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magic;
A rambling about LOLHeroes magic for personal reference, because Zohra and Morgan are magic geeks and I need somewhere to put all this information rather than have to double-check a million different chapters all the time.
Overview:
Magic in the LOLHeroes world works by manipulating seirei (translated as spirits to avoid random Japanese terms here, whoops). It's an in-universe debate as to whether they're actually spirits or not, though there are implications that they are—either way, what they really are isn't relevant to spellcasting. In simpler terms, they can be thought of as the energy flow of the world.
To quote a 6-year-old: they appear as "the glittering fluffy golden stuff flying around in the air that we can see when we concentrate our eyes". For a normal person, however, it would take them about a year of meditation training and whatnot in order to awaken their brain and be able to see them. Yes, this apparently means Zohra had the patience to meditate—I mean.
Casting spells works via manipulating the spirits into magic formations—or, more specifically, into the equations that make up said magic formation. How the equations are arranged will influence the spell's effects, ranging from creating different spells to altering pre-existing ones to accidentally screwing up the magic formation. To an ordinary person untrained in magic, the mage would appear to be drawing magic formation, whereas someone who can see the spirits would be able to see them actually manipulating the "fluffy golden stuff".
Different systems:
Each country has their own system of magic, which is also why they're all paranoid about other countries learning the secrets of their magic. After all, if you know exactly how their magic works, you can come up with a method to take it apart and render it useless.
As should probably go without saying, it's easier to learn new spells from a country where you're already familiar with their magic than learning new spells from a country whose system is unfamiliar to you, given the differences in formation. See below for more elaboration.
Learning magic:
It's hard to say exactly how long it takes for the average person to learn magic from scratch, given the only real training we see comes from geniuses/Alpha Stigma bearers/etc. Luke was capable of advanced magic when he was five and isn't necessarily a genius, but he also likely went through horribly abusive training, so he's probably not the best example.
Either way, at a normal pace, Ryner suggests that getting through the basics (including being able to see the spirits) and casting a spell is roughly equivalent to three years' worth of training. The more advanced spells also take a significant amount of time to learn—e.g. one of Estabul's most advanced spells would take 3-4 years for a native expert to learn (and you see that, in the series, Kiefer, despite being a native Estabulian and a decent mage, initially can't cast it, though she eventually learns).
Learning magic from a different country is reasonably difficult in that it's fairly rare to find someone who knows multiple systems—the only non-Alpha Stigma bearers in the series who fall under that category, as far as I know, are Kiefer (what with being a Roland-Estabul spy), Claugh (due to heavy exposure to the Estabul army and being a magic genius), and Zohra at age nineteen (due to similar circumstances as Claugh). Even then, it takes a fairly long time, with Ryner noting that it should be impossible for Claugh to use advanced Estabul magic even after roughly two years of exposure—except, again, magic genius.
Creating/altering spells:
If you fully understand the spell and how it works, it's possible to alter the magic formation so that it has different effects, as, again, it's really all just equations. This can range from things like changing the direction of a spell (e.g. Zohra 'accidentally' making his Misumi suddenly go upwards due to a 'mistake' in the circle) or a personal quirk of Ryner's where he omits certain parts to focus on what he needs (typically speed through omitting power or accuracy). However, making notable changes like the latter does require time to master, as a skilled user would probably need about two months of practice before they could do it efficiently and maybe even longer to actually be able to use it on the battlefield.
(Basically, unless you actually know what you're doing, you're probably better off not tampering with the spell, and especially not in the middle of a fight.)
Creating spells, obviously, is even harder and takes much longer to do, with only four characters (that I know of) in the series having done it: Lieral who's pretty much the genius to end all magic geniuses, Ryner who has an Alpha Stigma/is also a magic genius, Arua aka another Alpha Stigma bearer, and Zohra who's also a magic genius and almost on par with Ryner in spellcasting (do you see a pattern here—). Putting aside Lieral who researched magic all his life and is, again, crazily skilled and Arua and Ryner who have their Alpha Stigma to significantly speed up the process, it'd take a very long time and a lot of effort to fully create a new spell (e.g. it's noted that Zohra's strongest original spell, Fuen, took years for him to create).
