Chapter 5

At the training facility, I stood on the auxiliary magic circle Tina had drawn and practiced manipulating magic.

Usually, one starts by sensing the presence of their own magic, but perhaps because my class is Sage, I could visualize my magic from the beginning.

I could vaguely see the amount and movement of both my own and others' magic. Moreover, it seemed that the Sage class not only allowed me to see magic but also provided a bonus to manipulating it.

"Is it like this?"

"Yes! It's wonderful, Mr. Halt. I didn't expect you to be able to move magic right away."

First, I spread the magic I felt at the center of my body throughout my entire body.

Then, I gradually moved it to my outstretched hand.

Magic gathered in my hand.

From there, one would normally release the magic outside the body, but I didn't do that.

I manipulated the magic to appear as if it was dispersing when my concentration wavered.

If I did it too smoothly, Tina might find it suspicious.

"It's thanks to Tina's magic circle."

I decided to attribute it to the magic circle.

It was true that the magic circle made manipulating magic a bit easier, but in reality, I knew I could manipulate magic even without the circle.

"This magic circle only has a slight effect on assisting magic manipulation. The smoothness with which you move magic, Mr. Halt, seems to be due to your talent."

Tina said this with a delighted look. She seemed to think it was just talent, even though she might have found it a bit too smooth.

By the way, my sister had a talent for magic and could already use intermediate-level spells when she entered magic school.

Tina, of course, knew this, so she might not be too surprised that I could manipulate magic right away. I should thank my excellent sister.

"Thanks. I'll practice a bit more."

"Yes, by the way, magic that has been dispersed within the body returns relatively quickly, but magic released outside the body takes time to recover."

"Is that so?"

"If you release magic, you might feel a sudden fatigue, so please be careful."

"Okay."

"To release magic, first gather magic in your hand as you did before. Then, imagine that your hand extends further and gather magic there."

"Understood, teacher."

It seemed I could try releasing magic, so I decided to give it a go.

As before, I first spread magic throughout my body, then gathered it in my outstretched right hand.

I focused my mind from my hand to the tip of my fingers.

Magic began to accumulate in the space, extending from my hand.

"Good! If possible, imagine a burning flame."

"Flame?"

I had seen a flame before. Tina's fire magic, which made my face feel hot even from a distance of nearly five meters—

So, it was easy to imagine.

"Wow!"

The magic I had retained in my fingertips turned into a flame.

It was right next to my hand, but it didn't feel hot at all.

It was a strange sensation.

I tried to shape the flame into a spear, as Tina had done.

"Fire Lance!"

Imitating Tina, I chanted and threw a spear of flame at the target that had been prepared.

The flame spear flew straight and hit the target, burning it slightly before disappearing.

The target was only slightly charred.

"Y-You can cast a spell in its complete form from the very beginning?"

Tina looked at the slightly charred target with a surprised expression.

I had thought I might be able to change the nature of my magic to fire, but I hadn't expected to be able to cast the Fire Lance spell completely.

I was a bit pleased that Tina was surprised.

After all, if I had come to another world, I would want to hear, "What, who is this guy, he's amazing!"

Of course, due to the curse that fixed my status, even if I trained for a lifetime, this would probably be my limit.

"Mr. Halt, are you feeling any fatigue in your body?"

"No, I don't feel that way."

"Usually, when using a spell for the first time, people often use too much magic and run out of magic power even with a low-level spell like Fire Lance."

The magic consumption of the lowest-level spell, Fire Lance, is 2.

So, with my magic power of 10, I could theoretically cast Fire Lance five times. However, it seemed that casting it with a magic consumption of 2 was difficult without a certain level of magic manipulation.

Indeed, when I used Fire Lance, I felt a slight drain of energy from my body, but it wasn't enough to feel fatigued. Perhaps it was due to the bonus from the Sage class?

"I still feel like I can cast it. Can I practice more?"

"Of course. But please don't overdo it."

"Okay!"

After that, I cast three more Fire Lances and finished the magic training.

Actually, I felt like I could cast more, but after the third one, Tina started to look very worried and kept asking about my condition, so I decided not to cast the fifth one.

---

The next day, I came to the training room alone.

Tina had gone shopping in the city.

When I said I would train alone, Tina looked worried.

"Okay? Absolutely don't overdo it. If you feel even a little unwell, ring this bell."

She handed me a bell with a small, unfamiliar magic circle drawn on it.

"What happens when I ring it?"

"I'll come immediately."

"Even if you're far away, you'll know it's been rung?"

"Something like that. Please don't overdo it."

She said she would return as soon as she finished shopping and then left.

"Well, let's see how far I can go."

I planned to cast Fire Lance to my limit without worrying about Tina's presence. Yesterday, I stopped after four, but I felt I could cast more.

I approached the target.

I released magic from my hand and turned it into a flame.

I shaped the flame into a spear—

"Fire Lance!"

The flame spear flew.

As soon as the flame spear left my hand, I started the next magic release.

"Fire Lance!"

The second one.

I could still go on.

"Fire Lance!"

"Fire Lance!"

I cast two in quick succession.

No problem at all.

"Fire Lance, Fire Lance, Fire Lance, Fire Lance!!"

Something was off...

No matter how many times I cast it, I didn't feel any fatigue.

Moreover, the magic was released smoothly, and the timing for casting spells became faster and faster.

After casting about thirty Fire Lances, I stopped to catch my breath.

The target was completely charred black, even though the power of a single low-level spell was weak.

Why? I didn't feel like my magic was decreasing.

Hmm, is there any way to check the magic consumption...

"Ah!"

Then I had an idea.

"Status Open"

Status

Name: Halt von Silberay

Race: Human

Blessing: None [Fixed]

Class: Sage (Level 1) [Fixed]

HP: 30/30 [Fixed]

MP: 10/10 [Fixed]

Physical Attack: 10 [Fixed]

Magic Attack: 10 [Fixed]

Physical Defense: 10 [Fixed]

Magic Defense: 10 [Fixed]

Skills: None [Fixed]

Condition: Curse (Status Fixed) [Fixed]

If I could use magic while the status board was open, I should be able to see the magic consumption.

However, there was one point of concern.

The status board showed—

MP: 10/10 [Fixed]

Despite casting over thirty spells just now, my magic power hadn't decreased at all.

A hypothesis crossed my mind. If this hypothesis was correct, I might be able to truly excel as a Sage in this world.

To test the hypothesis, I prepared to cast Fire Lance while keeping the status board open.