It was a spring day, a slightly cool breeze was swaying the leaves and spreading the pleasant smell of flowers. It would be nice to have a walk outside while listening to birds' songs and enjoying the weather. On such a day, Kairen was sitting cross-legged in the training ground, trying to concentrate.
"Don't open your eyes!"
He was hit on the back of his head once again by a certain girl. He didn't know how many times he was hit till now. It hurt so much! What has he done to suffer like this?
Serria told him to sit on the floor, cross-legged, and concentrate. She didn't give any further explanations and just hit him whenever he opened his eye.
'What am I supposed to do? Open my chakras?'
He looked at Serria with pleading eyes, 'please give me a hint already!' visible on his face. that made Serria sigh and open her mouth.
"Look, for you to be able to do magic, you need to control mana. And to control mana you need to sense it. But you can't! And I don't really know of a method to forcefully make someone sense their mana."
"What?"
"Ahem, but I am sure I can still help you!"
She smiled and moved a few steps back, posed like some kind of a professor, and continued:
"I will explain once so listen well! Mana is like a sixth sense to mages, just like sight and smell. If you have healthy eyes you will be able to see, there are no complicated mechanisms behind them. Sensing mana is the same. You have what is needed to sense it, your Spirit power. Your situation now is just like someone who has closed their eyes, does that mean you have gone blind? No. Now don't think too much about it, just close your eyes and concentrate, concentrate on what you feel is lacking. That's the only thing you need to do."
"Oh… wait… weren't spells the things that linked mana and soul? What you told me felt completely different."
"Ah, don't put too much faith in those bullshits in random books! Spirit power, mana, soul, and spell have a much more complicated connection than that! I'll teach you that stuff later. Just like I said before, you don't need to do anything in order to sense your mana. Now, back to training!"
"Ok ok!"
Kairen closed his eyes again and tried to concentrate. Something he feels is lacking… the sense of mana… hmm
"To make it easier for you, I will use my own mana to push yours a little bit."
After hearing Serria he felt something warm wrap around his body, like a gentle touch of sunlight, it felt nice. Suddenly, in the darkness created by him closing his eyes, he could see some faint light… or was it liquid? It also felt like plasma… it felt warm. He felt that golden plasma-like something elegantly moving about around him.
The more he looked and concentrated on it, the deeper he could sense it. It was inside him, not his body, his soul. Kairen had a strange feeling, a foreign yet familiar feeling. It felt weird. He kept his eyes close and continued to stare and feel this weird thing.
Was this mana? He wasn't sure. Whatever it was, it felt nice. Kairen wanted to open his eyes and ask, but he was afraid doing so would make him unable to feel this sensation again. He felt like he would get addicted to this feeling.
Did they say you could control mana after sensing it? If so, how did it work?
'Should I just think of it? like… make a ball… hmm?'
The moment he imagined a ball made out of mana, he could sense his mana move and spin. It soon took a shape of a small sphere. But it soon shook and lost its shape and turn into plasma-like shapeless mana.
"Wow! You did it!"
Kairen opened his eyes and excitedly looked around. He could feel faint traces of sphere-shaped mana in front of him, fading and vanishing.
"That… that was so cool!"
"Right?"
"But…wasn't it too easy? How come I have been struggling with it for such a long time…"
"Well, it is not that easy. And, you could do it now because of ME! There was no way you could do it if you continued to listen to that sword-crazy dude!"
She said that with so much pride while pointing at Reyan with her finger. Reyan who had momentarily stopped his training to look at Kairen turned his head and continued to swing his sword after hearing Serria. Kairen could hear him mumble under his lips 'I told you I didn't know the way of the mages…', But he seemed rather happy.
Kairen stood up, dusting his butt.
"So now I can use spells as well, right?"
"Right, Ahem!"
Serria cleared her throat and folded her arms, taking the pose of a professor again.
"Now my DEAR disciple, I, your GREAT master, am here to answer all your questions!"
"…."
"…."
Ignoring the two boys' look of disgust, Serria continued with a proud face and a smile on her lips.
"Then my DEAR disciple, you asked me regarding spells?"
"…. yes."
"Ahem! So regarding spells, I have to say that they aren't mere links. A spell is what helps mana take shape, gives it power, turns it into an attribute or anything else. You saw it as well! When you tried to make a sphere with your mana, it was unstable and disappeared soon. Why? Cause it was pure mana itself! A spell helps mana and soul connect, but it is also connected to the soul by mana itself. It is… a little bit complicated I know that my DEAR disciple but fear not as you will get it sooner or later if you follow this master. So what you need to do is use your mana to fill the spell, and at the same time use the spell to control and shape your mana. It is not that hard you only...."
"…."
"…."
Kairen didn't really listen to most parts of what she said. He had thought at the moment.
'How can someone this annoying and talkative exist?'
And another thought.
'And, she really is a bookworm!'
These studious guys! These disgusting people! Kairen, a lazy student, could never come to like this kind of people! He exchanged meaningful glances with Reyan who had a similar look on his face.
'Oh bro, I'm happy I'm not the only one with this kind of feeling here!'
'Yeah bro, you are not alone…'
'Bro…'
"... and just like that, your magic is ready! Easy right?"
"Y-yeah! Easy!"
Kairen didn't listen to most parts of it but he nodded anyway.
"Then, let's start, disciple! I will do it once and you follow after me."
"…Ok."
Serria raised her hand and cast her spell. Just like what he saw in professor Exell's office, small faint lights and symbols appeared around her before fading. A huge beam of energy appeared out of nowhere instead.
"This is one of the simplest attack spells."
Then she moved her hand. The beam of energy was shot, moving in the direction of a certain man. Reyan, the certain man, jumped backward after seeing the beam and sliced it with his sword. The beam of energy lost its shape and disappeared into thin air.
"WTF? You crazy b*ch! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!"
Serria, smiling, turned to Kairen, completely ignoring a yelling certain man.
"Now, you try it!"