Chapter 2: Chapter 2

2 years have passed, and grandmother allowed me to enter the library while under her supervision.

"Just stay here and don't touch anything while I search for 'The Basic Guide to Magic'."

I nodded.

We have a lot of books that are unpublished, and my ancestors wrote it using their own knowledge.

Most of the books here give off a sense of danger, like something powerful is trapped inside its pages.

It took a while for her to find it.

"Let's go to the living room and read this book there."

I nodded.

We sat in a brown chair and placed the book on a small round table. I flipped the book to page 1 to see the contents.

Chapter 1 - Mana Control, Replenishment, and Capacity

Mana control is one of the most important skills for a mage to learn.

There are two types of mana control: basic and advanced.

To practice it, the first thing you need to do is concentrate, close your eyes and feel the mana stored deep inside of your body.

The next step is gathering a bit of mana and sending it to your hands.

The last step is releasing the mana you gathered into your hands to the surrounding environment.

Here are the benefits when you master basic mana control:

1. You form your spells more stable. Since you can set the amount of mana that goes toward the spell, the mana flowing outside of your body to form the spell is also stable and it makes it harder for others to interrupt your spell casting.. This makes it powerful or weaker, depending on the amount of mana poured on to it.

2. You can accurately determine the amount of mana you currently have.

3. Access to more complicated spells.

4. It makes it harder for others to steal mana away from you.

5. You are able to gather more mana efficiently from your surroundings to use for your spells, or replenish your mana capacity.

6. Faster spell casting.

7. The ability to sense the strength of your opponent from their magical aura. This has limitations, as you can not determine the full strength of someone more powerful than you.

8. The ability to hide your magical aura from others. You will have a hard time hiding it from opponents who have sharp magic sense.

9. Enchanting items, weapons, armor, etc. to make it more powerful.

10. Engraving runes to items, weapons, armor, etc. to make it more powerful.

11. Using your mana as a shield to block spells and physical attacks.

12. Absorbing grimoires to boost your own strength and mana capacity permanently.

13. Modifying your spells, for example, making the spell pierce through magical defenses.

14. Creating scrolls.

15. Unlocks magic sense. This helps you sense magic aura from other people or nearby hidden spells. Anti-magic materials such as Tekrite can block magic sense.

16. Creating relics.

17. Creating artifacts.

18. Creating grimoires.

19. Coating your body and things with mana.

20. Creating contracts to tame monsters or beasts.

These are the ways to replenish your mana: breathing air, sleeping, absorbing mana from others, eating, and gathering mana from your surroundings.

The nerves linked to your mana capacity finish to develop at 3 years old.

Mana capacity develops at 4 years old and peaks at 25 years old.

It starts with random puddles around your body and gradually spreads all over your body equally.

The other ways to expand your mana capacity are absorbing grimoires and transcendence.

I didn't expect how important the role it plays in the world of fantasy and magic. This is completely different from what I learned from playing games, watching anime and reading manga. It makes sense that mana control is often overlooked because it is not exciting to learn, read and watch.

"Have you finished reading chapter 1?" grandma asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"We will start our basic mana control training after eating lunch. Make sure you follow the instructions."

We sat and prayed before eating lunch.

After lunch, grandma and I went to the front yard to start the training.

I followed the instructions and failed for the first three tries.

"Grandma, why am I failing?"

"This is because you are not used to controlling mana and, the amount of mana you can control right now is tiny, so just try again until you succeed."

I tried for the fourth time, and I was overcome by joy that I succeeded. I couldn't believe how hard it is compared to just imagining it and watching it in anime.

My body felt heavy, and I collapsed on the ground. After a few hours, I woke up in my mother's lap and she was smiling at me.

"I heard from your grandmother that you succeeded in practicing basic mana control for the first time," my mother said.

"Yes but, I lost consciousness after doing it," I replied.

She patted my head and said, "Don't be sad about it since it happened to all of us, even your grandmother experienced it."

"Even her?"

"Yes, because not everyone is born powerful and their mana capacity is already huge. Humans have a disadvantage at birth against most races, but we close the gap through training, hard work, talent and creativity."

I tried to stand up and failed since my body felt numb and weak.

"Don't try to move around since this is your first time suffering from mana exhaustion. Just lie down here and I will feed you dinner."

"What is mana exhaustion?"

"It is a condition where you exhausted your mana to the point your body is weakened. Its symptoms include dizziness, fatigue, numbness, headache, chest tightness, loss of consciousness and, in extreme cases, death. It can be cured by resting, eating, drinking mana potions, and absorbing mana from others or in nature. You can also alleviate some effects of mana exhaustion by strengthening your body through physical training."

