[Slilent Type]

Spoiler for Response (maybe long):

Oh, yes he does have the basic, but I don't think he can learn it fast enough especially since he will have to face a master. However, the idea of nullifying ME entirely might be better for the story then just resetting the encroachment in terms of speed, but in the last chapter he went gospel of darkness, and has a way out of putting his students in danger from himself. However, he clearly can not beat Fate by festival's end without it unless he discovers a new power.

One snag is that it will eliminate Negi's utility belt fighting style and his synthesized spells (which is just about the only original thing he has done in the manga). Would just having him incapable of binding with the spell(the elemental forms), but still being able to take them in seem like a cop out?

On the Seals: In my fic there are four levels existence defining energy kai (the energy of the physical body) mental (the energy mages use to gather kai around them) Astral (energy of the emotions, ghost, and demons) and a fourth in the realm of souls. There is a sort of hierarchy to awareness to these energies, and while someone might know of them or even see them detecting them is an exponentially increasingly difficult task as you go up. The seals are currently detectable by so few it is unfair to classify them in either category.