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"For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle?" —1 Corinthians 14:8
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IN THE world of Leontios, though it seemed like an old medieval drama setting where smartphones and internet did not exist and being bored looked normal, it contains something that the previous world where Lantana lived did not have. And that was magic.
Magic wasn't something that the world richly possessed. Though it could produce a large amount of mana from nature, it wasn't still infinite. Fortunately, because of the truth that mages in Leontios were even more scarce, the magic of the world wasn't abused yet. In fact, it was not something that everyone could use, which was why the people who were gifted with the ability to control their mana were always treated as some sort of treasures and genius everywhere.
Mana was the power scattered around the world that could create or destroy things. It was the innate pure raw power that came from living beings like humans or even including nature—one of the reasons why it was scattered everywhere.
Mana could become magic because it was manipulated, and used to create a totally different object. It could no longer be just called mana because it was already far from the originally raw pure power. Magic also could become magic when the mana of a person was taken out of the body and got produced to become something new.
Mana was like an untouched rough stone while magic was like the finished product statue that got into shambles in order for it to become a masterpiece.
While mana had only one appearance which was the white light, magic was different. It could become a ball of fire, a whirlwind, a droplet of water, a lightning, a weapon—anything could be made with it depending on the person's ability.
From the very beginning of their lives, few children who were born already had innate mana. Everyone born with it already had enough mana to use magic before they could borrow from nature which could help them in cultivating their own power to make theirs even stronger.
However not everyone who was born with mana could be considered lucky. After all, during birth, three-fourth of the children who had innate mana always ended up dead every time because of the sickness that often came with their power.
Mana Swallow, like its name, was like plague to infants who hadn't known how to control their mana yet. Oftentimes, the untamed mana that came from the heart would envelope the infants' small bodies until the bodies break because it could not last any longer. Children who had even just a little stronger mana in them often passed away earlier because their small bodies could not contain the huge amount of power overflowing and had no place to settle.
The people who could take their mana out of their bodies and infuse it to their weapons were called aura users, which had two types. The normal aura users who could produce the white light were called aura users no matter how great they were in wielding their weapon. The second one was called aura master.
Aura masters were the ones that could take their mana out and bring it to its highest peak which turned the light into color blue. The brighter the color, the stronger the power. However, though they could use their mana, their power was limited to being 'mana users' for the shape of their power didn't really change. They just infuse it to their weapons and not really create something from the scratch. Even though the aura masters could bring their mana into the highest peak, their power was still limited to that. Oftentimes, aura users could be found in the knights since most of the aura users of the empire chose to wield a sword and serve their country.
Mages on the other hand were what people called the 'magic users'. Unlike the 'mana users' who only had two types, mages had a lot more variety because of the broadness of magic. The ones who could produce fire were called fire mages. The ones who could produce water were water mages. And so, whatever a mage could produce, the people would call them by their product.
Mages had different affinity for different abilities. Most people could only use one type of magic in their entire life. People who could use two or more than two were called geniuses and prodigies. They were so rare that magic guilds and the government would always try to recruit them. Usually their magic was always above one magic circle which always guaranteed their strength.
Circles. Whenever mages cast magic, magic circles would appear. Depending on their strength was the number of magic circles that they could produce. These circles were also the indicators of a person's talent and strength as a mage that also ranked them up. If a person had one, he would be called first class. And so, depending on how many magic circles a person could manifest was the title of a mage he would be granted. So far, the highest level recorded in the Vincequere Empire was only a sixth class mage—something that was already like a miracle because of the complexity of going through the barrier of the fifth class of magic and forward.
Moving forward, the reason why an aura user could never become a mage was because a person was usually composed of three parts: the heart, soul, and mind.
The heart was the center of the body and could be possibly seen physically if taken out of a person. Inside the heart was where the mana of a person resided.
The mind's role was to do the commandments to the body and sometimes would wander but would still stay physically inside a person as the brain which was in the upper most part. This was the part that had the ability to control mana or magic.
