"PIERCE!" I yell while focusing on a wooden training dummy.
Suddenly, a wind blade arcs through the air, making a deep slash on the torso of the dummy.
"Nice shot," my magic instructor, Malinda, mutters approvingly.
It has been several weeks since I formed my mana core. The day after, I immediately confronted my parents and informed them of the news. Delighted, they immediately looked for a magic instructor to help me get up to speed. Usually, after awakening your core, you would try to learn magic spells and how to manipulate your mana better. However, since the original owner of this body was fixated on improving his rank, he lacks any memories or skills of actually controlling or using his mana. That's where Malinda comes in. Before I enter the magic academy, I need to learn the basics. The academy, being as prestigious as it is, expects most incoming students to know the fundamentals. Of course, several classes teach very uneducated commoners who manage to get in through luck or sheer talent. Since they can't afford tutors and instructors before attending, the academy accommodates them. Of course, I want to be as strong as possible before entering the academy. I'm not going to let myself be thrown around by anyone else, and if I want to start consolidating my strength, I need to do it now. I can't waste my time in the academy playing catch-up. I need to be stronger, as of yesterday.
When I brought up the idea of an instructor, my parents immediately agreed and went to find a reputable tutor. Their friend Malinda accepted. They didn't tell me much about her, so all I know right now is that she's a close friend of my mother and father, and she's a very strong and talented battle mage. Aside from that neither they nor will she divulge further details.
I can't lie. I am curious, but I won't waste this time trying to dig up the past.
I can easily slice through this damn dummy, actually. As my mana control improved, my telekinesis improved as much. Using my telekinesis, I can guide the mana in my body with extreme precision that even A-tier mages dream to achieve. In doing so, I can shorten my casting time to near instant. Another thing I've figured out is silent casting. Typically, mages over time learn how to achieve such a feat. It takes a very long time though, as they have to have an insane mastery of their mana flow and how their spells form. You typically learn this during your last year at Grislotts, but a lot of mages struggle to accomplish even that. That's how difficult it is. Most mages have to verbally say their spells as they cast them, as it helps them guide mana into the proper formations. It's essential that a spell is formed properly or it may fail to cast. Worst case scenario the spell may backfire and injure the caster.
With my telekenisis, I'm able to guide my mana with incredible precision. I should be above kids my age in mana control alone. Being able to control my mana to such an extent means I can easily make my mana form the spells I want, without needing the crutch of saying my spell out loud.
I'm still not quite at the level of multi casting yet. Multi casting, as the name implies, is the ability to cast multiple spells at once. This is even harder than silent casting, as you need to focus on multiple different spells at once. Before you can even achieve this you need to have a firm grasp on silent casting.
I don't think it'd do much good to reveal such strength yet, though, even if it is to my teacher. She may be my teacher, but even allies can become enemies instantly.
Despite that, I still haven't figured out how to really reinforce my mana. I want to strengthen attacks, and I can do so with certain elements. For instance, with the wind element. I can put my telekinesis into the wind blade and sort of "throw" it. Even if the blade leaves my range of control, it'll have sped up to the point where it is significantly faster. Even then, if I wanted to reinforce an explosive spell, I couldn't. Yet.
That aside, the most significant benefit of telekinesis seems to be my ability to disrupt spells.
Before I get into that, let me explain how mana works in spell formation. First, the caster wills their mana out of their body. When it leaves their body, it has an imprint, so typically, other mages can't manipulate other people's mana. After the mana leaves the body, the caster can mold it to take on specific attributes. For instance, the wind blade I had demonstrated took the property of air and wind to form a sharp blade. I then instructed the wind blade to go in a particular direction as fast it could.
The farther a spell travels, though, the weaker it gets. As the spell travels, more mana from the original spell is consumed to keep up its speed and its shape. As more mana is consumed, it eventually weakens and dissipates if it travels far enough. That's why the higher up your rank, the more mana you can throw into each spell. Making them last longer, travel farther, and hit harder.
