Athos was glad to hear this. He was eager to start training.
"When did we start training magic?" Athos asked impatiently.
One thing at a time, Athos. First I'll teach you the basics of magic, then I'll teach you about non-elemental magic, something any mage can use regardless of affinity, and only then will we practice elemental magic." Khali explained, cutting off the anxious Athos.
"Magic is a difficult art to use and even more difficult to master. It is divided into three stages: Perceiving and accumulating world energy, manipulating mana and visualizing the spell. As I have already explained, human beings do not are able to sense at world's energy, so we use tools like wands to access it, but you can do it naturally.
After a little practice, you should also be able to manipulate the world's energy as easily as you move mana through your body. And lastly, you must imagine the spell you want to cast. The clearer the image of your spell, the faster you will cast it. " Khali explained.
"Are you talking about this?" Athos drew world energy into the fist, strengthening beyond its limits.
"That's almost it. You need to manipulate the mana outside your body to use spells. Like this." Khali formed a sphere of pure mana in his palm as an example.
Athos tried to imitate him, finding it incredibly difficult. Inside the body, the mana moved at will, but outside the body, just preventing the mana from dispersing into the environment required Athos' full focus.
"Shit...fuck." Athos began to curse, sweating cold with the effort. He tried to make a sphere, but the slightest distraction warped it or dispersed into the air, forcing him to start over from scratch.
"Good try." Khali laughed at his efforts, popping Athos' mana sphere with one finger.
"Why did you do that? I was almost getting!" Athos shouted indignantly.
"Why should you wait for me to finish talking before you start practicing. You would have avoided making silly mistakes like this and not wasted mana." Khali scolded him.
"What you were doing was trying to use your mana as a cocoon and keep the world energy inside. The problem is that any distraction warps the sphere and leaks the world energy. Also, pure world mana wouldn't do any damage to enemies , rendering your spell useless.
What you should have done instead was mix your mana with the world energy until it becomes a single energy, that way you can control it as your own mana." Khali explained.
"There's one thing I still don't understand. I'm already able to control fire, how is that different from magic?" Athos slammed the sword to generate sparks and feed it with mana until the sword ignites.
"What you're doing is using non-elemental mana to control the flames, it's not real magic. It's the same thing as me just controlling water. To use real elemental magic, you need to separate the world energy and use just the element you want to cast your spells. Controlling fire using pure mana is incredibly inefficient in terms of energy, as you have to expend six times more energy than normal fire magic."
"Oh." Athos exclaimed in surprise and immediately began to practice as instructed.
"I have a task for you. Over the next week, you will practice your mana manipulation and visualization. Once you learn to control mana externally, we will practice simple non-elemental spells. Then I will teach you elemental magic and how to create your own spells. Sorry Athos, but we don't have any elements in common, so it's impossible for me to teach you my spells." Khali felt a little bad that he couldn't teach Athos elemental magic.
"OK." Athos didn't pay much attention to her excuses, totally focused on the task at hand. At first, he couldn't mix his mana with the world's energy, wasting energy, but as he practiced, it became easier and easier to control the energy.
He was still struggling to mold mana, but he no longer had to worry about scattering.
"I'll leave you to practice in peace. Let me know if you need anything." khali left the chamber and let Athos practice uninterrupted.
*****
2 years later.
Time passed quickly while Athos was on his magic apprenticeship. Athos has developed rapidly in the meantime. He learned new skills and how to cast and create his own spells.
He learned only basic spells of both elements, but he did not neglect his physical training. Athos devoted himself to improving his skill with the sword and shield, as well as his skill as an alchemist. He constantly trained against Khali and constantly took a beating.
Whether physical or magical combat, Athos took a beating no matter what he did. Even so, the experience gained from fighting a seasoned combatant like Khali was very useful to Athos, who improved by leaps and bounds with each training session.
Their relationship also developed a lot during this time. The conviviality and isolation naturally broke the distrust that existed between them, transforming their relationship from teacher and student into good friends in a short time.
Although the situation Athos had improved, the same could not be said for the city. The conflict between the guards and the gangs only got worse over time, evolving from small skirmishes to full-scale fights. The guards still believed that the captain had been captured and as time passed, they became increasingly impatient and violent in their attacks.
The gangs didn't know the captain's whereabouts, but no matter how many times they declared they weren't with him, the guards didn't listen, thinking of it only as a ruse.
The gangs were angered by the constant attacks and responded with violent attacks and ambushes against any guards they saw. The number of deaths rose rapidly, denigrating the city's public safety.
The gangs went further in their retaliation against the city, attacking peddlers and any merchant caravans that tried to enter the city. The situation in the city only got worse from there, with the prices of goods increasing because of the stagnant market, hunger was once again a problem in the city. The number of homeless people only increased and countless people turned to crime as a way to survive, increasing the power and influence of gangs over the entire city.
The city was isolated and the guild was forced to intervene for the good of the city. Quests about hunting bandits and escorting caravans were continually posted on the quest board, all funded by the baron in an attempt to regain control of the city. As things stood, he felt that he would soon be forced to cede authority to the bandits.
Countless attacks and assassination attempts were committed on the Baron's life, but the wizard and bodyguard Ricley stopped them all. He didn't care about the state of the city, no matter how many times the baron begged him to root out the bandits. He always acted as minimum as possible, just doing his duty as a bodyguard and nothing more.
During this period, the church became a neutral zone in the city. It doesn't matter if they were bandits, guards or adventurers; no one dared to interfere with the church. Without Robert's alchemy shop, the priest and his nuns were the only ones capable of healing in the entire city, further consolidating its position in the city.
The priest, drunk on his newfound authority, became increasingly arrogant, even going so far as to openly charge "donations" in exchange for healing.
In less than two years, the frontier city of Faltra had turned into a lawless zone, where the strong fought for power and the weak fought hunger.