Is this a Joke?!

It’s today! Today I can finally begin practicing magic. My mind screamed those words as we welcomed the guests into the mansion to celebrate my fifth birthday, which marked my readiness to begin learning the skills that would come in handy for me to help Father with the domain and contribute to the kingdom, but most of all, let me protect myself from attacks like the ones that caused me to reincarnate into this world to begin with. After all, I did not want to die and risk going back to Japan, partly because I finally get to live in a world full of magic.

Or so I had thought, but… “Ugh…, Father, why do I need to practice the sword even though I want to learn magic?” I asked grumpily.

“Well, for one, magic cannot always protect you, which is why you need to learn to use some other self-defense method too,” Robert replied. “Not to mention, your textbooks on magic are yet to arrive.”

And so a month of training with the sword and waiting for my magic textbooks began. Not to mention, my father was really talented when it came to the sword and very particular about the training menu I had to follow too. Strength training, cardio drills, core stability drills, grip strength, slashing drills, flow drills (attack – defend – counter – reset), scenario training, mental training, and so on. By the end of the week, I had firmly decided that I was gonna become so good at using magic that I would never have to hold a sword ever again. But the dagger to my heart was yet to arrive.

-----X-----X-----X-----

The day my magic textbooks were to arrive, I finished my sword training as quickly as I could and waited for the books eagerly, and when they finally came, I took them to my room with starry eyes and locked the door so that I could read them in peace.
I read through the first chapter.

Huh? So this world has a unique magic typing system? Normally, in any isekai, you would have magic types like fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, light, and dark, which were then further divided into classes like novice, intermediate, and advanced, and sometimes even further like M.T., or in some cases, like the Realist Hero, magic wouldn’t exactly be magic at all.

But in this world, magic is primarily divided into three types—just like the three parts of the continent—they were Human Magic, Beast Magic, and Demon Magic, which were then divided into the regular elements of fire, water, wind, lightning, earth, light, and dark. So, if I were to assume, Human Magic would be like a simple ‘Fireball’ spell, while Beast Magic might have something to do with monster taming, and Demon Magic is supposed to be highly dangerous like maybe a ‘Hellflare’ or an ‘Explooooosion’ spell? Oh boy, I am intrigued already.

I continued reading only to find myself a little disappointed.

Human Magic, a highly utilitarian magic type, can be used to perform daily chores like burning firewood, drawing water, or blowing winds to dry clothes, etc. However, it is highly non-combat oriented. It is called so because it can be used by all living creatures, including humans. Well, it certainly helps in daily chores, but it does not scream out as interesting to me anymore. How about Beast Magic? I wondered as I turned the page over.

Beast Magic, mostly fit for use in wars, is the type of magic that lets you shoot arrows made of different elements, get physically stronger to overpower your enemy, and perform other similar physical enchantments, etc. It is called so since the physical enhancement of a human only puts them at the basic strength level of a beastkin. However, “All of these spells are still so basic,” I said to myself out loud. One particular spell that actually caught my eye was the Beast Light Magic, ‘Enlighten,’ which allowed one to survey and analyze the situation on the battlefield. It says not everyone can use it, and yes, it would be ridiculously overpowered if one were to use it to counter an enemy invasion, but seeing as none of the realms have fallen under one common ruler, I would assume that no one in this world currently can use that spell.

Starting to get a bit frustrated about the basicity of magic in this world, I turned my final hope to Demon Magic.

Demon Magic mostly includes spells that do not fall under non-combat or war-like categories, like illusions and teleportation, etc. This type of magic has unique limitations tied to it, like one being only able to teleport himself or maybe one other person besides. It is called so because, much like the demons, most subtypes of this magic remain unexplained.

I closed the book, frustrated by the sheer basicity of the spells I had read about. It was nowhere close to the unique and overpowered-looking magic from the light novels in Japan, and now I was starting to feel discouraged about everything all over again. “Oh Gods, is this some kind of cruel joke? You reincarnate me into a world full of magic that might not even be magic at this level?” I thought to myself.

Then my eyes fell on the title of the book Basic Magic, which filled me with hope. Maybe Father had only ordered the books that teach beginners about simple spells? Might there be a book about compound or complex spells that combine two or more simpler spells into a bigger, stronger spell? Like water and wind combining to form ice or something like that?

-----X-----X-----X-----

“There is no such thing as compound or complex magic. Everything you need to know about magic is in those books. Well, a few people in the past have tried making spells by compounding magic, but they were all proven futile, so I won’t suggest you try doing so yourself either,” Robert told me when I approached him about more advanced books in his study.

“But then, what exactly do we study at the two magic academies? Is it just the basic spells that are written in the book?” I asked nervously.

“Well, the schools exist to teach students the basic magic they struggle with. For example, one might be able to use the Human Wind Magic, ‘Blow,’ but may have difficulty casting the Beast Wind Magic, ‘Gale.’ The teachers at the academies are professionals at correcting those minor flaws in technique which cause such difficulties,” Robert explained.

-----X-----X-----X-----

That night, I went to bed utterly devastated by the state of magic in this world, but somewhere around the middle of the night, in my slumber, I heard the same voice that had first spoken to me when I was reincarnated here. As if encouraging me, it said:

“Don’t lose hope, Alex. Keep learning more about magic and you will find your path in this world.”

 “Who are you?” I questioned, waking up with a jolt, but the voice in my head was already gone. “The path I need to take will become clear as I continue to learn more about this basic trashy magic? I highly doubt it, but it doesn’t hurt to try,” I muttered as I lay back down and drifted off to sleep, exhausted from all the reading and training I had done that day.