As the sun crept over the horizon, warm hues of orange and pink bathed the sky in a gentle embrace. Several days had passed since the mana beast's defeat, and Kael found himself strolling along a dirt road in town, tasked with gathering the clinic's daily necessities. The townspeople called out to him as he passed by, offering compliments, expressing gratitude, and even presenting him with gifts. The more attention he received, the more his nerves began to fray. He was unaccustomed to this type of admiration.

In his past life, Kael had earned respect, but it was always tinged with an undercurrent of fear. Soldiers treated him well and were pleased to have him fighting alongside them, yet they avoided him and sought distance whenever he engaged with them.

The villagers' respect, however, was imbued with admiration and gratitude, as they continuously showered him with praise and thanks. Unsure of how to react, Kael hastened to complete his errands and retreated to the clinic.

Upon his return, he found Beth seated at the dining table, engrossed in a book and sipping her customary coffee. After organizing the procured items and putting them in their rightful places, he addressed the elderly woman.

"Beth, I don't think I've properly thanked you yet. Well, I did spend a couple of days just recovering, but still. Thank you for saving my life, and for worrying about me."

Beth snorted dismissively without lifting her eyes from the page. "Oh, please. I was just worried that you'd mess up, and I wouldn't get the mana stone—" Abruptly, she halted mid-sentence, her gaze drifting into the distance. A look of horror crept across her features, gradually consuming her entire expression.

Kael couldn't help but chuckle at the spectacle unfolding before him. Nor could he resist the opportunity to tease his mentor.

"Ah, yes. You were so worried about the mana stone that it slipped your mind, and you accidentally burnt it to a crisp along with the mana beast. It all makes sense."

Beth shot Kael a withering glare before a sly smile graced her lips. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to make you useful, so that sort of unfortunate incident doesn't happen in the future. Follow me."

A blend of nervousness and excitement coursed through Kael at her words. He was thrilled by the prospect of her helping him grow stronger. As for his apprehension… While Kael deemed Beth a good person, the adjectives 'nice' and 'kind' were ill-suited to describe her.

Kael trailed Beth into the backyard, where he sensed her command of mana. Before his eyes, several vertical slabs of earth emerged from the ground, spaced about five meters apart and arranged diagonally so he could see them all, the nearest on his left. Red targets adorned the slabs, featuring a red circle in the center, encircled by a red ring, and an even larger red ring beyond that.

While the act of raising the earth was not particularly astounding – Kael could do it himself, albeit one slab at a time – he puzzled over the red coloring.

"How did you get the red parts of the targets?" Kael inquired.

Beth nodded approvingly at his question. "I altered the way those portions of the targets reflect light. Light is composed of a spectrum of colors that create every hue we can perceive. An object's color is determined by which colors of light it absorbs. I've oversimplified it, but I made those parts red by causing the earth to absorb all colors except red, so the red light waves bounce off of it, and that's what we see."

Kael shook his head in amazement, not at the information itself, but at the sheer breadth of knowledge mages possessed. "I can't believe how much about the world I don't know. The amount of knowledge mages have managed to piece together is... well, nothing short of incredible."

Beth concurred with a nod. "That's why I told you it was foolish to attempt anything on your own. To be even a decent mage, at the very least you would need to recreate thousands of years of mage history independently. It's impossible. Perhaps a thousand years ago, one could become a great mage through self-study, but times have changed. Mages no longer concoct elaborate schemes to conceal their discoveries, even in death. They collaborate to uncover the deeper truths of this world. Now, let's refocus on the task at hand."

Turning away from Kael, Beth gestured toward the targets. "Your issues are twofold. First, your magic is too slow. You rely on excessive thought to control mana as needed. Second, your concentration is abysmal. You struggle to control mana in combat situations. I'll be addressing these shortcomings of yours."

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Having witnessed Beth's capabilities, Kael was undoubtedly eager to learn from her. However, he couldn't help but wonder why she had waited so long to begin. Since his handwriting had reached an acceptable standard, he had only the books in her library to learn magic from. He decided to express his puzzlement. "Why didn't you start training me like this before? Wouldn't I have improved more quickly with your help?"

