Learning Magic

Sitting on the bed of my room was a woman with bunny ears, and a bunny tail, alongside some slight fur. She seemed clean, and had a crest on her forehead.

“That’s your servant.” The knight explained, and left. He didn’t seem bothered at all, and when I looked at the others only a couple seemed reluctant at all.

The woman on my bed bowed, and I didn’t really know what to do, so I just said hi.

“What’s my name?” She asked me, without looking up.

“What type of question is that?” Who doesn’t know their name? Isn’t she just a slave? This is slavery, although, it interests me as to how they work.

“I need you to give me a name, and become my owner.” She explained, and I understood. Probably magic, that’s all I need to know.

“What was your name before you were captured?”

“...Ulleah.”

“Ulleah is your name. Boom, I’m a bit of a genius.”

She seemed to just slightly, almost chuckle before stopping, and I decided that was a lot for an enslaved person. With that being done, I left to return to the king’s throne room.

Ulleah just stayed behind and waited, so I wasn’t slowed at all. Though, I’m a slow walker anyways, so I might actually slow her. After a few minutes, I arrived at the throne room alongside some others.

“Well then, begin. Use your abilities, they can’t damage me or the castle right now.” The king spoke, and I noticed that the room had a slight tint. I pretended to trip, and used devour on the floor, which caused a slight flicker in the tinting.

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New skill: Area Barrier - Create a barrier, the strength of which is based on skill level and mana input, which protects a room or area from damage until broken.

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I accepted the skill, and watched the others use their abilities. Looking around, I saw a sudden bird made of solid yellowish light fly by, one of the others in my class touched a piece of stone and became partially rocky on her finger, one made something float, several strange powers were being used around the room.

I turned around, and saw a girl with shoulder length brown hair, Julia, make something disappear.

“Woah! Can you show me that again!” I said to her, and she smiled.

“Sure Ash! Watch!” She smiled, as she placed a tiny pebble on my hand. She waved her hands, and seemed to try grabbing the pebble from afar, when I used devour.

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New ability: Storage Space - allows the user to store an amount of objects based on the skill level. Objects in the space have their time frozen, and don’t move unless interacted with by the user. Living things cannot be stored

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I took the ability, and she saw that it didn’t work, so she tried again and it disappeared.

“See, I have an inventory!” She seemed excited to tell me, and I shared her joy.

“Awesome! I wish I had an ability...” I pretended to have nothing, as right not I couldn’t pretend to have one.

I repeated this trick a couple more times successfully, only on abilities that people couldn’t see fail, and gained the following abilities.

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New ability: Seal - Seals a target's physical movement, with the maximum level being below the level of the user and their skill.

New ability: Telekinesis - moving things with one’s mind.

New ability: Weather manipulation - control and manipulate phenomena related to the weather, the level and scale of which is baked on the level of the ability.

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‘Perfect though, a victimless crime.’ I enjoyed gaining these new abilities, even if I couldn’t use them in view of others yet.

“Ashton, you don’t have an ability correct?”

“Ah, yes my king! I’m sorry.” I apologized for this, and he just chuckled in response.

“No no, don’t apologize just yet. I’ve never seen chef as a class before, so it could have some hidden skill or ability! In fact, maybe you need to cook to learn it... ” The king began to think, and chat with his mages, so I left them.

I walked over to one of the mages from his earlier speech to ask about learning magic.

“So, how do I learn magic?”

“Well, your mana capacity is rather small, so without skills or class feats to change that you won’t be capable of much, but let me guide you.” The mage guided me to the library, and as he did he talked to me.

“Essentially magic is using mana to manipulate the world, and to that end we do extensive research. If you become a researcher or scholar, you can likely achieve a lot with magic, so don’t be discouraged. It can also be hard to learn at first, but once you acquire the skill, as a hero you just have to level it up.” He explained, and I understood. For real this time. It was like a video game, where you could level skills by using them, or by putting skill points into them. Heroes gain skill points and levels rather easily, so it’s only really feasible for us.

