It took him around half an hour, just to gain minimal control over the ever-elusive currents of wind mana swirling around him. It was like trying to grasp grains of sand as they fell, while you were distracted by the glare of the sun.
In short, it was rather difficult…
Meanwhile, Lucky and Mistress Irene watched him silently. He felt a little shameful being watched like that and continuously failing. However, with the knowledge that this kind of opportunity was rare, and would become even rarer in the future, he persisted.
Drawing on countless anime training arcs, he continued to try to grasp the wind mana. Sam tried forcing it, tried to be gentle, tried coming from all sorts of directions, but nothing worked. He then tried focusing on only a single section of the room, but the wind mana simply slipped away from his attempts. Then he tried to control the entire room. However, he couldn’t really split his attention that many ways so there was always a spot that wasn’t as saturated with his mana as everywhere else, allowing the wind mana to escape his hold.
This was very frustrating for Sam. So far, every time he attempted to do something with his mana, he succeeded almost always on his first try. But he had been trying to do this small exercise for an hour now, and he was still failing.
‘I’m not going to give up!’ he promised to himself, eyes still closed, as he waited for his mana to regenerate from the last expenditure. ‘There must be a trick to it…’
Instead of trying again, he simply stood there and watched the currents of mana that swirled and twirled around him. As he continued to observe it, it began to remind him of something. The wind currents, high up in the mountains. They were similar to what he was seeing now…
‘Ohh… I’m so stupid…’ Sam realized as soon as he made the comparison. ‘I can’t control the wind. The wind is free to go where it wants and the more you try to tighten your fist, the more it will slip out of it.’
Just to test his theory, he injected a little of his mana into one of the currents, and while keeping a tether to the mana, he otherwise surrendered all control of it. Sam watched as the currents grabbed the mana chunk and began taking it all over the room. Smiling slightly, he began to inject more and more mana into the currents, leaving only a slight tether to himself, letting the wind do as it wanted.
Soon, the entire room was filled with his mana acting in concert with the other mage’s wind. The two types of mana acting as two layers of sheets, undulating based on an unseen signal.
Sam watched with his Mana Sense for a few minutes as the two mana types swirled around him when he was broken out of his reverie by his teacher.
“Good… you realized the futility of controlling the wind. Now, turn your own mana into wind mana, and ride the currents.”
‘Ugh, another unclear direction… fun!’ he thought while returning his focus to the surrounding mana.
His own was still mixed with the wind mana originating from the Mistress, however, he instantly noticed that the woman had cut off the source of the wind mana and it was slowly decreasing as it dispersed into the world.
Turning his own mana into wind mana was, thanks to his previous practice with the art, rather easy. However, replicating the freely flowing wind was another story.
Sam let out a tired sigh. ‘Well, back to practice…’
As the wind mana from his teacher dispersed so did the room fill with his own mana, but as soon as the supporting layer of mana vanished, his mana lost that ethereal quality that was present. It didn’t feel like a light breeze swirling around; it felt more like a quagmire where he had to flex his muscles to even have it move a few inches.
Yet, he wasn’t completely lost. The previous epiphany left a little more in the tank. It was all about control. Wind cannot be controlled, yet he needed to control the wind to have any effect. An impossibility if one looked at it from one direction. But he knew that one can control something from the outside; there was no need to micromanage.
Instead of controlling all mana in the room that had been turned into wind mana, he simply grabbed a few bigger chunks and gave them a little inertia, watching as they went around the room, agitating the rest to move.
It was like dropping a stone into a pond. The effects of that little bit of inertia rippled out, causing his wind mana to shift a little more naturally. So he continued to do it. One after another he dropped great chunks of wind mana into the small sea of mana that he created in the hall and watched as the previously sluggish mana slowly but surely became like the one that his new teacher conjured at the beginning.
Once again, the moment the sea of wind mana began swirling around chaotically, just as he remembered the other one, Mistress Irina spoke up again.
“Excellent! A little slow, but what can you expect… Now claim it! It’s your domain. Make it listen to you!”
Sam nodded while also keeping his eyes closed.
“Wuff!” came the encouraging bark from Lucky, causing Sam to smile.
He turned back to the sea of wind mana and began contemplating the task ahead of him. ‘How the hell do I claim it?’
He thought for a few seconds, then shrugged. Might as well try the obvious first…
Using the same technique he used to create the sea of wind mana, he slowly began to direct it toward himself. As the currents realigned, he made sure to prepare himself. He directed the first tendril of mana heading directly toward himself so that it would move around him, until he was in the center of a gentle tornado of wind mana, the area of it continuously shrinking.
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Finally, the diameter of the tornado shrunk enough that it touched him. Using the momentum, he opened himself up for the mana and directed it into his mana circulation.
It hurt. It hurt a lot. But with great experience and even greater mana expenditure, he slowly began matching his circulation to the swirling wind mana as it tried to move around his body.
One circulation…
Two circulations…
His Mana Shield was dispersed as he didn’t have enough attention to keep it up, the mana freed up this way redirected into his body, trying to stop the rampaging of wind mana.
Three circulations…
Four circulations…
His body was locked up, unable to move, but he persisted.
Five circulations…
Six circulations…
The wind mana was brimming inside him, trying to erupt while Sam tried to take control of it while also refusing to constrain, letting the wind fly free. Then, with great effort, he did one more.
Seven circulations…
The wind erupted from him amidst a great burst throwing equipment around the room, but unlike previous times, he didn’t have to direct it, didn’t have to coerce it. He simply reached out and took control of it like the neutral mana, bringing it down, calming it, and then dispersing it.
