He didn’t know what he was doing wrong. He had tried everything he could think of, but none of it was making sense anymore. He could use it to get in and out of the stronghold, but couldn’t use it for anything else. It had been weeks, and everyone else in his class had started being able to make spell shapes with their void mana. He on the other hand, still couldn’t even feel his void mana, even with the help of Vivian, Tim, and Mr.Lenkil every single day the past few weeks. Frustrated, he talked to his father about it to see if he could help.

“You aren’t able to feel your void mana? That’s weird, how have you been getting to the stronghold this entire time?”

Vaunce sighed exasperated, this was exactly his thought process as well. He sent a message back on their local network.

“I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense to me at all”

They were talking through their void overlays, as they could only speak freely inside the stronghold itself. His father had been very insistent about it because they were the only nobles left who had a void elemental affinity. When asked about it, his father had responded that the empire was afraid of them rebelling, so they monitored anything they could. He had spells to block scrying of any sort inside the house, which is why they could teleport freely, but they could still monitor sound and their messages from the speaker-watches.

“It’s fine for now, there have been cases of people taking years to be able to free their void magic, some only through intense trauma.”

Vaunce gaped at his father “we won’t have to do that right?”

“No, we’re not going to traumatize you. I would rather you have no magic, than do that willingly”

“Anyway, isn’t it time for you to go to your apprenticeship?”

Looking at the time, Vaunce blanched. He was going to be late regardless of if he ran now. Waving as he took off, Vaunce ran through the early morning streets. As the buildings blurred by, Vaunce saw the sign that the forge was in use. Tall puffs of white smoke were shooting into the air, signaling the start of a new day. Running into the forge, Vaunce heard the noise of hammering as he changed into his forging clothes. Putting his goggles on to protect his eyes, he saw the other apprentice that Master Randall had taken on recently hammering to the rhythm that was being tapped on the anvil. Vaunce knew he was late, so he took the job that was normally done by Tek, the other apprentice; maintaining the temperature of the forge while it was in use. It was grueling and sweaty work because you were right next to the hottest part of the forge and constantly had to shove various fuels into it depending on what was being forged.

The low-grade fire crystals kept it smoldering, but to actually forge it needed various fuel. Birch and Charcoal were the typical fuel to keep the forge hot. There was also some holy-fire salt that was spread along the inside of the forge when they cleaned it, to make the forge run cleaner and the metals to be more pure.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the hammering stopped and Vaunce was allowed to step away from the back of the forge. Gulping water down, he saw Master Randall nod at him.

“Ight Vaunce, you’ve got the shop for today. I’m off to the meeting with some customers. Remember to lock up when you’re done for the day. Tek, you’re done for the day, go home and enjoy the extra day off while I’m gone. I’ll be sure to work you double when you’re back next week”

Nodding in understanding, Vaunce and Tek started going about their tasks while Master Randall left. Tek left shortly afterward, leaving just Vaunce in the forge. It was way too early for anyone but the workers to be up, so Vaunce decided he would practice his exercises to feel his void mana.

Focusing intently, Vaunce reached inside himself deeply feeling for even the most tenuous strand of void mana. He had already used it before, so he was confused about why he was unable to use it normally. His knife ‘The Glutton’ had been enchanted to devour mana, even if it had been by accident. He also used normal mana aligned mana all the time. He could use the basic four elements with little to no issue, excluding the fact he had to gather them from the ambient mana around him or take the mana from someone else.

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Hearing talking in the front of the forge he popped his head out to see what was going on. Seeing a few people in the shop he walked up and, after conversing via his speaker-watch, he got their orders sorted and went to the back to work on some basic seasonal orders from the farmers and other craftsmen that needed metal tools made. He had mastered making them last year, so his mind was free to wander and explore his issues with void mana as he forged the multitude of tools.

Why can I use the other mana types but not void? Isn’t absorbing the mana of the other mana types part of using void mana? Maybe the feeling of void is the feeling of absorbing things?

Thinking while he worked, Vaunce noticed that it was cooling down around him. Panicked, he looked around and saw that the fire was dying out.

“Oh fuck” cursing under his breath, he rushed to pump fire mana into the forge before it could die out. Master Randall would be furious if it died out since it was fed with low-grade fire crystals and holy-fire salt. The crystals weren’t very expensive but they weren’t cheap either. The holy-fire salt on the other hand purified metals, removing the imperfections from anything forged to a certain extent. It also helped bind alloys together better.

Feeling the heat return, Vaunce wiped his forehead in relief. The forge usually ran on one batch for about a week, and it was the second day; It would be terrible if they had to completely restart it with another batch of materials as well as throwing off the cleaning schedule for the forge.

Starting to forge again, Vaunce thought about what had happened. Realizing he had been thinking about void mana absorbing elements, he thought it might be a clue to being able to use his void mana and felt some excitement run through him. Tampering down his excitement a bit after remembering the disaster that he had almost experienced, he resolved to finish forging first.

Putting the final work aside to cool off, Vaunce sat at the front counter and started trying to recreate the feeling he had earlier. Feeling the air slightly vibrate around him, he could tell he was absorbing air mana but was unable to feel his void mana move. Frustrated, he let out an exasperated sigh and stopped for the moment. What he needed to do was think about all the experiences he had with void mana. There wasn’t a large amount of it, but he had definitely used it more than once. He had forged his knife and accidently enchanted it with the devour effect of void mana. He had made a tunnel for him and Lilith to enter into the hideout a few times. He teleported into the stronghold almost everyday for nearly two years with no issues, and then also teleported back out. None of this made any sense to him, or Tim or Vivian or anyone that had been helping him. He was stuck and it frustrated him to no end. He was beginning to feel like a failure with no end to it in sight.

Annoyed, he grunted under his breath and tried again. It was insanity to just keep trying the same thing over and over, but he wasn’t sure what else to do and just sitting around not trying anything seemed like a betrayal to everyone that had helped him. Feeling around for his mana, he pulled at it and it moved like normal, but that was the elemental mana moving instead of void mana. Trying to make himself feel better, he made some colorful bubbles appear and start bobbing around the room in an invisible wind. When they popped, they would explode into colorful sparks before being replaced by another bubble to follow in the endless cycle of popping and more appearing.

Before he had realized, it was time to close up the shop. Making sure the forge had enough fuel to last the night, he secured it so that the fire wouldn't leak. Vaunce locked up and headed to an empty alleyway to teleport to the stronghold. He didn’t have class today, but he wanted to go read in the library and see if he could figure anything out about his issues.

Arriving at the teleportation anchor, he gave a brief greeting to everyone around while he started on his trek to the library. He had gotten used to the empty feeling that teleporting gave him, although the last few weeks he had been more worried about the teleport not working at all. Looking at the carvings as he strolled through the hallways, he was always fascinated by them. His father said that they were historical events, woven into a reinforcement enchantment that spread through the entire stronghold. He could see mana running through the carvings which just made them more fascinating. The stronghold was huge, and to have an enchantment running through the entirety of it was absurd.

Arriving at the library, he began to search for books that might be able to help him.