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  “Now that we’ve gone over the theory, let’s dive into how it works in practice,” Curiosity announced.

  “Just as every possibility has both a distand a dire from reality, so does mana. In the case of dista aturally be equated to mana’s [Potential]. As for dire, this is where things get a bit more iing…

  “But before I expin further, you be a good spirit and remind me of the levels of iy?” asked Curiosity, returning the little spirit’s ability to speak.

  Unprepared for the sudden quiz, Chara was momentarily stunned before answering, “Um… they are, reserved, normal, and spell mana?”

  “Correct~! Oh, and one more question: where does mana e from?” Curiosity asked again.

  “Err… From the mana core?” Chara hazarded, recalling from the iy expnation.

  “Correct again~!” Curiosity swirled happily. “What I’m trying to get at is… all newly geed mana is initially reserved mana. That is, mana in its purest form,” she stated as she jured a wisp of reserved mana.

  “As the purest form of possibility, reserved mana has the potential to ma absolutely anything. A, due to this very same characteristic, coupled with the myriad number of possibilities, it bees ultimately uo settle on just one, resulting in its usual iness,” she narrated dispiritedly.

  The iridest wisp of mana swirled melodramatically, as if it was uo withstand its very own state of existe was too pitiful.

  The little spirit stared bnkly.

  “heless, as this reserved mana flows from one pce to another, and enters various kinds of phenomena, it gradually starts to form a preference, fav certain possibilities over others. And when this preference reaches a critical point, something fasating happens!” cmored Curiosity.

  Suddenly, the wisp of reserved mana ed mysteriously, its iridesce fading, and its color deepening. In the moment, it evoked a gentle and refreshing feeling, like the color of water.

  “The reserved mana will naturally allocate some of its [Potential] to ma what is known as an [Identity] and transition into being normal mana,” Curiosity finally revealed.

  The newly verted normal mana did a little spin before bursting into a magnifit shower of illusory water droplets that sparkled before fading.

  Identity…? A picture of Chara’s state ID popped into her mind. She didn’t have a driver’s lise.

  “Yes,” affirmed the swirling teacher. “[Identity] is like the personality of a mana particle. You think of it as an ination towards expressing its potential in a particur way. And the most basi of identity is an [Element].”

  Ah… it finally came! The little spirit swirled to attention.

  She had been waiting for the curiosity spirit to talk about elements… practically sihe lesson started. But instead, she was taught about casting, set up for failure, and then forced to attend make-up lessons! She had been thhly wronged!

  “Oh~? It looks like you already have some idea of what I’m talking about,” Curiosity keenly observed.

  “Then how about this. Since you are so smart, I’m going to give you a little quiz. Do you think you pass it~?” she provoked in a teasing tone.

  The little spirit gred without realizing it. How could she stand being uimated and treated like a child?

  “Yes!” answered Chara.

  “Great. Then, list out the eight [Elements], one by one, while I fill them in on this diagram,” decred Curiosity while shifting to the side and lifting the ominous bck rock.

  Chara’s gaze focused on the bnk diagram. Upon refle, she hat the table indeed had eight spaces, corresponding precisely to the number of elements. While she had yet to discover fire, she assumed it existed.

  “Water!”

  Without hesitation, the curiosity spirit positioned her on of choi front of the bottom-most space where she quickly doodled some stylized waves.

  “Ice!”

  The greater spirit repositioned her rock to the cell neighb water from the left and drew some simplified snowfkes.

  “Fire!”

  The swirling teacher shifted her attention onto the cell on the opposite side of the chart, directly across from ice, and quickly drew a crude-looking fme.

  “Earth!”

  Curiosity sketched another crudely drawn rock.

  “Lightning!”

  Curiosity drew three zigzagging bolts.

  “Wind!”

  Curiosity squiggled some lines.

  As the little spirit listed the names of various elements, the floating rock skipped across the whiteboard, leaving behind sloppy yet reizable doodles. However, whe to the element of “darkness,” the greater spirit stopped, and took nearly two mio fill iire bottom half of the inner circle until it was pletely bck.

  “Light!”

  The swirling teacher drew what looked like a stylized sun oop half of the inner circle, right above the darkness element. When she was done, she gently lowered her writing utensil on top of her desk.

  Chara had listed out all of the elements, and the map was plete.

  Sensiudent’s expet gaze, the curiosity spirit hummed in amusement and thered her full of praise. “Wow. How did you bee sooo smart~? Is it because your swirling is so and anized~? Or could it be, that you’re aspiring to be a wisdom spirit?”

  In response, Chara’s mana swelled with fidend pride. To be ho, she didirely uand the greater spirit’s pliments, but she thought they sounded kind of nice.

