Having read the book once, he closed his eyes and recalled how the bandit leader did it. Then he simply imagined himself encased in this rocky armor for a while.
The human brain is a tool for simulating the future. The more accurate the simulation, the better the results in reality.
After establishing a foundation in his mind he, of course, had to test it in reality. As such, Gerald stood up and walked to the gravel road. Taking a deep breath he stimulated the Mana inside him. Like hundreds of little tentacles, the Mana spread out and picked up hundreds of small rocks and stones.
Soon he was covered from head-to-toe in stone armor, and only his eyes were left unprotected. Just as he thought, his movements weren't impeded at all, as there was a small gap between the overlapping stones and his body.
"Hmm, not bad! It's full-body protection, much better than the metal armor you can buy in a shop! " He observed the structure of the rock with interest.
Differently from the iron plates that were held up by leather straps in low-end armor, this stone shell had no gaps, as the stones overlapped each other while still leaving room for movement.
Of course, if you had enough money to pay for a full-plate armor, the gaps would also be minimal, covered by other smaller plates with chainmail underneath. Such exquisite armor was only for the rich, as it cost up to fifty gold, depending on the ornaments and engravings it had.
A defensive spell, such as this Stone Armor, was mainly used as protection when you were in a pinch.
"Hmm, it uses almost 7 MP/min and it's weaker than my Stone Body Combat Art… But it can make use of the Mana inside Earth Crystals so it's still useful!" Gerald scratched his chin as he calculated various possibilities.
"I got it!" He suddenly got a flash of inspiration, "I can use this as a cover for my Stone Body! If people can see this Stone Armor, although it can be considered valuable, it's still in the realm of magic these people use…"
He rubbed his hand together as he thought of this, "Now I finally have use for these accessories from that Stone Face guy…"
With his right hand, he touched the shirt under which a beautiful gold necklace rested. That, combined with the two bracelets on his hand, conveniently came to be just about 70 MP.
"Ten minutes… And then it will have to recharge for more than a week! Ugh… No wonder mages are always on the lookout for more accessories…"
Mana inside people recharged slowly, but inside the jewelry, it happened even slower. As such, poor people were basically incapable of becoming mages.
"I'll seriously have to get another source of income… Just five to ten gold profit each week is way to slow now that I think about it!" Gerald squeezed his fist in determination.
Since the test with Stone Armor was done, he tried out a few Wind Blades. Even though he learned it not even a week ago, he could already be considered to have mastered it.
Mastery of spells went from beginner, intermediate, advanced, and master.
Beginners had to concentrate for a while and cast spells with long chants. If their state of mind wasn't proper, the spell could either not work or even backfire and damage the caster.
Gerald's explosion being a good example.
Intermediate mastery referred to those that could always cast the spell in a few seconds, while also having a much shorter chant, usually up to five words.
The advanced stage was reached when a caster could cast a spell no matter the time or place, be it battle or relaxing in a bath. These would usually be triggered with just one or two syllables and they would come into effect in about one second.
And lastly, for one to master a spell, they had to be able to cast it without words or mental preparation, having it be second nature to them, as simple as waving a hand.
But Gerald unknowingly went even a step further. Apart from having complete control over his magic, he was able to adapt and change it to suit his needs. Making a spell stronger or weaker on a whim, changing its shape and size for the best possible effect.
Such a thing was unheard of in this world, but currently, Gerald was completely unaware of it. Luckily it wasn't easy to notice these changes as an outside observer.
Many mages had many spells that were quite similar to each other, which could be used in a variety of applications. Stone Bolt and Stone Javelin were considered to have the same origin, while one specialized in speed and number, the other leaned more towards size and raw power.
As such, most Eart spells Gerald liked to use would not attract much attention as they were quite popular and common in the kingdom.
However, having all Elements at his disposal was something that wasn't something that should be spread around. Although quite a few already knew of his abilities, they were decent people and did not go around spouting his secrets all willy-nilly.
Still, it was better to be on the safe side. If he kept his abilities secret from now on, even if the truth came out, worst-case scenario, he could just simply deny it.
"Mn!" Stretching his body, Gerald returned back inside. Walking around he found his new butler conversing with a maid.
"Sebas Tian, correct?" he called out to the old man.
The old butler turned around and bowed, "Young master is too kind! This old servant's family name carries no importance, please call me Sebas."
The maid also bowed and quickly left, not to be in the way.
"Mn, alright then, Sebas… I have a job for you!"
"Please speak, young master. This servant will do his best!"
Gerald took out a stack of papers and gave them to the butler, "Here! Go and see if you can find some of these herbs in the city… There is no need to buy any, I just want to know if they are available."
Taking the stack of papers, Sebas glanced over them and was shocked at the sight. The pictures of plants were so life-like, that he wondered if they were maybe trapped on the page.
"Does young lord require these plants? Should I place a reservation for them?" he carefully asked.
Gerald shook his head, "No need. Actually, it would be best if you keep a low profile…"
The old butler immediately understood, "Don't worry young master, this old servant knows how to keep his mouth shut. Nobody will learn about young master's orders."
"Good!" Gerald was glad his order was understood. Just before leaving he also added, "If you see Xilia on your way out, tell her to meet me in my room."
"Yes!" The butler bowed once more and then left.
Gerald returned to his lab and opened another crate of Healing Roots and started processing them.
The process was slow, but he did not complain. Taking a few hours each week to make some potions was nothing much. He had plenty of time.
A few minutes later, Xilia came knocking on the door.
"I heard from Sebas that you wanted to speak to me?" she came in, asking.
"Yes!" Gerald nodded, "Come, sit down. I have a few things I wanted to speak to you about…"
After she took a seat, he continued, "Your process of learning magic… Can you tell me exactly how it went?"
"What do you mean?" Xilia asked doubtfully, she was confused as to what Gerald wanted to hear.
"Just tell me when you started learning, what was the process, how did it go, your experiences with it…" he explained while calmly peeling the Healing Roots.
"Err, okay then…" Although she was still confused, Xilia started with her story of learning magic, "The one that thought me magic was my uncle. At the age of twelve, he began teaching me how to sense Mana…"
"Having no prior experience, it took me almost two years to fully grasp it. At the same time, I was also learning to vividly remember and visualize the spells that my uncle showed me. I was able to cast my first Wind Blade at the age of fifteen and Wind Body at sixteen. Unfortunately, we were captured soon after and so I was unable to advance much further…"
"Hmm," Gerald frowned, "You needed two years to learn to sense Mana? Isn't that a little too long?"
"Well…" Xilia thought for a while about how she should word this, "It's not that simple… I was able to sense Mana after about a year already, but for casting a spell, it was still far from sufficient. Only after hundreds of repetitions did I get a grip on it and managed to hold my concentration for a long-enough time."
"And what did you do to learn to sense Mana in the first place?" Gerald probed further. He was currently almost half-done with peeling those chubby roots.
Xilia frowned, "Why are you asking me all this basic stuff? Aren't you much better at using magic than me?"
"Just answer the question." He was genuinely curious about the way people learned magic in this world. After all, he was self-thought and there were bound to be some noticeable differences. But, of course, he couldn't say that out loud.