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ILIAS PAYNE

My lessons officially began when Heloise and I got back home. We occupied the front yard and the patients waiting to see Mother decided to watch us.

"Can I take notes?" I asked.

"You're free to do whatever. I encourage notes. It helps you remember."

"Book!" I said, summoning the cursed artifact that levitated by my side. Other than my name, I have yet to write anything.

The patients' curiosity grew even more.

"You have a Talking Book," Heloise noted. "That's a great fit for you. Are you ready? I want to begin."

"Please, go ahead."

Heloise cleared her throat. "Mana is energy flowing everywhere. It is in the ground. The trees. The air. The water. Each living thing has what are called gates throughout their bodies and the number of gates varies from person to person. Using these gates to control mana is called jynx." She put on a glove with an incantation circle. "Fireball!"

A sphere of flame ignited and hovered above Heloise's gloved hand. She threw it in the air where it withered away.

"Jynx can be categorized into seven types. Elemental, healing, arcane, charms, contracts, summonings, and alchemy."

"Can we go through them one at a time? I don't want my notes to get mixed up."

The elf nodded. "The first ever discovered, most common, and easiest to learn out these types is elemental jynx. This lets the user manipulate and bend the four elements. Water, earth, wind, and fire."

"Can you mix elements? Like if you mixed fire and water to create mist, is that still elemental jynx?"

"Yes, there are a variety of advanced-level spells that mixes and makes use of the different elements. Even though you are mixing different elements, they are still elements and fall under the elemental category. These spells are sometimes called melded spells."

Salazar's quagmire spell must've been a mix of water and earth.

"The second type of jynx is healing—which is self-explanatory. Mistress Trisha is a doctor so it's safe to assume you've seen her perform healing jynx. Healing jynx lets you heal small scratches or regrow lost limbs. Healing doesn't just work on just humans and animals."

Heloise pointed her staff at the apple tree Mother and I planted. She recited the Water Cannon incantation, sloppily cutting it in half.

I pointed at the tree. "I don't think you should be doing that, Teacher. Mother sometimes loves her plants more than me."

The commotion from the patients led Mother to investigate and find the gruelling sight of one of her precious trees cut in half. "Heloise, please don't use the trees and plants in the yard for experiments! Everyone who's here for an appointment please head inside and stop watching them!"

With that warning, Heloise ran to the sliced tree, put on another glove and dragged the top half as close as possible to the stump. She hovered her palm in between the two halves. "Healing!"

The wood from both halves extended, reattaching themselves together as the tree erected itself upright. Other than a faded scar, it was like nothing had happened.

"Phew! I'm going to get chewed out later, won't I?" Heloise sighed. "The next type of jynx is called arcane. Arcane is the bare bones of jynx. Unlike the other categories where you need something present for the spell to work, arcane lets you use the mana itself by either materializing or controlling it. This won't work as well since it's daytime, but... Inner Light!"

An orb of light appeared in the middle of Heloise's chest. She threw it in the air.

"This spell is called Inner Light and it temporarily transforms one of my gates into an orb of light that I can control at will."

The light disappeared.

"This one is a bit scarier. Doom And Gloom!"

Heloise threw an orb that hovered in front of us. When I looked at it, I was suddenly blinded and no matter how hard I tried, I saw nothing but darkness.

Before I started to panic, Heloise reassured me by holding on to my shoulders until the effect wore off.

"Doom And Gloom is a spell that blinds anyone that looks at it for six seconds." She let go of her staff. Instead of falling, it levitated from one hand to the other. "A simple levitation spell is also arcane."

My father's invisible barrier must've been arcane. More importantly, Heloise just did something I didn't think was possible.

"Teacher, is it possible to learn how to cast spells without an incantation? You just performed spells without uttering a single word. You never changed gloves either."

"Oh. Did I do that?" she chuckled shyly. "I wasn't supposed to show you that before you've mastered at least three categories, but if you can figure out and perform incantationless jynx before then, I will grant whatever wish you want. As long as it's in my power."

