"Magic can be classified into various stages known as Levels."
Neron stared silently as his father—now master at this time—explained the fundamentals of what he desired to learn.
They were still within Mordred's special space, but since the expanse had now been transformed into a more familiar scenery, it no longer felt strange to Neron.
As a result, he found it easier not to get distracted by his surroundings.
Instead, he paid rapt attention to what he was hearing.
"There is the Basic, The Intermediate, The Advanced , The Peak, and the Transcendent Level." His voice continued as he uttered his words calmly and gracefully.
"Magic becomes more difficult and complicated the further up you go. It also requires more Mana, so many Mages find their limits before eventually reaching the Peak Level or going past it and reaching the Transcendent."
Neron slowly raised his hand, interrupting Mordred's speech.
"You want to ask what Level I'm currently in, right?"
In response to the question of the smiling man, Neron nodded.
"The Peak. There is no Mage that I know of who has exceeded that level. I've heard that in the past there used to be such individuals—like the founder of Magic himself—
but at this point it could as well be a thing of legend."
The Transcendent Level was a realm that Mages dreamed of reaching, but never got to.
An unattainable goal—the very ideal of the pursuit of Magic.
"Back to what I was saying…" Mordred shrugged off the earlier topic and raised a finger.
"Magic requires two things to come into effect."
Sparks began to dance around the finger that pointed upward.
"First is Mana…"
The glorious bursts of energy that were spiraling around Mordred's hand were clusters of Mana. They swirled beautifully around his finger as he weaved them together with his mind.
"The second is a Spell." As Mordred was speaking, Neron raised a brow.
"A Spell?"
"Yes. Essentially a mechanism used to direct the flow of Mana in order to complete the process and cause an action."
Mana was the fuel source.
Spells served as the engine/mechanism.
Magic was the end result.
"That is the fundamental principle of Magic. Pretty simple, right?"
Neron had to admit… it all sounded very easy.
Perhaps it was just the way he was being taught, or maybe Mordred was just that good a tutor, but Neron had expected this concept to be more complex.
He couldn't settle for such simple answers.
"If Magic was that easy, then you wouldn't still be at the Peak Stage, would you?"
In response to Neron's skeptical tone, Mordred couldn't help but widen his smile.
"Precisely. But what do you mean 'still at the Peak Stage?' I'm pretty strong, you know?"
Practically speaking, the Peak Stage was the limit of Mages. n1n
No one had broken past that ceiling in centuries—if not more.
"Each Level of Magic has sub-divisions known as Tiers. There's the Lower, Low, Mid, High, and Higher Tier. Once you cross the boundary of the Higher Tier, you advance to the next Level."
Neron absorbed all the information he received very quickly as he watched the Mana on his father's hand continuously dance.
"Perhaps a demonstration would do!"
Mordred must have noticed Neron's fixation on his fingers since he now followed up his teaching with a practical example.
"[FireBall]"
In an instant, the revolving Mana coalesced and transformed in colors
From the white, nearly transparent glow that they gave off, the combined Mana particles became crimson yellow, flickering like the flames that they had become.
The flames swiftly spun, condensing to form a sphere above Mordred's raised finger.
"Do you understand now?"
Neron only took a second before responding.
"I do."
"Think you can replicate that?" Mordred asked with a slight chuckle.
"I can try."
"Please do."
Neron took a deep breath after he was told to replicate a Spell he had seen just once.
[Fireball] was on the Basic Level, and based on the intensity of the Mana applied, or the variant used, it could fall within the range of any of the five Tiers.
In essence, it was one of the easiest and most versatile Spells that existed.
That didn't make it easy, though.
'Newbies make the mistake of underestimating the Spell, but it's a lot more complex than it seems.'
Magic was the act of causing supernatural events to occur. In essence, affecting the world and bending its essence to one's will.
To create fire using Magic, one had to have sufficient Mana—obviously—and also construct a three-stage Spell.
The first Stage was to coagulate the oxygen within the surrounding into a central area of focus.
The second Stage was to ignite that oxygen.
The third Stage was to compress the ignited oxygen—now flames—so it formed a compact sphere.
Once these three processes were complete, [Fireball] was born.
'Spells are meant to act as formulas to direct these procedures, but without proper Mana Control, it's impossible to use.'
As a result, most newcomers had to first learn how to properly control their Mana, and then learn how to l expertly utilize Spells.
'The faster you can achieve the results, the better you are as a Mage.'
Mordred knew he was skipping these fundamentals with Neron, but it was all intentional.
'He's very gifted, but it's important to know his limits before proceeding any further.'
Not only was it relevant for him—Neron's teacher—to see his current capabilities and limitations, but the boy also had to understand for himself.
That way, there would be no room for hubris.
'Best to nip it in the bud as soon as—'
~WHUSH!~
In a burst of flames, flames appeared atop Neron's open palm, and they soon condensed to form the a ball of flames very similar to the one that floated on Mordred's finger.
'E-eh…?! He did it already?'
It hadn't even been ten seconds, and Mordred didn't see him struggle once in the Spell casting.
'How did he get it so easily? I didn't even explain the complex procedures to him.'
"Are you sure you haven't cast this Spell before?" Mordred found himself asking.
No matter how much of a genius someone was, they still had to fumble for a while in the beginning stage.
All of them—without exception!
"You've… You have cast a Spell before, haven't you?"
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