In the following months since accepting lessons from the cloaked mage, or Veil, Amara had found that her magical abilities had grown exponentially. Although she had yet to properly start learning necromancy, her skill in divination had reached heights she never thought possible. Her formulaic and alteration magic was pretty decent as well.

“Do you think I could compete in the Mage Tournament?” Amara asked Veil one night while practicing a scrying spell.

“When is it?” Veil asked while reading a grimoire.

“This Autumn, everyone from Stonehaven will be watching, and I want to show that I will be able to stand by the stronger mage’s side,” Amara said wistfully.

“You would be a good combatant, but as you are right now, you couldn’t truly show that you are a mage on par with Marquis or those other mages you told me about,” Veil said.

“What can I do about it? Can I learn a new spell? a new style of magic? get better at casting?” Amara asked in rapid secession.

“Yes to all of those, but that won’t get you as far as you want. No, you want to realize your full potential, you must awaken a manifestation,” Veil answered.

“Like what Riven has, how can I do that?” Amara asked.

“A manifestation is a powerful magical ability born from a potent realization that is unique to the mage. In order to awaken a manifestation, you will need to temporarily put aside your disdain for necromancy to learn one spell,” Veil said.

“You want me to learn a necromancy spell?” Amara asked nervously.

“Yes, I want you to learn how to sense souls. By learning how to do that, you can combine that with your divination magic to sense your own soul and those around you to awaken your manifestation,” Veil said.

“So I just need to learn one harmless necromancy spell and I can awaken a manifestation?” Amara asked hesitantly.

“Precisely, though it may seem small, the ability to sense souls is crucial for a mage. Unfortunately, most mages learn that fact far too late, especially battle mages,” Veil said somberly.

“Why does a mage need to see their own soul?” Amara asked.

“I haven’t taught you much about how to fight with your magic, but now it is time given that you want to fight in the Mage Tournament,” Veil said.

“Am I going to spar with you?” Amara asked excitedly.

“Soon, but I must first teach you the basics, starting with magic resistance,” Veil said.

“The same magic resistance you talked about when I fought that wolf monster?” Amara asked.

“Yes, magic resistance is possessed by all beings with a soul. One’s magic resistance is determined by the amount of mana they have. Magic resistance is used when we try to directly affect someone with a spell, like igniting a monster’s fur or controlling someone’s mind,” Veil said.

“How does that relate to seeing souls being important?” Amara asked.

“Because it allows you to avoid wasting your energy on trivial spells. Your soul's stamina is finite and can be worn out if worked too hard. It is therefore important for you to not waste your energy fighting trivial spells,” Veil said.

“How does this help me avoid wasting energy?” Amara asked.

“Although I could give you a lecture to explain it, I think an example in this instance is most useful. Amara, brace for impact,” Veil said sternly. Amara immediately felt intense pressure crushing her from all sides, threatening to rip her apart as she fought back wildly with her mana. After a few seconds, Amara could feel her strength give out, the pressure overflowed, and she suddenly felt nothing.

“What was that!” Amara exclaimed in between breaths.

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“I used Alteration magic to lower your body temperature by a hundredth of a degree,” Veil replied.

“Then why did it feel like I was being crushed?” Amara asked confused.

“I used illusion magic to trick your soul into thinking that I was going to lower your body temperature by 100 degrees. As such, your soul believed it was fighting for its life, and poured all of your strength into resisting my spell. However, if you were able to sense your soul, the pathetic illusion I used would have collapsed under your scrutiny, and you wouldn’t have even bothered with it,” Veil monologued.

“Is that what you meant by not wasting my energy on trivial spells?” Amara asked.

“Indeed, many mages learn how to mask the danger of their spells to their foe's souls either through clever spellcraft or the usage of illusions,” Veil said.

“Can I learn how to do what you just did to trick my enemy's magic resistance at the Mage Tournament?” Amara asked hopefully.

“You can, although it is not very effective against experienced mages like the ones you will be facing. For they will use wards to protect themselves instead of just magic resistance, and tricking wards is more challenging than tricking magic resistance,” Veil said.

“How can I break through wards? And can I learn how to create them?” Amara asked hopefully.

“You can use divination to help find the cracks in wards. However, for creating wards, you would instead be better served by learning how to sense your soul, as your true talents lie in divination and necromancy, not wards,” Veil said.

“But I can’t use necromancy in a tournament, it would get me disqualified and goes against what Thomas taught us about Inja’s ways,” Amara said. Veil stood still for a bit, raising their arm to where their chin would be.

