Three days had passed...
Finally, Allen and Felicia could start learning mana again with Thurstan. But only for four days because Thurstan had to go to the capital to give his thesis to the academy.
"What's wrong?" said Allen to Felicia, who had been looking at him.
"Nothing!" Felicia immediately turned her face away.
'This girl… Since yesterday, she has always been looking at me, Is there something weird about my face?' thought Allen.
While Felicia thought,
'it was just an indirect kiss, but why am I always thinking about it?! It's all because of Allen! He uncaringly drank the tea in my glass!'
A few minutes later, Thurstan returned and sat down in his chair.
"Sorry for the long wait."
They will now start learning mana from Thurstan. Felicia already had control over her own mana, and Allen already knew how mana worked. Next, they need to learn how to use amnis.
"Lady Felicia, I recommend you learn healing amnis so you don't have to rely on your god's blessings to treat minor injuries," Thurstan advised, and then he continued
"Amnis is an alternative method of god's blessing for manifesting mana. Amnis can only be used with the help of elemental spirits. There are four types of elemental spirits: water, soil, fire, and wind. And there is one more spirit that is not an elemental; it is a non-attribute spirit."
Thurstan took a big roll of paper and spread it out. There were many drawings and writings on it.
"You can activate amnis by flowing some mana into your fingertips and then drawing the spirit symbol. After making the symbol, you must make the command spell with the spirit language around the symbol. For example..."
Thurstan starts to demonstrate it. The tip of his index finger glowed, then he drew an air symbol in front of him. A moment later, a fresh breeze blew out of the symbol.
"When we draw the command spell, the spirits absorb our mana and use that to do what we command around the symbol. No matter how many spirits are present, the power remains the same because the power of the amnis comes from how much mana it will absorb and then how much knowledge the owner has. Knowledge means that the smarter the owner's imagination about the amnis, the stronger the amnis will be."
"I heard that amnis has various names, and everyone chants it, but I don't hear you chant anything when you use your amnis before," asked Felicia.
Thurstan smiled,
"Good observation, lady. Did you know that mana is connected to our memories and feelings? I told you earlier that amnis strengthens when the owner's imagination is strong. We can use amnis without chanting it. But if you chant it..."
Thurstan drew another wind symbol.
"Ghust of Wind," he said, chanting the name of the amnis he was using.
The wind that came out was getting stronger, resulting in many papers on the floor flying behind them. Because of it, Felicia and Allen had to cover their heads with their hands.
"Your amnis will be more powerful if you chant. The reason is in your feelings. Willpower, emotion, and determination all affect your mana. The stronger your feelings and emotions are when using mana, the stronger the power will be, and then the stronger your spirit response will be.
Now, try activating the same amnis that I did earlier. You can see the picture and the command here."
Felicia and Allen tried it while looking at the picture on the paper.
"Eh? Why did the drawing disappear so quickly?!" as Felicia drew it, the drawing just disappeared.
"How idiot, it's because you draw it so slowly; you have to draw it quickly because the light you write will disappear in a half minute," said Allen, who also tried many times to draw it quickly.
"That is because spirit language writing is very difficult!"
Thurstan explained, "It's difficult at first, but once you've tried it many times, you'll remember. So even if the drawing disappears, keep writing until you can remember it."
They attempted to write it several times.
Then, after 10 minutes of trying
"Ah… I am done." Allen managed to activate it first before Felicia. A breeze came out of the amnis circle he had made.
Felicia looked at Allen in frustration and sped up her writing.
"Damn you, Allen. I can do it too!"
Thurstan rubbed Allen's head and proudly said,
"Well done, Allen, I knew you could do it quickly."
"Don't touch my head!" said Allen, slapping Thurstan's hand.
"Now, try to chant the amnis. But aim it at the wall so the impact is not too big."
Allen nodded and tried it.
"Ghust of Wind"
But the wind came out just the same as before.
"Huh? Why is it still weak?" asked Allen. ,
"Eeeh? I don't know either; try chanting louder."
"GHUST OF WIND!"
It was the same thing; the wind that came out was just a normal breeze.
"Why, why it isn't working?!" shouted Allen to Thurstan.
"I don't know for sure either, but there are possibilities why you can't. First, the spirits don't like you. Second, you may only have a little mana.
But I doubt the second. Since your hair is black and white, I think you have Norrtish blood or someone from another world. So you must have a lot of mana."
