Even if Lubus’ plan was good, I didn’t want her to tell me the details in case the dungeon learned to process our conversations and started to work against us actively. Plus I suspected that it could read my mind, I wasn’t sure about Lubus though. From what I understood she was in the crystal together with the dungeon. Could it read her mind as well?

You shouldn’t tell me the details of your plan, I think the crystal has some way of knowing my thoughts. Do you know if it’s the same with you? I haven’t asked much about what it’s like in there, have I?

I guess you haven’t at that, from what I have been able to gather from in here the dungeon is a consciousness, a primitive one right now, but one capable of absorbing matter and assimilating it into either complicated structures and items or life itself in the form of monsters. Her answer made my head spin, was such a thing even possible? I had seen with my own eyes how the dungeon had absorbed both Lubus and that troll when it had died. Did this mean that it could recreate their bodies, that they were just sitting and waiting inside the crystal, like my weapons and armor?

So, what are you, in there? Can you see or feel? What do you see around you? I asked, growing more curious by the second.

I am the same as the dungeon, that is to say, a consciousness, if a more developed one. I have no body in here it seems, but I can feel the crystal embedded in your navel, so I guess that is my body now. Lubus’ grew quiet at that, radiating confusion and a bit of fear from our bond. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for her, losing your body to be shoved into some strange gem, it must have been horrible. I empathized with her and tried to send feelings of comfort back along the bond. It seemed to work as a moment later I heard Lubus’ voice in my head again, continuing where she left off. My mind has expanded in some ways since I was trapped in the crystal, I’m aware of everything around the gem in a sort of fifteen feet radius bubble. It’s not like normal sight where you look at one thing at a time, when I said everything I meant it. I can see all from the tiniest particle to even the mana in the air, everything outside that range is just black.

Can you see me? I said and started jumping up and down and waving my arms around in the air.

Yes, and in great detail too, did you know that you have two hearts? I suspect it’s to help pump blood throughout your long body, fascinating. My jumping and waving abruptly stopped at those words. If Lubus could see inside my body that meant the dungeon could too, a chill went down my spine at the thought, but I didn’t know if it was anything to worry about honestly. They could look all they wanted as long as they couldn’t affect me, but the dungeon had affected me giving me pain aplenty since it bonded to me. Was it affecting my ability to feel pain or did it use its magic to zap me? It struck me that if it needed to heal me afterward, it meant that it was actual damage done so it couldn’t be just causing a sensation in me, could it? What had the text said when it first bonded with me? That it couldn’t take direct control or something? That was reassuring, but surely it was capable of other things. I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts and asked Lubus another question.

If you are the same as the dungeon, do you think you could take its place? The thought had crossed my mind during the conversation. I didn’t think it was worth keeping to myself, having secrets was very hard when the one you were trying to conspire against could read your mind.

That is part of my plan, the bond is the key but more than that I will not say. I do not think that the dungeon can read my thoughts, but I have no way of knowing that. If it can, it will come down to a contest of strength, but we have an advantage in numbers there. I wasn’t so sure about that, how many creatures did the dungeon have stored away inside it after all?

So what do you think we should do now?

Well, I would like to get to a suitable location where we can gather materials, but that can wait till tomorrow. Right now I wanted to start teaching you the exercises I told you about before, but first, you need to actually be able to feel your mana, tiny though it may be. This was incredibly exciting to me, I would finally learn to wield the weapon of the enemy or at least begin to. If I was not mistaken, Lubus had implied that it would take a lot of dedication and time for me to be able to cast my first spell. All the same, I was filled with energy, and I bounced slightly up and down on the spot in my eagerness to begin learning.

When can we begin? What should I do? How do you throw those balls of fire? Can you show me?

Calm down Eshanai, magic requires a calm and clear mind. Take a deep breath and talk to me again when you have calmed down, ok. I blushed at the admonishment, even if it was a mild one. I wasn't some newly spawned youngling waiting to get her first bow, I was the first hunter, and I shouldn’t be in such a hurry. The elders said much the same thing Lubus had said, that a calm mind was the key to accomplishing most tasks in life. This raised my image of Lubus in my mind, and I gained more respect for her. I took a deep breath as she had suggested and my mind cleared of all things but the task in front of me.

Lubus, I am calm now, can we begin?

