5 Magical Theory

"I'm back, big brother."

Once the magical wind died down, Alice entered the room and as if she had an aimbot on, she went towards Noir for a hug attack.

"Welcome back Alice. Did you have a fun day out?"

Noir wasn't expecting Alice to suddenly charge at him but he somehow managed to not fall from her momentum and returned her hug.

"Yup, I hung out at my friends' place and we played some magic board games."

Alice made a beaming smile as she was in her own little world with just her older brother. Unfortunately for her, there was someone else within the room.

"Hello, Alice," Emma awkwardly greeted Alice as she could almost see the rosy atmosphere forming between the siblings.

'She's still the same huh,' Due to Noir and Emma separating during preparatory school and because of her duties as the only daughter of the baron, she hasn't been able to hang out with Noir or his little sister.

Although the two girls aren't as close as they used to be.

"Oh, what are you doing here Emma?" When Alice finally came back to reality, she squinted her eyes at Emma to see her intentions. This was a sacred place for her and her brother after all, why's an outsider suddenly in their realm?

"Nothing much, just helping Noir with his room," Emma quickly made something up as she wiped the table using her cloth. It's a good thing she carries one just in case of emergencies.

"Big brother's room?" Alice was confused by Emma's words as she looked up to Noir to confirm what she said. Noir nodded his head in response.

"Yup, I want to give it a good cleaning and liven things up in it," One of Noir's plans was to decorate his room since he didn't like it screaming 'Boring' whenever he looked at it. Seems like he's starting the renovations now rather than later.

"Is that so? Then I'll make us some snacks then help out later," Alice seemed to have believed what they were saying before heading out of the room to make themselves some snacks. It was currently the third hour of the afternoon, and they would usually have dinner in another four or so hours from now, but a light snack wouldn't hurt.

"Thanks, Alice," Noir thanked Alice and waited for her to exit. Once she finally left the room and they could hear her walking downstairs, Emma and Noir finally let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad she didn't notice," The two of them collapsed to the bed as their hearts were pumping. They almost got caught having sex!

"Yeah, that would've been so embarrassing," Emma felt like they were nearly caught doing something immoral but she felt something from it. It was the rush of nearly getting caught that started leaving a lingering feeling in her.

Noir also felt the same kind of rush, but not to the extent Emma was feeling. In fact, he finds the situation funny.

'I'm starting to wish I played some dating sims or something now. My heart's going faster than 100 miles per hour.'

He started recalling his streaming career and wished he played those stupid dating sims or visual novel games. The main character would always get himself in one of these situations but somehow would get away with it.

'I guess I could make a skill that helps with that,' He put that down on the list of skills he'd need to make. Some would be to get stronger, others are to gain more lp. In the beginning, focusing on gaining lp would be a lot better than getting stronger.

'But before I start brainstorming potential skills, let's do some information gathering,' After getting some time to cool down his head, Noir sprung his body back up as he turned towards Emma, who wasn't expecting his sudden movements.

"Emma, could you show me your wind magic again?"

Magic, a mysterious phenomenon that every young person has dreamed of using. The ability to bend our very reality. If you ask a random person on the street if they want such a power, then the answer would obviously be a "Yes".

Something like that would obviously pique the interest of an avid gamer such as Noir. It was something he's always been interested in and as such, he found it criminal that the original Noir had barely any magical knowledge in this world other than the basics.

'He gave up too quickly after he found out he couldn't use magic. He could've at least learned some stuff before giving up,' It was a little annoying to Noir that the original was a quitter for most things. To him who had nothing and worked hard, the original Noir was spoiled by his standards.

Anyway, shaking off his despise for the original Noir, he focused back on the magic topic with Emma.

"Hmm? What for?", Emma tilted her head from his words. Confusion was visible on her face.

'He never cared about magical theory once he heard he had no talent for it… Is the Great Sage skill really strong enough to make someone unable to use magic to learn it?'

If Emma was to be honest, she was a bit sceptical of the Great Sage's skill. If what Noir said was true then it would cause chaos within the magic community.

'If it's true then that information needs to be kept hidden. Otherwise, Noir's life would be in danger.'

Although there exist dungeons and ancient ruins that could allow someone to learn magic, the statement that someone unable to use magic could eventually learn it would crumble the beliefs of every mage in the world. Even the king and the royal mages would have their eyes on Noir as he could potentially be a threat to them or they'd want to use him

Although there are a lot of risks in telling this information to Emma, Noir was willing to take the risk.

