Aiming for a Cozy Life in a Dangerous Forest in Another World! - Chapter 14
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- Chapter 14 - Thinking About Magic
Chapter 14: Thinking About Magic
Looking up at the sky, the sun was still high. It seemed like we had plenty of time before nightfall.
But if I stayed away from the cave for too long, Kaito and Pola might start to worry.
They were reliable, but they were still only 12 and 6 years old.
I didn’t want to make them anxious.
Besides, I wanted to introduce them to Rin.
With that thought in mind, I decided to head back to the cave with Rin.
Rin followed behind me, hopping along with little “boing, boing” sounds.
It was adorable, but it was a bit slow.
Fortunately, it was small enough for me to carry in my arms, so I scooped it up.
♢ ♢ ♢
Since I had some time to kill, I thought about magic as we walked back to the cave.
When I checked my status after making Rin my familiar, 『Fire Magic』, 『Water Magic』, and 『Light Magic』 had all risen to level 2, and 『Earth Magic』 was now level 3.
And 『Dark Magic』 was now level 1.
『Fire Magic』, 『Water Magic』, and 『Light Magic』 leveling up was probably the result of daily use.
My hypothesis that magic and skills improved the more you used them seemed to be correct.
And 『Earth Magic』. It was my lifeline.
From creating stairs to hunting, I wouldn’t be able to survive without it. In fact, I would have died several times already if I hadn’t had it.
By the way, I used 『Appraisal』 on them after they leveled up, and it seemed that level 2 of 『Fire Magic』, 『Water Magic』, and 『Light Magic』 had the same effects as level 2 of 『Earth Magic』.
I could create fire, water, and light from mana and manipulate them. Though, just like 『Earth Magic』, my control was still rather rough.
『Dark Magic』, as before, didn’t reveal anything when I appraised it.
I suspected the magic circle that had appeared beneath Rin and the black light that enveloped it was 『Dark Magic』, but I had no concrete evidence.
But it had risen to level 1, so I must have used it somehow.
Lastly, 『Earth Magic』.
I appraised it.
♢ ♢ ♢
『Earth Magic』 3
Allows the creation of earth from mana and shaping it into the desired form.
Allows manipulation of the created earth.
Allows the shaping, combining, separating, and manipulation of earth that was not created with magic.
♢ ♢ ♢
The last part was new.
Until now, I had been able to soften and till the ground but I couldn’t completely reshape it. It seemed I could do that now.
And I could now manipulate earth that wasn’t created with 『Earth Magic』.
Although I probably wouldn’t be able to manipulate it as delicately.
…But “earth,” huh.
The name of the magic was “Earth Magic,” and when I appraised it, it said “earth,” so I had assumed that “earth” was the only thing it could affect.
But the 『Stone Bullets』 that I had been using so frequently weren’t really “earth.” They were more like “stones” or “rocks.”
Come to think of it, what exactly was “earth?”
The forest floor, the cave floor and walls, they could all be called “earth,” but there were places where it would be more accurate to call it “stone” or “rock.”
And I still didn’t really understand how magic worked.
My initial feeling that imagination was important was probably correct.
To reinforce that image, I would say the name of what I wanted to create when I activated the magic.
Kaito had said that it was common knowledge that you needed to chant spells to use magic, but even he and Pola were able to use some chantless magic.
Perhaps spells had been created to aid in visualization.
A formula was established: “this spell activates this magic.” As a result, more importance was placed on chanting the spell than on the essential act of “imagining” it. And in the end, perhaps people lost the ability to activate magic without chanting a spell.
…So maybe being able to use a specific type of magic and knowing how to use it were two different things.
I think it worked something like this.
Each type of magic you could use determined the basic things you could do. And of course, as you leveled up, you could do more.
So someone with level 1 『Earth Magic』 wouldn’t be able to launch a lump of earth, no matter how vividly they imagined it. Because they lacked the ability to manipulate it.
On the other hand, the specifics of what you created or how you manipulated it, beyond the fundamental concept of “create something, move something,” depended on your imagination.
Even with level 2 『Earth Magic』, if you couldn’t imagine how to manipulate it, it wouldn’t move.
To test this theory, I looked at a pebble on the ground and imagined it floating gently in the air.
The pebble rose into the air, just as I had imagined, and then fell back down when I released my focus.
Next, I imagined something cold, something frigid: “ice.”
An ice cube materialized in front of me.
The Great Forest of Chrys wasn’t particularly hot, and thanks to the large trees, there wasn’t much direct sunlight, making it relatively comfortable. But I did want to drink cold water.
So on a whim, I tried to create “ice,” and it worked.
…However, “Ice Magic” was not added to my status.
…There was no mistaking it.
The “earth” in 『Earth Magic』 was a very broad concept.
“Stone” and “rock” were included in “earth.” Maybe even metals were included.
And it seemed like “ice” was included in “water.”
Until now, whenever I learned to use a new type of magic, it would be added to my status.
I had clearly just created ice with magic, but no new magic was added.
Which meant it had to be an existing type of magic. The only possibility was 『Water Magic』.
There might be other types of magic out there, so this was just a hypothesis, but I suspected that the category in “○○ Magic” was a very abstract, broad concept.
Whether it was “fire” or “water” in a broad sense.
There was no way to prove this hypothesis right now.
Even just from what I had discovered on my way back to the cave, my capabilities had increased dramatically.
Now that I could use ice, I had a way to preserve food.
And if I could shape, combine, separate, and manipulate earth that wasn’t created with magic, I might be able to remodel the cave to make it more comfortable.
And if I was wrong, then I was wrong.
At the very least, it didn’t mean that I would lose the magic I could currently use.
It was just a matter of how to expand my abilities from now on.
Since I would be living in the Great Forest of Chrys, I could try out various things one by one.
…But somehow, I had a feeling this hypothesis was correct. No, I was certain of it.
It was strange that I was even thinking about magic so deeply, considering I had only been alive for a few days, and only been using magic for a few days.
『Extreme Magic Aptitude』.
This Unique Skill, which still didn’t reveal anything, even with 『Appraisal』, was giving me knowledge about magic. Or so it seemed.