NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13: Fire Away.
Excitement coursed through my veins. My palms tingled as I held on for dear life at the fire wand that my mom had handed to me. After so long, I may be able to finally cast a spell.
"This is a practice wand, with very little mana, and a very weak focus. But it could still be dangerous, specially so close to yourself. So if I tell you to stop, then you immediately drop the wand. Understand?"
"Yes!" I nodded vigorously. I could tell she was still worried, but it didn't take long for her to give in to my pleading.
"Hm. Okay, so. In order to begin casting spells, one must first connect with their wand. In the same way that you can feel the mana, feel the repository and the focus until they are shining beacons in your consciousness. Try and connect to it first, but absolutely do not try and cast anything, understand?"
"Of course, Mom!" I proclaimed, and then did as she asked, turning the weight of my focus on the wand upon my hands. I was able to find the repository, which was the tiniest of gems. It was still filled with mana, and while being contained like this certainly muffled its presence, the heat of the non-existent flames still stood out to my senses.
Next was the focus. This was a bit harder to find. I did feel something brushing at the edge of my consciousness, but nothing more concrete than that. Mom came to my rescue after a minute of that.
"Were you able to feel anything, Haell?"
"Yes! I found the repository. As for the focus… there's something. Like a word just at the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember it!"
"Oh, very good! That's excellent progress already!" She patted me on the head. I giggled. "Let's try joint casting this time. Maybe you'll pick the rest up faster."
"Joint casting?" I puzzled Mom's words as I came closer to her.
She grabbed hold of my same wand, her hands smothering my own.
"Joint casting," she explained, "is when two mages use the same wand or staff, allowing them to make use of two minds for the same cast, maybe even more."
"Oh! So then they're able to cast stronger magic!" The idea of working with my mom to create a fucking nuke was very exciting!
Mom chuckled. "In theory, yes. But essentially it's like… hmm… Do you remember what the repository and focus are for?"
"Yep! The repository stores mana. Focus controls it!"
"Very good!" She patted my head again, and I squealed. That was, uh. That did not happen! "To be more specific though, think of the focus as say a ladle, or a tong… whatever kind of tool. Because that's what it is. A tool to move and operate mana. But just as tools are typically operated with the hands, the focus is operated by the mind."
"Technically everything is operated by the mind!"
Mom chuckled. "That's not wrong. But you know what I mean."
"Ehe… Yeah."
"Right, so anyway. The focus is the bottleneck. Just like how a pot could overflow, or how a rope might snap with too much weight. A focus too could not take control of way too much mana."
I scrunched my brows. "Okay… so if it's… If the focus is the limiter, then… what is the point of having multiple mages on the same wand?"
"That's exactly where I was leading you." Mom smiled proudly. "The answer is that the finesse is in the mind. The control of the mana, and even the will and
meaning imbued. We'll get to that later, but essentially two brains can take control of the same mass of mana for greater… precision in the magic, among other things. That's the theory, anyway. But of course mana can be such a delicate thing to work with, and in practice people would just get in each other's way. It is a skill that would require you to painstakingly master it anew for every person that you try to do it with, so that your orders, your interpretations, and more do not conflict.”"Oh," I said. "So then why are we doing it?"
Mom smirked and grabbed both my hand and wand. "It's a useful tool for teaching. Just… make sure not to send any commands at the mana alright? Just feel it happen. Feel how I connect and command the focus. And then try and replicate it later for yourself."
"Okay!" My eyes sparkled and sharpened. I brought the brunt of my focus towards the wand and nothing else.
Mom grunted in affirmation and began. I observed both the focus and the repository. A stream of fire mana came out. It was being dragged out. Like by an unseen hand, or a whispering guide. Natural flows, or even telekinesis.
I closed my eyes and pictured it all. The fire mana that was controlled by my mother. It shifted in shapes, it thrashed and flickered, it roamed around in the air. I turned my attention towards the mana, and finally felt the connection towards the focus. I could imagine it as a cradle that moved around the energy, or strings that took control. But none of that was right, because it really was more like telekinesis. There was a resonance, and the mana just moved according to the will interpreted by the focus. I just had to fill it with my ideas, and then I could wield the wand to cast magic.
"I got it!" I blurted out, before shrinking away a little. "Well, maybe."
Mom laughed. "Try it then!"
She let go of my hand and the wand. I focused back on connecting with the tool, putting particular emphasis on the focus.
I tried to move the mana out of the container, like what my mom just allowed me to experience. The mana did not budge. I tried harder, and still I failed.
I took a few deep breaths, sensing the frustration building up. I imagined questing hands crawling out of the focus to grab the mana inside the repository. I got a response, and the fire mana did come out, but it slipped through the fingers of my metaphor. The mana was wild, it was like a gas that wanted to dance into motion, similar to how real fire would. I tried for a while longer, but the day was over before I even knew it.
I had a great dinner.
~~~
I was back at practice the next day, and this time I chose to focus on how it was just like telekinesis, moving objects with my mind. After an hour or so of focus, I did get the response I wanted. The fire mana moved out of the repository and I managed to wiggle it around, before I lost my metaphorical grip and it dissipated into the surroundings. But movement certainly happened.
"Mom! Mom! Can I cast spells now!?" I excitedly bounced up to her.
She patted my head, and congratulated me on a job well done, but reasoned that I needed more practice first. I agreed and resolved myself to master magic through sheer and relentless effort. It was the only thing I could do, for I never was the most talented. I didn’t always give it my all either in my past life, but for magic, for this new chance to live, I could not bear to do any less than my absolute best.
