"In the past I wasn't always a town healer Glim. Once I used to be a brilliant water mage. Before that I was a student in the water branch of Kareny academy. Before even that I was a simple commoner. The son of a fisher in the Walker province."
Glim only knew basic the general geography of the Temil kingdom he lived in because it was all passed to him by word of mouth.
The Temil Kingdom was separated into five provinces. Earkit, Kurnut, Xan, Viston, and Walker province.
The village they lived in, Tulip, was in a rural part of the Earkit province. The Earkit province was in the west and held some coastline, but access to it was harder due to the mountains.
To the south east was the Walker province. They had much more coast line and it was much easier to access due to the lack of mountains. This made a lot of their industries sea related like trade and fishing.
"To make the story short I gained the spark like you now have. I took the test to enter the Water branch of Kareny academy and passed. Several years later I graduated as a water mage and joined the military. The first twelve years weren't to bad. I made several friends and fought in a few battles. Then..."
Roth had been talking with a fairly relaxed voice so far, but at this point it became hard. His face now looked as if it was made of stone. His hard eyes stared into the floating ball of water as if it was his most hated enemy.
"Then the war with the Mantor empire was started. I will not speak much of that time, but just know that I hated it. I lost many friends and people I had trained."
"Three years later my contract was up and I left the military. I had enough fighting to last several lifetimes. I just wanted a simple life of helping others instead of hurting"
At this point Roth's face softened up a little bit. The corner of his mouth even creeped upwards. He skimmed over all the gory details as he didn't want to scar the young Glim.
"I came to the village of tulip because it was far away from the major cities and the detestable nobles that live in them. I spent my days healing and bringing life into the world."
"Several years later a woman was traveling through this village and gave birth to a kid named Glim and died in the process. I took pity on the kid and raised him to this day. Now we are here"
With that Roth made the ball of water scatter into the air like a fine mist that disappeared before Glim's eyes.
Glim could tell that there was more to the story than he was being told. He made it sound like he didn't know his mother, but he knew Roth well enough. His expression changed into something much more caring when he mentioned this "traveling woman".
"Now enough of an old man's past. Since you have read that book you must have read the part where it talks about how someone who has just gained the spark of mana cant cast spells."
"Yeah, the book said that the mana would have to grow, but it didn't talk about how long this would take or if I could help it in any way."
"That's true. Right now your body doesn't have enough mana to cast even the simplest spell. You are basically useless."
'Thanks for the pep talk Roth. You really know how to make someone feel good about themselves.'
"There are a few ways someone's body can gain more mana. The simplest and slowest way is to just wait. Without you even doing anything your body will naturally accumulate mana over time."
"This process is very slow though. There are slight difference between mages, but it is extremely slow no mater who you are. If you just relied on this it would take anywhere from five to ten years to have enough mana to cast a basic spell."
'Five to ten years! That's ridiculous! If that's the amount of time it needs to cast a basic spell, then to cast a higher spell or cast the spell more than once would take decades.'
"The next way is to use your mana. Your mana capacity is like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets. Therefore the more you practice spells the faster you gain more mana to cast more spells."
"This method is much faster than just waiting. Similarly to before it still varies from mage to mage. This is another area of talent. More talented mages can gain a higher mana capacity faster."
This made more sense to Glim.
"But you said that I don't have enough mana to cast a spell yet so how can I do this? I don't have to wait five years to start practicing magic, do I?"
"We will come to that in a moment."
"Now. The other way is by consuming magical potions and herbs."
Herbs? Glim picked these all the time. He didn't realize that they could help him gain more mana!
"Now I know what you are thinking. These are not the herbs you normally go and get from the forest. The herbs you gather are considered no more than weeds by mages."
Weeds?
Why had Glim been gathering them all this time then?
"To commoners magical herbs are just to expensive. They do not usually grow in places besides those with a higher ambient mana levels. The only problem is that magical beasts usually live in these places as well."
"This means that finding and gathering these herbs is usually more dangerous, therefore more expensive. Simple herbs grow almost anywhere though. They don't have nearly as powerful of an effect because they lack the mana, but they are enough to help ease pain and other things."
'Maybe this is why I made no progress in the system's mission! If I was only gathering "simple herbs", not "basic herbs" then I wouldn't make any progress.'
This unexpected discovery surprised glim. Now he had a new lead on finishing the mission.
There was only one problem though, magical beasts also live where magical herbs grew. This means it would be dangerous to go gather them.
If Glim could defend himself from the magical beasts it wouldn't be as much of a problem. He couldn't cast a single spell though!
And the chances of Glim fighting a magical beast with his bare hand or a simple weapon were almost nothing.
"This method is usually used by the more wealthy nobles and mages. There is a downside to this though. If you use to many outside sources then your mana can become chaotic. Some potions even come with nasty side effects."
"The fastest way overall is regular practice with a little help from outside sources over time. That way your mana will grow faster, but not become chaotic like if you used to many potions."
"Only the wealthiest can afford this option though. Some magical herbs are better or more potent than others. These herbs consequently cost more money. Adding to the fact that they need to be consumed on a regular basis, this adds up to several fortunes over time."
Glim knew he couldn't do this option. Roth may be considered wealthy for the village, but he imagined that he was nothing but poor in the eyes of nobles.
There was no way for Glim to get ahold of the magical herbs. Even if he knew where they grew, he would still have to brave the dangers to get them.
Glim had heard several stories of how strong magical beast were. He didn't feel like dying again.