Beth chuckled, shaking her head at his question. "There are three reasons. First, you were stupid. You lacked the fundamental knowledge necessary to perform even basic magic. My personal instruction and reading the information in a book would take the same amount of time since it's something even a child could comprehend. Second, you were unskilled. It would be like trying to improve someone's running form when they haven't figured out crawling yet. Third, I wanted to cultivate the right mindset for you."

Kael tilted his head, puzzled. "What do you mean by the right mindset?"

"Magic is different from aura. While aura has numerous applications, even if warriors typically specialize in the one or two they're naturally gifted in, magic has limitless potential. The only constraints on what you can achieve with magic are your proficiency in manipulating mana and your capacity to comprehend and apply the knowledge of what you're attempting. During the months you've been here, you've devised several solutions to problems on your own. There will be many instances where you'll need to use magic you've never even considered, let alone used before. You must quickly adapt and develop new ways of employing mana that you're unfamiliar with. That's what I've been training."

"That makes sense," Kael replied. "But why does it feel like it's just an excuse for you to call me stupid twice?"

Beth almost smiled before shifting the topic. "Before we address your ability to concentrate during combat situations, we'll first work on your casting speed. For the foreseeable future, you'll be conjuring a sharp projectile from the earth and hurling it at the targets. You must calculate the trajectory before launching it. If you try to use mana to correct the object's course, another mage could easily counter you by simply seizing control of the mana."

"Ah," Kael mused, stroking his chin. "So it's like training with a weapon and committing it to muscle memory?" He asked.

"That's not a bad way to think about it," Beth responded. "Though not entirely accurate. What you'll want to do is associate the combat spells you intend to use with a trigger. This trigger could be a name you create for the spell, a mental image, or anything you can recall swiftly. During your training, think of that trigger when you cast the spell. Eventually, your mind will link the trigger to the complex sequence of tasks required for the spell, allowing you to bypass manually considering each step. If you choose to use names, however, please, for the love of all things magical, do not shout them aloud when you use them."

Kael laughed out loud at that last remark. “Who would be stupid enough to warn the enemy what they were about to do?”

Beth sighed before replying, "You'd be surprised. Now, get to work. Let me know when you can hit every target with a bullseye using some sort of earth spear. You'll need to conjure the projectile and launch it within a maximum of two seconds. Once you can do that, then we can get to the fun part."

Kael's concern grew, not so much because of the challenging task before him, but due to her last remark. In the time he'd known her, Beth had never referred to anything as 'fun.' However, she seemed to take great pleasure in his struggles. He couldn't predict the terrible things she had planned for him; all he could do was hope to improve quickly enough to thwart her malicious schemes.

With determined focus, Kael slowly drew a stone from the earth. He formed a small rod the size of an arrow, tapering to a sharp point over twenty seconds. It was far too slow, but he was content with his first attempt. Now, he needed to launch it at the nearest target. Kael imagined it would be similar to using a bow. He hadn't been an expert archer in his past life, but he could hit a tree from a modest distance. He flung the stone arrow toward the closest target, grazing its side. Kael sighed, anticipating the long day ahead.

After several hours of practice, Kael decided to take a break and engage in some physical training. During this session, he chose to practice using gravity magic, intending to manipulate his weight as needed in battle. He practiced incorporating it with aura while exercising, frequently losing concentration, but undoubtedly reaping the benefits of his efforts.

When he resumed his stone arrow practice, he implemented a few changes. First, he shortened the shafts of the stone arrows, trading some weight for increased speed. His primary goal was to defeat aura warriors, so if his projectiles weren't fast enough, they'd be easily dodged or parried. Keeping this objective in mind, he also attempted to make the tips of the stone arrows denser, hoping they would penetrate the enhanced defenses of aura warriors.

These modifications added both time and the possibility of error to his spell, but Kael didn't mind. After all, greatness was never achieved by taking the easy path. He continued practicing until sunset. With his improved stone arrows, he managed to hit the first three of the ten targets. Remembering his past, he decided not to overexert himself in training and reluctantly crawled into bed.

While satisfied with his progress, he was eager to continue training. He was also anxious to discover what Beth had planned for him once he completed his current task. As nervous as he was, he was even more excited to learn the new techniques she would teach him to vanquish his foes. As he contemplated various ways to vanquish his enemies with magic, he drifted off to sleep.