"Real Knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”

  – Confucius

  Eli

  Setting the device to the side to continue what it was doing, I picked up the emblem. The whole process of pulling power from the core was easier, though it still gave me quite a shock. Only a trickle of power flowed from me and into the emblem.

  Opening my eyes, I focused on the emblem in my hand. It was no longer a dull silver color. Four of the points now had different colors on their surface, albeit dull and not really covering the silver color.

  Looking closely at each, I tried to make out each color. The top and the bottom legs were still empty of color. On the left side, there was a crimson above a muddy-brown color. The right had a golden yellow sitting above a deep violet.

  Trying to understand what I was looking at, I kept bringing the thing closer to my eyes. A soft feminine voice caused me to jump, nearly poking my eye with one of the star’s legs. “Hello, hello, testing. Ok, it’s working. I wouldn’t go bringing that close to my face if I were you. God knows where it has been.”

  My eyes frantically scanned over the room, looking for the source of the voice. I found it just as I asked, “Who are you?”

  “Well, I have two names, really.” I looked at the device on my table. It was the source of the voice. “Officially, we are called SEAK devices. Not a really good name to be honest. Looking at the master list of names, I got lucky and snagged Sága. Quite good timing. Another device was brought online a few seconds after me.”

  Without realizing what I was doing, I held up one of my hands to stop them. When they stopped talking, I realized they could somehow see their surroundings. “Wait, so each of the students is given one of you, and each of you are capable of conversation. Does being given away not irk you? Wait, how are you able to talk? Are all of you able to talk?”

  “No, not really. Yes, obviously, and no,” she said. I realized she was answering my questions in order, but before I could ask more, she continued. “When we are first activated, a person’s mana is used to finish our personality. According to the notes I just went over, it allows for variation in us as well as the ability for us to complement your abilities better.”

  Replacing the emblem on my shirt, I asked. “And what are my abilities? What can I do that you might be able to assist me?”

  “The emblem is supposed to go on the left collar.” Rolling my eyes as I moved it. “Let me see, based on my personality traits and device abilities; you are potentially good at structuring spells. Working the flow of mana and, oh, that’s a rare ability, converting mana forms. I wonder how that will work with your other ability.”

  I was already lost, “can you explain any of what you just said?”

  “Why would that confuse,” her voice paused for a couple of seconds. I drummed my fingers on the table as I waited for her to continue. “Oh, well, that is, different. You were not born with magic. You only just gained it through some pandemic on Earth. Wait, is that the same Earth that every race is fighting to return to?”

  “Why would they be fighting to return to Earth? Based on the few mages I have met, they don’t care for humans. What would make them want to even visit? What is stopping them?”

  “There is a short and a long answer to both of those questions. Each would require you to understand a ton of history. Suffice it to say, they don’t care about humans. Nearly every group wants to rid themselves of humans and regain a place that they don’t need to maintain with expensive magic. The only reason no one has managed to do so has to do with the few groups that are living among humans. They guide humans to take out any group they deem a threat.”

  If there were magical creatures living on Earth alongside humans, that would explain some of the myths and legends. Figuring that I would learn more about all of this in the mandatory history class, I figured I would try to learn some magic. “Can you teach me some magic, or is that not allowed?”

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “It is, though it will not be as fun as you are thinking. Going off your emblem, you have access to four of the six main elements. The issue is that you have little magic in total. There are a few ways to increase your capacity, but none of them are fun.”

  Damn, I had been looking forward to playing with spheres of water or fire. Sighing, I said, “Got it. Can you explain a bit about magic and show me how to increase my capacity?”

  “First, tell me, can you handle some discomfort, even some pain?”

  Hesitating, I said, “Yes. Why?”

  Instead of answering me, she said, “There are three main forms of mana. Wild mana: this is the mana that is found in the environment. Stored mana: this is wild mana that your body has brought into itself and stored in your core. And effective mana: this is the mana that is used in spells. After a spell uses the mana, it is returned to the environment, becoming wild mana once again.”

