This one took a while... Mainly because of work... And I don't know, I kinda rushed this one cause wanted it done before the holidays and I'm not gonna be able to write at that time...
----------------------------------------
A year has passed since I started training under Claire. In the span of a year, she taught various attunements. She had also cleared up what the difference is between Ambient and Inner Mana.
Ambient Mana basically only allows the caster to manipulate the surroundings. While Inner Mana can be used to alter the World’s Laws. From Gravity to even Necromancy are all done using Inner Mana.
She said that it was very important that I know this so if I ever got into a fight using Magic, I’ll be able to counter. But I don’t think that I’ll be getting into a fight anytime soon.
The training that I do now are all using Inner Mana. I train to get even faster casting times, more powerful spells and longer lasting spells.
“Chris!” A man called out to me as I was walking in the street.
“Oh, Leslie” The man named Leslie walked over towards me with a container in his hand.
Leslie is a pretty bulky middle-aged man. Whenever he hunts he would always give me some of his harvest. So every time I hunt I would return the favor by doing the same thing.
No doubt that today too he’s going to give me some of his hunt.
“Here, take it, we got a lot from yesterday. Me and my family won’t be able to finish all of it, it will just rot.” He handed me the container which was filled with meat.
I took the container from his hands. “Thanks! I’ve been focusing on training so much that I haven’t had the chance to hunt as much so I’m grateful for this.”
“I see, well don’t overwork yourself alright, Karen’s going to be the one that’s going to have the most trouble if you do neglect your health.” He patted me on the shoulder as he said his words.
“I know, I know. She tells me that too almost every day.”
“She’s a very good girl so don’t give her a hard time alright.”
“I try not to”
“Hmm… Which reminds me, she’s almost eighteen. Didn’t you guys agree to not have sex until she’s eighteen?”
“Yeah, well it was because of her parents though, mostly her dad. It gets really hard to restrain you know. She’s gorgeous, kind, very caring, and she’s slowly becoming a very good cook.”
Leslie chuckled “Hehe, you’re a lucky man aren’t you?”
“Hehe, I guess so.”
He brought his face close to me and spoke in a low voice. “But remember, you guys are still young. Don’t be too hasty in having a child. It’s a lot of trouble to raise a child, make sure you’re committed. It’ll probably be easier to raise a child in the other continents. Why don’t you ask one of them when you see one?”
“Oh, those people that wear those needlessly elegant clothes?”
“Yeah, them. Why don’t you talk to them and ask how you can be as luxurious as them?”
“Eh, I’m not really looking to live luxuriously. I’m happy as long as I can provide for them.”
“Yeah, well, if you need help don’t be afraid to ask. I’m going back, my wife’s probably looking for me now. Take care of yourself.” He waved his hand goodbye as he turned back and walked away.
I waved back at him “Thanks!”
I dropped off the container over at the house before I headed off to the training grounds. On my way to training, I ran across Karen who was holding a basket.
“Oh there you are Chris. I’ve been looking for you.” She approached me while wearing her usual shirt and long skirt.
“Oh hey, what’s wrong?” We walked as we talked towards the training grounds outside the village.
“Claire came to me earlier and told me that she has something to do today so she won’t be able to make it.”
“Something to do? Here in Phantasia?” I was curious because as far as I know, most of her day is consisted of her training me.
“Yeah, she didn’t say what it was, she also with that man Gabriel when she left.”
“Ah, him. I’ve seen him during training a lot of times. They’d be talking for a while but then Claire for some reason would get really mad and sends him away.” I shrugged, remembering how ridiculous that whole thing was. She literally just blew him away with Wind Magic all the way back to the village.
“She must really hate him huh…”
“I guess… I overheard them one time when they were talking. She said Gabriel doesn’t follow orders that’s why a lot of innocent people get involved with their affairs.”
“So… That means they’re working together? Doesn’t seem like it… They always bicker when they get in a conversation.”
“Well, whatever, they won’t say anything if asked anyways. So, what are you up to?”
“I decided to come watch you today, and I brought food.”
“What is it?” I brought my face close to the basket trying to get a smell of it.
She pulled the basket away from me “It’s Beef Patties with Mashed Potatoes.”
“You’re getting better at cooking you know? I remember when you tried making stew and the meat was burnt and there was no soup at all.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“That was back then and now I have my mother teach me. She comes in everyday and I have her teach me. Although she gets really annoying.”
