1 Day after Luck's birthday...
"I hate this..." Luck groaned as he pressed his finger on the book infront of him.
Rook raised an eyebrow. "We haven't even started yet."
"But I can already feel my brain going numb."
Rook snorted. "You've got it easy. Since you're so conveniently blind, I'm the one who has to read this thing out loud."
Luck rolled his eyes under his blindfold. "What a tragedy. Maybe next time I'll read to you."
Rook muttered something under his breath, then scanned the first paragraph. "Alright, shut up now and prepare to learn about the different attunements of mana."
Luck groaned again, but stayed quiet.
"Mana," Rook began, "is the raw energy that exists in all living things and throughout the world. But on its own, it's unstable. Unshaped. That's where attunements come in."
He tapped the edge of the book for emphasis.
"Think of attunements like tuning forks. They give mana a direction, a form. Most attunements are based on naturally occurring forces—things the world already understands."
"Like what?" Luck asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Gravity, wind, fire, lightning, water, earth, magnetic force—those kinds of things," Rook listed off. "Simple elements or phenomena. The body can learn to attune mana to one of those types and channel it through a conduit—like a staff, a ring, or even bare hands, if you're good enough."
Luck hummed. "So it's like giving mana a costume to wear."
Rook blinked. "Yeah I guess."
He flipped to the next page. "Each attunement behaves differently. Fire burns, obviously—but wind cuts, pushes, lifts. Gravity compresses. Magnetic force can bend metal and probably a whole lot of other stuff."
"Can someone have more than one?" Luck asked, sitting up straighter.
"Some can, but that's not necessarily a good thing. When a person bonds with a single attunement, their body begins to adapt to it—physically. That bond strengthens over time, letting them cast more powerful and refined spells as they grow. But if someone has two attunements, that connection gets split. This results in divided focus. Divided energy," Rook said. "Especially if the attunements are natural opposites, like fire and water. They interfere with each other. Conflict inside the core weakens both. Only some genius can make use of these differences in their favor, like combining fire and water to make steam."
He continued, voice steady and precise. "To cast a spell using one's attunement, the caster has to speak it aloud. That's what's called a chant. The length of the chant depends on the caster's understanding—both of their attunement and of the specific spell. The deeper the understanding, the shorter the chant."
Rook flipped a page, then kept going.
"But chants aren't the only method. There are also incantations—which involve shaping and molding mana into the air itself. The caster draws symbols and pathways of mana in space, often visible to the eye but present all the same. When those pathways form a complete and functional circuit… a spell is born."
He tapped the book lightly. "Whether through chanting or incantation, the principle is the same: the caster lays down structure for the mana—like laying tracks for a train. No structure, no direction. No direction, no spell."
Luck was listening now, quietly.
Rook went on, "Of course, if someone completely masters a spell—or if the spell is simple enough—then little to no chant or incantation is needed. They can shape the mana directly in their mind. In their core."
He paused for a breath. "That brings us to mana cores."
"Mana cores, as you can guess, are the reservoir where your mana is stored. The purer your core, the more mana it can hold, and the more stable it becomes under pressure. That directly affects how many spells you can cast, and how powerful they'll be."
"Sounds important," Luck muttered.
"It is," Rook replied. "The purity of a mana core is measured by your Magic Power Rank. The higher the rank, the purer—and stronger—your mana core. Rank also influences recovery speed and casting efficiency."
Luck tilted his head. "And I'm guessing I'm not ranked."
Rook shook his head and flipped the page. "Not yet. You still have two more years before you can use magic, let alone purify your core."
He tapped the book with two fingers. "Anyway, now we get into spell tiers. Spells are categorized based on complexity and power—from simple utility to advanced combat and elemental manipulation."
"There are five main tiers," Rook continued. "Starting from the bottom."
"First, Initiate Spells. Basic stuff. Most of them are utility-based—light, heat, basic movement. You've already perceived me using one when I cooked breakfast this morning."
"The toast one?" Luck asked dryly.
"Yes, the toast one," Rook deadpanned. "Some Initiate spells can be used in combat, but barely. They're more for utility rather than dealing damage."
He turned the page.
"Second tier: Adept Spells. More refined. These include minor elemental attacks and enhanced utility spells. This is where most licensed magic users operate. You'll see guards, medics, and merchants all using Adept-tier magic in daily life."
"Third is Expert Spells. These require deeper attunement control and a well-developed mana core. Spells at this level include mid-range elemental manipulation, area effects, complex illusions, and magical barriers. They're what most magic corps soldiers aim to learn."
Luck nodded slowly. "Getting serious now."
"Fourth, we have Master Spells. These aren't taught publicly. Dangerous, high-efficiency, incredibly difficult to maintain. Think large-scale destruction, high-tier teleportation, or binding rituals. Only those with high Magic Power Ranks can even attempt them and even then it requires both chanting and forming incantions causing the spell casting time to be long and taxing on the mind."
"And the fifth?" Luck asked.
Rook's tone dropped slightly.
"Fifth tier: Forbidden Spells. Illegal in most regions. These break the natural laws of mana or warp it in dangerous ways. Necromancy. Time-rending. Reality tampering. Spells that consume more than they cast."
Luck went quiet.
"Don't worry," Rook added. "You won't be casting any of those anytime soon."
Luck snorted. "Yeah, maybe give me two years."
Rook closed the book with a soft thump. "Take a minute to digust all this information then we have to do another job tonight, our funds are starting to run low again."
Luck stood up and stretched. "Who are we robbing this time?"
Rook grinned. "We will be paying a visit to Mr. First job again. Word has it that his trafficking buisness will be raided by the magic corps soon so he should be scrambling to get everything important out of there, thats where we come in."
"Let me guess," Luck said, already grabbing his coat. "We help him 'lighten the load'?"
Rook shrugged. "Consider it… strategic redistribution."