Chapter 6 - Episode 5: The Magic Otaku Begins His Magical Training
The day after my grandmother visited and left, I decided to begin my own training. To do that, I first needed to establish a fundamental plan.
My goal is to become a magus. I still harbor a nagging suspicion that there is a discrepancy between the "magic users" my parents are and the "magus" I aspire to be, but for now, I suppose I will follow my family's path and walk the road of a magic user. My formal studies to become one won't begin for another three years, so I've decided to start my training as a magus first. If possible, it would be best to pursue a regimen that is useful for both. Pacing around my room, I began to recall the various methods of magical training I remembered from my past life.
The easiest is image training. Visualization is crucial in magic, so there is no harm in practicing it. It is also wonderful because it requires no space and can be done anytime, anywhere. There are many ways to do it, but the simplest and quickest is probably The Dice Method. This was proposed by a famous magical researcher in my previous life—whose favorite phrase was, 'Go to fourteen'—and it is highly effective for its simplicity.
Here is how it works. You begin by visualizing a die in your mind, imagining the number of pips on each face. Then, you roll the die and vividly picture how it tumbles, which face lands up, and the configuration of the other faces. Once you can clearly imagine the sound of it rolling and the way it bounces, you increase the number of dice to two, then three.
With enough practice, you become able to see an illusory die rolling right before your eyes. This technique is called Vision, and it is a powerful tool with applications in various aspects of magic. All right, I will make image training a daily routine. Continuing to pace around the room, I pondered other training methods.
Suddenly, I felt a gaze on me and stopped. I lifted my head from where I had been staring at the floor and my eyes met Ruria's. She had pushed herself up from where she was lying on the carpet. I sensed a hint of irritation in her intense stare and realized I had been disturbing her reading.
"Sorry, sorry. I must be distracting you."
I stopped pacing and sat down on the bed. Ruria nodded as if to say, "Good," then lay back down and resumed reading a children's book with simple words. As I watched Ruria lying on the carpet, seemingly enveloped in a bright light, an idea struck me.
Assuming this light is something like an aura, and it's related to one's aptitude as a magic user, is there a way to strengthen it?
In magic, the aura a magus exudes plays a vital role. A detailed explanation would be lengthy, so I will skip it, but the magus's "will" to perform magic is transmitted through this aura, becoming the driving force that brings the spell to fruition. That being said, it is not as if I could see auras in my past life, so this is all just secondhand knowledge from magic books.
The light inside my own body. After considering various ways to strengthen it, I arrived at one candidate: ki cultivation from the sage arts. The sage arts have a training method where you perceive the "ki" within your body as a ball of light and refine it. I will graciously accept any criticism that this is not magic. The point is, whether you call it ki or an aura, all that matters is that I find a way to strengthen this light I am seeing.
It is true that in magic, dabbling in various schools of thought from an early age is discouraged. But I have my experiences from a past life, and there is a similar training method in magic called the "Middle Pillar," so my idea is not entirely off the mark.
At any rate, to try out ki cultivation immediately, I took off my shoes and sat cross-legged on the bed in what is also known as the Full Lotus Position. The intense aversion I feel to getting on a bed with shoes on is likely a remnant of my consciousness as a Japanese person from my previous life. I lowered my gaze and focused my awareness on the faint light emanating from within my body.
I imagined that weak light condensing, gathering in my lower abdomen to form a ball of light. It was a few centimeters below my navel, deep inside my body. In the sage arts, this place is called the dantian. As I continued to visualize this while maintaining a regular breathing pattern, the light inside my body actually began to change shape and gather at my dantian. I even felt a warm sensation in the area where the light was concentrating.
Wow. In my past life, I had to rely solely on visualization and internal sensations, but it is amazing to actually see it like this. The results are literally "visible," and it truly feels like I am training. At the same time, I became certain that it was possible to manipulate the light emanating from my body with the power of my will.
Next, while keeping my breathing rhythm steady, I moved the light I had gathered in my dantian downward. I imagined the pearl of light moving through my groin to my tailbone... and it moved! It's moving! I could see the ball of light, along with a sensation of heat, actually traveling through my body. Whoa. If I had this vision in my previous life, I might have dedicated myself more to the sage arts. Would I have aimed to become a sage instead of a magus?
Once the light reached my tailbone, I moved it upward along my spine. It was a strange sensation to see the light through my torso, even though it was on my back. From my back to the nape of my neck, over the back of my head to the crown. Then back to the front of my body, down past the point between my eyebrows, my mouth, and my throat. Finally, it returned to my dantian, where I imagined the pearl of light glowing hotter and brighter. That completed one set. This is one of the training methods of the sage arts, the practice of the Lesser Heavenly Cycle.
The pearl of light gathered in my dantian did not seem much different from before I started. When I relaxed my concentration, it immediately dispersed and returned to a faint, dim glow. Well, this is my first time, so I am not expecting any visible changes right away. Everything is trial and error. If I do not see results after repeating the Lesser Heavenly Cycle training, I can just search for another method.
As I took a breath after finishing the exercise, a voice asked, "What are you doing?" I looked over to see that Ruria had closed her book and was watching me, sitting sideways on the carpet. This was unusual. She normally lets her eyes do the talking and rarely initiates a conversation herself. Then again, I can usually understand what she wants to say just by looking at her eyes, which allows us to communicate with perfect understanding.
"Hm? Something like training to become a magic user, I guess?"
"I'll do it too."
"Huh, you too, Ruria? It might be boring and not fun at all, you know?"
"That's fine. Teach me how."
No, no, you're already shining like crazy. If the one who has it all also puts in the effort, how is the one who has nothing supposed to catch up?