'It's a risk, but I'm sure she wouldn't sell me out. Even then, I'm sure the kingdom uses the church and appraisers to report to the kingdom of skills and the like. They'd find me gaining enough skills to fill up a kitchen book as suspicious,'

It was a risk Noir was willing to pay to get what he wanted. He simply had to make sure to avoid appraisers until he was strong enough to fight back if needs be or gain an anti-appraisal skill.

'Alright, I'll help him out,' Saying all that, Emma still wanted to see it through. In their childhood, he used to love magic and tried getting ahead of the class by learning the upper years' magical theory, but that stopped after the appraisal.

She wanted to help rekindle and achieve her childhood goal if possible.

"Well, since the Great Sage said it's possible to learn magic, I want a refresher of magical theory. It's been a couple of years since I last opened my magic textbook so I thought it might be better to get someone who's studied it for a while."

It was a reasonable explanation and fits what the old Noir would say. He still has some of the books but he'd prefer someone with intermediate experience to explain than purely self study it.

"Right, you didn't take the magic course at the preparatory school. I guess it's time for me to give you a little lecture," Emma's expression suddenly brightened from those words as she felt pumped up. It was a chance for the two of them to spend more time after all. As such, she turned around for a moment before turning around and wearing glasses.

"Where did you get those glasses from?" Noir questioned the red-framed glasses she had on and what purpose they served. He's seen this kind of cliches in anime but didn't expect to witness it first hand. It just further cements the fact that he's in an anime world now.

"I thought they'd come in handy someday. Anyway, you recall how everyone has an affinity to magic, right?" Without bothering to explain why she has them or where she pulled them out from, Emma sat next to Noir and she began her magic lesson.

"Yup, everyone has mana but not all would have an element. Some elements are common, others are variant elements," Noir recalled very little magic theory from the memories he now possesses but they were still useful for him.

"Close. We classify the elements as common, rare and unique," Emma responded to Noir's response as she adjusted her glasses before continuing.

"There are four common elements. Those are fire, water, wind, and earth. These are the commonly seen magic types in this world," Emma raised her palm as green ripples formed. Noir's clothes and hair fluttered from the sudden change in atmosphere as his eyes started sparking. It was like the spells she used earlier but on a smaller scale.

"As you know, I possess the wind affinity. The last time I got myself appraised, my wind magic was rank C. I can make some attack spells, buff spells and to some extent, I'm able to heal, but that's about it. In the future, with more training, it would be possible for me to learn how to fly, but to fly in the kingdom requires licences and the like which makes it a hassle to even start."

Emma began explaining her current abilities and once she noticed Noir's intense stare, she started bragging a bit. She even started getting confident as she stuck her chest out in pride which caused them to jiggle but Noir was too distracted to care about them.

'Awesome,' After witnessing it first hand, Noir's thoughts were clouded by the desire to learn magic. However, there were a few things that didn't make sense to him.

'Wind magic rank C? I thought your magic spells were determined from birth, like skills? Does that mean she's able to learn more wind magic?'

Noir recalled the original series and recalled their magic system. They didn't have spells, just skills with magical effects. There didn't seem to be any learning for the skills either as the novel didn't go into it, nor did it explore any world-breaking magic types.

It was one of the bad points that the series had since it felt half-assed to him.

'Anway, maybe this world isn't all that it seems?' Noir was worried about his sudden realisation. He wondered what else was different in this world and whether he could be in an alternative universe. Even Emma's magic skills were different than in the original. She had only offensive magic skills, but here Noir's hearing she has healing and buff skills.

Even the healing spell and the spell that removes odour was something he's never heard of her having, fueling his worries.

Of course, Emma wasn't aware of Noir's thoughts as she continued with her lecture.

"Anyway, those are the most commonly seen magic types and the easiest to learn as long as you have an affinity for them. They all have the potential to reach extraordinary levels but that depends on the person really."

She ended those words as she cancelled out her magic, causing the green ripples of air to disperse into nothingness. Those words slightly hurt Noir for his lack of magic affinity but he ignored it as he diligently listened to her words for anything else he found different from the original world.

