After school, a new schedule was added to my routine.
“It’s not about stacking them, but about making them happen simultaneously. Don't try to activate them in order. A spell is cast in a single moment.”
Private lessons with Elodie.
Feeling the need to actually use magic, I asked Elodie to teach me personally.
Honestly, she's too good a teacher for me.
Right now, I'm learning to conjure a flame the size of a candle in the air, and I'm making absolutely no progress.
Elodie continues to teach me patiently, without a single change in her expression. I don't know if it's because my talent is absolute garbage or if this is how it is when you first learn magic.
Anyway, I was doing my best to learn.
Elodie said as I attempted the spell once more.
“You're trying to use one formula first again.”
“Hmm. When I see other wizards casting spells, it seems like they're overlapping formulas ?”
“Overlapping, yes. Not stacking.”
“I told you. There is no order in formulas. The wizard's chanting, trigger words, and formulas are all preparations for a single activation. When you finally cast a spell, everything you've put together has to work perfectly and precisely.”
There's no order in casting a spell. All preparations are made beforehand, and when activated, everything prepared must function simultaneously and accurately.
“That's too hard. Is that how all wizards do it?”
Simultaneously, accurately, and without error.
In the game, I only ever saw my companions effortlessly casting spells, so I didn't know how they actually did it. I had no idea every spell had such a complex structure.
Elodie looked pleased, as if she enjoyed my struggle. Does she enjoy seeing me suffer?
Elodie raised a finger.
“That's when you need a 'metaphor.'”
“Yes. Calculation and theory are important for a wizard, but the effect and success of a spell depend on the individual. That's why it's important to have an image that can solidify the magic. Words are difficult, but images are easy. In other words, you use a metaphor.”
Her words made me think.
A spell that must be cast simultaneously, accurately, and without error.
To put it metaphorically,
“Not a bad metaphor. But I can't say whether the metaphor you perceive is correct or not. It's dangerous to meddle with other people's metaphors. It's good for wizards to have their own metaphors. If you like imagining gears, then do so.”
“What metaphor do you imagine?”
I looked at Elodie in disbelief, but she didn't seem to be joking.
“The image of stars rotating on their own, moving towards somewhere, the entirety forming a single shape and never stopping. Each and every star is an element for me to cast my magic, but stars aren't born in order. They just spin. Magic is taking the constellation I want from among them. That's how I imagine it.”
“……That's a scale I can't even comprehend.”
Well, I guess you need that much to be able to use such powerful magic.
A metaphor for everything moving simultaneously, without error, and in unison. I didn't know, but most wizards seem to already have one.
……But no matter how hard I try to think of something else, all that comes to mind are gears. When I try to imagine the universe like Elodie does, it just won't fit in my head, and I don't think I'll be able to create formulas. I feel strangely reassured by the gears, knowing they'll mesh seamlessly. Is this what Elodie means by having your own metaphor?
It doesn't seem like a very wizardly metaphor, though.
“What kind of images do other people have? Just for reference.”
“Hmm, Lunia imagines an 'orchestra,' I hear.”
“You don't need to worry too much about other people's metaphors. It won't really help you.”
“Ah, is it rude of me to ask?”
“Not at all. Many people are willing to answer. Just because someone tells you their metaphor doesn't mean you can copy it. So it's not going to benefit you.”
In that case, no problem. It was purely out of curiosity.
I nodded at Elodie's words and focused my attention back on my hand.
The name of the spell is ‘Will-o'-the-Wisp’. The name is grand, but it's just a spell that creates a flame in the air.
There are two formulas. Designating the element 'fire,' and 'stasis,' which keeps the magic from moving and holds it in place.
Since any spell requires an element, it's practically like having only one formula.
‘……Attaching a small gear for 'stasis' to a large gear of 'fire.''
When one gear turns, the other must also turn.
If they're properly interlocked.
I feel my mana settling into the formulas.
I've never actually used magic before, but I've already gotten the hang of using mana through Weaving, Menosorphor, and Obsidian. It's not that I can't use mana that's making me fail. I'm doing something wrong.
If I only think about the symbols of the formula, I can't grasp the whole picture. The formulas need to become gears.
Gears don't waver, they don't wobble, and they don't evaporate from my thoughts.
With a distinct feeling, I hear the sound of two gears interlocking.
The moment I turned them.
A flame flickered to life in my hand.
I said, feeling a mixture of joy and relief.
The reason I was relieved was that I was worried Elodie might give up on teaching me, despairing at my hopeless talent for magic.
It took a while, but I finally succeeded, so maybe Elodie will be a little more patient with me now?
“Elodie. How was it? Was that a success?”
Elodie was staring at the flame in my hand with wide eyes.
It felt like she was examining my magic from head to toe. Is this what it feels like to be naked under someone's gaze? Very creepy.