It was finally time to learn some magic. Unable to contain my excitement, I was barely able to sleep the night before. The feeling reminded me of the night before the first day of school.
Even though Tess made it seem like magic was easy to use, I always have my doubts. She might have just been gifted by the world while I could be useless with mana. Putting my worries aside, I listened to Ray explain to me what the procedure was like, and that worrying about it was stupid since no one had ever had any problems with the 'awakening' as they called it.
"Ken don't be such a worrywart, unless you're completely disabled, the awakening shouldn't be a problem" Ray said gleefully, still excited about my interest in magic.
"Dad, are you trying to say that I might be disabled?"
"Heavens no!" quickly correcting his mistake "According to the doctor at least, you were perfectly healthy since birth."
I could see his expression turn from happy to studious.
"Now that I mention it, you've actually never been sick before. Even after your birth you never had any infections or illnesses, not even the cold. But I digress, let's get going kiddo"
We said our goodbyes to Tess and Violet and departed for the Holy woods, a region of thick woods constructed by earth and water mages that act as a border between countries. Unless you have a permit to cross the border, you'll have to try your luck by going straight through the woods. It could take days to get through in one piece if you manage to fight off the hordes of magical beasts and not get lost in the dense fog, it's the perfect man made defense.
Our journey would take a few hours by carriage, and thanks to Tess we were able to hitch a ride with one of her officer friends. We would be gone for a day so we only took the bare necessities.
We were a few minutes into our trip until I asked "Why do we have to go to the forest first before learning magic?" It had been bothering me for a bit by now, wondering why we couldn't just do it near the village.
"It's just tradition kiddo, nothing to worry about. We always carry out the awakening in secrecy since it's a very special day in a mages' life. And as for your mother not joining us, it's usually the man's job to awaken his children."
Those words slightly ticked me off but also relieved me a bit.
-"Thank goodness Violet isn't here. I know she's my mother, but I bet I still would've felt embarrassed if I messed up. The less people, the more I can focus on my task today"-
After that small exchange I fell asleep. I cursed my infant body for always being so tired since I missed the opportunity to see more of the world outside of my village and possibly spotting a few animals. At least it shortened the trip and we were just about at our location.
It was a small clearing in the middle of a massive glade, green landscape and small hills as far as the eye could see.
"All right Sir Raymond, I'll be going to my destination now and I'll meet you back here before dusk" Tess's friend spoke for the first time since our greeting, he was a short man with a lean but athletic build, a navy, emotionless mask covering his identity and judging by the two daggers strapped to his waist, he was more specialized in close combat, unlike Tess who didn't carry any weapons at all.
The man gave a small bow before returning to the carriage.
"Dad, what's his name?"
"I have no idea kiddo, officers are very discreet with personal information, the only ones allowed to know their names are close family and their officer buddies."
-"hmm. He's probably a high-ranking officer or someone carrying valuable information from Patria to another major city. Or maybe that's just how the military system works in this world? I should try and figure out more from Tess"-
I didn't want to bother Ray with any more questions, unless it involved magic.
"So, let's begin kiddo, we aint got all day"
I could see Ray get focused, his eyes steeled, which gave his stoic face a rather intimidating look. Despite his emotionless expression, he cared deeply for his family, and wanted to make sure not to mess up the awakening. That, in turn, made me even more anxious.
I sat next to Ray, my back as straight as possible with crossed legs and my palms on my knees facing upwards.
"Close your eyes for me.'
He chanted weird noises for a few seconds and became dead silent.
…
-"I don't feel anything yet"-
Suddenly Ray lightly slapped me on the nape of my neck. Turning around slowly with a scowl plastered on my face, I saw him turn beet red, stifling his laughter.
"Was that part of the ri-"
"Oh kid, you should've seen your face!" barely able to get his words out among the fit of giggles. I couldn't even finish my sentence before he burst out laughing, rolling on the dirt grabbing his sides, but I couldn't help myself from laughing with the old man, seeing him so happy was a rare occurrence.
Having a dad who I could actually laugh with in my new life was refreshing and put me at ease, unlike my last life…
"Okay, okay. Let's do it, for real this time I promise."
Ray placed his hand on my back, this time he didn't chant anything, but I could feel something on my back. My loose shirt pressed against my skin from what I assumed to be the mana, causing me to shiver from the tingle.
"Let me know when you feel something pulse inside your abdomen, other than your heart."
His hand kept scanning over my back like it was a metal detector, and when he got to the area near my heart, I felt a strong pulse. I could feel myself turn pale from the surprise.
"Don't worry kiddo, that's normal, but a core near the heart ey? That's lucky."
Still recovering from the fright, I asked "Why is it lucky?"
"Well, a persons' core is almost like an organ, an important one at that. If you lose your core, you lose a lot of your life, with the core being near the heart, it means it's less likely that someone could get a lucky hit on you in a fight and injure you. Your heart and core pretty much become one, plus it's covered by your rib cage."
"So, my core is something that can actually be touched or destroyed?"
"Yeah, like I said, an important organ. But enough about that, let me show how to accumulate mana from the atmosphere."
We were busy for a few hours, Ray showing me how to meditate now that I have a feel for mana and knew exactly where it was stored in my body. After the awakening, due to the mana naturally being attracted to my core, I felt tingles all around my body from neck to toe. Ray told me to keep on collecting mana, and that I would soon get used to the feeling.
After about half an hour, Ray tugged me out of my meditative state.
