Ms. Jasmine is beginning my magic lessons with an explanation on how to actually use my mana sense skill. I haven't tried to focus on it since I first gained my {System}, but now I'm thinking I should have.

  "Alright little one, you should have the Mana Sense skill in your status, but I'm going to teach you how to actually use it now." Ms. Jasmine began her lecture. "Most people take a long time to learn this because it isn't important for their everyday lives, but that's just a waste of potential. Take me for example, I'm a carpenter, so what use would I have for knowing how my fire magic works? First off, because of my level of skill, naturally started fires can be brought under my control and extinguished if an accident happens. Second, cooking, camping, and other things of the like are often needing fires, which I can create and control as I wish. It's a basic survival skill. All affinities are like this, they all have some aspect of survival use that people just don't think about. Earth aspect can create shelter, or help with farming. Water aspect is fairly obvious, plus it can keep you from drowning. Air aspect can be used to reach places you normally couldn't, like foraging in trees, and clear smoke and fog as well. Light and dark aspects are a bit special in this case, more useful, but less obvious in use. And the evolved aspects are all more niche as well."

  Ms. Jasmine stopped to take a quick breath.

  "On to the actual lesson. The first thing you need to do to sense mana is picture your aspects and try to attune yourself to them. All of them at the same time. The difficulty for muti-aspected people is a big reason so few people become great mages. To be a good mage, all of your aspects need to be at least above the Lesser tier, and better if you have more than one. The higher the tier, the more powerful magic you can use. Great mages always have more than one aspect, with the greatest mages usually having two base aspects and an evolved one, which they specialize in. Mages who specialize in evolved magics are almost always unique from one another, even within the same aspect. This difference shows that the use of magic is only really limited by one's imagination and intellect. The more creative you are with your magic, the better you can use it to affect your surroundings, and the clearer your image of the effect you want, the more powerful the magic becomes."

  Ms. Jasmine stopped for another breath. I was beginning to sense an issue.

  "Now that that's been explained, I'll start on the training we'll be doing. To sense mana, as I said, you need to try attuning yourself to your aspects. Now you may ask, 'what do you mean by attune?'. Attuning is the process of envisioning, and attempting to partially embody, the elements of your aspects. The more aspects you have, the harder it is the first time around. It does get easier over time, of course, but the first time is always both difficult and special. To be fair, your first time doing anything could be said to be special. My first time casting magic for instance, now that was a great-"

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  "Ms. Jasmine, you're getting off topic." I interrupted yet another tangent she was going on. "I do have limited time for training with you, so if we could please try to stay focused, I'd really appreciate it."

  "Oh dear, was I losing track of the point again? That does tend to happen to me, sorry. Well, where was I? Ah right, attuning to your aspect. To begin, it's always best to be somewhere with your aspects in the vicinity, though sometimes that isn't possible. You can't really mix some of them very well. Too much wind will put out a fire, and too much light will snuff out any needed darkness. But, back to the point, Surround yourself in the elements, and try to feel their essence. Focus and try to bring yourself closer to them. Once you get closer to sensing mana, you'll feel something notifying you that your skill is starting to take effect. It could be an itch, or a falling sensation, it's different for everyone, but once you feel that, you'll know that you're close, and you're doing the right thing. After a certain threshold is met, you'll finally start seeing mana, and also controlling it to a small degree as well. The mana embodied by your aspects will always appear more vibrant to you than mana of neutral or opposed natures, with the opposing aspect's mana being much dimmer, sometimes even impossible to see."

  Ms. Jasmine looked to be out of breath. How she managed to get all that out without breathing is beyond me, but she may have been using magic for it.

  After a minute, she looked back at me. "Now that I've explained how to begin, you must envision a place where you can try attuning yourself. Do you have any idea where that might be?"

  "If I were to attune myself with all of my aspects, I believe the best place for me to attempt it is actually the smithy. It has everything I need. The fire of the forge itself, the light cast by heated metal, and the stone of the building around me. I think it's the perfect place to do this." I was excited to try the exercise.

  "I'm surprised such an important place for you is able to also awaken your mana sense, but I should warn you against revealing all of your aspects like that in the future. It could get you into trouble if someone with a grudge knows what you're capable of." Ms. Jasmine said with a gentle tone.

  "Of course, Ms. Jasmine. I know I can trust you, because you took me in. There's no reason not to let you know what I can do in regards to magic, is there?" I responded.

  "Of course not, I was just making sure. Well then, let us head off to the smithy in that case. We have a lot to do, and we're burning our remaining time by just standing here." Ms. Jasmine started walking in the direction of the smithy with me in tow.

  I can't wait to actually use my mana for the first time, I'm sure it will be a blast.