As the Jarl Svygard's battle mage saw Jon snap to attention, he knew he had a pupil worth the time required to teach him. He felt a sense of pride already being the one who taught him the elemental spell he brought the tower down with, but did not show it, as he was not an affectionate person.
"Yes, the flow of magical energy through your weapon, listen now. You can obviously change mental and spiritual energy into an element and project it from your hands. This is not that. It is something else entirely. With this, you must connect with the make up of the object you imbue with your essence. You must vibrate with it, controlling the body with focus and training. You must FEEL the object you intend to put energy into. If you do not, it will be impossible to put energy into your object. To put it simply, imagine your energy is water and your hand is a spout, letting the water flow from you. If you let the water flow from your hand, and the container is closed, it will only get the container wet, not fill the container, wasting the water. If you know the container, uncover the lid and let the water flow, it fills to the top." The battle mage said in an even tone, much different from how he explained things to Jon previously.
Jon nodded and took note of everything the wise man told him. Jon understood the workings of his energy and the only barrier would be meditating and vibrating at the frequency of the wood and metal. Jon was willing to put in the time, but needed to keep up on his sparring skills as he remembered master Gu told him to always practice.
Jon sat to meditate and held his axe, Reaper in his lap. Jon opened himself up to the energies around him and felt the energy of the wood as a subtle vibration, almost tickling him, but the sensation was too light. The metal vibrated a little stronger, this feeling was sharper as well, feeling more like a tingle than anything else. Jon began to try to match the frequency of the wood first as that was what his hand would be in contact with. Jon felt the sensation and let his energy flow through him, attempting to spread this feeling through his body. Making progress, the feeling went up his arm but the unfamiliarity of it made him jump as it intensified suddenly as it went through him.
"Hah! That won't happen again, that was your first time attempting this, essentially what happened was a barrier was broken internally. A veil has been lifted, freeing your inward energy, you now have an aura of energy flowing outside of your body and you should be able to feel it." Jarl Svygard's battle mage said feeling amused at Jon being startled.
"Yes, I can feel it. It feels like my body is asleep. Almost like pins and needles across my entire body." Jon said as he became anxious over the feeling.
"Do not worry, young one, it will fade as your body becomes used to it's new normal. This happened to me on my first time. You can now link auras with a consenting person and share information internally, through your linked minds. In a week, come back and I will further assist you. There is nothing I can do now to help you until you become used to the feeling of your aura. Please, leave and do not try to practice, you are numb to internal energy at the moment. Try to relax, but if you cannot, do not try any strenuous activity, as your body is numb right now and you might over work yourself and end up unable to move." Jon was then ushered out of the battle mage's tent.
For the next few weeks all Jon did was light sparring practice with his father and drinking at night, celebrating with the men he had fought next to, sharing his own stories now of how he defeated men and brought down a castle tower. The men regarded Jon like a man who had been on raids with them for years. He was well liked and respected. This made Jon feel happy, as well as his father who wanted him to be well recieved, as Jon was his firstborn and his pride and joy.
Jon was noticing his aura less and less every day, as his body became used to the new sensation. Each day the tingling would lessen, however after a week, his aura only felt like a slight pressure across him. This sensation did not lessen for three days and did not fully go away for another two weeks. After this, however Jon did not feel his aura and decided to return to the battle mage for further instruction.
The following morning, Jon started to walk to the mage's tent as he walked closer to the tent, Jon was greeted by the stoney face of the mage, who never showed emotion or weakness whatsoever. "Good morning Jon, how are you feeling?" The battle mage asked Jon in his usual even tone.
"Much better, the feeling of my aura is gone finally, I thought the pressure would never go away. I do however feel more of a connection to the earth and the land. It is unfamiliar to me." Jon replied.
"Good, you will also get used to that feeling, however that will not lessen, maybe you could even say the sensation will increase as you progress as a mage increases. Please, come in." The mage then stood to the side of the flap of his tent and extended his arm to let Jon go into the tent first.
As Jon entered the tent, he went to his designated area and waited for his mentor to share his wisdom. Jon looked to the battle mage, who was still entering the tent.
"Sit, Jon and meditate with your axe." crowed the mage.
Jon sat, unsheathed Reaper and held it, opening himself once again to the energies of the beautiful axe. Immediately Jon felt the energy radiating from the wood, Jon brought the feeling up into his arms. Feeling the energy slowly creeping up to his elbows, he felt the progress and was happy with himself. Jon pulled the energy in his mind, making the feeling continue to spread, as the feeling was now at his shoulders and spreading slowly, but continuously, almost as if the axe was the full pitcher, and he was the empty one, who now had the lid removed.
As the feeling had spread across his whole body now, Jon sat there and familiarized himself with the energy, taking note of every feeling he had across his body. Jon began to add in his own energy, which was mixing with the energy of Reaper. Jon began to feel a vibrating sensation in his hand, almost as it the axe became alive and was trying to free itself from his hand. Jon actually dropped his axe as he was shocked with electricity. His hand smelled, as the hair on his fingers was singed and his flesh was turning pink.
"I told you, if you attempt to put water into a covered container you would wet the ground, this is what wetting the ground feel like." The battle mage said in a matter of factly tone.
"I felt the vibration through the wood and thought I made the connection." Jon replied, trying to defend himself.
"Yes, you may have felt the energies mix, if you felt the vibration, that was the beginning of you taking the kid off, some water may have went in, but a majority fell onto you. You must vibrate as a whole, until your spirit is familiar with the object. Remember that, young one, you are on the fringe of success." The battle mage smiled at him for the first time, feeling pride in the knowledge and skill of his young pupil.
Jon was shocked as that was the first compliment or inspiration he had recieved from the mage, whom he thought may be incapable of feeling emotions.
As Jon began to meditate again, he let the vibration spread through his body. Jon began to feel the fibers of his being vibrate along with Reaper, connecting him to this gorgeous weapon. Jon sat there for a long while, familiarizing himself with his weapon. Jon could see in his mind's eye the type of tree the handle was made from and that the steel was fashioned in a beautiful snow capped mountain forge back home in the Northlands.
As Jon saw these things, the vibration in his soul started to lessen, as well as the vibrations in his hand caused by Reaper.
Soon all Jon felt was the slight tingle of the energy from his weapon. Jon wondered if he had connected with Reaper, as he was slightly afraid to get shocked again.
Slowly, Jon began to imagine his energy going into Reaper. Immediately Jon could feel his energy leaving his hands, similar to the feeling of pushing his elemental spell from his hands. Reaper began to glow with a bright golden light, and he could feel the weapon integrate with his energies, as Jon put more energy into Reaper, the golden color solidified, encasing the whole axe in a solidified golden casing made from his energy. As Jon retracted his energy, it was brightly glowing again, and dimmed as he took back his energy.
"Good job Jon. That was an excellent demonstration of clear control over ones own energy. You have mastered this aspect of energy exchange and synchronization. I am truly proud."
Proud? Wow.
Jon never thought he would say that.
"Please, let me teach you to further change your energy and add in an elemental aspect. Please, in the meantime practice the technique you demonstrated to me today. The lesson is over however, if you would not mind, Jon, I will see you in the coming weeks." The battle mage say down and began pouring a glass of red wine, no doubt looted from the cellars of the city.
Jon left for camp, eager to show Raska what he had learned. Jon was very happy with the new technique he had learned and with the comments made by the Jarl's battle mage.