The Smartphone Saga: A Distracted Journey of Spells and Signals

Chapter 6: Educated

Over 80% of people under thirty find that the greatest inconvenience of eating at a table without chairs is the inability to play footsie with the cutie across from them. In this case, the subject was Jasson and the cutie was Petra, so footsie was out of the question. Instead, Jasson felt the urge of 99% percent of all humanity, old and young. That, upon being fed excessively with a meal of great delight, mankind desires to put their feet up and promise that they won't fall asleep.

Regrettably, Petra chose this sluggish time to proceed with her lesson.

"Listen well because I won't be repeating myself." Petra said as Clara cleaned the table, "Magic depends on three things, all of which are exhaustible. The first is Mana. This is like fuel for the fire and is the determining factor of how powerful a mage can be. Mana can be increased slowly over a lifetime, although it is known to skyrocket after rare life-changing events. You can replenish Mana through rest or special Mana Crystals, although these days most people just use potions."

Jasson tried to open his phone, whether to take notes or scroll he wasn't sure. But the black screen forced him to turn back to Petra and look her in the eyes. Then, deciding that the eyes were too intense, looked her in the nose instead.

"Okay," Jasson said, handing Clara his plate, "But can we sit down for this? We're not eating at the table anymore."

"Wuss," Petra said, walking over to the beds, "Always needing to rest. You're wasting your Q&A time. You can sit on that one by the way, I doubt Clara will care."

The apprehension of every boy sitting on a girl's bed flitted through Jasson, but Petra's suspicious glare burned it away like fog at noon.

"I wouldn't want to waste my Q&A," Jasson said, plopping down on the mattress, "Please go on."

"Only because I have to," Petra said, smiling fractionally, "Glad I have your attention though. Let's see...the second part of Magic is the Mind. Your Mind. Magic is controlled by envisioning its shape mentally and willing it to do so. If you were to take a Water Crystal and try to fill a glass using magic, then the crystal would pour water from every side and get your hands wet. Nothing terrible, but when you use fire..."

"Ah," Jasson said, "I see."

"Exactly." Petra said, poking Jasson's forehead, "You need to envision it perfectly, otherwise it will go wild. My scars are proof enough of that. The more dangerous and volatile the element, the less control the mages have. Beware a Water Wizard, they are often the most skilled at control, no matter the experience level. To be honest, run if you see a Water mage. They have a nasty habit of drowning you."

Jasson felt chills at the thought of drowning. He'd always felt that, if not number one, drowning was up there as a top five worst way to die. Surely above falling from a great height, although definitely less than being buried alive.

"And finally," Petra said, reaching into a pocket, "There are Magic Crystals. Manifestation Crystals to be precise."

Petra took a bag from her pocket and shook it out on the bedsheet, spilling a rainbow of sparkling crystals. Ten of them glinted in disarray, most about the size of Jasson's thumb. Petra tried to line the crystals up on the bedsheets, but they rolled too easily like cylindrical Skittles.

"Boulderdash," Petra said, "This is why I wanted to teach you on the table."

Jasson raised an eyebrow and said, "We can move back if this is too hard for you."

Petra glared at Jasson, then smirked and said, "As if. I'll just group them by category so I don't have to worry about the rest. Where to start...hmmm."