"What did you end up teaching Kedryn if you don't mind me asking?" Glade asked.
"Just like every lad and lass his age, he just wanted to show off what he could do," Bragden snorted. "But truth be told, he be a lot further than most I've trained. He can already shape and control his active spells at a much higher skill level than he currently be at. So, I set him on the next skill to learn, which be multi-casting. It allows ye to split yer focus and cast two o' the same spell, but with half the mana. One o' the hardest skills to learn at the early stages, but it be one o' the basic skills me students need to have before I graduate them to the next skill rank. It also be a right good idea to learn before ye increase yer attunement level. It just gets harder the longer ye wait."
"Everyone keeps talking about attunement ranks, mana channels, and skill levels in magic," Glade interjected as soon as Bragden had come to a natural stopping point. "To tell you the truth, I don’t understand any of it. Riya kept saying she wasn’t qualified to teach us and that we needed to wait until we met with her elders. Can you help?”
“Ye really don’t know anything, do ye,” Bragden sighed.
“Did you really think I would have purposely torn my mana channels if I did?” Glade asked in all seriousness.
“Yes,” Bragden replied without hesitation, much to Glade’s surprise. “For the short time I’ve known you lot, I’ve seen ye rush head first into danger for others without regard for yer own safety. Now don’t get me wrong,” he said, making a placating gesture. “I appreciate what ye’ve done for me and me clan. Hell, Krazzik is over the moon with ye, and I can see why. Yer cast from the same mold. Ye may deny it, but ye got the heart o’ one who can’t stand aside, even if it might cost ye yer life. And that be why I think ye’d tear yer channels in a heartbeat if’n it meant saving someone else.”
Glade sat in quiet for a moment, taking in Bragden’s words. He knew they were true, but wasn’t comfortable in any sense of the word hearing it spoken out loud. Especially by someone like Bragden.
“Thanks,” he finally said. “I think.”
“That wasn’t a compliment, lad,” Bragden said bluntly. “Krazzik was hard enough to manage afore we met you. Now, he be takin yer lead without thinkin through the consequences. Somethin for ye to ponder is all,” Bragden finished with the same placating gesture. “In the meantime, it be my job to keep all four o’ ye alive, and that means making sure ye can sling magic with the best out there.”
“There be many rules, both written and otherwise, ‘bout magic and how to use it right and proper,” Bragden continued. “But the most important rule be that having power doesn’t equal strength. Most idiot mages rush to gain power and never once think about how to leverage their greatest tool. Their mind. True power, not some idiot spell, comes from application o’ knowledge, magic or otherwise.”
Glade grunted his acknowledgment. He had been in more life threatening ordeals than most and fully agreed with Bragden. The one with the most firepower didn’t always win. But in his experience, it didn’t hurt either.
“So, where do ye want to start?” Bragden asked.
“What is an attunement and how is it different from our magical skill level?”
“Let me see if’n I can put this in a way ye can understand,” Bragden said. “I’ve seen ye fight before, so this should be easy as smelting copper. Would he say that throwing a punch be about skill or power?”
“Both,” Glade replied.
“Yer right, o’course. Magic be the same. Ye can’t do it proper without having both skill, which takes time to learn how to control the unseen energies and physical matter o’ the world, and power, which makes the damn stuff do what ye want. The more skill ye got, the more power ye can handle. We call that power an attunement, or resonance. Ye attune yer mana channels, in our case that’d be the sphere o’ astral magic, to amplify yer power. The higher the attunement, the more ye can amplify the magic. Like building her muscles, but with yer channels. Make sense?”
“I believe so,” Glade said. “But why use that specific terminology? Why not just call it magic power level or something?”
Bragden suddenly burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“If’n I had a copper for every time I heard that, I’d be richer than the king!” Bragden chuckled. “When I was teachin at the king’s own academy, I got that question from almost every Body Mage… I mean, Corporeal Mage since I should be usin proper terms, when they first started learnin ‘bout how to level their attunement. The truth be that attunement be the most accurate way to describe magic.”
“Ye see,” Bragden said, holding out his arms as if to showcase the world around him. “Everythin around us, even the things ye can’t see, is in a constant state o’ vibration. From the air to the densest metal ye can think of. That vibration be energy, and in order to manipulate the stuff, ye need to be attuned to the right resonances. And mana be the tool that allows ye to manipulate those resonances. So long as yer channels be opened and attuned.”
Glade’s eyebrows shot up. Bragden’s lecture almost sounded like a physics class from his college days. Except, instead of describing the make up of matter, it had to do with using mana to manipulate it.
“So, in order to manipulate those energies, you need to be able to work the right frequencies,” Glade stated, mostly to himself.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Bragden gave him a startled look.
“What do ye know ‘bout frequencies?” he asked with a guarded look.
“No where near as much as Kedryn,” Glade said with a shrug. “But in our world, we use various frequencies and wavelengths of energy to enable what we call technology. We can talk to each other from almost anywhere on the planet, capture light and radio waves from the stars to map out other galaxies, hell, we even use them for most forms of entertainment.”
Glade did not want to get into the details of Earth technologies, but he knew someone who would absolutely love to do so.
“You should ask Kedryn about it sometime. He’d probably be able to explain it in greater detail.”
“Aye,” Bragden said, giving Glade a calculated look. “I’ll have to do that.”
“So, you’ve mentioned the difference between attunements and skills, but how does rank come into play?”
