Kalar´s Continent

The second chair, that mysteriously appeared in the cramped office, was surprisingly comfortable as Teo let himself sink deep into the century-old cushions.

Teo felt quite proud of himself, after achieving so many epiphanies in barely a day...

At least, until the ever-benevolent Mr. Atkins admonished him for his incompetence.

Apparently, awakening Elemental Vision (what it seemed to be called) was nothing special, as it was the most basic of all Magic Abilities, the b.a.r.e minimum to qualify as any sort of caster. Mr. Atkins even bragged, that he managed to do it in a single hour, with barely any help, when he was younger.

The stabbing stares did not grow softer, until explaining, that he only took around two or three hours and spent the rest of the time experimenting. Still, the only compliment he got, was a sneaky, "So, you are not void of talent after all."

Though he was a bit dejected; from a short time since he got to know his teacher, he already knew to appreciate his rare compliments as they came. It was pointless to wait for anything better, as he seemed fundamentally incapable of uttering any positive words, without a hurtful punchline.

"Go home and rest now, I will personally teach you a few tricks tomorrow and need you in mint condition." Teo's line of thought was suddenly interrupted by the Magician's surprising offer and he hurriedly disappeared through the door, before the old man changed his mind again.

His parents did worry a bit, why he instantly fell asleep after wolfing down his dinner but didn't bother Teo too much about it. After a good, long night of sleep, he was as fit as ever and stood before the towering, black door of the Magician's Office as early as sunrise.

Mr. Atkins looked the same as always, because he did not seem to change his dark-blue robe whatsoever (or all his clothes simply looked the same, which Teo did not want to rashly exclude), and subjected Teo to a strict training regime.

He began with the basics that Teo already knew, like his Elemental Vision, and explained to him, that it was only making the Elements one could control, perceivable.

In Teo's case he could observe the flow of pure Mana but no Elements, resulting in Mr. Atkins appearing quite dim lit in Teo's Mana Vision, even glowing less than any ordinary villager. Mr. Atkins had mastered Water Vision instead (he had to admit, the naming scheme was better than his own) and could perceive the Water Elements around him, meaning, in his eyes, he glowed like a blowtorch, whereas Teo was barely perceptible.

It seemed to work the same way for all Elements and apparently it was also possible to comprehend and see more than one Element, though Teo had no idea how that worked.

In the case of the Mana threads, he was actually right on track, as they were really called like that and even behaved as he expected. Of course, he had not expected there to be other Elemental Threads, neither that they were not entirely 'consumed' by everything around him, but converted into threads of the Element corresponding to the object.

The idea was rather fascinating and quite logical, areas rich in stones and earth would also be rich in Earth Element threads because every stone and even the ground itself would absorb the ambient Mana and convert it into the Earth Element, which consequently acc.u.mulated in the surroundings. They would also use small amounts of Earth Elements to 'enrich' themselves, but tended to produce more than they consumed.

According to Mr. Atkins, this also applied to plants and animals, which would experience increased prosperity while living near areas rich in their corresponding Element and enjoyed a slightly increased lifespan as a result of the 'enrichment' as he called it.

Teo spent several days learning about basic magical concepts and absorbed all the new knowledge like a sponge. After the highly theoretical crash-course, his comprehension of Magic was incomparable to his previous naïve self. He could even activate Mana Vision without closing his eyes now, only needing to spare part of his attention to keep it active.

He also learned from his previous mistake while trying to absorb external Mana and managed to successfully do it after a few tries. Teo's original idea was quite good and 'free' Elements could indeed be used to replenish one's own, after expending them; he just didn't have the right technique.

The trick lay in weaving the Mana into dense spirals or bundles after absorbing it, to better store it in one's body, and to 'cut' of the loose ends after absorbing enough. If left untended, the unabsorbed part of the Mana string would really work as a loose thread, slowly unraveling the previous efforts.

Expelling Mana properly from one's body, or actually knitting it into Spells, was still out of his reach, at least when trying to learn it alone in his free time.

But today, was when Mr. Atkins finally decided, to teach Teo how to use Magic.

"Alright, you have already built a decent foundation in the last days and it is time for some practical training." Teo stood straight as a pole, not daring to move even a millimeter, the sweet words like music to his ears.

