Chapter 32: Scaring the Magic Prodigy.
"I can cast any spell!"
Vaan spoke with an excited smile on his face.
However, when his eyes fell wall, he realized that the power behind his spell was a lot weaker the Elara's spell.
Let alone creating a 5 cm deep hole, his spell couldn't even create a minor crack, there were only a few burnt marks but from the looks of it, they didn't look much.
"That's a little too weak... A normal punch on the nose would be stronger than that..."
Vaan commented as he started thinking about what went wrong.
Soon, his expression changed as he realized his mistake,
"Ahh! That's it! I used [Conjure Flames and shoot at the direction my palm points at], I skipped the shaping part, and since the Flames didn't have any fixed shape, the strength behind it decreased." Vaan realized.
"A shape huh..."
Then, he started thinking, the Mana around him rushed into his body, a new Magic Circle was formed, then, he drew the patterns,
*Flicker*
Flames were created and then, they moved and formed a Flame Spike.
"Mhm, this is it."
Vaan nodded in satisfaction, he then stopped feeding Mana to his Magic Circle, the Circle broke apart, he gathered Mana again, and a new Magic Circle formed, this time, the Patterns he drew were different from before,
*Flicker*
Flame Spike was formed.
Vaan then extended his palm toward the wall and,
*BOOM*
This time, the explosion was far stronger than his previous attack.
The smoke disappeared, this time, not only was the hole created, it was a 7cm deep hole, there were no burnt marks around the hole, however, that was within Vaan's expectation.
"As I thought, the impact of Fireball was wider, hence weaker, Flame Spike, on the other hand, focuses on a single point and is stronger."
Vaan analyzed as he nodded to himself.
"H-H-How are you doing that!?"
Suddenly, Elara shouted.
"Wha- What happened?" He questioned, a little taken aback by her sudden outburst.
"Did you already prepare these spells beforehand?" Elara questioned.
"Huh? Of course not. As I said, I am only doing what you told me to do."
"S-So you are telling me that this is your first time conjuring a Flame Spike and you haven't studied it before?"
"What is there to study about it?" Vaan questioned back.
"How do you know the Magic Patterns you need to conjure the Flame Spike if you haven't studied it yet!?"
"Huh?"
Vaan frowned.
"Didn't you just say that I need to link the Language of Magic and my needs,
I thought about conjuring Flames and shaping them into a Spike and the pattern just instinctively came into my mind."
"I-Instinctively...?"
Elara stuttered.
Then with a fearful look on her face, she glanced at Vaan and questioned.
"T-Then are you saying that you just thought about it and the pattern came to your mind?"
"Isn't that how it works?" Vaan questioned back and Elara's eyes widened in horror.
What kind of ridiculous ability is this!?
Mages may look cool and strong, standing at a place bombarding your enemies with various spells, it seems simple enough, however, only the mages know how much effort it takes to 'bombard your enemies with various spells'.
Unlike swordsmen, who can simply train their bodies by doing the same movement again and again, Mages were completely different. They had to drown themselves in magic books, reading magic theories left by different Mages just so they could understand the concept of Magic Language.
Mages cannot just simply copy the Magic Circles and Patterns left by previous Mages and cast their spells by injecting Mana into the copied Circle.
Every Mage had his own way to interpret Magic Language,
Every mage had to use a different pattern to conjure even the simplest of flames and there has never been a case where any 2 mages have the exact same Magic Patterns for the same spell.
What did that mean?
It meant that Mages had to analyze different other Mages, see how they interpreted a particular spell, understand it, read more magic theories about the said spell, comprehend the concept of the spell, understand why the previous Mage used the patterns he used in his circle and only after hours, days, months or even years of study and countless trials and errors are they finally able to 'Understand' the Magic Spell, 'Interpret' it in their own way, and find the Magic Patterns they need to cast the said spell.
It was like exploring a whole different language by analyzing and researching other languages.
And Mages have to do this for every single one of their spells!
The stronger the spell, the more complicated the pattern and the more difficult it is to understand and interpret it.
Mages spent most of their lives creating their spells... and...
And on the other hand, stood this man...
W-Who...
Who simply thinks and the required patterns come to his mind...
J-Just... how is that possible...?
"...ara"
"Elara."
"Elara!"
"Huh? Y-Yes!"
Elara finally came back to her senses as she heard Vaan's voice.
"Elara, are you alright?"
Vaan questioned with a worried look on his face as he gently held Elara's hands.
"I-I am alright." Elara nodded. Then, she looked into Vaan's eyes,
"Young Master Vaan, I have a request."
"What can I do for you?" Vaan questioned.
"Please conjure flames in all the shapes I showed you before,"
Elara requested.
She had to confirm it.
She couldn't just believe Vaan's words, no matter how much she wanted to trust Vaan's words, however, this absurdity, she could not just trust it without any concrete proof.
"What?" Vaan frowned.
"Please do it, Young Master," Elara spoke with a serious look on her face.
Seeing that, Vaan didn't know how to react, he was confused.
However, seeing Elara's eyes, Vaan decided to first fulfill her request.
He closed his eyes, the Mana around him moved and,
*Flicker*
Flame Spike was formed.
Vaan created the Magic Circle again and then,
*Flicker*
Flame Dagger was formed.
Then,
*Flicker*
The Fire Rope.
*Flicker*
And the Fireball.
One by one, Vaan showed all the shapes Elara did.
"H-How about you conjure a Fire Bow now?"
"A bow?" Vaan questioned.
"Yes."
Vaan closed his eyes as he imagined a Fire bow in his head, soon, however, his brows scrunched up,
"I... I can't do that...
My mind is completely blank and nothing is coming up."
Vaan replied.
Elara narrowed her eyes. Then,
*Flicker*
She conjured a Fire Bow.
Vaan's eyes instinctively fell on her magic circle as he noticed what Magic Patterns she used.
"Can you do it now?" Elara questioned.
Vaan closed his eyes again, and then,
*Flicker*
A Fire Bow which was exactly the same as Elara's was created.
"!!!"
Elara's eyes widened in horror.
'T-T-That's beyond the level of a Prodigy.'