Aptitude is notably not inherited and doesn’t appear to run in bloodlines. There are several theories about this phenomenon, some more mythological than others. The prevailing scientific theory in the Arlin empire is that aptitude sources from a deeper connection to nature and the conditions of the child during pregnancy.
***
As Elm and I screwed the last few pieces of the igniter together, I took a deep breath before turning towards my newest teacher in magic. Elm slumped a bit before pulling out the two foldable chairs again and placing them across from each other and closing the vent near the top of the room which led to the outside. I sat down and extended my right hand, letting the same soft light emanate from it like before.
“We’re done with the first step of understanding it. The next step is to understand how you can control its flow beyond this. What you’re currently doing right now is changing the slightest flow of mana, the amount that normally exits your body without forcing more or less to flow through you. That’s why it’s so weak.”
That made sense. I’d been able to focus my light down to specific parts of my hand but I hadn’t been able to change the amount I was letting out. Elm sat down in front of me and placed his hand beneath my own.
“This room is good because there’s a shit ton of ambient mana in it thanks to the magore. It should help to allow you to manage more of the stuff. Now, I want you to close your eyes and feel the sensation of the light currently escaping you.”
I closed my eyes and listened to my body. The light that escaped my hand felt like a small trickle of power as it emanated off of me and dispersed into the air. The sensation on my palm felt like wading through a thick mist. It was small, but there was a clear flow that I could sense. I nodded, and Elm continued.
“Good. Now, I want you to attempt to trace that flow inwards. Follow where it comes from internally and see where the energy which is coming out of your palm is sourced.”
I sat there and focused on the sensation. I felt the flow of energy come through my arm, the mana snaking its way through my veins back into the core of my chest, before spreading out across my entire body. I took a deep breath and realized how much the amount of mana in my core shifted when I did.
Am I taking it in through the air?
As I pondered and took more deep breaths to confirm my theory, Elm placed his other hand on my chest, pressing against it.
“You’re feeling it come from the air, right? That’s the main flow where our body takes in the mana, but it comes from all around us. Every inch of skin takes in the slightest bit, lets it flow through our core and back out of our bodies, tying us to the world. It is how we become attuned to the world and it is how your hand is currently creating light. You can open your eyes.”
I opened them to see Elm staring at me, his eyes a little bit distant. Something about teaching magic brought a bit of his past back to him. Whether they were good or bad memories was unclear, but it caused him to reminisce on days long past.
“I think I’ve sensed the flow of mana in other things before. The parts of the mine with magore always looked a little warped, like the space around them was being pushed away.” I spoke candidly mentioning the bizarre revelation that had occurred to me not too long ago. Elm’s face looked to be deep in thought at the small aside, but he shook it away to continue.
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is what is flowing through you. I want you to think about that flow, and see if you can open yourself more. Don’t focus on putting more of it in your palm, but focus on letting more of it enter your core and flow into your system. Once you do that, it will naturally increase the output you’re already giving.”
I nodded before looking inwards again at the flow. I took another deep breath and thought about my core and the energy that was passing through me, and attempted to allow more of it to go through my system and up my arm. It took a moment for me to visualize it, but once I did, my right hand started to glow more and more. I took another deep breath, opening my core and letting the flow increase as much as possible.
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The entire room went white.
***
The blinding white that had exited my palm had drained the room of color and overpowered every single other source of light in the room. I closed my palm, stopping the transformation of mana into light and limiting the flow. As it subsided, I could see Elm on the floor squinting his eyes, readjusting from the sudden burst that had just assaulted the entire room.
“Fucking hell! You didn’t have to go that far! All you had to do was slightly increase the output, not blind me!” Elm was struggling to open his eyes, and there were tears streaming down his cheeks due to how much light had assaulted them.
Elm got up from the floor after a minute of squinting and slapped me across the face, my body still glued to the chair.
That was deserved.
“Next time you want to go full power, maybe fucking warn me so you don’t make me go blind.” Elm was still struggling to look around and regain his vision, but the frustration in his voice was extremely clear. We were lucky that the vent had been closed, or else the light would have probably been seen throughout the camp. As I sat there, regretting my actions, Elm’s eyes widened as something within him seemed to switch.
“Kid, your eyes ok?”
“Yeah?”
Wait, why are my eyes ok?
“Huh. I didn’t expect it to work like that. That’s definitely going to help out in the future.” Elm had his hand on his chin, stroking the small amount of hair that peppered it. I took a moment for the information to click in my head. The light that I had just released was enough to blind people and hurt their eyesight, yet I felt completely fine. I didn’t even close my eyes during the whole exchange.
“Sir, why are my eyes ok?”
Elm’s response was a soft shrug as he brought himself back into the chair.
“Aptitudes give the person an immunity to the mana that they transform. It’s the reason why a person with a fire aptitude doesn’t burn themselves every time they transform mana. Helps deal with the naturally occurring stuff a bit too, but not as much. I met that other person with a light aptitude but I never got the chance to ask if their eyes were protected against it.”
That’s definitely going to be useful. I have no idea how, but it’s probably going to have some use.
“What’s your aptitude?”
Elm paused for a moment as he thought about his response. Whatever he had, he probably was proficient with it.
“Stone. Helped out a lot with my tech work in the past.” Elm spoke in a blunt tone, clearly limiting himself from indulging with the topic. It was the first time he had said to me directly that he had done magore tech work in the past. I had already assumed it based on the information given to me by both him and Galen, but hearing him confirm it gave me some level of confidence. Him having a stone aptitude meant that he could maybe help to clear out the mine after we blew it up. In hindsight, that might have been why he was okay with the plan.
“One small thing before you head back to the bunk. I wanna test something.”
Elm picked up his chair and placed it against the wall, asking me to follow suit. He wandered over to the tool box and pulled out a blowtorch. He brought it over to me and turned it on, a small flame coming out of the tip.
“Give me a small light.”
I listened, holding up my right hand and letting off the faint light facing down towards the floor. Elm moved the blowtorch close to my hand, placing the flame below it. As it sat there, I felt the warmth, but it didn’t burn. I could still feel the heat but it wasn’t enough to make me want to pull away. After a few seconds of this, Elm pulled it away and turned off the blowtorch, staring at me with a look of curiosity.
“I didn’t expect that one. A lot of heat comes directly from light, so I guess that gives you some protection from it.” he muttered, continuing to stroke his chin. His mind was clearly elsewhere, but it wasn’t in the past. “You should head back to the bunks. That’s all for tonight. We’ll work on this tomorrow. However, if you go all out like you did last time, I’m not going to keep teaching you. I’d prefer to keep my fucking eyesight.”
As I walked out of the armory and back towards the bunks, I could feel a smile creep across my face. I was one step closer to making the plan and I had a new tool which could help me out. Our plan was coming along, and I could finally see the goal with some level of clarity. The only thing I could do now was work with Elm, let Alex do his work and wait until the fateful day would be upon us. Well, that and figure out how the hell to safely get into Captain Galen’s office and nab the key. However, that little experiment of Elm had given me an idea that was somehow even more insane than blowing up the mines.
But for now, we wait and plan.