O’jghar continued his explanation, “After finding your energy you will need to make use of it. The most important part of energy manipulation is to reform the energy inside your conscience to make it enter the physical world. As there are many different energies there are also different ways to control them. Some energies require certain tools or techniques to be operated” He looked to see if Aias had any questions but there were none.

“There are several ways to manipulate each energy and then there are more ways to utilize the energies. For example if we look at mana, mana can be used to create runes, inscriptions, enchantments, or spells. The difference in their creation is how we manipulate the energy before it leaves our conscious”

“All the different forms have their own methods in order to be put in effect. The process of using energy is quite lengthy but when you get used to it you should be able to create spells and techniques in the moment”

“Before you use a technique you need energy, however energy is held in the core and isn’t naturally usable by most humans. So to get the energy you will need to put up a formation in the energy you want to use, then you will be able to freely control the energy inside your conscious”

“After you have the energy you may need to change it into the appropriate form, sometimes the energy inside your core isn’t usable for the technique you want to use. As an example, if you want to create an ice spell you would pull neutral mana out of your core then pull out all element out of it except the water, that leaves you with ice. If you add a slight bit of fire elemental energy then it becomes water”

“In many cases of energy manipulation this becomes the most important step, like creating colder ice, the water element without any other element creates ice at the temperatures of absolute zero. However because of how difficult it is to perfectly separate the different elements that mana consists of, it makes it so it is almost always diluted to some extent”

“With fire elemental mana, or as it’s commonly referred to heat elemental mana, it isn’t all about separating the different elements but also adding more fuel to it. Heat elemental mana requires more energy to become stronger while water elemental mana will always be at absolute zero as long as it doesn’t have impurities. With more energy water elemental mana does take longer to isolate all the energy but it will make the area affected become larger”

“You may observe that one is referred to as ‘heat elemental’ while the other is still ‘water elemental’ and not ‘cold elemental’, that is because what it creates is water, only in its different stages. You can’t create different types of liquids or ice with only water elemental mana, and heat elemental mana’s main power is to heat things up, not to burn”

“I went on a little tangent on separation of energy, but let us get back to the main subject. When you have your processed energy you will need to move it outside your consciousness, for that you have another formation. Formations for transporting energy vary depending on what type of energy you use, as well as what way you want it to act while in the outside world”

“For example if you want to use it for an enchantment, or if you want it for an inscription. They both need their own formation for moving outside your body, and if you use the wrong one then the energy would simply move outside you and then dissipate as you aren’t able to maintain it”

O’jghar had gone on for quite a while, explaining as much as he could think of and now Aias laid there feeling as if he was going to go cross eyed in confusion! When O’jghar finished to look over Aias he saw the confusion on his face and realised he hadn’t gone through it with Aias properly.

“Aias do you know what the formations i talked about are?” O’jghar asked Aias trying to get his attention back after leaving him confused.

Aias moved his eyes from side to side trying to make it look like he was shaking his head. O’jghar seemed to understand as he started explaining formations.

“A formation is like a template for how energy should function or move and it will stay inside your consciousness unless you were to disassemble it. Some create formations for each individual spell and other create simple ones and then move their energy on their own”

“When energy goes through a formation it will be twisted and changed according to the formations design, we could do this ourselves but it would take far more time, something we don’t have during combat”

“In truth you could use your energy without creating a formation, you could actually do everything energy related without any use of formations or techniques but the talent to do it naturally isn’t normal. There are barely a hundred people with that type of ability and most of them gained it through a god’s blessing”

“Do you think you understand the fundamentals of formations?” O’jghar asked wondering if he hadn’t been thorough enough. Aias moved his eyes up and down in a nodding motion to show his understanding.

“Next you may have understood that the separation of energy can be very important, and also time consuming. Most of the time users of energy that can be separated separate the energy long before they decide to use it”

“To make sure the energy is safe from becoming diluted again they create new “pockets” in their core for the separated energy to be stored, this way they can use techniques without having to spend time preparing the energy”

“I will have future lessons on anything else you didn’t understand but now we continue to a new step!”

“Once you have gotten to using energy you will need to start strengthening it. The energy ball inside you is often referred to as your core however in reality the core is something in the middle of that ball of energy holding it together”

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“To become stronger you either need to exert energy you don’t want and then replace it with energy that suits you better, that way you have more energy to use that you can use well. The other and more time consuming way is to strengthen your core making it able to hold together more energy”

“Most often will people begin by taking out what they don’t need then train their core so it holds more power as they will want to focus on one style”

O’jghar realise that Aias was going to need to make his own decision of how he wanted to become stronger, “If you wish to learn only one type of energy and discard the rest that is fine, on the other hand if you feel like learning many types of energy and how to use them then I will teach you that” O’jghar didn’t seem to care for what Aias choice was, he simply planned to train Aias the best he could.

Aias had already decided what he wanted but felt like knowing more on the strengths and weaknesses were in this choice. Luckily his teacher decided to answer that without him asking, asking would be difficult without being able to talk.

“No one energy is perfect, so it may be useful to have several types for you to use in the appropriate situations and against the appropriate enemies. As an example we can use lord Meleth, he has taken out all energies except for heat elemental mana, and so he can only use techniques that use the heat element. Because he has spent several decades strengthening his core there is now almost no one with the power to extinguish his flames, however only a hundredth mana with pure water element would be needed to beat him, well at least in terms of raw strength” With the example Aias came to understand the importance of having different types of energy and learning appropriate techniques for them.

“Now for lord Meleth it isn’t too much of a problem as it would be for you” Aias was surprised at hearing how using one energy could actually be bad for him but not for lord Meleth, how could that be?

