Mage Of Shadows - Chapter 6 Learning Magic

Letting none of his time go to waste, Favian searched for a suitable location to hide the book on the carriage. There were some shelves here and there, and under the seats there was also some space, however these places all couldn’t be any further away from concealed and hidden.

Finding nowhere on board to put the book away, Favian sighed dejectedly, having given up. Deciding that he might as well just try to read as much of the book as possible before it inevitably being taken away by his master, he flipped open the first page. In unclear writing, he could see that this was a table of contents.

From the table of contents, he navigated himself to one chapter which particularly caught his eye, ‘The unknown magic’. His curiosity had been piqued.

‘What would constitute as an unknown magic?’ he asked himself. Would it be some forbidden magic or some really useless magic like turning chickens into geese, he wondered.

[Ding! Would user like the game system to scan book ‘Darkness and Shadows’? Required function Object Scanning 1 Required experience 250. Allows host to scan objects in the world to find out their properties, contents and functions. Higher levels allow host to scan objects without the need to touch them.]

‘Huh, that’s interesting. I mean this should allow me to pretty much know all the details about anything in my hand, which will probably come in handy.’ Thinking about it, Favian didn’t hesitate to purchase this new function, as it seemed like it would be a very important tool for his use in the future.

[Ding! Purchase successful, Object Scanning 1 acquired. Total Experience 500.] the game system replied.

As the notification beeped, a huge influx of information entered Favian’s mind. His brain felt like thousands of tiny ants were burrowing through it, leaving it itchy and irritated for almost half a minute afterwards. As the uncomfortable sensation slowly left, all of the information from the book was very clear in his mind, almost as if he had read through it a hundred times. He could even recite it word for word if he wanted to.

Favian’s eyes widened as he thought to himself, ‘That’s just amazing. I always heard about people with photographic memory, it must be similar to what I have just experience. Well fortunately for me, I don’t even need to open every page of the book, I just need to touch it and my game system will scan everything for me.’

The information of the book was sorted into the different chapters, and the game system even left a brief overview and conclusion to the book. Irrelevant information such as repeated info was completely removed, and the data was left in Favian’s mind as concisely as possible.

‘Seems like this book is an introduction to dark and shadow magic. They are two different types of magic; however shadow magic is almost completely unknown of. I wonder why?’ he asked himself.

The book described that dark magic was the use of dark energy particles in order to cast spells. These spells would usually consist of necrotic energy, which was considered as nefarious and foul by the larger part of the continent according to the information given in the book. Thus, usually dark magic was only used for research purposes into the afterlife and the workings of the spirit. Necromancers, witches and warlocks were all advanced classes based on dark magic, and a person could learn any of these professions if they were sufficiently gifted in the absorption of dark energy particles. Besides the point that these profession were frowned upon in the continent of Ortu Solis, there were also such a rare number of individuals who were gifted in the absorption of the particles required for dark magic.

The book outlined that magicians were divided into different realms of power, namely individuals were ranked based on 1-9, with 1 being the level an apprentice magician would gain after a year of study, and 9 being the highest power level available. Each of these levels was divided into lower, inner and upper realms, with each advancement of minor realms granting a substantial increase in power. An individual like Favian was not yet a Rank 1 magician, he was only an initiate as he was gifted in talent to be able to learn magic.

Shadow magic was also described in the book, as a type of magic completely independent of the 6 other elements. Shadow magic was noted down as being the fusion of dark and light magic, however the ability to cast it was independent on talent in either of those magic types.

‘That would make sense I guess’ Favian thought. ‘In order for a shadow to be present, light needs to be shining. Without darkness or light, a shadow can’t exist’.

Mages that followed the path of shadow magic had a clear disadvantage. They could not study any other magic types except for dark, light and shadow. This was a pretty big disadvantage as it would mean that flying was out of the picture for Favian were he to study this. Or creating fire for a campfire. Or conjuring water to quench his thirst. However, the author noted that the power and utility that shadow magic possessed should not be looked down upon.

Favian had a hard choice to make. He could either wait until he got to the academy, and find a suitable element to study in, or he could decide to bolster his own power no from the get-go at the cost of other elements. Thinking hard about it, he decided that studying shadow magic was the right choice. Since rarely anybody even knew it existed, it could be his ace in the hole should he ever need it. Having cards hidden under your sleeves is always better than it being known exactly what type of magic you can cast.

‘System, can you automatically learn all available spells for me at my current level automatically, or do I have to learn them myself?’ he questioned the system.

[Ding! Affirmative. A total of 3 spells are available to you, as you are currently at lower initiate level. Spells available Necrotic touch, Bend light, and Net of Shadows can be learned. Estimated time to completion, 24hours.] It replied.

‘Okay since that is sorted, I’m just going to hand off the book to Aria, and hope for the best since I don’t need it anymore. I’ll tell her everything that happened, since still don’t think lying is the way to go here. I’ll just avoid the part about me burning down the wagon. I might even get a reward if I’m lucky’ he thought to himself. Meticulous planning had always been part of Favian’s routine. He had to juggle the enormous amounts of time at medical school with his own love for gaming and sports. If he had more time in the day available back on Earth, he might even have gotten himself a girlfriend.

Only roughly 10 minutes had passed since Favian came back to Aria’s carriage, but he had already been able to completely learn the book and plan what his next move was. Most of this was attributed to his personality of always finding the method which would yield the quickest results, and it somehow seemed that after just one cycle of meditation his mind was already working at a quicker pace than usual. It also goes without saying that the game system gave him a complete advantage that no other person would ever have.

After another 15 minutes, the fires outside were snuffed out completely. The chaos outside seemed to settle down, but the marks were left. Trees in a huge radius of almost half a kilometre were charred to cinders. No wildlife could be seen in the vicinity, which gave the surroundings an eerie quietness. The air smelt sickly sweet, a very confusing aroma after what had just transpired. Many fallen trees blocked the path that was usable for the carriages, and it would take another hour before these could be cleared away with the help of everybody else. Only a few number of actual magicians were at the scene, and they all had a certain pride about themselves that wouldn’t let them take part in menial labour such as clearing out a pathway. Thus, all of the magician initiates and the drivers and merchants put in the work to get everything back into order. After this was cleared away, the journey continued.

In the aftermath of the scene, there was a hooded figure hovering about 2 kilometres in the air, looking down site. The figure talked into a communication device, which was hung against their collar, in the shape of a two back to back half-moon crescents, parted in the middle by a thick line. After spending a short moment examining the location, and casting an unknown spell, the figure darted away towards the location which Favian was also travelling to.