"That should be enough for now. What I want you to do now is to try and expel some mana from your body, into my hand, like this." Rays' hand extended over my hand; his fingertips pointed towards my palm. mana dripped on my hand, almost like invisible dew drops plopping on my palm.
"Now you try."
I focused all my attention to my fingers, trying to imagine the invisible mana first gaining sustenance, then moving it from my heart to my shoulder, to my wrist, then finally through my fingertips. It took a lot of my attention just to picture the image of mana forming, but it helped since I could actually feel the mana moving through my body after a few minutes. It felt warm and fuzzy, a stark contrast to the cold breeze grazing my back.
Ray gasped "D*mn kiddo, you're a fast learner. You sure you're actually my son and not some great mage?"
He was obviously joking, but I couldn't help but be shocked at his remark, since the thought of me actually being their child was still hard for me to process, with my reincarnation and all…
"Compared to you dad, how fast am I learning?"
"Really fast, at this rate we'll be done before sunset!"
We were both happy, Ray since his son was seemingly a prodigy with magic, even for a commoner, and Me, since I wanted to go home and take a nap.
"I could tell you wasted a lot of mana trying to guide it from your core to your hands, so replenish your energy and then we can start with an actual spell."
-"Finally. I wonder which elements I can use? Wait, isn't that something I'm supposed to know before hand?"
"Dad, how can I use spells if I'm not even sure what elements I have?"
"Wow, you're quite optimistic huh? And how do you know about elements kiddo?" Ray asked, raising a brow in suspicion.
Inwardly slapping myself for the blunder, I quickly retorted "oh, Tess taught me a few things about magic last night." I was a bad liar and could feel my face getting hotter "And why do you say that I'm optimistic?"
"I see, and I say that because most people can only utilize one element, it's very uncommon for commoners to be able to use more than one, so don't get your hopes up kiddo."
-"seriously, magic is based on bloodline in this world? I guess I have nothing to be mad about though since luck would've probably screwed me over as well, granted I was born into borderline poverty in this world"-
"Don't worry dad, even if I can only use one element, I'll use it to its fullest extent!" pumping my fist in the air, trying to lighten to mood.
"Atta boy! Now, focus on gathering mana."
I eventually got used to the accumulating mana tingling my skin. Finally, I was going to learn what element I could use and perform my first spell.
Ray briefly explained how spells works and what the rules are of magic use for someone like me that isn't a licensed officer or student attending an academy.
"So, for you to form a spell you first need to know what element you are. Try expelling mana into the palm of your hand again and holding it there. When mana stays in your control for long enough, usually about 6 seconds for beginners, it'll start forming into the element that your most in tune with, which will most likely be air, from your mother's side, or earth from me."
-"That kinda stinks, I was hoping for fire or water. Guess I'll just have to see how lucky I am."-
My first attempt went smoothly up until the 'control the mana part' where as soon as the mana would come out of my hand, it would disperse into the air, blowing away with the wind. Not a complete loss though, since the amount of mana lost just sending it from my core to my hand had already decreased.
"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it kiddo."
I attempted it for minutes on end, my mana supply dwindling, but my control getting better. I was quickly able to hold it for 4 seconds and feel the mana condensing into something heavy that radiated heat, before dispersing.
-"it's definitely fire, it has to be fire right?"-
I was getting excited but readjusted my focus on the task at hand, trying not to excite myself too much in case of utter disappointment. To my surprise, that spark of hope was all I needed to somehow coalesce the raw mana into an orb of fire, an orb so heavy that it actually fell from its floating position into my hand. Too excited to think about a literal fireball in my hand, Ray swooped me up into a bear hug.
"You did it kiddo! And you're a dual elemental at that as well!" he laughed heartily, swinging his child around like a ragdoll, tears welling from pure joy.
"A what-now elemental?"
-"I only conjured fire, what's this old coot blabbering about?"-
I was too excited at the discovery of my elemental aptitude to even notice…
"Look closely at what you made, that's not just fire kiddo, there's some earth mixed in there!"
Ray was right, I actually managed to make, what looked like a dried mudball, smolder, with flames dancing around the rough exterior of the sphere.
Ray picked up the rock to examine it after dousing it with water from a pouch. "Yeah, this is definitely a rock."
-"Good job, captain obvious."-
"If this was a lump of pure mana, we would've had a real genius in our midst." He said enthusiastically
-"oh…"-
"What's pure mana?"
"Exactly what it sounds like, it's mana in its purest form, but in a solid state."
"Wouldn't that just be fancy earth magic?"
Ray giggled
-" I'm starting to doubt if he's really a man."- I chuckled
"Most people say that, but no, rumors say quadra-elementals are able to solidify their mana, and bend it to their will. With their unparalleled control over mana, they are able to send out pure mana and then with a thought, turn it into whatever element they wish at any given moment, giving them a huge advantage in fights. Alas, those are merely rumors."
-"ohhhh…"-
While waiting for Tess's friend to return, I went back to accumulating mana and forming fireballs, trying to refine my control over magic even more. Ray didn't show it, but he was astonished by my growth, it was easy to tell by the glimmer in his eyes and hop in his step while he cleaned the place up. By the end of the afternoon, I was able to consistently form the only spell I knew, even being able to cast it three times before having to refill my mana supply.
Dusk had dawned upon us and we spotted our carriage from a few hundred meters away. I was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, feeling like I had just worked an eight-hour shift.
"Kiddo, I think you should hide."