…

Opening my hand, I imagine a bright flame condensing in the palm of my hand. After a few seconds I feel mana leave my body and travel to my right hand, which I have in front of me.

Heat near me drastically raises as a condensed ball of flames appears, floating about the centre of my palm. After about 10 seconds I dispel it.

“Good job, it’s only been 10 days but you've mastered the basic and apprentice fire spells. On top of that, you'll be condensing a mana core any day now, truly a terrifying rate of growth. Only the best of the kingdom talents can grow at this speed, and they would have the best technique. Kekekekek.”

Over the past 10 days, Edward has been training me in both black magic and fire magic. During this time I’ve almost risen to a novice rank mage. I’ve also mastered basic and apprentice fire magic spells.

It shouldn’t be too long before Edward sends me to the capital, I heard he called the capital “Eldrine”. According to him, if I don’t learn everything about black magic from him before the deadline around 19 days from now then I can take however many books I need from him, to study while I’m alone.

According to him, I should have two storage rings. One of them for items the kingdom outlaws such as black magic which will have a sigil engraved on it to make it undetectable to most magi, and the other being for everything else.

“Edward, how would I condense my mana core? Is there a specific procedure or technique to it?” Since advancing to a novice mage will happen any time now, I ask him about how I would go about it, since I don’t know the actual details of the event.

“There’s not much too it. Just continue training your mana, after a while, all the mana in your body will gather itself in your abdomen. For you, it might be different however. But whatever happens I doubt it will cause any trouble, if possible try to break through tonight. Remember, forming the mana core is the first step to truly becoming a mage.”

I nod to Edward's response of reassurance. “Okay, I’ll do my best. If you don’t mind, I’d like to spend the rest of my day training with my staff.”

“Go ahead, just make sure to update me tomorrow on your progress.” After dismissing me, I see him go to work on something at his table. Since he looks occupied with it I waste no more time speaking and rush out the village. Usually I train with my staff against a large tree that won’t break after just a few hits.

Originally, Edward didn’t like thought of me training in both magic and staff, however I convinced him that it would be better since my body will be naturally strong anyway.

Arriving at a large tree, I take out my black stone staff. ‘Okay, for now I should practice getting use to my strength.’

…

Exhaling, I sit down under the shade of a tree and take out a leather flask filled with water. I don’t know how long I trained exactly but it must’ve been a few hours.

‘I suppose I should start heading back.’ Picking up my spear, I go to leave when I hear a twig crack behind me. A familiar face comes into view.

‘Damien, was it? No, that was the name of the one that helped Jack in.. Which means he, too, is probably around here somewhere.. I’ll pretend I don't have an idea.’ The man who tied me with rope and kicked me back to the village when I was held hostage.

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With anger he starts speaking. “I heard what happened to Ryan, Jack, and Rebecca. You got that dog of the chief to kill them, right?!”

‘What on earth is this guy going on about? They tried killing me, I just defended myself and got revenge. It doesn’t matter, I was going to find him some day soon anyway.’

“Stop ignoring me bastard!” He draws his sword as he speaks. “I’ll avenge them!”

‘Something about the way he talks makes me cringe. Oh well, he seems to think I wasn’t the one to kill them, since he still thinks I’m weak most likely. I suppose it’s logical, after all it’s been about 2 weeks since I last saw him.’

Charging at me, he tries to thrust his sword into my chest. However it’s quite easy to dodge. He seems to be as strong as Ryan was, however he has no stance or technique.

Just as I dodge however, I get a chill from the back of my neck. Instinctively I duck, only to jump back and see another has appeared.

“Watch out Jamie, he as some skill. He seems to be a journeyman rank warrior like us.. He must’ve hid it at that time.”

I shouldn’t get cocky just because I have my defence ring and know some magic now. Although at the very least I should be able to escape if that’s needed.

‘I should make the first move..’

Trying to catch them off guard, I lunge at them using the range advantage of my staff to jab Damien which sends him flying only to be stopped by a tree. Jamie panics and randomly swings at me, which I block with my staff.

It seems the mana training paid off the past 2 or so weeks. I’m able to compete in speed and strength with a journeyman warrior now.

‘If I get a hold of one of them and cast a fireball while grabbing onto them, it’s a guarantee kill so long as I’m holding their; chest, back, neck, or head.’

Normally no magician should be able to do this, but since I’m able to get into range and cast spells almost instantly, it’s an option for me. Given the fact it is a gruesome one.

I see in the corner of my eye Damien get up and charge towards me. Throwing Jamie away with my staff I change my attention back to Damien.

‘I’m may be a mad man for this, but let me test how well this ring works.’ With no intention to dodge, I hold my hand up to catch it.

Suddenly a sharp pain comes from my hand as if it has been cut wide open, however on closer inspection the sword only managed to cut barely a centimetre into my hand.

“Wh- what?!” Damien panics as I pull him into my grasp. My staff disappears into my storage ring. With my new free hand, I grab the front of his face. And after a few seconds of him screaming..

Splat!

A headless Damien who’s shoulders are ablaze falls to his knees, eventually falling onto his stomach.

“Ah-.. AHHHHH!” Jamie starts to scream at the sight of his friend’s head exploding in front of him.

‘Ugh, my clothes need washed.’ I’m not exactly a fan of having my clothes covered in blood.

Looking over to the cowering man screaming over his friends lifeless body, I take this time to pick up his sword that he dropped when running over to his friend’s corpse.

“Yo- you fucking monster! I swear I wil-” As he turns around to see me standing behind him, preparing to swing, he cuts his own words off. “Sp- spare m-”

…

Heading back through the village gates, Edward spots me. With a look of concern that seems to vanish once he see's the blood that covers me isn’t mine, he starts to break down into the usual cackle.

I just ignore him and keep walking back to my house, since I need to take a bath and change clothes.

While bathing, I discover I can speed up my healing on my wound immensely if I speed the circulation of mana around that area. The only downside is it consumes almost all my mana for a simple cut.

After drying and changing clothes, I sit down on my bed to practice mana. In doing so, I loose track of time.

‘Wh- what’s this? Is it my mana core?’ After a while my mana that is usually always flowing through me starts to rush backwards to its origin, causing an extremely painful sensation.

Suppressing the urge to scream, I keep going trusting nothing is wrong. Suddenly all of my mana starts to condense into a single point, causing a ball to form. After a while it starts to expand to the size of a fingernail.

Once it finishes growing, mana rushes back out around my body, however this time feels like it’s much more aggressive and has much more force.

‘Is this it? The mana core? This is my first step to truly becoming a mage?’ I feel excited but confused, it feels a bit too easy.

As I’m about to stop, I sense something that instinctively makes me panic. ‘What the fuck is that?!’