Pulling Elric to the side, Belladonna led him to the other side of the array where she gently whispered into Elric’s ear, “When you were unconscious, Kite began to undergo his official training as a battlemagus. Right now, Kite’s learning to study the wind to dodge the bolts of lightning that’ll strike at him. Jerry’s in charge of maintaining the lightning array.” 

Elric was happy to see the growth of his companion but he couldn’t help but feel depressed about himself.

Embarrassed to the point of tears, Elric slowly retreated back to his own room. For the very first time in forever, Elric had begun to question this lifestyle choice he had made. Perhaps a life at the grocery store was something that suited him best.

“Maybe I’m not cut out on being a magus.”

 Elric had thought to himself.

“That would depend on how thou regard magick.” 

A strange voice suddenly announced itself to him.

“Wha—what person said that!” Elric cried out.

“Person? That I am not. How hath thou forgotten about thine master so quickly?”

A low rumbling sound spoke up before a wisp of smoke began to appear in front of his eyes. It was the biggest pain Elric had in his heart and the most accomplished trick he had been swindled from. That unknown demon had appeared in front of him once more.

Fear flooded Elric as he regarded one of the denizens of Nadirheim. Although Crazy had said that these stygians were without power, Elric was still naturally afraid of such a life form. Because of the fact that these bizarre life forms were gone from the eyes of humanity for hundreds of thousands of years, any normal person would be afraid of one.

“How did you come out?” Elric had managed to muster up some courage to ask.

“Our souls are intertwined. Written in our pact is the natural power for traversal between realms.”

When Elric heard the stygian mention the pact that he greatly regretted in signing, Elric grew quiet for a very long time.

When it came to this demonic beast from the other world, Elric knew absolutely nothing about it besides that Crazy said stygians had no power and the fact that this stygian had the name Monster. 

“Why are you coming out?” Elric knew that this being wasn’t dangerous, but for a demon to be set free into this peaceful world, it would not be strange for the demon to exert some sort of bad influence onto it. What Elric was even more concerned about was if the stygian would threaten him with his own soul to go and save the otherworldly life forms that Crazy had captured. Just thinking about how scary Crazy was was enough for Elric to shiver with fear. It would be better for Elric to ask for the reason first as insurance.

“Were thou not vexed by thine inability to use magick? I can help thee.” 

The being spoke.

Surprised and confused, Elric asked, “Are you able to help me use magic?” Crazy was knowledgeable about magic to an extremely high degree, but when it came to understanding the very nature of magic, she was perhaps not as knowledgeable than a God or demon.

“Mana cannot be granted nor given, but magick can be mastered regardless. By my means, thou shall master the art of magick. By the means of fate, thy body shall adapt and learn to harness mana.”

Elric’s self confidence had immediately taken a hard blow at the mention of luck. Apparently, the Goddess of misfortune had taken a liking to him. And Elric had no other alternative but to face this reality he lived in. Still, ever since Elric had embarked on this journey to test himself, he had grown more and more attached to magic as a whole. To give it up now would be quite unfeasible. To him, as a person on the verge of drowning, this figure in front of him was the life-saving piece of grass to hold onto. When faced with certain despair, it was better to hurry and grab hold of this hope without hesitation.

“Hast thou not experienced magick-casting here? Hast thou not yet grasped the concept?” 

Monster asked, pausing for a moment when it saw the blank look of confusion on Elric’s face. 

“Magick is the evocation of mana to bind the elements to thine will. The effulgence of moonlight within Nadirheim serves as a catalyst for magick-casting. In Nadirheim, mana is better amplified to bind the elements. The lack of a catalyst in thine world results in the limited control of the elements. The lack of a catalyst is thine greatest reason for thine inability to cast magick. However, there exists a method to amplify thine mana. A pact or by evocation.”

When Elric heard about the pact between a God or demon, he hurriedly strained his ears to continue listening to Monster.

“A pact with either God or daemon. By agreement with thine pacted God or daemon, thou shall gain aid in binding the elements. Less mana shall be needed to bind certain elements. A pact with a fire God or daemon shall mean thou will have little trouble casting fire magick. Be warned. Thy mana shall remain weakened and unable to cast any magick thine God or daemon cannot cast.”

There had been stars in the eyes of Elric as he listened, but Monster had unceremoniously doused some water onto him with his next few words. 

“I have no power to offer thee.”

Elric had grown crestfallen at those words, but then Monster had spoke to him comfortingly. 

“But, whilst I can give no power, I can show thee the way to power.”

Nearly at his wits end, Elric had practically started to plead with him, “Please, please tell me the way.” The thirst he had for using magic was something that he would never once think about if he had to give up a price to the monster in front of him.

Luckily, the monster had not been using this as a pretext to earn the hatred of Elric. As it were, his intentions were far better than Victor or Crazy. 

“Ritual magick is oft overlook. See that thou shalt not. Activated by a certain amount of mana, ritual magick can bind the elements to thine will. Any ritual magick shall succeed as long as thou hath enough mana. It is in mine sentiment thou hath ability in this regard.”

“Ritual magic, why didn’t I think of that!” Elric yelped almost far too loud for him to miss the next few words that Monster spoke.

“Where is that magick beam condensing plate thou used to supplement thine mind?” 

It asked.

“Demon light gathering plate? Are you talking about the Moonlight Lens? Even Crazy doesn’t know the history behind that.”

 Elric thought. Fishing out the Moonlight Lens, he couldn’t help but feel some regret. 

“Magic Beam sounds pretty strong actually. Would this monster use it for some sort of evil business?”

But then the next few words of Monster had wiped away his doubts.

“The condensing plate was created by dark matter. Dark matter has a special property to absorb and transform magick into mana for the darkness. I have a way to turn this condensing plate back into dark matter for thou to absorb. From then, I will teach thou magick that best makes use of the special nature of dark matter to absorb the magick of thine enemies. With this mana, thou will be able to use magick.”