It was at that time he collapsed, his limb shaking and his head ringing with notification sounds. However, his attention was on his teacher, who was looking at him with a pleased face while also making sure that Lucky wasn’t rushing at him.
“Excellent work, Samuel. Took a little long and was somewhat rough around the edges, but you managed to surpass yourself. I believe, starting from now on, you can call yourself a wind mage,” she stated with a smile on her face. Then she looked away for a second and back at Sam. “And with that, the consultation time is over. You can rest here for a spell as I’m required somewhere else…”
“Thank…you…” he managed to spit out as he lay on the ground, trying not to pass out.
The woman walked past him toward the door and sent him an amused glance. “No trouble, Samuel. After all, helping someone break through will net me a not insignificant number of points.”
He listened to her footsteps as she left the hall while Lucky walked up to him and wiggled around until his head was resting on his fluffy back comfortably. Sam feebly reached over and patted his loyal friend’s head, then turned his attention toward his notifications. The ringing was rather insistent. The moment he opened the screen, he was flooded with information with the ringing mercifully subsiding.
[Congratulations, you managed to break through with your wind mana control!]
[You gained +1 WIS and +1 PER!]
[Mana Manipulation is now Level 40!]
[Mana Channeling is now Level 5!]
[Mana Resonance is now Level 8!]
[Mana Well is now Level 5!]
[Mana Tempered Body is now Level 33!]
[Multitasking is now Level 94!]
[Wind Resistance is now Level 15!]
A few increases to his skills made him rather happy. Especially Multitasking almost reaching Level 100. The next tier of that spell would make him even more powerful, at least until the general player base managed to catch up to him. Next came the changes to his wind spells and skills.
[Thanks to your breakthrough, you gained the skill Wind Mana Manipulation.]
[Thanks to gaining Wind Mana Manipulation you lost the following skills: Wind Flurry, Wind Bullet Barrage, Healing Wind, Wind Jump, Wind Drill, Wind Blade I-III, Wind Blade Storm, Wind Bullet I-III, Wind Explosion, Wind Movement, Wind Edge I-III!]
[The experience from the lost skills will be converted to experience in Wind Mana Manipulation.]
[Wind Mana Manipulation is now Level 15!]
[Every sub-skill belonging to the lost skills will be added to Wind Mana Manipulation!]
[You can still use the skills, but thanks to your new skill, manipulating wind mana has become much more fluid for you!]
[Wind Mana Manipulation: Level 15/100 (13%) (Passive/Active) You became one with the wind and the wind became one with you. You manipulate wind mana just as well as neutral mana. The wind will listen to your commands and take whatever shape you wish. However, beware, this comes with a price. Gain a 1% increase in damage and cast speed for each level in the skill for wind spells and skills. Decrease mana cost by 1% for each level in the skill for wind spells and skills. Current Spells:
Wind Flurry
Wind Bullet Barrage
Healing Wind
Wind Jump
Wind Drill
Wind Blade I-III
Wind Blade Storm
Wind Bullet I-III
Wind Explosion
Wind Movement
Wind Edge I-III!
‘Finally!’ Sam thought, relieved, with a giant smile on his face. He achieved something that only around ten percent of the mages achieved in any group specialized in any of the mana natures. He would now be able to simply do whatever he wanted with wind mana without relying on the previous skills. It sounded really overpowered, but it required almost inhuman mana control, which in turn required a lot of attention and focus. So, people who cast spells like that not only had to keep an eye on their mana but their level of mental exhaustion. After all, everything had a price…
[Mistress Irina granted you the title of Wind Mage!]
[Wind Mage: You are a well-trained mage, specializing in Wind Spells! Increased reputation in the Magic Tower!]
Sam let out a hearty laugh after he finished reading the notifications.
“Well, Lucky, it appears I managed to get something done… How about we rest a little?”
“Wuff!” came the reply from the wolf.
Sam, using Lucky as a crutch, slowly stood up and began hobbling toward the door.
He was halfway to the exit of the complex by his measurement, when an out-of-breath mage run up to him, wearing a robe with the wind emblem, though a lot different from the masters from the first hall. It was a simple robe with no other embellishments on it. Meaning he was somebody low on the totem pole.
“Sir!” he called out, causing Sam to stop and look at him.
“Yes?”
The man took a breath and held out a small envelope. “Mistress Irina instructed me to give you this!”
Sam took the item and turned it over his hand curiously while asking about it.
“And what is it?”
“Your new ID, sir!”
“Oh, thank you!” He pocketed the envelope, not having the mental power to look over it properly. “Anything else?”
“Yes, sir! Mistress Irina told me to take you to one of our rooms to rest.” He bowed a little and motioned with his arms for Sam to follow him. “If you could follow me, then I’ll lead you!”
“Thank you!”
----------------------------------------
Sam placed the helmet on its stand tiredly, and stretched, trying to work out the kinks from his body. “Ugh, they really need to come out with the pods because this is a murder on my back…” he murmured under his breath as he stood up and staggered to his computer.
He dealt with a few emails and then clicked on the message from Lucy.
Apparently, she got the information about Silent Step, and as requested she immediately informed, not just the druids but the Silvercrest family and with their help, the city administration. And now she was complaining that she got some weird quest…
Sam chuckled at reading the details, sent back a thank-you message then, still staggering, he went to his room, fell face first on his bed and within a few seconds he was dead to the world.