The next morning when Deacon woke up, he got out of bed and headed to meet Arthur for his lessons. He doesn't know what the lessons had in store for him, but he was ready to take it head on and learn all he could, it would be no different from when he was in school. He always had to pick up on things quickly so he could get into a good college and eventually have a good life.
"Great you're up, first let's clear out the living room for now. These lessons are going to be a mix of theory and practical. It is important for you to know theory that way you can develop your own style of magic." Arthur said as he began to pick up and move tables and chairs while Deacon picked up the couches and set them aside.
"Great, now begins the lesson. First like I said last night the appendix is what we call a mana organ, it is what enables us to gather mana from our surroundings and cast spells. It is up to you to find your own unique way of casting, some people use hand signs, others use words, and very few who are talented like me don't need to use either but just common body movements. This doesn't mean that there aren't other ways of casting though, I personally have seen some people use very unique ways of casting that I don't fully understand."
"It is all about how you channel the magic in your body to react to your will. First you have to find the source of your mana in you, you actually have to feel the flow of it. Unlike anything else though you have to keep it under control, magic has a will of its own and you either have to make it submit or try to work with it. Just remember to keep it under control once you find it. I can try to help you by guiding some of my magic into you so you can feel and recognize the flow of it."
"Another thing that you have to know is that everyone has an innate talent for a certain type of magic, as you can tell mine is ice/water. That doesn't mean that I can't use other types of magic though, it just makes learning and using it easier. There are plenty of different types of magic such as elemental, alchemical, enchanting, divination, and so on. Over the time people have known magic they have created many more types of it to specialize in, it is up to you to find one that suits you and use it. For what, that is up to you to decide."
Arthur continued to give a lesson on the basics of magic for another 2 hours before he decided to try some practical teaching. He instructed Deacon to sit on the floor with his legs crossed and focus inward, he then walked up behind him and slowly guided mana from his body into Deacons and made it do a couple full loops through his circulatory system so he could get the feel of it. He then released control over the mana to let Deacon continue to follow it and find his own.
After about 30 minutes he had finally found his mana flow, it seemed to flow very calm and steadily through his body. When he tried to connect with the mana it seemed to get agitated though, after another hour it finally calmed down and didn't seem to snarl at his attempts to connect with it. It still didn't like being used but it settled down and let Deacon take control of the flow, when he did, he realized that it wasn't flowing slowly at all. It was flowing faster than white water rapids but had the appearance of a calm pond, he had to fight to not lose control of it and let it go. Then suddenly it slowed down, it reminded him of the other night with the deer when he was running so fast the deer seemed slow in comparison. After awhile the flow switched again and started going backwards, it was confusing to say the least.
When he finally gained control of his flow and got used to it his mana seemed to welcome him, then he decided to try to communicate with his flow. He tried for another hour but didn't seem to make any progress, after that he decided to take a break for a while and process the new information a bit. When he finally came back to his senses, he had a meal waiting in front of him with a note stating that it was about five in the afternoon and that he should probably rest his mind a bit and eat.
After he had finished his meal, he was just sitting in the living room still thinking on what his mana flow was doing. He decided to think on it later and went to Arthur to tell him he was going on a run again to clear his head. He went to walk outside when he remembered the sun and decided to test it out, he stuck his hand out into the sunlight to see if anything happened to it. After about a minute and nothing happened to it, he moved a bit further out into the sun, and it was incredibly bright. Deacon had to close his eyes and slowly open them for them to adjust to the light.
'Well that sure is a pain in the ass' Deacon thought with some dissatisfaction.
After his eyes fully adjusted to the light, he started off slowly and slowly started to speed up, once he hit 45 MPH his mana flow started to react. It seemed to pulse with his footsteps until Deacon took control of it as he continued to run through the woods. After about a mile he realized that the wind wasn't as bad anymore, it was still there but rather quite for him running at those speeds. It was odd, he kept running and eventually let go of his flow and the wind seemed to come back all at once. He bent down and grabbed some grass and dirt as he was running and took hold on his mana flow again, causing the wind to die down. While he was running, he threw the dirt and grass and just watched it slowly fall until he let go of his mana flow. Once he did the grass fell to the ground as Deacon took off again, he had a smile plastered on his face as he ran through the woods and climbed a tree all the way to the top.
He decided to sit at the top of one of the tallest trees he could find and watch the sunset as he thought about how he could use this magic of his. He had no idea if it was rare or not, nor how useful it could actually be. But one thing was for sure, and it was that he was going to make the most of it in doing whatever needs to be done. He has a debt that can never be paid but he is going to try his best to make up for it.