Cecilia gestures for Lucian to follow her. They arrive at the centre of the garden, where the tables cleared from the last time they visited.

“I will teach you the basics of magic theory and mana manipulation today.”

Lucian nodded in response, after which Cecilia started her lecture.

“Mana, commonly referred to as magic, exists in every corner of this world. You, me, even the dirt that you are standing on.”

“Then why aren’t there more mages?”

“First of all, ask questions when I permit you to do so. Otherwise, I’ll forget what I will say. Secondly, the answer to your question is although mana exists in everyone and everything, the amount of mana differs from being to being, object to object. If there is not enough mana in the object or person, the spells will not manifest in our world.”

Cecilia then casted a small flame from her hands that hovered just above her hands.

“As you attune your body to the mana inside you, you’ll eventually get accustomed to channelling mana through your body and project it outwards. Just like how I casted this spell called Ignition.” Said Cecilia, pointing to the flame with her eyes.

“The more mana you add to the spell, the better the potency.” The flame got bigger and bigger as soon as she finished her sentence. She then extinguishes the flame, in a brilliant sleight of hand, with Lucian’s sparkling eyes following each movement of her hand with eagerness.

“Let’s start by attuning your body with the mana inside you. Sit here on the ground with your back facing towards me, and close your eyes.”

As instructed, Lucian sits in a cross-legged position with his eyes closed, followed by Cecilia sitting on her knees behind him; her arms extended forward as if she were warming her hands by a fireplace.

“Concentrate on what you’re about to feel.”

He could feel a tingling sensation inside his body, under the area of the skin where Cecilia hovered her hands. The tingling lasted for a second, and what Lucian felt afterwards was a water-like flow inside his body, which started from his back, going towards the soles of his feet and then to the top of his head, passing his torso and arms on the way. The feeling then went to his origin point at his back, which started the loop again.

“Do you feel that? That’s the mana that’s circulating inside you. That’s what you have to manipulate and project into the real world in order to cast a spell.”

Lucian sat with utmost discipline and immersed himself to feel the flow of mana in his body.

“I will take my hands off now. Keep feeling the flow of mana for an hour or so. The more you are in tune with the flowing mana, the better you will be at casting spells without wasting mana.”

Having said so, Cecilia kept watch as Lucian circulated the mana, but four hours had passed instead of one before Lucian opened his eyes abruptly.

“S-Sorry. Has an hour passed? I lost track of time.”

“Yes, more than an hour. We will try to manifest a spell now.” Said Cecilia, trying to hide her astonishment.

Most children his age would be restless and would want to get into practical uses of mana casting as soon as possible, thought Cecilia while Lucian was circulating, amazed at Lucian’s concentration and discipline.

“Now that you have an understanding of how and where mana flows, we will try to project it outwards.” Said Cecilia, readying her arms.

“Turn forwards again. This time with your arms extended.”

Lucian did as she ordered. She then held Lucian’s shoulders, and then he felt the flow of mana coming from her yet again.

“This time, focus on how I force the mana to gather, as well as how I project it.”

Lucian felt his teacher’s mana flowing through his shoulders, which then gathered at the centre of his palm. The mana bubbled like boiling water after it gathered.

“What’s most important when casting a spell is your will and concentration. ‘I want fire to form’, is what you should be thinking right now. Imagine all the times you felt the sensation of fire.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Warmth was what went through his mind when trying to cast the spell. He tried as hard as he could to impose his will and manifest the effects of the spell. Ultimately, after a minute of pure unflinching focus and concentration, what came out from his hands was just a spark.

“Damnit, I couldn’t do it.”

“You didn’t imagine the flames very well, did you? Anyways, we all start somewhere, don’t we? You’ll be able to do it if you practice more. “

“I wanted to cast my first spell as soon as possible, though.”

“Cheer up now. Most students can’t do this on their first try. We’re going to practice this five days a week for a month. If you are diligent in your training, then I see no reason why you won’t be able to cast your first spell.”

And thus, Lucian carried on his training with Cecilia. He progressed a lot from when he started, from being able to cast just a single spark to a small flame the size of a peanut that would fizzle out as quickly as it would come. But the training wasn’t easy for him. Some days, Lucian would return home in a bad mood, frustrated at his inability to cast the spell successfully, even after trying so hard. But Cecilia would be there the next day to guide and inspire Lucian, sometimes with some profound sayings that Lucian couldn’t understand, and other times where Cecilia would teach him about the outside world, descriptions about the beasts that roamed around the continent, how mages lived, what the mage’s society was like, their adventures, and many more.

