My Parasite Skill System

"I mean … it's all right if you guys have questions; that's perfectly normal. Though now, my guesses are, you don't understand only because you haven't heard it all yet … all right? So that's why no questions for now. You still have questions afterward, I'll be very pleased to hear them all … but for now, ahem–what's that to do with you guys, with me, and with everyone else?"

Hands were lowered hesitantly. Hands were still pretty much eager to ask their hands' questions, but they had no choice but to be civilized. Just like me.

But moving on, what was the point of throwing all the precedent tedious, abstract, long-winded, irksome stuff? The apprentices (that's what we were, apparently) would know how to link it with the concrete, and straightforward explanation of right now, according to the master (he, who was the teach).

He spoke of mana again for quite a long time. My brains all working together towards his explanations and illustrations and examples, I tried to understand his words:

Now, now, that isn't actually the case (the master is talking about his past, broad explanation of what magical energy should be in the world) since what we're here to contemplate is rather mana in an individual.

In and out of one.

Magical energy manifesting itself not only in the world through the every change and effect of itself–but rather, in and out of an individual.

That is mana. Mana isn't only very large and broad-encompassing energy that rules about every matter and minute event of the world, no.

In fact, when one refers to mana, one must be linking mana to an individual. Because with mana comes uses of itself.

And that's what we–the assembly of young folks addressed by the teaching master–are going to contemplate with him.

He was a master of magical energy and a great mage of the Guild. And he has accumulated so much knowledge and experience about it–he insists, so very much knowledge and science about it–that this is the very subject about which we are going to 'contemplate,' (he used that word a lot, contemplate) throughout our journey here as apprentices and disciples.

Sure, old mage, I thought. Whatever you say. Just get onto the main stuff, why don't you?

Going about like this for a still very long time, self-validating and praising himself on his own, he did continue to inflate his ego before he explained:

In an individual, we might refer to it as magic or mana.

Magic comes from one's core. Gushing forth or gently streaming out. You have to summon it for it to become manifest. And upon summoning it in the simplest way possible–that is to say by not giving any orders to it and simply let it be manifest–as it passes through your skin going out coming from your core (core which isn't even definitely and confidently defined by the greatest of mages if not in theories and assumptions), going out coming from your core; that is what happens.

–a bluish-white sort of flame or gas appeared on the fingertip of the old mage; he played with it.

The purest form of mana according to the master. Purest since not given any orders or directions, forms, or indications.

Looking at him go like this, playing and fiddling with his bluish self-acclaimed purest magic, I scoffed inwardly.

My eyes could recognize it. This game of his. And it wasn't certainly the 'purest' like he said.

With my [Mana Perception] skill I was keen on this kind of thing. Comparing it with the real and legit 'purest' magic I'd ever seen (that which came from the Guide at this and that occasion) I could only scoff at it, shaking my head.

Well, I silently thought, pressing and leaning my back comfortably in my backrest, let him enjoy his fraud if he wants … not like he isn't doing well anyhow; only a quick glance from me is enough for me to see he's not all that bad … the same Old Sipping kind of vibes are emanating from him.

But my attention drifted off to the weird window-looking sort of hollow on the large wall to my right. I was bored.

Through the many wooden rods making up a barrier for this guarded window, I could observe outside. There were the homes and buildings of the city.

And letting my boredom be soothed by the outside I so much craved, I only overheard the old mage's tedious explanation in an outgoing, half-assed way:

Just like this, the apprentices could see how from one's core mana would flow out.

And everyone has that within them. Be it in large or little quantity. There are no instances of someone being deprived of mana.

Now, on the other hand, depending on one's affinity to it; not anyone could be making great use of their mana or not and be proficient doing so.

Seeing the bluish-white magical energy turning into either a flame or water–two opposites elementals, which was rare enough in a being–the old mage could boast then again, before his crowd of very attentive disciples.

It occurred to me mana wasn't any kind of a thing. Anyone couldn't behold it at any time. And while to me this spectacle of his was boring enough, to most of the rich students here the spectacle was quite marvelous.

I scoffed scornfully at most of them all yet again, disinterestedly.

For a grandmaster such as himself, magic was an ever-loyal tool ready to be taken advantage of at virtually any time, with such application and zealousness.

For a beginner, it's quite different. Before stacking up real and consistent years of practice and experience (except if you were a genius) you would first need to manifest it into skills and other already preconceived ways.

Skills, yes.

But anyway–coming back to the bluish-white fumes he let off from his fingertip; he now got to talk about elementals.

And letting myself sink even more deeply in my chair, standing up from above in the last rows of seats; I was surprised as to how blue the sky could be today.

Very, very blue.

Very, very beautiful.

Very, very … bold, bitter, baffling, bashful, beaming, believable, bleak, blurry, and blushing.

Making up that very long by me, but not exhaustive at all b-adjective list, I was lost in my head that belonged outside of these walls.

This isn't my fault if I don't understand what he says … am not interested in this. I want to kill foes.

And continuously going like this, all the more disinterestedly, I overheard the master's others explanation about things:

Many thoughts and explanations regarding the use of magical weapons. How one would craft them, enchant them, enhance them, conserve them, recharge them … it never ended.

Some bits of his speech were now also addressed regarding the way too numerous applications of the same stuff about runes and whatnot on equipment. Making it magic or not. Making it resistant or not. Resistant to this or that element. Then again, it never ended.

Cleverly using all these good assets to their fullest would benefit every one of us. And they were many, the good assets and ways.

Jewelry, accessories, boots, gloves, potions, enchanting, forging, blah, blah blah.

And this all was but another introduction to the master's main corpus which he'd be teaching us.

My thoughts were elsewhere.

Outside.