4. THE BASIC THREE

It was an hour before Ava was satisfied that there wasn't something wrong with his mana. He had grown comfortable with lighting up his mark with a soft blue light. She had him practice doing it over and over again until it barely took a thought from him to direct the mana to his hand and light up the mark.

"Are you feeling light headed at all?" Ava inquired, curious.

"Nope!"

"You must have really good reserves. Usually it takes children years to start building mana reserves. I'm surprised you have that much mana for not having ever used magic before."

"Well, I am an adult" James quipped.

"Moving on, each of the disciplines have what are known as the 'basic three'. These are spells every mage child spends his first fifteen years learning. These are the only "freely" available pieces of spell casting knowledge. At least for anyone with a bit of gold." Ava explained.

"So there's three spells I can start learning now? Awesome."

"Patience. Let me finish. The basic three are 'Summon', 'Mutate' and 'Motion'. Each of these spells have different effects across the different disciplines however, in theory at least, the casting fundamentals should be the same. There are mages that spend their entire lifetimes perfecting the basic three and we still don't know the full limits of them. Now, on to what they do: A fire mage summons fire, can shape it, and then move it. As a water mage, you should be able to summon water, shape it and then move it and so on."

She could see James open his mouth and raised a finger anticipating his question. She looked around to confirm that they were alone before telling him to simply observe.

"Summon!" she had pointed the palm of her hand at the ground. A blob of black energy emerged from her hand and it the ground. There was a tiny puff of smoke and when it cleared, a skeletal rat with decomposing muscles stood in its place. The grass in a circle around the rat had instantly whithered and turned black.

James' mouth hung open while he stared at the zombie rat.

"Mutate!" Ava cast the second spell. A similar looking spell emerged from her hand and impacted the rat. Before his eyes, the rat skeleton was reshaped slightly, its hind legs stretching out, and torso reshaping itself. The little flesh there was also moved and shaped itself around the modified skeleton. The zombie rat was now standing on its hind legs with a lower half that resembled a tiny human, the upper half still remaining a rat.

"Motion!", this time the spell of light was extremely thin and fast but was more a constant beam as a thin blank strand remained connected between Ava's hand and the zombie rat. The rat started moving around on its legs, imitating a human walk. It walked over towards James who was still staring at it in shock.

James yelped and fell backwards when the rat tried to grab his leg. Ava let out a small laugh at his reaction.

"That's....that's fucking insane!" James exclaimed. The sheer amount of possibilities from such powerful magic were immeasurable. 'And these are the 'basic' three? Fucking BASIC?!?' he thought.

"Now, don't be alarmed. What you just saw was the result of twenty five years of practice with the basic three. And even then, that is the largest construct I can summon. Most mages will be one of the elemental ones and you wouldn't be surprised at a fire mage being able to summon fire now would you?"

"Can life mages really summon life?" James asked the most pressing of his ten thousand questions.

"They mimic life, but they're mana constructs. Life mages have some secret where the constructs move themselves without a Motion spell which most people mistake to be life. Personally, I think it's more akin to how a summoned fire burns of its own accord. Depending on the mana used, the constructs dissolve in a short amount of time. This" she pointed to the rat, "should be gone in another minute or so."

James tried poking the rat construct with a stick and found it to be solid. His mind was racing with the possibilities before a thought struck him.

"You said I was a water mage. Does that mean I can summon...water elementals?" he asked eagerly.

Ava looked at him sheepishly. "If there is such a thing, that would be a highly advanced spell. For your basic three, you'll be able to summon water, shape it and move it." She saw the sudden downturn in his mood "It's no smalll thing either! After a few years of training, you'll be able to summon water, convert it to ice and throw these constructs at any enemies. All with the basic three!"

That looked a lot more promising to James but he was still a bit disappointed his dreams of tiny mana construct armies he could control was looking unlikely. He didn't give up hope entirely, however, a week ago he had led a life believing magic wasn't real and somehow, here he was. For now, he would focus on becoming the best damn water mage in the world. "Alright, where do I start?" he asked Ava eagerly.

