Slice! My dagger cut a horizontal line through the training dummy. I smiled brightly before cutting the dummy to pieces. My dagger had been extremely helpful to me in basic training this morning. Arin had woken me up early just like he had promised.

"Nice work." Arin said, a small gleam of pride in his eye. "Your weapon is proving to be fairly useful for you. You've seemingly mastered it in the morning." It was high noon, and I was tired from the training we had done up until now.

"Yeah whatever." I said practically out of breath. "I really like it. I think it's fairly strong." I held up the dagger again, and it was completely clean and not dented at all. It felt resilient.

"I think it's useful despite my ... " I stopped for a moment, thinking about my dead eye before continuing. "Disability." I stated. "I want to use it today on our quest."

"Your quest." Arin corrected me. "I will not help you unless your life is in danger." He shuffled over to the dummy I had cut up and went to pick up the pieces.

"Wait you mean you're not going to help me?!" I gulped. That's so stressful! I was totally hoping Arin would carry me through the first quest. I sighed.

"I'll be unable to assist you on your basic quests until graduation. If I am assigned to your party then I will be able to assist you on all quests after that." He finished repairing the dummy I had demolished with his magic.

"So I'm all alone for my first quest?" I asked.

"I could call your party if you'd like." Arin said. I could feel his smile, almost as if he was teasing me.

"I can handle it by myself!" I stammered. I was worried, but I did beat that creepy reaper demon, and I do know how to fight. However, I wasn't sure how dangerous balloon slimes would really be.

"Right." Arin said. "Ready to try out a spell?" My eyes widened at his words.

"YES!" I shouted. "I can't wait! It's frostbolt right?!" I stumbled over myself in excitement and pulled out my class card. I pressed on the spells area again and one singular spell appeared on my list. It read frostbolt.

"Here." Arin handed me a small blue gem, it burned ever so slightly as it touched my skin. "This is a Cryo Catalyst. Apprentice Tempests can't use their spells without crushing one of these."

"What's next?" I said impatiently, interrupting him.

"You need to crush it, and then shout the name of the spell. This particular spell does not require a chant." Arin stood back waiting for me to try it.

"When you crush the gem, your relic is fueled with magical energy. This allows you to use a spell without pulling magically directly from your relic." I had so many questions.

"Relic?" I asked.

"Your relic is a stone, or an organ, that rests inside your chest. It's where your magic is stored and pulled from. It also whispers you spells to chant so you don't have to memorize so many spells. It is a physical representation of the soul." I held my hand over my chest as Arin spoke trying to find my relic but alas I felt nothing but my own heartbeat.

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I crushed the gem in my hand, and the burning sensation I had felt in the cemetery overcame my left hand. I got to my knees breathing hard. The blood in my arm started to glow a bright blue, but faded before my elbow.

"It hurts!" I exclaimed. "Why does it hurt?!" My fist was clenched hard.

"The crystal acts as free magical energy. It's absorbed into your body, and without proper training, causes a lot of pain." Arin said.

"How do I stop it?!" I shouted again, looking up in fear at him. He met my gaze and understood what I felt.

"Open your palm and aim at the target dummy. Then shout the spell name." Arin helped me get to my feet. My knees were shaking slightly but I slowly got control over the catalyst.

I rose to my feet, and Arin's belief in me filled my spirit, which made me more confident. I stretched out my arm and hand completely, tightening all the muscles in my arms. I aimed at the training dummy that Arin had just repaired. Blue light started to appear around my open palm. Energy erupted from my body, causing a wave of wind to blow my hair back.

That is when I heard the word whispering down from the deepest subconscious I had. Frostbolt. My eyes widened and I clenched my muscles. I clenched my forearm with my other hand.

"FROSTBOLT!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. All of the pain and energy I had built up in my body moved to the tips of my fingers and the center of my hand. I turned my head to look at my hand. Blue and white snow and ice chunks erupted from the end of my hand and propelled itself forwards towards my target.

The training dummy was completely obliterated and the cliff wall behind the training area was covered in a thick chunk of ice. A rush of adrenaline hit me hard and completely dissipated. A wave of pleasure and happiness fell over me like a waterfall. I was tired and aching, but I was in absolute bliss.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed panting. "Give me another one!" I held my hand out to Arin, who obliged and gave me another Cryo Catalyst.

"The more you use the spell, the easier it becomes to use. You may practice a bit if you'd like." Arin lectured me. "You also don't really have to aim it, the spell itself will lock on to your target." I was still filled with adrenaline and my rush of happiness.

"That's fucking awesome!" I exclaimed getting to my feet again and crushing the next gem in my hand. My veins turned a cyan color and glowed again. I lifted my hand and pointed it towards the frost covered wall. The pain was less unbearable this time, however, it still felt like my arm was going to fall off.

"FROSTBOLT!" I shouted again. An orb of frost and Another rush of adrenaline and blissful emotions. It was like my body was rewarding me for using magic. I fell to my knees again but used my hand to catch myself and got up quickly.

"Another!" I asked, I was getting off on the feeling. It was amazing and beautiful and the fact that magic could be so powerful and feel so good is incredible!

"Here." Arin handed me a pouch filled with the little gems. I tied it to my belt. "Just don't crush more than one at a time, or it doubles the amount of power output, and the amount of pain. You could kill yourself by overloading on magic." Arin warned me.

"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed. "This is amazing!" I said picking up another gem.

"After you cast one more, you need to get started on your quest." Arin said. "I'm sure you can handle it." I nodded back at him and crushed another gem in my hand.

"FROSTBOLT!" I shouted again. The sound of impact erupted my eardrums as the waves of adrenaline and happiness rushed over me. I bent over putting my hands on my knees breathing heavily.

"This takes so much energy!" I managed to say through heavy breathing.

"We have special brews that you can drink to restore your magic energy. You can only cast so many spells before completely passing out." Arin warned.

"That sounds awesome! I'll have to buy some of those." I sighed and got to my feet. I closed the string to my bag of Cryo Crystals tightly and looked at Arin.

"Is that going to go away?" I asked awkwardly pointing towards the mess of ice on the cliff face.

"Yeah it should melt before tomorrow." Arin replied. "Now, shall we go?"