“Okay, so. Magic isn’t just about casting a short incantation to make a flashy spell. It’s far more than that. I’m sure you know that already, at least to some extent, but today I’ll teach you more.” Meriel pointed at the circle in front of him again, and looked at his two apprentices in front of him. They were both wide-eyed, visibly giving him all of their attention, and that made him feel proud in turn.

  It was a shame that he couldn’t teach Aurelia as well, but there was just nothing that could be done about that fact. He’d made a mental note to look for an instructor for her right after they’d take their journey.

  But for now… she could do the cooking. Meriel was never the best cook, but he did try his best. Apparently, however, Aurelia was so skilled with her hands that she offered to do it for him, and immediately outpaced his vegetable cutting in a minute.

  He only somewhat remembered how to make Shkhehal, but after explaining it once, she immediately got to work.

  And that let him focus his whole day on what he needed to teach these kids before he left.

  “So. These magical circles are from an era long gone. They existed as long as humans have, and as far as we know, they were originally mastered by a wild tribe that lived in the area of Lavarza kingdom. Mary, you might know this, but Ziggy doesn’t.” Meriel looked the dragon pointedly. “Only Lavarzans can create magic circles, and they are the only ones with mana hearts and third eyes. Remember that.”

  “Wait, what? Why” Ziggy exclaimed.

  “I do not know. Nobody does. The people of the temple would tell you its because of the Alighter gifting his favorite people magic, but I am not so keen to believe that. I think it might be more to do with the fact that there’s just a gene that allows us to access mana.” Meriel looked around, and then pointed at ZIggy. “Do you know what mana is, Ziggy?”

  Ziggy hmm-ed, scratched his beard, and almost began saying something, but in the end he closed his mouth once again. “No, master.”

  Meriel chuckled. “It’s okay. I’m just trying to gauge what they’ve been teaching you.”

  “History.” Ziggy spat.

  History!” Mary replied excitedly.

  “Well, then you should know of how the system came to be.” Meriel nodded. “Good. What you need to understand is just that there is something that drives your spell. Mana isn’t some sentient thing, ready to serve your commands. It’s a tool. A dog you need to give commands. Never forget that.”

  He walked to the wall, and took out the giant chalk that Ziggy pilfered for Meriel when he asked. The dragon was so sneaky when he wanted to be, it was uncanny. Not that he was lacking other talents. These dragons really knew how to make a man envious.

  “So. As I said, these circles existed even before the system which we all use now did. It was replaced for two reasons, equally important. First off.” Meriel scribbled a circle on the wall. “It allows spells to imprint onto your mana-heart, and this allows you to cast it more quickly, with an incantation.”

  Mary raised her hand. “What incantation?”

  Meriel smiled at that. “Good question. The truth is, it doesn’t have a straight-forward answer. Every mage and his spells, and the magical circles related to them will be slightly different. What I’ll show you know will make everything clear.” Meriel said, and began writing on the wall. “There are rules to each spell. First, it needs a way to improve. Without room for improvement, it cannot exist. It just won’t imprint onto your mana heart.” He turned around, and motioned for Mary to stand up.

  “What is an imprint, Mr. Meriel?”

  “Remember how you made that spark on the entrance day? That was just pure mana. But a real spell is more than that. It leaves a mark on your mana heart, and the spell can grow in power. Now, let’s try to make that spell a reality. Both of you, write spark into the mana circle.”

  “Just spark? The word?” Ziggy asked.

  “Yes. Write it, or maybe draw it. What matters is that you imagine it, imagine the size, the flickering. All of it. Picture in your head, and make the picture as clear as possible. What matters for a simple elemental spell like a spark isn’t the technicalities, but the capacity of your mana heart, and the intent.”

  “Huh, that’s kind of stupi-…” he paused. “Strange.” Ziggy scratched his head, but then focused back and looked at Meriel. “So every mage can just learn literally any spell by thinking hard?”

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  Meriel chuckled. Ziggy really was a smart one, and he was asking all the right questions. “No, not really. That only applies to the simpler spells. A small spark, a gust of wind. You’ve seen elements do simple things, and so you’ll know them by nature, at least to some extent. But that doesn’t apply to more complex spells, I’m afraid.”

  Ziggy nodded, looking at what Meriel wrote on the wall. “That makes sense. I do have some spells imprinted onto my souls because I’m a dragon as well, I suppose. That’s why I already know how to summon fire and such. But when I tried to create a spell that would summon warm water, I couldn’t.”

  “Why would you want warm water?” Mary asked.

  “I wanted to try a bath.” He sighed. “One day, I’ll get into one.”

