maury

  To summarize, I ’t turn a pumpkin into a magical golden carriage because it’s extremely difficult for this to happen and therefore requires a ton of mana…

  So then, what’s issue wo? Chara wondered.

  “Well, I could tell you, but~ wouldn’t it be more exg if you tried guessing it on your own?” Curiosity suggested with a pyful voice.

  Umm… could you at least give me a hint?

  The little student stared at her teacher piteously, but the other spirit just looked at her quietly as if saying, How I give you a hint before you’ve even tried!

  Just as Chara was on the verge of swirling up a fuss, the spell that kept the ominous bck rock afloat finally depleted its mana, allowing gravity to reassert its presence.

  Seemingly awaiting this, Curiosity swiftly cast another “hold” spell using the two wisps of mana that had remained from her st demonstration. The ominous bck roow safe and secure, asded gently and floated toward its owner’s desk.

  As Chara watched the piece of obsidian cross the distaweeeacher’s desk and her ohrase came to mind:

  Distance from reality….

  The little spirit’s swirling slowed, and her mana rippled thoughtfully.

  Now that I think about it, the cept of “distance” only really measures the space between an in and a destination…

  In the case of spell casting, that’s reality and a desired possibility…

  But how is a possibility or destination locked onto in the first pce?

  It was a line of thinking she hadn’t sidered. The rippling of her mana subsided, before surging up again with even higher amplitude.

  The obvious answer would be… during the first two steps of the spell casting process, envisioning and invocation. But… how do these processes even work?

  How do these processes distinguish between possibilities where an object explodes into pieces, or defies the ws of gravity…

  Or whether it melts into a puddle of goo, or melts into a slightly more viscous puddle of goo?

  Questions surfaced in her mind, oer another, like bubbles rising to the surface of a ke. She felt like she was onto something, but she was unsure how to describe it.

  Sensing her little student’s burgeoning curiousness, the curiosity spirit’s mana tracted in anticipation.

  Is it… dire? Chara mumbled inwardly.

  “Wow~! Little Spirit, you are so smart~! I knew you could figure it out if you just tried~!” Curiosity pulsed delightedly, her mana accelerating into a cheerful swish.

  “Essentially, yes, the problem of dire! You see, unlike me—who is very curious, meticulous, and smart—mana is extremely silly and dumb~! It’s only capable of followiremely simplististrus like stop, go, burn, and freeze!” she excimed in a chastising tone, her form swishing and swirling animatedly.

  “Because of this, the more intricate the possibility you try to grasp, the more likely it is for the mana p that spell to bee fused ale for the closest equivalent.

  “This outight be what you intended, but it also might not be. And even if it is, you will probably have a hard time replig it…

  “Regardless, there are actually quite a few ways to mitigate this effect. However, sihis lesson is supposed to be about mana, I’ll only expin the variables pertaining to it,” she stated in a firm tone.

  I see… The little spirit bobbed up and down cutely.

  The swirling teacher had a hard time peeling off her gaze as she redirected it onto the giant stone whiteboard. Suddenly, the poorly drawn rock she had sketched previously peeled away from the stone’s surface, and it disappeared into a fine mist.

  Curiosity took a moment to pose her thoughts before speaking.

  “Just as every possibility has a distance from reality, it also has a dire. As for what this ‘dire’ is actually describing, it depends oher it’s referring to a possibility or specifically mana. Anyhow, rather than just expining it pinly, let’s go over it in terms of casting.”

  The greater spirit lifted up her writing utensil and dreoint.

  “Think of this dot as reality’s current state. When casting, the first step is to envision a desired possibility. Naturally, this possibility will have a dire from reality.”

  She marked another point to the top-left of the first.

  “As we are discussing a possibility, in this text, its ‘dire’ would describe the specific type of effort required t this possibility into reality. For instance, let’s say in our currey there is a k of ice, and you envisio melting,” She gestured between the first and sed points.

  “In that case, the type of effort required to make that possibility a reality would involve heat,” decred the swirling teacher.

  The little spirit bobbed up and down to vey her uanding.

  Curiosity tinued, “, you perform your invocation, and then, you infuse your spell with mana. Here, ‘dire’ would be used to indicate the kind of effort the mana itself exert. For example, earth mana could be used to make things more resilient.”

  She brought her writing utensil back to the initial point.

  “Now then, Little Spirit, riddle me this. What do you think happens if the dire of your spell and the dire of your mana don’t match?” the swirling teacher asked with a mischievous voice.

  …It’s like trying to lift a box by setting it on fire. The effort provided is pletely misaligned from the objective… Chara’s musings drifted.

  Curiosity tinued, “As you likely suspect, the spell fails. But…! It also doeshere…

  “You may not have sciously realized it, but the possibility you envision is an integral part of your spell struct. The thing is, once mas excited and transitions into being spell mana, it’ll bee eager to ma its potential in any way it . Pair that with an inpatible spell strud what do you get? A flict!”

  She drew an arrow extending from the first point, but it did not link to the sed point, which represehe desired possibility. Instead, it deviated far off course, shooting off into… somewhere.

  Does that mean it will explode?! The little spirit grew armed, her swirling turning uneasy. She had never imagined casting could be so dangerous.

  “Um, it depends on the amount of mana, so, for you, probably not,” Curiosity answered heartlessly as she peeled away the markings, rest the whiteboard to its inal, pristiate.

  What?! Chara’s uneasiness vanished, giving way to an intense wave of indignation.

  Paying no mind to her little student’s silliness, the swirling teacher lifted up the ominous bck rod sketched out a giant bck circle, followed by another smaller circle inside of it. , she drew a long horizontal lihat cut across both circles, dividing them in half. Lastly, she drew four more lines, dividing the area between the inner and outer circles into six equally sized ses, three oop, and three otom.

  When she was fihe end product was what Chara assumed to be a thinking map with eight divided ses.

  maury