The soul which no one has ever seen was the embodiment of a person's consciousness or conscience and the source of life. The body was only a host but the soul was the source of its life. Without it, the body would be dead. Aside from that, the soul was the one that determined if a person could wield mana into greater heights so that a person could do magic. It was where the power of a person would stay as it would expand. If a person had a white-colored consciousness, the limit was to become an aura master—which was the reason why no matter what an aura user would do, he would still end up as an aura user. However, if a person had a different colored consciousness, he would become a mage. So far, there were no cases of an aura master being able to break through from its limit—at least in the Continent of the Empire of Vincequere.
In Vincequere, normal knights were common, aura users were quite many, and aura masters were rare. Out of the whole kingdom, the number of people who were aura users were around five hundred. The number of people who became aura masters from history up to present could be counted in two hands. Currently, the empire had four aura masters—five including Siegrain who just got his existence known to the emperor.
Mages on the other hand amounted to a little fewer than the aura users. The mages were less than three hundred—and not everyone of them could even use strong magic. Like the aura masters, the people who managed to reach the sixth class in history—which was considered the highest point of a mage—could only be counted in one hand. The people who currently held the highest magic circles were only four. And all of them were only in fifth class.
And so, after reading the book that Lantana randomly picked up inside the Montgomery library, she closed it and took a glance at her knight in front of her who was standing with a serious look on his face as if at any moment, an enemy would appear. Then, she was reminded of the day, which was already four days ago, when the battle for her personal knight happened.
EVERYONE at the arena that time felt as if the proposal of Lantana was a ridiculous idea. However, the duke, who wanted to know the reason why she picked Siegrain, still went through with his daughter's idea. Because of that, all of the knights were told to leave the center space open and go to the sides, leaving only the knight commander and rookie knight standing in the middle.
Thus, without wasting any more time, the duke signalled the two to start the battle.
"You can attack first," the knight's captain said to Siegrain.
The captain was clearly trying to give him an advantage as at that time, he only saw the rookie as a person who was much younger than him. Siegrain knew that inside him, however, he still didn't manage to control how his right hand that was holding his sword, tightened its grip.
The young man looked at the captain for a moment before he decided to close his eyes for a little bit to calm himself down. When he opened his eyes again, much concentration was revealed inside his emerald green eyes which shocked, not only the captain, but also all who witnessed it including Lantana and the duke who were watching at the sidelines.
Since Lantana picked him, Siegrain had been so confused. He couldn't understand, why? What made her choose him? What made her suddenly speak his name even when they only met once? How could she suddenly utter his name that time? Wasn't she mistaken? He never knew her and he bet she didn't too. Then why?
No matter how long he tried to think of the reason for her actions, he couldn't come up with the answer he was looking for. The only thing his mind could have a clear vision of was the smiling face of the lady—which he disliked. How could her face always appear in his mind? It was very inappropriate to think of anything towards his masters given his status. How ungrateful could he be?
"Hey, kid. The opponent is in front of you. How could you lose your focus?" the captain said to him as he charged his sword towards Siegrain's side.
However, though Siegrain was a little unfocused earlier, he still managed to block the captain's attack using his own sword. After that, he took a large step back before he swung his sword on his right side. Then, suddenly, a white bright light that was exuding a strong pressure coated the blade of the sword. In a blink of an eye, Siegrain was already behind the captain.
But, the captain, Orlando, wasn't surprised like the other knights. Instead, he welcomed Siegrain's attack with the same power that the latter used against him as he blocked the attack using his blade that was enveloped of his mana too. However, the difference between them was the visible gap they had. While Siegrain's blade was covered in white light, the captain's blade was covered in a blue light that mesmerized everyone who saw it, even Lantana.
As soon as Lantana saw the color enveloping the captain's sword, her eyes sparkled like a child who was given a new toy. That day was the first time she ever saw something like that.
Was it a magic trick?
Definitely not.
The fact that when the two had their swords covered in a very weird yet beautiful light, the tension inside the room thickened as the eyes of the other knights already glistened especially after the captain showed his blue light.
Unfortunately, before Lantana's curiosity could be even fed up, her almost smiling face got frozen as she felt much more intense pressure from where the captain was standing.
'Yabai!' She instinctively thought in her mind the Japanese word that she remembered as the pressure from the captain's sword continued to arise.
She was never wrong. The captain was dangerous and definitely strong, and she doubted if her chosen knight could still even win!