“Thunderbolt!”

Sizzling air crackled with electricity before being shot out of Leona’s palm as it arced towards a nearby tree which resulted in a roaring crack as the wood exploded from inside out in a blazing fire.

She could hear clapping coming from behind which prompted her to glance over her shoulder.

“Not bad at all, Leona.” Wearing a proud and smug expression, Robert looked at the fiery result of her lightning magic. “You got the hang of it pretty fast.”

She turned back to the splintered tree.

“You call this fast? Two days to learn one spell…”

“Most people take months to achieve the same result.” He walked near the tree and inspected the middle of the trunk which was ripped in half. “To attain this level of power and precision is no small feat I’ll have you know.”

Despite the compliments, Leona simply took a deep breath and asked.

“So. What next?”

“Hmmmm…” He held his chin while still looking at the tree. “You already know, what, five elements?”

She raised her right hand and started to lift each finger as she spoke.

“Fire, water, ice, wind and now lightning.”

“You could practice earth spells. They are way less dangerous than lightning and can be used in a variety of different ways.” He turned around to face her. “Plus you should rest your mind, you’ve been here for almost six days straight.”

She had a serious yet saddened expression on her face.

“At least it goes to show I’m getting mentally stronger too.”

With a small sigh, he continued.

“Let’s head outside.”

He snapped his fingers and Leona felt a familiar violent jerk of her upper body as she was brought back to her physical body. Although she was sitting on a comfortable armchair for the entire time she was in the inner world her mind could still experience fatigue which was reflected in how sluggish she seemed before sitting upright.

What used to be quite taxing to her brain however, was now manageable to the point she could stay there for prolonged periods of time without fear of losing her sense of self.

“You seem none the worse for wear.” Robert said as he stood up from in front of her. “How about headaches?”

“None. The migraines were still pretty bad when I accidentally got myself killed though.”

“And whose idea was to start out with the highly destructive thunderbolt? You do realize how electricity works, right?”

“Well…” She wore an exasperated look on her face as she sighed. “Now I know, first hand.”

She stared at her own hand closing and opening. She could still feel the lingering sensation of the lightning spell coursing through her limb.

“Still…” She continued. “I thought it was close to impossible to learn so many elements like this.”

“It’s the same as speaking another language. It comes with training.” He shook his hand back and forth dismissively. “Surely the Grand Academy taught students how to handle multiple elements.”

“Up to three spells.” She sourly replied. “They thought my mom was lying when she said I knew four spells.”

“Less than half? Disappointing.” He shrugged. “Then again. You only need to know two to win most battles against other mages. At least in this era.”

“Pray tell o grand sage, what led you to this profound conclusion?”

“You only really need one well placed spell to snuff out someone’s life.” He formed a finger gun and mock-fired at her before lifting it up. “And to do it at range besides, much safer than going in with a sword or axe.”

“What about magic barriers?”

He chuckled.

“You are assuming they’ll even have time to react. Most mages don’t react to mana—they rely on their eyes to spot a spell forming and by then it’s already too late. Reading mana fluctuations lets you sense someone else’s intent before they even start casting a spell.”

She held her chin.

“Hmmm… so that’s why you taught me in this order huh?”

“One key aspect of knowing lightning magic is the ability to tune with the mana around you and as a result—having a greater grasp at reading mana.” He looked around the empty room. “This is a perfect chance for you to practice. Close your eyes and focus on the tingling sensation you felt—try pushing it outwards like a ripple in water.”

“Huh? Right now?”

“Yeah, training is something that never truly ends—even if you become a master like me.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head a bit before eventually closing both eyes. She recalled the sensation she felt earlier throughout her hand.

At first it was difficult to imagine it coursing through her body, until she remembered the moment she died in the inner world. The backlash she felt from her own spell as it fried her inside out was a painful moment she would rather forget, but there is growth—even in failure.

The tingling sensation quickly started to spread through her whole body before it eventually poured out of her. It felt like the air trembled as this pulse of mana started to map out the environment around her. She could feel where everything was, from the smooth wooden furniture to the warm fireplace and more importantly—see things her naked eye wouldn’t perceive.

