To keep them busy and distracted, I started teaching the children basic mana sensing and controlling exercises. Many of the adults also joined us in the back yard of the inn for the lesson. Even though I was sure all of them could use basic elements I did not mind.
While ninety-percent of the world were taught to sense mana and do things like starting fires with magic, few people were taught the fundamental basics for growing one's magical abilities. It was like the difference between learning how to create a flame and learning how to use a flame. Even though a created flame could be used to cook or start a fire, one needed large quantities of mana and control just to throw that flame.
A basic fireball was literally just the condensing of burning mana and spare energy to stay burning. Without that spare energy, a fireball would go out once it left your hand. Because of this, even Guild mercenaries were often retaught magic after joining.
Today's lesson was all about sensing mana by emptying one's self of distraction and searching for a foreign power source. Most of the adults did not need this lesson, but after having been captured and abused by bandits everyone put forth earnest effort. Because the children had already had their magic awakened and it was still replenishing from awakening, it was currently easier for them to sense the void left behind by missing mana than the mana itself.
After about two hours of guided meditation the siblings were capable of guiding their magic through their bodies which triggered another round of hyperactivity by inducing another mild body strengthening. After only a few minutes, the children calmed down from chasing their new wisps around the yard. It was almost adorable.
I imagined the strengthening affects were only worth a few points, but just a few points of Strength alone made them almost fast enough to keep pace with their newborn wisps. Focusing on the emptiness left behind by using mana, the children soon backtracked their way into a meditative state. From there I taught them to feel for mana outside of themselves such as in the air on the surface of their skin.
While meditating could increase the rate at which one replenished mana, one could not just take a seat in combat and call a timeout. So, I aimed to teach the children how to convert natural mana into their own energy. Once they got good at it, their bodies would naturally absorb mana at all times like mine did.
This was also one of the magic lessons reserved for texts or even magical families. It was by no means a rare secret as one of the fundamental practices, but it was usually hidden from the general public behind coin. It was still one of the greater differences between someone like Gryn who was raised to magic and people like his friends who learned it later in life.
Gryn would always have twice the mana and potential that his friends had because of it.
Several hours and several bursts of body strengthening magic came and went from all of my students as I explained to them these basic practices and the incredible potential of body strengthening. Early in the evening, I dismissed the adults for the night and kept the children back to feed their wisps. Then, I faced them with a short series of serious questions.
"Do you know why I taught you how to enhance your bodies with magic?" I ask softly but sternly while they focused on feeding their wisps from their fingertips.
"So that we can protect ourselves?" Was Silt's questioning reply.
"Yes, but do you know how you should protect yourselves?" I ask next to further my point, earning myself a confused and surprised look from Silk.
Silt was left to think of an answer for almost a minute before finally saying, "By concentrating our strengthening on making our bodies harder to take more hits?"
"No, by focusing your strengthening on running," I reply solemnly. "I was born with high stats so I have never had as little magic or Strength as the two of you do, but even then I was taught to evade and run before I was taught to fight. You two are only just now being taught to run. And it will be a long time yet before you can learn to fight.
"If at any point in time the two of you find yourselves in a dangerous situation or I am around to give the command, I want you to put every ounce of mana you can muster into your bodies and run as if hell was opening up behind you," I inform them with as much seriousness as I could place in my oddly high pitched and childish voice. "Even if it means leaving me or anyone else behind, the two of you must run."
Neither Silt nor Silk said anything after that and I did not expect them to, I simply led them back inside where we had a quick meal talking about magic with others and then took them to their room for the night.
The next day we left the town and started on our way to the city that was usually a week away. While a week would normally be enough time for me to give these kids enough exercises and lessons to last them for a year or two, I personally did not know if I had that kind of time or not. So, I had them ride wood golem hoverboards and meditate while I loudly lectured them.
In this fashion it took us most of the first day of travel to reach the next settlement, a large farming settlement with both crops and cattle that was managed under a small Legion outpost of about fifty soldiers. Their land coverage and trade or tax values were too high to leave protected by only a handful of families. That first day was also enough to start teaching them basic tricks such as producing electricity or fire as well as condensing water.
For the sake of the kids we stopped at a small inn at the settlement so they would not have to sleep outdoors again. The next day of travel was full of stops to test out some of the things they learned. While neither of them could produce enough electricity to reach further than a foot or so from their hands, they could both create a candle sized flame and from it project a flamethrower level of energy.
They could only do this for a second or two before having to stop but if they ate candies every day and practiced about ten times a day in just the one trick their overall capacity would no less than triple within a month. I warned them, though, that after the first few months they will need to start performing all of their exercises in the same day every day in order to continue achieving noticeable improvements.
If they could truly dedicate themselves to pursuing just the fundamental aspects of magic, within a year they would have more mana than the average adult and be twice as capable as one.
With the help of their wisps they could even get middle-management jobs working with the Guild somewhere. Considering their history, though, the sense of empowerment from learning magic and training their familiars would probably drive them to become mercenaries. At such a time I could rope them into Gryn's group or take them under my own wing.
For camp that night I transmuted a simple sod shack for the kids while I slept outside with my wisps. With a few sticks of incense and a simple ward out, I had no trouble falling asleep while the kids played with their wisps in the dark shack. What felt like seconds later I was up and at it making breakfast.
So far the kids had gotten a basic grasp for mana sensing, control, and even drawing on mana from outside as well as basic fire, lightning, and water element use. Today I was just going to have them discharging their full capacity and then replenishing while teaching them about wisps. They paid a great deal of attention to my explanations about how wisps are born and their natural 'formless' abilities.
For the sake of making everything easier on the kids in the future, I had my wisps house theirs and spend our traveling time that day imparting their experiences of condensing multiple cores. This would help the kids' wisps to naturally create layers over condensing a single form. Which would, in turn, give the kids access to even greater reserves of mana.
Not only did I teach the children about wisps but I also broached the subject of mystic arts and psychic abilities through the natural affinities of wisps. Hopefully, this would inspire the kids to strive for goals such as telepathy and telekinesis. If they could learn things that I did not directly teach, these kids would prove to be naturally intelligent and have an aptitude just for learning magic.
*