Julius opened the heavy oak doors without knocking. It was not a problem because after a waiting room there was another set of doors, at which he knocked.
After being received by the butler, whose name was apparently Samuel, Mordred was led into a room where he was met with an old lady.
She was old. Thin and wrinkled faced with a stern expression, a head of medium-length white hair and wearing a dark mage's robe.
It was the image of Sofia Vexmoor, the nation's Court Magician.
Sofia appraised Mordred, looking at him curiously. "So you're that boy who can use Silent Casting?"
"Yes."
"Show it to me."
"Yes… But I only learned Water Ball. Do you have a bucket?" Mordred said after looking around.
Back in the throne room he was asked to showcase his Magic and certainly did not want to waste the king's time, doing it immediately as ordered, but here he did not want to make a mess, as he might be yelled at instead.
"Shoot it out the window," the old lady replied instead.
"I… haven't learned how to do that yet."
Although Mordred had already figured out the method in secret, in reality, he shouldn't know how to do that yet.
The old lady snorted while glaring at him. "Hmph! That's right, you haven't even learned the basics. What is a kid like you even doing here?"
Mordred was speechless. What's he doing there? He was asked to come here…
Sofia smirked, seeming satisfied, then turned toward the butler. "Anyway. Give him a bucket."
"Yes, Grandmaster."
After Mordred received a wooden bucket, he slightly stretched out his right hand.
Silently, a sphere of water formed and dropped into a bucket.
Sofia saw this and her eyes gradually widened as her face froze. That was the true instant Silent Casting without a doubt! And it came from a 2-year-old out of anyone!
After recovering, Sofia asked, "Are you tired?"
"No."
"Then do it nine more times."
In truth, Mordred was a complete beginner and a 2 year old child at that, so the old Magician didn't expect him to manage casting ten Water Balls; a typical beginner Magician would get tired after casting Water Ball once or twice.
Sofia only wanted to test Mordred's limits and make him fail to teach the boy some humility.
'Water Ball… Water Ball... Water Ball…'
Mordred continued casting the spell according to the Court Magician's request. It seemed that the old woman wanted to test his Mana Capacity or mental strength.
But let alone casting ten Water Balls, Mordred could probably cast a thousand and still not feel tired. In his toddler body, Mana was one thing he had in abundance.
Plop, plop, plop…
Water balls continued falling into the wooden bucket and soon a sum of ten dropped into it.
Sofia and Julius watched this and looked stunned.
After a moment, Sofia glared at Mordred and asked, "Is this really your first time casting Magic?"
"... Yes. I couldn't read books on Magic before."
The two heard it and inwardly nodded. Given that Mordred was only 2-years-old, it was only natural that he wouldn't be allowed to read books on Magic and no one would have even thought of teaching him Magic before this.
Sofia said thoughtfully, "It seems you have some talent after all, boy."
Julius heard this and softly smiled. How was this merely 'some talent'? The old woman could never get herself to give someone proper praise.
"Your performance was satisfactory. Fine then. From now on I'll be your Master!" said Sofia. "What are you doing, boy? Bow before your Master."
"... Yes. Master." Mordred knelt to the ground and slightly lowered his head.
Sofia nodded her head. "You can leave now. Your lessons will start tomorrow. I need to prepare some learning materials for you."
"Yes." Mordred stood up. But before leaving, he said, "Master, I wasn't allowed to read the Guidebook to Magic before. Is it fine if I get it? To read up on the basics."
"Sure. Mm, wait. You can read?!" Sofia stared at Mordred, when she realized this point, as if she had seen a strange creature.
"Mm… Yes. My nanny has taught me since I was one…" Mordred explained with an innocent look.
Sofia blinked her eyes twice. "You… Have been learning how to read since you were one, eh?"
Julius also looked at Mordred in faint shock. There are some noble children who don't take too well to studying and don't learn how to read until their mid teens.
But what was that? Having learned how to read at merely 2 years old. How could a kid like this exist in this world?
After collecting himself, Sofia said, "I see, it's good that your nanny thought of your future education. It seems she's a good teacher."
"..."
"Anyway, you can read the Guidebook to Magic. Learn the basics," Sofia said while casually waving her hand.
At this, Julius immediately interjected, "Master! How can you give a 2-year-old a Magic Guidebook? What if he hurt himself or caused a fire on his lonesome? And what if a spell backfired on him?"
Sofia heard this and felt embarrassed. She suddenly forgot that the kid in front of her was only two; he did not seem like one.
Sofia said, "That's right… It's a bit inappropriate for you to study magic on your own with your age. And if something happened, I'd be held responsible. So forget it, I'll teach you the basics myself."
