Paramount Magus

After getting a thorough beating by Alaric, not that I needed one after just blowing both of us up. The old man explained to me a bit more about the elements and why the explosion happend.

"Listen this time retard, it's not as simple as spewing flames from your finger tips the second you become a mage, it takes time and effort, to even begin to master the simplest of spells, what you just did, was plain retarted."

Alaric stopped for a second then continued.

"You tried to impose your will on somthing you knew nothing about, you tried to command somthing you don't understand in the slightest, would you listen to some random civilian on the street telling you to fix the way you walk?"

I interrupted.

"Whats walking ha-"

I didn't get to finish before he interrupted me back.

"Before you ask a dumbass question let me finish first, you impatient brat, maybe I'll anwser your question while I speak!?"

I gave him an apologetic nod.

"Good, now first things first, the explosion happend because of what I said earlier, you tried to command the mana to produce a flame for you, the trick is to guide mana not command it. Don't get me wrong, you're still imposing your will upon mana for it to listen to your requests, but mana is constantly around us floating, its everywhere and its dormant."

He took another breath and then continued.

"To guide mana is to take it out of its dormant state and change its task to what you want to accomplish, that being a fireball or creating spikes out of the earth etc.."

"That's why I said it's like some stranger telling you that your walking wrong, mana lives in its dormant state, who are you to command it differently?"

And then Alaric who was initially facing away from me did a complete 180 and pointed his finger at me.

"But to be honest boy, I'm surprised you caused such an explosion. Most of the time it takes months to even begin to start communicating with mana, let alone command it to a degree that it'd retaliate causing you to lose control and cause an explosion, it's almost impossible. Well atleast I thought so before it just happend right infront me."

"It's impressive to be honest, it means your innate magical talent is much higher then I initially presumed, hmmm, Interesting indeed. I think this is the only time I'll ever be happy that something exploded in my face."

I was still processing the information about how to command, wait no that's not right, how to guide mana,

I shot alaric another question.

"You said I have to guide mana to get my desired result, so does that mean every element needs to be guided differently?"

Alaric smiled, a booming smile I've never seen before.

"Yes, good question. Every element varies, for example fire, you need to compress the mana as much as you can, in a sense the more you condess it the hotter the reaction you'll receive, and like the rest of the elements, you need to guide the mana along with your will, and imagine the result of that combination.

The others follow the same principles but vary in the guiding process, imagination and the implementation of will is always crucial though…

Wind mana likes to be free and sharp, it's guided in fast bursts.

Water mana is smooth, an example you'd understand is my swordsmanship. The way it flows into each move after the other seemingly in a cycle.

Earth mana is rough, it's easier to guide if you have an exact shape in mind, it's harder to guide without precise images.

Dark and light mana are similar, they both should be approached with a calmness and delicate approach, to use light for healing or darkness for corrosion is a bit too complciated for you right now. You'll learn more about it at Castor. Ill explain the other elements at a later date."

Trying to digest all the information the old man just told me, I couldn't help but admit I was a little overwhelmed, I wanted to smart small, no I needed to smart small.

"Would it be a bad idea to start with fire?"

I asked.

"Mhm, considering the earlier reaction let's attempt somthing a little more subtle, try water. Remember what I told you earlier, be smooth with your mana manipulation, and guide it with your will, don't rush or compress the mana. Just imagine the result and guide it, it'll do the rest on its own."

Alaric gave me another smile

"Go ahead, give it a try."

Still standing, I reach my hands out and made a cupping formation with my hands, I wasn't trying to create a water blast after all, just a little bit of water.

I guided the mana produced by my twilight circle out of my body and right above my hands, I willed for the mana to create water, I imagined a stream running constantly in a gentle and calm flow.

And then what can only be described in one word happend.

Magic.

Water formed in the space I imagined, it couldn't have been more than a flasks worth, but it poured from nothing, I just created water out of the thin air.

Letting my surprise interrupt my focus I instantly lost the connection, and the water stopped forming, but that did nothing to quell my excitement.

"Alaric did you see that! I did it! I made water out of nothing!!"

Alaric walked over and ruffled my hair.

"I don't think you really understand what you just accomplished, mages struggle to summon elements untill the dusk rank, twilight mages are usually too inexperienced to summon any type of element no matter how small, and if they do it's because of incantations, or chants for short."

I could see Alaric was going to continue, but I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"What's chants?"

Alaric put on a thoughtful face and then said.

"It's simply a sequence of hand motions, and words, usally a sentence or two, that'll help with the process of creating spells. Most nobles guide their children by giving them chants to practice.

So at Castor Academy you'll see alot of children making signals with their hands, or saying weird phrases as they point their hands at you."

I asked him two questions this time.

"Why didn't you teach me chants? And will I be at a disadvantage without them at school?"

Alaric anwsered without skipping a beat.

"No true mage requires chants boy, they're meant as a guide, a tutorial of sorts. But nowadays almost all noble children and even commoners use them like it's the correct way to use magic. I'll anwser your question with this, if your opponent in life or death battle is standing infront of you making signals with their hands or taking their time announcing their spell, what would you do?"

I thought about it for a moment thinking it was a trick question but then simply said..

"I'd smack him across the face with my sword if they were making hand signals, and if they were using words I'd simply gain an advantage because I'd know what spell would be coming ahead of time, or atleast the element."

Alaric laughed.

"Good anwser boy. Yes exactly my point, at a certain point magic spells are crucial in life or death fights, but for a young magus simply having superior physical abilities and skill will win you a fight ten times out of ten times, and you won't reach higher ranks if you rely on chants, no mage reaches the second circle while still using chants."

I replayed those words in my head a couple times, Alaric might be annoying and lazy, but he's a second circle magus at a very young age, any serious advice from him is somthing I'll always try and remember.

Alaric continued.

"Anyways not teaching you chants was more of me looking out for you, but I'm actually very proud that you managed to summon water so easily, we have about a month untill you have to leave for Castor, in that time frame I want you to be able to cast atleast a couple spells somewhat effectively, and effectively means you can't just stand their like a retard getting ready to be smacked, you need to be moving and constantly defending with your sword, attacking even."

I grimaced knowing what words were going to come next, because I already knew.

Alaric gave a huge smile and his eyes went into little slants.

"This calls for a new training routine."

End of chapter 6