Here's where my technique comes in. As a spell enters my zone of influence, where I can exert my telekinesis. I can bypass the imprint on spells, since I'm not actually trying to directly touch the mana or make it obey my commands. I essentially force it to do something it's not supposed to do. So for instance, if someone were to shoot a fireball at me, we need to take a look at how fire works. It needs air and fuel to combust, correct? Without air it would die out, and without fuel it would die out. The fuel, in this case, is the mana.
I can take out the spell in one of two ways. Use my telekinesis to prevent the air from properly being used by the mana to stop combustion, or isolating the mana to stop it from fueling the existing flames. Holding this for long enough will snuff out the spell.
A way to counter my wind blade is as follows: I can isolate the mana to disperse the wind and destroys it's form. This will effectively cancel it out.
Canceling out spells exists already, so this is nothing special, but this has one significant advantage.
Typically for a mage to cancel out a spell, they need to use the opposing element with equal force, or use the same elemental spell with even greater force to destroy the spell.
Using an opposing element is cheaper regarding mana consumption, but overwhelming the attackers' spell is more of a counter since the residual force behind the counter spell will be aimed at the original attacker, meaning they have to now focus on dodging the fragments or blocking it. Both give the defender time to follow up with another blow.
In both these cases, the defender expands some of their mana to stop the spell. In my case, since telekinesis takes a toll on my mind and not my mana, I use no mana at all to cancel out spells.
Another advantage is that I don't need to aim any spells; I can just focus on the incoming spell and snuff it out instantly.
Unfortunately, I theorize that this will not work well on those on the same level as me or even a bit stronger than me. For some reason, mana is really, really resistant to any form of telekinetic interference. If I tried this technique on a mage stronger than me, I won't be able to completely nullify the spell. I have a much better chance of putting up a shield of sorts using mana.
This also doesn't work on spells used to augment oneself, such as a battlemage. If they augment their body and rush me down, it's not like I can remove the mana inside their body, yet. Either way in that circumstance, I'd just opt for ripping their heads off their bodies like I used to in Murim…
"Akuma! Are you okay?"
"... sorry I was just lost in thought", I mutter.
"It's alright, but do you want to rest for now? We've been at it for quite a while at this point, I know your parents will have my head if I overwork you".
"Yeah that'll be fine", I reply.
"Aright, you did good. But a reminder: I will be gone on a mandatory summons to the mage association in Luminos. It'll be a 2 week journey as there are several meetings that take place over the course of those two weeks. I've written down a training regimen for you to practice, plus homework that you should complete that I will test you on when I get back. If you need help you can always ask your parents. Alright?"
Luminos, the capital city of Valaria, nicknamed the City of Light. It's where the holy church, and the mage association of this country are both located. The holy church is an organization that takes in exceptional light mages and trains them to become the elites of the church. They have a stigma for dark magic, such as necromancy and curses, which I think is stupid, but to each ones own. The mage association is where mages go for really anything magic related. If there's some sort of quest that needs to be completed, you can find it there. It's also the best place to work as a mage as they have everything from alchemy to battle mage assignments. They work closely with the royal family and most high ranking military mage officials have their training done through the mage association, after graduating from Grislotts.
They also have big conferences to discuss magic where top mages and scholars try to get together and exchange knowledge to help further magic as a whole.
I look up at Malinda and sigh, "yeah yeah and here I thought I'd get a break for once, huh."
She flashes her perfectly white teeth at me before starting the walk back to the house. "You know I'll beat your ass if you don't finish all the homework right? I'll talk to your parents really quick and then I gotta get back so I can prepare for my trip. Good luck!"
Before I can even reply she disappears. Light traces of space magic lingering in her steed.
"Hm…". Aside from the basic elements, fire, water, earth, air, light, and darkness, there are special concentrations of magic that are very rare. These concentrations can only be wielded by those gifted in the element. Space magic is one such element. Based on my understanding, it's very difficult to master this concentration of magic. Although battle mages learn spells like blink, which is short-ranged teleportation to utilize in combat, it's limited to where you can see and only spans several meters at most. Long-range teleportation requires a very deep understanding of the space element, as well as copious mana reserves, something very few mages can achieve. In the books, if you could utilize this power, any empire would openly welcome you, regardless of status or original nationality. And to think one of them is my teacher…
It seems I need to make the most of these two weeks to get stronger before her return.