Selene seems to be a creature of habit. The events of the day cut into her planned time to begin my training, and I told her that it was okay with me to cut into the night this time to do so.

She, of course, refused to take me up on that offer, saying that a child like me needed all the sleep I could get to “grow properly”.

Leaving the start of her next day, I spent the morning training with Lord Wrath, who repeated the training from the first day to work on the forms of the strikes, and the other training my new barbarian of a teacher designed for me. Effective training, but it truly pushed me to the limits.

Not waiting for a situation to arise, I left Lord Wrath’s residence right after training concluded and headed straight to where Selene was waiting for training underground. It was some sort of Fae training facility, made by magic resistant materials, but not the extremely expensive and rare magicite crystals, but more magically engineered alloys to reduce the cost of repairs.

“I think the best course of action for your training with me, is to focus completely on your magical abilities. Lord Wrath is taking good care of your physical capabilities, and training of your Sin of Wrath. Eclipse will have to be the one to teach you about your abyssal ones, as I have not seen anything close to what she performed in your core formation. So, ONLY your magical abilities are allowed in this training, understand?” and I nod to her in agreement.

“Good, so first on the list is that we are going to forget inscribing a magic circle on your core for the time being. At least until Eclipse awakens, as we will need her assistance to deal with the Abyssal Nine Seals and the remnant energy of the Elemental Conflict contained within them”.

She motioned for me to stand within a magic circle on the ground, facing a magic circle of the same design farther away from me. “Your magical abilities consist of using your body’s mana to perform the spells. Creating your own chantless system is very impressive for your age, yet you now need to modify your understanding of mana manipulation since you do have a core now”.

“Wait, what do you mean? Did I do something wrong in how I used my mana to draw the sigils that corresponded to a spell’s true name?” I asked her.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Yes, and no. Your idea was correct, and that is a way to perform chantless magic, but it is an archaic and inefficient way of doing so. Instead, you need to increase your understanding of the elements, so that you can learn the true names for your spells, as this will both increase the potency, while reducing the time to cast them. Your core will handle the mana flow, and all you need to do is focus on how to use the magic”.

Increase my understanding of the elements in order to maximize the ability to use them at a moment’s notice. A hell of a way to start training someone who has a circleless core, Selene.

“So how should I start the process of increasing my understanding, Selene?” I could take a guess and say if I cast a spell 100 times, I would learn to understand it more, but that may not be the answer.

“You need to learn to effectively communicate with the ambient mana using your mana to translate your intentions. You drawing the sigils manually is like someone pointing to an item to communicate it to someone who speaks a different language. Essentially, you need to learn the language of mana”.

I stared at Selene blankly. While it makes sense what she said, I was at a loss for how to begin this mountain of a task set by my bond.

“So instead of using the item to communicate my intentions, I need to learn how to describe the item with my mana so the ambient better understands what I am looking for?” Selene nodded to this, looking impressed in her young bond.

Thinking back to the hospital room with Sylas, when I learned the true name for my Sin of Wrath flames. There was that moment when I felt like I was enlightened regarding the meaning of the crimson flames, and what they represented.

“I need to learn what the essence of the item represents in order to increase my understanding of it, is that it?” and I swear Selene would clap with joy if she could, based on the proud look in her eyes.

“Yes! It is not an easy process, but learning how, why, and the other variations of what makes up the mana that creates a spell will empower said spell because you are informing the ambient mana more clearly than you have been thus far. Your method of using more mana to empower the spell is like creating a bigger sign to advertise your intentions to the ambient mana”.

Selene pointed to the magic circle I was in, and to the one farther away from me. Waving her paw, a large fireball appeared in the second magic circle, and she said, “The magic circle you are in will allow you to view the magic from different viewpoints, and the properties of the mana involved in producing the spell. When it comes to fire, you need to figure out why the fire burns the way it does, what is fueling it, and as many factors as you can to understand it”.

So things like how the mana is able to serve as fuel for the flame, and what is fire? Wait, what if I meditated while focusing on only absorbing fire elemental ambient mana, or better yet, casting and absorbing the ambient mana from a spell to better understand why it works the way it does?

Getting into my normal meditation stance, and ignoring the confused look from Selene, I reached out my hand to the fireball she had casted, and decided on my course of action.

I will absorb it in order to understand it! Pass or fail, this will only benefit my training.