said, rubbing his red nose. Come to think of it, she’s been out for quite a while. She didn’t even know my body cooled down because she was concentrating.
“Let’s go inside now. You’re going to catch a cold. I’ve been having a runny nose since before. It’s unusual.”
“W- why don’t we go to the kitchen and get some warm soup?”
“That’s a good idea. I haven’t even had breakfast, so I’m almost stuck on my back.”
Ruth swung the robe to the entrance of the Great Hall, raising it to his chin. Max grinned as she walked along. Even though her body was cold and shaking, her feet were as light as flying away.
***
Max diligently practiced Mana energy as Ruth instructed. At first, Ruth had to induce two more times because she couldn’t get the hang of it, but after that, she was able to create a small light on her own. As it was repeated, the light stem became clearer and became more and more clear enough to be used as a substitute for candles.
Although she was as slow as an ant, Max had steadily improved her skills. There was a time when she passed out on her bed before the sun set because she enjoyed gathering mana slowly and her body absorbed too much since she was so focused on her practice.
At that point, Riftan threatened to withdraw his words with a scary face saying, “If this happens again the next morning, you can’t learn magic.”
From that day on, she also tried to measure her physical strength and practice. Usually during the day, she was confined to the library to study magic history, and after eating lunch late, she supervised servants, wrote a diary, and practiced magic until evening when Riftan returned. Fatigue piled up day by day on such a tight schedule, but she endured it firmly.
Recently, Riftan was busy building weapons and training knights to prepare for the migration of the demons near the Anatomy Mountain.
More than 20 Doves visited the windows of Riftan’s office a day to gather information from all parts of the continent, and the knights and apprentices trained hard until the sun fell even in the cold weather. She couldn’t stay comfortable and relax on her own.
Max worked hard to memorize and study the complicated magic written in the wizard, chasing the rush of sleepiness. Ruth, who had been watching such a scene quietly, made an unexpected suggestion.
“Shall we do some practice today?”
Max looked up at him with a surprised look.
“Practice?”
“You’ve never used magic on a person yet. You must have learned the healing magic, let’s give it a try.”
“B-but… I’m still nervous about controlling the energy. I-If I try and fail….”
“Even if we fail, there is no harm to the human body. It is important to repeat magic several times. The more you master, the more speed and accuracy you gain.”
At Ruth’s strong recommendation, Max nodded as if she could not win. To be honest, she wanted to do magic at least once.
“B-but… Who do you want me to test?”
“Usually, the teacher makes a small wound on the body and helps the student practice… I hate being sick.”
Ruth spat out naturally and got up from her seat and opened the robe tightly.
“But fortunately, the castle is full of humans who are willing to get hurt, so you won’t have any problems practicing. Let’s go outside.”
Max immediately noticed that he was going to the smoke field and looked nervous. Riftan still didn’t like her learning magic. He doesn’t trust me, but what if she fails? As she blurred his face with anxiety, Ruth quickly added.
“Don’t worry. Lord Calypse is guiding the Knight Apprentices. He won’t be at the training ground.”
Max stood up from her seat, surprised a little, wondering if he could see her inner feelings so clearly. Rudis, who was sewing by the brazier, quickly picked up her coat when she saw Max. Max prevented her from chasing her and came out of the library with Ruth.
As she went down the stairs and stepped out of the gate, the sparkling sunlight poked her eyes.