"Next are the rare magic types, which are usually a variation of the four common elements, such as ice, smoke, mud etc. Light and dark magic are also included in this branch and so are their variations. You don't see these elements often but the users of them tend to have a better early start compared to the four common elements but their potential is roughly the same as the others."

"After that, you have more conceptual or unique magic. Conceptual magics are magics made of a concept, like life, death, space, time etc. Those tend to be difficult to learn as it's theory-heavy at the early stages but can become world-shattering once refined to the highest level. Luckily these skills are incredibly difficult to master."

"As for the unique magics, those can be anything that you have an affinity for and usually awaken during a life and death situation. For example, it could be possible to gain a transformation skill, a specific weapon skill or an ability that requires a medium. For instance, using sword magic. These tend to be rarer than the concept based magics but not necessarily stronger. If you have the affinity, mana control and a suitable teacher then it's possible to learn those types of magic, but people tend to specialise."

And with that, the basics of the basics for magic were explained as Emma looked at Noir to see if he was paying attention and not feeling bored. Fortunately, he was still pumped but it was a lot of information to memorise, so he only remembered the gist of it.

"Man, magic is amazing," He leaned back and looked up to the ceiling thinking of ways for him to become able to use magic. He hasn't asked the Great Sage yet if it was possible for someone like him to learn magic yet. If not he could probably learn martial arts that make use of magic and strengthen his body with that.

Of course, he could just skip the learning and just buy the skills from Olivia's skill, but that wouldn't be enjoyable for Noir. Plus he hasn't gotten her skills just yet.

'I have a feeling that the dungeon and Olivia's skills would also change,' If someone like Emma would end up different from the original, what's not to say Olivia and even the dungeon are different? That gut feeling is also the reason why he wants to tread his path carefully with the guidance of the Great Sage.

'Though I'm kinda scared to use the Great Sage skill again. That hurt like a truck. I guess I shouldn't have jinxed myself earlier about the cliche headaches that unlock the memories,' Noir sort of regretted taking the cluster headache route head-on, but without it, he wouldn't have gotten his knob sucked on in the first place, so I guess all's well that ends well.

"I want to start moving my body around now," Feeling pumped up with his potential, Noir doesn't want to standstill. He wants to start training, find Olivia as soon as possible and explore the city.

It was at this moment that he forgot that he was still with Emma.

"Huh, are you going to work out?", Emma, who wasn't used to Noir showing so much energy, was a little taken aback. It's probably been about a decade now since she last saw him perform a single push-up and she doesn't even remember a time when he willingly went into training.

'Right, she had a crush for his depressed ass. I guess she's finding it weird how I've changed this much. Let's see,' Noir's mind started rushing to think of ways to fool her but he was slightly stomped. What do you say in this kind of situation?

"Yup, I want to, well, swing the sword again after hearing that lecture. Though I'm not sure if I can hold the sword properly from the lack of exercise," Noir figured it would be best to be honest with Emma whilst not mentioning certain parts. Hey, it's not like he's lying.

"Ah, I see. It's a little weird seeing you so animated," Emma smiled at Noir, recalling how he used to be and thought of it as a good change. She had longed for his younger carefree self that always tried doing things with a confident smile after all.

"Haha, I'm still getting used to it myself," He scratched his head as he felt like he'd secured the bag. The thought of ruining it as soon as he's gotten himself a girlfriend scares him a little.

"I've brought some tea," And just as Noir survived a potential crisis, Alice came back with a tray of teas with some bread. Noir saw her enter and helped her out.

"Thanks, Alice. I'll help out."

"Thanks."

With that, the three of them enjoyed some tea as Noir started learning some more of the basics of magic. From what variation of magic exists in the world to different magic techs. While hearing her out, he also got a better look at her and noticed how long her eyelashes were, how bright her eyes shine and even how luscious her lips were.

He felt like he was seeing a model teach him personally, which brightened his mood and made him study until at some point they did some cleaning in his room

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"Alright, I think that's enough. I'll start heading back home for now," After about a couple of hours of working it was about to hit the seventh hour and Emma had some plans for later. She stood up to say her goodbyes before Noir followed.

"Let me walk you back."

"Sure!"

Emma accepted Noir's offer as she wrapped her arms around his. Her twin melons dug his arm into the valley as he started feeling a reaction from down below again. It was going to take a while to get used to this sensation.

While this was all happening, Emma was unaware of Alice, who was staring daggers at her. When she finally realised her glare, she turned around to her.