So it was possible to omit the incantation altogether.

"I accept this challenge."

"Next are charms. Charms are fairly common as they are a passive spell with effects that can theoretically last forever. The most common of these spells is Untouchable which prevents buildings from being altered with jynx. Once a man-made building is finished, builders would always put up Untouchable to prevent people from simply making a doorway, having spells phase through walls, or shake the earth underneath."

"Can these charms be broken?"

"Yes, they can. Untouchable is simple and effective but a strong enough jynxist can overwhelm the charm and destroy it. The late King Diablo was able to do this."

"Can you perform a charm?"

"Close your book and have it float in between us."

I did as she told.

"This charm I'm about to use can turn any object into something of higher value." Heloise placed a bronze coin on Talking Book. "What do you want it to turn into? It has to be the same type of object."

"A gold coin."

Heloise hovered her hand above the bronze coin and closed her eyes for a bit. "Rags To Riches!"

In the blink of an eye, the bronze coin transformed into a golden one.

"This is may seem useful, Ilias, but go ahead and pick it up."

The gold coin turned back to bronze the moment I did.

"The charm itself is very weak. If any living thing touches it, the object will transform back to its original form."

Still, this type of spell can be very useful in specific situations.

"Next are contracts. This is also very simple. You can form a contract with someone else—but both parties must consent. You can also form a contract with yourself to enhance certain abilities by setting limitations. The stricter the limitations, the stronger the enhancements."

"Can you show me one?"

"I cannot. Not because I don't know any spells, but because contracts are dangerous. For example, there is a fairly commonly-used contract spell used throughout Armestis called Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. This is used when two parties make a bargain. If one side doesn't hold up their end, their hearts will get crushed."

"I see. That does sound dangerous."

"Also, most contracts between two people are activated with a handshake. In the case of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, the person who makes the offer will have his hand set aflame. The fire will do no harm."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Next is alchemy. This is a bit tricky as alchemy spells are spells that don't fall into any of the other categories."

"I'm guessing they're dangerous because alchemy isn't well known?"

"Exactly. Most spells are known and listed, but a skilled enough jynxist might be able to develop their own. Most of the time these spells fall into the other six categories, but on the off chance they don't, they will fall under alchemy."

"I'm guessing alchemy jynx is like a wildcard?"

"Exactly. If you fight a jynxist that uses alchemy, you'll have the additional task of figuring out what their spells can do." Heloise adjusted her pointy hat. "The last type of jynx and the most recently discovered is summoning jynx. It was discovered right in this very village by the colonel's parents."

"Yes, he's told me about it."

"As its name suggests, summoning jynx lets you summon creatures and monsters. There are two types: Fetishes and Stands. We'll start with Fetishes since these are the ones you'll come across more often. When summoning a Fetish, it will borrow a certain number of gates from you—the stronger the Fetish, the more gates it'll borrow. But not matter what, you must always have at least one gate remain with you. If you don't, you won't be able to control your summoning."

"What happens if a summoning dies?"

Heloise pointed her staff in front of me. "Songbird!"

A blue jay materialized between us and flew around before Heloise shot it down with a Fireball. She then summoned it again and made it disappear normally.

"If you're worried about not being able to summon the Fetish again, it'll be fine because you'll be able to. The gates it borrowed will also return to you."

"So the colonel's summoning is a Fetish."

"Yes. Marching Dolls works differently because it was the first ever summoning, but that is something he can teach you himself."

"What are Stands?"

"They are a more dangerous summoning. To aquire a Stand, you perform a ritual that will summon a humanoid monster that manifests as your deepest fear. These monsters will vary in appearance. In order for you to control this monster, you must defeat it in battle. Once you do, the monster will stay loyal to you and it will be known as what is called a Stand."

"What happens if you fail to defeat your Stand during the ritual?"

