Ren was in the library. He's been there for the past few hours looking through all of the historical documents he could find related to the dwarves. Ren was looking for any mention of Dur Tharum though so far he hadn't had any luck. Every now and then the librarian would walk past tough Ren was too absorbed in his search to notice. Soon the afternoon came and Ren went to the smithing workshop to continue where he left off. Ren followed this pattern for the rest of the week until classed started up again.

Ren walked into his mana control class and sat down, waiting for the class to start. As soon as everyone was seated the teacher spoke up.

"As a sufficient amount of you have reach the appropriate level in you meditation today I will start teaching you how to start controlling your mana." said instructor Tobis. "First everyone start meditating." he waited until everyone was in a meditative state. "Now understand that mana is all around us. From the food we eat to the water we drink and the air we breathe there is mana in all of it, though in very small amounts." Tobis paused to let what he said sink in. 'Now realize that there is mana throughout our body. In every muscle, in every organ, in every hair. There is mana in every fiber of our body. Though mana is throughout our bodies that is not where we get the mana for our spells from. Next is the most difficult part. You must find and understand they very source of mana in your body. This is your Mana Core. All of the mana that you collect from the world eventually makes its way here. The Mana Core is not the same for everybody. For some it could take the form of a small crystal somewhere in your body, for others it may be a liquid or even a gas. It could run like veins thought your body or even be infused into organ, bone, or some other part. This is what makes this part so difficult. Most mages never find a trace of their core and the one that do just barley scratch the surface so if you can't find yours don't be disheartened, you are among the majority. Class is now dismissed. I suggest that you all that this time to practice." with that the teacher went back to meditating.

Everyone was filing out of the class, Ren included. After leaving the room he went straight to the practice field. Getting to the field he found it empty. This was because the martial students that used the field most of the time were in their theory classes in the morning meaning Ren would have the field to himself for the time being. Ren Came here of a reason. Instructor Tobis had said that the Mana Core was the source of the mana for their spells. What Ren was going to try was to follow the mana he used back to its source. Ren sat down and took out his ||Novice Sword||. Sticking the sword in the ground, Ren grasped it with both hands and entered a light meditative state. Taking a deep breath Ren cast the only spell he knew.

"[Static Blitz]"

As he said the name of the spell power began to build his hand. Ren tried to follow it back but the power had already stopped flowing by the time he started. The spell discharged from his hand, though the sword and into the ground. Ren had done it this way so he doesn't accidentally hit someone with it. Ren readied himself and cast the spell a second time. Again Ren failed to follow the mana back. Ren tried again several more times but failed each time. He realized that he needed a spell that constantly drew mana but that brought up a new problem. The problem was that first year students weren't allowed into the School of Magic's spell library. Sure he could go out and try to find a spell outside of the school but spells cost money and Ren didn't have a whole lot of that. The only solution Ren could find was turning [Static Blitz] into a continuous spell. Ren cast [Static Blitz] again but this time he was remembering the feeling of casting the spell. When you said the name of a spell the player activated System Assist. With system Assist there was no way of changing the spell so Ren had to be able to cast the spell without it first before he could change it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ren concentrated on the feeling of mana building up in his hand. Ren sat there for a while, he was actually skipping his second class but he didn't care. All Ren cared about right now was trying to gather mana in his hand. After some time mana started to trickle into his hand. Ren was elated and immediately tried to trace it back but lost it as soon as he started. Ren chided himself for being too eager and tried gathering mana in his hand again. This time it only took a few minutes but the pace was the same. It took some time but Ren finally built up enough mana to try casting [Static Blitz]. The hard part about this step was converting the mana into lightning. Ren concentrated on the mana in his hand, willing it to change into lightning. This method didn't work. Ren was now missing his third class but paid no attention to it, was busy trying various ways to change the mana in his hand into lightning. Nothing was working and Ren was getting frustrated.

After a few more tries his frustration had reached its limit. Ren didn't care what happened anymore and forced that mana out of his hand. While he was doing that a memory of his childhood appeared unbidden in his mind. Ren remembered when he was young and his family had gone on a camping trip. A thunderstorm had strung up suddenly and his parents were running around packing up all of the loose items around the camp site. Ren felt his hair start to stand on end and when he looked around for the cause he saw a lightning bolt strike a tree relatively close him when he was little. He remembered the crack of the lightning forcing its way through the atmosphere, the feeling of his hair standing on end and the sound of the tree blowing apart. The mana in his hand rushed out and into the sword then into the ground. It went through with such power that it caused the sword to heat up a little.

Ren was shocked by both the memory that flashed though his head and the result of said memory interacting with the mana he had expelled. Ren quickly calmed himself and tried again, letting the mana build up in his hand then expelling it while remembering what it felt like to be near lightning. Lightning flashed from his hand and into the sword. It lacked the power that the previous one had but Ren was excited all the same. Ren kept practicing for a little while longer before heading off the workshop. It would take some time to gain enough mastery in casting spells without System Assist to start changing them.

As Ren collected the ||Novice Sword|| and walk off he was so absorbed in his thoughts that he failed to notice that the sword had a slight blue glow to it and that the ground around him looked like it had black lightning bolts, caused by the burned grass, which radiated out from the hole where the sword was.

At the top of the overlooking the practice field a man stood, watching Ren with a complicated expression. This was the grounds keeper and field manager. He had held this position for decades, and been at the school even longer, and he had never seen anyone quite like Ren. He had been alerted to Ren's presence by the lightning he had been giving off. He watched Ren as he as he skipped all of his classes to practice whet ever it was Ren was doing. He watch as the ground underneath Ren became filled with black trail of lightning passing through the ground. The man watch as Ren finally walked of the field and headed to his next class.

An interesting student had appeared he thought though he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing