I thought back to my training yesterday, I did take it slow and let my lightning come out before trying to control it. Sadly, my lightning ability is not able to be shaped anyways. I think using your basic spell control to shape your element is most useful for water and earth mages.
Even though James demonstrated he could shape his fire, I can't think of many useful reasons that fire needs to be shaped a specific way since it will burn anything it touches anyway.
James was continuing with the training while I was lost in thought, "ok my Lady, try to make the water shield again."
This time, Becca brought water out from her palms until there was a ball about the size of a watermelon in front of her. Once she stopped making more, the water started to move around her to form a shield. However, the water was only enough to make a shield in front of her instead of around her whole body.
James interjected, "since this is your first time shaping your water, you will need to work on figuring out how much water you need to make specific shapes. It will come with time.
The amount of total water that you can take out at a time is determined by how efficient you are with your magic. Since it is based on efficiency, it also measures how far along you are as an intermediate mage.
An intermediate mage that is about to become an advanced mage is said to be able to control enough water to create a wave that can crash down on their opponents and sweep them away.
Try taking out as much water as you can right now."
Becca listened to James and created a huge ball of water above her. I would guess it is enough water to make a water shield around 5 people at once.
"Ok, you can release it now. From that amount, I would say you are about a middle tier intermediate mage.
This is good because that would put you solidly in the middle of the pack for the Royal mages, so they shouldn't be able to talk bad about you easily."
Becca should be happy to hear this, but after she released the water she conjured, she was panting heavily.
James noticed this too and pulled out a vial that was attached to his belt.
"Here my Lady, take a stamina potion. I hope you don't mind my Lord, but I brought 10 stamina potions with me since I thought the training would be too tiring to do all in one go."
I had to remind James, "I don't know what a stamina potion is, but as long as it will help Becca out, I don't have a problem."
"Oh, sorry my Lord, let me explain. A stamina potion comes in one of these vials and once you drink one, your body will recover to whatever condition it would be in after a week of rest.
It is called a stamina potion since it will in most cases instantly replenish any fatigue you have.
However, it does even more than that.
Because it recovers your whole body to what it would be like after a week of rest, it can also heal you from any injury that would have healed naturally in a week. You can even drink multiple, if you want to stack the amount of rest. For example, a broken bone that would take 6 weeks to heal can be healed instantly by drinking 6 stamina potions.
The limitation is that it can only heal what your body would naturally recover from, so it is still preferred to have an advanced water mage that can heal injures as severe as lost limbs.
Another reason stamina potions are not used too often is because they are pretty expensive, they cost 1 gold coin each."
I needed to interrupt again, "how much is 1 gold coin?"
"Oh, of course. The currency we use is broken down into bronze, silver, and gold coins. 100 bronze coins make a silver coin and 100 silver coins make a gold coin. An average commoner will be paid about 20 silver coins a week."
So one stamina potion is equivalent to 5 weeks of wages for a commoner, that's a lot. If you think about it in terms of the saying that an engagement ring should cost 3 months of salary, then only 3 bottles of stamina potion are equivalent to a ring in my world. That made me question why James had so many on him. The 10 he currently had was equivalent to 1 full years worth of wages for a common worker!
"James, why do you have so many stamina potions if they are so expensive?"
"Our Duchy produces all the ingredients needed to make stamina potions, so you have a team of alchemists that work for you to make stamina potions. Most of the stamina potions used in the Duchy are sold by us.
I grabbed some from your storage before I left the office, since I knew we would be training."
"Ok, since they are mine, I have no problem with giving them to Becca. As long as there are no bad side effects."
"Don't worry, they have been used for ages and no one has ever gotten any side effects from them."
James finally handed a vial to Becca. She was still exhausted and whipped some sweat from her forehead. Before she drank it, she looked at me and said,
"Thanks Nick."
"Come on Becca, now that we are married, those stamina potions are just as much yours as they are mine. Use them whenever you want."
Her eyes lit up, "really?!"
"Yes…what are you planning to do with them? Haha." I could tell from the greed in her eyes that she knew exactly what she wanted to use the stamina potions for.
"Well…I was thinking about the fact that if I use some stamina potions when I train, then I will be able to train multiple times longer than someone who can only train until they are tired.
I could train until I'm exhausted and then take a stamina potion and train until I'm exhausted again. That way, I can as quickly as possible become an advanced mage and be your equal."
I turn to James and whispered, "I'm not sure of the stamina potion production for the Duchy. Would Becca using as many as she wants be a problem?"
James shook his head, "no my Lord. We produce thousands of stamina potions a day, so even if she used as much as she possibly could, it would just be a drop in the bucket."
"Awesome."
I went back to a voice audible to Becca,
"Use as many as you want Becca, but also don't work yourself too hard…"
Becca put her hands together, "thank you so much!"
Becca then drank the stamina potion that James had given her. She didn't look too much different then she had before, but she was no longer breathing heavily.
"How do you feel now Becca?"
She gave me a thumbs up, "I feel as good as new!"