"Ah, goodbye Alice."

"Bye."

She tried her best to seem approachable to Alice, but she replied with a monotone voice and cold expression before looking at her brother brightly. She was making it painfully obvious who's her favourite between the two of them.

"Goodbye, big brother."

"Bye-bye."

Noir replied normally and waved at her coyishly before walking down the staircase and to the entrance. Once they arrived at the front entrance, they wore their shoes and headed outside where the sky was going to get dark in a couple of hours. The two of them walked in silence as Noir noticed the little frown Emma was making.

'Guess she's sad about what Alice did,' As someone from an outside perspective, Noir thought what Alice was doing was annoying. It was the jealous girl trope that he hated as they would make stupid or illegal actions for their love interest and had signs of possessiveness. Although not all are bad, they can get ridiculous if not dealt with.

Which means he's going to have to figure out how to tame Alice's yandere side.

"She still doesn't like me, huh. I miss the old days when she used to cuddle with me," While Noir was thinking of how to deal with his new sister, Emma leaned her head onto Noir's shoulders with a sad expression. Thanks to that, he was easily able to smell her perfume which he enjoyed. It had a natural smell to it and wasn't artificial.

"I think she's going into that phase. I'll try talking to her later about it," Noir said as he enjoyed the peacefulness that wasn't there for him in his past life. It was mainly because he took everything for granted before he lost his legs, but this time he wanted to treasure the connections he's made.

"Thanks, Noir. I'll just try my best to become friends with her again," Emma suddenly bounced back into her bubbly personality as the rest of her bounced too, which gave Noir another thought.

'I think she's either jealous of Emma always clinging to me or for her melons,' Obviously he doesn't know why she dislikes Emma, but if he wants to have her in his harem and make it last, he's gonna have to make sure those two get along with each other. Not just them, but with any future harem prospects, which reminded Noir of something in the anime.

'Now that I think about it, Emma was on thorny terms with some of the girls, huh. The receptionist girl was her biggest thorn, followed by Alice, but she was kind to the elf healer, teacher and the nobles of higher or equal ranking.'

Noir could already sense that his great journey would be a long and treacherous one. He doesn't like discord between friends and family, and he dislikes being the peacekeeper of the group. That doesn't mean he won't try it for the harem.

"Mmm, hmm. That reminds me, are you free tomorrow?" Thinking there's no time better than the present, Noir decided that it'd be best if they have their first date soon so he could ask some questions that have been burning him.

"Sorry, I got an appointment to meet Takoda. I'm free the day after if that's alright?" Emma however shook her head at his proposal before suggesting a new date.

'Takoda?' Noir almost tilted his head from hearing an unfamiliar name until he recalled a certain purple-haired girl with the same coloured eyes in his memories. She had hair going down to her shoulders with a hairpin in her hair and wore glasses.

If he remembers correctly, they were in the same year group until she got married to her fiance.

'Ah, she wasn't in the original. Guess that's to be expected,' He wasn't expecting a random memory or someone else, but he didn't think much about it. He'd just have to get used to it and focus on the important things at hand.

"Sounds cool. Wanna meet up at the clock tower?"

"Sounds good."

Emma nodded her head. The first step was finally over! But just because he's at the starting line doesn't mean it was over. Now he had to start thinking of what kind of date the two of them should go to and how to progress their relationship.

'Since I'm poor for now we can't do anything too amazing,' It was a sad reality to be poor, but that shouldn't be the case for too long. If they meet up the day after, Noir should have Olivia's skills by then.

'I also want to learn more about the world's lore and history. I should visit the library one day but for now, the dungeon is the main focus,' After getting his goals sorted in his mind, they finally reached the corner to the noble district where Emma's household resides.

"We're nearly there, I can walk the rest of the way," Emma blew Noir's ears as she laughed at his awkward reaction to it.

"Alright. Emma. See you in a few days," Noir smiled in an attempt to recover as he leaned over to kiss her goodbye. They were in a somewhat secluded area, so the two of them didn't care about any eyes looking at them

"Mhm."

After a few moments of enjoying Emma's lips and quiet moans, Noir activated his Great Sage skill to ask the question that's been killing him on the inside.

'Great sage, why am I in this world?'

[It's due to the wishes of a superior entity.]

And the answer was one he expected but worried for.

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Don't forget to give me power stones if you liked the chapter. Thanks for reading!