Behind the door that led to the hall they were in, there was something resembling the shape of a person. Despite their frame being on the smaller side, the amount of mana they radiated was impressive. Where the surroundings would only have faint trails of light blue mana—this person had a light orange aura to them which made the air seem like it was burning.

“Is that…” She asked while remaining with her eyes closed. “Yuna coming back?”

Robert raised an eyebrow before it quickly turned into a smug expression.

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“Not bad at all.”

“I’m back!” The moment the double wooden doors swung open—Yuna came inside with a basket full of vegetables. “The harvest was so good yesterday that they gave me all of these. Hm? Are you practicing mana detection?”

She hopped from atop of the staircase and landed right beside the wooden table before leaving the oversized basket on the floor.

“Yes, she is.” Robert answered. “She managed to sense you before you even opened the door.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Yuna said, bounding closer to Leona. “Miss Leona, can you tell me what the color of my aura is?”

With her eyes still closed, the tactician turned to her and said.

“It’s a… light orange color. I always thought mana was light blue.” She then opened her eyes and noticed she was right in her face. “Gah!”

Leona jumped backwards which almost made the armchair tumble with her but Robert steadied it before it could tip over.

“Oh oops. Sorry.”

Yuna chuckled as she took a few steps back to give her some space.

“Well now, this is interesting.” He took his hand away once he made sure his favorite seat wouldn’t be ruined. “You can see the glint.”

“Glint?”

The tactician asked with an obvious puzzled expression.

“Mana often takes different colors depending on its concentration. There are variances but it starts out as light blue, it goes to dark blue before turning into light orange then dark orange and finally yellow.”

“Then…”

She looked at him and closed her eyes. She focused again on the same tingling sensation as it expanded her mind’s vision but she could only see Yuna’s aura—where he stood it seemed like she was staring at some object that didn’t have any mana. Robert smirked as he tapped Leona’s head.

“You can’t perceive aether with mana detection. When mana becomes dense enough, it transcends its natural state to become aether.” He extended his hand toward her, which in her eyes seemed like an object shaped like a limb. “You can’t see what you can’t perceive.”

Leona opened her eyes and brushed off his hand from her head.

“Then, I can tell if it’s aether or not by the lack of mana, is that right?”

“Well… not really. If you’re going up against an opponent that knows how to manipulate aether—you can bet they know how to recreate the aura that comes with having mana. Watch carefully.”

Though visibly annoyed, she closed her eyes nonetheless. Through her mind’s eyes she noticed a glowing flame growing within Robert’s chest as the light blue started to spread throughout his body mimicking Yuna’s aura.

“So?” She asked whilst paying attention to his aura to see if there was any pattern she could use to discern it from the real thing. “How do I know my opponent is trying to trick me with a fake level of mana?”

“Right now? There’s nothing you can do. What you can do is to always overestimate your opponent’s power. That way it’ll keep you from endangering yourself.” He relaxed his hand and his makeshift aura vanished like a snuffed torch. “You can watch out for fluctuations in mana as well. The outer side of someone’s aura will flicker if they attempt to suppress it. While it’s not foolproof—at least it is another method you can use.”

“Then… what about me?” She opened her eyes and asked. “Is there anything I can do to hide my own aura?”

“It’s… possible, but it's an added strain on the mind. Especially now that you have increased your own mana reserves, it’ll be quite difficult to suppress it.”

“Wait… just how much mana do I have now?”

“Ah, right, it would be difficult for you to see it.” He raised his hand on top of her head. “May I?”

Once again she seemed visibly annoyed but there was nothing she could do aside from sighing and tilting her head slightly forward.

“Go ahead.”

She begrudgingly said.

“I’ll lend you my own vision so you can see what you look like on my end.”

After placing his palm on top of her hair there was a very brief shock spreading throughout her body. Robert’s eyes started to glow golden as their sight became one. What Leona looked at was nothing like she saw in Yuna.

It was like her whole body was set ablaze with a bright orange color much like the setting sun. Of course, that made her flinch back and their connection was instantly severed.

“W-what was that? Do I look like that to everyone that can see mana?”