We heard knocks from the door, and grandmother entered my room.

"Oh, you are finally awake," she said.

"You have a new training schedule for tomorrow. Your father will train you in swordsmanship and sword skills to strengthen your body. Your mother will train you in archery to enhance your accuracy and precision. I will continue to train you and I will add your friends to the training to motivate you," she added.

"What do we expect from your training?" I said.

"Once everybody has decent basic mana control, I will teach everyone how to create magic circles and how to cast spells. After that, we will practice combat against each other and for your ultimate test, you and your friends will hunt a golden brown bear in the nearby forest," she replied.

"When do we start the training?"

"We will start tomorrow. The sword and bow training will happen in the morning and will end before lunch. While mine will start after lunch and will end before dinner. Your friends will also join your morning training. So get some rest because you will start early in the morning and good night," she replied.

Grandmother closed the door and left me alone with mother.

This is one of the rare opportunities where I could bond with my mother.

"Mom, can you sleep with me and tell me a story?"

"Sure, I will sleep with you because you wanted me to. I will be back and feed you."

"Okay."

It took mom a few minutes to return.

"Your dinner is roasted duck, vegetable soup and your favorite potato dishes."

"I wanna hear about your adventures while eating."

"So what do you wanna hear?"

"I wanna know how you met father and some other details about our family."

She helped me sit upright and sat in a chair beside my bed.

She placed a napkin on my lap and tucked the other into my neckline before giving me a spoonful of potato soup.

"I met your father when I was twelve and at that time I was still living in Westminster. He was with your grandmother adventuring together and they were there to exorcise a greater demon."

*cough* *cough*

She handed me a glass of water to drink.

"She is not a priest, so why would she do it?"

"As far as I could remember, the governor of the city got possessed and the adventurer's guild put up an emergency quest to address the situation quickly. The archbishop and bishop were away, and the remaining priests at the church were not strong enough to defeat it. Your grandmother fit the requirements, and she used the spell 'judgement' to obliterate the greater demon from existence. It is also one of the reason why I joined their party after seeing her strength."

"Then how did you fall in love with dad?"

"The other reason for joining their party is because of him. He was my type, and I was thrilled when he professed his love and asked me on a date."

Her face turned bright red, and she smiled affectionately.

"I thought he saved you somewhere in a dungeon and fell in love after that."

"Your grandmother was always saving his life to make sure he produced children to continue the family bloodline before he die."

She gently wiped my face with a napkin to remove residue in my face.

"Did you guys became famous?"

"We are a famous party, but our faces are not well known except for a select few individuals who are close to our family. This is because of your grandmother insisting that we always use a mask whenever we accept a quest or collect a reward in the adventurer's guild. If we go out in the public, we change into simple clothes to avoid unnecessary attention and prevent them from discovering our true identities."

"Why did you choose to settle in this village?"

"This village is located in the most remote region of the empire and it is also the largest village on the entire continent. Despite its size, it never gets taxed due to how poor it is. The few instances they send someone important here are when they need to test 6-year-old children for their magic capability and grant them scholarship to enter the imperial magic academy."

"Are there any perks besides the scholarship?"

"They also grant you a house in the capital city and some gold coins every month."

"Is that the reason I need to undergo this training?"

"Yes, and it is already decided by your grandmother. Oh, the training starts early, so wake up early tomorrow. Let's continue our conversation next time."

I nodded.

She picked me up, entered the kitchen to wash the plates, and brushed my teeth. We went back to my room and changed my clothes into a simple brown t-shirt and pajamas.

She kissed my forehead and said, "Goodnight, Felix."

"Goodnight mom," I replied.

I hugged her tightly and slept.

The next day I felt someone shaking my whole body and hear the voice of my mom shouting my name repeatedly.

"Felix!"

"Felix!"

"Five more minutes," I replied.

"Wake up now or else your grandmother will be the one who will force you out of bed," she said.

I forced myself out of bed and headed straight to the dining room. I ate my breakfast as fast as possible and went to the nearby dirt field that serves as our playground and training ground.

The weather is sunny and warm with almost no wind today.

My friends waved their hands as soon as they spot me running towards them.

"Felix, you are late," Mark said.

*pant* *pant*

I caught my breath before lining up.

"Everyone is now here. We will now start the warm up exercise before doing the actual training," Father said.

We did a warmup exercise for a few minutes.

"What kind of training are we going to do?" John asked.

He gave a small wooden sword to each one of us.

"You will be swinging this wooden sword for 5 minutes, then a break of 10 minutes. Push-ups for 5 minutes followed by another 10 minute break. The last one is running around the front yard for 5 minutes," Father replied.

