Roland felt greatly encouraged and kept reading.
It reviewed and summarized the history of magical incantations in Atrelin, covering multiple eras as well as incantation studies across the major planes and worlds. It also attempted to identify patterns from the perspectives of phonetics and phonology, delving further into findings related to incantation studies.
There had always been a much-discussed topic in arcane circles.
It concerned so-called incantations and what their magical meaning pointed toward...
Did they have anything to do with the "soul"?
There was no soul in the way you chanted!
You were just parroting words. That was not magical!
When you spoke to mana, you had to put feeling into it...
From the perspective of the Alchemy School or the Magic Guidance School, the question was whether chanting required emotional investment, or whether "audio playback" and "artificially synthesized speech" could simulate human incantations.
From the perspective of the Magic School, the question was which constituted the essential element of a spell: incantations or magical power, which formed when mental energy mixed with mana.
"Why should language possess magical power? Why should chanting allow us to cast spells?
The usual explanation is that it communicates with the source of magic and causes mana to resonate.
But that merely describes the phenomenon.
It does not address its essence.
When apprentice students encounter a fill-in-the-blank question during an examination at a magic academy, they can give that answer without a second thought.
As arcanists, however, we cannot help asking a question.
Why?
Why can incantations cause mana to resonate?
How, specifically, do they induce resonance?
What exactly is their essence?
These are the most fundamental questions of incantation studies."
So Lunifis wrote in her book.
"Reflecting on these questions, I attempted to trace the history of magical incantations, drawing upon earlier