On the third week of their training, Lucian completed his mana circulation and took a small breather.

“Teacher. Can we take a break now?”

“Hmmm. Well, I guess we can since you’ve been working hard since the beginning with no complaints.”

“Thank you! I also wanted to ask teacher some questions.”

“Go ahead.”

“You told tons of stuff about the magical and demonic beasts roaming around the continent. I wanted to know, how did we differentiate the beasts from magical and demonic.”

“Well, the answer to that question is that demonic beasts, unlike magical beasts, have their mana corrupted.”

“Corrupted?”

“Yes. Do you know the story of our gods, Zachriel and Celestarya? And how have They helped us humans find a foothold in this world?”

“Yeah. Mom used to tell that story to my sister and me when we were young.”

“That story isn’t some folk tale used to comfort children into sleeping. There is truth to it.”

“Really?” said Lucian, surprised, with his undivided attention to the words of his teacher.

“In the earliest records of human history, the fact was that we were easy prey to magical beasts of that era. They overpowered us in every way imaginable. Every day, humans wondered if they could live to see the advent of the next dawn. That was our fate until Lady Celestarya bestowed us the ability to weave mana into weapons against the magical beasts. Following the bestowal, humans were no longer at the bottom of the food chain. As our forefathers grew stronger, our communities grew larger as well. That was the First Era of Man.” Told Cecilia as she drew the symbol of Lady Celestarya. A circle with the figurehead of an owl.

“What about the demonic beasts?” asked Lucian.

“They came when the Calamity happened.”

“The Calamity?”

“Yes. Few records exist of the time of the Calamity. Yet the records that remain all recount how horrifying the demonic beasts were, both in looks and in power. So much so that almost all kingdoms created during that era were eradicated with very few remains. That is when Lord Zachriel came to help us. By bestowing His protection against the demonic beasts, we were able to destroy the demonic beasts in retaliation. And that’s why there are almost no demonic beasts as of today.”

“Hmm. I see.” Said Lucian, in deep thought.

“That’s enough dilly-dallying. Come on. It’s time for the spell-casting training.”

Lucian sprang to his feet after Cecilia ended his break time.

Okay, time to cast it again. Surely today is the day I successfully cast the spell, thought Lucian, readying his arms to cast the spell.

Lucian tries the visualise the idea of a flame. This time, he can vividly remember the image of a flame, as well as the warmth. In these three weeks, after helping out his family with chores, Lucian would gather anything easily expendable that could be burnt. He would sit by the fireplace as he burned the items, taking in the warmth and burning the image of the flames in his mind. By doing so, he would have an easier time imagining the spell, or so Cecilia said. As he was trying to project the spell, he found the results of his mindful focus.

It was a success compared to the failures he had the past few weeks. The flame was as big as a basket that burned brightly and swayed left and right wildly. However, with every second of the flame existing, Lucian would feel exhaustion starting to seep into his body. Ultimately, the flame dissipated. But Lucian was ecstatic. He had finally done it. He casted his first spell.

“I did it! I’m a mage!”

“Congratulations on casting your first Tier-1 spell, Lucian.” said Cecilia.

“Tier-1?” asked Lucian, confused.

“Yes, Tier-1. And what did you say? Did you think casting just one spell would be enough to consider you a mage? No, there are many things I have to drill into your head before you can go around calling yourself a self-proclaimed beginner mage.”

Exhaustion had set in Lucian’s body and mind, bringing him to his knees.

“Don’t worry. The first-time casting of a Tiered spell is always difficult. Casting the rest of the Tier-1 spells should be easy, but what we are going to focus on alongside those spells is theorems.”

“C-Can you tell me in advance what theorems I am gonna learn?”

“For starters, you’re going to learn about attributes of spells, types of mages, schools of magic and alchemy.”

Lucian makes a face of despair. He had always hated studying, back when he tried to see if he wanted to be a knight.

“Stop making that face. It’s not like we are only going to be studying.”

“Oh? What else are we going to do then?” asked Lucian, his eyes now beaming with anticipation.

“We are going to do physical training. Mostly to build your stamina.”

"..."

Lucian stood there, dumbfounded at the words of his teacher.