Over the next 6 months Lee continued to read the books the old man gave him. He now not only had a good base understanding of magic but he also understood the theory behind the use of all 5 of the so called 'magical elements'. The old man said he would learn about light and shadow magic in the years to come but it was still far beyond him.

Lee's stamina had grown much over the months. He was now running 500 laps between the rock and the tree 5 days a week. If the distance was measured it would be discovered that 100 laps was about equal to 1 mile. He could do that distance now in just a little over an hour at a good steady pace.

After River ran, the old man taught him to use a form of meditation. Guiding the boy with his own mana. he helped Lee find his own mana center. He told lee to visualize the mana inside himself and spin it around in a circular motion inside his body. Doing this was mentally exhausting, but he did as the old man instructed.

Lee found the more he did it the more mana he felt in his body. It was as if spinning it around was stimulating it to grow and activate. If Lee were to describe the feel of mana inside his body he would describe it at as a cold liquid that heated up when you forced it to compact.

The old man stressed how important mana control was to a wizard. He would say to Lee “control of mana is the single most important aspect of magic. Being able to control the amount and shape of mana even in the hardest situations was the most important a skill a that wizard had to master”.

Lee followed the old man's instructions. He tried to take the mana from his center and lead it to his hand. At first it felt unnatural, but eventually it became as if he was moving any other part of his body. He just needed he pull out a small amount of mana and force it to the location he wanted.

Lee held out his hand and heard the old man's voice “I want you to gather an amount of mana the shape of a coin in your hand. No bigger and no smaller. Do it in the exact shape as perfect as you can make it”.

He tried over and over to do this, but once the mana left his body it became much hard to control. Even when he managed to make it the shape of a coin it was hard to hold it in that shape and he would lose control of it. It took him a few a months to be able to do it perfectly. After that the old man picked different small shapes Lee would make with his mana. Each time became slightly easier than the last.

Once Lee got use to controlling the shape of his mana the old man told him he had to learn to manifest it in his hand faster. When he tried to do this he wasn't able to maintain control of the shape of his mana. The rush to bring the mana to his hand caused him to lose control of it.

The old man said “start slowly young River, focus on going as fast as you can while controlling it and speed it up slowly over time”.

River did just that. He felt the mana in his center and pushed it out to his hand and used it to make a perfect shape. He increased the pace slightly faster and faster.

When not training with the old man he spent much of his time playing and practicing with Alura. He would never call her that loud but he much preferred that name to Al. He still was no where near as good as her but he found his training with magic taught him focus which made him also a better fighter.

He had gotten good enough that now Alura could hold back nearly nothing when defending. She still could block every attack and counter every hold he tried to use but he felt she was forced to push herself now to do so.

They had spent so much time together that it wasn't long before Lee's parents asked to meet her. When she came over to meet his parents Lee immediately noticed how differently she acted compared to her gruff out going self with him. She acted in a reserved and highly respect manor that took him off guard.

Lee found when he finally met her parents she didn't hold back the least. After hearing that she had been teaching him martial arts, her father tried to challenge Lee to an exhibition to see how good he had gotten. His wife and Alura managed to talk him out of it which River was very grateful for.

The next 6 months continued in this similar fashion. Training and playing with Alura and training with the old man. As the time passed the old man's weekly visit to Lee's house became more natural and eventually his parents and the old man warmed up to one another.

*****

Today was the day of Lee's 9th birthday.

When Lee knocked on the old man's door to return the 12th book he had given him the old man asked “what did you think this book? Do you have any questions about it?”

Lee said “The only question I had was when it comes to turning mana into actual magic. I think I understand the concept but I have no experience doing it so I’m not sure if I truly understand”.

The old man said “That is a great question to ask. It just so happens today will be your first day to begin manipulating mana into magic”.

Lee jumped up with excitement “I finally get to use magic? I feel like I’m finally going to be a real wizard!” The old man took joy in watching the young Lee celebrate. It reminded him how he felt when he first started using magic.

The old man said “Enough of that now. I've only given you permission to use magic and will show you how. Whether you can achieve it or not is entirely up to your ability”. The old man told Lee to sit down and start to gather mana into his hand.

Lee sat down cross legged. He held his hands open, one palm one on of the top of the other, and began to focus mana into his hand. The old man sensed he was doing it correctly. “That’s very good Lee. Now I want you to expand the mana outwards in your hand and mix it with the energy and matter of nature. Right before you think you are going to lose control of it you will need to compress it back into your hand”.

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Lee let the mana expand. It felt like it was going to go out of his control and become absorbed by the energy of nature. Before he lost control he forced the mana back into his hand feeling. It grab nature energy and matter with it. He thought he was successful at first, until then the mana he collected fizzled out and passed back into nature.

The old man said “Try it again Lee. You need to let it gather in more nature energy before you compress it”. Lee tried again and let his mana expand even more. He lost control of it and was unable to bring it back. The old man said “just keep trying till you get the hang of it”.

Lee tried the rest of the day but was no closer to success. After a week he was getting very frustrated with his inability to gather in nature’s energy and mix it with his own. He started to pull out grass and throw it into the air in frustration as almost a way to try to teach nature a lesson.

The old man at the end of the week said to Lee “your frustration is amusing but not helpful. If you ever wish to accomplish this you must be at peace with yourself. Anger and impatience only make it more difficult”.