After a few minutes we arrived at the library, and he explained the process for checking out books. I had to use my id to check out a book, which made sense, and do a skill test afterwards.

‘More monitoring.’ Of course, I would play the fool for a bit more, at least until I understood the situation.

I entered the library, and began to look at all of the books. The books were rather interesting, covering a wide range of topics, skills, skill levels, and there was even a section for theories. With that being the case, I found a book about basic magic, and a book about mana capacity and limits.

I checked them out, and returned to my room to read them. When I arrived, Ulleah was present, and so I decided to ask her something.

“Ulleah, what does a slave mark do?”

“It requires us to obey our owner unconditionally, or we are injured.”

“So, you can’t lie to me?”

“Correct.”

“Are you a slave?”

“No.”

Hearing that answer, I reached a conclusion. That itself was a lie, due to the enslavement mark. ‘A servant makes both the perfect spy, and it would mean they’re right.’

“Who is your owner?”

“You.”

“Who put the enslavement mark on you?”

“A slaver.”

“Who can command you, a list of all people?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Disobey your first orders.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Call the first person to command you stupid.”

“I can’t!” The mark began to harm her, so I cancelled my request. I decided based on this, that I wasn’t actually the owner of the slave mark. If someone in the castle commanded her to pretend to be my slave, they could both spy on me, and make her falsify her information.

‘Clever bastards.’

“Ulleah, get me 10 pieces of paper and a bottle of ink. Don’t let anyone stop you unless you have to, and whenever you get tired take a rest immediately.” I commanded her, and she left the room.

With her out of the room, I began to read the first magic book, about mana capacity. I read it rather intently, and after four or so hours I was a few hundred pages in and Ulleah returned.

“Get ten more pages and a leather cover, and also get two nice meals.” The kingdom provided us with free meals, so it wasn’t too much of a bother.

I continued reading my book, and gathered some important information. People who experience a near death situation can gain more mana points on their mana cap, and it can be raised through reaching zero mana repeatedly. Items, potions, rare herbs, and continuous complex spell use could also raise it. All methods except dying worked rather slowly though, but this was acceptable.

I moved onto the magic basics book, and read that for a few hours. I learned to sense mana, spread mana, and meditate to regenerate mana faster. Now, it was time for a spell or two. I got to the section on basic four elements spells, and decided to try fire and ice.

I tried creating a small flame, and after about an hour was successful a couple of times but not enough.

‘Wait a second, can I devour this skill to learn it?’ In this world, skills instantly gave one knowledge about how to perform them. The problem was, to learn or improve these skills you had to understand and comprehend a skill. But, if I was already inconsistently using the fire skill, I could devour it to learn it.

I spent another twenty minutes, and when I got a flame I devoured it.

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New skill: Create minor flame - creates a flame up to six inches in diameter, the size and intensity of which is decided by the mana input.

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‘No. Way.’ I tried to create a flame, and instantly was successful. Now, the only thing I would need to do is level it up through repeated use, and I would become a high level minor flame creator.

When I discovered this, I heard Ulleah returning, and so I stopped my work.

“Welcome back, and right on time!”

“I brought you a steak, and mashed potatoes.” She presented two dished of steak and mashed potatoes to me, and I was forced to look at her dumbfounded.

“Sorry if you weren’t aware, but one of these is for you.” I explained, and she had a conflicted look.

“No need, We have food in that box.” SHe pointed to a box in the wall, which I opened expecting R.E.Ms or something, but what was I greeted with? Dog food, dog food was in the wall.

“Wait a second, you aren’t even a dog, you’re a bunny? Are they idiots? Are you an omnivore?”

“Uhm..Yes.”

“Okay, well then you can eat one of these dishes instead.” I took my plate, and she just stood there watching me eat. “That was a command.” I told her, and she rushed to sit and eat.

I felt a little bad for forcing her to eat, until I saw her savoring the flavor. ‘Pfft, I feel bad for laughing. I’m glad she can eat like this, I’m sure the others are the same...’