“I see that you are still hung up on learning necromancy, although I don’t quite understand the issue with sensing your soul, I will refrain from teaching you necromancy. However, if you do not learn necromancy, you will not be able to awaken a manifestation and you will be wasting your potential as a mage. Additionally, you will abandon any hope of winning the Mage Tournament,” Veil said sternly.

“I’m okay with that,” Amara said.

“Then we’ll meet at the Crystal Cave tomorrow afternoon for your next lesson,” Veil said.

“The same cave that’s teeming with monsters?” Amara asked cautiously.

“Yes, you’ll need to get some more experience fighting before the Mage Tournament,” Veil replied.

The next afternoon Amara made for the Crystal Cave the moment she finished Arinthea’s lessons. While on the way, Amara created her danger sense, a divination spell Veil taught her to sense incoming threats. She walked along the weathered roads of Stonehaven until she was about a mile off from the Crystal Cave.

Amara created a white sigil while thinking of the Crystal Cave, and a glowing arrow emerged in her hands. The arrow spun around for a few moments before settling on a direction, which Amara followed. Her danger sense was constantly warning her of impending threats that never materialized, and the ground was littered with the corpses of dead monsters. Still, Amara kept on her guard and always held her spear at the ready. Luckily for Amara, it only took her about 15 minutes to reach the entrance of the Crystal Cave. The entrance to the Crystal Cave was guarded by towering redwood trees adorned with crystal spikes. Amara looked into the cave and saw the interior lined with shining emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. However, she also saw eyes glowing in the caves, as formidable beasts stared her down. Amara directed her attention to a boulder outside the cave, where she found Veil reading a book.

“Are you ready to kill some monsters?” Veil asked.

“I am, but isn’t this a little dangerous? I mean, no one has gotten close to the cave because of the monsters, and I’m supposed to go inside it?” Amara asked.

“The monsters at the entrance aren’t very formidable, and we won’t be going very deep into the cave today. Plus, I’ll kill any monster that’s too much for you to handle. So rest assured, you aren’t in grave danger,” Veil answered.

“So we just walk in kill some monsters and leave?” Amara asked.

“An excellent summary, now lead the way,” Veil said.

“Can I cast some spells first?” Amara asked.

“Of course, never go into a dangerous situation unprepared,” Veil said.

Amara cast a series of divination spells to let her sense mana, enhance her senses, and improve her danger sense spell. She also created a ward to protect her from lethal attacks, Finally, she created three sharp red disks and had them orbit her.

“What did you ward yourself against?” Veil asked.

“Just lethal attacks, after all, you said are stronger the more specific they are,” Amara replied.

“It’s good that you remembered, now it is time for you to enter,” Veil said.

Amara took slowly approached the cave with Veil following her. She walked up to the entrance and scanned the interior. She sensed many strong mana sources and saw some massive spider-like monsters in the cave. After observing the cave, Amara took a deep breath and ran into the cave. She made no attempt to be subtle, her footsteps echoed off of the cavern walls.

Within seconds of entering, several monsters turned their gaze toward Amara, and a ping from above. A spider the size of a large dog pounced on her from the ceiling. One of her disks severed the spider's mandibles, a second its front legs, and the third its abdomen. The spider's corpse crashed into Amara, knocking her to the ground. Amara threw off the corpse and rolled to the left to dodge a centipede twice her size. She stood up, flung her disks at the centipede, and backed away. The disks tore through the centipede's exoskeleton, leaving the monster in four pieces.

After slaying the centipede, Amara felt a ping from the ground. A python covered in lightning burst from the ground and wrapped itself around Amara before she could react. Her body spasmed as electricity coursed her body and the python began suffocating her. She tried to cast a spell but found herself unable to move or create a sigil and she lost focus on her disks, causing them to dissipate. Right before Amara lost consciousness, the python shriveled up as green mana surrounded it. The python was swiftly reduced to a withered husk that broke apart into dust. Amara immediately got up and scanned the area. She saw the area littered with the corpse of other monsters and Veil approaching her.

“Are you alright?” Veil asked.

“Yeah, I guess this was a failure,” Amara said shakily.

“It wasn’t, you did well given the hostile environment,” Veil said.

“What’s next, am I going deeper into the cave?” Amara asked.

“Not for a bit, we’ll spend the next few days reviewing battle magic so that you’re better prepared. After that we’ll tackle monsters in the forest,” Veil said.