Attribute and Origin

"I understand. Unless it's necessary, I'll try to use it as little as possible from now on," Sovell agreed.

"Innate Mystic Eyes are, fundamentally, a mutation of the Magic Circuits in the eyeballs, an ability limited to a single generation.

Unless you resort to inbreeding or transplantation, they can't be passed down.

After all, if the ability to cast powerful magecraft simply by channeling magical energy into your eyes and looking at someone were commonplace, the entire structure of the world of mystery would have fallen apart long ago.

All right, let's return to your magecraft attribute and Origin."

At that, Sovell stopped dwelling on the possibility of his head becoming an ornament on a shield and listened quietly to Merlin.

"Wind attribute, construction Origin, two hundred and fifty-four Magic Circuits: one hundred and fifty-eight primary, ninety-six auxiliary.

Your Magic Circuits are of excellent quality. Their programming is... abnormal, but their structure is very stable. There's nothing wrong with them.

I'll teach you how to control wind and use it to support you in combat.

Casting magecraft means activating a magical formula. You need to channel the magical energy within your body through your Magic Circuits into the Magecraft Foundation, activating the corresponding formula inscribed on it.

Suppose you want to construct a Wind Wall. You need to chant an incantation and channel your magical energy through your Magic Circuits into the Magecraft Foundation, activating the formula called 'Wind Wall.'

If casting magecraft is like boiling water, then the mage is the charcoal, and the water in the pot is the formula on the Magecraft Foundation. Boiling the water is the process of releasing energy from the charcoal and conducting it through the pot into the water, making it boil."

"I understand what you mean. Then what is the Magecraft Foundation?" Sovell asked.

"The Magecraft Foundation is a theory of magecraft that a school of magecraft has engraved upon the world. Usually, it's integrated into the ley lines in that school's local area.

That also means that if someone using a Magecraft Foundation integrated into the ley lines leaves the land where that foundation exists, the power of their magecraft will weaken dramatically.

If a foundation exists in the form of an academic discipline or a religion, however, its magecraft will manifest at full power no matter where you are. For example..."

"What the Holy Church calls 'the teachings of God'?"

"Correct. They constructed their own Magecraft Foundation throughout the world with Christianity's doctrine at its core, allowing them to use their magecraft normally anywhere.

The magecraft I'll teach you has a Magecraft Foundation that exists in a similar form to the Holy Church's, but it persists as knowledge rather than religion.

Although I may look like a mage who only grows flowers, that doesn't mean flower magecraft is the only kind I know~

To quote my teacher... ahem!"

Merlin cleared his throat and did his best to imitate a woman's voice:

"'Merlin, you little brat! You have such an excellent talent for magecraft of the five elements, yet you insist on researching how to make flowers bloom while casting spells! What a waste!'

Hahahaha! Even that old stick-in-the-mud could get that angry."

"Then why do you use 'flowers' to cast magecraft, Merlin?"

"Huh? I thought you'd ask who my teacher was... I didn't expect that sort of question."

"No, it's actually pretty easy to figure out, isn't it? Your magecraft certainly wasn't taught by those third-rate mages outside, Merlin. And with swordsmanship that good too, only a fairy in Avalon could have done it."

Sovell offered his conjecture, then asked the question again:

"So, Merlin, with such outstanding talent, why do you use 'flowers' to cast magecraft?"

"Ah, that comes down to the relationship between Origin and attribute.

An attribute determines which kinds of magecraft a mage finds easier to use. For example, a fire-attribute mage finds it easier to use magecraft related to destruction and vitality. An earth-attribute mage finds it easier to use magecraft involving binding, stagnation, and the like.

Origin is different. If an attribute determines the foundation of magecraft, then an Origin determines the foundation of one's existence. It determines the direction of a mage's entire life and is considered inseparable from existence itself.

Quite abstract, isn't it? That's all right. You only need to understand what I'm about to tell you.

When an Origin manifests too strongly, it directly replaces the original attribute. For example...

Me."

"You?"

"That's right. My attribute was originally the five great elements, but as my body matured, my Origin, 'flowers,' manifested more and more strongly, until one day it replaced my original attribute.

Ah... I still remember the following morning, when my teacher sparred with me using magecraft.

When she saw that my magecraft was as feeble as the last drop of water squeezed out of a sponge, she looked at me in disgust and asked if some succubus had drained me dry the night before. Hahaha."

A rare, heartfelt smile appeared on Merlin's face.

"But where did your flower magecraft come from, Merlin? Had there been other mages whose attributes were taken over by a 'flowers' Origin?"

"No. I was the first 'Magus of Flowers.' Flower magecraft was an entirely new Magecraft Foundation that my teacher and I created together back then. Ah, though most of the credit goes to her."

"An entirely new Magecraft Foundation?!" Sovell was astonished by the talent of Merlin's teacher.

"So, although my magecraft attribute is no longer the five great elements, I can still teach you Wind Attribute magecraft.

All right, back to the subject.

As I said earlier, casting magecraft requires expending magical energy to connect with a foundation and activate a formula.

Mages convert life force into magical energy through their Magic Circuits, then expend it.

Classifying magecraft by the source of that life force gives us two types: greater source magecraft and lesser source magecraft.

The greater source is life force from outside the mage, or, you could say, the life force of the planet.

The lesser source is the life force within the mage's own body.

There's no essential difference between the greater source and the lesser source, but the difference in quantity is enormous.

What distinguishes an excellent mage is how effectively he can use the greater source.

If a mage uses only his own lesser source to supply the magical energy for his spells, that's practically no different from courting death.

Of course, Sovell, you don't need to worry about where your magical energy comes from. After all, you're Half-Dragon Kind. You only need to use magical energy to strengthen your heart into a dragon's heart, and you'll be able to generate magical energy out of thin air simply by breathing.

I'm only telling you all this to give you a little technical knowledge."

Time ticked steadily by, and the shadows of Merlin and the stone slab beside him grew lighter or darker with the changing intensity of the sunlight.

The sun was still visible in Avalon. Supposedly, the first fairies had created a projection of the real sun for light and warmth, placing it in the very center of Avalon's sky.

The intensity of its light came from somewhere in Britain. When it was noon outside, the sunlight was bright. At dawn or dusk, it turned dim and golden.

As for why Sovell hadn't noticed that the "sun" didn't move when he first entered Avalon, here was his own response:

"Why didn't I notice that Avalon's sun didn't move when I first arrived?

...Well, back then I was completely focused on figuring out how to keep my scales from appearing. By the time I realized the sun was only a projected imitation, it was already the next day, when Merlin was teaching me magecraft."