Chapter 6: Learning Magic

Dust encompassed the Section of the library that held magic items and artifacts, after the loud sound of and explosion echoed throughout the library ended, the place slowly returned to it’s previous calm and tranquility.

As Tyler watched the dust settle down before his eyes, he was at a loss for words, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, he had never heard of an event where the orb exploded, as far as he knew even those legendary heroes didn’t have their orb explode in their faces. ‘Was it too old? No, no, no, that’s a magic item it won’t get ravaged by time, unless the magic inside is used up, what do i do now? you’d think there would be an instruction manual here somewhere, it’s a library after all.’

Unsure what had happened Tyler decided to ignore the strange phenomenon with the orb and consider using a spell to see if he had magic and was at least Tier 1, he had felt something before the orb exploded, and if he was indeed successful he would then learn his potential manually and finally qualify to be a Magic swordsman.

He went back the way he came to pick a book he had seen before “Magic Fundamentals” even though he had learnt the basics of magic before, he wanted to refresh his memories.

He took the book off the shelf and notice there were Twelve other volumes all lined up on the shelf. “This is going to take a while.” Looking at the different other books on the shelf, he slowly sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall, opened the book to the first chapter and started reading.

The basic theories of how magic worked were explained in the first few chapters. He had read half of the book and only learned one thing he didn’t know before, it seems he need to read more books to get all the basic knowledge he need to understand magic, but the one thing he learnt shocked him to his core.

“There are Nine Tiers in magic, I thought there were only Seven.”

Tyler frowned slightly he remembered in the Ruz Kingdom in the human continent he had only learnt of Four Tiers and most people could only use up to Tier 3, it was rare to see a Tier 4 mage, wizard or sorcerer, although a Tier 4 Magic Swordsman was a little more common as magic Swordsmen were specialist and could only use an handful of spells, they tend to only Learn powerful spells that complemented their weapons and fighting style and Secret Techniques.

There was only one Magic Swordsman back when Tyler was an Adventurer that was considered above the Tiers, he was a hero amongst heroes, he had fought on the Frontline in the war, he was most likely the one to kill the demon King or so he he thought, even if the demon King couldn’t use up to the Ninth Tier he knew demons could match heroes and even one up them (Tier 5), so the demon King had to be far stronger, ‘How did they win?’ It’s already been more than a thousand years even if he wanted to know the truth of the events that enfolded, it was probably too late, shaking his head he brought his attention back to the present, and continue his previous train of thoughts.

Unlike Magic Swordsmen who were different from warriors as magic Swordsmen could be considered sorcerer’s with swords as they could use magic. Mages were a little different, they could use any form/aspect of magic they studied and were only limited by their magic potential and affinity.

Tyler flipped through the book and took the next volume, and the next and the next… He was reading so fast he was becoming a blur, he moved for where he sat to return and pick a new book, then he went back the were he was sitting, then he repeated the same motion again and again. He read all 12 volumes and started to read the other books on the shelf

• History of Magic

• Crux of Mana

• Mana Body

• Magic Runes

• Magic Circle

If he had read like this in college, he might have been the the best student in the whole school. He learnt about the basics and history of all 9 tiers of magic, he learnt the formations of mage circles from magic Runes, he learnt how to read basic magic Runes and decided to get back to that later as it was a little complicated and quite expansive, he learnt about the different forms of magic. Elemental Magic, Control Magic, Necromancy, Spirit Magic, Astrology Magic and Arcane or Bizzarre Magic.

After more than 10 hours of reading he finally stopped and picked up a book, Basic Spells – Tier 1. He was finally ready to do what he wanted to do before picking up the first book, which was to try a Tier 1 spell. He didn’t notices his abnormal speed when he was reading the books. He had lost track of time and enjoyed the the feeling of understanding what he was reading as he read it, which was what frustrated him when he was in school, having to study something over and over again before understanding it a little.

Tyler then walk to the open area in the library the center of the room, there was enough space to try a spell. “Hmm, what should be my first spell.” he had a slight smile on his face as he was not as anxious as he was when he wanted to use the orb to test his potential.

Maybe it was because he now had a decent understand of magic or perhaps it was the joy of learning something new.

He flipped through the book almost half way before finally stopping at a page containing a spell, up to seven basic spells could be contained within a single book as they didn’t contained much information, Tier 2 and above spells would take their own books and were increasingly complicated.

He had considered various spells to try out first but was a little scared because he hadn’t cast a single spell in his life. Therefore he knew he had zero control over what he wanted to do, he didn’t know their effect range and didn’t want anything that would cause damage to himself or the library.

