The city of Petra is a lonely city in the north of the continent of Askarta. But for those who live in this city, their distance from the big cities is not something they mourn. As soon as the morning sun illuminates the streets, the streets made of keystones come alive and start a new day. Two young people, who were walking fast in a street that connects to the big city square of Petra, got into action with the sunrise.
“Come on man! walk little faster! Today is the big day, I don't want to miss anything."
It had been a week since Arden had spoken to the higgs. The walls of the inn were built, only the roof and fine workmanship remained. But this day was not about the inn. During their time in the Adventurers guild, they had learned only survival and other knowledge. And finally, they were going to be training magic and melee for the first time today, and Arden was just as excited about it as Matt.
“Calm down matt, we are gonna make it on time,” Arden quickened his pace and said.
Moving like the wind through the streets of Petra, the duo soon arrived at their destination. In general, the guild would be empty during the lecture hours. When people set their own working hours, they generally did not want to work early.
“Good morning, Ms. Elza” Matt said, waving.
Elza was working as a receptionist in the guild. Whenever Arden and Matt came to class, they would always greet her and just walk into the training ground behind the building.
"We're not late, are we?" Arden gasped. Toward the end of their journey, they had run a little.
"No, it hasn't started yet, you've come just in time." Elsa said with a smile.
After thanking Elza, Arden walked through the corridors of the guild to the door that led to the training grounds. By the time he got to the door, Matt had already opened the door. Across from them, about 2 dozen youngsters were immersed in conversation as they waited for their trainer.
Although the training area was not very large, it was ideally sized for the 2 dozen students currently studying. The area had no walls, but the walls of the building next to it surrounded it. The newly born sun does not reach the area, so the weather is a little cold.
“Good morning, Zeke, Alistair, Ava,” Matt said, walking slowly.
Matt had met these three in their conversations after training. Arden had not had the opportunity to participate in these conversations, as he had to deal with the inn's business. But when Matt later introduced Arden to the others, they started hanging out together.
Zeke was a tall elf with a bow hanging from his back. Alistair was an average blond man with a slightly stubbled beard. Ava was a half-elf 160cm tall. But she had red hair that didn't match the elves' characteristics.
As Arden and Matt approached their friends, Zeke spoke with a smile.
“We were starting to think you wouldn't come”
“I can't miss it man, waited for hole week for this” Matt smiled and said.
“How is the construction going? Can you make the opening next week?" said Ava
“Everything is going as planned. You guys should definitely come when it's finished, I'll cook the food," Arden said with a smile.
“What’re you talking about, we are definitely coming my friend” Alistair said
As the conversation deepened, the door from the guild to the training area opened. The instructors had arrived. Next to Edward was Olivia, dressed in a wizard's robes. Arden had seen Olivia at classes last week. So it wasn't the first time they had seen her.When the two were in front of everyone, Edward began to speak loudly.
“Okay guys!.. Lets start. Olivia will test those who don't test mana first. If you are prone to magic as a result of the mana test, olivia will undertake your education, if you are not prone to magic, I will continue your education."
Olivia took a white elliptical stone from her magic pouch and placed it on the table in front of her.
“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, line up. Everyone will take turns touching the stone. The stone will tell us whether those who touch it have a Mana aptitude or not.”
The trainees soon formed a line. Arden and his friends were at the back of the line. The queue was moving fast. Although half of the trainees were tested, not a single person was found to be susceptible to mana. Before it was the turn of arden's group, 1 person prone to Mana appeared. Arden was a little excited about it, though not as much as Matt. Modern pop culture has pumped the magic into people's brains so much that almost every kid wanted to have magical powers at least once.
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There were only 5 people left who didn't get tested. Since Zeke already knew he wasn't Mana prone, he went to the front and nothing happened when he touched the stone. Then Alister touched the Stone. Again, there was no movement in the stone. Then it was Ava's turn. Arden was behind the line and could not see how the stone reacted when the previous mana-prone person touched the stone. But Ava had already had some sorcery training, so the stone would definitely react.
When Ava touched the stone, a blue light began to emanate from the stone. Just above the stone, drops of water came together to form a ball of water the size of a marble.
“Oh, the Water element disposition is good, go that way,” said oliva, pointing to her right.
It was Matt's turn. Matt wiped his sweaty hands on his pants and set them on the stone. The elliptical stone glowed as in Ava, but the brightness was too low and nothing appeared on the stone.
“Hmm, you're Mana prone, but not enough to help with your battles. My advice to you is to go with Ed, but if you still want to, find me after classes and I can show you a few things.” said Olivia.
Arden could see that Matt was disappointed. But Olivia's offer seemed to lift her spirits a little. Arden, the only untested person, stepped forward as Matt left the front of the table and walked over to Edward's side. After Matt's outcome, she feared her own outcome. He raised his hand and placed it on the stone.
