Human magic system theory
You know I've been thinking about Undertale and ye olden human magic system (mostly because of a fanfic I plan to make)
Considering flowey had to explain what a soul was/does to frisk probably meant they also to explain what a soul was/does to chara as well. Monsters also figured out that humans have lost magic with time (probably because of the dead human souls's time in the underground)
Ok, so we all know that as we progress further into the underground and closer to new home the items get better right?
Well that got me thinking.
"Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell." – Ancient plaque in Waterfall.
This implies that not all humans or magicians. It says "their greatest magicians" not "their strongest humans"
Not all humans could use this magic.
And we know from The library in snowdin that humans have lost their ability to use magic and yet we still have the 6 human souls and their... everything in the end of pasifist.
I doubt that whatever they were using in the underground was actually what monsters would call "human magic" and we can most certainly survive that based off of where their items are located it gives us a pretty good idea of where they were killed and how far they got.
The weaker items are earlier on while the stronger items are later on.
Considering humans lost their magic after sealing monsters in the underground and monsters are in a magic infested land in the mountain (which I highly doubt had magic in it to begin with) and humans and monsters were living together for a very long time. I believe that when monsters use magic they released magic into the air, like when they dust when they use a magic spell or when they consume or even make food.
So when humans sealed monsters in the underground they essentially slowly lost their magic over time.
Though in deltarune it is implied that monsters don't have magic but that's an alternate universe I'm not sure how well that holds up to undertale considering I highly doubt that dark worlds exist in undertale so it might just be an entirely different magic system so I don't think it's really indicative of anything.
Back to what I was saying- all in all you get my point humans lost their magic because they sealed monsters underground now let's get into why I keep on mentioning the seven humans and their items.
I believe that the humans have a lesser form of human magic or at the very least the magic that your everyday average human would have cuz I highly doubt that all of the humans that fell down in the underground were mages.
We also see humans holding different items in the opening of undertale
Some have a sword, one has a spear, and another one has this weird?- spear- staff- scythe- magic thingy?
This leads me to believe that a common form of human magic is what a human has an item that they hold near and dear to their chest it will be infused with their determination and enhanced.
The longer the humans stayed in the underground the stronger their weapons and "armor" became. They were in a magically infused environment therefore I believe that helped them bring out the determination because I highly doubt he was on the surface just to have determination casually that would allow them to have the power to change the world.
It is stated in undertale the determination is the power to change the world. We see that throughout undertale in the form of save points, rewinding time, resets, and coming back from death. But I think it's interesting to think about how that affected their items in the things around them.
The humans obviously had some sort of big attachment to the items that they held considering that their items are reflected in their attacks during the 'final'
It would also explain why Chara's items are the best items in the game, they probably stayed there for pretty dang long time. My guess is probably 2 to 6 months (realistically) Or maybe even a year.
It would explain why a book and a toy knife is doing more damage than a stick, frisk has no connection to the stick, it's just a stick, they picked it up.
As well as why the bandage has zero defense when a ribbon, bandana, hat, tutu, glasses, and a locket has more defense than that (though it does make some sense to degree).
Another way I think humans may have used monster magic is probably through monster dust. I mean we know that their body and their souls are connected they're souls are combination of their being, everything that makes them them is reflected upon their soul and vice versa.
They even point out how human souls persist after death. considering the humans have coffins their bodies don't disappear. Well we see that monster souls and body do. All of it simply turns into dust. So I'm pretty sure everything that made them including what kind of monster they were and what kind of magic they used also persist through their dust.
I'm just saying I think it would be pretty interesting if humans used monster dust to actually make the barrier that would explain why it's white.
The humans attacks are obviously being made through flowey and we know that healing magic is green but we also know that colored magic which also reflects the seven souls it's probably very similar to what human magic was like to a degree.
I don't think it's a jump to assume that human magic was colored while monster magic is white just like their souls. As it's supposed to reflect that I think.
Now finally we can focus on those mages again. I was thinking why can't all humans be mages. what would set human mages apart from normal humans.
Then I thought came to me. It's Canon that all the other humans had the ability to use save and load. They just gave up. Frisk never did. Maybe what sets human mages apart from normal humans is that they're more determined. As I've stated before determination is the power to change the world. So it would make sense to me the more determination you have the more you'd be able to change the world. Aka they had so much determination that they were literally able to bring what they willed into the world and allowed it to exist (spells!)
So I guess this means that in theory any human can become a mage it's just that none of them were determined enough to do so. That's why they were just everyday average humans with basic abilities instead of casting fireballs and sealing monsters underground.
At the end of the day I think these are all very interesting forms of possible ways that humans could have used magic.