Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) by V.A. Lewis (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

rate was slightly above 50%. But after blowing up a handful of wooden targets, some stalactites fell from the ceiling above, so Gerritt made me stop. He did not want me to cause the cave to collapse in on us, which I wholeheartedly agreed on.

Still, it was suffice to say, I was… pretty gifted in magic.

I didn’t even need the aid of a magical staff like Victor had to accelerate the time it took me to cast spells; Victor timed how long it took me to create a Magic Bolt, and he came to the conclusion I was twice as fast as any beginner capable of casting the same spell.

Magic did not necessitate some sort of medium to pass through of course; instead, it was like a crutch. It was something most people new to magic would use before they finally begin to specialize to simply accustom themselves to doing magic.

There were also things people did when casting a spell. Examples included striking a pose or saying some sort of incantation; it was supposed to help you focus and make it easier for the spell to form. The book I was currently reading had only some spells shown, with diagrams and descriptions to guide the learner.

Like if you took Fireball for example— Victor did it simply by pointing his staff in a direction. But someone who was not as gifted as him would follow the instructions in the book.

First, you were supposed to take a deep breath and aim your wand or staff at your target. Then you would start drawing a circle in the air, while imagining a ball of flame in your mind. And lastly, it was not necessary— but recommended— that you say the words ‘Fireball’ once the magic circle finished forming in the air.

It almost sounded stupid— I got embarrassed just imagining myself doing it. But there was a science to this: all those steps helped someone grasp at the mana in the world around them and turn it into a really powerful spell. Because at the end of the day, magic was simply a feeling.

I was only glad that they did not begin categorizing spells into something like tiers. That would take away all the magic behind… magic. At least, to me, I thought.

There were some spellcasters who vehemently pushed for the idea: they suggested a kind of tiering system where the simplest spell would be called a Tier 0 spell, and the most advanced spells would be called a Tier 10 spell. But it wasn’t frequently used— it was far from the prevalent form of magic theory currently in place.

But in this system, there were classifications to magic which ranked Tier 0 spells as like the light spell Victor used when we entered the cave, while a Tier 1 spell would be more like Magic Bolt, and Magic Missile would be a low Tier 3 spell.

I thought that the fact that I was already able to cast such high level spells would be a good thing, yet that was apparently a problem. At least, according to what Victor told me on the first day he started tutoring me.

"You mean to tell me you can not do a Light, or even a Sound spell?" Victor stared at me, flabbergasted, when I told him about the spells I knew.

"Um, yes?" I said as I scratched my head.

"And the first spell you learned was in Telekinesis— one of the most complex fields of magic that even I struggle to learn? Albeit Levitation is one of the most basic of Telekinetic spells, but the variation you described sounds a bit more complex. An Invisible Hand variant?" He shook his head. "It doesn’t matter— it is still advanced for a basic spell. But it was your first ever spell?!"

I blinked "...yes?"

The young man’s eyes bore into me, and I shuffled my feet uncomfortably.

"Look, I don’t know what else to tell you. Maybe I’m just gifted, that’s all."

Victor snorted. "Gifted would be the understatement of the century. Even genius fails to describe the level of talent you’ve displayed at your age. Perhaps— a prodigy? Ah, or something more. However, you can not rely on your brilliance alone— as abundant as it may be— when it comes to magic."

"Let me guess: I can't just jump straight to fancy big magical spells, and have to start with smaller ones first."

"In a sense, yes." The dark acolyte ignored my loud sigh at his confirmation, and continued. "Without the proper training, or the proper understanding of what magic can and can not do, you will always plateau. No matter how gifted— as you describe it— you are, there will come a point where unrefined talent meets its end. That's where the fundamentals— the theory behind magic and the basic spells— come in."

"I see." I nodded my head slowly, knowing what came next.

"That is why"— Victor reached into his bag, and slammed a pile of books onto the table— "you will be reading up on all of this."

My eyes bulged at the mountain of books placed on top of one another. They were thick, but not a thousand pages thick like some of the stuff I would have ended up reading when I went to university; still, I wanted to groan.

Maybe it’ll take… three weeks if I really try to finish it all? the hopeful thought crossed my mind, before Victor spoke up again.

"Ah, these are just my personal travel stash of books for the history and basics of magic. I’m sure Commander Gerritt has some more he could lend you. and I’ll ensure he asks around if anyone else has anything that would be useful for you in your studies. Once you’re finished with all of that, I’ll have you practice a select few of those spells for a test I’ll set up.

"You’ll have to retake the test