It's also possible to alter your opponent's magic formation, if you can actually reach it. Seeing as how magic formation don't have some kind of NO I BELONG TO THIS MAGE ONLY!! binding to them, you could, in fact, stick your hand in and change it. Again, this generally isn't all that practical, since you're probably not going to get that close and the original caster can change it back to normal. To make it work, you have to either be much faster than them, distract them, or rewrite the equations into something they can't solve (and therefore can't fix). On the other hand, if you can pull it off, it can be pretty useful, as a) your opponent can't use it anymore and b) you can rewrite the spell so that it fires at them or is an entirely new spell.
Similarly, though less elaborated on due to less occurrences of it happening, you can outright steal your opponent's magic formation. It's not entirely clear how this works, but the one incident of it in canon is when Ryner casts Estabul magic and Zohra takes part of the magic formation and casts the spell as well.
(Finally, you can mess up the opponent's magic formation by doing something like throwing an object through it, forcing them to fix that part—)
Spellcasting:
There seem to be five main components to casting a spell:
• drawing the magic formation
• reciting the incantation (if necessary, which is the case for almost every spell)
• having a strong image of the spell in your mind
• actually understanding how the spell and the various parts of the magic formation work
• innate ability
The magic formation is needed for the equations that actually make up the spell, the incantation presumably ties into the third point, and having a strong image of the spell is part of what affects how strong the spell is (along with the magic formation).
The last one's actually not as addressed as explicitly as the others, but it can be inferred by the way magic works (e.g. the Alpha Stigma allowing the user to complete a spell that they haven't fully seen—because they have an understanding of how the spell should be completed). Also, otherwise, there wouldn't really be such a thing as magic skill because all it would take to cast a spell is memorizing the incantation and circle. Along those lines, countries could steal each other's magic just by being exposed to the magic formation often enough, so they presumably have to actually understand what's going on in the magic formation to be able to steal it.
You can also see this when a five-year-old Claugh tried to cast Misumi—despite having read up on the structure and incantation and formation and whatnot, he still couldn't actually cast the spell, as someone with no experience in magic yet.
The last one is apparent in things like the Congenital Magic Abnormality, which grants the bearer a naturally ridiculously high amount of magical power at the cost of not being able to adjust their power levels. Therefore, it's not just equations that affect the strength of a spell—it has to do with the user itself as well.
So, altogether, what makes a talented mage is a) a large repertoire of spells, b) being able to draw magic formations quickly, c) being able to form strong images in their mind, and d) really being able to understand how magic works.
Spells:
(Not a complete list, but all the ones seen being used in at least one adaptation and that Zohra would presumably be able to use.)
Roland:
• Izuchi | (WHAT I SEEK IS THUNDER >>> IZUCHI ): Creates a bolt of lightning.
• Misumi | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE WATER CLOUD >>> MISUMI ): Creates a large torrent of water.
• Kurenai | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE BURNING FIELD >>> KURENAI): Creates fire balls that fly out. One of Roland's strongest in range and sheer power, but has a formation that's difficult to alter and takes longer to cast.
• Kuuri | (WHAT I SEEK IS IRIDESCENT DESTRUCTION >>> KUURI): Creates a destructive beam of light. Extremely powerful.
• Ante | (WHAT I SEEK IS SILENCE >>> ANTE): Temporarily renders an area soundless.
• Homura | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE CURSE OF FIERY DEPTHS >>> HOMURA): Creates a ball of fire—that is, what Kurenai fires.
• Bakushu | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE LIGHT FIELD >>> BAKUSHU): Creates non-destructive light that can be used to form ropes and such. May require a second incantation based on its use.
• Chigashira | (WHAT I SEEK IS QUAKING FANGS >>> CHIGASHIRA): Summons massive spikes from the ground.
• Karasagi | (WHAT I SEEK IS BRILLIANCE >>> KARASAGI): Creates a ball of light for illumination.
• Houko | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE SHIELD OF LIGHT >>> HOUKO): Creates a barrier to block attacks/magic. Inefficient in practice, though, due to the time it takes to cast.
• Kuen | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE FALLING FLASH >>> KUEN): Allows the user to fall a large distance safely. Doesn’t necessarily require the invocation in the hands of a skilled user.
Estabul:
(Zohra has only been seen using one of these in canon, but my assumption is that if he can use an advanced spell, he can use the basic ones as well.
• I OFFER UP THIS CONTRACT, TO UNLEASH THE MAGIC BEAST WHICH DANCES THROUGH THE SKIES: Creates a beast of light to attack the enemy with. It's capable of tracking the enemy down to tear out their windpipe.
