Khali wasted no time and proceeded to introduce the underground base where they would spend the next 5 years together. The underground base was smaller than Athos had expected, covering only the slums and a few small emergency escape tunnels.
The place Athos used as a base was just one of the emergency exits. There were few rooms, most were made up of irregular tunnels like a labyrinth. They were built this way to delay the enemy in case they are discovered.
Khali also explained why the tunnels have not been found so far. He had tamed rock worms to create the tunnels and one of the worms' racial abilities was to mask their caves.
They could secrete a liquid that not only hardened the tunnels they created, preventing them from collapsing, but could also make magical detection difficult.
"You can take any chamber you want and use it as a bedroom, we'll start your training as soon as you settle in." Khali informed him.
"I'd rather keep using the emergency tunnels as a base, if you don't mind. Everything I have is already there and we can start our class right away." Athos was in a hurry to start training. He didn't like the idea of spending the next 5 years trapped inside underground tunnels, but he needed to get stronger if he wanted revenge.
Athos didn't want to admit it, but he knew Khali was right. He didn't have enough power to kill any of his enemies.
"In that case, let's start our lessons then. I'll start by teaching you the basics of mana manipulation." Khali began his lecture, but Athos interrupted him.
"You can skip that part. My mom already taught me how to manipulate mana, look." Athos used mana vision to prove it.
"You can see the mana when you do that, can't you?" Khali just smiled at him, ignoring his interruption.
"Yes I can. But what does that have to do with it?" Athos did not understand what he was getting at.
"What you just did was temporarily turn your eyes into a magical organ, allowing you to see the mana of other living beings. If you strengthen your sword instead, you will temporarily turn it into a magic weapon."
"Is it possible to permanently turn an organ into a magic organ?" Athos asked, trying to find a way to strengthen himself quickly.
"That's impossible. Our bodies can't handle large amounts of mana for a long time, that's why our core has a finite amount of mana. As we train and strengthen our bodies, they become able to support more energy and for a longer period, which allows the core to absorb more energy and develop further."
"About that, I have a question. What happened to your core? It's unlike anything I've ever seen." Athos asked something that was bothering him.
"Didn't your father teach you not to interrupt others?" Khali asked irritated by the interruptions.
"No, he died before that." Athos replied with a shrug. Unlike Agatha, Robert's death was accidental and Athos had locked any thoughts of him into a box in his mind and thrown away the key.
"As we train, our cores accumulate more and more energy, until there comes a point where the core can't hold any more energy and naturally forms a new layer to retain even more mana. The magical community calls this the layer of life." Khali quickly changed the subject, somewhat embarrassed by her callous question.
"When this happens, mana becomes thicker and spells and abilities are doubled in power and life expectancy increases as well. Each core is unique and the amount of mana each one can hold to form a layer of life varies person to person, but all mages know that the more and more energy it takes to form the layer of life, the stronger it is."
"How many layers are there? How long did it take you to form your first, just out of curiosity?" Athos asked trying to use Khali as a reference.
"The maximum number of existing layers is still unknown, but the highest recorded is from the Emperor of the ancient Makima empire, who reached 22 layers of life. It is said that at his peak, the weakest of his spells could devastate entire cities. And I It took me 12 years to form my first layer." Khali said.
"That's why you're special, Athos. Your body is capable of absorbing energy and passively strengthening itself. If you train, you should be able to strengthen yourself twice as fast as normal. But that's only half of what you're capable of." Khali tried and failed to hide his envy.
He took out his wand before continuing his explanation. "You may not know this, but we humans are disconnected from world energy and we need to use items like wands to be able to access world energy and cast spells." He cast an ice spell as an example, shooting a 2 meter long ice spear.
Afterwards, he tried to do the same without his wand, but all he managed to do was accumulate a cool breeze in his palms.
"See? It's impossible to use magic without a wand, but you are an exception. You were born naturally attuned to the world's energy and can cast magic without needing a crutch like a wand. You have a trait called a mana body."
"Wait, I've seen the priest use divine magic without a wand. Is he like me too?" Athos asked worriedly. If the priest were able to strengthen himself twice as fast as he does, no matter how hard he trains, the distance between them would never change.
"The church considers light magic superior to all other elements, pretending to the masses that it is a miracle from God, so they don't like using items like wands or anything other than light.
Instead, they wear rings or necklaces in order to use their spells. It's an idiotic idea, as rings don't tune into the world's energy as well as a wand, but the very idea that the light element is better than the other elements is idiotic."
Athos breathed a sigh of relief at this information.
"Now about using magic it's pretty simple, but I need to know your elemental affinities first. I already know that you have a high affinity for fire, to the point that you can partially control flames even without using magic, but I need know if you have other affinities." Khali tried to sound kind, but what he really wanted was to make sure the darkness was sealed.
'He's too insane to deal with the darkness. The last thing this town needs is a psychopath capable of dealing with necromancy.' That's what he really thought.
He took a glass of water and placed an unknown magic leaf.
"What is it?" Athos prided himself on his knowledge of botany, but he had never seen such a leaf.
"It's a magic sheet of assimilation. It will absorb your mana and dye the water according to your affinities. Red for fire, blue for water, yellow for wind, orange for earth, white for light and black for darkness. Now use it mana in the leaf." Khali ordered and Athos promptly complied.
He flowed the mana to the leaf and it released a yellowish red liquid into the water. In a matter of a few seconds the water was completely colored red, with a few hints of yellow.
"A high affinity for fire and a medium affinity for wind. Two elements out of three, well done Athos." Khali congratulated Athos.
'It would be three elements if I hadn't sealed the darkness.' He thought.
"Wait, two out of three? Wouldn't that be two out of six?" Athos asked, doubting his teacher's ability to calculate.
"No, the maximum affinities one can have is three. The elements are opposite to each other and work like a balance. The greater your affinity with one element, the less your affinity with another will be."
"What about light and dark? Why don't I have an affinity for either of them?" Athos asked.
"Most people don't have any affinity, you know? Having two is amazing enough. I only have an affinity for water myself." Khali couldn't explain to Athos that he had sealed his affinity with darkness, so he hid the fact that anyone with a mana body had an affinity for three elements, no matter how small that affinity was.