  “Anyways, since you answered all the elements correctly, I’m going to ask you o question~! Do you think you ahis ohis one is worth extra credit~!” Curiosity taunted pyfully.

  “Yes~!” Chara answered fidently.

  “Great~! My question is: what are [Elements]?”

  The little spirit’s swirling gradually slowed, her rippling ceased, and she stared back at her in puzzlement. Evidently, she had never given this topic even the slightest thought.

  “A~! It looks like Baby doesn’t know~! That’s too bad~! Fortunately, she has the smart and capable Me, here to teach her~!” the curiosity spirit let out a childish giggle.

  Feeling humiliated, Chara gred at her, even whilst her mana trembled in embarrassment.

  “Ahem~!” Forcefully ging the subject, Curiosity asserted, “I do think it’s important to uand what a is—to at least some degree—in order to get the most out of mana. So, with that out of the way, it’s time to ahe fual question: what is an [Element]?” she announced.

  “Previously, I had described both possibilities and mana as having a ‘dire from reality.’ But, do you have any idea what these ‘dires’ are actually pointing at?

  “In the case of possibilities, it’s the possibilities themselves that are the thing being poi, from reality, so you don’t generally have to think about it. But what about [Elements]? Do you have any idea what they’re pointing at?” she asked in a curious voice.

  How would I know. I only learned about them just retly… Chara mpooned inwardly.

  “No,” she responded suctly.

  Curiosity tinued, “Well, think of it like this. If mana is possibility, ay is the oute of all preg possibilities, then [Elements] are variations of identity that represent the eight most ubiquitous outes observed across all of reality. Those being:

  “Being a solid, liquid, as,” she gestured at the doodles representing the earth, water and wind elements.

  “Gaining or losi,” she gestured at the doodles representing the fire and ice elements.

  “Transmitting aric current,” she poi the trio of lightning bolts.

  “And radiating or abs light,” she poi the two middle ses representing light and dark elements.

  As she finished listing them out, she fixed her steady gaze on Chara and spoke. “If you are to take away ohing from this lesson, it should definitely be these. These outes hold immense significe! I strongly reend that you memorize them as best as possible,” she advised early.

  After repeating them one more time, the swirling teacher tinued, “Keep in mind that the [Elements] don’t necessarily represent the outes themselves but are more like the focal points for mana’s iendency to verge toward the outes that were already bound to happeually. This, in turn, naturally favors possibilities that are adjat to these outes, making them easier to ma.”

  So, sort of like the paths of least resistance… Chara simplified. However, after a moment of ption, she grew puzzled and asked, “What makes a possibility adjat to one of these outes, or um, elements, and why does that make it easier to ma?”

  The curiosity spirit, thrilled that her student had not only grasped the tent of her lecture but had also sidered its underlying implications, swished with delight.

  “Well, to be ‘adjat’ mean a couple of different things, such as being nearby, sharing a on end point, or ing directly before or after something. Among which, the distin doesn’t really matter.

  “What’s truly important is that for a possibility to fit any of these definitions, it would o have a simir ‘dire from reality’ as the oute its being pared to,” she stated using a much steadier voice.

  “As for why this makes them easier to ma… I mean, think about it. Mas effort while possibilities require effort to ma. So, if a of mas a certain type of effort that generally results in a certain type of oute—for example, fire element mana making things gaihen you won’t have to do mu the way of casting to vihat element of mana to ma a possibility that involves doing that exact same thing,” she expihhly.

  “I see. But wouldn’t assessing whether a possibility is adjat to a of mana every time you o cast be incredibly inve?” Chara asked incredulously.

  Chara felt the swirling teacher’s gaze bee slightly more intense. She had no way of knowing what the curiosity spirit was thinking, a, she couldn’t help but feel like the gaze being directed at her was one looking at something silly.

  After a long pause, Curiosity asked in a mischievous voice. “Little spirit, tell me. What is the simirity between washing a giant boulder, washing a copper pte, washing a copper pte using a tub of acid, and washing a piece of furniture?”

  “Err… that they all involve the principle of washing?” Chara answered while feeling a sense of foreboding.

  “Oh-ho~? So you still remember about principles~! Great~! Then, could you remind me of the sed step of casting?” requested Curiosity with eveer amusement.

  The little spirit’s premonitioronger. She began to feel apprehensive about acquiesg to the teacher’s arra.

  “That is… to perform an invocation, or a, that clearly expresses the desired effect of a spell’s underlying… principle. Oh…” she trailed off in realization.

  Once again, the curiosity spirit burst into a fit of giggles, making the little spirit feel very embarrassed.