He decided to try one of the most basic defense spells he had seen before, in other to avoid hurting himself like a complete noob, which he was. After deliberating between his top two choices, he finally decided on which basic Tier 1 spell to use and which element. This was not a perfect test, as he may still be a Tier 1 magic swordsman and proficient in a different element. If he fails he intends to try the safest spells in all the other elements.

He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, the anxiousness he thought had left him came back like a tsunami, taking a few more deep breath he opened he’s eyes and stretched out his right arm trying to cast a spell, the moment the words left his mouth he heard his strangely deeper voice fill with an unknown confidence he hadn’t possessed a moment ago.

“Earth Wall”

The Magic circle made up of magic Runes slowly started to form around his opened palm this was the final step in learning magic ones the magic circle is fully formed it would fused into ones Mana body and would only take an instant to cast whenever the spell is cast again. As every rune in the circle was arranged in place he could feel the vibrations on the ground.

Tyler was getting excited by the second as each rune went in place before his very eyes, this was a feeling he ha never experienced before. Using his ability didn’t use much Mana and did not require a magic circle it was an innate ability that worked more like a skill which was what monsters abilities where called.

The entire library began to vibrate as the magic circle became more complete. In that instant, Tyler felt a huge surge of energy leave him and enter into the magic circle, he felt a little drained but quickly recoverd.

The library started shaking violently, it was like an high magnitude earthquake was about to occur. ‘What in the world!’ Tyler exclaimed inwardly as he witness this scene, he had only performed a Tier 1 spell, it wasn’t something that would lead to such a reaction.

In that instant a giant wall that was over 3 meters wide shot up from the ground beneath his feet. It was so large and wide that it almost hit Tyler in the chin when it rose. The wall was more than six meters tall, it looked like it was made to hold an ancient and Giant’s temple, something that wasn’t made for humans.

*BOOM!

Before Tyler could react to the size of the wall, the library shaking intensified in the same instant the wall shattered in a large explosion. The shockwave sent him flying straight for the door over 60 meters away, which had been opened at some point in time.

whoosh… Bang!

Tyler was sent flying out of the library straight into the wall on the opposite side of the library’s door. “Ouch… what the… what happened?”

Feeling the slight pain in the back of his head had brought back his headache, and now he was feeling a little dizzy. He slowly got up from the ground and lightly massaged the back of his head to relieve the pain he was feeling from hitting the wall the speed at which he had hit the wall should have killed him or maybe would’ve is the better word to use, but his attention was not on this little issue, he was focused on something else entirely.

He stared blankly at the place he had been shot out of “What happened? Did i mess up a basic spell?. No, no, no, that’s not supposed to happen, even if i messed up. At most the spell will fail and won’t activate, it was even in one of the books I read.” Tyler was deeply confused about the sudden turn of events, one moment he was activating a Tier 1 spell the other moment he was literally kicked out of the library.

He slowly approached the library door step by step, trying he’s best to be cautious and not let his emotions get the better of him. After reaching the door he placed his hands on the doorknob and turned it.

The door did not open, he tried again and again pushing and pulling but nothing worked, he tried breaking the door but it felt like steel, with no way to access the magic library, the one place he saw hope of survival, he was devastated, staring at the tightly shut door in front of him, series of bundled up emotions swelled up within him.

There wasn’t much hope in surviving the demon continent as a human, humanity had made an enemy out of almost all inhuman races in this world, their only allies were the dwarfs and he wasn’t even sure that was the case anymore, he hadn’t realize it but the library had given him hope, yet the one chance he had to get stronger in this crazy world and, he blew it. Tyler fell on his knees with a sombre expression, at that moment the reality of his situation hit him like a ton of bricks.

He had been extremely calm since he woke up underground and didn’t really take the entirety of his situation to heart. It had all played out like a movie in front of him, but this was reality. He was in the demon continent, not to mention the heart of the demon continent, the demon king’s castle.

Even if he was somehow a Tier 5 Magic swordsman or mage, there is no way he could walk out of the continent alive without any help, not only that but he had nowhere to go. If he tried going to the human continent he would be killed the moment he stepped foot on the borders, after all there were demons that looked exactly like humans to be precise most demon races looked human and he had heard there were a few.

He didn’t even have any information on this time period, he had no idea what the relationship between the other races were like. He was alone in a strange world on the enemy base with no help and no strength to fight back.

He felt various emotions bust out of him at ones. Sadness, despair, confusion, pain, sorrow. A single tear drop leaked out of his left eye as he felt the negative emotions swell inside of him.

He slowly sat down on the ground with his back against the door as he stared out the window with a melancholic expression. His one chance at survival was behind the door and he let himself be kicked out of it. He’s greed had overtaken him and he wanted to stay in the library until he had gotten what he wanted from it, he wasn’t better than the people who used and betrayed him.

In the end what was the point in him surviving for so long, why did he awaken in this place if he was just going to die soon anyway.