Mushoku Tensei (WN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Magic Textbook 
Part 1 
About 2 years has passed since I was reincarnated. 
My legs and waist were starting to become strong enough for me to walk on my feet. 
And I was beginning to learn this world's language. 
Part 2 
Having decided to live on seriously, I started to consider what I could do. 
What did I need in my life? 
Studying, sports, and skill sets. 
As a baby, there was little I could do. The most I could do was to bury my face into someone's chest. 
And when I did that to the maid, she made an unhappy expression. 
That maid definitely hated kids. 
Realizing that I can do sports a little later in life, I started searching for books in the house to learn words 
It's important to be literate. 
There's a near 100% literacy rate amongst Japanese, but many had poor English skills, so they balked at the idea of going overseas, and even treated foreign languages as a mere skill set. Therefore, learning this world's words was my first assignment. 

There were five books in this house. 
Could it be that books in this world are expensive, or that Paul and Zenith don't read books? 
It was probably both these reasons. It was unbelievable to me, who owned thousands of books. 
Though they're all light novels. 
There were only five books, but they were sufficient for me to learn to recognize words. 
This world's language was similar to Japanese, so I it was easy for me to pick up. 
Even though the letters were completely different, learning how to speak went very smoothly. 
I'll be fine as long as I memorize enough vocabulary. It's beneficial to first understand how to speak. 
Father read me the contents of the books many times , so learning the vocabulary went smoothly. 
Perhaps it had something to do with this body's ability to memorize well. 
After being able to read the language, I found this book's content very interesting. 
In my past life, I never thought of learning as interesting. Thinking back about it, it was exactly the same as memorizing information from the internet. How can it not be interesting? 
Nevertheless, did my father really think an infant would be able to understand the contents of that book? 
It was fine for me, but any normal one-year-old kid would have frowned and started bawling. 

These were the five books at home. 
. <<Traveling Around the World>> 
This is a guidebook that contains the name and unique characteristics of various countries in this world. 

<<Fedoa's Monsters, Ecology and Weaknesses>> 

A book that described the monsters that appeared in the Fedoa region, and ways to handle them. 
<<Guide to Magic>> 
A guidebook that explained how to use magic attacks, from the elementary rank to the advanced rank. 

<<Perugius' Legend>> 
A fairy tale about a summoner named Perugius, who traveled along with his companions, battling the demon gods, saving the world, punishing evil, and rewarding the good. 
<<Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth>> 
It's the adventure of three talented swordsmen of different sword styles who encountered each other, and and entered the labyrinth. 

Leaving aside the two battle novels, the other three let me learn a lot. 
Especially the guidebook about magic. 

To me, who came from a world without magic, the things recorded here got me really interested, 
Reading through it, I understood a few basics. 
1. First of all, magic can be broadly classified into three categories. 
[[Attack Magic]] --- Attacks a target [[Healing Magic]] --- Heals a target [[Summoning Magic]] --- Calls out something 
Three types. Easy to understand. 
There are various functions, but according to the guidebook, magic was originally developed for war. It still isn't really used much besides battle and hunting. 

2. To use magic, you must have mana. 

Conversely, as long as you have mana, you could use magic. 
There are two ways of using mana. 
[[Use the mana within your body]] 
[[Draw out mana from something that contains mana]] 
It must be one of these two. 
I can't think of a good example. It's probably something like a home generator for the former, and a battery for the latter. 
A long time ago, people used only their mana to use magic; as generations passed, magic was researched into, the difficulty spiked, and the mana required increased exponentially as a result. 
This was fine for the people who had a lot of mana, but those with lesser mana couldn't use that sort of magic. 
Thus, the magicians of the past thought of ways to draw out mana from elsewhere to fulfill the magic's requirements. 

3. There are two ways to activate magic. 
[[Incantation]] 
[[Magic Array]] 
There's really no need to explain here, right? To activate a spell, either to utter a chant through the mouth, or draw a magic array. 
Magic arrays were the norm a very long time ago, but at incantation is currently the mainstream. 
In the distant past, the simplest incantation required about one, two minutes. 
It wasn't very long, but this method was very difficult to use in battle. 
In contrast, once a magic array was drawn, it could be used repeatedly. 
There was a certain magician who successfully reduced the incantation time. Thus, incantation became the norm. 
The simplest incantations took about five seconds, so basic magic attacks could be used with incantation. 
But unless the situation was urgent, complicated magic spells are still cast with magic arrays. 

