Once his experiment was over and the results obtained, Isaac wasted no more time and picked up the rocks with his aura before heading towards the two lovebirds still stunned by the power of the reactor.
Even Artiel who had no mana vision could have seen the spiritual energy in the center of the combustion chamber. It was the first time he had seen this. When Isaac's figure appeared above with the rocks floating, shivers ran down his back immediately. "So this is a real mage" he thought.
- "I'm done for now. Let's go up" said Isaac, starting to go up.
- "Wait!" Rebecca said suddenly, stopping Isaac. "The horses ... we have to bring them back to the village. We don't have a lot of them and they are very expensive ... I--"
Isaac then came to put a smile on his face before indicating to them to come down. Immediately they obeyed and went down just as Isaac's voice began to sound loudly.
- "Go back to the village" he said.
Unlike Rebecca and Artiel, the two horses had heard the command directly in their minds. Immediately, the two horses turned and galloped towards the village forest, dashing into the plains.
Isaac was happy. He had been able to confirm that his ability was also capable of giving orders to animals, he had not yet been able to test this and was satisfied with the result. He then turned to Rebecca.
- "You are ready ?" he said.
Rebecca nodded positively.
- "And ... how do we go up?" asked Artiel timidly, looking around for a possible way to climb like a huge staircase on the cliffs.
Without warning, Rebecca and Artiel were suddenly lifted in the air. They were both in shock at what was going on.
Gradually, the ground receded, causing the young man a sudden anxiety. He then looked up at the sky. He couldn't look at the ground fifteen yards away without feeling dizzy.
Rebecca meanwhile enjoyed the view as they ascended into the skies. Beneath her, you could see the immense plain and the lakes looming on the horizon as the sun began to set. "Is it almost dark already?" she wondered. "Time flies so quickly when you're having fun."
After about fifteen minutes of travel, the group was finally able to reach the edge of the cliffs and Artiel did not hesitate for a second to put his feet down and move away from the edge, inhaling deeply. He was very anxious the whole trip and had the misfortune to look down right in the middle which made him feel very dizzy.
As for Rebecca, she focused on the forest they had arrived in before suddenly noticing an unusual rock formation. On the edge of the precipice was a strange, motionless rock statue. Puzzled, she started to move closer and activated her mana vision before suddenly pulling back.
- "It's alive ?!" she pushed.
In front of her, the mana circuits had just appeared, surprising her greatly. Isaac and Artiel turned to the young woman.
- "What are you talking about Rebecca?" Artiel asked, approaching before looking at the statue. "How can a statue be alive? Haha!" he said laughing.
- "Oh. It is, but only in part" Isaac answered right in the middle.
The two teenagers turned to the elf who was watching them with a small smile on his face and an amused expression decorating his expression.
- "It's a golem. They are responsible for maintaining the place and protecting it. I advise you not to put them on your back, you will not be able to fight them" he said, laughing slightly before entering the forest.
They looked at the still golem one last time before quickly following Isaac.
- "A golem? What is it?" Artiel asked.
- "You've never heard of it ?" Isaac asked in turn, turning to the two who answered him, shaking their heads negatively. "Hm. I see" he said as he continued to walk.
In front of him, plants and bushes began to pull out of the way as he manipulated them with his aura to make room before stopping.
- "If you have to stay here, you will also have to take a special magical oath" he said to Artiel, turning around. The young man nodded positively.
Isaac inhaled then and breathed a large amount of mana into his voice as he had done with Rebecca in the village. He prepared his words before speaking and repeated exactly the same as Rebecca.
The young man felt his body shake as Isaac's voice and command crept into his mind. He felt that something had crept inside him but was not sure. It had never happened to him. Satisfied, Isaac nodded before continuing on his way.
- "The golems are the keepers of the garden of origins, what you call the sanctuary. They protect the place from intruders and maintain it. It ranges from plants to magical constructions" began Isaac.
Rebecca and Artiel suddenly strained their ears to listen. It was the first lesson her master was giving her, so Rebecca was very caring. For Artiel, these were the words of a mage, so he was sure he was going to listen. After all, if he had to say something important and he didn't listen, it could cost him his life.
However, it was Rebecca who was the most surprised. "In addition to an impenetrable barrier, the shrine has guards ?!" she thought.
- "They work via runes and obey my orders and the orders of the garden. If you had to break something, they would be responsible for fixing them. But I will ask you not to break anything without a valid reason" he said- he finally took a quick look behind him.
