Since he already meditated before the shower, Mathew sat down to develop the ice runes. The one he already finished before, slowly circled his core. The technical term was a rune, but it actually looked like a tiny, flat cloud of frost. Each mage developed their runes slightly different, for some they were childish scribbles, for others descriptions in their language, those who came from old cultures usually formed established symbols. Mathew simply thought of frost, the way it felt, how it looked, what it represented, rather than what represented it. Small lines of fog stretched out of the rune, ready to connect to the next one he'd form. A circle formed around the frost cloud, shapeless, colourless mana of ice. The System recommended forming the second rune in one of two ways. As a number of focus points, each separately connecting to future runes, or a single circle that would make use of the entirety of itself and the frost rune, but as a less focused form would be harder to control and form.
Mathew doubted he'd achieve great heights on the path of magic, but he would still do things properly. Once the day would come, that he lied on his death bed, he wanted the ability to say "I lived my life to the fullest, I took no short cuts, I am satisfied." Thus, he tried to form the circle again. Mana collected, took shape and dispersed as fog. Focusing power through a rune larger than the source, was terribly counter intuitive. For a while now, the mage tried bringing more and more mana, voiding the space within the rune, trying to create a circular tube, that would snap into focus within the empty space. Once it was complete, through complicated mental gymnastics, he could view the circle as smaller than the original rune, or so said the System.
After three hours of meditation, Mathew lied down on his back with a sigh. He just couldn't picture a larger object focusing the smaller one. He began thinking what a circle was, in the old folk tales and traditions. When an old crone came to you with curses and fortune telling, you drew a circle around yourself so she couldn't apporach. When you slept in a forrest, you drew a circle so the spirits wouldn't enter your body. When you found an evil, you drew a circle around it so it couldn't escape. In a village, when a criminal was found, he'd be brought to the Old Oak and tied like through a circle, with his intestines to the old tree. Old trees were quite the symbol on their own as well. The mage got lost in thought, sometimes coming back to folk tales, other times picturing superhero shooting beams out of circles. He tought of targetting circles in games, of drawing practice, making hundreds of circles for hours on end. When his mind reached dusty memories of math, he sat up.
The mage focused again, this time he thought of power to contain, shield and release. Rather than use vague, mostly forgotten knowledge about science, he thought of mystical rituals. The circle formed, containing the frost rune, protecting it from outside influence, ready to shoot out it's power. Time passed and the cold inside Mathews body was growing unbearable, cold sweat all spread all over his body and because he didn't drink any water since the previous day a headache was coming. Finally, after hours of focus, the rune snapped into place. The fog connecting the runes thickened and stretched around the jagged ring of ice, foggy tongues swaying above and below the new rune.
Mathew was excited to try it out right away, but worried about damaging something inside his appartment decided to do it later. Also, he was damned thirsty and didn't want to nurse a headache for the rest of the day. He stretched a few times, this way and that and got up.
The man dug up some painkillers from the shelves in the kitchen and with a tall glass of water sat down. He felt like his new spell whispered to him, to be tested out, unleashed to be seen. Still, he controlled himself and once he drank the water, found a clean set of work out clothes and walked out of his apartment. Once more he went to the park, where he hoped the grilling areas would be empty. If they weren't, he would have to go further, to an artificial river about two kilometers away.
On the way Mathew stopped in a coffee shop, got an overpriced thermos and ordered some hot chocolate in it. Cup in hand, he strolled without hurry. He wanted to run, get as fast as possible to his spot and just blast out the magic, but thought being slow would be a good patience training. When the mage saw the trees, his legs began taking longer steps on their own, but he kept them steady. Once he reached the park, his steps quickened, but once more he regained his slow pace.
Finally he reached the dirt circle, left the thermos at it's edge and walked to stand in the middle. Not wanting to fall into bad habits of many mages, who focused most of their spells through their hands, first he directed the power through his legs. The mana left him much like it would with only the frost rune, but Mathew locked it with a circle fifty centimeters from his body. As he began getting cold, he created a second circle around his feet, keeping the frost away from himself. With the spell fully released, warmth began rushing into his body and he collected more mana. Now from his thighs he positioned the mana to release to his sides. Two cones of energy rushed out, then the warmth came and three meters long, one meter wide at their ends, cones of frost appeared on the ground.
Mathew looked around, then squated and through his chest cast a single cone, only slightly longer and wider than the previous two. He then walked a bit into it, turned around and from the right pointing finger released the last spell. He tried controlling it's spread and how far it would go and managed to make a head for his misshapen frost angel. Satisfied, the mage walked back to his hot chocolate, giggling like a child who had all of the invited guests come to the birthday party. After a couple sips of chocolate, Mathew stretched and began walking back towards the center of the circle, when he notice a group of four children comings towards him.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
When the girls reached the dirt, they waved at the man. "Hi, we saw you training!", the middle girl asked and continued, "Are you a Mage?" and run up closer to the man.