4. A person's mana is set when they are born. 

A normal RPG increased your MP as you level up. 
But this doesn't look the case in this world. 
Basically, everyone's a Warrior by profession. Just saying that term makes me feel like there was something of a change...... 
What about me? Hmm. 
Apparently, the amount of mana one possessed was hereditary. 
The fact that my mother was capable of magic meant I could probably hope for certain amount of innate mana. 
It's a little worrying. Even if my parents are talented, I don't think my genetic makeup is capable of that. 
Part 3 
In any case, I began try out the simplest magic. 
The guidebook contained methods for both incantation and magic formation, but since incantation's the norm, and there's no place for me to draw magic arrays, I started with incantation. 
It seems that the more complicated a spell was, the longer the incantation time would be. In fact, extremely complicated spells had to be chanted in conjunction with magic arrays; that's not a problem in the beginning , however.. 
It seems a skilled magician can use magic without incantation. 
Voiceless incantation, or reducing the chants; Something like that. 
But why was it that a skilled person doesn't didn't need incantation? 
The amount of mana required to cast the technique doesn't change, and even if you level up, your MP won't increase either..... 
Or was it the more skilled you are, the less mana you'd use? 
No, even if that does decrease one's mana usage, there's no reason to skip steps. 
'.............Whatever, I'll just try it out first. 

I hold the guidebook in my left hand, stretched out my right, and read out the words. 
“Bestow the protection of water on the place thee demandest, let thine crystal clear flow here, WATER BALL” 
I felt the sensation of blood gathering in my right hand. 
My blood feels as if it's being squeezed out, and a water bullet the size of a fist appeared in front of my right hand. 
“Whoa!!” 
The moment I showed amazement, the water bullet fell onto the floor, dampening it. 
The book said the water bullet should be shot out, but it had fallen instead. 
Perhaps my concentration had been broken, causing the spell to fail. 

Concentrate, concentrate...... 
The sensation of blood gathering in my right hand. This, this, this feeling .......Mmmm. 

I once again raise my right hand, recall that feeling from before, and imagine it in my mind. 
I don't know how much mana I have, but it's best not to think that I can do this many times. 
Concentrate, and let every attempt be successful. 
First, I had to imagine it, then repeat it over and over in my mind, then cast it in reality. 
If it ended in failure, I'll imagine it again in my mind. Until I can do it perfectly in my head. 
This was how I practiced every move in fighting games in the past. 
Because of that, I didn't really fail when I tried to execute a combo. 
I should have no problems if I practice using this method...... I hope. 
“Brea....the.....” 
A deep breath. 
I send the blood flowing from my toes and top of my head head into my right hand, using that feeling to gather power. 
And then, have the feeling of firing it out from my palm... 
Carefully, carefully. With every heartbeat, gathering it bit by bit..... 
Water, Water, Water, Water Bullet, Water's Ball, Water Ball, Water Ball Panties..... 
Evil thoughts were mixed in to it. One more time. 
Concentrate, squeezing out waterrrrrrr......... 
“HAH!” 
I unconsciously shouted like a monk, and the water bullet came out. 
“Eh, huh.....?” 
Plop. 
The moment I showed surprise, the water bullet fell way too quickly. 
“............ Ah.” 
Huh...I didn't chant just now, right? 
Why did......? 
What I did was to recall the feeling of using that spell and imitating it in my mind. 
But can it be that just redoing the flow of the magic made incantation unnecessary? 
Was voiceless incantation that simple? 
Wasn't it supposed to be an upper class technique? 
“If it's that easy to succeed, what's the use of incantation?” 
Even a novice like me can cast magic using voiceless incantation. 
Concentrating the mana in my fingertips, and determining the shape in my mind. 
That was bascially it. 
In that case, incantation was completely unnecessary. Everyone can just do this instead. 
(............ Hm.) 
Can it be that incantation's the activation of magic? 
There's no need to replicate the feeling of gathering blood; I can just complete it if I let out my voice. 
It might be something like that. 
It's just like an automatic car. One can actually change it to manual and it'll still work. 
“Incantation will automatically cast magic.” 
There'll be several advantages to using incantations. 

Firstly, it's easy. 
Instead of explaining it as gathering the blood from the blood vessels in my body, everyone can simply recite it and succeed instead? Both teacher and student will have an easier time. 
And after teaching this over and over again, it'll become [[incantation is something quintessential]]. 

Secondly, It's convenient to use. 
Needless to say, attack magic's meant to be used in combat. 
Instead of closing your eyes and going "mmmmmmm" while concentrating, it's faster to recite it quickly. 
It's a question of which is easier, to run with all of one's strength while drawing a clear picture, or to run with all of one's strength while chanting. 
“It must be different for various people. Maybe there are those who would find it easier with the former.....” 
I quickly flipped through the magic textbook, but I found nothing on voiceless incantations. 
That's weird. Based on my experience, it wasn't that hard. 
Maybe it's a special talent I have, but others can't use it at all. 