“Rank just equates to the level o’ resonance, or amplification, ye have with a specific attunement. There be eight ranks that we know of, and they grant certain bonuses and power while also allowing you to cast higher level spells. Spark, which be the lowest rank, grants ye the ability to create a wee little spark o’ magic from that sphere. That be one o’ the hardest ranks to get past if’n ye don’t have a wagon load o’ shards and natural treasures to help ye advance. Then there be Sympathetic, Compatible, Concordant, Accordant, Sonorous, Resonant, and finally Transcendent. There be speculation ‘bout a rank above Transcendent, but nobody has ever reached that far that I’ve ever read ‘bout.”
“Now, me attunement rank in the Astral sphere o’ magic be at the Accordant level, which grants me up to 60% more power in me magic, allows access to tier 4 spells and enchantments, and grants me the ability to open the channels o’ anyone with fully formed, but closed, astral channels. Though, that last one requires me to have access to a whole lot o’ astral mana outside o’ just me mana pool.”
“That… makes sense,” Glade said.
“Course it does, I’m the one that done taught ye, didn’t I?” Bragden snorted. “Any other questions ye might have ‘bout magic?”
“You mentioned mana channel levels, can you elaborate?”
“That one be easy. Yer mana channels can only hold so much mana without tearing open. At level 1, they can handle up to 10 MP at the maximum in one go afore they tear. Now keep in mind, that a maximum be just that. Maximum. That be the furthest ye can stretch yer channels. After level 1, the maximum doubles every level. Meanin at level 2, they can manage up to 20 MP. Level 3 be 40 MP, and so on. Me current mana channel level be at level 5, which means I can push up to 160 MP through me channels.”
“Now, pay attention as this part be the important part,” Bragden said in all seriousness. “There be many types o’ magics that can be cast, but it be important that ye only cast what yer channels can handle. A traditional spell, like astral light,” a ball of azure light appeared above his left shoulder, “costs 4 mana. Yer channels can easily handle that there spell cause o’ the cost and the spell canna do anything else. Now, yer friend, the pyro, he has an active spell called manipulate flame. That means, he can adjust the mana flow to do whatever he bloodly well wants so long as he has the mana to burn and he stays within the limits o’ his channels. But, if’n he pumps the maximum o’ 10 mana at level 1 over and over again, he risks stretchin his channels past the point o’ tolerance and will likely tear the things open.”
Glade sighed deeply, giving a reluctant nod. That had been exactly how he had torn his own channels by using his telepathy outside of what it was designed for.
For Bragden’s part, he seemed to understand the nod for what it was and softened his tone.
“Any more questions?”
“Just one more,” Glade sighed, resolving to enlist Bragden in all his magical questions. “Is it more important to increase skill levels or attunement levels?” He had just crossed another racial threshold at level 8 and didn’t know if he should apply the bonus to increase his attunement, wisdom, or a random skill.
“There be more conflicting research and inter-scholastic warfare on that there question than hairs in me beard,” Bragden sighed. “It comes down to what ye are trying to accomplish. I be an enchanter. Skill be far more important to me than amplifying me power, seein as I can use materials to amplify power for me if’n I have to. For example, me attunement level only be that o’ Accordant, which gives me the amplification, or power, to use tier 4 spells and enchantments that max out at 80 MP. Me skill level be at Expert for enchanting, which grants me the ability to handle tier 5 spells or enchantments, which I can do if the conditions be right. And even though ye didn’t ask, I’m going to tell ye anyway, me mana channel level be at 5 so I don’t run the risk o’ tearing me channels open.”
“So, what do ye want to do with yer magic Glade?”
“I haven’t got a clue,” Glade sighed.
“Bah! Ye have plenty o’ time. No need to rush. Why’d you ask the question though? It sounded oddly specific.”
Glade explained his racial bonus as an enlightened human and the dilemma he was having as to how best to decide between raising his attunement, wisdom, or skill levels.
“Slagging eight branded human,” Bragden grumbled. “Do ye have a time limit on yer choices?”
“None that I know of,” Glade said with a shrug.
“Course ye don’t,” Bragden snorted. “I’ll get back to ye later after I think on it. Just don’t die. Don’t know if’n there be a penalty fixed to yer race after rebirths. Would be a shame if’n ye lost those bonuses.”
“I’ll do my best,” Glade said. “Is that all? Or is there something else you want to teach me?”
“Aye, there be more to discuss, specifically ’bout mana stones, mana gems, and mana cores,” Bragden sighed.
“Riya already taught us a bit about these,” Glade explained. “The stones can be found in certain beasts like natural guardians and can regenerate mana on their own. Mana gems do the same thing, but are created from mined gemstones.”
“Aye, ye got the gist o’ it, but anything important should always be taught twice.” Bragden said. “The stones and gems can be used as a perpetual form o’ advancement materials if’n they be treated, which takes an alchemist to do it right and proper. They can also be used to create powerful enchantments that be permanent or can regenerate their own charges. Like that pretty ring o’ gold and onyx Riya got from the dead shadow elf. It be powered by a mana gem making it a truly valuable item. And before ye say ye didn’t see no gem on the ring, ye need to understand that the onyx be the actual mana gem. I’d love to study it a bit more,” Bragden said, glancing over at Riya’s sleeping form. “It was made by a true master, I can tell ye that. Creating mana gems be a closely guarded secret and aren’t shared with anyone not o’ yer clan or guild. Wars have been known to erupt over such things.”
A look of anguish briefly crossed Bragden’s face before it was gone. The only reason Glade had seen it was because he had been paying attention.
“That brings us to the last o’ the types o’ stones,” Bragden said, putting the others away before holding up the large ball of blue lapis. “As ye know, this here is a mana core. Has Riya taught ye much about these?”
Glade shook his head.
“Good,” Bragden said, rubbing his hands together. “This’ll be fun.”