Isekai Kansha - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Magic Isn’t Easy

"Well then, time for a little experiment."

Standing in the grasslands a short distance from town, Jin murmured to himself with a sparkle of excitement.

It was the day after he had gone hunting with Erza. Today, at last, he intended to test his hand at magic, aiming to truly learn it.

Over the past few days, he had pored over the book he’d borrowed from Aria and even received some pointers from Dan on how to train magic.

"Alright, here goes—Fire."

The basic life magic, Fire, usually produced a flame no bigger than the tip of a lighter. Extending his arm, Jin instead pictured the largest flame he could imagine, then cast.

The moment he did, a bright blaze sprang to life just off his outstretched fingertip—exactly as he had envisioned it.

"Whoa, amazing."

Even with his arm extended, Jin could feel the heat on his face. The flame was as strong as several gas burners. Yet curiously, the heat didn’t touch the area closest to his fingers. Just as when the flame was smaller, it vanished after about ten seconds.

"Alright, next…"

Jin repeated his trials again and again. Could he conjure fire at a target location instead of just his fingertip? How did power change with distance? Could he raise its intensity? Diminish it? Increase its density to heighten the heat? Extend the duration? shorten it for more impact?

With each attempt, he checked the MP cost and duration through his Menu.

His results:

• Range topped out at roughly 5 meters.

• Power held steady up to 1 meter, then dropped gradually.

• Both size and temperature could be adjusted.

• Duration could not be lengthened, only shortened—and that didn’t affect power.

• The MP cost was always 1MP, regardless of the adjustment.

Some of this matched what Dan had taught him and what he’d read in Aria’s book, and his tests confirmed it. Dan had trained by lighting flames first at his fingertip, then 30 cm ahead, then 50, increasing the distance step by step.

Dan, a prodigy, had learned Basic Magic at the age of ten, an unusually early start. He had trained relentlessly, studied languages, and practiced endlessly. Jin was now combining those lessons with his own experiments.

Yet where Dan had needed five years to improve, Jin managed it with ease in a single attempt. The reason, he knew, was his skill—Mana Control LV: MAX.

And Jin wasn’t wrong.

Though he managed it easily, for an ordinary person, the range of fire magic was at best two meters, and even then, only the faintest flicker could be produced. Adjusting the flame’s size was one thing, but changing its temperature? That was practically impossible. Yet Jin’s skill made it all possible.

He then tried the other basic magics: wind, water, and earth. Each felt slightly different depending on its nature, but he could use them all without issue. If anything, Fire and Water were similar, both conjuring something from nothing. Wind and Earth, however, were about moving the air or the soil that already existed, which took some adjustment. But even so, he could wield them without trouble.

From these tests, Jin discovered another truth: the higher the INT stat, the greater the upper limit of a spell’s effect.

He guessed this from how much more water he could summon now compared to the time he fought the Mad Ant Queen, simply because he had leveled up.

Back at the temple, he’d been told that some people occasionally produced effects far greater than others. Jin now understood that those were people with high INT. That also explained why he could summon flames far larger than a mere lighter’s—his INT was high enough to allow it.

"Alright, I’ve learned the basics. Next up… spells."

Jin held a theory.

Skills require at least a certain amount of knowledge and practice with the action in question. The more of both, the easier they were to awaken. And he suspected that tense situations, like real combat, were the best triggers for skill acquisition.

After all, almost every skill he’d gained in this world had come in the heat of battle. Even Swordsmanship and Gathering, the exceptions, made sense—kendo experience for one, study and repeated practice for the other. So now, having practiced magic to this extent, he believed he might be able to activate the four-element beginner spells listed in Aria’s book. Thanks to his Language Setting skill, the incantations themselves wouldn’t be a problem.

Jin was nearly certain of success.

"O flame of mana, gather and strike down our foe—Fire Arrow!"

But nothing happened.

"…No good, huh. If it fails once, then I’ll just have to keep trying."

Though slightly deflated, Jin reset his focus and continued chanting the incantation over and over. Yet the result never changed. Not once did the spell activate.

"Damn… this is depressing. Still, I guess it’s proof it won’t be that easy."

Because he had been so confident, the failure stung all the more. But sulking wouldn’t change anything. In the end, Jin decided it simply meant he lacked enough training. He took breaks now and then, but continued practicing the basic magics over and over.

"Maybe it’s like Arts… you can’t activate them at all without first unlocking the skill?"

