Chantless spellcasting

"Well, it worked, but wasn't it supposed to fly forward?"

Rudeus looked at the water stains on the floor, recalling how the water ball had just dropped straight down.

Radeus thought for a moment before speaking.

"Could it be that we didn't picture the water ball flying forward? Magic relies on imagination. Maybe we were only thinking about making the water ball appear and forgot about making it fly?"

Hearing that, Rudeus immediately caught on.

"Right, that's possible! Let's try again!"

The two began their magical experiments anew.

Imagine it. Imagine it.

Radeus raised his hand, picturing the water ball's appearance, size, shape, and initial velocity as it shot out.

Before either of them began chanting, water balls slowly began appearing in their hands, unnoticed by either of them.

Imagine it flying forward. Flying forward.

Bang!

The water balls that had formed in their hands shot forward. They hadn't gone far, but it had worked!

"Huh?"

"Huh!!!"

Radeus and Rudeus exchanged a glance.

"Why did it fly out on its own without any chanting?!" they both exclaimed.

"Wait, wait, wait!"

Radeus began pacing back and forth, thinking about why this had happened. Just like him, Rudeus had made a water ball appear and fly forward without chanting.

What was going on?

"Could magic actually be used without chanting? Maybe the book's account is incomplete, so we ended up thinking magic requires an incantation."

Radeus offered his hypothesis.

"That's possible, but if we don't need to chant, what are the original incantations for?"

Rudeus raised his question.

"I don't know. Looks like we'll need more experiments to figure it out."

Radeus shook his head. As a modern person encountering a supernatural power like magic for the first time, his understanding of it was still lacking. In anime, the protagonists always used it so casually, but now that he was dealing with it in reality, he understood that magic wasn't so simple.

"Shall we try again? Maybe the incantations have something to do with forming and activating the magic. Each word might represent a trigger, like a program's input and output. The incantation might be a programming framework, with the output's shape, size, speed, range, and so on already written into it..."

"Oh, oh..."

Listening to Radeus's analysis, Rudeus started thinking too, although he didn't know exactly what Radeus meant.

After all, back then, he had only attended school for a few years before becoming a shut-in.

"Rad, what did you used to do? How are you figuring all this out so fast?"

Rudeus voiced his question. Radeus analyzed and understood things so quickly, and he had pinpointed the problem right away. That wasn't something just anyone could do.

"Ah, I studied computer science. I got my PhD, then worked on projects at a company for a few years. I've got a little experience analyzing and solving problems."

Radeus's eyes brimmed with tears. The past was too painful to revisit. Plenty of people thought master's degrees and PhDs were awesome, but they had no idea how hard it was, especially a PhD. Getting in was easy; getting out was hard!

And he had studied a STEM subject, too. It really was...

The more he said, the more he wanted to cry!

"Nothing else to say. Just two words for you: fucking awesome!"

Rudeus had nothing more to say to this guy who was practically a normie with a fulfilling life!

If this guy had a girlfriend too, then the FFF Inquisition would have to put him on trial for heresy!

"All right, let's hurry up and test it..."

Radeus tried using Water Ball again, but before he could cast it, his vision went black and he collapsed, still muttering as he went under.

"Fuck, who can get anything done with this little mana?!"

"Rad!"

Seeing Radeus suddenly collapse, Rudeus stopped what he was doing and dragged him aside.

"Out of mana already? Rad, you really suck!"

"Looks like you're nowhere near my level when it comes to magic, Rad!"

"Those I have defeated shall never again be considered my rivals. I grant you leave to chase me, until I am beyond even your sight!"

Rudeus delivered his flurry of grandiose lines like a mighty tiger, only to make a fool of himself with Water Ball!

When he cast his fourth Water Ball, Rudeus collapsed too, losing consciousness. The water ball went out of control and hit him in the crotch. Before passing out, Rudeus left behind one last line.

"Fuck, it's over. I can never show my face again!"

Rudeus had only managed one more cast than Radeus before running out of mana himself. More importantly, the water ball had hit his pants. This really was mud in his crotch-even if it wasn't shit, everyone would think it was.

Sure enough, when Rudeus woke up, Zenith was holding him in her arms while Radeus snickered beside them.

"Honestly, Rudeus, remember to go to the bathroom before bed. Don't soil your pants again!"

At Zenith's words, Radeus could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing.

"Pfft, hahahaha!"

Hearing Radeus laugh, Rudeus flushed bright red.

Damn it! I knew this would happen! I can't go on, folks! At my age, people still think I wet my pants!

"Rad, how could you just fall asleep in the hallway, either? If you're going to sleep, you need to do it in bed!"

Not expecting to get dragged into it himself, Radeus immediately stopped laughing and lowered his head.

"Yes!"

It was obvious why Radeus had been sleeping in the hallway. His stupid little brother had dragged him there while he was unconscious.

He really needed to be taught a lesson!

He had to learn that an eldest brother was like a father, that a father's love was as weighty as a mountain-a mountain of slaps across his face!

The next day, Radeus and Rudeus returned to that room to practice Water Ball.

Once they started practicing, both of them noticed something strange.

Yesterday, Radeus had only had enough mana to cast Water Ball twice, while Rudeus had only managed three casts before reaching his limit.

Having made thorough preparations to avoid a repeat of yesterday, Radeus found that he didn't pass out on his third cast of Water Ball. He only felt a little weak on his fourth, and could still manage a fifth.

"Huh?"

Radeus and Rudeus scratched their heads.

Wasn't your mana pool supposed to be fixed at birth? How had it grown so much by the very next day?

Rudeus began testing his limits too, discovering that he could cast six in a row without running out of mana. In fact, he still had plenty to spare on his sixth cast. He felt his limit should be around eight.

Both of their mana pools had practically more than doubled. In particular, Rudeus could now be confirmed to have both more mana and greater growth potential than Radeus.

The results left both of them dumbfounded.

How had their mana doubled in just one day?!

Who wrote this lousy book?! It was downright misleading its readers!