Calming down, Elaxus leaned back in his chair. “Declarations like these are just empty threats without the power to back them up. Hydrexyl, you might feel empowered by these new changes to your body, but you’re still much too weak to be of any use to me. I’ve assigned someone to mentor you. Sakree! You can come in now.”
An old woman carrying a staff walked into the throne room. Her wrinkled face showed the amount of experience she had, but it also showed that she had been a beauty in the past. She was around 1.5 meters, with gray hair that reached her shoulders
Elaxus continued speaking. “Hydrexyl, Sakree will train you for the next few months. Her level might not be extraordinary, but her control over magic is superb, and so are her teaching methods. Follow what she says and train. Train until you’re strong enough to be a blade to slaughter my enemies.”
Hydrexyl kneeled. “Yes, your majesty. I await the day I can be of use to you.”
Elaxus raised his hand and teleported them away.
Hydrexyl stood up and looked around. He and Sakree arrived in a small clearing with a cabin, surrounded by forests on all side. “Where are we?” He asked Sakree.
“This is where I live, peacefully studying magic. At least when I’m not teaching runts like you.” As Hydrexyl talked more with Sakree, he found out about her snarky personality. “Now, I’d like to kick you out and instead go back to my studies, but going against Elaxus isn’t a very good idea, so let’s get started. What do you think magic is?
Hydrexyl pondered this question for a moment before answering. “Magic is the ability to cast spells using mana.”
Sakree nodded. “You’re not wrong, but you’re not completely right either. Picture mana as invisible particles. Now imagine that there are different types of particles for different elements: earth, water, air, etc, you get the point. Magic is the ability to manipulate these particles to do your bidding. The more complex the command, the harder it’ll be to manipulate the particles, and the more particles it will take. Raising an affinity with an element will let you perceive those particles better, also making it easier to manipulate them. I heard you have some affinity with earth, try concentrating on the ground to see if you can spot these particles.”
Hydrexyl looked down and started actively thinking about trying to see those particles. As he did this, green specks on the ground started appearing in his vision, almost as if he put on a special lens. He looked back up. “After I thought about seeing them, green dots appeared and now the ground is almost covered in them.”
This jolted Sakree. “Almost covered in them? A few here and there is understandable, but covered in them? What’s your affinity with earth?”
“My affinity with earth is 50%.”
“Level 1 and 50% affinity?! No wonder Elaxus wanted me to personally train you. Looks like this might not be so bad after all. Alright, now that you can see these particles, the next step is to control them. Try imagining earth particles gathering at one point, and then shooting up. This is one of the most basic spells an earth magician usually learns, called ‘earth spike’”.
Hydrexyl did as she said, and tried imagining a clump of green particles rising up. The result wasn’t quite as he imagined. He felt successful as a spike started emerging from the ground, but frowned as it rose slowly for a few seconds, until finally reaching a height of one meter.
Sakree sensed his dissatisfaction. “Don’t worry. This is your first time using magic, and you’re doing it without an incantation. It’s normal that it took a while for the spike to rise. Anyways, now that I’ve taught you how to do it, you shouldn’t need me supervising you. Practice out here and get use to manipulating mana until you can make a spike rise instantaneously.” Sakree started walking back towards the cabin, but stopped after Hydrexyl called out to her.
“Teacher, before you leave, I have a few questions.”
Sakree sighed. “What are they?”
“If you can use magic like this, what are incantations for?”
Sakree’s face turned into a pleased expression. “Looks like you do have some intelligence in you, seeing as you’re smart enough to make connections. Incantations help gather mana and make it easier to control it. You might not realize it, but when magicians say a simple spell outloud like ‘earth spike’, that’s also an incantation. The reason I disapprove of using incantations are that one, they take longer, and two, they take away the element of surprise. It’s harder to dodge an attack when you don’t know when it’s coming, and what it is. Of course, there are some exceptions to this. Some unique spells, such as long distance teleportation, require incantations, since they gather many different types of elemental particles to achieve a unique effect. What else do you want to know?”
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Hydrexyl listened to Sakree’s explanation, nodding to the points that she made. “My last question is, can you use a certain type of magic when you’re not next to that element? For example, can a mage use water magic when they’re not next water?”
Sakree smiled. “Another good question. Over the course of thousands of years, all types of elemental particles have interspersed throughout the air. It would be a bit faint, but there are definitely water mana particles in the air, even though we’re not right next to a visible body of water. Mages can use these particles, even though it would be much less efficient than drawing them directly from water. If that’s it for now, I’m going inside. Practice diligently.” Sakree walked into the cabin and closed the door behind her.
The sun passed overhead and hours quickly went by as Hydrexyl practiced making a spike rise again and again. Using the spell three times would deplete his mana, so he would get a moments rest before it became full again. Concentrating for so long made his clothes stick to his body due to sweat. It was approaching sunset when he finally was able to use ‘earth spike’ instantaneously. He cast it a few more times to make sure his eyes hadn’t tricked him, and then smiled with a look of satisfaction.
He headed over to the cabin and walked inside. There were four rooms in the cabin. A bedroom for Sakree, a kitchen, a study room filled with books, and an empty bedroom for guests. Sakree was currently reading in the study room when Hydrexyl walked in.
“Teacher, is there anything to eat in the kitchen?”
She looked up from her book. “Not for you, but the surrounding forest is filled with creatures, I’m sure you could find something for dinner.”
Hydrexyl looked somewhat baffled. “What do I hunt with?” Sakree laughed. “Well, you have the strength of a 10 year old, so I guess you’ll have to use magic.” Hydrexyl knew she was right and didn’t bother to retort. But he was still worried. “I only know one spell, is that enough?”
Sakree put the book down and finally looked serious. “I’m only going to say this once, so listen well. Don’t compare me to those magicians you might find among humans, elves, or whatever other species that can use magic. I’m not teaching you how to use magic through incantations, I’m teaching you how to control it. I might have only taught you one spell, but the only limitation you have is your own imagination.”
Realizing the importance of what she just said, Hydrexyl nodded and started heading towards the door.
“I almost forgot. Hydrexyl! Come back here!”
Hydrexyl walked back inside the study room and saw Sakree fumbling through papers on her cluttered desk.
“Ah, here it is.”
She held up a band. It was three centimeters tall, and looked like three loops connected(like this). The middle loop was silver with strange symbols, and the other two loops were brown with notches. She slipped the band past his hand, and it automatically tightened onto his wrist.
“This is a gravity band. Use common sense to figure out what it does. I don’t know much about raising physical prowess, but this should help you increase your strength and agility. You should probably find a teacher to learn fighting techniques in the future.”
She grabbed the band and turned the silver loop over one notch. Hydrexyl immediately felt the difference, and caught off guard, he fell to one knee.
Sakree smirked seeing this. “I’ve set it on 1.5x gravity. I’ll increase every now and then as you get stronger. Now get out of here and go get yourself dinner. Oh, and try not to die. That would probably get me in trouble with Elaxus.”
Hydrexyl grunted as he got off his knee and walked towards the door once more. He stepped out into the clearing and looked at the setting sun for a moment. He then walked to the edge of the clearing and hesitated, before stepping into the forest.