Morning arrived, and Terem's body refused to move. His consciousness drifted through a haze of droning thoughts. A quiet delusion of what he dreamt his life would have been like without the voices played in the back of his min; a surreal movie without actors or scenes, just the quiet and him.
However, like all dreams, they will drift away when the night ends. And that's what happened for Terem, except the night only ended when the sun reached its zenith.
Terem's eyelids cracked open, letting in the warm winter rays of light. He was momentarily blinded, but when Terem recovered his sight, the same scenery of a trickling waterfall and trees greeted him. A curious squirrel perched itself upon a limb, silently playing with a nut, juggling it between its furry paws. Terem moved his head towards the pool, scaring the skittish animal off the tree and beyond his peripheral vision.
The pool, however, remained untainted by any of the last day's ordeal. It left no traces of Terem's struggle, choosing to continue babbling along with the rhythmic drumming of the waterfall.
The cold water looked incredibly delicious to Terem's parched throat. But, this also brought another question to mind.
'How did I live?'
The water was cold enough to freeze Terem whenever he couldn't maintain his mana circulation, but he had just spent an entire night sopping wet and didn't even feel ill. His vitality was simply... incredible. At least in the eyes of a man who originated from a magicless world.
But, his thoughts wouldn't sate his thirst, so while he was debating with himself, Terem's arms were busy dragging his mouth closer to the glistening stone pool. Soon, Terem's body lay beside the water's edge, and he began lapping at it like a dog.
The soothing feeling was indescribable. To Terem, the crisp snowmelt was akin to honey. The immeasurably sweet flavor filled his mouth with warmth, rejuvenating his sluggish mind and dilapidated muscles.
Only after all of this did Terem finally address his worry. Accessing his mana circuit, Terem began to scrutinize the flow for abnormalities, and he found plenty, almost too many. In fact, the entire circuit seemed abnormal.
Not only did it flow smoothly, but the mana felt oddly comfortable. The foreign energy inside the circuit flowed smoothly throughout Terem's body, seeming to meet less resistance than his old mana flow did. But, the oddities didn't stop there.
The mana also felt familiar, like it was a part of Terem. He could feel its pulse and sense its course like it was his own blood.
After minutes of observation, the only other piece of information Terem could glean from his new mana flow was that every iota of magic power originated from his own core. None of the mana leaked out of the cracks in his skin or his orifices, only leaving the body on top of Terem's breath. However, this small mana expenditure was made up through his own core's efforts.
Slowly, Terem stood. His muscles ached but in a comforting way. He felt like he was recovering from an intense workout, but nothing more. The sensation was simply refreshing.
After making his way back to town, Terem stopped by the guildhall, intent on seeing Tom and asking about what happened. Upon entering the familiar room, Tom glanced up.
"Welcome back. Looks like you figured the trick out in a shorter time than I expected to be completely honest, kid. Anyways, have you tried casting a spell yet?"
Terem stood stupefied in the doorway, wondering just what Tom was talking about.
"Guess that look means you haven't yet. Well then, I have good news for you, kid. You can finally use basic magic. Although you can't use much due to your weak strength, it should be enough to qualify you as a mage. I am restricted to water magic by nature, so I can't teach you any of the other branches of magic, but what's so bad about being a specialist. Personally, though, I recommend that you enroll in some magic academy or improve your strength in other ways. Hell, maybe you'll settle down like I did." Tom shot Terem a wry grin.
"What did you mean by spell casting?"
"What I mean is that you can now cast proper spells. I'm not sure how you managed to do it, but it seems like your mana circuit has corrected itself and expelled the surrounding mana in exchange for your personal mana."
"So that's what happened."
"That about sums it up, kid. Now you should have absolute control over the mana flow, and it should have more potent energy. That'll make your spells stronger in case you didn't realize already. Now, let's see it." Tom reached under his desk before pulling out a wooden bucket. Why it was there, Terem didn't know.
"Try what?"
"Casting your first spell, kid."
Tom placed the bucket in between Terem and himself. Just as this happened, Terem prepared himself. Countless casting failures were already in the past, and at this point, he had developed a firm foundation in controlling mana.
However, Terem still held onto his doubts. How could something as simple as a change in mana make spell casting possible? Wasn't it supposed to be more complex and require an advanced understanding of the spell beforehand to cast?
Hesitantly, one finger pointed towards the bucket. Terem closed his eyes, creating a complete mental image while preparing his mana for the spell he was going to cast. Instinctually, he knew that this was what he should do. The best results in Terem's mana experiments always originated from a solid foundational image that aided in constructing the spell.
Terem's mana, on the other hand, fluidly responded to his call. The personal mana rapidly shot towards Terem's fingertip before coalescing into a ball just underneath the skin. There, it waited.
Soon, Terem's command came. His will gently guided the ball outside the bounds of his body while he attempted to imprint the mana sphere with his image.
Hopes were not high as Terem gazed expectantly at the deep red sphere. The fine lining so far was that the sphere hadn't diffused into the atmosphere.
However, the sphere changed. Gradually, its color faded into a light shade of aquamarine. After the color change was complete, the ball trembled. Then, a cute trickle of water leaked out to gently drip into the bucket below.
Tom grinned.
"See? What did I tell you, kid?"
However, Terem didn't hear Tom at all. His thoughts were racing. He had finally cast his first magic spell. Two weeks of concentration. Twenty days of bathing in frigid snowmelt. And his efforts had finally paid off.
To Terem, a door, the bottleneck to his power, had finally opened up, allowing him to finally catch a glimpse of the long road ahead of him. But, It would all be worthwhile. His efforts had paid off, and they would pay off again next time. He would climb to the top. He would free himself in this life, and nothing would be able to stop him.
Terem's face contorted in pleasure. A low chuckle reverberated from his throat, echoing through the wooden room.
"Thank you, Tom. Thank you for everything."
"No problem, kid. Us white hairs need to look out for each other, you know?" Tom paused to collect his thoughts, his final words to Terem before sending him off.
"To be honest, I have plenty I could teach you about water magic, but looking at you, you shouldn't restrict yourself like I had to. My teachings would only hold you back."
Terem looked up at these words. Although Tom did mention it earlier, the concept that Tom could only cast water elemental spells finally seemed to click within Terem's mind.
"What do you mean?"
"I know you can't see the color of my core or mana, but both have been stuck in a deep blue color since my birth. Naturally, this means that I am naturally in tune with water-based magic, and I will admit, my spells are pretty strong compared to any old ordinary mage. But you, you have just created your core, so you shouldn't have any elemental affinities. And you have a knack for magic, kid. I don't want to corrupt you with my way of using it. Forge your own path and get to the top. I know you can do it." Tom's eyes grew light as he paused once again. "And good luck, kid."
With that, Tom turned back to his paperwork, dismissing Terem at the same time. That was it.
Terem left the guildhall into the world beyond. Even now, he couldn't shake off the feeling that his horizons had only been expanding after his reincarnation. Now that Terem could wield magic, he was bound to succeed. He was determined to.