"Your magical reserve is like a muscle. The more you use it, the more it grows and becomes powerful. Many beings have a limit on how much their reserve can grow. While others are nearly bottomless. And there's me, who's magical by nature. Although I've lost a slight of my boundless powers. I can assure you that there's no one as great as me... I'm one of a kind, baby."
"So, you first need to build your capability before you can even dream of doing the things that I'm capable of, and that means laying the foundation block by block. While others have one or ten builders building this foundation, you have millions, and they will continue to multiply as long as you polish your skills and continue to grow stronger."
"However, just because a man can command an army, a cook, or cleaners, doesn't mean that he can do so all together without first putting them in order one by one. As I've already said, you need to build... capacity... first."
"I'll be careful," Aladdin said, understanding what Genie was trying to say.
Just because he could learn any kind of magic, even the most dangerous ones, without cost, didn't mean that he should, without first understanding how it improved his overall ability.
Aladdin was also careful about this because he didn't want to have to think about which spells to use among the hundreds he had learned for fun when facing an enemy already within neck's reach.
Although he wanted to be able to overpower enemies, there was a difference between having the right spells and knowing how they worked, and simply launching them straight at an opponent.
Similarly to a talented cook, not only having the ability to prepare any food in the world but also knowing each of them well enough to freestyle, to create something new or to maximise their taste to the fullest.
Or a professional horseback rider, not only knowing how to perfectly ride a horse but also knowing how to perform tricks on it and make the horse do what he wants.
Even Genie had weaknesses which could be exploited by others, so he also had to be careful.
"Since it seems that you understand, now let's get to the real deal. What is the first magic spell that you want to learn?" Genie asked, leaning on his knuckles with his elbow pressed against Aladdin's table as he stared at him curiously, wondering what he wanted to learn first.
For someone as sharp-witted as Aladdin, Genie knew that his request would be far from ordinary.
"Teleportation," Aladdin responded without hesitation.
Genie blinked in surprise. He furrowed his brows and asked, "Why?" His tone was filled with confusion.
He thought that Aladdin would ask to learn how to fire lasers from his hands or wish to fly. Not teleportation.
"Well, if I knew how to teleport, then it would be easier for me to get back to safety if I ever encountered an opponent that I can't defeat. Besides, I'm the ruler of an empire with millions of capable soldiers and a magic court under my command. I can simply rush to safety and have them put a bounty on the opponent or attack him," Aladdin explained.
"Umm!! Are you missing something, my good friend? Don't you have something that could help you teleport to safety, like, let me see... a golden key," Genie said with a pondering expression before a golden key appeared in his hand.
"Yes, I have this. But I need something on demand. I don't want to have to pull off a key and turn it against the air to get away from an enemy. Besides, you've already proven why the golden key is not good enough," Aladdin responded, collecting the golden key from Genie's grasp and hanging it back around his neck, tucking it into his attire.
"So you don't want to learn how to blast lasers out of your hands and go pew-pew, or learn how to fly and go pew-pew at your enemies from the skies?" Genie responded, shooting out red rays of light from his fingers into the library.
They vanished before they could reach any bookshelves.
"I also want to cast that kind of magic. But there's no need to be in a hurry. Safety first. Besides, it isn't going anywhere," Aladdin said.
One of the reasons was that, though teleportation was one of the abilities he liked, which was always underutilised or dumbed down to fit a story in his former life, Aladdin knew how much of a threat it was in competent hands.
He liked how a certain movie, Jumper, portrayed teleportation as both a means of attack and convenience, and how a certain yellow-haired ninja, among various others, used it effectively. Although their abilities were limited, they still displayed the threat of such an ability.
This was why Aladdin wanted to learn teleportation first. Because he wanted to pew-pew his enemies out of sight and reach. He didn't want to live his reincarnated life as Aladdin fighting life-and-death battles.
"Fine. You've made your point," Genie said. He opened a pamphlet and looked through it.
"Let's see... threat sensing spell... magic accumulation spell... fruit drink spell... rosemary stew spell... ahh, here it is.. Dune valley teleportation!" Genie vanished and reappeared seconds later with a large scroll in his hand and the pamphlet under his arm.
He untied the seal and spread it open on the table in front of Aladdin.
On the scroll were detailed writings and diagrams explaining how to learn the technique and the dangers that came with it. It also had a chant, for beginners. Only those who had mastered a spell to its limit could cast it chantless.
Fortunately, Aladdin had learned how to read and write, so he knew what was written within it. And thanks to his magical capabilities, he could easily understand it.
Aladdin breathed slowly and followed Genie's instructions. This was his first time practising this, so he wanted to be careful.
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These should be the last of it. The chapters will return to the normal length. 1.5k to 1.7k.
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