She gave him a small smile and picked up a glass of water. "Motion is the easiest of the three and the starting point. Don't be disheartened if you don't get it immediately. It takes kids a full year before they can move a single droplet. There's a big jump from lighting up your mark to actually casting a spell."

The sun was at its zenith and the day was starting to heat up. James could feel some sweat building as he looked around the backyard of a house that wouldn't look out of place in a small town in the US. He looked down at his hand, instinctively lighting up his mark. But this? This was something straight from his dreams. Growing up reading fantasy novels and playing World of Warcraft, this should be right up his alley.

He gave her a determined look, "I'm ready."

She gave a small nod in understanding before continuing her instruction. "When you have excess mana built in your hand that lights up your mage mark, you have to speak the spell words and keep the intent clear in your mind. The Motion spell requires the least amount of mental effort and the least amount of mana so it is the easiest of the three. While you cast the spell, visualize the effect of your mana escaping your palm and connecting with the water. You will understand when the mana takes hold of the water and it will grab hold of it in a manner which will allow you to move it."

James took the glass of water from her and placed it on the ground in front of him. He followed her instruction, lit up his mark and cast "Motion", he could feel the surge of mana escape his hand as it sank into the water to no effect. He cast it again, this time attempting to keep the mana connection open as a thin stream like he had seen Ava do. "Motion!", he was able to control the mana flow as a thin stream but it had no effect on the water at all.

Ava gave him a small smile. "Keep practicing. It takes months for even the most prodigous children to start showing progress. I'll go check on Mary."

'If children can do it, I can bloody well do it.' James thought. He envisioned the characteristics of water. Two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom. The understanding of what a liquid state represents for molecules. He imagined his mana filling the space between molecules, in a way that it would act less liquid and more solid.

"Motion!"

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This time, he felt his mana permeate the water and he felt it 'connect'. He instantly understood that it had worked. He will the water to rise out of the glass and it obeyed his thoughts. 'Time to do some experiments.' James thought as he moved the water this way and that. He tried to figure out how fast he could move, what volume of water he could move, and whether he could compress it or expand it. 'Shit, I need a pen and paper to write some of this down.'

He was so engulfed in his casting that he didn't even realize Ava had turned around near the doorway and was watching him in amazement. She didn't want to interrupt his breakthrough though so she left him to his own devices.

x-x-x-x-x

"A certain young man on your mind?" Mary teased Ava as she noticed Ava was distracted as she walked into the kitchen.

"You know me better than that." She replied with a slight color to her cheeks. "He saved my life and I hope one day we can be good friends. That's all."

Mary gave a knowing smile in response. Then her expression turned sad. "You know you could stay here as long as you like."

"I appreciate the offer Mary but I cannot put you guys in more danger. We leave tonight. The earth mage I escaped from will take it as a personal insult. He will not rest until he finds me." Ava responded.

Mary had an understanding look in her eyes. "Very well. We will help you with whatever you need. Walher should be able to get the illusion ward you requested. What will you do for money? We have a little saved up but Walher keeps spending it all on those experiments of his. Gods, that man never stops."

"I would not take your money Mary. I have enough to hopefully see us out of Selen. And then we will make do. James is mage blessed as you've no doubt noticed and even though he is at a child's level right now, he'll be able to make a living with it soon enough. And you know me, I've always found a way to use my talents in more subtle ways." Ava assured her.

"I worry about you Ava. I know you don't show many emotions but the things you've gone through would take a toll on anybody."

x-x-x-x-x

James was starting to feel dizzy. He realized that this was probably the 'mana exhaustion' thing Ava had warned him about. But it was just so damn fun! His first experiments had only resulted in moving the water around as a blob. He had been able to move it around like he willed but try as he might, he was not able to give it more shape beyond that.

