About a week has passed since Rolf started training with Bjorn. In order to maximize Becky's data while also keeping appearances with Bjorn, she would do experiments on Rolf for about 40 straight hours after returning from his territory, and then letting Rolf recover before going back to see Bjorn to train again.
So far Bjorn has been teaching Rolf 4 days a week and only said that it may be reduced once his daughter comes back from her training excursion. The current topic they were on was introduction to magic. After Bjorn's trip to see the king, he resolved himself to fully support Rolf and train him even farther than he originally planned and make him one of the kingdom's best in the new generation.
After seeing Rolf's mana core condition, Bjorn decided to speed up his training and begin teaching him magic before his condition ended up hurting him rather than helping him.
Currently, Bjorn and Rolf were in the middle of a training arena that had a large tree hovering over it, with its shadow enveloping the area. Rolf was sitting down while Bjorn was standing next to him talking,
"So Rolf, you have good swordsmanship skills, a strong physique, and excel in all my physical training exercises, but what you lack is knowledge of 4 dimensional techniques. Say… can you tell me an example of something that comes from the 4th dimension?" Bjorn asked.
"Magic," Rolf said expressionlessly.
"Good, so you know at least that. Magic is the number 1 most well known matter to come from somewhere not originally on Heimdall. Magic, a once believed fallacy that bent everything we knew and became our reality." Bjorn took a slight pause in his overdramatic explanation to look at Rolf's expression, only to be greeted by his blank stare.
"After this world was nourished by magic, it soon made its way into living beings and into the humans we are today. Magic is now one of our core principles that makes us who we are, and that's why people study and practice magic, hoping to one day understand it completely…. HAHAHA but I'll be long dead before that happens!" Bjorn joked at the end.
"Then how come I can't use magic? If it's a part of every living being then how come some people can't use magic, or what about other things like plants using it?" Rolf inquired. Even though he would barely show visible emotion didn't mean he didn't feel things inside. Just like always he was still curious about something new.
"Only beings with sentience can use magic. For example, no plant has ever been discovered to use magic, either because we couldn't find one, or they never were able to gain sentience. Even animals can struggle with gaining sentience, and some that use magic, were born with it. Animals that aren't born able to use magic must always gain sentience in order to utilize it, and sometimes depending on its bloodline or strength they can assume a humanoid form, and its best not to confuse them with beastmen, otherwise you may have just dug your own grave." Bjorn said, showing a sense of dread at the end of his words.
"Well, it's not like you'll meet a beast with sentience anytime soon, they usually are unique and exhibit large signs of growth, especially if they gain their sentience during infancy which is around 3-5 years old for the more powerful species. Not only do they have abnormal growth but they have unique abilities and looks, and can understand us quite well, that's why almost all sentient beasts are extremely dangerous." After saying that, Bjorn saw Rolf fall into deep thought. Smiling, Bjorn thought that he had finally found something that could move Rolf's usual cold and dead expression.
'That sounds a lot like Rhea. Her appearance is very unique– perhaps she's not a dog? But then what would she be?-- and she seems to understand me a lot. Although, I don't think she's very powerful and I haven't seen her wielding any unique abilities. Well, one thing I know for sure is that she's definitely better than everyone else, heh'
Letting out a slight smile on his face, Bjorn was a little stunned and confused on how talking about dangerous beasts could lead Rolf to smile. Ignoring him, Bjorn continued,
"*ahem* Anyways, for the next 4 days I will be teaching you how to feel your mana, and hopefully you will be able to use it by the end of the week. Although, you shouldn't feel bad since most children don't use magic till they are at least 7 or 8, or are taught in the academy formally at age 10. Even then, students usually can take a month to learn it, and even geniuses take about a week," after telling Rolf that he continued,
"Now if you don't mind I will be casting something similar to my diagnosis spell on you which will allow me to help you feel your mana and the pathway that it takes."
Nodding, Rolf closed his eyes ready to feel the magic Bjorn was about to put in his body.
After putting his palms on Rolf's back, Bjorn spoke, "Alright I'm starting, it may feel weird at first, but just bear with it, this is all to help you understand your own body's mana and its pathway."
