A strange fog surrounded me. It felt cold and familiar. I looked around. Something was moving… Suddenly a skeletal hand reached for me. A grinning black skull was in front of my face! I woke up with a gasp. It had only been a dream.
I was sweating and far too awake. What time was it? When I looked out of the window only darkness greeted me. I should go back to sleep. Maybe playing with my magic would calm me down? I focused inward and watched the magic flow. It was pretty. The mana followed the blood and spread out everywhere.
Wait… were my muscles consuming it? I should be sore from all the training. And I was, to some degree. But it was not nearly as bad as it should be. It almost felt like my magic was helping my body. Strengthening it. I knew spellblades could do such things but they had runes tattooed on their arms. Maybe on other parts too. I should ask Charles about this. I continued watching my magic for a while and drifted back to sleep.
“MORNING! TIME TO RISE!”
I awoke, startled, until my brain reminded me that this was simply the wakeup call. I hoped I would get used to it over time. After a yawn I got up to start my day. Breakfast included a lot of coffee and soon I was ready for another day of training.
It started with some running, followed by push ups and then sparring. Yesterday’s bruises were mostly healed, so my body had plenty of space to collect new ones. After we took a break I decided to ask about body reinforcement.
“Does one need runes to enhance the body with magic? It feels like muscles are being improved and I am not as sore as I should be.”
“Before I answer that, how is your body accessing your magic? It should all be in your core.”
“Um. That is how I deal with the leaking magic. I just circle it around my body. I used the tiny pipes where blood flows and attached my magic to them. I think.” I scratched my head.
Charles stared at me. I was getting a bit uncomfortable.
“Who told you to do that?”
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“No one. Captain Sarah told me about my magic leaking and this is the solution I found.”
“Most people just learn to have it orbiting their core. Usually there isn’t enough leaking to do something useful with it.”
“Why is it leaking anyway?” I wondered.
“That we do not know for certain. It might be that this is how the world gets filled with magic. The reason we train to stop mana from escaping is to stop detection. An enemy mage could use it to target you.”
“But… does the world not need that magic? Is it harmful for nature to keep it inside?”
“Some claim that. I believe that every living thing creates mana. Plants, animals, monsters,... But not necessarily enough for us to detect it. In the end, the world is still going and mages have been hiding their auras for millenia and the world still works.”
“What is an aura?”
“The mana that leaks can be used by powerful enough creatures and mages. They can let it escape at will and manipulate it for certain effects. They can influence others, like frighten them, with their presence. But that is archmage territory. Now back to your original question: What your mana might be doing is helping your body reach its optimal state. Basically, you are getting muscles faster, healing a bit faster, maybe you will even build muscle memory faster. But it’s all within the normal capabilities of your body. Granted, as beastkin your normal abilities are pretty high. But it will still be within the natural limits of your body.”
“And spellblades go beyond those limits?”
“Exactly. You need more than the leaking mana to achieve that. But you will learn about them more in the classes about specialisations.”
“If what I am doing is useful, why isn’t everyone using it while training? Could you not pump your normal mana around your body?”
“Because most people can’t do that subconsciously. This is a higher level technique and requires multitasking, normally. You seem to be manipulating mana a lot easier than anyone I know.” He shook his head. “You are not normal.”
I was not sure what to think about that. It was awesome, on one hand. It would allow me to catch up to people who might have been training with weapons for a lot longer. But it would also make me a target.
Suddenly Charles looked at me and smiled. “You know, that means we can train even harder. This is perfect!”
I paled.
True to his word, Charles increased my training. Sadly he did not teach me more spells. That would come with the regular classes. I still trained manipulating my mana though. Now that I knew the benefits of pumping mana around I tried to use more than the leaking bits. It needed some concentration, because I had to actively will mana from my core to increase the flow, but I succeeded. Mostly. Maintaining it while running was easy, sparring was more tricky.
Quickly the first week passed and I saw real improvements. My body was stronger, my reflexes faster and my wild flailing around with a sword… ok that mostly remained the same. While I did learn a few moves I still struggled to really use them and ended up just swinging my weapon randomly. A few more students arrived but most would be coming just a few days before classes started.
The next week held more of the same. A lot of training. People still ignored me and I did not have enough free time to really look for friends. Things changed on Frigday. Suddenly there were a lot of new faces. With school starting in two days the academy got a lot busier. It was my last day training with Charles. We finished at 17:30 and I made my way back to my room. The door was open, my roommate had arrived. I was in my workout clothes, sweaty from training. Nervously I stared at the door. After a while of awkwardly standing around I entered.