Chương 43: Chapter 41

"Why are you the only one who can help me avoid the fate of becoming a tree?" Adam asked.

"Because, like you, every member of my race is born with an Archmagus Seed. Our bodies are enormous and filled with an immense amount of mana. Simply growing older is enough for us to become Archmagi. However, we also wish to avoid turning into living trees if we can help it. Fortunately, my ancestors created a technique that removes the seed from our bodies." He paused for a moment before continuing.

"Despite being the only giant within this world, I was fortunate enough to advance to the Shaman class and gain access to the Shamanic Realm, where I could meet the giant shamans of other worlds." Mei's hand immediately shot into the air. She wore the wide smile of an eager child who was seconds away from asking their teacher the dumbest question imaginable. Ymir turned his massive eyes toward her.

Just being looked at by the frost giant was enough to send a chill down most people's spines, but Mei didn't seem to notice.

"If you're the only giant," she began, "then how did the orcs come to be? Isn't it said they're the offspring of giants and humans?" Ymir stared at her blankly. Before he could answer, Granessa spoke up.

"We were born from the ice that melted off Gramps' body." Mei blinked.

"Does that mean you're a hermaphrodite?" she asked, turning back toward Ymir. The giant continued staring at her with an increasingly vacant expression. Adam let out a long sigh.

"Mei... that would make him asexual. Like a flower."

"Oooh." She nodded as if everything suddenly made perfect sense.

"But where does the human part come in?"

"My wife is a human woman," Ymir replied after finally recovering from his stunned silence.

"She helped melt the ice encasing my body, from which our children were born. The orc race was created from a giant and a human." Mei frowned thoughtfully.

"Is... that how that works?"

"It is," Ymir replied with a firm nod.

"No, but like... how?" Mei clutched her head with both hands, trying, and utterly failing, to understand the logistics behind what she'd just learned.

"Did little blue babies drip off you instead of water? Or did they just... spring out of the puddle?" As she continued muttering theories to herself, Adam simply shook his head. Then he arched his back to look up at Ymir, wearing a serious expression despite the rather ridiculous pose he had to adopt to make eye contact with the towering giant.

"It's probably best to just ignore her," he said.

"Anyway, could you share that technique to remove the Archmagus Seed? Can I buy it with coins, or...?"

"You cannot buy it," Ymir replied.

"And I cannot simply share it." Adam frowned.

"However, if you become my student, I can teach it."

"What's the difference?"

"There isn't much of one," Ymir admitted, shaking his head.

"Instead, let me ask you a question. I think you'll understand the difference yourself."

"... Sure."

"What is mana?" Adam shrugged.

"I have no idea."

"There is your answer."

"What...? Oh." Understanding dawned on Adam almost immediately. He didn't even know the first thing about mana, let alone magic itself. So how could he possibly comprehend a high-level technique designed to remove a metaphysical seed from his body?

"So you'll teach me about magic?"

"Not quite. I will teach you only the fundamentals, enough for you to remove the seed yourself. If I teach you everything, you will lose your greatest advantage." Adam raised an eyebrow.

"My advantage?"

"You and Mei possess a tremendous advantage because of the world you were born in. Your world lacked mana, so neither of you grew up learning what magic could or could not do. Your imaginations were never constrained by reality because, to you, magic had no reality at all."

"Our advantage is... stupidity?" Mei asked.

"Not stupidity," Ymir replied.

"A lack of preconceived limitations." He paused before continuing.

"If someone grows up being taught that the world is flat, they will likely carry that belief for much of their life. Even after learning the truth, a part of their subconscious will still be influenced by what they once believed."

"But wouldn't we have the opposite problem?" Adam asked.

"We grew up believing magic wasn't real. Wouldn't that limit us too?"

"It would, if your world had no concept of magic whatsoever," Ymir said.

"However, from what I have observed of you Earthlings, your imaginations are astonishingly diverse. At times, almost absurdly so." He looked between the two of them.

"For example, earlier you mentioned the god Anubis. To my knowledge, Anubis has never once visited your world. Yet your people imagined him into existence regardless. He was fictional to you, but in truth he is a real god who exists somewhere within the greater universe." Mei's eyes sparkled.

"Does that mean reincarnation, cultivation, immortality, and all that xianxia stuff actually exists?" she asked hopefully.

"I've always wanted to ride a flying sword." Ymir could only frown in confusion. Whatever xianxia was, he had clearly never heard of it.

"I think what he's saying," Adam said, "is that as long as you can imagine something, mana and magic might let you make it real." Mei gasped.

"Oooh! So I can ride a flying sword!" Without another word, she pulled a sword from her inventory, tossed it onto the floor, climbed onto it, and confidently pointed ahead.

"Fly!" Nothing happened. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"It'd probably help if you actually used magic," Adam said.

"Right." She nodded, then channeled mana through her legs and into the soles of her feet. The energy flowed into the sword, causing it to hum softly before lifting several inches off the ground. [Fly] A random skill created to satisfy a young woman's curiosity. Not useful for much. Effect: Makes something levitate.

"Ahahaha!" She burst into delighted laughter as the sword slowly floated around the room with her standing triumphantly on top of it. It barely moved faster than a walking pace, but judging from the grin on her face, it may as well have been soaring through the heavens. Adam watched for a moment before shaking his head.

