The Frivolous Prince

[6] Magic Lesson

“This calls for a celebration!” Rista said while barging into my room.

How many times should people be reminded that they need to knock first before even coming into a room? I even lock my freaking door, how the hell did this woman unlock it?

“Rista? What’s the celebration for? And can you even knock first before entering?” I said.

“Eh? I already knocked like five times. I've been waiting for half an hour already outside of your room,” Rista replied.

Oh, it’s my fault this time, huh? I couldn’t sleep last night because I spent two weeks being unconscious. But it’s alright since I used that time to try to level up my Appraisal magic but it’s not successful.

“So what’s the good news?” I asked.

“I already talked with your father and he immediately approved. However, he said that he’ll not send bodyguards with you. It’s quite concerning but if you’re still fine with that, then I’m already your instructor starting today,” Rista said.

“Then, nice to meet you, Instructor Rista. But before that, I have to prepare first,” I replied.

“Okay, fine, fine. Then just proceed to room 11 of the study area, I’ll be waiting there,” Rista said.

She left the room and I started getting ready. I don’t really know if having her as my instructor will change anything. I have so much mana but I have a very low magic level, magic level doesn’t correspond with how much mana you have but one how powerful you can cast your skill.

Since I’m level one, the fireball that I’ll cast is only half as powerful if I could level up to magic level 2. However, you could still control your damage output on how long you hold your reo in the eight chamber. The longer it stays, the higher its power. The maximum power is obviously based on your magic level. So in my case, I need to hold it longer so I could at least get a decent damage output. And the downside for that is I could be attacked before I could cast a single spell.

After I ate my breakfast, I went to the room that Rista told me to go to.

“Oh, my cute student. Are you ready to learn?” Rista said.

What the hell? Am I a child to this girl? Wait, yeah, I forgot that I’m really just a child.

“Yes, yes,” I responded.

“So, I heard that you haven’t attended a single lesson about magic. So basically, we need to start right at the beginning,” Rista said.

Oh yeah, that’s what people in the palace know. I just have to agree with her since I don’t want her to be suspicious of me.

“Yes, Instructor Rista. But I have some basic knowledge from reading books so you can skip those stuff,” I responded.

“Okay, fine. That makes things easier and faster,” Rista replied.

Rista taught some basics of knowledge. I already know most of the things about it though, but since she made an effort I should express that I’m learning. What I want to know more about is the appraisal magic, the book doesn’t have much information about it.

“Do you have any questions, Prince Zenith?” Rista asked.

“I have something I wanted to ask,” I replied.

“Tell me what it is,” Rista said.

“I want to know more about appraisal magic,” I replied.

“I realized that that is one of the reasons that you accepted me to be your magic instructor. You are very smart and you can catch up with topics that are intermediate, there’s no way anyone would feel it hard to teach someone like that,” Rista said.

I laughed off what Rista said, it will be awkward if she thinks that it’s the only reason I agree with her being my instructor, though it is certainly true. Those instructors that the King and the Queen assigned to me don’t have any talent at teaching, they just want to talk about their lives so if someone like Rista offered to be my instructor, of course I will agree.

“So, what do you want to know about appraisal magic?” Rista asked.

“The only information I have about appraisal magic is that it shows various information on something or someone you appraise. I want to know how I should level the skill and what things I might find helpful while leveling it up,” I replied.

“I see. So you are really that interested in the magic that no one wants to pursue. First, maybe you already know about it, I’m the only one that has Appraisal Magic Level 5. Leveling it up is quite hard because I started using it when I was four years old. Aside from being hard to level up, the mana consumption it has is very high. Imagine wasting a hundred mana in a single non-attack spell,” Rista said.

“Four years old, huh? That's quite hard work for someone young,” I responded.

“It’s not really that hard, I just have to do one single appraisal every single day and I’m being assisted by my father. My father also attained Appraisal Magic Level 5 before he died and he started leveling it up the same age as you so if I keep up, I might level my appraisal magic. I just don’t know how much more I should cast before it happens. I used other magic spells other than appraisal magic so it might take time but I’ll make my father proud,” Rista continued.

“Since you’re the only one that has that appraisal magic, does that mean you need someone to inherit it?” I asked.