• I OFFER UP THIS CONTRACT, TO UNLEASH THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT WHICH ENVELOPS THE AIR: Creates a beam of light that explodes upon contact. Very powerful and quick to cast, but requires the use of both hands.
• I OFFER UP THIS CONTRACT, TO BEAR THE SPIRIT BEAST OF LIGHT WHICH SLEEPS IN THE ATMOSPHERE: Greatly increases the user's speed and agility. Afterwards, however, the user is drained of energy.
Original:
(Spells that Zohra himself developed.)
• Fuen | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE GOD OF ICE >>> FUEN): Freezes over a previously-cast Misumi, forming giant blades of ice that the user can manipulate.
• Kuukura | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE TUMBLING TRUTH OF IRIDESCENT DESTRUCTION >>> KUUKURA): Creates six Kuuris that can each be fired once whenever.
Overview:
To quote a 6-year-old: they appear as "the glittering fluffy golden stuff flying around in the air that we can see when we concentrate our eyes". For a normal person, however, it would take them about a year of meditation training and whatnot in order to awaken their brain and be able to see them. Yes, this apparently means Zohra had the patience to meditate—I mean.
Casting spells works via manipulating the spirits into magic formations—or, more specifically, into the equations that make up said magic formation. How the equations are arranged will influence the spell's effects, ranging from creating different spells to altering pre-existing ones to accidentally screwing up the magic formation. To an ordinary person untrained in magic, the mage would appear to be drawing magic formation, whereas someone who can see the spirits would be able to see them actually manipulating the "fluffy golden stuff".
Different systems:
As should probably go without saying, it's easier to learn new spells from a country where you're already familiar with their magic than learning new spells from a country whose system is unfamiliar to you, given the differences in formation. See below for more elaboration.
Learning magic:
Either way, at a normal pace, Ryner suggests that getting through the basics (including being able to see the spirits) and casting a spell is roughly equivalent to three years' worth of training. The more advanced spells also take a significant amount of time to learn—e.g. one of Estabul's most advanced spells would take 3-4 years for a native expert to learn (and you see that, in the series, Kiefer, despite being a native Estabulian and a decent mage, initially can't cast it, though she eventually learns).
Learning magic from a different country is reasonably difficult in that it's fairly rare to find someone who knows multiple systems—the only non-Alpha Stigma bearers in the series who fall under that category, as far as I know, are Kiefer (what with being a Roland-Estabul spy), Claugh (due to heavy exposure to the Estabul army and being a magic genius), and Zohra at age nineteen (due to similar circumstances as Claugh). Even then, it takes a fairly long time, with Ryner noting that it should be impossible for Claugh to use advanced Estabul magic even after roughly two years of exposure—except, again, magic genius.
Creating/altering spells:
(Basically, unless you actually know what you're doing, you're probably better off not tampering with the spell, and especially not in the middle of a fight.)
Creating spells, obviously, is even harder and takes much longer to do, with only four characters (that I know of) in the series having done it: Lieral who's pretty much the genius to end all magic geniuses, Ryner who has an Alpha Stigma/is also a magic genius, Arua aka another Alpha Stigma bearer, and Zohra who's also a magic genius and almost on par with Ryner in spellcasting (do you see a pattern here—). Putting aside Lieral who researched magic all his life and is, again, crazily skilled and Arua and Ryner who have their Alpha Stigma to significantly speed up the process, it'd take a very long time and a lot of effort to fully create a new spell (e.g. it's noted that Zohra's strongest original spell, Fuen, took years for him to create).
It's also possible to alter your opponent's magic formation, if you can actually reach it. Seeing as how magic formation don't have some kind of NO I BELONG TO THIS MAGE ONLY!! binding to them, you could, in fact, stick your hand in and change it. Again, this generally isn't all that practical, since you're probably not going to get that close and the original caster can change it back to normal. To make it work, you have to either be much faster than them, distract them, or rewrite the equations into something they can't solve (and therefore can't fix). On the other hand, if you can pull it off, it can be pretty useful, as a) your opponent can't use it anymore and b) you can rewrite the spell so that it fires at them or is an entirely new spell.
Similarly, though less elaborated on due to less occurrences of it happening, you can outright steal your opponent's magic formation. It's not entirely clear how this works, but the one incident of it in canon is when Ryner casts Estabul magic and Zohra takes part of the magic formation and casts the spell as well.
