Two weeks had passed since Liliana’s last checkup. After her follow-up with the doctor, she went straight to the library in her manor. Inside, bookshelves stretched endlessly, climbing toward the high ceiling. Accessing the top shelves required the ladders attached to the bookcases, which could be moved using the control panels tucked into the corner of each shelf. There was no need to switch on individual lights, as the same panels could brightly illuminate any area. The library made extensive use of magical devices found nowhere else in the manor.
They certainly didn’t call my uncle a bookworm for nothing. I had no idea there were so many books on magic here.
Books were expensive, yet the library’s shelves were packed with them. Most were written in the local language, but many were in foreign tongues as well, covering every subject Liliana could imagine. The collection had been assembled by her late uncle, who had once lived in the manor, with the overflow stored in a separate building in the backyard. It was an archive that could put even the royal library to shame.
My in-game self had an aptitude for magic, so that’s where I’ll start.
Magic was such a fundamental concept in the Kingdom of Slivegrandia that a corner of the library was devoted entirely to books on the subject. Hexes, by contrast, were far less well-known, which probably explained why only a handful of books in the entire collection addressed them—and even those offered only rough summaries. They didn’t pique Liliana’s interest, so she picked up a guide on magic and began thumbing through its pages. It explained that magic was composed of six elements—fire, wind, water, earth, light, and darkness—and that every person had an aptitude for one of them.
Even this book insists that incantations are mandatory. It also says that to wield magic of multiple elements, one must take extra care to avoid conflicts between them, and that the user must have sufficient mana as well as experience and talent in magic... But is that really true?
In the game, Liliana had been executed for using dark magic, yet her elemental aptitude was wind. It was extremely rare for someone to have an affinity for light or dark magic—in fact, the two were considered special. The guide offered no further explanation, so all Liliana knew was that most spells classified as dark magic were forbidden.
Historically, the men of House Clarke have had an aptitude for fire, and the women for wind. So how did my in-game self learn dark magic?
Liliana checked the section of the guide that covered wind magic. It listed only basic and beginner-level spells, and without much detail, so she returned the book to its shelf and started working through texts on basic-, beginner-, medium-, and expert-level spells, in that order.
Even in the most advanced books, Liliana found that only the spells and their incantations were listed. For dark magic in particular, the spells themselves were omitted until the expert-level texts—and even then, they focused mainly on dispelling illusion magic, which was often used during war or assassinations to mislead the enemy. That was likely why illusion magic itself wasn’t covered.
Learning true dark magic might mean having to get my hands on books stored in the Ministry of Magic...
The Ministry of Magic oversaw all things, well, magical. Learning dark magic from publicly available books was evidently out of the question—understandably, since most of its spells were banned—so Liliana decided to focus on magic of other elements, whose literature she could actually read.
To cast a spell, one simply amplifies mana to the required level and materializes it according to the appropriate mental image. Incantations merely vocalize the spell, and with magical devices, the spells are input directly into matter. So shouldn’t it be possible to cast them without incantations?
If Liliana’s hypothesis was correct, her lack of a voice might actually work to her advantage. People who believed incantations were necessary would assume she couldn’t use magic, at which point she could take them by surprise. Deception was a perfectly valid battle strategy.
Spells are devised according to this world’s common sense. With my memories from my past life, I should be able to use magic without worrying about the element. The important part here is probably imagination.
Liliana returned the expert-level spellbooks to their shelves and began searching for something even more advanced. High on one of the bookcases, she found research memorandums written by mages of the past. Leafing through them, she noticed that some explored the possibility of casting spells without incantations, yet all reached the same conclusion: It was only possible in theory. Perhaps she really was onto something.
I have an aptitude for magic—and now the knowledge from my past life as well.
Liliana’s memories from her previous life were mostly raw knowledge, completely devoid of emotion. That was why she felt she could put them to good use.
Magic is the art of materializing mana according to the mental image of a spell. In other words, I need to learn what it feels like to convert this mana into a spell.
Liliana squeezed her eyes shut and focused on the mana within her. At first, she couldn’t locate it, but gradually she became aware of a flow distinct from the blood coursing through her veins. Next came spellcasting practice.
Wind magic has a spell for moving things around. It might be easy to start with.
The explanations varied greatly between spellbooks, but the core principle was the same: using the air to both balance and move an object. Liliana combined that knowledge with what she remembered from her past life and unleashed her mana. It flowed from her, creating a breeze near her hand. She focused on the book she was holding, and it floated lightly into the air. The sight made her eyes widen—but even in her surprise, she maintained her concentration.
✦ ✦ ✦
Oh, it worked.
Liliana’s eyes sparkled as the spellbook she had just been reading floated back to its shelf seemingly on its own. Magic was supposed to be impossible for humans without incantations, yet she made it look effortless. She stared at the bookcase for a moment before surveying her surroundings.
What about magic of the other elements?
Liliana blushed—an unusual occurrence for her—and began channeling her mana again. She wrapped a book on the table with its invisible flow, adjusted the refraction of light, and applied another of the spells she had just read about.
It works. I can’t see the book anymore.
The confirmation of her hypothesis brought a smile to Liliana’s face. Illusion spells were supposed to be exclusive to dark magic, yet she had produced one using nothing but her affinity for wind.
At that moment, a six-year-old girl shattered the common sense of her world.