"It will take something from you as a sacrifice. An arm, an organ, whatever it wants. You can perform the ritual as many times as you want, but the creature you face will always be the same."

"What makes them different from Fetishes?"

"Five things make them different. One, you can only have one Stand. Two, being a Stand user means you will never be able to use your gates for anything else. Three, Stands can only stay within a couple of meters from their user. Four, Stands will have an assortment of abilities whereas Fetishes will either have only one or none at all. And five, which is the most dangerous, your Stand is bound to you. Whatever damage it takes will also happen to you. If your Stand gets a cut on its wrist, it'll transfer to you. If your Stand's leg gets cut off, so will yours. If your Stand dies, so will you. Remember, the more limitations something has, the stronger it is. Which means Stands are very powerful."

Sacrificing your gates so they can only be used to control a Stand is like focusing all of your attention into one skill.

"Did the colonel teach you anything about gates?"

"I know nothing. He said I wasn't even supposed to start learning jynx until I was eight."

"He is correct. Imagine small gates on various sections of your body. When you cast a spell, mana goes through these gates and flows through your body—that is the tingling sensation you feel when you cast a spell. Jynx is simply the act of letting mana flow through your gates so you can control it."

Back when I was Decan, I was told many times that I was unable to perform jynx because I was born without any gates. I never knew what that meant since I never received any jynx lessons and I never understood the way Salazar and Minerva explained it to me.

Everything is starting to make sense now.

"Each person is born with a different number of gates and there is no way to increase that number. The flow of mana going through these gates is always the same, regardless of the person."

"So I'm guessing the more gates a person has, the stronger they are."

"The flow of mana is always the same, but a person with more gates is theoretically stronger because more gates means more mana. But you must be careful not to overexert your gates. The constant use of mana damages them and your body will take the toll."

"You said theoretically. Is there a way to be stronger with fewer gates?"

"Yes. A single Water Cannon uses up more mana than multiple Water Balls, but the colonel's little girl fainted and not you. This is because your gates are much stronger than hers. A person with five strong gates is stronger than a person with ten weak ones."

"If your gates get damaged, is there a way to fix them?"

"Resting, sleeping, and eating. Fixing gates is the same as healing any wound."

"What happens if a gate breaks?"

"The first thing it will do is take a heavy toll on your body. It'll depend on the person but you will be immobile for a couple of days—it might even put you in a coma. But whatever happens, breaking a gate won't kill you. The most important thing to note is that if one of your gates breaks, they are gone forever. So whatever you do, you must not exert yourself to the point of breaking one."

That's what Salazar meant every time he said he didn't want to strain his gates. He was making sure they didn't break.

"Is there a way to strengthen your gates?"

"There is. The longer you keep your gates at a state of straining (which I call the red zone), the stronger they will be when they eventually heal. But this is very risky as doing so will have a heavy toll on your body. There's also a chance you could go overboard and destroy a gate."

"Are your gates strong?"

"They are. I've spent a long time keeping my gates in their red zone and since I'm an elf, I've spent a better part of the two hundred and twenty or so years I've been alive strengthening them. I mean, you don't become a well-known adventurer by having weak gates."

"How many gates does a person have?"

"It varies, but the average is eight. I have ten."

"Is there a way to figure out how many gates I have?"

"Yes, there is. I will focus mana on my eyes so I can see how many you have. All you have to do is cast Water Cannon, but don't say the spell's name."

I began the incantation but didn't let the spell climax, letting the tingly feeling run throughout my body. After what felt like aeons, Heloise said I could release the built-up mana.

"Water Cannon!"

I realized too late that I was pointing my hand at the clinic, but Heloise's reaction was quicker. She effortlessly grabbed my hand and pointed it skywards.

Before the jet of water rushed out and began raining on us, Heloise had already cast a barrier to protect us from my little man-made rain.

"You continue to surprise me, Ilias. I've got to thank the colonel for asking me to tutor you."

"Why, how many gates do I have?"

"Twenty-two."