When Kase heard Colin was about to have a magic lesson, he grumbled about wanting to go for a drink and left.

Colin followed Donkexes to their training room.

"How much do you know about magic, Colin?"

Donkexes asked as he picked up a wooden target and set it up in the corner.

"Flaming Arrow and Emerald Flame Sword," Colin said. "So far, those are the only two spells I know."

"Try it with Flaming Arrow," Donkexes said, pointing to the target.

Glancing at the target’s distance, Colin began casting the spell as usual.

A fireball the size of a human head traced an arc through the air, landing a little high on the target. The entire wooden target instantly burst into flames.

Donkexes also began to chant an incantation.

The spell he chanted was likely in Dwarvish. Full of hard consonants, it had a sharp, powerful cadence, like the clashing of rocks.

Finally, the Dwarf extended two short, stubby fingers and snapped them.

Just like that, the flames on the target vanished without warning.

"Where did you learn magic?"

Colin answered honestly, "One day, I happened to find a slip of paper in an alley with magic Runes written on it. After that, I scraped together enough money to find those Mage Apprentices, and they taught me."

"That’s not exactly a good thing. Did they ever tell you about the principles of casting?"

"Principles? Is it... combining gestures and incantations to cast a spell?"

Donkexes let out a deep sigh.

He said with resignation, "Alright, looks like I was right. A Wild Mage who knows nothing about the principles of casting."

Then, the Dwarf scurried over to a corner of the room, pulled a blackboard from a pile of junk, and set it on the floor.

Chalk in hand, he started drawing on the blackboard as he explained to Colin, "Regarding the principles of magic, our world has something called the Magic Net.

"This thing is as omnipresent as air, and it’s the foundation of all casting. But casting a spell requires more than just incantations and gestures; sometimes, you also need material components."

Colin frowned. "Does it cost money?"

"Of course. Many powerful ritual spells even require thousands of Gold Coins worth of Gemstones."

"Then..."

"Don’t interrupt." Donkexes waved his hand dismissively and continued, "That’s why in actual combat, it’s best to complete your casting with the briefest incantations and gestures possible. This is something most Combat Mages have to learn."

Then he pointed at Colin again. "I have to admit, the way you just cast that spell was very practiced, and you did it quickly. I can only imagine how much you’ve trained. But the drawback is that your method isn’t standard."

On reflection, Colin had to agree with him.

’The previous owner had learned Flaming Arrow by having a Mage Apprentice explain it once, then practicing on his own. As long as he could make it work, it was good enough.’

’It was easy to see how a casting method developed through such trial and error would be anything but standard.’

Colin asked, "So what are the consequences of doing it that way?"

"Increased failure rate, decreased efficiency, reduced power..." Donkexes said. "I bet you feel dizzy after casting a few spells, right? So now, let’s work on fixing that."

After saying that, he pulled a thick book from his pocket.

He wet his finger with a bit of saliva and began riffling through the pages.

"Ah, here it is." Donkexes spread the book open in front of Colin.

The two open pages were filled with lines of Common Language. It looked a lot like the Spellbook fragment his body’s previous owner had found, only this version was far more detailed and included many diagrams.

"Every step of the casting process must be executed precisely. The more flawlessly you perform it, the more powerful the spell will be."

With that, Donkexes shoved the book into his hands.

He followed the movements in the book, extending his right hand and placing it before his chest with his fingertips pointing up.

Then, at the moment he uttered the incantation, his wrist flipped rapidly, tracing a figure "8" in front of him from left to right.

The symbol was completed just as the incantation reached its conclusion.

He suddenly clenched his fist and pulled it toward his chest, as if raising an invisible shield before him.

The instant his fist neared his chest, a circular, orange-yellow rune materialized in front of Donkexes. It then slowly enveloped his body, making the Dwarf seem to radiate an orange glow.

"This is the cantrip, Blade Ward. This spell reduces physical damage taken by the caster for the next few seconds. As for its effectiveness, that all depends on how well the spell is cast." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Donkexes continued, "I can see you value your life, so this spell should be useful, right?"

Colin nodded.

Donkexes picked up a wooden sword and said, "You try."

Colin closed his eyes, carefully recalling the Dwarf’s casting method.

’This feels completely different from learning magic through my Golden Finger.’

’The new spells I get as quest rewards are at least demonstrated once in my memory, giving me the feeling of having already cast them successfully. But this time, I’ve only seen the Dwarf cast it once. The impression it left is definitely not as strong.’

’But this is just practice, after all.’

Lost in thought, Colin imitated the Dwarf’s earlier movements and began to cast the spell.

Just like when he cast Flaming Arrow, he could feel a faint, wondrous connection. He couldn’t tell where it came from, nor could he accurately describe the sensation.

He pulled his fist back.

Colin felt as if he had pulled a glass door toward himself.

Then, a warm breeze washed over him, and his skin tingled with a gentle warmth.

"Is this..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Donkexes smacked him hard on the thigh with the wooden sword, making him suck in a sharp breath from the pain.

’But... it didn’t hurt as much as it looked like it should have,’ Colin thought.

Donkexes propped the sword on the ground and rested both hands on its pommel.

"To be honest, your Arcane Affinity is terrible. At least, among all the Mages I’ve ever met, none have been worse than you."

"That’s why I need to practice. I can’t just..."

"But," Donkexes said, "and I’m making a point to say ’but.’ You don’t have a sense of alienation from magic, which is why your casting process is so smooth."

"What do you mean by ’a sense of alienation’?"

Colin frowned.

This was about his Casting Ability, so he was getting a little anxious.

This time, Donkexes didn’t answer immediately.

He thought for a long time before speaking. "Many Mages, myself included, spend their entire lives ’deconstructing’ magic. We break it down into formulas and wield it as cautiously as a blacksmith wields his forge hammer.

"You, on the other hand, seem to inherently ’believe’ in magic, rather than ’understand’ it. This gives your casting a kind of... instinctual fluidity. That’s why I said you don’t have that sense of alienation."

Colin thought about it.

’He was right. I do feel like casting a spell is just something that’s supposed to happen.’

’To make an analogy, it was like learning a spell in a game and then just using it. That’s just how it’s supposed to work. Very few games would deliberately make a player’s spell fail.’

’Could this mentality be the reason I have an advantage in learning magic?’

The thought struck Colin as quite strange.

"The advantage is that you might learn spells very quickly, but you’ll struggle on the path of casting itself. Fortunately, you’re not lazy. You’d better just pray your diligence pays off," Donkexes said. "Alright, break time’s over!"