Chapter 27 - 27: A genius? Me?
" I understand," Erik nodded seriously at the words of his master, who soon asked him another question.
"Erik, what do you think is the most important thing to achieve magic?"
"Imagination?" Erik responded hesitantly, which made Sigrún smile brightly before she explained.
"Haha, you're not entirely wrong, but the most important thing is 'Orders.'"
"Orders?" Erik looked at his master confused, and she gently patted his hair before continuing.
"Yes, Orders. Do you remember the concept of an algorithm you learned with Eli?"
"Yes, a set of ordered steps to achieve a goal."
"Exactly, and a spell is essentially the same thing. Each step is giving a specific order to your mana to act in a certain way to produce a specific result."
"But master, if they're just orders, why are runes and magic circles needed?"
Erik asked, confused. After all, the concept of Orders was easy to understand since, in a way, the mental instructions he gave his mana to do something could be interpreted as 'orders,' but he could do that on his own without the need for the runes or magic circles he saw his masters or Liliana use.
"A great question. It's not that they're strictly necessary to cast a spell. For example, practitioners of the Zazen discipline only use their minds and bodies to cast spells, but that comes at a cost and is precisely the disadvantage of this magical system.