Lee said “I just can’t find a way to do it. Either I don’t bring enough nature energy in or lose control of my mana”.

The old man laughed “Well what did I teach you all that mana control for if not for this? Even when you let your mana expand how do you allow yourself lose control of it so easily? Your mana is part of yourself. You must think of it as an extension of your body just like another arm. No matter how much I let my mana expand I would never lose control of it”.

The old man walked away saying nothing else. Lee calmed himself and focused again. He let mana expand but not as much as before. Now he focused on keeping hold if it. Before he let it expand without trying to control it and focusing on gathering nature energy. Now he was trying to slow the expansion down. He was at the point when he was getting close to losing control of it.

It was incredibly difficult but he held it there. Only after he had a firm hold on it did he let it expand a little more. When he felt he used lose control of it he used all his focus to hold on to it. He did this over and over until he lost control of his mana.

hen he gathered more mana and repeated the process. He continued until he was spreading his mana out nearly twice as much as before. He compressed the mana mixed with energy and felt it stabilize for a moment. It soon vanished after but it was stable!

He did the same thing again. He was able to stabilize it a bit longer after compressing it. He attempted this until he finally was able to create a stable compression of his mana and nature energy.

The old man walked up behind him “well done Lee. You know what to do now correct?”

Lee with incredible concentration gave a small “yes sir.” He began to say over and over a simple wind chant. He pictured the wind in his mind. Its shape, its speed and how it should feel. He began to will the magic in his hand into that shape. It turned into a small tornado but soon was unstable and gone.

The old man said “Well done Lee, try it a few more times and then go home. You have used up a lot of mana today and we don’t want you so tired you are unable to do anything tomorrow. The books and knowledge I have given you will be a great help with this. In the end you must simply experience it with your own body”.

Lee said “yes sir” and again began the whole process over.

The old man said “one last thing Lee, I know wind is your favorite and it seems you have a natural inclination toward it. I want you to only use wind magic until you’ve mastered it”.

Lee said “When will I know that I have mastered it?”

The old man said “To master it you must be able to use the magic in every way it can be used and fully understand its strengths and weakness. You must understand how those strengths can be used against you and its weaknesses against your opponent. If you are still unsure if you have mastered it or not then I will simply tell you. Now hurry up brat, it's getting late and I wish to have dinner soon!”

The old man went back into his house. Lee made a few more attempts and then left for the night.

Month after month passed by for Lee as he practiced creating wind magic; once he could do so consistently the old man told him “I suppose that’s not bad for a turtle, but to be a wizard you must do it faster!” When Lee increased his speed his success rate when down. Every time he started to get the hang of it again the old man demand he gather and cast his magic more quickly.

The old man said “when that cat was about to eat you, could I have just asked it to hold on a moment while I cast my spell? Of course I couldn’t! There are times when you must be able to call on magic instantly. If you can't it could be the difference between life and death. Not just your own but perhaps of those you care about the most”.

Lee continued to try to cast the same basic spell over and over again. While he was chanting the old man said “no more chanting! It slows you down, the mind is faster than the mouth. You must be able to cast at nearly the speed of thought. What if you don’t have time to say even a single word? Do you plan to just give up and die?”

Lee stopped chanting and found it became much more difficult to even cast magic not to mention trying to do it quickly. Lee said “if I don’t chant the spell it makes it almost impossible to create the magic”.

The old man said “chants are for novices at best. If you wish to stay a novice we can stop your training right now”.

Lee said “I will not stop! I will be a great wizard and right the wrongs I see in this world and help my family”.

The old man said “well, you can’t do that just by talking; and that goes for magic too if you want me to keep using my precious time teaching you”.

Lee kept his mouth shut and focused. It took a full month until he was able to make his spell as quickly as he could before. After another month he found without the need to chant to make his spell he could even go faster than before.

The old man started to teach Lee more spells as time went by. Even doing that he kept emphasizing the basics of control of mana and speed of casting. When Lee asked why he was not learning more powerful spells the old man said “you wish to be a great wizard don’t you? A great wizard is much like a great temple. To build it large and strong the foundation must be top notch. If the foundation isn’t strong you'll find you'll have limits later on”.

Lee was a bit disappointed he wasn’t learning more powerful spells but he figured the old man was probably right. Lee under his instruction focused on the fundamentals of control and casting speed even if it was with generally unimpressive spells.

This is how the rest of the year passed for Lee. Every day training with the old man and then going home to read the magic books the old man gave him. He continued play and train with Alura almost every day. He continued to become a better fighter but he felt as though he may never close the gap completely. Still, he was happy with his improvement.

*****

Today was the day of Lee's 10th birthday

He knocked on the old man's door and was promptly greeted.

“Happy birthday Lee” the old man said. “It just so happens I got you a very special gift today.”

Lee was surprised. The old man didn’t give him a gift his last birthday. Lee asked “wow, that’s so nice of you! What's your gift?”

The old man said “well, starting today, we will incorporate dueling into your training”.

Lee was surprised “but there are no young wizards here for me to fight.”

The old man said “That is unfortunate. I suppose I'll have to do then. Please be sure to take it easy on an old man like me!” The old man gave out a great laugh after that. Lee didn't like the sound of that.

He had a strong feeling he wouldn't be the one who had to worry about taking it easy