Feeling a faint "something" entering his body, he let it enter freely and began trying to follow it full heartedly and try to sense that sensation elsewhere in his body.
'Hmm… how weird, his core seems to be trying to absorb my mana, and all this other mana? No, it's magic that's in his body and is being swallowed by his core as if it needs more and more to survive and get bigger–' interrupting his inner monologue, Rolf suddenly said something,
"I think I'm starting to feel something, and it keeps going to my stomach and my chest… also I feel it starting to move into my head as well."
Confused, Bjorn moved more of his mana around and discovered what Rolf was talking about. Unlike Bjorn, Rolf had 2 mana cores, meaning that the second who was initially hidden from Bjorn's spell!! One had an extremely strong absorption rate, while the other also absorbed things but not as much as the first one and seemed to only be a mana storage of some sort. Surprised and smiling, Bjorn was elated that his new student could easily surpass him in the future, he may have found himself a true successor aside from his daughter.
Moving his mana towards Rolf head was the tricky part. One wrong move and Bjorn could permanently damage Rolf's mind.
"Just breathe, and relax, I'm about to check on the feeling you said you felt going to your head, I won't hurt you," Bjorn said in a calm and soothing dad voice that he's used dozens of times on his daughter.
Initially feeling a strong mental resistance around Rolf's mind, Bjorn had to talk to Rolf in order to check out what was happening. Rolf's resistance was so strong that the only way to enter was use much more mana to force himself in and hurt Rolf in the process, or get Rolf to open up by himself. Now feeling the resistance go down a bit, Bjorn was finally able to look at what was going on where Rolf's brain would be. Gulping loudly, Bjorn was not able to see what was inside of Rolf's mind, the only thing he saw was some dark void, and a strong wind coming from it. At first he thought it was similar to a soul, since soul magicians would have something similar to it, and could utilize it in order to instantly cast spells, skipping the chant. However, even his own soul wasn't like Rolf's "soul", what he saw was dark and ominous.
Snapping out of Rolf's body, they both woke up and Rolf turned to look at Bjorn who was for some reason sweating profusely with his eyes wide open.
'Good Goddess just what is going on with this boy? Is he your kin, is this why a strong, vast sense of dread and despair comes from his mind space?'
Unable to get any answers to the questions he currently had, Bjorn could only take deep breaths and lie down on the nice, cool concrete of the training arena.
"Uh, is this supposed to happen after you helped me sense my mana?" Rolf asked suddenly, which caused Bjorn to become even more confused.
Sighing, Bjorn lifted his body up only to open his eyes, and his jaw to drop.
Looking at Rolf, Bjorn saw his entire arm, covered in ice almost making it look like a gauntlet on his hand, he could tell that the ice on his arm was extremely sturdy, especially with the blackish-blue color, compared to a normal white and light-blue hue on ice magic.
On his other arm, Bjorn saw a dark and light colored aura-wisps swirling all over his arm, starting from his shoulder all the way down to his hand, and then back up to his shoulder. Bjorn couldn't believe his eyes! Rolf had at least 2 elements that seemed very powerful, and a possibly even rarer 3rd element!!
"Wow…! This is the first time I'm seeing such unique magic! You seem to have some variant of ice magic, darkness magic that seems to fuse with your elements, and some interesting lighter colored element that even I haven't seen before! Maybe it's something similar to light magic or something more celestial, like Divine magic!!" Bjorn exclaimed, while thinking,
'Ah~! Thank you Supreme Goddess! Your greatness has given me this opportunity to prove my worth for you, I shall do my utmost to ensure your child receives the best care and training I can possibly provide!'
As if the Supreme Goddess herself answered his mindless worshiping, Rolf's lighter element that was twirling around with the darkness element began glowing brighter and brighter until Rolf looked like a blazing star that had descended upon the world!
After the light had disappeared, Bjorn had seen that Rolf passed out from using too much mana.
'Just what was–' unable to finish his thought, Bjorn saw what had just transpired as a sign from his Goddess that his thinking was right. Perhaps Rolf was a chosen one…? Or perhaps… he was her child..?
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A/N: I know some may be confused but dw, everything will eventually explain itself further into the story.