The situation didn’t end as violently as yesterday, the same team turned up, scowled, and left. Danny promised Retta that he could control it and she reluctantly agreed to let him try again. The next mana projectile hit her shield hard but didn’t penetrate it. Danny had controlled the mana used for both parts of the spell properly this time.

“You’re a bit of a problem, Danny,” Retta said with an uneasy laugh.

“I’m trying my best here.”

“The fact that you can mobilise so much mana instinctively is the problem. Now that you’re a wizard, if you lose control the damage could incredible.”

Danny paused. She was right. He wondered what would happen if he channelled a spell with all of his mana. That last mana cannonball had been like a drop in the ocean to him. He was practically a walking nuke, not that anyone else needed to know that. “That could be a problem. How do we make sure that doesn’t happen?”

“Practice. Lots of practice.” Thankfully that was a language that Danny was fluent in. The rest of the day was spent devising a training plan for Danny. They had gone back to Retta’s office to look for some books on mana control exercises, the kind that were considered old school now. Most practice was done externally, with tools like the cubes. It allowed for a more fine-tuned experience. Those tools weren’t going to be an option for him after his experience with the cube.

That meant they had to go back to the old stuff. Exercises that people used to believe would help increase their mana pool, before empirical measurement had come in and found that these exercises only increased output efficiency, not the amount of available mana. Retta looked to be in her element, combing through texts and compiling a list of exercises for him to try.

The core tenant that each of the exercises required was they couldn’t have the potential to be dangerous if overloaded with mana. That meant that he was basically going to be doing party tricks for a while, using his mana to make shapes and models. He found the practices surprisingly difficult, he was unable to even create a basic shape without losing control and the mana popping. Thankfully the mana would just disperse into the air, returning to his mana pool.

Henrietta gave him a warning similar to the one he had gotten from Zoryana, if he put too much mana into one of these exercises and it popped, he could damage his mana pool with the returning amount.

The time for class to end had come and gone, but Danny and Retta continued to play around with the mana control exercises. Retta had decided to join him, flexing her far superior control.

“I haven’t done these since I was a kid. Really brings me back,” she said as she created a detailed skyscraper with her mana, even adding little people sitting inside it. Meanwhile, Danny could barely hold together a cube for a few seconds.

Their practice was interrupted when Danny got a call from his sister, reminding him how late it had gotten. He said goodbye to the woman and called his sister back as he began walking home. His sister had also learned how to cast a mana shield today, putting her miles ahead of everyone else. Nobody else in her class had even connected to their mana pool yet and she had been asked to join a class similar to Danny’s at Melbourne’s Academy. She was absolutely pumped to get the offer and immediately accepted.

Danny had learned that of his own class, everyone was now onto the mana-moving stage of the cube. Lucas had apparently really taken to that activity and was ready to learn spells, so he’d be joining Danny tomorrow. Danny told his sister all of this, deciding to tell her about his unique mana.

“Hmm I wonder what it is,” Belle pondered out loud. “The talent is clearly genetic, I mean, we’re both crushing it. But my mana is still blue, I wonder what’s different between us?”

“I guess I could just be built different?” Or I was poisoned by some sort of magic zombie.

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His sister laughed it off and eventually hung up to get dinner. Danny got home and sat in his room, playing with mana. His roommate had unceremoniously opened his door and found him trying to hold the mana in a cube and absolutely freaked it. He was dragged out of his room and made to perform his party trick in front of his roommates and their mates they were getting high with.

Their friend who was enrolled in the introductory class was also there. “Dude, nobody in my class has even connected with their mana yet. This is unreal dude, they said it could take the whole week just to learn to mobilise our mana. You’re crazy talented dude.”

Danny shrugged it off, that was until one of the other guys happened to scrolling insta and the video of him training at Mikey’s gym came up. The group began talking about the video when his roommate's eyes began to move between the video and Danny. Danny could literally see the brain cells desperately trying to connect, fighting with everything they had to join the dots. “Dude, it’s Danny.” Huston, we have lift-off.

Danny was immediately bombarded by the group with questions he had no way to answer. It seemed like the consensus was that the guy in the video had been practising some sort of magical martial art, which was wholly untrue, but the half a dozen stoners weren’t buying it.

Danny tactically decided to go for a walk. As he stepped out of his house he was met by an unexpected sight. A couple of large Asian men were standing in the front courtyard, having broken the lock on the front gate.

They looked at Danny as he left the front door, immediately they reached into their waistbands and Danny’s mind went cold.

Danny charged forward and kicked the closest man in the chest. He held nothing back and heard a sickening crack as his foot connected with the man’s ribs. The man coughed blood and collapsed to the ground. Everyone paused, Danny included.

The remaining two men looked at each other and then at Danny. Danny looked at them and then down at the man on the floor who was breathing weakly. “You might want to get him to a hospital.”

One of the men immediately turned and ran out of the courtyard, leaving just one man left. The man pulled a machete out of his waistband and brandished it toward Danny. “I don’t want to hurt you kid, but you’re going to have to come with me.”

Danny raised an eyebrow at the man. It wasn’t the first time he’d been threatened with a blade and he was more confident than ever in dealing with one. “I’m not sure you understand where we’re at. I get the feeling this isn’t a simple robbery, so you must know who I am.”

“Don’t get cocky just because you can fight kid. I’ve cut up dozens of men tougher than you.” The Asian man looked serious, and Danny believed him. If the tattoo of a large boat on the back of his hand was anything to go by, he wasn’t lying.

Danny took a moment to try and work out what was going on. He’d encountered guys from the HB triad before, they would come to cause trouble at the venues the Agostinos owned, so it wasn’t hard for him to recognise their tattoos. But why are they here? Danny had never personally gotten into a conflict with them, he was never truly affilated with the Agostinos and had never engaged in the family business. He racked his mind and the only thing that came up was his conversation with Meylin. Meylin.

She probably had something to do with this. He wasn’t sure how or why, but it was the only thing that made sense. “Look mate, I’m not sure what you’re doing here, but how about you take your mate here to the hospital. Your other mate got the right idea when he-”

Danny was interrupted by the other Asian man coming back into his courtyard, followed by a dozen other men. Another Asian man in a suit walked in after them. He was clean-shaven and held himself with confidence. This man looked far more presentable than the baker's dozen standing thugs.

“Danny Skala? I would like you to come with me, some important people would like to have a conversation with you.”

“What if I’m not in the mood to talk?”

The man took a handgun out of his jacket. “I must insist.”

“Well, when you put it that way.” Danny wasn’t sure how he would fair against a gun, he was pretty sure his magic shield would stop a bullet, but he wasn’t certain. He was standing with his back to a living room filled with stoners who didn’t deserve to face the consequences of him failing to stop a bullet.

Danny held up his hands and walked toward the man.