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Yes, I could feel that through the bond. That could be a handy teaching tool, by the way, I could actually feel if you start to panic and a spell is going out of control for example. I wonder if the wizards back at the guild know about these applications. It seemed Lubus was lost in thought for a moment, but I didn’t try to interrupt. I would show her that I could be a good student. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the awakening is a very special moment in every mages life. It is very personal and can be very different from person to person, depending on your environment or what you think about at the time you can gain different affinities. They are what determine what types of spells you can cast, so if we start here, you might learn something like a nature affinity or a water one. Is that fine with you or do you want to switch location? Affinities are very hard to gain after the awakening, a mage’s first one might stay with them for the rest of their life. Take some time to think about that. I did as I was instructed and looked around to my surroundings. The rocky beach where I still stood was filled with just that, rocks, they were incredibly smooth, their edges smoothed away by the lapping of waves from the lake. Water and nature magic sounded pretty good, but would they be effective against ice magic. I looked around again, the sun warm on my skin when the thought struck me and I looked up to the glowing golden ball in the sky. It was perfect, the sun and its rays always warmed me pleasantly, and it was somehow a comfort to know that it would rise every morning to banish the cold night. But here on the mainland, it held even more significance as it was the thing that melted the snow and ushered in summer. Sun affinity didn’t only sound powerful, but it felt right somehow, and with a foolish smile on my face, I told Lubus I was ready.

I’m ready to begin Lubus.

Excellent, but your biology is very different from a human’s. I have not been able to find a mana well within you, and yet mana flows through you. This might not work as it was intended, but we will still try.

So, what do I do now?

I was getting to that, first close your eyes and clear your mind, can you do that?

Yes, but if it were that easy to gain magical powers everyone in my tribe would have them by now.

Yes. That was all Lubus offered in response to my observation, and I sighed and slithered over to a sunny spot on the beach so I at least could bask a bit. I closed my eyes as instructed and taking deep breaths in and out I tried to think of nothing at all.

Okay, keep breathing like that, in and out slowly. Now, listen to the sounds around you, can you hear the water lapping at the stones or the wind rustling through the trees? Are there any insects or birds nearby that you can hear? Try to point in their direction in your mind, what do you feel? I felt and heard all those things Lubus listed and more through my sense of smell. I could sense the different animals that came to drink from the water, and it was incredibly distracting. How was I supposed to focus with all these impressions assaulting me? Then I remembered that I had decided to try and focus on the sun and I did just that. I could feel its rays on my skin giving me precious warmth all the way to the bone and all of a sudden that was all I could think about as all other sounds and smells disappeared from my focus and became less important. I could suddenly feel the sunlight around me like a physical force without looking. It was not just in the air, but it penetrated everything, the plants absorbed some of it which they used to grow, and it even penetrated the ground a fair bit before it dissipated. There were also different types of light coming from the sun, some of it even bounced off the earth to be propelled back into the sky and out of my reach.

By the feelings you are projecting, I take it that you found your first affinity?

Y-yes, I think so. I answered, my voice full of awe and wonder.

Good, now open your eyes but keep focusing and tell me what you see. I did as ordered and almost lost myself in the kaleidoscope of colors shining down from the sun.

I see a massive rainbow coming down from above.

Huh, you probably have a light affinity or a sun affinity, they are hard to differentiate sometimes. Lubus said in a thoughtful voice before continuing. Try to take that light around you, grab ahold of it with your mind and tell it to flow into you. I wasn’t sure how one could grab light, but all the same, I tried to tell some of the colors around me to fly towards me. To my amazement, it seemed to work as the sunlight around me started flowing it formed a sort of rainbow tornado before it hit me in the chest and entered my body. I could feel it rushing through me but it was too much, and I lost concentration. All the amazing colors disappeared from my vision, but they were still there as I discovered to my delight that I could still feel them around me and in my body.

Congratulations on awakening to your new powers, you might have discovered that you have a new sense. That is your mana sense, it will be extra important for you as you don’t have a mana well you can’t regenerate mana on your own. But you can use this sense to absorb power from the environment. Be careful, as your body adjusts to holding mana within it you can absorb more and more. Don’t take in too much to fast in the beginning, remember that you only had three points worth of mana before, this will increase with time. You will need to continually push yourself above your current limit to increase the amount of mana you have. I recommend doing this at least once per day, but don’t absorb more then you can handle, you will feel when you are at your limit, and I will be here to guide you. The mana in your body is finite and can only be replenished by absorbing more from your affinity, so use your powers sparingly as you will probably not have time to recharge yourself in the middle of a fight. I listened to Lubus with wrapped attention, not wanting to miss a single word. I could now feel the mana flowing through me as Lubus had said. I was incredibly thankful to her, and I wanted to learn more.

Thank you so much for this Lubus, you are the greatest woman I have ever met. I think this will be a great way to counter the goblins ice magic. I said with as much gratitude as I could muster.

A woman, you do know that I am a man, right?