Josh was meditating in a lotus position at the courtyard right after he had his breakfast. Elaria was standing a small distance behind him.

"You already felt the mana with all of your senses, but that is too advanced for you, so I need you to focus and think about how you want to start your magic journey. Do you want to taste your mana or smell it? Or maybe you want to see it; touching or hearing mana is fine, too. There is no wrong answer. You just have to choose what feels right to you,” Elaria explained to Josh.

Josh broke his focus away from meditating and turned towards Elaria.

“What sense did you use?” He asked.

“I’m an elf. We are born being able to see mana.”

He laughed at her response. “No offense, but how did you even get assigned as a mentor for a human then.”

She frowned and looked into his eyes as if asking if he was serious.

“No, wait, I got it,” he scratched his chin.

She’s the only elf I’ve seen so far, except maybe for the time I got summoned. Leo, so far, has been heavily impressed with her skill level, even surprised that she was a ‘warmage’ when she was assigned as a mentor. The day before yesterday, Leo mocked her long ears, but maybe he was just a racist. Also, the deal she accepted was oddly favorable to me. I think I got it.

Josh gathered his courage. “You are not from Pertis Kingdom, are you?” He asked.

She clapped slowly. “Bravo, you guessed it right. Now let’s stop wasting time and get to sensing mana.”

Josh nodded in response and closed his eyes to meditate.

Do I want to see the mana? I’ve already seen it, it’s beautiful. Sure, but seeing doesn’t let you control it, or does it? Neither tasting nor hearing would let me control it, either. I mean, it should, but? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Yeah, for smelling it, wouldn’t that make me some sort of mana addict? That leaves a touch. I liked the warmth of fire mana motes.

Touch it is.

When Josh opened his eyes, he first noticed that the sun had passed noon.

How long have I been meditating for?

He stood up with a firm resolution and looked in his mentor’s direction. “I decided, I want to use touch as my first sense for mana."

Elaria raised her gaze from the book she was reading, sighed and closed it. “Thought so,” she said, slowly walking over to him. “While it doesn’t really make much of a difference in the long run on which sense you focus, even more so when you already felt mana with all your senses. It does tell though what sort of magic profession you are inclined to,” she explained.

“Those who choose sight are usually inclined to be researchers; they spend days upon days locked in their rooms studying tomes as their way to advance,” she summoned a book out of nowhere and spun it in circles in the air, before making it disappear and speaking once more.

“The ones who choose to hear the mana are more likely to be summoners; they summon various spirits to do their bidding,” she closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, then waved her hands around, and a small flock of magpies made entirely out of water appeared, they danced in the air for a little before disappearing into wherever they came from.

“Those that smell the mana are similar to summoners yet different as they are inclined to be tamers. I believe you have already seen the Skylight Pigeons. They are the lowest class of magical creatures a tamer might tame,” she said before adding,“ she said then added another remark. “They are also the only mage profession with a lower survival rate than knights. As dragons love to munch on them.

“The ones who taste the mana are usually Alchemists; someone has to try out the concoctions that are made for the first time, and it’s usually a novice alchemist,” she pointed her finger to Josh.

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“As for you," she paused for a second to gather her thoughts. “Touch means that you are not afraid to embrace the mana and most likely to be an enchanter; they touch the artifacts and engrave them with mana to give them various powers. Dwarfs are also born with the ability to touch mana like elves are born to see mana. That’s why they usually are best enchanters or blacksmiths,”

“Does that mean I’m going to be an enchanter?“ Josh asked.

“It depends,” she sighed. “If you ask me… I would say no.”

“Then what do you think I’m going to become?”

“It’s not essential at the moment. You will know what you want to specialize in when you reach 3rd circle or, as this kingdom calls it, a mage,” Elaria replied.

“Then what is your specialization?” Josh asked.

“I’m a generalist, so I dabble in everything, whether that be summoning, astral magic, or even illusions.”

“But Leo called you a warmage.”

“You can specialize to be elementalist, a cryomancer, aeromancer or even necromancer if you were to dabble in the dark magics.” Taking a deep breath, she gathered her thoughts. “But you don’t specialize in becoming a warmage. It’s a title rather than a specialization.”

Josh gasped in response.

Elaria clapped, catching his attention. “Enough of questions. Let’s get back to your training, “she waved her hands around, summoning a candle out of nowhere and handing it to him. “Take this”

As soon as he took the candle, Elaria explained it to him. “I want you to go back into the inner world of yours. Touch the feeble mana all around you and try to mold it into lighting this candle up,” she said. “Simple enough, right?”

Josh nodded and went back into meditating, this time with a candle in his grasp.

It was harder for him to focus just on touching the mana as he could see it from his previous session, but after a bit of concentration, he managed to zone out the sight and focus on touching the motes of mana around him.

I need to light a candle, which means I need to get fire motes.

He easily pushed away the transparent motes, which felt like tiny, sharp needles on his skin. The black motes were not as easy to get rid of as they felt damp and engulfing. They were heavy when he tried to push them away and clung to his skin.

Hmm, how do I get rid of them?

He pondered for a moment before. Instead of pushing them away, he tried to replace the dark motes with the red motes, which were warm and pulsing around his skin, throbbing with eagerness to please him. The warm crimson-red motes had found no issues with consuming the dark motes, leaving a feeling of electrifying warmth in place of the dampness of the dark mana.

Great success.

What emotion fits fire enough to light a candle and not a campfire? Definitely not anger or passion. It would light too large of a flame. Maybe excitement?

No, that’s still too strong of an emotion for a candle.

mhhh…

I think I got this.

He started channeling the crimson-red motes through his body, embodying the curiosity of a flame eager to explore yet anchored to its base. Instead of a lit candle, a slap has woken him up from his meditation.

As he opened his eyes, instead of a small light at the tip of the candle, the whole of it was ablaze, his mentor angrily staring at him. “Mana, you need to use mana, not your lifespan,” she rebuked him. “It seems fire sparks too strong of emotions in your mind. You are forbidden from using fire magic from now on until you get proper control of mana.”

“But, I was using mana?” Josh replied.

“No, you weren’t. You burned through a week of your lifespan to light this candle up. Your secondary affinities were darkness and air, weren’t they?” she asked, not giving him a chance to explain himself.

I guess no fire magic for now.

“Yes, dark and transparent mana motes,” he replied.

Elaria whistled in response; moments later, a Skylight Pigeon flew in their direction. She held it in front of him.

“Try to blind it with your darkness magic.”

He nodded, closed his eyes, and went back to meditating.

Once again, he pushed the transparent motes away without issue. This time, he didn’t need to get rid of the dark motes but rather the far more numerous ones: the red ones.

No matter what he tried, he only managed to push away a small part of them, the ones lightest in color, the darker ones clung onto his body, warmly throbbing and pulsing. They resembled the dark motes in the way they weren’t leaving; sadly, this time, he didn’t have a fourth affinity to get rid of them.

I don’t think the air motes could push them away, either.

He pondered momentarily, then tried something new instead of pushing away the mana motes that clung to his skin. He remembered how the fire mana flowed through the meridians in his body, and he tried to only let the dark motes in. After some tries, it seemed to work.

It’s slower, but it works.

Great, now I just have to think of dark emotions to channel.

Is it the despair on the face of the village chief as he was indentured? Or is it the hatred his family felt towards me for ruining their lives? Maybe it's the disgust I felt towards myself for enslaving a family? Or regret for doing that? Or is it the dread I feel for my future? Or the loneliness of this world?

He broke out of his meditation, an anxious expression on his face.

“Sorry, I can’t,” he apologized to his mentor.

She sighed and let the poor bird fly away. “It’s okay. Let’s end the training for today,” she pondered thoughtfully for a moment. “Technically, you did light the candle on fire; however, crude it might’ve been. It’s enough to classify you as a 1st circle mana user or a novice mage as this country calls it,” she congratulated him. And she started leaving towards the manor.

“Do you think I am a bad person?” Josh shouted towards her, stopping her in her tracks.

“I don’t think so, Ward Josh,“ she replied, apparent longing in her voice.