O’jghar picked up on Aias confusion and explained, “Lord Meleth is a soldier, he is meant to fight against armies who try to take on the country, but you, you said you wanted to explore the world and for that having many different options is far better”

Aias could see how knowing and being able to use several different powers was probably more reliable than only having the ability to use one with more strength. He could think of many scenarios where only using fire would probably be useless.

“Something very important to remember is that energy doesn’t make you powerful, some of the strongest warriors have been beaten because their opponent used special equipment. That is something you need to keep in mind when traveling, always keep yourself well stocked in different items and elixirs so when you are faced with someone stronger than you you still won’t lose!” Aias took O’jghar’s advice as a warning. He knew he was weaker than others, and that was most likely not going to change, so if he wanted to continue winning in the future then he would have to get himself some better equipment than his opponents.

The class finished and O’jghar continued brewing his potion while Aias was to locate his core again. This time he was also given a goal, after finding his core he would try to only sense one energy and then try to pierce his consciousness into it. It was heavenly energy he was supposed to try and get into. If he was able to learn some heavenly energy techniques then he may be able to heal himself faster.

………..

Aias suspicions were again confirmed, he wasn’t good at any part of using energy. When he had finally managed to make himself able to sense only the heavenly energy it had already taken twelve days.

Luckily he was improving every day and finally after having gone almost five month of learning to sense energy he was able to find his core at any time in only a second or two. And after a few days of perpetually only sensing the heavenly energy, he had gotten to be able to sense only it just as fast. Good warriors would sense it in a fraction of the time it took him though. He may now be able to sense only one energy but he also had to pierce into it.

……..

Another month went by before it finally happened. Aias had been lying for about eight hours trying to poke through the barrier that appeared to be around the heavenly energy when finally his consciousness started to push through it, entering it! It was as if he was being swallowed by the heavenly energy. Once inside he could understand why it was called heavenly energy, it was like he had gone to heaven, it gave of a feeling as if he had been swallowed by a bed of cotton and flowers.

He stayed in the energy for the rest of the day, he couldn’t get enough of the rejuvenating feeling it gave his mind as he stayed inside it.

……...

“Good now you will need to put up a formation inside the energy using the energy itself, that way you can extract it in the future, think of it as tapping a tree for sap” O’jghar explained to Aias.

Aias didn’t have a hard time learning the patterns for the formation however how he was going to move the energy was foreign to him. It took him a week to just learn to move it.

After learning to move it he was to also maintain it in the position he had placed it until the full formation was finished, it was stressful and required Aias to use every bit of attention he had at all times. Every time Aias failed to move the energy inside him the rest he had already put up broke apart as his concentration broke over the disappointment of not being able to control anything.

Even once he was able to complete the formation it began to crumble apart. O’jghar explained that he hadn’t gathered the correct amount of energy in key points of the formation causing it to not be able to hold itself together. The stress from failure caused him too need a day's break where he stayed in bed and rested without having to think about energy.

……..

A whole four month spent trying to put up the formation until finally it was completed, he had now at long last established the formation. To take this much time was something even O’jghar hadn’t taken into account.

Aias was far to awful at energy control, O’jghar had obviously never said anything or even seemed to think of it, but Aias had during the last month been in agony over the conviction he placed on himself. Over and over again the formation had collapsed, never staying up no matter how well he had made it. But now finally he could rest easy, his formation was complete and he wouldn’t have to do it again.

“You will have to set up a different formations for each energy you want control over” O’jghar as if reading his mind stated when Aias reported his success.

FUCK! Was all Aias could think.

……..

Aias had been given a few days as a break before his next lessons began. During this he wanted to know more about where he had been living.

While staying there he had already gotten to know how his body was doing, and how it was treated daily. Because he wasn’t able to move he wasn’t able to take care of his own body and its needs. O’jghar had built in a self cleaning toilet in his bed, it seemed to work using water magic inscriptions as well as a pipe going down underground.

Clearly and understandably O’jghar didn’t want to be dealing with cleaning up after Aias, it was understandable, he was eight and shouldn’t need that sort of treatment, O’jghar was also not a parent or guardian, well he was a guardian but not for this type of situation.

Aias had throughout his stay in O’jghar’s home been cared for with many different medical treatments. Acupuncture to help his blood flow and nerve system recover. Messages with medical oils for his damaged skin and veins to recover. Several potions to help in several different areas. And an od treatment using stones that looked somewhat like quartz. They had however felt very good laying on his body, they seemed to seep energy into his broken body, mending it.

Now Aias was supposed to be able to move out of the cramped little room he had been lying in, he still couldn’t move his body but O’jghar promised to carry him around for a tour.

O’jghar gave him a tour of the house carrying him around atop his shoulders. The majority of the house was very simple and undecorated, the only real decoration was of monster teeth framed on the walls. There were many teeth, some the size of grown men, these types of teeth were often crafted into weapons however O’jghar wanted to hold honor for the beast he had slayed and so he took one tooth from each hunt as sentiment.

With the talk of beasts Aias remembered he hadn’t meet Varja in a several months. He felt bad that he continued to leave his companion behind and wanted to see him. Aias had already been made aware that Varja was brought to O’jghar’s house and been released to wander around the forest nearby. Every now and then Aias would receive news that Varja appeared near the house looking to see how he was doing.

When Aias was brought outside to look at O’jghar’s herb garden, there Varja laid, looking up at him with its large yellow eyes, and forked tongue smelling the air. The moment it set its eyes on Aias it raced into action, it twisted its body around O’jghar, not to squeeze him but to pick up Aias sitting on his shoulders. Varja wrapped itself around Aias, he had also missed Aias just as much, if not more.