And the stone began to shine like it had never shined. Grains of earth on the ground trembled and rushed straight onto the stone. And an earthen sphere the size of a tennis ball formed. Olivia was surprised to see what was happening in front of her.
"Ok, You’re…"
Olivia's word was cut off by the flame that began to burn above the stone. This time Olivia was seriously taken aback.
“Wow, I think we found ourselves a 2-element genius,” she said, sounding quite excited.
“What is the name genius?”
“Arden,” he said.
Olivia turned to Edward and began to speak.
After saying, "The whole area is yours, follow me, mages," she started walking towards the guild gate. Arden still couldn't get over the shock of the incident and started to follow Olivia with slow steps.
“I didn't know you were a genius,” said Ava, approaching him.
“Believe me, me too”
They entered the guild building behind Olivia and followed Olivia to an empty room.
“Please sit down,” she said, pointing to the seats.
Once everyone was seated, they started talking.
“3 people out of two dozen, as well as a 2 element user, that was unexpected.” she said and smiled.
“Call me Olivia, and yes, very rare? Do you know the rate at which people are prone to Mana?"
She continued when she realized that Arden didn't know because of her.
“1%, and this is just the aptitude percentage, if elemental aptitude is involved, this amounts to 1% among mages. 2 element predisposition is a condition that appears 1 in 10 thousand wizards. Now do you understand why I call you genius? If you apply to any academy, I'm sure the white-haired old men will race to accept you,” she said, smiling as if she had imagined old wizards competing.
As Arden tried to make sense of what had happened, olivia began to speak, after all, she wasn't the only one getting the training. Next to the Ava was sitting the other student who had passed the mana test. Seeing that it was appropriate to begin, Olivia spoke directly.
“Lets start with the foundation, Mana is like a veil that surrounds us, sorcerers, we absorb this mana and manifest it as magic. Unless you have a proper method of assimilation, this work of sucking usually takes place by eating and breathing. The first duty of a mage is to learn to absorb the mana in our environment efficiently.”
Arden shrugged as olivia started to speak and listened without missing a word.
“If everyone is ready, let's get started, although it is not difficult, you may need to get used to the method:?” said. Olivia continued when the trio sitting in front of her didn't make a sound.
“Okay, close your eyes and focus. Try to feel your surroundings, if you are careful you can feel the mana surrounding you. When you feel it, try to draw the mana towards a point in your body. “
When Arden tried to do what Olivia had said, he could really feel the mana surrounding him. But when he tried to draw the mana outside into his own body, the mana was constantly shifting. He was about to open his eyes to ask a question when he heard Olivia's voice.
“At first, it may be difficult to draw the mana outside into your body, but you have to choose your own method here, the most popular one is the spiral method. In this method, you have to choose a point on your body and create a vortex with your own mana at that point, the vortex automatically attracts the mana around you.”
Arden began to apply what olivia had said. This was his first attempt at mana manipulation. He had made a swirl of mana in the center of his head. Right around this whirlpool, the mana had begun to draw the mana around it into the center of the vortex, but it had only been 2 seconds before Arden lost control of the vortex and the vortex dissipated.
“Oh, you almost made it Arden”
“Can you see my mana?” Arden said.
“Of course, if you're not trying to hide it, examining the surrounding mana is something any mage can do.”
"So how do I hide it"
“Concealment is one of the topics of our later lessons, so you have to have some patience.”
“Yeah, let's get to the elements, elemental mages are usually divided into two. The first is Attack mages or war mages and the other is those who use these elements to make different items. For example, mages like Arden can even build big cities on their own at high levels.”
“First of all, element control is a little different from mana control. You can even call it a side branch of magic if you want. “
“Another area of magic is [Word] spells. These allow you to do predetermined things with mana.”
He said {light} and a bright ball of light appeared in Olivia's hand. The ball disappeared after wandering around the room for a bit.
“Word spells are tricky spells. It requires you to learn the meaning behind the words.”
“Yes, let's focus on the vortex event today, the most important task of a mage is to collect the surrounding mana into his body.”
Arden closed his eyes and focused on the vortex he had created in his head. He lost control of the vortex each time, but increased the vortex's open time to 10 seconds before it dissipated. Unknowingly, time flew by quickly.
"Well, that's enough for today you can leave."
Three people stood up and went to the door.
“You stay arden”
Arden sat back in the chair, waiting eagerly for what Olivia would say.
“Wouldn't you mind taking a break from this adventurous business and going to an academy, as I said before, it would be okay for you to enter any academy”
“Actually, I didn't attend training to be an adventurer”
“So why did you join?”
“I am opening an inn outside the walls of the city, I attended education to learn a few things to protect myself. “
“An inn?”
“Yes, it will open next week. I don't think I can leave Petra because of that."
“You are a very strange person, Mr. Arden, has anyone ever told you this before?
“Actually, yes, last week,” he said, and smiled.