Maybe I can think of it this way. 
A magician typically starts out as a beginner and ends up as a veteran, and everyone uses the incantation method to cast. 
After thousands of times, their bodies would be used to incantation. 
And when it came to voiceless incantations, they didn't know what to do. 
Therefore, as it's not disseminated, it's not recorded in the guidebook. 
“Whoaa, that explains it!” 
Then that means I'm not an ordinary person. 
That's amazing, right? 
It's like I'm using a tip sheet. 
“They used a Crime Catalyst without singing an Oratorio!?” 
“But all I did was use this catalyst like normal and open the gate.” [8] 
That kind of feeling? 
Woohoo, I'm getting excited! 

Ah, no no. Calm down, cool down. 
The past me was deceived by this feeling. 
Because I'm better at using the computer than the average person and got that feeling that I was some kind of chosen one, I became greedy and eventually ended up a failure. 
I have to be humble. The most important thing is to not treat myself like someone superior to others. 
I'm a novice. A novice. 
A novice with beginner's luck and managed to hit the bowling pins with a strike. 
I just have beginner's luck. I don't think I'm a talented person with talent. I should be working hard on this. 
Good. I needed to first rely on the chant to use a spell, then based on the feeling I experienced when casting I could practice the voiceless incantation repeatedly. 
I would just use that format to learn. 
“Then let's do it again.” 
But when I stretch out my right hand, I feel strangely sluggish. 
It's as if there's something heavy on my shoulders. 
The feeling of fatigue. 
Is it because I'm concentrating too hard? 
No, I was at least considered a pro at internet gaming(self-proclaimed). I was a man who could continue hunting for six full days without sleeping if I needed to. 
My concentration wouldn't vanish from just two attempts. 
“That is to say, my MP depleted....?” 
Goodness...if they say the mana amount is decided at birth, my mana's only enough to fire two water bullets? 
That's just too little, right? Or is it because I'm a beginner, my efficiency when using mana properly is really low? 
No, how can that be? 

To be safe, I tried firing off the spell one more time, but in the end I fainted. 
Part 4 
“Oh really, Rudeus, If you're sleepy just go to the toilet and then sleep on the bed.” 
When I woke up, I was treated as if I'd fallen asleep when reading the book, and wet the floor. 
Damn. I got scolded for wetting the floor even when I'm so old..... 
Damn it...... Damn it..... Eh, I'm only two, right? Wetting the bed is still forgivable. 
But seriously, isn't my mana's too little? 
Hah...... This made me feel really powerless...... Well, even if it's 2 water bullets, the next thing is how to use it. 
In any case, I should practice to the point where I can fire it right away...... 
Hah...... 
Part 5 
The next day, I was fine even after firing four water bullets. 
I only felt tired after the fifth shot. 
“Huuuh...?” 
Based on my experience yesterday, I know I'll faint if I fired another shot, and I decide to stop. 
So I began to think. 
My current maximum's six shots. That's two times more than yesterday's. 
I looked at the barrel's-worth of five water bullets, and wonder, 
The reason why the number of shots increased by 2 times from yesterday till today. 
Was it because I was already tired yesterday, or was it because I consumed more MP yesterday? 
I'm casting them all through voiceless incantation, but there shouldn't be any difference between the two methods. 

I don't get it. 
Maybe the number will continue to increase tomorrow. 
Part 6 
It's the next day. 
The number of water bullets I could create had increased. 
Eleven times. 
It feels like I can increase the number of shots I can fire with the number of shots actually fired. 
If my theory's true, by tomorrow, I should be be able to use the spell 21 times. 

Another day passed. 
To confirm my guess, I casted the spell five times, and stopped. 

Another day passed, 
And my limit became 26 times. 
My limit really is the same as the number of times I had cast the spell. 
(You actually bluffed me.............................!) 
What do you mean a persons total mana is decided at birth? 
You're determining talent, an intangible thing you can't even see with your own eyes. 
A child's potential isn't what an adult can determine!! 
“Well, this also means that I can't just blindly trust something from a book.” 
This book's probably saying something like, “Human's happiness has a limit.” That sort of thing. 
Or was it referring to the results of training? 
Did it mean that after rigorous training, there's a mana cap? 
No, it's still too early to draw a conclusion. This is still just a hypothesis. 
Something like..... Yeah, like, it's based on how much you can grow, or something. 
When casting magic during infancy, the maximum value will increase exponentially, or something like that. 
Ah, I can't ignore the possibility that maybe it's due to my special body. 
..... No, it's not good to treat myself as special. 
In my original world, it's said that the athletic abilities does increase exponentially during puberty. 
But the problem was that after puberty, no matter how hard one try, there's not much progress. 
Even in this world, for something like magic, a human's body structure shouldn't be any different. 
It's basically the same. 
Then, there's only one thing to do. 
Train as hard as possible before puberty ends. 
Part 7 
From the next day onwards, I depleted my mana to the fullest every day. 
At the same time, the number of spells I could use increase. 
As long as I can remember the feeling, it's easy to use voiceless incantation. 
Anyway, my short-term target's to completely master elementary magic. 
Elementary magic is just as the term implies. It had the lowest rank amongst all attack magic. 
Water and flame bullets are considered the basics even amongst the elementary spells. 
There are seven difficulty ranks to magic. 
[[Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor, God]] 
I read that an ordinary educated magician can improve his specialized magic up to the advanced rank, while the typical uneducated is able to cast elementary to intermediate ranked spells. 
If we're going by the rank beyond Advanced, based on this system, those called a Fire-Saint or Water-Saint can be considered to be one of a kind. 
The Saint rank. 
I'm yearning that a little. 
But that magic guidebook only has fire, water, wind, and earth systems, up to the Advanced rank. 
'Where can I learn spells ranked Saint and and above......? 
No, it's better not to think too far ahead. 
It's the same too for RPG Maker, If one started off by creating the strongest monster, there's a high chance of being dejected. 
One should start from the slime. 
Though I didn't even finish the slime even though I started from it. [9] 
Part 8 
Now, the book contained the following elementary water spells. 

