Episode 15
After the Q&A time ended, the first lesson finally began.
Jade pulled out a transparent crystal orb from beneath the podium. He casually walked over and placed it on Miel’s desk.
“Miel, do you know what this is?”
“A crystal orb?”
“That’s a rather basic answer.”
“Well, what else would you call a crystal orb besides a crystal orb?”
The orb didn’t seem particularly special. It was just the typical magical tool — exactly what people usually imagined when they thought of wizards.
“It really seems like Shulien taught you poorly. Didn’t even teach you the basics of magic before having you cast spells like Fireball and Ice Ray?”
“Feelings, huh? I did learn Fireball and Ice Ray though.”
“I’m not talking about flashy spells. I mean basic magical knowledge.”
Jade brushed back his hair and continued his explanation.
“This isn’t just any crystal orb. It’s a magical orb used to measure the amount of mana a mage possesses and to detect the fundamental nature of that mana.”
It was Miel’s first time seeing such an item. As Jade said, Shulien had never taught her about it.
Apparently, her former teacher wasn’t all that great at teaching magic. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
After their conversation earlier, she had realized the importance of studying.
Of course, what Shulien shared with her was a secret known only to him, not directly related to studying. Still, she figured it would be good to at least understand the basics.
“If you place your hand here and infuse a small amount of mana, the color will change. It’s simple. Just think of it as casting a spell that changes the orb.”
Semid placed his hand on the orb and demonstrated.
White smoke slowly filled the inside of the orb.
The smoke gradually thickened and began to shimmer like light.
“Wow…”
Miel let out a quiet gasp of admiration. Jade’s lips curled slightly. He spoke with pride.
“This color represents the quality of one’s mana. Every wizard has a different color, but they are typically categorized into ten main types.”
Semid pointed at the orb and explained further.
“This white color doesn’t indicate a specialization in one element. Instead, it appears only in those who are capable in all kinds of magic. And the thicker the color, the greater the amount of mana. Look closely — mine is not just thick, it’s glowing. That’s proof of how powerful I am.”
It was blatant bragging. Not that she needed him to say it to know he was strong.
“Ah… yes.”
Miel responded, hiding her awkward expression. Jade removed his hand from the orb and gestured for her to try.
Miel carefully placed her hand on the orb. The previously clear orb began to fill with smoke again.
For some reason, she felt nervous now that it was her turn. She had never done anything like this before.
The color that appeared was a deep, dark black. Jade’s expression stiffened immediately.
Thick black smoke filled the orb.
Jade’s face hardened as he mentally ran through the meanings of the various colors.
The orb categorized a mage’s mana into ten colors:
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Purple, Pink, White, and Black.
Of these, White and Black were the rarest.
He had seen White before — it was the color traditionally associated with the Tower Masters.
But Black… he had never seen it. The meaning behind Black was “unusual power.”
While the other colors represented specific magical affinities — like fire, light, electricity, nature, or water — Black did not fall into any of these categories.
A wizard with black mana had a rare, non-elemental ability. So rare, in fact, that they made up less than 1% of all mages.
Even Jade, the Tower Master, was seeing one for the first time.
“Miel has this kind of power?”
He had never heard anything about it before. It had been about two years since she entered the Tower, yet he hadn’t once heard of her possessing an unusual ability.
“Is this what it means to be the daughter of a great sage? But still…”
“Master?”
Miel called out when Jade didn’t respond right away. Her voice snapped him back to reality.
“Ah, right. You have more mana than I thought. And a very rare color appeared — even I’ve only read about it in books.”
“Huh? You’ve never seen it before, Master?”
“Yeah. I’ve only come across it in texts. Black represents undefined mana. It doesn’t fit neatly into any known category — it appears in cases where the essence of magic is ambiguous.”
“I… I see.”
“So, Miel, what exactly is your power?”
At Jade’s question, Miel didn’t answer.
She didn’t want to talk about it. She already knew her power was different from other wizards.
It was an abnormal ability.
Sure, it used mana as a medium, but it was fundamentally different in nature from ordinary magic.
She was certain that if Jade found out, he wouldn’t even consider it magic.
So Miel decided to play dumb.
“I’m not really sure.”
Fortunately, Jade didn’t seem to know about her power either.
Miel had never revealed her ability to any of the mages she worked with on assignments — not unless she’d built deep trust with them over time.
Thus, very few people actually knew the truth.
Jade accepted her answer.
“I see. That’s fine. You can discover your power slowly.”
He nodded and put the orb away.
Miel truly seemed unaware of her power — and that was probably for the best. If that was the case, then he could help her.
He remembered something he’d read long ago in a book — about mages with black mana.
More than half of them had met tragic ends, unable to control their power.
But Miel still had a chance. As her teacher, if he could guide her properly, she might avoid such a fate.
Jade then moved on to continue the lesson.
“Black mana, while not quite on the level of White, is also highly versatile across many types of magic. So if you keep learning, eventually you’ll discover your true ability. Let me know when you do.”
Not that he thought she ever would. Still, Miel nodded.
She normally hated lying, but this time she lied to protect herself. She didn’t want to show this power to anyone.
“Alright then. Let’s begin the actual lesson. You seem to have enough mana and some talent, so we can jump right into practical magic.”
They moved to a space without desks, where a dome-shaped field was automatically activated.
Miel suddenly remembered the day she first entered the Tower.
Back then, the Tower Master had clearly disliked her unexpected arrival.
That was why he never officially accepted her as a magic apprentice, but instead took her as his personal student.
And only now, two years later, did her first real lesson begin.
Learning magic not from Shulien, but from the Tower Master himself.
For some reason, it excited her. Though he was still strange — maybe even half-insane — learning something new was always thrilling.
“Since it’s your first lesson, I’ve prepared something easy.”
Easy? That was a relief.
If the first spell had been too hard, she might’ve lost interest. Knowing it would be easy sparked her curiosity.
“It’s Meteor.”
…?
Since when was Meteor considered an easy spell?
Miel realized her mistake in thinking her teacher might be normal.
Of course not — he was clearly far beyond the bounds of a normal person.
“Don’t worry, the principle is simple. You combine basic creation magic with a mental image. Then, adjust the mana accordingly. I’ll show you a small demonstration — if I used my full power, the floor would collapse.”
Jade raised his hand into the air and infused it with mana.
The once cool atmosphere instantly turned hot. Soon, a burning rock materialized in the air near Jade’s fingertips.
Instead of immediately falling, the rock hovered midair, held up by Jade’s magic.
“See? Easy, right? Now you try.”
Again, Miel wondered — how was this easy?!
