Johan woke up, still... well, not tired, but weak from the last week when he had condensed his mana heart. It took him around 6 months from the time he had arrived in town to condense a mana heart, that was apparently fast according to Nath, so it seemed as if Johan really was talented, though Nath had figured as much from the fact that Johan had become decently proficient using a spell before he had ever met Nath to begin with. It could have even been faster if not for the fact that Johan had used mana on hunts and for some spars here and there.
Now with his mana heart, Johan seemed to constantly gain mana, and at a greatly accelerated rate as to before. According to Nath that was because now instead of breathing in mana, a manual process, his heart pulled it in every time it beat. That meant that he would gain mana at whatever rate his heart was going, as well as gain more mana as he slept. Moreover, as he developed as a mage, that effect would grow larger, this was due to the next step of mage hood. Construct.
The Construct step was a step that developed to replace the older and now almost unpracticed Circle method, Construct had the same intent, but was instead built upon the believe that a mage should make something more representative of themselves. In magic intent and representation mattered a lot, something Nath had started to emphasize. If one wanted to summon a water spirit, you wouldn't use fire, and want for ice, you would obtain water, and think about water when trying to summon one. Johan suspected that his mana filtering method was influenced by this concept as well.
So why did all mages need to have a circle? The answer? They did not. This first started with a mage that created cuboidal shapes instead of circle. That man later became one of the strongest known mages, which caused the trend to happen in the first place.
Johan wasn't entirely sure what shape would really represent him though. If it were his magic that would be an easier question to answer as his magic was centered around his beliefs of light intertwining with magic, thus it would just be the shape of a pyramid, the same shape as an optical prism. But no, this was to represent *him*, not his magic. It was a difficult subject for Johan to really delve deeply into.
Johan had always done so many diverse things in his life, he used to play many sports as a child, though he stopped after he gained powers, trying to hide them from others, then he got into reading a lot. A book maybe? No, that didn't feel right.
Not that it was very important yet though. After all he had to wait for a while before he could even do that, it usually took a few months for someone to form their first construct, though Nath also admitted that Johan would likely form his own far faster if he gained it as quick as he did for his mana heart. Also the only rule for Constructs was that they all needed to be the same, though to what extent was unknown. Perhaps they all needed the same form, but it could be moved in some way shape or form, like a human for example. It could be the same figure, but they may have an arm or leg moved from before, to better represent someone?
Johan decided to put that to the back of his mind for now. He had focused a bit more on technique this week in his physical training and had abstained from the spars with Markus due to his lacking mana and being unable to reinforce his body, but he could tell that at the rate he was recovering he would be back to how he was before he formed his mana heart in another 3 weeks at most, the increased mana gathering was insane.
Anne was doing well, of course, and she had been forced to spar with Johan due to Johans current mana plight, since Johan couldn't really hurt her easily without great strength due to Anne being phenomenal with technique.
Every thrust of Johans spear was parried with ease, while every time she went to strike Johan, he found it difficult to defend against her. Johan once again understood that even if he had magic, that wouldn't necessarily help him too much if he was still weak in melee. According to Markus he and Anne were still leagues better than most people, but he wasn't sure of that.
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Out of combat magic was something that would be crucial to Johan as that meant things like conjuring water, or creating a quick shelter if needed. In combat, however, Johan would have trouble casting most magic, having not been trained properly in quick casting or melee casting, the only magic he was sure of in combat so far was his Muscular Strengthening, and even then, though that was due to it being something he had grown intimately familiar with. Something like a bolt of mana? That was completely out of the question. Let alone if he had the time to focus and cast it, he also had to miss all allies if they were in battle.
Of course, according to Nath things like that became non issues after a while, due to spell familiarity along with the step that comes after Construct. What that step was, Johan had no clue, but he was looking forwards to obtaining it.
Johan felt the, sadly now familiar, feeling of his sisters wooden blade strike his ribs for what felt like the 80th time that day, though, it was actually far less in reality the pain seemed to make it feel like it regardless.
Markus clapped his hands, signaling the end of the spar.
"Good job, Anne, Johan you might've gotten your ass kicked a bunch, but you are visibly improving. We'll stop here for today but I will say that you have both done rather well for the last several months. I'd say that once you have a few spells in your pocket, you should be able to do much better out in the wastes and go on longer hunts. Once Nath is able to actually recover a good chunk of his mana he should be able to help a lot more with some extra stuff. things like mending some houses, or even fixing some of the land around here so we might be able to farm... At least more sustainably." Markus started to ramble off topic, clearly excited about Johan being able to use magic that is actually useful.
"Sir, if we're done can we go?" Anne spoke bluntly to the older man.
"Ah. Haha, yes, my mistake, It's just been so long since something good like this has happened." Markus waved the duo off as he walked back to sit for a bit at the edge of the training grounds.
Johan followed Anne out of the training area down the street.
"It's insane how many people are so excited that you can use magic now Johan." Anne said, stretching her arms into the air as she did so.
"Yep. Though it isn't as if I don't get it. These people are so used to this life that having an extra glass of water is a miracle for them. It's not like Ambevelance, where we had faucets that brought water in." Johan explained as they walked.
"That's fair. Honestly I'm kinda jealous of you. Everyone always seems so happy to see you, and yet I'm looked at as almost a burden or something. It sucks." Anne frowned a bit, seemingly remembering the glares that people would occasionally give her.
"Sorry. I know that there isn't much we can realistically do about that, but it still isn't right to me. I know that you are absolutely not a burden. You are the only reason why we can even hunt truth be told. I'm not nearly good enough on my own, and no one else is really capable of helping me hunt. Markus is great and all, but you know how it is when his old injuries flare, Nath could never do something out of the village as he is a key figure, and Finch for all he is worth can't hunt anymore in his old age. Speaking of Finch, how have your lessons with him been?" Johan asked.
As Anne went to answer him though, Pat came running down the street towards the two siblings.
"Hey! Hey, you guys! Come to my shop, I have something really cool to show you!" Pat yelled as she got a bit closer.
Johan and Anne watched Pat slow and then come to a stop about 5 feet away from them, trying to catch her breath.
"You... Are you alright?" Johan asked as he stared at the redheaded girl.
"Pat? What's going on?" Anne walked up to the girl and put her hand on her back. Johan was a bit surprised at first, but realized that since they were close in age, it made some sense that they'd get along so well, or at the very least would talk more than others.
"Just... Hah... Come to my workshop. I'll, I'll uh... Show you guys what happened." Anne finally stood up straight, Johan could see the great amount of excitement in her eyes, clearly it was something very important to her.
"Alright, we don't have much else going on anyways, so I guess just lead the way." Johan nodded.