Blanc turned toward the job board and looked it over. There were no suitable jobs, so he might as well start his grand plan to study magic today.
With that decided, Blanc walked over to Cana. He would start with her Card Magic.
Cana was still arranging cards at the table by the window. Blanc pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down. Cana looked up. "What is it? Need something?"
"Nothing much. I just wanted to learn Card Magic from you, if you have the time."
"Don't you use Wood Make and Nature Magic? What made you want to learn Card Magic?"
"Card Magic seems interesting, so I wanted to learn more about it."
At that answer, Cana rolled her eyes inwardly. She looked at Blanc across the table and said nothing for a moment.
Word of Blanc's powerful Make Magic and Nature Magic had already spread throughout the guild. This guy could overturn a forest spanning hundreds of meters. Instead of putting everything into honing his already absurdly powerful specialties, he had come to learn Card Magic just because it seemed interesting? The words "neglecting your real work" were practically on the tip of her tongue.
"All right, then. But I haven't been studying Card Magic for very long myself, so I might not be able to teach you much."
As she spoke, her gaze passed over the stack of ruined cards with blackened edges, as though something had given her a slight jab. Then she raised her head again, her tone returning to normal.
"...Still, I do know some of the principles. If you want to hear them, I can explain those first."
"I'm already happy that you're willing to teach me. I'll learn whatever I can."
"All right. How much do you know about Card Magic?"
"Uh, you show a card, and it releases magic?"
Cana gave Blanc a rather speechless look.
"So you know absolutely nothing."
"Heh." Blanc gave an awkward chuckle, trying to gloss over it.
"Never mind. I'll explain the basic principles of Card Magic first."
"As a Holder Magic, Card Magic has different advantages and disadvantages from the Caster Magic you use."
"The advantage is that you don't need to learn the corresponding spell. You can use it simply by activating the card. That lets you use several kinds of magic and switch between them whenever you like, giving you more tactical combinations."
"Many Wizards spend their entire lives studying just one kind of magic because diverting their energy to learn more isn't worth it. Specializing in one makes them stronger. Card Magic lets you skip the learning process, giving its users unparalleled versatility."
"But its drawbacks are obvious, too. Card Magic requires not only enough magic power to control the cards, but also sufficiently powerful cards. And most cards still aren't as powerful as a Caster Wizard who specializes in a single kind of magic."
"Also, the upper limit of Card Magic depends on both the user's magic power and the cards themselves."
As she spoke, Cana took out a new card, held it up, and slowly fed magic power into it.
"Take this Emperor's Wind Blade card in my hand. At most, it can summon a single blade of wind to attack a target. If you don't put enough magic power into it, the card won't activate, and that power goes to waste. If you put in more, the wind blade gets a little stronger."
Cana gradually increased the magic power flowing into the card until the magic circle on its face lit up. When she continued, the card began to grow hot, and she quickly stopped.
"But if you pour in too much magic power and exceed the card's capacity, it'll be destroyed outright. So using Card Magic requires a good understanding of how much magic power each card can hold, to avoid wasting power or even destroying the card."
"A card's capacity depends on the materials used to make it. The better the materials, the higher its capacity. If you wanted to make a card capable of holding that Nativity of a World of Trees you used, the one that summoned trees over hundreds of meters, you'd need some very high-grade materials. The production costs would be considerable."
"That's why Card Magic is generally better suited to support than serving as your main means of attack."
After listening, Blanc had a general understanding of Card Magic. Put simply, it was pay-to-win magic. You needed someone to make suitable cards for you, and the stronger the card, the more money it cost and the harder it was to make. Its ceiling in any single area was lower than that of a Caster Wizard, but it offered greater versatility. That did not necessarily make it weaker, either. Mystogan, for example, used only Holder Magic and had no magic power of his own, yet he still reached the level of a Fairy Tail S-Class Wizard.
"I see. Then do you make your own cards, Cana, or have someone custom-make them?"
"I research and make them myself."
Blanc's eyes lit up.
"That's impressive! How do you put magic into the cards, then? Do you know all those spells yourself?"
"No. Take the Emperor's Wind Blade in my hand. I actually inscribed a wind blade magic circle into the card. When you activate the card, the circle activates automatically and releases a wind blade."
"Can you inscribe magic used by other people into a card? Mine, for example?"
"In theory, yes. But inscribing advanced magic requires very high-quality materials. And with how powerful your magic power is, Blanc, the materials would have to be even better to hold it. Besides, I can't make cards that advanced myself. You'd have to find someone else and see whether they could."
"I see. As long as it's possible, that's enough. I'm in no hurry to make a finished card. I plan to learn how to make my own cards, just like you, then collect all sorts of useful magic to expand my options. After all, there are so many interesting kinds of magic in the world. It would be such a shame to only use one or two."
"Thanks for explaining, Cana. Could I join you from now on and learn how to make magic cards?"
"No problem. I'd love to have someone to discuss it with," Cana answered with a hint of excitement. Having someone who shared her interests was always a pleasure.
Although Card Magic had plenty of limitations, its versatility was still pretty good.
Once he learned how to make cards, he could earn money through jobs and obtain materials capable of handling the full extent of his magic power. Then he would be able to use all sorts of magic that interested him with ease.
Overall, it was worth learning. For the time being, he would make studying Card Magic his goal.