The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated
chapter-77

Lamdrion, at the inn.

After leaving the adventurer's guild, Shien returned directly there.

To him, that altercation at the adventurer's guild wasn't even significant enough to be worth talking about.

Now, Shien just wanted to quickly understand and learn magic. The previous cliched happenings have long since been forgotten in the face of his excitement.

Given all that, Shien headed for his room the moment he got back to the inn, where he locked the door, flung his shoes off, and hopped onto his bed.

There, Shien impatiently picked up the [Basic Magic] book and opened it up.

"Magic."

The moment he opened it, Shien saw the huge character for "Magic".

That character filled the entire page as if it contained infinite power. For some reason, it ended up entrancing Shien somewhat.

"Hmm. Now there's a mystical feeling."

Shien was strangely satisfied by that, and flipped to the second page.

From that page on is when it actually started explaining the basics of "Magic."

"Magic, is a type of power that allows one to consume life energy in exchange for magic power, which is then used to instigate natural phenomenons. It is the most mysterious and deep subject in the world.

"Magic originally came from the demons, and it was a method of utilizing power that the Demon King invented. The goal of it was to allow the demons to more effectively utilize their naturally mighty magic power, and with it, to better combat the gods. Thus, it was so named magic, where the original term meant the art of demons."

"Later on, highest god Omnis used the same basic logic to invent holy magic, which was specifically created to fight against demons and demonic beasts, as well as various kinds of recovery and support type magics. She also granted it to the gods and other races, and thus magic changed from miracles belonging exclusively to demons instead into a kind of power wielded by all races. Thus, it became a staple of Omnipotlin."

"Now, all kinds of spells and magic systems have been continuously developed and spread out. Magic too has become one of the most respected types of power. Those mages who have shown talent and abilities in magic tend to be of a higher position than most warriors. That is because they can enact miracles that normal skills generally cannot."

Shien basically understood the origins of magic.

Nien also somewhat covered that portion with Shien before.

Based on what that goddess said, magic is a kind of power that interferes with the natural laws of the world. It can enact many miracles within the bounds of [logic], which is why it's so high in status.

Thanks to that, anyone who wants to learn magic also needs very high natural talent. It was because it was a subject that could reach the logic of the world.

So then, why are elves a race of natural born mages then?

That was because elves were lifeforms born directly from nature, and are close to nature, close to the world itself. That was why all elves were natural mages, without a single exception.

And since demons were a race naturally born form the Demon King's magic power, and so were born with exceptional magic power, they too can generally all use magic as well.

Rather, it's the gods, due to differences in their jobs, who the majority don't even know the most basic magics at all. However, there were also many gods who could use holy, recovery, and support magics. So, it was basically a difference in natural aptitude compared to the demons.

"What about me then?"

Shien doesn't know if he himself had any talent for learning magic.

On the magic power side, he should have more than enough.

But, being close to nature, and close to the world?

"I'm an otherworlder though."

Shien couldn't help but be a bit worried.

"If I knew about this beforehand, I would have read some books on Heroes and check if the Heroes throughout history have learned magic or not."

Although he thought that, Shien still continued to read on.

"Based on the effects and power, magic too is split into levels."

"Beginner class magic."

"Medium class magic."

"High class magic."

"Generally speaking, magic is split into those three levels."

Beginner class magic are the weakest in terms of utility and power, but the requirements for learning them are also the lowest. Even a lot of warriors who reached a certain level could use them, although it would unquestionably be much weaker than it would be for a mage of equivalent level. Thus, many warriors who did manage to reach the requirements for learning it would choose not to.

Mid class magic is quite worth looking at in both utility and power. It's to the point where even a level 50 warrior would like to learn them. However, the basic required level of magic power and talent is also much higher, and most warriors would have no way to meeting those requirement. If they could, then those warriors would basically also be able to learn the [Magic Sword] skill.

High class magic is publicly known as high power, high utility. It's also the greatest goal of most mages. Any mage capable of using high class magic would also be notable enough to catch the attention of nobility and even royalty and be greatly valued by them.

Thus, any mage who has learned high class magic are basically quite famed. Their social status won't loose out to most nobles.

That said though…

"If one wishes to learn magic, one must first learn the relevant magic skill."

"For example, only people who has the [Magic – Fire] skill; can use fire type magic, and only those with the [Magic – Ice] skill can learn ice type magic, so on and so forth. Thus, to learn a type of magic, one must first learn the magic skill for that type."

"Plus, the level of the magic skill directly decides what level of spells that can be used."

"When the magic skill is level 1, 2, or 3, all that can be used is beginner class magic."

"When the magic skill is level 4, 5, or 6, then mid class magic can be used."

"When the magic skill is level 7, 8, or 9, then high class magic is possible."

If the level of the magic skill is too low, then no matter what, high class magic would be impossible. That was common knowledge that everyone knows.

Take Melika for example, Due to her [Magic – Fire] and [Magic – Ice] skills being level 4, the elf girl could use mid class magic. She could also use beginner class magic, but high class magic was completely impossible for her.

Then look at Leisha. Her [Magic – Space] skill had already been raise to level 7, so she could use high class space magic, and so she could even seal or annihilate space itself.

At the same time, the higher level the magic skill was, the stronger and more versatile the spells themselves were.

"What about level 10 then?"

Shien was rather curious. After flipping through a number of pages, he still didn't manage to find any information on just what the effects of raising a magic skill to level 10 were.

"It must be because it's within the purview of this book, right?"

Shien basically understood it.

After all, the book's name was [Basic Magic]. It was pretty obvious that it's not going to end up going into the really deep stuff.

However, this book did have the instructions for teaching someone beginner class magic, as well as the starting steps for gaining magic.

"If you want to learn it, then you must first have learned the corresponding magic skills."

"However, just having the relevant magic skill isn't enough."

"For anyone who wants to be a proper mage, they must first also learn two skills."

"One is a skill that allows one to increase the speed and fluency of the spell's magic words – [Chanting]."

"The other is a skill that allows one to transform one's mind and will into the form of magic, and even allow one to reach into the logic of the world – [Meditation]."

"Only after having learned those two skills could one finally use magic."

Thus, the first thing that the book teaches wasn't magic, but rather the secret to learning those two skill.