Mordred heard this and frowned in disappointment. He couldn't help secretly glaring at Julius. Although this guy was completely in the right and meant well… did he have to speak up and ruin everything? Now he won't get to self-study Magic in his free time…
Mordred began to regret speaking up in Julius's presence.
He then left the Court Magician's Tower, being led back by the butler Samuel.
…
Next day was Mordred's first Magic lesson.
Sofia and Mordred were alone.
Sofia sat behind a large office desk with a thick book and a stack of papers while Mordred was sitting opposite him on a wooden chair with a small table attached to it to hold a notebook, which was arranged for him in advance.
Sofia cleared her throat and began the lecture:
"First of all, you need to know that there are three main types of Magic: Attack Magic, Healing Magic and Summoning Magic."
"All Magic spells are divided into seven ranks, categorized by the amount of Magic Power needed and the complexity of the spell. The ranks are: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor and God."
"A Magician's ranking title is determined by the most advanced spell he can cast. For example, I'm a King-ranked Wind Magician."
Mordred heard the old woman announce this with some pride. He faked amazement, innocently saying, "Wow, Master, you're amazing!"
Sofia let out a cough and replied, "As long as you keep studying, you'll also reach my level one day."
Mordred faintly smiled. His ambitions were far far higher than that, but he did not want to hurt the Court Magician's feelings.
Sofia continued lecturing, "For someone who has mastered a King rank Magic, they are commonly called a Grandmaster Magician, and it is also my title. For those who have mastered all four types of Attack Magic, they are Great Grandmasters. Of course, in the current world there isn't anyone with this title, so Grandmaster is the highest title a Magician can attain."
Having this thought, Mordred curiously asked, "Then what's the title for someone who mastered all Emperor ranked Magic?"
Sofia looked at him weirdly and frowned unhappily. "Mastering all Emperor ranked Magic? Just mastering one would make someone a legend! Boy, do you know that for the last four hundred years not a single Emperor ranked Magician appeared?"
"Aah… Really?" Mordred was shocked.
He knew that Emperor ranked Magicians were not cabbages casually found on the street, but for not a single one to appear in 400 years seemed like an exaggeration; this meant there wasn't one since the last Human-Demon War! It's as if after the war the entire world had fallen into deep decline and not even geniuses were being born.
"Hmph, you really know nothing about the world and your horizons are narrow. Allow me to educate you," said Sofia. "Saint-ranked Magicians are rare, but it's nothing too amazing. They appear frequently here and there. A decent Magician with some skill, a good staff and enough training can eventually take that last step and learn one Saint-ranked spell."
"But King-ranked Magicians are different. King rank Magic requires copious amounts of Magic Power and true talent. In the entire Central Continent, King-ranked Magicians could probably be counted on one hand. They are the absolute war machines, often deployed by large nations to deter other countries from invading because with a single spell they can cause disastrous losses, killing thousands."
"And for Emperor ranked Magicians, they are legends. There hadn't been one since the Laplace War…"
"As for God-ranked Magic, it is a power of a God that can affect even an entire continent. It stands to reason that it requires even more Magic Power that no ordinary mortal could hope to possess."
"I see…" said Mordred.
The population decreasing due to Laplace's invasion can be one explanation for the decline in talents, but for not a single Emperor ranked Magician to appear in a whole 4 centuries seemed too forced. It was not like in the legends where Emperor-ranked Magicians and peak God ranked swordsmen seemed common; although he only heard of two.
'So… Hitogami?' Mordred secretly had this thought.
If Hitogami plotted to prevent any human geniuses from rising to power during this time, eliminating them early and crippling the world's progress, then it would make perfect sense. This would also explain why modern day Magic was not developed in certain aspects.
"Anyway, let's continue with the lesson."
Sofia's first magic lesson was very simple and basic so far.
Firstly she talked about the types of Magic.
The three main categories are Attack Magic, Healing Magic and Summoning Magic, but these also had their own subcategories.
Attack Magic has four specializations corresponding to the four elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Wind.
Healing Magic consists of: Healing Magic and Detoxification Magic. Barrier Magic and Divine Magic are also under this category.
Lastly, Summoning Magic is divided into two sub-categories: Summoning Magic and Enchantment Magic. Summoning type was used to summon beasts and spirits, whereas Enchantment Magic dealt with creating Magic Tools.
There were also other more unique types of Magic, but these were all 'Inherent Magic' that only specific races could use.
Summoning Magic, Divine Magic and Barrier Magic were very niche branches of Magic, and Mordred would focus on learning Attack Magic first.