After repeating the basic magics countless times, Jin had gotten fairly used to handling them. He could conjure a half-meter-long blue flame from his fingertips, release water with the pressure of a car wash hose or as gently as a shower, whip up gusts as strong as a fan, even dig small holes into the ground with earth magic.

By his own judgment, he felt he was finally getting the hang of basic magic. Of course, to any ordinary person, his mastery would have looked nothing short of astonishing.

Yet despite all that practice, Jin had neither awakened any magic skill nor succeeded in casting even a single beginner spell.

"Hm… I don’t even feel a hint of progress."

For good measure, he chanted Fire Arrow one last time—but again, not even the slightest reaction. If learning Fire Magic was truly a prerequisite for activation, then fine—but the fact that he couldn’t even sense the possibility of success left even Jin disheartened.

"…Maybe I should ask Aria-san. Hopefully, she has some free time."

It was already past three in the afternoon. Whether or not she was available depended on her schedule, but Jin decided to lean on her words: "If there’s something you don’t understand, I’ll teach you."

With that in mind, and before the guild grew crowded, Jin wrapped up his solo practice and headed back into town. He had already gathered herbs earlier, so he went straight to the guild. Luckily, it wasn’t too busy yet—and sure enough, he spotted Aria at the reception desk.

"Good afternoon, Aria-san. I'd like to take the usual gathering request, please."

"Good afternoon, Jin-san. Yes, understood."

First, Jin handed Aria the two types of herbs he had collected and asked her to appraise them. He waited while she processed the request. But before she was finished, Aria glanced at Jin's face and spoke.

"Is something the matter? You look like you want to say something."

It seemed Jin's expression had been easy to read.

"Well, I've hit a wall with learning magic. If it's all right with you, Aria-san, I was hoping I might take a little of your time."

Jin gave a brief explanation of his situation—how he’d been practicing using basic spells in different ways and had some success, but when it came to casting actual magic, he was stuck.

Before long, Aria finished the request processing and handed the documents to Jin as she spoke.

"Here you go, this is the completion form for your request. Well done. And about the time you asked for…"

She glanced over at Samantha, who was at the next reception desk.

"It's fine. This time of day isn’t too busy, and I can handle things alone for a while." 

Samantha answered immediately, as if she had already been listening.

"Thank you very much. In that case, Jin-san, shall we go up to the second floor?"

"Sorry to trouble you. Thank you, Aria-san, Samantha-san."

Naturally, Jin made sure to thank not only Aria but Samantha as well, then followed Aria upstairs. He didn’t notice Samantha’s silent gesture of encouragement, but he did feel grateful and happy to have the two of them supporting him.

"Aria-san, I’m really grateful for you taking the time for me like this."

Inside a small booth partitioned off near the archives, Jin immediately expressed his gratitude. He was simply happy that she would spare him time despite how busy she usually was.

"Please don’t worry about it. I’m glad if I can be of help."

Aria answered him honestly. Though perhaps it was her maiden’s heart that kept her from saying the more direct, "I’m glad if I can help you, Jin-san." Even so, a faint smile played across her lips.

"Thank you." 

Jin replied, his own smile deepening. After a few moments, he remembered why he had come and hurriedly got back to the point.

"Ah—right, about the magic issue. Is there anything you can think of that might be the cause?"

"From what you told me earlier, I’d like to know more precisely. Could you explain exactly what sort of training you did and to what extent you managed it?"

Answering Jin’s question with one of her own, Aria wanted to grasp the situation in detail. Jin agreed inwardly—it was a fair point—and began to describe in depth everything he had tried that day. He was oblivious to just how absurdly advanced his progress actually was.

"…That’s about it. Personally, I think it went pretty well. But when it comes to casting beginner-level spells, I didn’t even feel a hint of success."

"…"

Aria was stunned by everything Jin said. For a magic-user, training with basic spells was normal, but Jin had easily done things no one would even attempt during training. The range he achieved was impressive, but even the idea of altering the temperature of fire had never occurred to her. She herself had once tried producing water with greater force, but shaping it like a shower? That was beyond imagination. As for wind, she had never thought basic magic could rotate or send currents. And digging a hole into the earth with Earth—a spell normally only used to soften hard ground—was unheard of.

Aria found herself astonished at Jin’s flexibility of thought, embarrassed by her own narrow preconceptions, and at the same time, thrilled by the new possibilities of magic that his creativity revealed.

Normally, it would be the kind of story you’d doubt outright. But since it was Jin saying it, Aria felt no suspicion. What she felt instead was respect for him—and just a touch of concern.

"Jin-san. Have you told anyone else about this?"

