Chapter 35. New Elemental Magic

“Can’t Summoning Magic only summon spirits or specific objects?”

When a student asked, Professor Marianne nodded.

“That’s a good question. Of course, it’s much more convenient to summon a pre-contracted spirit or a prepared object.”

Professor Marianne's explanation continued.

“But if you can imagine it precisely, it's possible to do more. This is a common point of all magic.”

Radel recalled what he had heard in the previous lecture.

Professor Lilian had said something similar.

That magic is moving the will of the world with a strong thought.

“Elemental magic is also more advantageous the better the compatibility, but the most important thing depends on the magician's mental image. If you’ve used magic before, you’ll know.”

How well can one imagine an element?

That was the standard that divided the skills of magicians.

“When you think of Summoning Magic, you think of it as magic that summons objects or spirits, as I mentioned earlier. That’s not the case. The core of Summoning Magic is movement.”

To bring the mental image the magician has imagined into reality.

In other words, it was important to move the imagination into reality.

“In the end, elemental magic can also be considered a type of Summoning Magic in a broader sense.”

The freshmen looked surprised.

In particular, the freshmen who knew some magic had expressions of great realization.

Seeing that, Professor Marianne muttered under her breath.

“Is this why they say prior learning is a problem……”

* * *

Professor Marianne proceeded with the lecture, thinking she would teach them step by step from the very beginning.

She calmly explained that magic is becoming one with nature and communicating, and creating something from nothing.

“Some of you may already know, but since this is the first class, let's start with the basics properly. Everyone, close your eyes and feel the mana.”

Radel closed his eyes and tried to feel the flow of mana.

Marianne's calm voice was heard.

“This place has a high purity of mana, even within the academy. You will feel it better than usual.”

Just as Professor Marianne had said, he felt a cool mana coming from within the forest.

“Now, focus on the magic power within your body.”

Radel felt the magic power within his body, just as he felt the mana of nature.

Even though he hadn't done anything, the magic power was circulating naturally. It was a sensation like realizing that his heart had been beating all along.

“Next, draw the magic power and release it through your wand. At the same time, think of drawing the element you are imagining with your magic power.”

Following Marianne's words, Radel released his magic power through the wand he was holding in his hand.

"And you cast a spell. You can freely cast a spell as long as it brings out a mental image. The more intuitive, the better."

Radel cast a spell while trying to imagine an element in his mind.

“Burn!”

However, the flame that was about to bloom from the tip of Radel's wand lost its shape and scattered. There were some freshmen who did it familiarly after trying it several times, and there were also freshmen who couldn't get a feel for it at all.

It was a situation Professor Marianne had expected, so she didn't mind and encouraged the freshmen.

"It's not easy at first. But with practice, it will appear properly."

Next was repetition.

Professor Marianne, who had explained the theory, gave the freshmen enough time to practice.

Professor Marianne walked among the struggling freshmen and gave advice to help them summon the elements.

"Focus your magic power on the tip of your wand."

“Imagine it more precisely and clearly.”

Radel was also able to summon a flame after a few attempts.

It certainly appeared more easily the more accurate the imagination was. When Radel imagined a candle, exactly that much flame sparked from the tip of his wand.

'This much would be good for starting a fire.'

As it happened, he was just thinking that it would be nice to grill some meat at the campsite.

Since the thought had occurred to him, Radel decided to try imagining all the images of fire he knew one by one.

And there was someone secretly watching Radel.

'What's that royal doing?'

It was Edward Paradik, who had been released from his toad form only in the morning.

He, who had a very high pride in being a great noble, had been bothered by that strange royal since yesterday. To be precise, it was since he had seen Radel pitching his tent so quickly.

For a royal to be so suspiciously good at work like a commoner. He was a person Edward could not understand.

'If you go to the academy, you can get close to the royals. You know what you have to do for our family, right?'

He remembered what his father had said to him before he went to take the academy entrance exam.

'Even if they're royals, they're like a kite with its string cut if they don't have nobles supporting them. Don't forget that we have the upper hand. You must not miss this opportunity.'

As the empire was large, there were many nobles, and among them, there were also families that remained neutral.

However, there were also many families that participated in the succession battle of the royals. They supported the royals for their own reasons and showed their loyalty to the best of their ability.

It was because if they succeeded, the family's influence would grow to a level incomparable to before.

Edward's family, the Paradik earldom, had not supported any royal so far, but it was going to be a little different this time.

It was because the heir, Edward, had a talent for magic. He was even talented enough to enter the Imperial Magic Academy.

'Entering the academy itself is a shortcut to success. Especially this time, since three royals are said to be enrolling, observe them with your own eyes and decide which royal to choose.'

Edward did not want to disappoint his father's expectations. He had an ambition to make a connection with a decent royal and greatly raise his family.

As it happened, he had entered a class with two royals, so he could not miss such an opportunity.

'But that royal is a bit…….'

Radel was now gathering dry branches and shooting fire at them with his wand.