"Now we come back to you. To weak to cast a spell and to poor to buy magical herbs."
"Thanks Roth, I really appreciate you telling me how much I suck. Can you please tell me what I can do now?"
Roth gave him a smirk. "There have been many commoner mages before you as well. Do you think they all waited up to a decade jus to start practicing magic?"
"No."
If that was true then the mages of common birth would have a sever handicap. They would be a decade behind mages of noble birth. This gap would only expand over their life as they wouldn't have the time or money to catch up.
"You may not be able to cast spells, but you can still use your mana. Do you remember this?"
Lifting his hand Roth formed another ball of water above his hand just like before.
"I didn't cast a spell. This is called a cantrip. Unlike spells, cantrips just requires mana and a though. They are very simple. They also help train basic mana manipulation."
"Every mage starts out practicing cantrips. Once they have sufficient mana and control they can move on to casting spells."
This was simpler than Glim though. He was expecting to have to learn hand signs, some magic words, or some other mysterious mumbo-jumbo.
"Go ahead and give it a try. Picture what I just demonstrated in your mind and will it."
Glim figured he didn't have anything to lose so he held out his hand and pictured the ball of water forming like Roth had just done.
He closed his eyes to help him focus. He tried to focus as hard as he could.
Several minutes passed and Glim was getting nowhere. By this time he was trying to force it and his face was all red. He let out a frustrated shout.
"Gah! I can't do it!"
In response to this Roth just laughed
"Hahahaha! The boy thinks he can cast a cantrip without even knowing where his mana is? Hahaha! That face never gets old."
Glim turned red in embarrassment. From Roth's laughter Glim learned that he was not told about an important step in the process. All he could do was Glare at Roth and try to not blush as much.
"Aw, don't get all upset. It was just a simple joke. Finish your dinner, it's almost gone cold. I'll help you find your mana after dinner."
Glim ate his dinner with a bit of a sulk. If only this old man told him everything from the beginning instead of playing with him!
Soon dinner was eaten and the dishes cleaned up. Roth had Glim sit in a comfortable position in a chair with his hands together in his lap.
"To find your mana by yourself can take a long time, but there is small trick we can do to help you out. Now here in a moment I am going to put some of my mana in your body. Similar to when I was testing you for mana."
"This time though I am just going to let my mana wander. Since this mana wandering in your body is not your own the spark of mana you have inside you will naturally try and fight it."
"What you need to do is find this now active spark of mana and take control of it. When you have control I will withdrawal my mana. You just have to be able to hold onto that bit of mana when that happens."
That didn't sound to complicated to Glim. It was a bit on the mystical side of things, but this was magic after all. Not like earth that was all about science.
Roth placed his hand on Glim's shoulder and slowly let a trickle of mana into Glim's body. He had to be very carful with this.
If he sent to much mana into Glim's body he would make it harder for him to sense the mana since it was so overpowered. He could even damage Glim's weak mana at that stage if he forced a lot of mana into his body. Something like that would be devastating to Glim's mana since it was so weak.
Glim felt a familiar tingle slowly spread through his body like before. It wasn't as strong as before though.
A soon as he felt the tingle in his entire body he closed his eyes and tried to feel for his mana. He wasn't to sure what he was looking for, but Roth made it sound like he would know it when he found it.
Several minutes went by as Glim was trying to find his mana. Since his entire body was tingling it was hard to focus though.
After a few more minutes of trying to feel his entire body for the mana he took a different approach. He focused his attention on his left foot. He tried to isolate just the feeling of his toes.
After a few seconds he tried to focus on just the sole of his left foot. From there he slowly worked his attention up his left leg. When nothing was found he repeated the process on his right leg.
Still nothing. Lets do the left arm then. Fingers. Palm. Back of the hand. Wrist. Forearm. Elbow. Etc.
Then he went through his right arm. All that was left now was his head and chest.
Glim then worked his way down. The tingling of his scalp. The sounds in his ear. The air coming through his nose. Roth's hand on his shoulder. The cool air in his lungs.
Wait. What's this?
Right in the center of his chest Glim could feel a spot that wasn't as tingly as the others. Just like when a crowd of people are talking, you don't notice the one person being silent.
Once you focused on each person individually though you would realize that one of them was quiet.
'Since it in the center of my chest is it my lungs then?'
'No. It's slightly off center to the left. My heart then.'
Now that Glim had a location he tried to take hold of it like Roth had said. Glim couldn't physically grab his heart with his hands though. He tried to imagine a hand griping that silent spot.
The first time he couldn't tell anything. He even thought that this wasn't it for a moment. Since this was then only spot that was different it was his only lead though.
After several attempts he felt that he had some kind of feedback. Just a little resistance to his imaginary grab.
Roth was still standing behind Glim slowly feeding him mana. His eyebrows were up in mild shock.
'I figured the boy would be a decent mage with his family, but this is much more than I thought. It has only been an hour! Most average mages take at least a day to start trying to control their mana like he is.'
Roth could only sigh and keep sending his mana into the boy. He had helped train several mages in the army. Of those he figured that glim would be apart of the best he trained if his talent for magic stayed like this.
He would leave Tulip sooner or later. What young man as talented as him would want to stay here in the woods? Glim could even get accepted into one of the branches of the Kareny academy.
There he would run into more noble kids than he would be able to count. If Glim's aptitude for magic was as high as Roth feared then he would be recruited by many nobles and be dragged into all of their pointless politics.
Roth worried for Glim's future. He would just have to prepare him as much as he could and hope he could handle it.