Magic Discovered

Chapter 9

Lydia couldn't sleep. She lay awake on her bed, listening to her roommate snore, with thoughts about the previous day running through her head. And oh boy, was there a lot to think about.

James had found out that he wouldn't be participating in the Mid-year competition. Normally, the masters of each affinity would watch the tournament and grade students on their performer, regardless of if they won or lost, but apparently Pure Elementalists had their own test. It made sense too, considering their lack of magical spells, although that knowledge didn't make James any happier. And they couldn't even train with a weapon because they had to devote all of their time to training.

Lydia wasn't going to do the competition either. Her Midterm project was to invent something original, her first real test as a Weird. But instead of figuring out a design for an exploding sword, a way to convert cuteness to fuel, or some other crazy and out-of-this-world idea, she was constantly distracted and unable to focus. They were supposed to solve a problem that interested them. What did she want? To fix her friend's problem. But that wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

Lydia got up from the bed and walked downstairs to her workstation. Eventually, she would create her own personal laboratory, but that was quite a way off. For now, the small one with the equipment provided by the school would suffice.

"What am I going to do?" she wondered. "No ideas about what to do, and I need to figure out a solution soon or else I'll fail my project. Hm."

She considered her options, namely about James' problem. He had, when pressed, explained that it was incredibly difficult to grab and maintain a hold on each element, like picking up water with a bare hand. That was why it was so hard to train different spells because Pure Elementalists couldn't easily maintain control over the fundamental base of the spell, the actual elements themselves. "There's something we're missing," she thought, twirling her Holoform pen in her hand. She had used it to sketch out several ideas, but these were quickly crossed out and erased. "What was it that the Librarian had said? 'Concentration is key?' What the hell did that even mean? He made it sound really important, but it only makes sense in relation to mental strength, but it was kind of a random concept...

The Holoform clattered to the floor.

"THAT'S IT!!!" Lydia shouted, before realizing that her roommate was still asleep. She blushed, picked up her pen, and started madly scribbling notes in the air around her. "James said that he can't maintain control over the different elements, which is why he can't train Pure Elementalism. With what the Librarian said, I would bet on my life that it's because he doesn't have the focus. If you were to train for years and years normally, you would probably develop enough focus to create basic spells, but what if there was a way to specifically increase a person's mental strength? Fact- if one is able to train a specific aspect of a skill that impacts the entirety of that skill, then that skill will grow stronger. Pure Elementalism requires a massive amount of focus and mental fortitude. Conjecture- if one trains specifically to increase their mental strength, then their Pure Elementalism will increase at a rate proportional to that training because they will be able to better control each individual element."

She sat back, exhausted. One of the Weird's powers allowed them to connect the dots and create theories based on existing facts and conjectures, but at this stage, it used a lot of energy. But she also was filled with determination, now that she had at least an idea of what to do.

The next day, she went to the library again, this time alone because she didn't want to bring James' hopes up yet. She brought up a basic map of each room and, not fully knowing where to start, began to search for books on mental processes, and research on affecting one's concentration. She was trying to gain an overview of the topic; by learning as much as she could, she would be able to refine her idea into a creatable model. Unfortunately, the books were not being as helpful as she had hoped.