Sofia then talked about Magic Power.
Mordred knew that in Fate there is supposed to be a fundamental difference between Mana and Magical Energy, even though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably in translation.
Mana or Prana is the ambient energy in the atmosphere, while Magical Energy would be the same energy converted by living beings to be usable in performing Magic or Magecraft.
There was also Life Force or 'Od', which could similarly be used to perform Magecraft.
In this world, the term used for energy used in casting Magic has a direct meaning of 'Magic Power' or 'Magical Energy' – a term coined by the Demon Race.
Mordred had no choice but to begin using the same word for it as everyone else - Magic Power.
It seemed a bit cringe to him at first, but he later figured it might actually be more scientific and accurate than if he forcefully called it 'Mana' because it at least described the nature of what it is, while 'Mana' was just a dumbed down Hawaiian term that meant nothing.
However, inwardly he still sometimes called it 'Mana' for simplicity's sake and because he was used to it from many various RPGs.
There are two ways of using Magic Power: to use the energy within the caster's body or to draw out Magic Power from something that contains it, the prime example being a Magic Crystal.
However, Magic Crystals were practically only useful for creating convenient household items like magical lamps. To cast spells in combat, and in particular powerful spells, a Magician would still depend on their internal energy stores.
It is also believed that the amount of a person's Magic Power is set when they are born. During Magic training a person would only learn how to unearth their potential and use that energy, but you could not grow it.
Mordred knew that according to the novel this point was not true. If a person trained during early childhood it was possible to grow one's Mana Reserves, and it had nothing to do with improvements in casting Magic. He had also personally already experienced it.
Next, Mordred learned about the two main ways to activate Magic.
The first one is through an Incantation and the second is through the use of Magic Circles.
Incantation is something that he had already done, speaking out a spell's chant out loud.
On the other hand, the use of Magic Circles requires drawing a Magic Circle at a predetermined location or a magical tool beforehand, using special ink.
Magic Circles were apparently popular in ancient times, but in the current times Incantations are the mainstream way of casting Magic.
In the distant past, the simplest incantations required about one to two minutes. It wasn't exceedingly long, but this method made Magic very difficult to use in combat.
At one point appeared a certain Magician who successfully reduced the Incantations' length. Thus, Incantations became the norm. These days the simplest Incantations take about five seconds, so basic Magic attacks could be used with an Incantation.
In contrast, once a Magic Circle is drawn, the related spell can be triggered instantly and with no chants. So even if using Incantations was simpler and required no prep-time from an average Magician, these still had their use, and clearly especially so for those who can't use Silent Casting.
Mordred learned that Sofia was quite skilled in the use of Magic Circles because the old woman boasted of being able to draw up even King-ranked attack Magic Circles that multiple different mages can pour their energy into, as well as set up King-ranked barriers.
It was something that Mordred found even more impressive than Sofia's ranking as a King-ranked Magician because elemental spells were things that he could probably learn simply from books. But the skill in Magic Circles, and especially in Barrier Magic, seemed to be relatively far rarer in this world!
Additionally, his Master's speciality was actually the creation of Magic Tools, as focus on magical advancement was the current trend in the Kingdragon Kingdom.
In the state of the current world, Sofia Vexmoor could truly be called a prodigy! Just mastering a single King-ranked Magic put one at the top of the Magicians' world, but she had gone beyond that and had high attainments in many other fields.
It was no wonder Sofia was the Court Magician of one of the most powerful nations. The old woman was arrogant and cranky, but she had all the right to be arrogant.
...
Name: Sofia Vexmoor
Titles/nicknames: Grandmaster Magician, Court Magician of the Kingdragon Kingdom, Lone Storm, Sleeping Beauty (former)
Age: 60+
Strength: F-
Endurance: F-
Agility: F-
Mana: D (C- with a staff)
…
Wind Magic: King rank
Water, Earth and Fire Magic: Saint rank
Barrier Magic: Elementary rank (chanted), King rank (Magic Circles)
Healing Magic: Advanced rank (chanted), Saint rank (Magic Circle scrolls)
Enchantment Magic: Advanced rank+
Detoxification, Divine and Summoning Magic: Intermediate rank
None.
...
AN: 90% of the webnovel uses the term Magic Power. And this is also what characters use in dialogue. I feel wrong in changing that. So the route I took is using Magic Power as the proper term -- in narration and in character's dialogue -- and Mana as a synonym sometimes used by the MC to not make it too redundant. I rewrote earlier chapters to make it only use Mana until now, unless it's in character dialogue.