Meanwhile in the other rooms several slaves were eating dog food, a couple of others ate slightly improved meals, while some were having their ‘first-time’ in bed taken after, or instead of eating. Although, there were a few other rooms where the slaves were fed normal and humane meals, which they also seemed to be enjoying.

I woke up the next day, and went to a shower inside of my room. The rooms were like hotel rooms, with basic amenities needed inside, and I sent Ulleah out to get some food quickly. While she did that, I finished reading the book and learning the skills. It went much faster when you didn’t have to re read it, and could just learn the spells.

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New skill: Sparks - produce sparks

New skill: Create snow - creates snow, the amount and density of which is decided by mana input.

New skill: Minor Create ice - creates ice up to 8 inches in diameter, the strength and density of which is decided by mana input.

New skill: Create Pebble - creates a pebble or small rock up to four inches in diameter, strength and size are based on mana input.

New skill: Gust - creates a small gust of wind

New skill: Blow - blows concentrated wind, the pressure and amount of which is decided by mana input.

New skill: Raise temperature - Raises the temperature, the amount, area, and speed being decided by mana input.

New skill: Lower temperature - lowers the temperature, the amount, area, and speed being decided by mana input.

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‘Perfect! I’m glad that I could learn this so easily!’ I decided to bring Ulleah with me, and I went to the library. After a few minutes we arrived, and I returned the books and took my mana and skill tests, which returned nothing new.

‘I’ll just try it.’ I used devour on the crystal ball, and it flickers before returning to normal.

‘Thank god.’

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New skill: Measure mana - measures the amount of mana in an object or entity

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It’s a useful skill, and it would let me judge my own growth. After that was done, I decided to try to check out some research of death and what happens in near death experiences. I also checked out some more advanced elemental magic spells, and began to walk out when a book caught my attention.

‘Plant magic!’ I wasn’t a plant fanatic, but I was a genetics student previously. I used a large amount of my highschool life, and two years of college, learning about genetics. I bought my own CRISPR kits, and attended several gene labs, so it could be said that I loved genetics.

I grabbed that book as well, and carried them all to the checkout. We returned to my room, and I decided to ask Ulleah about her outings before sending her again.

“Do you get tired frequently?”

“No, we have far better endurance than humans.”

“Hmm. Do you like it outside?”

“Yes, generally.”

“Well then, I need you to research the outdoors until you feel like returning! This is a command, and my ability to improve in the future relies on this knowledge!” I sent her away to enjoy the outdoors, and began my reading.

I spent a few hours reading, and learned more fire and ice magic, as well as the basics of plant magic. Plant magic wasn’t biology magic, but accelerating growth and regeneration, as well as conveying intent to living organisms.

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New skill: Create ice - create ice, the size, shape, quality, and amount of which depends on mana input and user control.

New skill: Create Stone- create stone, the size, shape, quality, and amount of which depends on mana input and user control.

New skill: Create fire - create fire, the size, shape, quality, and intensity of which depends on mana input and user control.

New skill: Create water - creates water, the amount, quality, and temperature of which is dependent on intent and mana input.

New skill: Control water - controls water, the degree of control is dependent on skill level and mana control. The amount controlled is dependent on mana input.

New skill: Create wind - create wind, the size, shape, quality, and amount of which depends on mana input and user control.

New skill: Wind blade - create a blade of wind from nearby gases, the cutting/damage capabilities and size are based on mana input.

New skill: Freeze - freezes the target, the strength and temperature of the freezing effect is based on mana input.

New skill: Melt - melt target, the temperature and speed of the melting is based on mana input.

New skill: Accelerate growth - accelerate the growth of a target, the amount and intensity of which is decided by intent and mana input.

New skill: Control plant - control a plant’s growth through mana.

New skill: Sense life - detect nearby signs of life, the radius and strength of detection is based on mana input.

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With all of that being gained, I came up with an idea that might be kind of crazy. It involved fire and ice…

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