(Finally, you can mess up the opponent's magic formation by doing something like throwing an object through it, forcing them to fix that part—)
Spellcasting:
• drawing the magic formation
• reciting the incantation (if necessary, which is the case for almost every spell)
• having a strong image of the spell in your mind
• actually understanding how the spell and the various parts of the magic formation work
• innate ability
The magic formation is needed for the equations that actually make up the spell, the incantation presumably ties into the third point, and having a strong image of the spell is part of what affects how strong the spell is (along with the magic formation).
The last one's actually not as addressed as explicitly as the others, but it can be inferred by the way magic works (e.g. the Alpha Stigma allowing the user to complete a spell that they haven't fully seen—because they have an understanding of how the spell should be completed). Also, otherwise, there wouldn't really be such a thing as magic skill because all it would take to cast a spell is memorizing the incantation and circle. Along those lines, countries could steal each other's magic just by being exposed to the magic formation often enough, so they presumably have to actually understand what's going on in the magic formation to be able to steal it.
You can also see this when a five-year-old Claugh tried to cast Misumi—despite having read up on the structure and incantation and formation and whatnot, he still couldn't actually cast the spell, as someone with no experience in magic yet.
The last one is apparent in things like the Congenital Magic Abnormality, which grants the bearer a naturally ridiculously high amount of magical power at the cost of not being able to adjust their power levels. Therefore, it's not just equations that affect the strength of a spell—it has to do with the user itself as well.
So, altogether, what makes a talented mage is a) a large repertoire of spells, b) being able to draw magic formations quickly, c) being able to form strong images in their mind, and d) really being able to understand how magic works.
Spells:
(Not a complete list, but all the ones seen being used in at least one adaptation and that Zohra would presumably be able to use.)
Roland:
• Misumi | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE WATER CLOUD >>> MISUMI ): Creates a large torrent of water.
• Kurenai | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE BURNING FIELD >>> KURENAI): Creates fire balls that fly out. One of Roland's strongest in range and sheer power, but has a formation that's difficult to alter and takes longer to cast.
• Kuuri | (WHAT I SEEK IS IRIDESCENT DESTRUCTION >>> KUURI): Creates a destructive beam of light. Extremely powerful.
• Ante | (WHAT I SEEK IS SILENCE >>> ANTE): Temporarily renders an area soundless.
• Homura | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE CURSE OF FIERY DEPTHS >>> HOMURA): Creates a ball of fire—that is, what Kurenai fires.
• Bakushu | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE LIGHT FIELD >>> BAKUSHU): Creates non-destructive light that can be used to form ropes and such. May require a second incantation based on its use.
• Chigashira | (WHAT I SEEK IS QUAKING FANGS >>> CHIGASHIRA): Summons massive spikes from the ground.
• Karasagi | (WHAT I SEEK IS BRILLIANCE >>> KARASAGI): Creates a ball of light for illumination.
• Houko | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE SHIELD OF LIGHT >>> HOUKO): Creates a barrier to block attacks/magic. Inefficient in practice, though, due to the time it takes to cast.
• Kuen | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE FALLING FLASH >>> KUEN): Allows the user to fall a large distance safely. Doesn’t necessarily require the invocation in the hands of a skilled user.
Estabul:
• I OFFER UP THIS CONTRACT, TO UNLEASH THE MAGIC BEAST WHICH DANCES THROUGH THE SKIES: Creates a beast of light to attack the enemy with. It's capable of tracking the enemy down to tear out their windpipe.
• I OFFER UP THIS CONTRACT, TO UNLEASH THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT WHICH ENVELOPS THE AIR: Creates a beam of light that explodes upon contact. Very powerful and quick to cast, but requires the use of both hands.
• I OFFER UP THIS CONTRACT, TO BEAR THE SPIRIT BEAST OF LIGHT WHICH SLEEPS IN THE ATMOSPHERE: Greatly increases the user's speed and agility. Afterwards, however, the user is drained of energy.
Original:
• Fuen | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE GOD OF ICE >>> FUEN): Freezes over a previously-cast Misumi, forming giant blades of ice that the user can manipulate.
• Kuukura | (WHAT I SEEK IS THE TUMBLING TRUTH OF IRIDESCENT DESTRUCTION >>> KUUKURA): Creates six Kuuris that can each be fired once whenever.