“I’m afraid so.” Robert turned his face to the side while trying to hold the laughter in. “You do stick out like a sore thumb now.”

“So it wasn’t like this before?!”

“Eh… it was dark blue so, somewhat? You can thank Akamui for it. That little stunt that cost your arm was one of the biggest jumps in your mana capacity. That roughly pushed you into light orange territory and the last week worth of training put you now into this orange glow.”

“Wait… how is this even possible? I spent most of my childhood casting spells but-”

“Calm yourself Leona. You need to remember that you carry dragon blood in your veins. Mana growth is inherited from your parents. If you were to let’s say—spend a year here training as intensively as you are. You’d be almost at a young dragon’s level of mana capacity.”

“And closer to aether manipulation I’m guessing?”

“Hmmm… maybe. The jump from mana to aether is quite a big one. You’d need to rival your dragon great grandmother in mana density for that.” He scratched the side of his head. “Or maybe that won’t even be possible… your body as it is wouldn’t be able to support such a vast amount of mana without it crystalizing.”

“Huh?! Then…!”

He took a deep breath and raised both of his hands—signaling for her to calm down.

“It takes way more mana than what you currently have in order to produce the same effect that happened to your left arm to your entire body. Losing that limb was an outlier where mana concentrations are concerned. You took every single drop of mana in your body—not accounting for Kaeli’s share and focused through one single limb.” He scoffed with a smirk on his face. “Not even at my prime as sage I was able to pinpoint the flow of mana to this degree of precision. You have a dangerous knack for mana manipulation that can serve as well as ruin you to the same extent.”

She stared at her right hand.

“Am I really that accurate with it?”

“I’d say you are almost a hundred percent accurate with spells that don’t require an awful lot of mana. Which the offensive spells are usually composed of.” He walked to the basket Yuna had brought in and picked it up. “Remember what I said before, you only need one well placed spell to end most fights. Your accuracy with it will be the key to winning most fights.”

“You always tend to emphasize precision but I never asked you—why is that?”

While with the basket in hand, he motioned with his chin in order for her to follow him. Which she complied by standing up. As they headed to the kitchen, he explained.

“When I was a sage in my previous world, I was tasked by the king to annihilate an enemy kingdom. At first it seemed just like any other job. I cast a large destruction spell and call it a day. But that was, you could call it, one of my lifetime follies.”

They entered the kitchen and he placed the basket on the floor. Unlike the kitchen from her mansion, this one was tailored with modern hygiene standards. Marble table, metal sinks, white ceramic floor and a variety of solutions in the corner near a bucket with a mop.

It was a bit distracting but Leona quickly focused back in the conversation as she asked.

“Your folly? Weren’t you tasked with an order from the king? What is the problem with following through it?”

“Well… turns out, if you release a mass destruction spell in the middle of a kingdom and destroy it completely—leaving no survivors, it will turn your own military against you for ‘use of excessive force’ or so they said to me.” He started to pick out vegetables from the basket and handed them to Yuna and in turn, she placed them in the sink. “Wash these thoroughly.”

“Got it.”

While her daughter washed the different vegetables, he went to the counter to pick up a large iron cast cooking pot. He returned and placed it beside the sink.

“Anyway.” He continued. “I was branded as a dangerous warlock that served an evil god. Most likely an excuse to mop the problem under the rugs.”

Leona was both fascinated and somewhat skeptical as she tilted her head slightly.

“And what did you do?”

“With the king assassinated and my head going for the chopping block, of course I retaliated. But that was just the stepping stone for the end of that world.” He leaned back against the marble table in the middle of the room and raised his head up while closing his eyes. “They had advanced magic enough to rival me in combat. It was a one man war against an entire kingdom’s army. I did what I could to prevent more deaths and fled, but it wouldn’t end there. Where their army went, destruction followed and soon thereafter, no other kingdom in the world could stop them.”

Leona swallowed dry as she kept listening to the story while the sound of running water kept the room from going eerily silent.

“I was bitter, the kingdom that turned into an empire was brought to its golden age by none other than myself. Why was I branded a traitor and persecuted to the world’s end? It was then when Lastraeous gave me a ‘blessing’. The power to manipulate the void.”