After another day of meditating and a missing 'lecturing' from Grandpa Lich after breakfast, I dove back into training. Back into spending the entirety of the night manipulating and familiarizing myself with water.
Like the night before, I practiced grabbing hold of larger and larger masses of water with the mana above the surface and worked on streaming the fluid back towards me to snake around my body or take up any number of forms. And no matter how much I tried, manipulating without the hands was next to impossible.
After that, I moved to what I assumed was more advanced forms of water manipulation- Siphoning water from the ambient air and plants to condense it before me to be used as the earlier puddles were. Techniques that I soon grew competent with over the passing hours. Giving me enough confidence to move on to the next element for the last hour of the night's training.
Surprisingly, that hour was all I needed to learn fire manipulation. Which was by far the most complicated in theory, but the simplest in practice. It only required me to condense a ball of mana as a fuel source before grinding the energy together as if it were sandpaper. Producing a small spark that readily ignites. And heat and oxygen would take care of the rest.
Learning earth magic the following night was when I learned just how misguided my grandfather's teaching was. What he taught me was more applicable to manipulating the earth than any other element I've manipulated. It involved reaching out with the mana as if it were a mental hand and gripping the earth with it. And much like water, molding it to the desired shape like one would with clay pottery.
I spent hours pulling pillars and walls from the grounds, platforms, and the walls of the courtyard. Forming small depressions or crude growths in the most inconvenient of places as I experimented with compressing and reforming different types of stone.
And of course, tossing them through the air.
Instead of running to my grandfather as soon as I got a grasp on the four elements, I spent a few more days conducting experiment after experiment until I was truly satisfied.
The first and most notable takeaway from my experiments revolved around the fact that manipulating the elements without hand or body gestures wasn't impossible per se, but certainly too difficult to use in a combat scenario. And I assumed it would require years, if not decades to train to the point where one could entirely abstain from body movements.
Fortunately, time was something I had no shortage of. So I dedicated a portion of my schedule to practice this… Still Manipulation.
Additionally, using higher concentrations of mana made for more powerful effects; as one would expect. Higher water pressures, denser rock, hotter fire. And using two elements at once was much like my attempts at learning the piano in my past life- A struggle; at first, to simultaneously play two different strings of notes with each hand.
Though I had ideas on how to take some of the elements to more complex levels, my grandfather's increasingly short attitude made it clear that he was quickly losing patience with my slow progress.
And so a week after my breakthrough and just over a month after my training began, I leaped into the shadow realm just before dawn to seek him out.
***
I'd have been lying if I said I wasn't growing increasingly frustrated with Amun as the month passed. While his progress with simple elemental magic would be enough for a commoner. It was abysmally slow for a royal, and not even worth mentioning for the half-elf that he was.
Comprehending something was one thing, applying it to the real world was another matter entirely. And if he struggled to adapt to that fact of life, I feared for what was ahead of him.
Thus, I was less than a little optimistic when Amun came to me with news of a 'breakthrough.'
Though, I guess I could've been to blame for his shortcomings. I was never been the best at manipulation either. But at least I worked out a solution.
"I may as well tell you now." I broke the throbbing silence of the shadow realm as I turned to face the boy. "You may not have noticed, but you don't have any friends. Besides your stalker there." I jerked my thumb to Eved's spider, scurrying through the halls towards the training court. "The reason for that." I sighed. "Is because your mother is very protective of you. That said, having friends is good for you. And as a royal, you'll need vassals and knights to support you as well. Capable people that you can trust to take care of you throughout your journeys. Before long, I will introduce you to your first vassals. They will be your friends for the rest of your lives. And more."
"Where are they from?" The boy asked the instant I finished speaking without so much as a look my way. As intelligent as he was, that intellect came with an endless torrent of questions that I embarrassingly found myself frustrated to answer time and time again. Though deep in my heart. I knew that he held no ill intent. And more so that the more knowledgeable he was in his youth, the better off he'll become in his older years.
"They're the finest students from my academy." I boomed proudly. "The finest boarding school in the mainland."
While he said nothing, I knew the wheels were turning under that perpetually placid gaze of his. And I knew there'd be many questions regarding the institute at a later time. Thankfully, his thoughts were occupied on slipping through the shadow of a tree near the center platform of the training court.
"Friends are welcome." He simply replied after returning to the physical realm. "But if you intend to have them tutor me in magic or fighting, that's not necessary."
'Tch. Arrogant brat.' I sucked my teeth. "This better be worthwhile. It's past my bedtime, you know."
Amun only stayed silent and continued looking ahead as he walked beside me.
He was surely a strange one. Filled with questions; undoubtedly intelligent. But cold and devoid of emotion like the void magic he'd been blessed with. And very impatient.
And though he was blessed by mana. Judging from what I'd seen thus far, I had doubts that his blessings would bear any worthy fruit.
'Perhaps he'll be a great politician, like his father.' I sighed, attempting to shy the disappointment from my eyes as Amun turned to face me with his usual uncaring demeanor.
After squinting ever so subtly at me, he turned his attention to his palm, then began to focus.
And what happened next was as amazing as it was terrifying.
He conjured a flame in the center of his hand. Small, about the size of a strawberry. Yet intense and bright enough for me to feel the heat on my palm as I was forced to shield my eyes.
Around that small inferno, he swirled a mass of air around and around and upwards at speeds that made my coattails flap loudly behind me like the wings of a pheasant. Though I felt an initial tug of mana pulling the wind after Amun conjured the flame, I could only feel the unbridled power of mother nature burning brightly in his palm.
Still, with only the influence of that flame, fresh air churned around the fires before snaking up towards the sky. Churning and swelling and building up in volume with each passing second until the trees surrounding us were dwarfed and doused in the light of a blazing cyclone.
"Enough." I attempted to shout but heard nothing but the screaming winds and raging inferno around me. "Amun! That's enough!" I shouted again, attempting to push through the gale.
Amun seemed to notice my struggle and let the flame die out in his hand, causing the cyclone to dissipate after a few seconds.
"Well." Amun turned to me, smiling happily for the first time since I met him. "Do you still think I need a tutor?"
"No, son." I sighed heavily in a meek attempt to quell my shame and amazement and irritation. "Not for elemental magic, you don't. Excellent work."
"Thank you." He bowed politely before standing tall and looking at me with those blank, black eyes. "I still need friends, though."
"Tch. You need sleep." I spat as I moved towards the shadow of a nearby plant. "I told you, your friends will come later in two years. Affinity training comes first. Your education comes after. Meet me in the realm at sundown." And with that, I stepped into the Shadowfell and descended through the umbral expanse.
And seconds later heard the distant echo of Amun's backtalk as he too entered the fell.
"Elves don't sleep."