Edward also knew how to use magic, so he could tell how strange that behavior was.

Usually, when you summon a flame with elemental magic, it's common to float it in the air.

He had never seen magic that shot fire from the tip of a wand like that before.

'What on earth is that magic?'

Radel had finally succeeded in the magic he wanted.

“I did it!”

It was magic that shot a constant stream of fire from the tip of the wand.

In other words, it was torch magic.

At first, he had imagined a candle or a lighter, but there was nothing better than this for lighting a fire on firewood.

If he could draw out the flame more strongly from here, he thought he could use it like a flamethrower.

Gusto, who was making light next to him, approached after seeing Radel's magic.

“It’s fascinating, Your Highness. I’ve never seen this kind of fire magic before.”

"It seems good for camping, right? It'll be convenient for preparing game too."

“That certainly seems to be the case.”

Radel, who had often hunted when he ran out of things to eat when he was a Hunter, knew how convenient it was to be able to use a simple firearm.

However, to those around, it sounded more like a conversation between hunters than magicians.

Edward once again pondered why a royal would act like that. He could understand camping, but he couldn't understand what he meant by preparing game.

Don't the attendants take care of that?

As Edward continued to watch Radel, his friends approached. They were noble freshmen who had been friends since childhood.

“Edward, if you’re so curious, why don’t you go and talk to him?”

“That’s right. You wanted to get close to the royals, didn’t you.”

His friends had said it sincerely, but Edward jumped.

“Who said that?! No!”

"No?"

“Of course not! Who would want a royal who uses such strange magic……!”

Edward, who was shouting in excitement, closed his mouth.

Radel, as if he had heard Edward's words, was staring this way.

"N-no one would want to get close to him!"

Edward, flustered, blurted out whatever came to mind, but his friends who had been with him since childhood could clearly see his true feelings.

'That's a lie.'

'It's definitely a lie.'

* * *

'My magic must not be common.'

Meanwhile, Radel hadn't looked at Edward because he was angry at his words. He had looked at him because he was curious about how someone else would evaluate his magic.

Since he knew nothing about magic, he wasn't offended at all. Rather, if it was wrong, he wanted to know what the problem was.

Looking at how the other freshmen used elemental magic, there was definitely a fixed pattern.

Both fire and water seemed to start with summoning them into the air.

However, Radel was more interested in magic that would be useful in daily life than making fire or water appear in the air.

'Is that?'

Professor Marianne, who was watching the freshmen, raised an eyebrow when she saw Radel's elemental magic.

Even she, who had lived a long life as an elf, had never seen such a method before.

'I heard that the 8th Prince had never learned magic.'

Unlike the 9th Prince, who had the Ability of the Dragon's Blessing, not much was known about the 8th Prince.

Professor Marianne looked at the 9th Prince, who was surrounded by his followers and floating water elemental magic in the air. He certainly looked stable.

Marianne knew that the 9th Prince could handle this level of basic magic without a spell. In the first place, the amount of magic power he had thanks to his Ability was overwhelming.

On top of that, she had heard that his talent for magic was so outstanding that he could even handle complex magic formulas with mental calculation.

'The difference between the two is at an absurd level.'

Compared to the 9th Prince, the 8th Prince had little magic power and was just now learning elemental magic.

However, there was something that caught his eye.

Professor Marianne approached Radel.

“Do it again.”

“Pardon?”

"The fire elemental magic you did earlier."

"I understand."

Radel had wanted to ask Professor Marianne if there were any problems anyway.

He swung his wand without hesitation.

"Ignite!"

At that, a fire really did ignite at the tip of Radel's wand.

Radel didn't stop there and cast another spell.

“Burn!”

This time, the flame at the tip of Radel's wand lengthened and shot outward.

Professor Marianne's eyes widened.

She hadn't expected much because he had little magic power, but there was a surprising part.

Swoosh!

Looking at it up close, he was maintaining a constant output at regular intervals.

'This mana control is certainly surprising.'

For someone who had just learned magic, his magic control skills were skilled. Professor Marianne decided to have him try something else on a whim.

“This time, try using water elemental magic.”

“Water, you say?”

Radel, who had never tried that magic before, closed his eyes, a little nervous.

Images of water flashed through his mind.

Flowing water, stagnant water, falling water, gushing water…….

Among them, there was something that caught Radel's heart.

"Spout!"

Radel confidently cast a spell and swung his wand.

At that, water trickled out of the tip of his wand like a faucet. Marianne couldn't help but be flustered by the very realistic appearance.

The other freshmen were imagining the magnificent appearance of water, so why was this one……?

“Did you make a mistake? What image of water did you imagine?”

At Marianne's question, Radel answered with a bright face.

“It was a success. What I imagined was water that was easy to fill a canteen with.”

It seemed that Radel, who had spent a night at the campsite, had wished for a faucet that produced water.

It was a moment when even Marianne, who was rarely moved by anything, was at a loss for words.