I looked at the old man. I knew from the look on his face that he hadn't forgotten me."Teach me how to use magic," I told him.
The old man looked at me. "Oh my, did you actually listen to my advice?" he said, genuinely surprised, ignoring my appearance.
I kept staring at him insistently.
"Fine," he said eventually. "I assume you don't have anything to bring with you, right?"
I nodded. I had already figured he knew about what happened, and I didn't necessarily want to talk about it.
Soon, we were on our way. "So, where are we going?" I asked. "To the forest," the old man replied casually.
I had heard about the forest from my grandpa. According to him, the forest occupied around forty percent of the eastern zone, and it was home to a lot of monsters that could be used for training.
"By the way, why didn't you take anything with you?" I asked curiously.
He thought for a bit, which I found a little suspicious. "It's a long story, and I don't feel like explaining," he answered after a while and winked at me.
I stared at him. He seemed to be a chill man. "Do you have a family?" I asked, actually curious.
He stopped walking. "Listen, I'm not asking about you, and you shouldn't either. I'm just helping you, got it?"
I nodded.
We walked for the rest of the day. In the evening, we reached a town. I had never been to that town. We went to the first inn we found and got ourselves a room to sleep in. We then settled down and ordered some food.
"I'm surprised you're not tired after all this walking," the old man said while waiting for our food. "That aside, why are we going to the forest?" I asked, not in the mood for chit-chat. "To train," the old man replied simply. "Also, you can call me Master Xela."
I looked at him, amused. "That's a weird name."
After eating, I went to sleep. Master Xela told me he'd stay for a little longer, which wasn't really a problem for me, given that I didn't necessarily feel comfortable sleeping with a man in a relatively small room.
It felt so good finally sleeping in a bed, even though it had only been a few days.
The next day, we were off. We got to the forest around noon. I believed the eastern zone was bigger... I thought.
The forest was very different from what I had imagined. There were a lot of trees of different sizes, and they seemed to form different layers of leaves, casting a huge shadow on the ground. It was scary.
I gulped.
We entered the forest. "Akira, was it? How do you use magic?" Master Xela asked me as we walked past huge trees through long, thick grass.
"I gather mana from my surroundings, then push it out through a specific point, for example, my palm."
Master Xela thought for a bit. "So you can channel your mana through your body, and you can gather it from around you. But you can't control your own mana? I mean, can you use your spirit?"
He looked confused. I shook my head. "I don't know what that is."
The old man pointed ahead to a spot that wasn't dark. "Let's go."
The spot was illuminated by the sun. It was a small area, but there weren't any trees, so they didn't block the sunshine.
We sat down. "The very first thing a mage should learn to use is their spirit," Master Xela said.
I listened carefully.
"Gathering mana from your surroundings like you is a more advanced skill, and as surprised as I may be, the level at which you can use it makes it useless," he continued. "So, what about the spirit thing?" I asked, impatient.
"Everyone has their own mana, or the so-called spirit. You use your spirit to create a matter that you can see, but can't touch unless the caster wishes otherwise. You see, once you cast this matter, you can control it with your will. Simply think about what you want it to do, and it will obey. This matter is called 'Magic.'"
This was way more interesting than what my parents were teaching me about how to behave or to read. The thought of my parents made my heart sink, but I refocused my attention on Master Xela.
"Now, the mana you were gathering from outside your body is a little different. At low levels, it has the same properties as the spirit, but with enough training and understanding, imbued with the right amount of spirit mana, one can create objects—for example, a metal bat, a perfect clone with the same properties, or the caster can even change them if they wish."
Master Xela stood up. "Let's begin your training."
I jumped to my feet, excited. I didn't need any instructions. I already knew what I had to do.
I relaxed and closed my eyes. I was trying to feel the mana inside me. I was able to easily achieve this since it was a lot easier to feel than the other type of mana. I managed to easily channel it through my body and make it appear in my palm.
I opened my eyes. I could barely see it. It was a kind of shapeless matter, barely visible. I thought of a small flame, and immediately, I could see a small flame in my hands, just as I had envisioned it.
I got super excited and lost my focus, and the flame disappeared, but I didn't care. I had finally done it.
"Looks like your experience with environmental mana helped you a lot," Master Xela noted.
"Well, since you can't run anywhere, time for your next assignment."
I looked at him, excited.
"Get an echo without leaving this spot, then call me."
I stared at him, confused. The old man winked at me and disappeared.