Once he was inside his room, Aegon spent a few minutes trying to calm himself through meditation. While practicing magic, it was always best to have a clear mind, as that boosted efficiency and also lowered the risk of backlashes.

When his mind finally cleared, his eyes snapped open. He then clicked his fingers, and a hologram only he could see formed before him.

In a deep blue color, it displayed a complex diagram made up of several spheres overlapping around a single dense sphere at the center.

Complicated 3D symbols were engraved on every layer of the sphere, and some of them even seemed to be penetrating the very fabric of space and time and Aegon knew that was exactly the case.

The higher-ranked runes interacted with the foundation of existence itself, so they were always deeply connected to the fabric of space.

"Runes! So beautiful."

Aegon muttered softly as he raised his hand to touch the hologram. Of course, his hand passed right through it. The hologram was nothing but an illusion cast by the system to help him understand the spell better.

It was the Spell Sphere of the Rank 4 spell [Fury of Blizzard], the one he had recently acquired from the system.

He focused on the runes while recalling all the information about them, as he always did before practicing, so he wouldn't forget anything.

Runes.

They were the most important part of the power system governing this world, a sacred language used to communicate directly with the world itself. That was the reason for their utmost importance.

Magic was simple in concept, yet impossibly complex in execution, all because of these mysterious symbols.

'First is securing the fuel.'

The fuel was mana, the raw essence of the world. One needed to awaken a Mana Core and open Mana Circuits, then absorb atmospheric mana and refine it to match the body's essence while it still retained the world's natural properties.

Raw mana could be dangerous even for mages, after all.

The mana circuits served as the veins through which one circulated mana. If someone allowed raw mana, or even refined mana, to leak uncontrollably into their body, it could cause severe damage.

This was the easiest part of becoming a mage.

'Once the fuel is secured, we prepare the medium.'

The body was the medium through which one performed spells. It served as the foundation upon which a great tower was built, though its overall importance was relatively low.

One just needed to channel small amounts of refined mana into their body until it became accustomed to the mana. It was dangerous, yes, but still considered a relatively easy process.

Of course, this didn't make the body physically stronger. All it did was make it more suitable for being used as a medium.

'Once the fuel and the body are ready, we move on to the main part, which is learning the language of the world.'

What was magic, truly?

At its core, it was simply asking the world to do one's bidding. But in order to do that, one needed a way to communicate with the world and there were very few ways to achieve that.

The most widely used and accepted method was through the use of a language that even the world itself could understand.

Runes.

A vast and intricate set of symbols collectively known as the Language of the World. Mages devoted their lives to learning as much of this language as they could, but no one had ever succeeded in mastering it completely and for two reasons.

The first reason was simple, the language was far too vast and complex. It was impossible to learn all of it within a single lifetime. Even if someone somehow managed to do that, new runes would still be discovered from time to time.

The second reason lay in the world itself. The world wasn't a conscious being, nor did it possess a will, but it had something akin to a subconscious or atleast that's what every mage believed.

'It would be crazy if I'm just living inside a sleeping god or something.'

That subconscious of the world didn't like being ordered around. It passively resisted and suppressed the Rune Language. Even if one managed to learn it, they would start to forget it soon after unless they actively reinforced their memory.

This suppression was so strong that even Aegon, with his perfect memory, struggled to retain all the information about the Rune Language.

It was as if his perfect memory was constantly battling against an invisible force trying to erase all traces of the runes from his mind.

That was why he made it a habit to revise his knowledge of runes before every practice session, to ensure he remembered everything clearly. Of course, he had to work less than most because of his [Perfect Memory] and [Universal Language].

Just as the world tried to erase knowledge of the Rune Language, it also exerted pressure on anyone trying to learn it. But that wasn't much of a problem for Aegon, who possessed the [Universal Language] skill.

Although the world still resisted, he could recognize every rune at a glance. The real problem came after that as he would forget them almost instantly.

It took an enormous amount of mental focus and energy to remember the runes for longer periods.

However, his deeper understanding of the Rune Language allowed him to learn spells far faster than others and even create new ones. That fact alone always filled him with joy

After all, with magic, practically everything was possible in this world.

'But one doesn't need to learn all the runes, as long as they manage to master the ones required for their spells. Still, knowing the basic ones is absolutely necessary.'

A mage could ignore a large portion of runes that weren't useful for them, as their capacity to retain rune knowledge was limited.

These reasons were why it usually took an average mage nearly a decade to be ready to truly learn magic. They had to spend years perfecting their fundamentals, including mana control and mental resilience.

Aegon had spent an enormous amount of time studying the runes as he wasn't content with learning just a few runes. He had mastered a large number of them and constantly rehearsed them to make sure he never forgot.

That was also why he could now recognize so many runes within the hologram before him. The Spell Sphere was like a breathtakingly intricate structure, bringing a smile to his face.

"Finally, the most important part of being a mage," Aegon said softly. "Forming Spell Circles or Spheres that give life to our desires."

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