"No, maybe the second one is right," Allen responded.
Allen recalled what happened to him when his mana gate opened. That night, he probably felt the mana coming into his body. Then, all of a sudden, the mana inside his body seemed to be fighting for space, and in the end, one of them went away. Most likely, the mana that disappeared was the divine mana that Reig absorbed, so only a few mana were left inside him. Reig probably sucked Allen's mana continuously to stay alive. Because when Maurice locked his mana gate, Reig never moved.
'But if Reig is sucking my mana, that means my divine mana is fighting for space with what? Does this imply that I have two mana? But from Thurstan's explanation, he never mentioned other types of mana,' thought Allen.
"So, why do you believe the second one is true?" asked Thurstan.
Allen shook his head.
"No, I just don't like accepting that spirits hate me," for some reason, Allen chose to lie about it.
"AAAAARGH!!!" Felicia suddenly shouted because she has not managed to draw it quickly.
Rachel then approached Felicia and said,
"Lady, you'd better do it calmly."
"SHUT UP!" she kept trying over and over again.
Thurstan just smiled at Felicia. Amnis should not be memorized as quickly as Allen; it took at least an hour to remember a level one amnis.
"Allen, while waiting for Felicia, I would like to know your reading and writing progress. Are you able to read?" asked Thurstan.
"Just a little."
Thurstan picked up one of the books on his desk. It wasn't like the same books that Allen had seen before. It was about the size of the palm of his hand, but it was very thick. The cover was made of animal skin, which makes it look so comfy to hold.
Thurstan opened the book and showed it to Allen.
"A na-ti-on that-should-not-be-allowd to-la…. to life?" he read slowly. As he learned to write, he would sometimes ask the maids who walked by, as well as Rachel and Iskaria, how to read. He could read a little bit, but still stuttered, and he didn't know many words.
After a minute of spelling, he could only read one sentence.
"A nation that should not be allowed to live because it is dangerous."
"Good, you really can read," Thurstan said with a smile.
"What book is this?" asked Allen.
"It's the criminal code of this kingdom. Since you probably already understand the words used daily, perhaps you need to understand some more complicated words."
Allen looked at the book again, and sure enough, There was a lot of wording that was utterly different from what he had always seen in his books.
"What does this read?" asked Allen.
"Hiding a Norrtish is a first-degree felony; the hider and his family will be sentenced to death," Thurstan spelled out as he pointed to each word in the book.
Instead of focusing on the language, Allen was more curious about the book's contents.
"Hiding Norrtish? If I'm not mistaken, you mentioned that before," Allen inquired.
"That's right, I have said before that you are one of the Norttish."
"Why?"
"Because of your hair, only the Norttish have white hair. But your hair isn't just white, it's predominantly black, so maybe it's okay."
Allen remembered that Iskaria had told him to cover his hair with a hat when he was leaving town with Felicia, and the reason was to not bother Isabelle.
"Does that mean Isabelle will die if people find me?" asked Allen.
"I don't think so. There is no evidence that you are part of Norttish. In fact, you look more like an other-worlder to me. But if the royal people see your white hair, you might be captured for investigation."
"I see..."
Allen once again thought about how complicated the outside world was. The more people, the more problems, which was why there was a rule book like this. It made him uncomfortable, especially after hearing the rules about him being taken away if caught. It made him feel constrained.
"I CAN!"
Allen looked toward Felicia. Finally, after 20 minutes, she was able to finish the command circle.
'Woah, as I expected from a genius who already has god blessing at age 10," thought Thurstan.
Then...
From the circle came a very strong wind.
"Lady, what are you doing?" shouted Thurstan.
The wind that came out is so strong, like a storm. The books on the shelves flew, and some of the shelves fell over. Walking in the room was very difficult because the wind carried their bodies.
"I don't know!" replied Felicia. Rachel was behind her, hugging Felicia's body as she fell.
"Did you chant the amnis?"
"No! I didn't!"
'No way! It's supposed to be a 1st level wind gust amnis. Why is it almost as powerful as a second level?! Does that mean without a chant she can create this much wind?! Then what will happen if she chants it?!' Thurstan was shocked by Felicia's power.
After a few minutes, the wind slowly stopped, and the room became very messy. Fortunately, nobody got hurt.
"Let's stop training for today. I need to clean up this mess."