“Yes, that means that if I ever have a daughter or son, I should teach them the appraisal magic as soon as they have the right amount of mana,” Rista answered.

“Then, it’ll take me a lot of time, huh?” I said.

“It’s fine, if you are diligent enough, it will pay off. But this is just my advice. As a royalty, appraisal magic doesn’t suit you. You have me and my descendants for that matter,” Rista said.

I don’t really care what a royalty is supposed to be, I will do what I can to continue my research on magic.

“Well, if you are really persistent in knowing about appraisal magic, I’m going to tell you all the information I have,” Rista said.

“Thank you very much, Instructor Rista,” I responded.

“I’ll show you first what my appraisal can do,” Rista said.

Rista stretched her arms towards me. She chanted,

《Appraisal》

| Zenith Kleinhaus: Human |

| Son of the Zerd Kleinhaus and Hestia Kleinhaus |

| Level: 1  Experience: [I------------] |

| Age: 7 |

| Title: The Frivolous Prince, The Bookworm, The Bountiful |

| Attributes: |

I see, so that’s how it looks like if it’s level 5 Appraisal. It also shows me the attributes that I have, which are divided into intelligence, strength, stamina, agility, dexterity, charisma and willpower. It’s in the form of heptagon shape and it seems like my attributes are all equal aside from the intelligence, it is slightly higher than all the other six attributes.”

“Wait, you’re not surprised?” Rista asked.

“Huh? No, I’m surprised by this. I never thought that even the titles are shown here,” I replied.

“I mean, you should be surprised that you can see a projection like this. Normally, other people wouldn’t be able to see this projection. I’m the only one who can see it if I cast it normally, but by putting 5 white reos, adding 4 opaque reos and finally adding 2 void reos, the projection would be visible to everyone but that means it would consume additional 30 mana,” Rista explained.

I didn’t know that it works that way. So by using both opaque and void reos, the total white reos is still ten and that’s the required amount to cast the appraisal magic.

“This is the second time that I use appraisal magic to you and I’m really curious about the title that you have, the bountiful,” Rista said.

“What? You already use that on me? Why didn’t I notice that? For that title, I don’t really know what it is,” I replied.

Well, I have a general idea about that title. It is maybe related to the amount of mana I have. But it may be different.

“I didn’t use the advance appraisal casting so I’m the only one who saw it. I also did it when you were asleep. And also, I did it when you’re just two years old to confirm if you’re really level 1 after that event so there’s really no way that you will notice or remember it. You don’t have the bookworm title at that time. That means you're lying to me when you said you are not reading books at all,” Rista said.

Oh, crap. Didn’t know that my curiosity about this thing would lead me into this.

“Sorry, Instructor Rista. I don’t read books about history or anything of that sort. Maybe because I read too many children's books and books about animals that’s why I acquired that title,” I replied.

“That makes sense but it’s good, that means that you will gain additional intelligence. That’s the reason you have intelligence as your highest attribute. For the bountiful, I don’t really know what it is but the previous king, King Zernard, also has that title. It might be because of your wealth, but the other royalty doesn’t have it. Anyway, no one really cares about titles that are rare to get and don't have that much effect so that titles weren’t studied by the scholars. For your other title, well, proclaimed titles are just for display so let’s not focus on it,” Rista said.

So titles have that kind of use. But other people could see it if they use appraisal magic. That means that appraisal magic is very useful, it will be possible for you to determine other people's strength based on their achievement and what magic they are practicing.

“Do you have a list of all possible titles that a person can have?” I asked.

“I have the material for that. Do you want me to teach about those things? But most of the people that wanted to know that are the Collectors,” Rista replied.

“Collectors?” I asked.

“Yeah, Collectors, that’s what we call them. The people that collect a lot of titles, if you go to the adventurer’s guild, you will see the ranking of the people with the most titles. But it’s more of a fame than anything,” Rista explained.

“Does your material have a list of the effects of those titles?” I asked.

“Yes, most of it. Some are still unknown just like the bountiful title you have,” Rista replied.

“That’s all I want to know, I’ll not compete with those collectors,” I said.

“Okay, then we already have our topic for tomorrow. Let’s continue the appraisal magic,” Rista said.