  “So, the mana is never used up? What we use returns to the environment where we can use it again?”

  “Yes and no. If you were to seal a room off so that mana could not enter or leave it and cast millions of spells, you would notice a decrease in available mana. There are places where the amount of mana is sparse. In those places, having a large amount of stored mana is a must. The easiest and most common way to increase one’s storage is to just use it.”

  “So, I just need to cast spells.” A bit confused, I asked, “Then why is it that you said increasing my capacity would cause discomfort?”

  “Because you are going to use that along with another method to work on your capacity. It will be something I recommend you work on until you are able to do it subconsciously. You can be sure that most of the mage-born students here have been doing the same exercises for as long as they could cast spells.”

  “Ok, so what do I do?”

  “Pull a thread of mana out and form this shape with it. Do so with one continuous line.” On the screen, a circle appeared. Bisecting it was a crack or bolt of lightning. A simple animation showed two ways of creating it with one motion.

  Focusing inward, I pulled a thread of mana to my fingers. Just as I went to draw the shape, she yelled, “Not outside yourself, you idiot! Keep everything inside yourself. You are going to pour all of your available mana into it until it cannot hold anymore. Any other mage that can touch this spell can pull that mana out. There are also methods of poisoning mana pools. Methods that would either kill or cripple you. With other spells, it would be fine as you wouldn’t be pulling the mana back inside, but this method of growth requires it.”

  Just the thought had me scared. All of the students I have met so far would likely be happy to do such a thing. Quickly, I cut the thread off and watched as the snipped part withered away. Taking a deep breath, I pulled another thread out. Focusing, I formed the spell above my core. Carefully pulling it into the desired shape. As soon as I finished, I asked, “What next?” That momentary lapse was enough that the entire thread dissipated. “Damn it.”

  “After you form a component, you must hold the shape with your mind. To invoke the spell, push mana into it. Just like how you pushed power into me and your emblem. However, due to how this spell works, you will need to keep pushing power into it until it is full.” Then she started lecturing. “While that is easy with spells that have one or two components. Larger spells are made up of dozens. As soon as you have one of the spells filling, start creating additional spells and holding as many as you can. No need to activate them, though.”

  Following her instructions, I recreated the spell and pushed power into it. A sensation like a snap rippled out from it. The surprising sensation caused me to lose concentration on the spell. It distorted and broke before I could fix it.

  Again, I created the spell and activated it. As soon as it activated, I focused on pushing mana into it. Flooding it as fast as I could. My core drained in less than a second as the thread thickened to accommodate the load. As soon as the core was drained, the flow trickled to nearly nothing.

  “Ok, my core is drained,” I said, keeping focus on the spell so as to not lose what progress I had made.

  “Keep draining it until the spell pushes back. As soon as it does that, stop. Then let your core refill. When it is full, slowly pull the stored mana from the spell and push it back into your core. This will burn and hurt. Do this slowly, as you don’t want to cause your core to rupture. You just want to force it to stretch. Now, go eat dinner. Make sure to keep the spell active the whole time.”

  Standing, I wobbled as my mind worked hard to focus on doing two things at one time. Slowing down, I reached over and grabbed Sága. Pocketing her as I made my way to the door.

  “Oh, and there will come a point when your entire core hurts like hell as you stretch it, no matter how slow you stuff mana in. Stop at that point. Let the core rest for an hour before continuing.”

  “What would happen if I kept pushing past that point?”

  “A ruptured core. Maybe even a core explosion. Depends on how much mana you have.”

  “Ok, you keep saying ruptured core. What is that?”

  “A tear or hold in your core. Most minor tears will heal on their own. Anything more than a tiny tear will need advanced alchemy to heal. Until it does, you will leak mana like a sieve. A core explosion is when your core explodes, killing you.”

  With those lovely images in my head, I slowly made my way out to dinner. Making sure to take my time so I didn’t trip on something. People walked around me. Some looking at me, curious as to why I was moving so slowly.