  “No, you would not stop to assess whether a possibility is adjat to a of mana every time you o cast,” Curiosity repeated word for word. “That would be extraordinarily inve. Instead, you would only do that for a specific set of principles, and you would do it looooooong before the time of casting.

  “You see, unlike possibilities, which are in stant flux and ever-ging: principles are retively stant. It does not matter what is being washed; when, where, or why it is happening; or who is the one doing it. The principle of washing will always stitute the act of sing, generally using water or some other liquid. And since liquid is the oute represented by water element, that would make the principle of ‘washing’ adjat to this element, making it suitable for casting spells based on this principle.

  “Once you had firmed this fact, you could then go on to use this principle for a myriad of different spells—without ever having to worry about millions of minor variations or whether you were using the wrong element of mana~!” she advised pyfully.

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

  But what do you do if a principle is adjat to multiple different elements? And what happens if a principle isn’t adjat to any of them? Various questions bubbled up in Baby’s mind oer another, despite still feeling a bit embarrassed. However, after being made fun of two times in a row, she had bee too afraid to ask.

  Curiosity, irely unaware of this, observed her with a hint of expectatioheless, she did not satisfy her student’s curiosity. After all, how could Baby cultivate her own sense of curiosity if she never had the urge to iigate for herself? Answers always o be kept just out of reach!

  After a short respite, the swirling teacher introduced the opic. “Moving on from elements, we have the other more advanced form of identity known as an [Essence].”

  Chara perked up. For a while now, she had known that her teacher was a [Curiosity Essence Spirit]. However, this information hadn’t been of much use as she didn’t know what an ‘essence’ was. As it turned out, it had been a type of mana.

  Does this mean that Curiosity is made out of curiosity essence mana and not water element mana—like I previously assumed? Chara theorized silently.

  “Now, given that [Essences] are just another form of identity, you might be w why I referred to them as being more advahas?” supposed Curiosity.

  The little spirit hadn’t wohis, but it was a good question.

  “You see, unlike elements, which embody self-tained and indepe outes, [Essences] use the outes represented by elements as starting points to then build upon, and ma more detailed and plex possibilities.

  “For example, rather than trying to jure the abstract cept of music, like you might do for air using wind element mana, you would jure music using air. Or rather than trying to jure the abstract cept of castle, you would jure a castle out of earth,” the swirling teacher illustrated pyfully.

  “Due to this derivative nature, essences are often described as having a parent element, or as being the child or essence of another element. For example, the parent of tranquility essence is darkness. Meanwhile sound essence is a child of wind element, while curiosity is an essence of water,” expihe curiosity spirit while swirling proudly.

  Oh, I was right… Chara inwardly pumped her fist.

  “It’s not like you ’t maranquility or sound without using the corresponding essence mana. It’s just that trying to do it using its parent element will naturally be a lot less precise, less effit, and more likely to fail—! And this is merely achieving the result, let alorying to make minor adjustments!” the essence spirit criticized, not at all hiding her bias against elemental mana.

  “In addition to this, [Essences] also have oher major differehat sets them apart from elements. Namely, that they aren’t limited to just eight—or even appear to have a fixed number~!

  “Like elements, [Essences] also represent distinct outes. A, as beings discover new is, new possibilities, and new ways to use mana, the number of essences grows evermore~!” Curiosity excimed proudly.

  “Does this mean you create new essences?” Chara inquired sheepishly.

  “Almost certainly. Though, I think trying to do it artificially might be o impossible,” respohe swirling teacher.

  “Why?” Chara asked.

  Curiosity pondered for a moment and then spoke, “Although they might not be as ubiquitous as the eight elements, every essehat I’m aware of represents a cept that’s at least… someromi? They all embody things that either exist across a vast number of pces, affe untable number of lives, arner an immense amount of i. And not just momentarily but both historically and to the current day.

  “For this reason, I strongly believe that essences must embody something promi! Because if it’s not at least as promi as the floor of this , which embodies the state of being solid, then wouldn’t any nearby undecided reserved mana decide to bee earth mana instead? So, although I may not know the exact criteria for what qualifies as an essence, I think it’s pretty safe to rule out anything that’s too insignifit.

  “For simir but opposite reasons, I also think it’s safe to rule out anything that’s too broad. Mana identity is practically a fixation on a particur oute. So if the oute is too broad and unspecific, then what is the mana supposed to fixate on? Every spirit uands the cept of ‘movement.’ A, has there ever been such a thing as movement essence?”

  “Has there?” Chara asked.

  “There definitely hasn’t!” the swirling teacher denied vehemently.

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