"You know the basics about Magic in theory, as well as how to influence, guide and shape Mana according to your will. I suspect, you have already noticed, that it is extremely hard, to expel Magic from one's body in order to use it in any meaningful way." Teo hurriedly nodded, instantly converting his trimmed, brown hair into a disheveled state. It was indeed quite hard, to expel his own Mana, much more so, to shape it into literally anything, no matter how simple the shape.

Edgar authoritatively continued, "As it is impossible to quickly move Mana from your own body to the outside with your underdeveloped magical control abilities, you will need to resort to a different strategy."

He stretched out his hand in front of him, palm facing towards the sky and less than a second later, Teo could already see blue veins gathering together, quickly forming a fist-sized icicle in the middle of his palm, that shot out and mowed down a nearby birch tree from the forest.

"Wow!" Teo unintentionally exclaimed, flabbergasted by the display of destructive power. That was Magic! Wild and powerful! That was, what he wanted to learn!

"That was one of the most basic uses of the Water Element, compressing it in a single spot near your body and shooting it out all at once. Of course, it is a rather crude way to utilize one's strength, like throwing a rock during a sword fight, but it can be very effective in real combat." Teo was still extremely impressed by the technique demonstrated to him, unable to close his mouth for almost half a minute.

He would probably have fainted, had he known that Edgar held himself back a lot to better demonstrate the process of condensing the elements. In a real fight, he could easily summon ten icicles to shoot at his opponent in less than a second, all while running at the same time.

"The basis of most foundation-level spells is very simple, you just shape the Elements according to your needs and the corresponding effect will naturally follow. You can compress them into a single point, making a basic Magic Bolt, to throw at your enemy, into a fine net, to materialize an Elemental Shield, that protects you or into a spear, you can throw or wield yourself as a weapon. The possibilities are literally only limited by your imagination."

During Edgar's short introduction into practical Magic, or 'external Elemental Manipulation', what he called it sometimes, Teo's grin only grew wider and wider, thinking that it was way easier than he thought. Seeing him sitting there, smiling to himself like an idiot, his teacher added, "I recommend you to take this seriously. Manipulating the Elements outside your body is not as easy as it sounds." But Teo hardly let that dim his motivation.

"I guess you will just have to learn yourself, what fickle lover the mistress of Magic can be. It is only a matter of practice anyway, so you will figure out the minor tricks and details yourself." Edgar concluded and left Teo to practice on his own, while he worked through the thick pile of paperwork left on his desk.

Finally, Teo had the time and a proper direction for practicing Magic, making his success only a matter of time in his eyes.

He decided, to stay at the green patch of grass near the forest —that made an extraordinary peaceful impression, except for one badly mangled birch tree, its trunk but a collection of splinters— and began to practice.

The first thing he tried, was obviously the compression of Mana into a single point, forming a Mana Bolt, as this seemed a good point to start from for a beginner.

He expertly began to focus his Mana into his right hand, slowly excreting it from his skin and into the surrounding air, only to have it blown away after a single lapse in concentration. He tried again and again, but as he tried to keep the threads of Mana outside his hand from floating away, he could not properly concentrate on pulling more Mana out of his body and vice versa.

"What the heck?! This is so hard!" he exclaimed after almost an hour with barely any progress, venting his frustration, while stomping a small foot on the ground. It seemed like he had indeed underestimated the magnitude of the task at hand.

After several hours of continued practice, he got a lot better in his general control of the Mana inside and in proximity to his body. Increasing the rate, at which Mana left his body as well as the time he could keep it close enough to his Hand to control and further compress it. He even managed to incorporate some passing, free Mana from the surroundings into the process.

For the compression he used the same method, he learned for absorbing Mana into his body, packing and weaving it into solid bundles, forming a ball of Mana, that almost resembled a clew of yarn, silently hovering over his hand. It was as hard a task as lighting a match in a typhoon, but he never lost his spirit; training until mental exhaustion set in, absorbing Mana from the surroundings to relieve it and starting all over again.

The first stable bundles of Mana he let loose, were little more, than small marbles of blue light gliding through the air with a silent whistle and leaving faint scorch marks on anything they hit.

But after training the technique over and over again for the rest of the week, he finally managed to cause a tiny explosion, blowing away some tree bark, after compressing the Mana as much as he could.

He was sweaty and exhausted, his whole body sore from overexertion, the effects of his 'attack' minuscule, but Teo did not care at all. He did it!

He cast real Magic for the first time in his life!