Seeing the two young people nodding their heads, he continued.
- "Rebecca, what do you know about a rune?" he asked.
- "I - I don't know what a rune is," he said.
- "Very well. The first thing I have to do is find out what you know and what you can't do. You will have to stay here for a long time, so Artiel, you will have to build a small camp and possibly a house for you two" he said.
Artiel nodded positively. He was already excited to be able to live under the same roof as Rebecca. The latter, meanwhile, was excited to be able to show her master what she could do.
- "Wood is not lacking, it grows back after a rather short time. While Artiel builds a small temporary habitat for both of you, you will have to show me everything you can do" he said towards Rebecca.
He had every intention of teaching her what little trick he had learned. But the main reason Rebecca was there was because she had abilities unknown to Isaac.
- "Tell me. What is magic to you?" Isaac asked suddenly.
A little taken aback, Rebecca thought about an answer quickly. After some time to formulate coherent sentences in her head, the young woman began.
- "Magic makes it possible to connect to the world and to transmit our wishes and our thoughts to it. A great mage will be able to impose his wish on the world and force it to obey its orders to create miracles!" she replied.
"Basic but not so bad for someone who hasn't had a thorough education", Isaac thought as he listened. There were a few gaps that needed to be changed so that she could be up to speed with the teachings she was going to receive, but they were not there yet.
- "Do you know what mana is?" he then asked.
- "I don't know ... I'm really sorry" she said, looking down.
- "No need to apologize. If you already knew everything, why would you be my apprentice, hm? Well, I think I know where to start" he replied.
Rebecca looked up and smiled. She hadn't seen it that way. It is true that she was looking for a master to know what magic was and how to use it. If she already knew all of these things, she probably wouldn't be looking for a master.
As they walked, the bushes in front of them split open, revealing a fairly large plain dotted with intermittent lakes and forests. Isaac stopped and looked at Artiel.
- "Go and make a small camp for you two, Rebecca and I are going to do some magical experiments" he said to her.
- "You don't plan to camp with us?" said Artiel curiously. As Isaac had said, he wasn't going to live with them. Although it suited him a bit, he wasn't sure what it meant.
With a small smile, Isaac answered.
- "I don't need to sleep. Nevertheless, I will come and taste your famous cuisine from time to time to see if it is really so delicious"
- "You will not regret it !" Artiel replied.
- "I will create a way for you to descend into the wild plains and go hunting. But for the moment, you will have to be satisfied with fruit" finished Isaac.
- "No problem !"
Immediately, Artiel got out of his bag some sheets and started to create a small improvised tent by cutting branches and small shoots. Rebecca watched him for a moment with a smile, making him a little embarrassed, before following Isaac who was walking across the plain.
After about five minutes of walking, they stopped and Isaac turned to the young woman. Rebecca sat up straight, waiting for what she had to do.
- "Create a fireball" he said.
She obeyed immediately and summoned a fireball of about two inches into her hands after three seconds. Isaac watched her for the entire time, trying to figure out how she was doing it.
Indeed, unlike Isaac who manipulated mana to concentrate natural elemental energy and extract particles of fire elements, Rebecca was using another process he hadn't thought of.
Instead of using her mana, the young woman seemed to create a mana vessel between her internal circuit and the air. Via this vessel, Rebecca then directly absorbed the elements present in the air before filtering them directly into the vessels present in her hand before releasing the elements that were not wanted and concentrating the particles of fire, creating combustion.
"It absorbs elemental particles instead of mana. It's interesting, but for that you have to be able to manipulate your circuit," Isaac thought. He had never had the idea since, basically, absorbing these particles was impossible for him.
In the time it took for them to be absorbed, the particles were gone in moments and Isaac had no method of tracking them or knowing where they had gone. Nevertheless, with his circuit extending outside his body, his sensitivity and receptivity would be increased tenfold. "It was a good idea to bring her in," he thought.
The night thus passed with Isaac asking the young woman to invoke the spells that she knew how to invoke and observing the process used for that. After a long time, Isaac noticed that the young woman was starting to get tired and told her to return to Artiel who had finished their camp and had even made a small fire.
- "You have worked well. We will continue tomorrow, go and rest" he said with a smile.
The young woman then bowed in a curtsy.
- "Thank you Master. Have a good night" she said before leaving.
Isaac watched her go towards the camp and in particular towards the fire on which a small pot was boiling and which emanated a rather enticing odor. However, he didn't have time to do anything.
This night was going to be busy. He had experiments to do.