“Why?”
“Every day she would ask me if she’s going to be a grandma or not. It’s really annoying now.”
“Be nice to her… If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be together you know.”
“I know, but she’s in such a hurry to have a grandchild. I know dad told us to wait until we were old enough but in the first place I had planned to only have a child when we get our own place, preferably outside of this continent.”
“About that, I’m planning to talk to one of the visitors when I see one and ask them about what it’s like to live in the other continent.”
“Visitors?”
“You know, the ones that occasionally comes dressed in elegant clothing.”
“Oh them. I don’t know, they act like they own everything. The last one that visited demanded food, housing and women. We all just ignored him and apparently he died in the forest.”
“There has to be people that are not like them. It’s not like all of them stop by the village.”
“Maybe, but I’m not expecting it.”
We continued our conversation until we arrived at our destination. I had once again warned Karen to stay far away and to run at the sign of me losing control of the spell.
Today I’m focusing on Gravity Magic. A spell called Black Hole as Claire called it. The spell manipulates gravity to make it absorb everything regardless of size. I had succeeded in invoking the spell but what I’m trying to improve is the range of its pull and how long I can keep it in existence.
I trained throughout the day just solely on improving the Black Hole spell. I get so absorbed in training that Karen had to call out to me to take a break and eat. The spell itself consumes most of my Mana and the fact that I have to control its suction range so it doesn’t absorb everything within sight. Claire had told me to be extremely careful when invoking this spell as it can, if it was made big enough, swallow the whole world.
Time flew by and by the time I knew it, it was already sundown. I looked over at Karen and saw her laying on the ground asleep. I pondered for a moment as to whether or not I should continue with my training or not.
“Hmm… I guess I’ll take her home first then continue.” I spoke to myself as I walk towards her. I carried her and used Spatial Magic to warp to her house.
I laid her down to her bed, tucked her in and kissed her on the forehead. I turned around and warped back to the training grounds.
“What should I do now? I feel like I need to take a break from Gravity Magic.” I sat down with the village in sight as I ponder on what I should try on next.
“I wonder. What if I can make a barrier using Mana. Hmm… Compacting Mana to solidify it.”
I held my palm out to concentrate on where I should form the barrier. I gather the surrounding Mana and compacted a massive amount of it into my hand and the result was a cloudy yellow material.
I pulled out the dagger that my dad gave to me for my birthday just a month after the incident with the dragon. The dagger was black in color as it was made with the dragon’s scale. I plunged the dagger into the material and nothing. The dagger couldn’t penetrate no matter how many times I tried.
“Nice!” I was very excited at how much potential this spell can have. I can make a barrier around me everywhere and anytime. The only thing that needs to get better is its color and if possible, make it transparent so it’s not noticeable.
As I was practicing making more barriers, the sun has totally set and the moon was now high in the sky.
“Oh yeah, Claire also told me that if I can imbue Mana to my eyes, it’ll make me see clearly. I wonder if it works during night time?” I stood up as I finish recollecting Claire’s advice. “I’ll practice on my way back.” I stood up from where I was sitting and started walking towards the village.
I imbued my eyes with Mana as I was walking and sure enough, my eyes can see through the night as if everything is giving off their own light. “Wow. How convenient.”
I walked towards the village with my eyes imbued with Mana. As I got closer to the village I caught sight of someone, or rather, something. It was a human, or not. It was too big to be a human and what gave it away were its horns. It was also very muscular and taller than anyone I know. It was just standing on a hill overlooking the village.
I somehow got a bad feeling about this thing. It’s just standing there menacingly. “What is that thing?” I wondered aloud.
As the bad feeling in gut grew, I hurried towards the village, while keeping sight of that thing.
A moment later the whole world was basked in light. It was as if a sun had suddenly appeared in the area. The light had greatly blinded me, even more so since I was using a spell to enhance my vision.
I fell to my knees with my eyes closed and deactivated my Vision Enhancement. The light had vanished just as I did so. Slowly, I carefully started opening my eyes, which were still blinded by the light.
A few attempts later to fully open my eyes and I was finally able to do so. I tried to look around and get a grip on my position. I looked to where that creature was and it wasn’t there anymore. I looked around some more and noticed. That the village that was supposed to be there wasn’t there anymore. There was not a trace of it left, just a huge crater where it was supposed to be.