Magic Usage

In the World of the Exslayer magic is the result of converting either Mana or Soul energy into another form- IE spells. There are multiple magic schools and categories. This article will cover everything you need to know.

Mana
Mana is a substance that exists in the atmosphere of Metera, those that are capable of using mana absorb it into themselves and convert it into the form of a spell or effect. The upside with mana usage is that it replenishes pretty quickly and with practice you can use more and more mana all at once. The downside however is that mana usage is limited by physiology. Some creatures can use mana while others cannot, and those that can use it are limited on what forms they can convert it into.

For example, a vampire can only use dark magic and vampire specific magic with mana, they cannot use fire magic or restoration magic- just those two categories. Some creatures have a larger variety than others. With some cases they're merely just in a handicapped position when it comes to using certain magic categories. For example Dark elves are challenged when it comes to light magic but it isn't directly impossible.

An upside to this concept is that magic using creatures all typically at least have one magic category that comes as natural to them as breathing.

Majority of mages in Metera prefer to use mana, so it is assumed as the default technique.

Soul Energy
Soul energy is something that every living thing has and can use for magic. It is the conversion of the energy that makes up your soul into a spell or effect. The upside to soul energy is that with this anybody could use magic without constraints related to their physiology.

For example; with soul energy a Psygic phantom- a creature limited to psygic magic can now use ice magic or whatever else they decide to master. They still cannot use spells that are creature specific. Our phantom would still be unable to use vampiric magic, fairy magic, etc.

Another upside is that a unit of soul energy is 10x more potent then mana, allowing for larger spells and preventing a quick burn out.

The downside however is severe, this magic technique requires using your own soul for energy, meaning if you run out of it you die. Not just that but a soul mage that dies because they used all their energy doesn't have an afterlife, simply because there is nothing left of their soul to go on. Also everybody has the same amount of soul energy, you cannot practice with it and gain a bigger soul, you may learn a few energy conservation techniques allowing you to do more for less but that isn't learned by practice- but rather intense research on the subject of whatever spell you want to cast for less consumption

For example if you were a soul mage and wanted to learn how to caste a fire ball spell for half the cost you would have to intensely research the spell- not fire magic - but the specific fire ball spell in order to possibly figure out how to cast it for less. . A very time consuming process.

Soul energy also doesn't regenerate as quickly as mana does, putting users into 2 year comas if they reach 10% left.

The basic guide to it is
 * 0-25% of energy used; The user is perfectly fine.
 * 26-50% of energy used; The user is starting to get a little tired, but they should be ok
 * 51%-75% of energy used; The user is getting more and more noticeably tired at the get to the 75 percent mark. The closer to 75% the sloppier they are and the more they seem to be losing their mobility
 * 76-99.9% of energy used; The user can't move very well, some can still sorta drag themselves along in the 70's but most are passing out at this point. After that you're guaranteed to be in a coma like state, the lesser you have left the longer your coma will be.
 * 100% of energy used; The user is dead, their entire soul is depleted and converted into another form.

Using this technique also affects the users appearance, draining their colors of its saturation and leaving their eyes white with a black ring around it.

Soul energy is typically seen as a back up technique, used only in emergency situations. There are some however - namely in the Z.O.I. organization that use it as a primary technique.

Magic Availability
Mana is highly prominent in Metera, its atmosphere thick with mana. Magic users can easily replenish their mana here.

Ventoria contains absolutely no mana, making it dangerous for those who rely on magic for combat to venture there.

Mundus has very small pockets of mana, with only a small part of the population being able to use it. Most aren't even aware of its existence let alone their ability to use it (if they can).

Species specific magic
this spans over multiple different species, this category is a label for spells that can only by done by certain species. They are always named after the species that they assigned to.

Elemental
Elemental magic spans of multiple different categories related to the elements that make up Metera. Some of the elements are closely associated with others - making it easy to master another element if you already mastered one similar to it. For example a master of ice magic could easily learn water magic and vise versa.
 * Fire
 * Water
 * Wind
 * Earth
 * Forest
 * Ice
 * Lava
 * Storm

Light Magic
Light magic is bending light to your will, masters can add physical like attributes to it such as wings of light and a blade of light, etc. It can also be used to create illusions.