After a long silence, Aria finally spoke.

"No. You’re the first, Aria-san."

"I see. Then… could I ask you not to tell anyone else, at least until I say it’s all right?"

She then explained her reasoning. Jin’s ideas and methods were far beyond the norm. Perhaps in the past, there had been others with similar ideas, but if so, those techniques would have been closely guarded secrets. What Jin could do went beyond the accepted limits of basic magic. In the wrong hands, his methods could easily become dangerous—weaponized. And because basic magic was something anyone could use, the potential risk was that much greater.

Jin was a little shaken. He’d thought that, since INT was the deciding factor, it wouldn’t cause much of a problem. But even so, he couldn’t deny that it might lead to chaos.

"…Understood. I’ll keep it between the two of us, Aria-san."

Jin made the promise.

"Y-yes… thank you…"

Aria’s reply came out flustered. Then, almost mumbling under her breath, she whispered,

"…A secret just between the two of us."

Jin didn’t catch her words. But seeing her so unsettled only made him realize how serious this really was.

"Don’t worry. I’ll keep it completely secret, you can count on me."

"Y-yes."

Jin pressed his promise, trying to reassure her. Aria, meanwhile, couldn’t help reacting to the word secret. In this, Jin’s obliviousness was perhaps forgivable.

"Anyway… if what I’m doing really is so far beyond the norm, then why can’t I get the spells to activate?"

Setting the secrecy aside for the moment, Jin steered the talk back to the main issue. Aria snapped out of her flustered daydream and thought seriously. At his level of mastery, he should have awakened a skill by now. Then she realized a possibility.

"Could it be a problem with the magic language? If your understanding of the meaning isn’t complete, the spell might not activate."

"Magic language… is that the keyword at the end of the chant?"

"Yes, exactly. For example, the fire spell Fire Arrow literally means ‘arrow of fire.’ Every spell has a meaning like that, and it’s crucial to understand it properly. When casting, you also have to clearly picture the characters in your mind. If your image is vague, the spell might fail to activate."

This was all news to Jin. The book he’d borrowed did include a section on magical language, but since his Language Setting skill translated everything neatly into Japanese, he must have skimmed right over it.

He pulled out Aria’s book and asked her to show him the actual characters. When he turned off Language Setting and looked, he saw a series of intricate symbols he’d never seen before.

"They’re really complicated… I suppose you have to write them precisely, right?"

Half-expecting the answer, Jin asked anyway.

"Yes. In fact, anyone aspiring to become a magic-user studies these symbols even before learning daily-life spells. Even now, I still practice writing them out of habit—it’s ingrained in me."

As she explained, she noticed Jin’s reaction.

"…Wait. Jin-san, don’t tell me—you can’t write a magic script?"

For anyone interested in magic, studying the character was common knowledge. Aria had never imagined Jin wouldn’t know it.

"…Yes."

Jin’s voice was utterly dejected. Magic had always been one of his dreams. He had assumed he could learn it without much trouble, and now the shock hit him all the harder.

The reason Jin could use basic magic without issue was because it didn’t require a magic script, and because the skill he received had included not only the spells but also their methods of use.

But ordinary magic—like Fire Magic—was different. To learn it, one had to study the magic script, and those symbols were of a difficulty level he had never seen before. Even if he did manage to learn them, who knew how many years it would take? With so many other things to study, Jin honestly couldn’t imagine himself continuing that kind of effort endlessly.

"It’s all right! It may take time, but if you start studying now, you’ll be able to use it someday."

Aria’s encouragement warmed him, yet it also stung. It reminded him, if only faintly, of the broken state he had been in during his past—and how it overlapped with his current struggle. But then, Jin realized something.

It wasn’t as if his body had been damaged irreparably, like before. Nor was it decided that he would never be able to learn magic. On the contrary, with effort, the possibility of mastering it was high.

Thinking that way, Jin almost laughed at himself. What was he agonizing over so seriously? Ultimately, it came down to whether he would do it or not. And as the young man who had reflected on his past and chosen to live his present to the fullest, Jin had only one answer: he would do it.

"Yes! Aria-san, it may take time, but I’ll keep studying without giving up. Thank you for encouraging me."

Jin smiled at her as he said it. Then, with Aria teaching him concrete study methods, he resolved to practice a little every day. For as long as her time allowed, he sat with her and began learning the magic script.

Life was supposed to come only once, and yet he had been granted a second chance.

This time, Jin would live earnestly from the very beginning, striving always to remain happy.

He believed that was the truest way to show his gratitude.

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