Thinking of Melissa's explanation, Noah closed his eyes to visualise.
'Fire, ice, wind, water, psychic and divinity. Hmm., I managed to get affinity towards a lot of elements but my mana tank is a huge bottleneck if all elements use mana.'
'Anyway, for now, I just need to visualize the element? Ice? Ice cubes? hmm…'
Holding his hand out, Noah continued to think of different objects that were made of ice yet nothing happened.
'Why is nothing happening? There must be something I am missing.'
"So, how is the room? Do you like it?"
Cutting his thoughts off, Reynard entered Noah's room.
Bowing slightly, " Thanks, Reynard. It's nice."
"Yes, yes, good that you are comfortable. The elder will take some time to reach back. So you'll be here until then."
"What happens after he comes back?"
"Hmm…," scratching his beard, Reynard paused for a moment before continuing. "Although you are a commoner and an orphan, you have good talent. You'll likely be sent to the imperial family or the royal guards to groom you as a warrior. It's something to be proud of."
"Yes…"
'If it's the imperial family, then I'll be too near the twins. They were a huge pain to work with even when they were adults, and here you are asking me to go to them when they are kids? No thanks. Although getting appointed as a Royal Guard is great. It's great only from an NPC's pov. I won't have a chance to investigate what causes this world to end. I need to escape before the elder comes.'
"Ah, Sir. Reynard, I needed some help with materializing the element… Melissa said I just needed to visualise, but I am not able to do anything with just that. Also what exactly should I visualise? Just think about ice? Can you please explain more sir?"
"Boy, do you call me Sir, only when you need help?" Sighing. "You can just think of how the element can be used in combat or how it is formed. Ah, you also need to circulate your mana in your body when you do this. What else..? Once you materialise the element once, it will be very easy the next time. You can also learn mana circles for that element to perform a skill. All you have to then do is either draw or visualise the circle to use that skill. The circles are normally complex so people just generally tend to materialise the raw element and use it as needed. Priests like us need to memorise a few circles for healing, performing rituals and some even for combat like me. But as I said it's quite hard to remember the complex circle. Anyway, just think about materializing now."
"Thanks, Sir. Reynard." Noah bowed gently.
"Thanks, Sir. Reynard." Melissa interjected, imitating Noah.
"Where were you? I thought you were supposed to show him around?"
"We did go around. He didn't seem all that interested in going around outside. So we finished quickly. Noah seems like the indoorsy studious type, aren't you Noah?"
"Y-yes," stuttering.
"See, I am the best at handling kids. I can't even think of how you old geezers would have taken care of kids without me."
"Yea…but it wouldn't hurt for you to learn some humility." Reynard grabbed and pushed her head down while ruffling her hair to a mess.
"Stop it. Ok... I got it. So, stop it, please."
Sigh.
"My hair…"
"By the way, what's that you brought?"
"Oh, just some books for Noah to read."
"Ice elemental series? Why did you bring an intermediate book as well? The first book in the beginner series alone would have been enough."
"It's just cool to know what all that can be done, right?"
Sigh. "What am I going to do with you… Noah, once you are done with it, return it to the library. If you like books more than going out, I'll speak to the librarian to allow you inside. That said, you will still need to come with us when we go to visit the villages nearby. Understood?"
"Yes…"
"Okay, get some rest then. You can go to the canteen and have food when you want. Just don't go too late, we normally distribute to make sure there aren't any leftovers. If you need help, just come to either of us. If you need to go outside, find me, okay?"
"Okay."
"Okay then, we'll be taking our leave."
****
ICE ELEMENT - Beginner Series - Volume 1
ICE ELEMENT - Intermediate Series - Volume 1
Going over the books, Noah got to see various magic circles for skills that Reynard had mentioned.
The first book just had some illustrations on the first ice elemental mage and some quotes to inspire others. One key thing it mentioned was the importance of feeling the element to awaken it faster.
The book also warned how things could go wrong very fast if not careful. There were multiple cases where aspirants had to be amputated after getting frostbite and some who lost their lives.
'I hope I don't have to jump into a fire pit to awaken the fire element. And how in the world am I going to awaken divinity or psychic.'
'Wait, so basically, I can awaken through 3 ways: feeling the element directly, visualising how the element is formed and also by visualising how it can be used in combat. This should be fine then, nothing a little physics can't solve.'
Formulating a plan in his mind, Noah decided to start with the wind element.
Sneaking out of the room quietly, Noah headed towards the tallest building in the temple, an old watch tower, 11 storeys high.
After checking around the old tower, Noah was able to get in after squeezing through one of the iron bars in the gate.
Only after entering the tower did Noah understand this tower's actual purpose.
The unused tower gave a thick smell of blood and disinfectant. Although it remained unused, the stench remained. One could only guess how many were held captive.
Noah pinched his nose and kept climbing the steps till he reached the very top. The top floor had half-open walls with pillars at edges that held the conical roof. Cold winds continued to hit him from all sides.
After picking a random place to sit, Noah started to meditate.