The mage furrowed his brows and looked over at his creation, then back at the girls. "A kid on the Moon unable to tell the difference between an Apprentice and a Mage? They can't be younger than fifteen, so they should be Apprentices themselves... I get they might not expect me to be weaker than them, but c'mon." Mathew glanced at the frost angel and looked at the children again. "They're not even looking at the magic... girly, you couldn't be more obvious... children, can be so silly." Finally the man spoke, "Hey! Sadly no." The mage smiled apologetically.
"Oh... Mage Apprentice then!" the girl exclaimed unabated. "My friend over here," she pointed at the girl to her left, who was looking down at the ground, "is also practicing ice magic! Maybe you could give her some personal advice?", with those words, the excited girl pushed her friend forward.
"Oh, come on Anna!" The Ice Apprentice glared at the other kid. "So, we saw you casting magic. You casted from all over your body!"
"Gesturing and chanting just make focusing easier. Well, there are some systems that require them, I guess." Mathew paused and continued, "The methods from Maa are rather free in how you can manifest your magic, just like the system spread by the Spider. I think the older Moon community, while mostly ritualistic, has methods to instantaneously form their circles on any surface in the proximity of their spiritual bodies. Well, for an actual explanation you would probably be better off, asking your teachers or proffesors, or a master if you have one."
"Maybe you could be Mary's master!", one of the girls in the back yelled.
"Y-yes! You could teach me!", the child said while glaring at her friends, who laughed between each other.
"Sorry, I'm not even an Apprentice. I'm only trying to get back in shape." Mathew smiled in a self-depreciative manner. "I should get going, have a nice day."
"You are in good shape! Maybe we can just go for coffee?", the girl yelled out.
"You are cute and all, but I don't date children." With those words, the man turned around and walked away.
The girls continued talking, but the mage not in the mood, didn't pay attention, his mind already somewhere else. Once he reached the edge of the park, he realized he didn't take the thermos. With a sigh, Mathew turned back to get it. By the time he got back to the dirt circle, the children were gone and the frost angel was now covered by a thicker layer of ice. The mage was glad, that at least he was spared an awkward conversation with them. "The attention was nice enough I guess... but, like... ah, whatever." Not thinking much more of it, Mathew returned home, a smile wouldn't leave his face the entire way.
Once he got home, he grabbed some clothes and left for the gym. Nothing happened on the way to the Crystal Abode, but the wrold seemed more colourful. As usual, in front of the shopping center, a group of zealots was preaching about the dangers the false gods brought. Mathew waved at them, they deserved maybe a little kindness for sticking to their thankless task, and went in. A couple floors higher, Fitness Planet welcomed one of it's new regulars.
"Hi Mathew, you seem to be in a good modd." Josepho greeted the guest. "Something to do with your second rune?"
"H-hey. Yes, kind of." The mage stopped and looked at the giant. "How strong are you?"
The receptionist opened slightly his eyes and Mathew turned away, maybe he didn't need that question answered. "Well, it's been a fun day. I'll be going up."
The mage left his clothes in the changing room, before coming further up, to the treadmills. Once he was warmed up, he went through his usual sets. After three hours he was tired and finished, so after taking a quick shower and putting on jeans and a clean, black t-shirt he went up to the yoga garden. Mathew sat down in a corner and meditated.
First he just played, swaying the fog coming out of the runes, making it quicken, stretch and flatten itself on the frost. When his body cooled down, he simply flowed mana through his body. While going through the simple exercise, the mage wondered which rune he should go for next. One would allow him to form ice constructs, early on just simple walls; the other would let him throw projectile spells and would add some destructive power to all of his magic. The System didn't advice the man either way, as he would need both before he mage could work on the last rune. In the end Mathew decided on the first one. After forming his ice circle the way he did, a defensively focused rune would likely be easier. Acknowledging the decision, System showed the man his new curriculum.
Mathew let the ice mana within himself calm down and looked into his core. He stretched the fog tongues downwards, helping them form into a new circle beneath the other runes. The mana that would form into a bowl there was sluggish to respond, losing form, flowing away and forming into ice spikes. After a few dozen failures, System flashed the mage to stop. The man stood up, stretched and bowed to some people exercising nearby.
"Once I will have this rune in place, maybe I could try going to a dungeon? I still won't really kill any monsters, but at least I could shield the other party members and help them avoid being overwhelmed... Yeah, once I will finish it, I will look for a party. I probably won't get one straight away, so I will also have some time to work on the offensive rune and learn how to shape ice." When Mathew was done with his thoughts, he noticed his legs, on auto-pilot brought him back home. Without much thought, he just fell on the bed and fell asleep.