I started with the smallest amount, forcing the gas-like ethereal substance to remain still. I kept doing the same thing until the sun had gone down, and I had to have dinner again.
The following days blurred by, as I became obsessed with my magic practice. I made the small amount I could control bob up and down, and then I had it circle around me. After a few days, I was stretching and playing with its shape. A week passed, and my dad was back from adventuring. My sword training resumed, and quite honestly I never should have neglected it. My goal was to master both the sword and the magic.
In terms of sword practice, I still spent most of my time on the overhead slash, but Dad helped me find the perfect balance for other maneuvers too like the sweep, or a quick stab. I worked on my stance, and how much weight I placed into every attack. Not every strike required my full commitment, rather doing so would leave me open. Therefore I learned a variety of options, of varying levels of force, and then I repeated them all a million times over, or at least what felt like it.
[Dextrous Hands have reached Level 3!]
[Flutter Feet has reached Level 3!]
[Human Brain has reached Level 4!]
It certainly worked if nothing else, and the level-ups told me that I was definitely on the right track. The extra pattern recognition helped a lot with this kind of repetitive training.
A stronger mind also paid dividends for my magic practice, which I made sure to never neglect. I only missed one day because Mom forgot to have my wand recharged by a fountan. She bought me more fire-based practice wands after that, so that I had spares. I did suggest to just let me use some of her 'real' wands which had a much larger capacity and stronger focuses, but she rejected my proposal.
I managed to control two separate blobs of mana, and I became more adept at freely changing the shape. The range upon which I was able to do so had also increased by a fair amount. From only mana that was right next to me, to a radius extending out by a meter or two. It got exponentially harder the farther away the magic was.
This was apparently a process reliant more on the brain, than the focus. The act of taking the mana out of the repository created a bond between it and myself, which was also why mana dissipated into the atmosphere once I lost my metaphorical grip on it. The repository itself made the establishment of this connection towards the mana easier.
"Curiously, the planet itself produces mana naturally," Mom explained to me. "It alters the landscape and enriches the natural treasures therein. I've heard that it affects leveling speed too, although not by much. Only enough to make a difference if you planned to live for centuries."
"Immortality!?" I snapped to attention, dropping the ball of mana I was practicing on. "Where!? When?! How!?"
"Whoa, slow down there girl. You're like 4 years old. You don't need to be this fuc- freaking desperate." Mom's smile became more complicated. "Although I suppose you've lived a full life already, and even died…" She didn't even know how or when. How young. I hadn't told her. I was still avoiding the topic of Earth. It was behind me. It had to be.
She cleared her throat. "Anyway! Level 80 would give you about 500 years give or take. 160 would be where true immortality lies. For humans anyway. It varies by species. But 160 being immortal is almost a given. Humans are… on the shorter-lived side. As far as sapient species go."
"I see… so I need to get level 160… but is that for like, all of my organs? Or just one of them?"
Mom gave a hearty laugh. "Already planning on reaching those heights, hmm? Well, it's good to be ambitious. And I would definitely be happy if my daughter were to never die." Her eyes began to water. "Just thinking about it… I… I… Waaahhhhh!!!"
"What? Mom!" I sniffed and hugged her leg. She picked me up and carried me close. We both ended up crying because her crying also made me want to cry. It's all Mom's fault!
Our tears dried out eventually, and Mom continued her prior explanation. The answer to my prior question was that every Level in every organ did increase its longevity, but most important of all were the synced Flesh, Bone, and Musculature Mutations. Flesh especially.
"If there's just mana all around us, then why don't we just use that?" I wondered aloud. I observed my surroundings, trying to get a sense of the planet's mana
Mom chuckled at my question. "It's subtle. The mana is… different somehow. It's incredibly difficult to even feel it, to know it's there."
I grunted. Mom continued, "If you can hardly sense it, then controlling it is out of the question. To begin with, it's already difficult to grab hold of mana once you've let it go. You've seen that in your practice."
I nodded.
"It's even more difficult, damn near impossible, to 'steal' the mana from another mage," she finished.
"Hm." I considered this. "Well, it is difficult, but at least this ‘world mana’ is not being controlled by a different mage, right?"
Mom whirled around me with an intense look in her eyes. "But it is! Maybe. At least parts of it. I think. I felt it when I actually tried to interact with it! The same resistance as when you try to do that to another mage's mana! Well, not entirely the same. It was different. But definitely similar!"
I blinked.
"Everyone keeps calling me crazy. And I'm not saying I'm absolutely right, but how can they be so sure I'm wrong!?" Her words started as a whisper, but transitioned into full-blown shouting at the end. "Ah! Sorry baby!"
"Not a baby anymore!" I pouted. "But I don't think you're crazy." She brightened at my words. "I don't know if you're right." Oh come on Mom don't get sad! "Point is, as you said… no one knows how the fuck the planet works right?"
Mom nodded at my words.
"Well then we can't be sure,” I continued. “But what are you saying? That there's like an immortal mage at the center of Varyala?"
Mom laughed. Hard. "That's a fuc-fudging image! You also cursed! I caught that young lady! Stop it!" She cleared her throat, and got back on topic. "But no… Well, maybe. It'd be funny. What I'm saying though, is that I think the planet is alive in some way. Maybe not in the same way we are. But it's able to control and direct mana if nothing else. Or at least grab hold of it? It could be like a force of nature, random and chaotic. Present. Beautiful."
The day ended after that, but the training only continued on the following morning. After more than a few months of this, I had managed to gain even more Levels, bringing all of my Mutations to at least Level 3. My brain managed to reach the whopping level of 5, which meant that I was undeniably a genius.
It's undeniable.