Returning to the desk, Shulim flipped open the book and continued reading.
“It... is ne...○-ssary to have a cle...○r un...derstanding of the most ba...sic par...ticles that con...○-stitute magic, magic elements. Our... men...tal energy... is... the... ○-○... to... com...municate... with... magic elements... ...magic elements' what?”
...
Looking at her youngest daughter who had appeared before her once again, Lilia put down her book once more.
“Mother, how do you read these two words?”
Shulim asked, holding up the book.
Lilia patiently explained, “These two words are read as 'bridge'. It's like the bridge we usually see built over a river.”
“Bridge?”
Shulim's big eyes blinked.
“Well, the meaning of this sentence is...”
Seeing her youngest daughter's confusion, Lilia wanted to explain.
“I understand now. Thank you, Mother.”
Shulim bowed deeply once more and ran off.
...
Looking at Shulim's departing figure, Lilia couldn't help but wonder to herself, just what on earth did the child actually understand...
Back at her familiar desk.
“Our... men...tal energy... is... the... bridge... to... com...municate... with... magic elements...”
As she read on, another question mark popped up in Shulim's mind. Why was it a bridge? Why build a bridge between mental energy and magic elements? Was there also a river separating them? If so, was this bridge made of wood or stone?
For a moment, Shulim fell into an inexplicably bizarre train of thought regarding the exact relationship between mental energy and magic elements.
“When our... men...tal energy... per...ceives... magic elements... we will... find... that they exist... al...most... anywhere, in...cluding... inside our... bodies. Through... the method of... ○...○-tion...”
“...what kind of ○-tion?”
...
“...Through the method of meditation, we can convert free-floating magic elements into mana and store them inside our bodies.”
Facing Shulim, who stood before her once again, Lilia still explained patiently.
“I see. So it's meditation. I understand now. Thank you, Mother.”
Shulim bowed and was about to turn around and leave with the book in her arms.
Watching her youngest daughter's figure, Lilia hesitated for a moment before calling out softly, “Shulim.”
“What is it, Mother?”
Shulim looked up at Lilia.
“How about... Mommy reads it to you?”
Shulim looked down at the magic book in her hands, then looked up at Lilia, who was smiling gently. After a moment of hesitation, she finally decided to hand the book over to Lilia.
Lilia placed her own book on the windowsill, took the magic book, and gently lifted Shulim onto her lap.
Soon after, the sound of Lilia reading aloud filled the study.
“The so-called magic is a miracle-like power granted by the world itself. To use this power, one must have a clear understanding of the most basic particles that constitute magic, magic elements. Our mental energy is the bridge to communicate with magic elements. When our mental energy perceives magic elements, we will find that they exist almost anywhere, including inside our bodies. Through the method of meditation, we can convert free-floating magic elements into mana and store them inside our bodies...”
...
...
Three days after Shulim began learning magic.
Thud!
Shulim closed the magic book.
“Magic... there isn't any.”
Indeed, it was only now that she realized this magic book was merely an introductory guide explaining the concepts of magic. It was not a spellbook containing magic spells that one could actually learn.
Pushing the dictionary aside, Shulim picked up the magic book and walked over to the bookshelf.
Lilia couldn't read to her all the time, but since Shulim was currently obsessed with studying magic, Lilia had found a dictionary for her. Shulim quickly learned how to use the dictionary and finished reading the entire book with its help.
Furthermore, thanks to these three days of self-directed reading, Shulim's vocabulary had expanded tremendously. She felt that next school year, she might not even need the teacher's lessons anymore.
After putting the magic book back in its original place, Shulim pulled out another magic book.
Returning to the desk, she began flipping through it quickly, this time with a clear goal in mind.
Before long, she picked up the book and walked back to the bookshelf.
Subsequently, Shulim spent the entire morning pacing back and forth between the bookshelf and the desk.
This continued until the very last book was returned to the shelf.
Shulim was petrified.
“There isn't any...”
There were simply no magic books on the Hayeral family's bookshelves that could be used to directly learn spells.
...
“Father! Father!”
Shulim went to find Rezerian.
“What is it, my Shulim?”
Rezerian drove his training longsword into the ground and squatted down, looking Shulim in the eye as he asked.
“Father, do we not have any magic books in our house?”
“Magic books? Didn't you find any on the bookshelf?”
“No, that's not the kind of book I want. I want the kind that allows people to actually cast magic.”
Rezerian was taken aback.
“What do you want that kind of book for, Shulim? Those books are quite dangerous. If you read them and mess around recklessly, something bad might happen.”
Shulim quickly assured him, “It's fine. I already have a thorough understanding of magic. I won't behave recklessly.”
Shulim was not talking nonsense.
Although the books she had read over the past few days were technically unrelated to practical spells, they had truly given Shulim a real grasp of the concept of magic.
The essence of magic was a distinct phenomenon triggered by magic elements, which existed everywhere in the world, flowing under specific laws.
There were seven types of magic elements. Under normal circumstances, everyone's soul could resonate with at least one type. This was known as affinity. A person with the corresponding affinity could use their mental energy to control the respective magic elements, gather a large amount of them into their body, and form mana. As long as this mana was constructed into a specific circuit to flow, a distinct phenomenon would be triggered.
This circuit was known as a mana circuit.
Through the observation of mana flow and phenomena, people had summarized certain rules. The final product of those rules was the magic incantation.
Chanting a magic incantation allowed mana to flow in a specific manner, thereby triggering the desired phenomenon.
And this artificially controlled phenomenon was what people called magic.
Seeing his youngest daughter's serious expression, Rezerian also grew serious.
“For safety reasons, we indeed don't keep magic books with actual spells in our home.”
Hearing this, Shulim immediately looked disappointed.
“However,” Rezerian quickly added, “although we don't have them at home, White's Bookstore in town sells them. If you want one, Daddy can go buy it for you another day.”
“Really?!”
Shulim's eyes lit up, but then she suddenly remembered that she had already wasted three days, so she shook her head again.
“No need, Father! I can go buy it myself!”
With that, she turned and ran back toward the house.
The Hayeral family's residence was a double-door, two-story house with an adjacent warehouse for storing tools and sundries. It was surrounded on all sides by a stone wall with iron railings. The front gate was a sliding iron gate, and a paved stone path led from the front gate through the courtyard, straight to the main door of the mansion.
Shulim quickly ran up to the second floor and headed to the room on the left at the end of the hallway, which was her bedroom.
The room had a round glass window that could be opened vertically, offering a view of the flowers and plants cultivated in the courtyard.
Rustle!
Shulim opened her drawer.
She rummaged through the drawer and pulled out the small purse where she kept her allowance.
Opening the small purse, she counted nineteen silver coins and fifty-two copper coins, totaling 1,952 Cole.
Ever since she started attending the preparatory school last year, her mother, Lilia, had given her two silver coins every month as allowance. She had spent a little, but saved most of it, accumulating this much over the course of a year.
Looking at her plump little purse and the beautiful silver luster reflecting from the coins, Shulim was instantly filled with confidence.
“That's so much money! With this much, I'll definitely be able to buy lots of magic books!”
After tucking away her small purse, Shulim quickly headed out. She was not about to waste any more time.
Rate on N.U.
