It had been a year since he had taken that ceremony, still feeling the boredom, already having forgotten the words spoken, except for the hello said at the beginning, not really caring about the prayer that had been designed just for him, though, back then, he had found it quite cool, it didn't really fit him all that well anymore if he was really honest.
Right now, though, he was holding a remnant of that very same ceremony that he still felt bored about and began yawning off when he thought back on it, a letter he had to write to his future self, sharing his thoughts, an exciting thing as he had childishly thought back then, feeling that this was actually interesting, but now feeling that he was already remembering most of the things he had written back then, his parents had always told him he was good at remembering useless stuff after all, the same went for his sister, it was just part of the family, and they were happy with the skill, that was for sure.
To be honest, his sister was pretty happy for him right now, even told him she was jealous, after all, this letter was a part of the ceremony still, and it was important to be read at home, spending time thinking about it, something he would probably end up doing either way, and as such he was allowed to skip her ceremony, something he had laughed loudly about and even teased her with, siblings would be siblings after all.
Oh, yes, she had pouted and called him a doofus, or something like that, he tended to not call himself words like she had used, they were just too harsh, she had a mouth like a old sailor who had taught younger sailors the art of cursing, that was for sure, perhaps because he had always cursed a lot in front of her when it came to games, she always was absurdly lucky after all...
Still, right now he was lucky, he felt as he opened the letter, containing his old thoughts, ready to laugh about himself and think of his old troubles as solved, even though prove of them surely remained even now, trials and pain was always like that after all, easily solved, btu often remaining long after it happened, just like accidentally cutting yourself with a knife, a wound easily cleaned, but long-lasting as it healed, if it did not become something like a scar if one was really unlucky.
Five minutes later he was already done, having had to figure out what he had written all over again because of his horrible writing, understanding why his teachers had always been complaining, well, aside from his magic teacher who was always struck by him, though they were still much more skilled than him, simply being impressed that a thirteen year old, not shortly having turned fourteen was capable of doing many such things.
Oh, had he been annoyed, good times, he joked to himself as he tried to think about the stuff he had been worried about back then, but could only think about the small question he had written on the bottom as a joke.
"If we had no magic, do you think people would want to wield magic in comics like they want to wield effortless powers right now?"
Why had he written that?
It didn't really seem to make much sense in the context, but still, he just couldn't stop himself from laughing a bit, it had just been so absurdly random and yet so much like himself if he was really honest to himself, which he was always trying to be, after lying to his parents about his grades in alchemy for a bit too long and getting into big trouble, just like many others tended to to similar stuff and get in trouble, not that it lowered his own regret.
But he was quite certain that people would indeed be obsessed with getting magic and reading about it if it didn't really exist, that was just the way the world worked after all.
Magic was a study just like any other, just like math, like alchemy, like chemistry, like history, like languages, and each of those subjects gave 'abilities', be it calculating distance and relative height, be it storing magic in bottles and drinking those bottles to enhance yourself, something even he was able to do, if given the right materials, be it knowing things of the past and using those to help the future, using the great powers of history, and yes, he meant that ironically.
And most of all, there was the power of understanding other people from other continents, other ethnicities, other groups, people one might've normally never been able to talk if not for learning another language, perhaps the most powerful of all of these languages and skills, so he was indeed certain of his answer now, perhaps having come to the same conclusion a year ago, if he hadn't just written it from the back of his mind, not even really caring and just having found the question slightly interesting as he had done when he had first read it anew.
Truly, every piece of knowledge and understanding holds power in some form or another, even sport would be useful without any understanding of the rules, of the way the body grew stronger, of ones own limits, of language and communication, of social rules when it came to teamplay, or even of physics to get the right shot of the ball, in some games that is, and that was even more important of magic, that was all.
In the end, magic was really just about understanding mana and bringing it into the right circle, that was all, that was really all there was to it, memorizing and understanding parts of it to bring the whole together as a big sigil of power, fire, hardening, ice, cold, water, poison, thought hat was quite a bit more complicated, and so, so, much more.
He had to admit though, most people just didn't want to put in effort, while he wanted to put in effort to escape mediocrity, perhaps one of his biggest fears, eternal and unchanging, the worry of a lifetime.
And then there was Julia... for some reason he also felt inclined to want to impress her lately...