Dark Magic
Dark magic is the opposite side to Light magic, like most magic types there are weak points- a massive one is light magic. Light magic can easily slice right through dark magic effortlessly.

Celestial (Galactic)
Celestial magic, or sometimes known as galactic magic is the essence of bending the powers of outer space to your will. The power of the stars, meteorites, black holes, etc. Celestial magic is one of the most hardest of categories to learn, this is because when learning a type of magic you need to be able to grow to understand the subject matter, for example dark mages must grow to understand the darkness and what makes it powerful, Fire mages must study fire closely- eventually even setting themselves on fire - in order to really understand its power. Galactic on the other hand? space travel isn't a thing on Metera. But there is one species in Metera that has a natural grasp on Galactic magic- the moon fairies. In other words in order to master Celestial magic it takes dedicated study under a master of Galactic magic. And since the knowledge is in word alone this isn't just some casual research- you must live and breathe it.

Restoration
The magic of the healer. Restoration is dedicated to restoring something to its prior form. This can mean healing a scar, healing a severed head, or even just a broken pot. Restoration magic is not an easy class to master. It is commonly taught via self harm that gets even more and more severe as they get more and more skilled, eventually leading to the final test; which involved getting beheaded and having to heal the wound faster than your head can fly off your shoulders. Not for the faint of heart.

Protection
For the protector. This class is dedicated to barriers and many different kinds of protection. A master of protection can also use it as an offensive tactic- from using barriers that deflect attacks and fire it directly back or barriers that trap people inside and severe oxygen.

Alteration
Converting something from one form into another. This can be by shape shifting yourself or others, even modifying small things such as your speed and strength or height, or even altering somebody in the aspect of them being cursed. It's a very expansive type and when used creatively and skillfully the possibilities are endless.

Psyjic
The magic dedicated to the mind and fate. It is more commonly known to be used by Psyjic Phantoms. It's never really mastered completely. Typically only parts of it are mastered, even by psyjic phantoms themselves. This is because it takes a lot of focus and dedication to learn, and knowing how to do a certain spell in Psyjic magic doesn't donate to mastering another like most classes.

For example, in ice magic if you know how to unleash a blast of freezing cold air and ice shards you're already a step closer to learning how to create a blizzard. With psyjic magic however- if you finally learned how to levitate objects that doesn't donate squat to learning how to read minds or read fortunes.

Conjuration
The ability to summon either living things to your side or to summon weapons and armor. In order to summon a living thing however first a pact must be made between the conjurer and the creature being summoned. As for weapons and armor they must become infused with the conjurers energy, bounding them to them for life.

This can also be done with the work of conjuring tattoos, these are done on creatures that don't naturally learn conjuration.

Necromancy
Necromancy is the art of bringing the dead back to life, except not exactly. In Metera absolute necromancy is impossible to do unless you are a priest of Abysses, or a grim reaper. Typically a necromancer uses this magic in combat by putting their soul energy into a dead vessel and manipulating it. This doesn't actually bring them back to life but it reanimates it.This can be done with mana but it is taboo due to Licentia's law; "Life is only exchangeable by life". A Priest of Abysses could bring the dead back but only in the form of a ghost and only temporarily, this is done by offering 90% of their soul energy as in offering to abysses, enough to leave the priest alive afterwards, but the priest will most likely be left in a coma for a while afterwards.

Blood Magic
Blood magic as far as learning goes is the easiest to learn. This is because it lacks a conversion stage. With every other magic type there is a conversion stage, a stage where you turn your energy into fire, or you stick your mana into an object to turn said object into something else, and so on. With blood magic however you don't convert it into anything. All you do is stick your mana into your blood and change it into a form that you desire and fling it at the enemy. At non-basic level there's some conversion so you can turn your blood into a solid but that's it. However it comes at the cost of having to bleed out. Like soul energy usage it also risks killing the user. It's mainly learned by common folk who merely want to learn how to defend themselves without dedicating years to study.