296: Spatial Magic

Spatial Magic

The next morning, Oriana followed the same schedule. It was the last day of the summit conference and the next day was the royal ball.  1

As usual, Oriana's task was attaching the accessories to Arlan's clothes. Despite not wanting to, her mind wandered towards the immodest dream she had last night. 

'Get a grip on yourself, Ori,' she rebuked herself. 'You are not a pervert, are you?'

As she pursed her lips, she raised her gaze, only to find the prince looking at her. He raised a brow as if to ask if she wanted to say something. With a guilty conscience, she lowered her gaze. 

She actually dared to dream about kissing the prince!

'If I am not a pervert, then what am I?'

"Anything the matter?" he asked in a casual manner.

"N-Nothing, Your Highness!" Oriana shook her head. As guilty as she was, she could not dare look him in the eye as she said those words. 

—--

After finishing her morning meal and work, Oriana went to the second floor with the same excuse she always made and no one dared question her, even if her behavior did make them puzzled. 

'There are only two days left until the summit is officially over. Though we may stay for a few more days afterwards as royal guests, it probably won't take longer than a week. I don't have much time left.'

Today, she was determined to ask her teacher to teach her spatial magic. Aside from learning how to handle black nightshade as an ingredient in potion-making, having the ability to carry objects undetected was a skill she needed more than anything to complete her main goal in coming to Othinia.

She called for Rosetta and both of them went to their secret training ground outside the royal palace.

"You have a certain look in your eye that I don't like," Rosetta said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you have anything to say, my dear apprentice?"

"Please teach me spatial magic and potion-making," Oriana answered. 

"What, you want to learn the spatial shift spell?" Rosetta commented with a look of scorn. 

Oriana shook her head. "No, not spatial shift. I know I cannot learn teleportation yet. I want to focus on the minor spell of creating spatial pockets as a means to carry things around. I am aware that spatial shift is one of the highest-ranking spells under spatial magic and it can't be learned in just a single lesson. One mistake and a person can lose a hand or a leg when teleporting. It takes a lot of time to master it."

Rosetta chuckled, "So you know your capability. A witch as untalented and incompetent as you will probably take decades to understand the concept of teleportation, forget about executing it."

Oriana said nothing as she was getting used to the insults thrown her way by her teacher. As long as she was gaining benefit from her teaching, she didn't mind those cruel words either. 

"So you want to learn how to create spatial pockets. Seems like you are in dire need of it?" Rosetta mused as she studied the younger woman's expression. "Unfortunately, that's impossible for you."

Oriana frowned. "How can you say it's impossible?"

"You are yet to even understand the natural elements, but a stupid person like you wants to skip the foundational truths and aim for the more complicated law of space? That's beyond stupidity."

But Oriana was unyielding.

"Teacher, please teach me how to make spatial pockets. If I really cannot understand it by the end of today's lesson, then that will be me wasting my opportunity to learn. I will accept that I'm really not good enough and focus on potion-making."

Rosetta was mildly curious about her student's sudden shift in behavior. Yesterday, this little rebel even turned arrogant enough to challenge her authority.

'How come this roughneck was showing humility so unlike her?' 

There was only one way to find out.

"Since you are begging me so pitifully, then I guess I have no choice. I will start teaching you the basics of spatial magic today. If I see you struggle to comprehend spatial laws, then we will move on to potion-making."

Oriana gave an inward sigh of relief. If the witch had refused, then it would be highly difficult for her to get black nightshade without Arlan discovering her possession of banned herbs. 

Rosetta created that isolation barrier around the meadow. 

"So, my pitiful apprentice, since you made up your mind on what to learn, I believe you know the basics of spatial magic."

Oriana came prepared.

"Yes, I have read them from the introductory book of witchcraft," she started and began reciting lines from memory. "Spatial magic involves manipulation and control over space and physical locations. It is basically bending or reshaping the fabric of reality to create portals, teleportation, pocket spaces, and various other spatial distortions. If one uses a space-rune formation, a witch will be able to manipulate distances, alter the perception of space, and even trap objects or enemies in confined spaces." 

Not saying anything to her in response, Rosetta flicked her fingers and there appeared a small table with a flower vase on the top of it. It held a bunch of beautiful red roses. 

As Oriana observed those red roses, wondering if her teacher had a penchant for this breed of flowers. She was reminded of her teacher's names— Rosetta and Zaria. Both names stemmed from different languages, but they had the same meaning— Rose.

'She seems to love roses,' Oriana concluded. 'What if Zaria isn't even her real name? Maybe she uses different aliases related to roses.'

In the end, she shook her head. It was merely a passing thought. She focused on the lesson, recalling how her teacher brought those things out of thin air. 

'But she did not even chant a spell. Is she purposely making it harder for me to understand?'

Rosetta ignored Oriana's confusion as she raised a hand.

"To create a pocket in space, the first thing you need to learn is how to tear space."

She made a chopping motion, and a strange cracked line appeared in mid air. It was as if space was a piece of wood cut in the middle by an invisible ax. However, mere seconds later, the crack closed on its own.

"The space of the world is stable, and nature itself will mend the spatial tear on its own to 'close' the damage you created." Rosetta made another chopping gesture and a new crack appeared. "Beyond this crack is the so-called spatial pocket, a storage space which will allow you to store and retrieve inanimate objects from seemingly thin air. The larger crack you make, the larger the storage space.

"We can summarize the spatial pocket spell into three steps:

"First, wrap your magic around your hand and make it sharp enough to tear space.

"Second, collect an object by wrapping your magic around it and put it inside the spatial pocket.

"Third, open another crack and trigger the magic you used to wrap around the object to retrieve it."

Rosetta then recited the chants used for those steps twice.

"Observe carefully," the woman said afterwards, demonstrating all three steps with slowness.  Despite the chant being slow, as soon as she was done, the entire spell made the vase and table disappear in a blink of an eye. 

"Did you understand, my greedy apprentice?" 

With the concept and methods explained, Rosetta could not help but taunt Oriana once more. After all, only supernatural beings on the level of senior witches could control the laws of space. That meant that even in those powerful clans living within Agartha, only a few leaders and elders were capable of using spatial magic. Oriana was truly being arrogant to want to try learning it when she was a beginner in magic.

Oriana repeated Rosetta's displays of magic in her head. She tried to remember the woman's every action, from the way she wrapped magic around her hand to the way she chanted the spell.

'I think I can do it.'

Under Rosetta's skeptical gaze, Oriana raised her hand wrapped in magic and made a slicing downward motion.

Nothing happened.

She tried again, but the result was the same. 

'Again!'

In the end, Rosetta could only yawn in boredom. Oriana had been slicing air for the past hour without progress. 

'Well, even for a witch as talented as me, it took me three days to make my first spatial tear.'

She was about to ridicule Oriana when the most unbelievable thing happened.

"I did it! I really did it!" the young witch screamed out of pure joy.

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