Takeshi opened his stats panel after lunch, while Aoi was talking to someone in the hallway.

[Health: 100%]

[Sanity: 60%]

[Points: 7]

Then he checked his combat stats.

[Strength: 9]

[Speed: 4]

[Magic: 1]

[Endurance: 7]

[Accuracy: 9]

His base Magic stat was 1, and without Aoi’s bonus, it dropped to 0. Out of all his attributes, Magic was the only one that started from almost nothing. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Takeshi closed the panel.

’If I’m going to raise something, it should be the weakest one first.’

The problem was that he didn’t know how to raise a Magic attribute outside the point system. He could spend points on items in the shop, but not directly on stats. What he could do was practice, just like with any physical skill. If the system registered real progress, it would probably reflect it over time.

At least that made sense in theory.

In the magic control class, the instructor had demonstrated the most basic exercise in the program: concentrating energy at the tip of a finger until generating a small flame. He had described it as the equivalent of learning how to make a fist. The starting point before anything else.

Takeshi remembered watching it, and it had looked simple.

He decided to try it after classes, in his room, before Akari got home.

The first attempt lasted three minutes.

Takeshi sat on the edge of the bed, extended his right index finger, and focused. The instructor had said something about directing energy toward a single point. Takeshi tried to do exactly that, without being entirely sure what it meant in practice.

Nothing happened.

He switched hands and tried with his left, but it didn’t work either.

He went back to the right and this time closed his eyes to concentrate better, waited a few moments, and opened them to the same result.

Messages from the chat appeared at the top edge of his vision.

[the good content has started]

[somebody tell him that’s not how it works]

[minute 4 with no results. personal record?]

Takeshi ignored the messages and tried again.

The second approach was more systematic.

He remembered that the instructor had mentioned breathing as part of the process, to stabilize concentration before directing the energy. Takeshi breathed slowly, three times, and then tried again.

No result.

He tried tensing his arm, in case the energy needed a physical channel. Then he tried relaxing it completely, and finally, he tried visualizing the fire before attempting to generate it, as if his brain needed a reference image.

[the visualization one almost convinced me]

[almost]

[how long has he been trying]

[22 minutes]

[incredible]

Takeshi lowered his hand.

Twenty-two minutes of attempts with different variations, and the result was the same in every case.

What he was missing wasn’t concentration or effort. He was missing basic information about how the process worked from the inside.

’I don’t know what I’m doing.’

That was the problem. The instructor had shown the final result, but he hadn’t explained the internal process in enough detail. Takeshi could repeat the external steps as many times as he wanted and still get nowhere if he didn’t understand what needed to happen before the flame appeared.

He needed to read up on the subject before trying again.

The next day, Takeshi went to the school library.

The applied magic section took up two full shelves at the back of the room. Takeshi scanned the spines, reading titles until he found something that sounded introductory: Fundamentals of Elemental Channeling, Vol. I. He pulled it out and went to a table.

He opened it to the first page.

The introduction explained that elemental magic worked through what the book called "internal channeling circuits," pathways through which the body’s energy traveled before manifesting externally. The book said every person had these circuits from birth, but most remained inactive without training.

So far, reasonable.

He turned the page.

The second Chapter began with a diagram of the human body with lines traced from various internal points toward the limbs. Below the diagram was a table with values. The table had columns with headers like "base flow coefficient," "primary channel resistance," and "activation threshold per concentration point."

Takeshi read the table twice.

Below the table was a formula. It used Greek letters and one symbol he didn’t recognize.

He moved on to Chapter three. There was another diagram, more detailed than the previous one, and another formula below it. This one had a footnote stating that the variable values depended on the "individual affinity index," which was determined through an evaluation process described in Appendix B.

Takeshi went to Appendix B.

Appendix B was four pages long and started with a warning that the evaluation process required supervision from a certified instructor for the first two attempts.

He closed the appendix.

’Better go back to the Chapter.’

He returned to Chapter two and read more slowly. He understood the words individually: flow, channel, resistance, threshold. Each term made sense on its own. The problem was that the relationship between them was explained in terms that assumed prior knowledge he didn’t have. It was like trying to read Chapter twelve of something without having read the previous eleven.

He pulled another book from the shelf: Introduction to Internal Energy Management for First-Years. That one sounded more accessible.

He opened it.

The first Chapter was plain text, without formulas. It explained that internal energy existed in all living beings and that magic was the process of directing it in a controlled manner toward a goal.

The second Chapter introduced the concept of "flow sensation," which described the physical perception a person has when their energy begins to move through the circuits. The book said that recognizing this sensation was the first step before any attempt at external channeling.

Takeshi reread that paragraph.

’So you have to feel something moving inside first, and only then try to bring it out.’

That explained why his attempts the day before hadn’t worked. He had tried to produce the external result without going through the previous step. He didn’t know what the internal flow felt like because he had never consciously experienced it, and without that reference point, he couldn’t direct anything.

The book continued explaining that learning to recognize the flow took a variable amount of time depending on the person, and that trying to force it without a foundation was inefficient. It recommended perception exercises before moving on to channeling.

The perception exercises were in Chapter four.

Takeshi checked the clock. It was five forty.

He had twenty minutes before the library closed. Chapter four had twelve pages, and after Chapter four came Chapter five, which according to the index was where the basic practical exercises began.

He wasn’t going to finish today.

He closed the book, left it on the table, and leaned back in his chair.

He acknowledged that the magic problem wasn’t going to be solved in one afternoon.

He stood up, returned Fundamentals of Elemental Channeling to the shelf, and kept Introduction to Internal Energy Management for First-Years in his hand.

He took it to the counter, checked it out, and left the library with the book under his arm.