Water bullet: A water bullet that can be shot. Water Ball. 
Water shield: Water that rises from the ground to form a wall. Water shield. 
Water arrow: A 20cm dart that's fired. Water Arrow. 
Ice strike: Creates a column of ice to smite an enemy. Ice Smash. 
Ice weapon: Forms a sword of ice. Ice blade. 

I tried out everything. 
Even though each spell was elementary, the amount of mana it took to cast them varied. 
Using the water bullet as my standard. A single cast expends two to twenty water bullets worth of mana based on the spell. 

Basically, I practiced only water magic. 
It would have been a problem if I'd tried the fire magic and caused a fire disaster. 
Speaking of fire, it seems the amount of mana used is correlated to the temperature. The higher the rank, the colder the ice got. 
While the book said certain spells should fly out of my hand, whether it water bullet or water arrow I could never get them to work properly. 
But I'm unable to shoot anything, whether it's the water bullet or the water arrow even though the book tells me so. 
Why's that so? Where have I gone wrong..... 
Hmmm. I don't get it. 
The book had said something about a spell's size and speed. 
Can it be that after creating the bullet, I still need to control it using magic? 
Let's try it out then. 
“Oh?” 
The water bullet became bigger. 
“Ohhhh!!” 
Plop. 
“Oh.....” 
But it still fell onto the floor. 
After that, I tried various means to change the bullet's size. 
I created two different bullets at the same time. 
I changed the size of the bullets at the same time. 
But even though it's a new discovery, none of the bullets look like flying forward.. 

Fire and wind aren't affected by gravity, and can float in the air. In the end though, they'll still disappear after a certain amount of time. <--lol, air's not affected by gravity? oookay--> 
I tried using wind to shoot a floating fireball, but it felt wrong somewhere. 
Hmmm...... 
Part 9 
2 months later. 
At the end of all the mistakes, I finally succeeded in making a water bullet fly. 
By now, I've a basic understanding of the concept behind incantation. 

There are certain steps to incantations. 
Creation > Setting of size > Setting of firing speed > Activation. 
Within this, the magic spell can is done once the user determines the size and speed. 
Which means after the chant, 

1) The spell automatically takes shape. 
2) After this, within a fixed time frame, increase the mana input to adjust the size. 
3) After the size adjustment, during a fixed time frame with extra mana input, was the adjustment of the speed setting. 
4) Once the preparation period's over, the magic spell leaves the caster's hand, and automatically flies towards its target. 
This is the sequence of the entire thing. 
This is most probably correct...I thinks. 
The trick is that after chanting, I need to add more mana twice. 
If there's no adjustment to the size, the firing speed adjustment won't occur. 
It's no wonder that when I tried to fire the bullet, the only thing that happened was the size changing, nothing else. 

And to add on, when I'm doing voiceless incantation, I'll have to process all of these by myself. 
Even though it's a hassle, it can reduce the time needed to change the size and firing speed. 
It's possible to be several times faster than an incantation. 
Also, modifications can be done during the creation phase of a voiceless incantation. 
For example, what the book didn't record was how to freeze a water bullet to create an ice bullet. 
If I practice this, I might be able to use the Kaiser Phoenix attack [10] (My face's full of pride). 
With different ideas, I can create a variety of effects. 
This is becoming interesting!! 
............ But the basics are definitely important. 
I'll have to wait until my overall mana increases before experimenting. 
[[Increase my mana capacity]] 
[[Use voiceless incantation until it's as easy as breathing]] 
These are my two assignments. 
It's easy to have setbacks if I suddenly have a large goal. 
It's best to start of with something small. 
Alright, time to work hard. 
And so, I kept practicing elementary magic until I nearly fainted.