"Like I said... best to ignore her." He turned back toward Ymir.

"So, what do I need to know?" Ymir regarded him for a long moment.

"You'll become my student?"

"Of course," Adam replied with a solemn nod. — — — Several days passed after Adam and Mei arrived at the orc village, though it was more of a city. Before long, they'd settled into a routine much like the one they'd followed back on Earth. Each morning began with breakfast. Back home it usually consisted of egg whites and oats whenever they were focused on building muscle, with fruits, salads, or other healthy foods added on days they weren't trying to maximize protein intake.

That routine hadn't lasted long inside the tutorial. They quickly discovered that their enhanced bodies burned through food at an absurd rate, leaving them constantly hungry and craving far more calories than before. Fortunately, they were staying with a tribe of muscle-obsessed orcs. The solution was simple. Eat what the orcs ate. That generally meant mountains of meat, eggs, and anything else packed with protein. After breakfast came weight training alongside Granessa and the other orcs.

Once their muscles were thoroughly exhausted, they attended Ymir's lessons on the fundamentals of magic. Then came lunch, another workout session, and finally dinner. Occasionally, there were... nighttime exercises. Those lessons, however, were reserved exclusively for Adam and Mei. They usually worked up a much bigger sweat during those workouts than any of the training sessions the orcs put them through. Overall, the days were peaceful. The beds were comfortable, even if they were built a little too large.

The food was excellent, even if there was enough to feed a small army. And the company was surprisingly pleasant. The orcs were admittedly a bit rough, but from growing up within training facilities like gyms and dojos, they'd long since gotten used to that. Currently, the pair sat across from Ymir with notebooks and pencils in hand, taking notes as though they'd somehow found themselves back in college.

"Today," Ymir began, "I will teach you about casting spells and skills through the use of chants."

"Chants?" Adam muttered.

"We won't have to learn another language, will we? I can't even learn Japanese, let alone some alien language." Mei nodded.

"His Japanese is atrocious," she paused thoughtfully.

"Not that his English is much better." Adam shot her a glare. She simply shrugged and smiled sweetly.

"No," Ymir replied.

"You will not need to learn another language. Chants may be spoken in whichever language you are most comfortable with." It was worth noting that Ymir wasn't actually speaking the same language as them. To Adam's ears, it sounded like English spoken with something resembling a Scandinavian accent. However, if he concentrated, he could tell the sounds coming from Ymir's mouth belonged to a language that had never existed on Earth.

The system was translating everything automatically into the language each listener was most comfortable with. For Adam, that was naturally English. As an American, it was the only language he spoke. It had absolutely nothing to do with being American. He was simply using that as an excuse. Oddly enough, Mei also heard English instead of Japanese, despite Japanese being her native language. The most likely explanation was that she'd been using English more often than Japanese since meeting Adam.

"What's the point of chanting if we can already cast our spells silently?" Adam asked.

"Style points?"

"No. Not style points," Ymir scoffed.

"A chant is a tool to reinforce a spell or skill. The words themselves possess no power. However, when combined with your mental image, they help solidify your imagination and give your magic greater definition." The two exchanged confused looks. Seeing their expressions, Ymir elaborated.

"For example, suppose I wished to cast a [Fire Ball] spell. I might chant, Fire of the ancient giant Surtr, heed my call and burn my enemies." He raised a finger.

"Those words provide additional context to the spell. They refine the image within my mind, slightly altering its properties or even elevating it into a higher-tier spell while consuming significantly less mana than creating that spell from scratch."

"Really?" Adam said.

"Let me try." He held out his gloved hand." Fire of the ancient giant Surtr, heed my call and burn my enemies." A blazing sphere of fire appeared above his palm. As he focused on it, a familiar system window appeared. [Fire Ball] Creates a sphere of fire that can be hurled at enemies. Inflicts burn damage over time to targets struck by its flames. Castable: 399 / 400 It was... Exactly the same Fire Ball spell he'd cast on the very first day of the tutorial.

The only noticeable difference was the number of times he could now cast it. Instead of four casts like before, he now had enough mana for four hundred. Considering his Magic stat had only increased from E-rank to B-rank, that was an impressive jump. Still, it had nothing to do with the chant itself. It was simply the result of possessing vastly more mana than before, while combined with various effects received from achievements.

"That won't work," Ymir said, only a little too late.

"For a chant to function properly, it must invoke something you truly understand. In this case, you know nothing about Surtr. How could you possibly imagine his flames?"

"Oh..." Adam thought for a moment.

"What if I tried something like... Fire from the Earth's core, surge forward and burn my enemies!" The fireball floating above his palm drifted several feet forward before dropping harmlessly onto the floor. For a split second, nothing happened. Then the ground erupted. A towering pillar of molten flame blasted upward, accompanied by exploding rock and streams of glowing lava.

[Fire Ball] has been upgraded to [Lava Burst] [Lava Burst] Commands the lava hidden deep underground to surge upward as a pillar of purely destructive flames. Effect: Deals massive fire damage and ignites all targets struck, inflicting heavy burn damage for fifteen seconds.

"Wow!" Mei shouted.

"That was so cool!" Adam couldn't help smiling proudly. Across from them, Ymir silently stared at the smoking crater that now occupied the middle of his room. One of his eyebrows twitched.

"We'll be holding future lessons outside."