  “Well, Mr. Meriel, could you give us an example? I’m kind of getting lost.”

  Meriel nodded, and in the corner of his eye, he saw that Aurelia was paying close attention too, pretending to cook but her head was turned away from the stove.

  “Aurelia, do you want to listen too? You won’t get much use out of this, but I don’t mind if you join.”

  The new dragon froze, turned to him, and Meriel almost didn’t recognize her for the smile that was on her face, so genuine it was. “Yes! I would…” The dragon’s eyes widened, and then she coughed into her hand, put a ‘mask’ on, and picked up the four plates full of food, walking over to the room. “What I meant is that I’d like to listen as well, yes.”

  She handed out the meal, and the smell made Meriel’s mouth water, but he put it aside for a little bit. “Okay, you wanted an example. I think there’s one better than many, since it affected me a lot and it’s why Ziggy and Aurelia exist in the first place. Let’s look at the stasis spell, shall we?”

  He quickly made a sketch of a magical circle on the wall, and proceeded to write some parts into it. “First, it of course needs a way to progress, which would be the time it lasts. I made a protection glyph on the top, basically made of congealed mana, and then defined the area of the spell. After that, I added the parts. Back when I made this, I thought of it as a spell that would make it easier for my party to recover from a mistake, but I went a bit overboard and added parts that weren’t necessary for the few seconds it would last.”

  He pointed on one of the lines, and looked at his three companions. “There are lines for stopping hunger, stopping aging, any physical damage, thirst, need for sleep, mind decay, and so on. Why do you think I think of it as a pretty bad spell?”

  Mary looked at the wall, but it was clear she was getting only half of what he was saying. Ziggy also seemed confused, and in the end it was Aurelia who raised her hand.

  “Yes?” Meriel motioned her on.

  “I believe it drains too much energy, master? A lot of these aspects would be unnecessary in the scenario it was made for.”

  He nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Correct. These mistakes are what saved me in the end, and why I survived in the bubble. Yet, younger me forgot to add a line for oxygen. I never realized it until it was too late. But it’s a good show of what more complicated spells look like. You need to put lines and lines of magic, ever more as the spells grow more complex. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get lucky.”

  He again turned toward the wall, and drew a vertical line, writing before and after on the two sides. “Before the system existed, you had to understand the circumstances of your spells perfectly. We have few records of this era, but we assume that most of the mages only used simple elemental spells. Remember, they had to draw this magical circle each time they needed a spell, and they couldn’t increase the potency of their spells by leveling up. They worked on their mana-hearts, and speed of drawing.”

  “And that changed because?” Mary said, starry-eyed.

  “Because the spells we use now don’t necessarily need to be possible without magic.” Meriel finished. “We are more powerful than ever, and our possibilities are extended. What needed to be perfect understanding before only needs to be surface understanding now. I only needed to draw a line for each organ of the dragons here and what the source of their flesh would be, but not how their muscles are structured, how their eyes work, and so on. My rock elemental spell doesn’t specify the shapes of the rocks, but only the way they are connected by mana. A spell to turn rocks into gold needs a good understanding of what gold looks and feels like, but that was not possible before.”

  “Doesn’t that make every mage really powerful?” Ziggy raised his eyebrow. “Why didn’t anyone summon dragons yet? Why are you the only one who could do so? Or grow so powerful?”

  “Well, the spell used to summon you was one of the most complex in history. I mean, yes, every mage is very powerful and feared in other parts of the continent, but not everyone can do what I can. I have a deeper mana heart than many, allowing me to use more complex spells, or several at once. How much you can grow, how strong your spells grow is decided at birth. I also learn fast, and I studied a lot about how many spells work. Remember, I also had a part of a dragon for your creation and for Aurelia. Dragons are almost mythical. That, and I think… I think the dungeon heart gave me a glyph.”

  “A glyph?” The two children asked in unison.

  “Yes. There are spells that shouldn’t be possible even with the lifted restrictions of the system. I saw a man go invisible once. Heard of another just appearing in another country with a single step. There is a legend of a man who made earthquakes possible. Glyphs are the rarest thing on the continent, and they give you the option to make spells that simply shouldn’t be possible. They have many forms, but most usually they are just imprinted onto your soul, oftentimes without you even noticing.”

  Now that he thought about it, what was the progression element of [Dragonmancy]?

  There was none. This lesson would apparently end up being useful to him as well.

  “I knew you must be unique, master.” Said Aurelia, and the two kids nodded in agreement. That was embarrassing. Meriel quickly decided to change the subject.

  “Now that’s settled, let’s forget the spark spell. And let’s study something a bit more fun.”