Yes, Mutate was a separate spell and he had only been doing Motion, but with liquids partial motion is a form of mutation and he had realized that he should be able to shape it with Motion alone. The breakthrough had come when he realized that there was simply too little mana being streamed to give the water any shape. When he tried pouring more mana into the water, he had been able to move part of the water one way, and another part another way. Essentially giving it a shape.

With more practice he had been able to increase the strands of Mana being poured into the water and had made the water grow tentacles of motion that he could command independently. He had tried to make these tentacles 'whip' at a potential enemy but they were far too thin to pose any real danger. They would provide a light slap at their worst.

Speed had been another thing he had been working on. He knew that with enough force of motion behind it, water could be a force to reckon with. He remembered high pressure water jets were used as industrial tools for cutting. Initially, it had seemed like all his motion movements moved at the same speed. The solution to break through the speed 'barrier' had been more mana. He imagined that attempting to force more mana into the water, while achieving the desired results in allowing it to move fast was draining his mana at a rapid rate. There had to be spells better suited to higher velocity movement.

It would work in a pinch though. Using up a lot of mana to throw a fast paced 'baseball' of water at someone's eyes could likely do enough damage for him to make an escape.

First he needed to measure his mana though. He had no idea how large his mana pool was or how fast it regenerated. But with some math and using a certain dizzying feeling, he would be able to calculate those numbers quick enough. He needed to acquire a notebook, and soon.

"Bored with magic already?" Ava had found him sitting in the garden, deep in thought.

James looked up at her and smiled. "I think I'm close to exhausting my mana supply."

Ava gave a light laugh. "Come in and have some food. That should help. And don't do any more magic today. We leave tonight and any bit of mana you'll have regenerated might be needed."

"So food helps regeneration? Are there mana potions we could drink that would also help?" James asked.

Ava had a dark look on her face. "Food and rest yes. I don't know where you've heard of mana potions but those are dangerous! They're highly addictive and it is well known that they lower your body's natural mana regeneration rate. Plenty of mages have been known to go down a dark road with mana potions. There's a reason they're banned in every civilized country."

James raised his hands in apology as he got up. "Something I heard from somewhere. I won't use them now that I know the danger." He followed her back into the house.

x-x-x-x-x

James inquired about the item Walher had handed Ava. It looked like a simple blue marble on a bracelet. "This right here is an illusion ward." Ava explained as she put it on her wrist. She raised her hand and turned it both ways. He stared at the clean unblemished skin on both sides. No mark.

"This will make our travel much easier. Of course magic detection wards can detect and cancel out the illusion but we will steer clear of any magical places." Ava finished turning back to Walher. "And the horses?"

"They're out front Ava." he told her. He saw that she was counting money. "We cannot take money from you Ava, you're family."

Ava had a look of indecision before nodding. "Thank you so much. Both of you have been extremely kind to me. I will not forget this."

"Nonsense! You're always welcome at our house" Mary exclaimed before wrapping Ava in a big hug. She also gave James a smile. "You too James."

James returned the smile, "Thank you for having me. And for the notebook and pen Walher. I don't really have money right now, but one day I'll repay you for that." he said patting his pocket to make sure it was still there.

Walher's usually serious face turned into a smile. "I'm always in need of mage work! Learn some more spells, especially related to enchanting and then come find me."

"Right. No time to waste. We must be off." Ava declared, getting up and doing her final goodbyes. She headed towards the door. James shook both their hands before hurrying after her. "Where are we going?" he chastised himself for being too focused on magic to inquire about other things. It had been like this back home at earth too. Most of his relationships rarely worked out because he had been too focused on his computers. The women always realized that even when he was spending time with them, he was still thinking about how to solve this or that problem. He looked at Ava who was untying the horses with a determined look on her face.

'If I'm going to build a life here, I need to think about more than just magic.' he thought.

"Do you know how to ride a horse?" Ava inquired, now more aware that she couldn't take basic knowledge for granted around James.

"....no?"