The shield shattered and dissipated, leaving Adam with an unobstructed view of his uncle.
Derek was shocked. When Adam left home in the morning, he didn't believe in his nephew's ability to learn magic, even thou he shoved signs of talent. And to learn magic in such a short time? Even if it was a very basic spell, Adam proved to be talented.
He had some hopes, but hopes weren't enough for his protegee to attain the mystical status of a mage.
"What the fuck? How were you able to learn magic in that fast of a time?"
Shouted shocked Derek.
"I guess I have some talent, just as I said in the morning." Shrugged Adam.
"Also, the head guard was nice enough to introduce me to the basics. Without his help, I would have no chance at magic for the foreseeable future." He explained. Truly, without a pathfinder, he wouldn't be able to learn anything, at least until he got lucky enough to figure something out himself.
"Oh, be careful with taking freebies, although Edgar Steelarm seems like a good guy, associating with him would bring you a lot of trouble. Whatever reason he has to stay in our town, with a measly head guard position, while being an esteemed mage, it can't be good." Warned the uncle, it was his duty as Adam's guardian after all.
"Well, I do am in debt for with him, but I think it was a fair trade, or even one better for me than him, after all, I only have known rumours about magic before."
Derek didn't leave a further comment, there was no need for that.
-----------------------
The next morning, Adam woke up excited.
After all, today he would try elemental magic, which was supposed to be easier than arcane one. The thought of having elemental magic at hand made his blood boil with fervour.
During breakfast, Adam had some doubts about what Edgar said about environmental mana and the power of elemental spells. Sure, it made sense that mana outside powered up or disturbed some elements, but would the same element as environments, be most effective against monsters of the area?
'Wouldn't monsters evolve to be more resilient against an element of the area? Didn't animals living in cold areas develop, fatter, more cold-resistant skins?'
As such, being doubtful about his choice, Adam asked Derek about it. he was an experienced hunter so he must have known such things.
"Hmmm, yeah you are right, from what I know local animals have thicker furs and are more resilient to cold than ones living behind the mountains, far in the south where the weather is warmer. But I don't think that would change something in your case. You said you want to learn ice magic right?"
"Yeah, the head guard said it would be the easiest one to learn." Answered the nephew.
"Well, as far as I can tell, ice magic is all about shooting ice from your fingers. Thicker furs will definitely be a problem, but not one you can solve. What you can do though, is focus on sharpness rather than the mass of your magic, if that does even apply." Explained Derek.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
"Why, wouldn't a heavier object be a deadlier one?" Asked Adam in confusion.
"It does, but against thick furs, it is less efficient, that's why no one who focuses on fighting monsters in ferston uses blunt weapons, the fur acts as a pillow, making the effect of the strike weaker"
"Ohh, if you use a spear for example, wouldn't it just tangle in it?" Asked the curious boy.
"Yeah, that's why any sane person will take more than one spear while hunting." Derek's somewhat wise words ended the conversation.
Adam was easily convinced by his uncle's reasoning, and with his resolution revived, he headed out outside, to explore a wide world of magic once again.
Firstly, he warmed up. It was just his second day of using mana after all, it was normal for him to feel out of touch. Throwing rocks in the air, and trying to create a shield underneath them proved to be a good exercise, and soon, Adam was once again able to cast his first spell on a whim. Of course, not before failing spectacularly a few dozen times.
Now came the time to learn elemental magic.
Chief Guard Edgar taught him that to use elemental mana, he first needed to feel it in the atmosphere, or in its natural form. Then, he had to understand a bit how it worked and put that knowledge into his mana, effectively creating elemental mana.
after managing to create their own elemental mana, the mage had to take it out of their body, and there the major difference between elemental and arcane magic came to light. All mana yearned for its natural form, yet not all mana had one.
For example, while using fire mana, after taking it out of the body it would fight the mage to become fire, the same fire that burned down forests and warmed up houses. other elemental types would desire to become their own natural counterpart. A mage could suppress that desire and use it in ethereal form, just like arcane magic always stayed, it was the only exception, as pure mana didn't have a 'natural form'.
Ice was simple to understand, just like everything else if you watched it for a period long enough. Adam lived in Derdania, a place shrouded in snow and ice for most of the year, so he had enough of the sight.
Changing the mana inside his body proved to be easy, much easier than he expected. The same applied to projecting it outside, though that was probably because he knew how to do it with pure one.
After taking Ice mana out of his body, Adam felt that aside from environmental suppression, his ice mana also started to rebel. It wanted to become ice. Although keeping it in this form was very hard, and taxing on his mind, Adam experimented a bit with ice mana in its ethereal form. Apart from the fact that it felt chilly to the touch, it acted exactly like arcane magic.
After Adam dissipated this deployment of mana and summoned forth another, he let it become ice. As soon as it changed form, manipulating it became nearly effortless, at least in comparison to the same mana in ethereal form. The floating ice fought off the environmental suppression and didn't rebel even a bit.
'So that's why pure magic is considered to be the hardest, elemental ones, just don't have any suppression burdening the mage on them, aside from the ethereal form, but who in the sane mind would use an ethereal form for extended periods?' Thought Adam.
There was another style of magic that Edgar told him about, instead of controlling their own mana, mages sometimes took control over the environment. The thing is, the chief guard didn't tell Adam how to do it, only that it is possible.
So, Adam started the work, new spell wouldn't learn itself.
His spell of choosing consisted of a block of ice shaped like a spear, a butt much smaller, basically, a featherless arrow. This [Icicle] was thrown into the air by Adam's mana, which acted as a bridge between the icicle and the mage. Adam could freely control it in a 5-meter radius, any further and it was like a shot arrow, not changing course if not hit by something.
He tested the spell before completely immersing himself in practice, he shot an arrow at his uncle, who was hidden behind a shield, and then he did the same with [Icicle]. The result was that the spell was comparable to normal arrows. he didn't expect it to have such a good outcome.
While casting this spell wasn't much harder than his first one, learning it by heart was much harder, and it took much longer.
With that done, Adam's capabilities as a mage rose dramatically.
Those traits would prove to be very useful, as tomorrow was the scheduled first outing for the new adults, and our new mage didn't want to miss it.