I could not answer right away, so I looked into Ruria's eyes. The pupils that held a powerful light stared back at me, and I realized she had no intention of backing down. Ruria rarely expresses her own will, but I know from experience that once she makes up her mind like this, she never changes it.
"...All right, I'll teach you. Sit here."
I pointed to the spot next to me, then got off the bed and put my shoes back on. I had Ruria sit on the edge of the bed. I had no intention of making her sit cross-legged. She is a girl, and she was wearing a dress today. Standing beside the seated Ruria, I tried to explain the Lesser Heavenly Cycle training as simply as possible.
"Okay, first, let's relax your body. Let's regulate your breathing. Inhale for four counts, hold for four, exhale for four, and hold for four. Try it... yes... inhale... one... two... three... four... exhale... one... two... three... four... Good, you're doing great. Keep repeating that. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Inhale, one... two... three... four..."
Ruria obediently followed my instructions. This was another basic magical training technique, the four-count breath. As she repeated the steady rhythm, I could see the tension leave her body and she became relaxed. Good, time to move to the next stage.
"Keep breathing like that and try to imagine a ball of light in your lower stomach. It might be easier if you close your eyes at first. Imagine a warm, sparkling light forming inside you."
Ruria closed her eyes as told, but soon opened them and asked, "Where in my stomach?"
"Um, below your navel. Deep inside, around here..."
As I said that, I touched the area about three inches below her navel. A sound I had never heard before escaped her lips. "Hyaa!"
"Ah! Sorry, sorry, did I startle you? It's right around that spot."
I tried to cover my mistake immediately, but my heart was pounding. Of course. Even if we were raised like siblings, and even if we are both just toddlers, touching a sensitive area on a girl's body is completely out of line. I had done it without thinking, but hearing Ruria's voice made me realize just how terrible my action was.
Ruria opened her eyes and gave me an intense look. I suppressed my inner turmoil and offered her an innocent smile (or so I hoped). She glared at me for a moment longer before closing her eyes again and concentrating on her breathing and visualization. In an instant, the light in her dantian area condensed and began to glow as a massive sphere of light. Whoa! Amazing... It was not a halo but an "inner light," so bright that Ruria's whole body seemed to shine.
"Yeah. That's amazing, Ruria, you're doing great right from the start. Next, imagine that warm light moving. Um..."
I hesitated for a moment. How do you say "tailbone" in the language here?
"...Let's try to imagine it passing between your legs and moving toward your bottom. Like a warm ball moving inside your stomach."
Ruria continued to visualize with her eyes closed for a while, but then she opened them and told me, "I don't get it." At the same time, the sphere of light in her dantian unraveled, returning to its original state where light enveloped her entire body. Hmm, just explaining with words is not getting through, is it? But still... I hesitated for a moment, but then I made my decision and spoke to Ruria.
"Okay, let's try one more time. Start from breathing in and out, and imagine the ball of light forming below your navel."
Ruria nodded and started the four-count breathing again. As she closed her eyes and repeated the breaths, I saw the huge sphere of light reappear in her dantian.
"Good, you're doing great, Ruria. Now, just like that, imagine that light going under your legs and moving to here."
Saying that, I touched the tip of Ruria's tailbone with my fingertip. Ruria's body jolted with a start, and a sound like "Hnh..." escaped her. This time, however, Ruria did not open her eyes, and soon I saw the ball of light move from her dantian to her tailbone.
"Good, good, it worked this time. Now, the light that's at your bottom... like this, imagine it climbing up your back."
I traced my finger from her tailbone up along her spine to the nape of her neck. As my finger moved, Ruria let out a long, breathy sound like "Fuuu..." As if chasing my finger, I saw the sphere of light climb up Ruria's back. As I moved my finger from the back of her head to the crown, the light followed.
I removed my finger and moved to stand in front of Ruria, then spoke to her.
"Okay Ruria, open your eyes. You're going to bring the ball of light you brought to the top of your head down to your stomach, like this."
In front of the watching Ruria, I traced my finger down my own body from my head to my dantian, along the centerline. Even with her eyes open, the sphere of light did not dissolve, but traveled down the front of her body to her dantian. The light, now back in its original place, seemed to shine even more brightly than before. Ruria looked almost divine.
"Alright. That's everything I have to teach you about the training for now. How was it?"
"It felt strange. Like something warm was moving inside my body."
"To be able to do it so well from the very beginning... you're amazing, Ruria. You might be a genius."
"..."
Ruria remained silent and expressionless at my praise, but I could see the corners of her mouth twitch up ever so slightly. This was probably her version of a smug "Heh."
But seriously, Ruria is on another level. I can play at magical training at this age because I dabbled in all sorts of things in my past life, however self-taught. But Ruria, with no prior knowledge, managed to properly perform the Lesser Heavenly Cycle on her first try. Could it be that even as an occultist or a magus, Ruria's talent far surpasses my own?
I felt a little crushed by the cruel reality. But as I watched Ruria, who was just the slightest bit pleased in a way only I could tell, practicing the Lesser Heavenly Cycle once more, such things started to seem irrelevant. My goal is to become a magus; being superior or inferior to someone else is not important. If you ask me if I am not frustrated at all, I would say I am, but that just means I have to work that much harder.
In any case, I now have a clearer picture of what I need to do before entering the academy in three years. I will make image training and the Lesser Heavenly Cycle a daily routine to build my own foundation before I learn about magic at the academy. Once I get older and my body develops, it might be a good idea to start strength training like I did in my past life. If Ruria is willing to join me, I am sure I can keep up with my daily training without slacking off. "I wish I'd grow up faster," I muttered under my breath, for what must have been the dozenth time since I was reincarnated.
This is the fifth episode. I apologize for the slow pace of the story. I plan to pick up the pace a bit more in the next chapter, so please bear with me.