"What is the purpose of this training?" Josh asked.

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"This is to strengthen your body and improve stamina, endurance, speed and agility," Father replied.

"We don't need to do this training when we just need to use magic to defeat the enemy," Jack said.

"That is where you are wrong. You need this training so that your body can handle the strain of casting magic for long periods of time and be able to cast higher tier spells, since it places a massive toll on your body, specifically the tier 7 and above spells. You also need a backup weapon in case your magic can't help you defeat the enemy," Father replied.

My friends looked at me like they want me to object to this training.

"There's nothing I could do but follow it. Grandma has already decided that we will undergo this training," I said.

"Your grandma is scary and we don't want to make her mad. So let's start the training," Alice replied.

I barely completed training while my friends finished it with no problems.

Alice approached me, hugged me, and said, "Are you okay?"

Her body feels soft, and she smells good, even after sweating a lot. What kind of soap or perfume does she use?

"I am fine. It's just that my body feels heavy," I replied.

"If you are fine, then can you loosen your hug cause it's too tight, and it's also embarrassing to do it in front of others," she said.

I removed both of my hands from her back and she sat beside me. The rest of my friends also sat near us after a few minutes.

Why is she embarrassed about it when we often do it, or am I just too shameless?

We spent the next hour resting and waiting for the bow training.

"Get up now. The training is about to start," mom said.

We lined up in a single row and each of us got a wooden bow and a quiver full of arrows.

"What are we going to do with this?" Mark asked.

"You are going to hit that target using that bow," mom replied.

There are 5 targets about a meter away for us to hit.

"Why is there a small red circle in the middle?" Alice asked.

"That is the area where your arrows need to hit," she replied.

"How long are we going to do this training?" Josh asked.

"We will end before lunch, but you can take an early rest if you feel tired," she replied.

Mom drew a straight line.

"This distance should be good enough. Stand before this line," she said.

She showed us how to do it and she got a bullseye effortlessly.

We followed her instructions and started the training.

I picked up one arrow and placed it on the bow. I made sure my stance was proper, pulled the string, aimed at my target, and released.

The arrow flew and hit the target, but it was quite far from bullseye.

It still made me happy that it hit, considering it was my first time.

I continued to fire arrows at my target and I got tired twenty minutes later.

Almost all the arrows I fired were far from bullseye and the rest were near misses.

I watched my friends from the sidelines, and they were a lot better than me.

Josh got the most bullseye followed by Mark, Alice, Jack and John.

Mom approached me, looked at my target and said, "not bad for your first time considering you were struggling to keep your posture."

If this was a fps game, I would not miss the bullseye even with my eyes closed.

"Even in my previous life, I did not know how to use a bow," I replied.

"Sounds like you had a peaceful life," she said.

"It was peaceful, but it cost a lot of human lives to get it," I replied.

"I will not delve more into your previous life. So what do you think of Alice?" she asked.

"What do you mean by that, mom?" I replied.

"She hugs you, and you give her a lot of attention when playing together with your friends," she said.

"Oh, so that's what you meant. I like her," I replied.

I smiled and noticed Alice was looking at me. She blushed and turned around when we made eye contact.

It looks like she was listening to my conversation with mom.

"If that's the case, you should remember that having a relationship at a young age is normal here and polygamy is acceptable here," she said.

I didn't dare ask her why father has 1 wife.

The answer was quite obvious. It is acceptable, but it does not mean everyone practices it.

"Look mom, everyone has finished their training. What should we do next?" I asked.

"Everyone can take a rest and play while waiting for lunchtime," she replied.

My friends sat near me.

"I won our bet since I got the most bullseye," Josh said.

"You just got lucky and Felix wasn't feeling well. If he was in good condition, he would beat you effortlessly," Jack replied.

"What was your bet?" I asked.

"Whoever got the most bullseye decides where we eat lunch. Since I won, we will eat lunch at Felix's house until we finish our training," Josh replied.

"Why would you make that kind of bet?" I asked.

"You never invited us to eat lunch at your house. It also made us curious what food do you eat?" Mark replied.

"Prepare to be disappointed then," I said.

"How much time do we have before lunch?" John asked.

"About an hour," Alice replied.

We agreed to spend the remaining time we have by going to the nearby makeshift football field and play football. My mother called us to eat lunch and I can't wait for their disappointed faces.

The table was big enough to accommodate my five friends and my family.

They got disappointed when they saw that two-thirds of the dishes served are potato dishes. They are fortunate that we got roasted wild boar for lunch today because father got lucky to hunt one.

We went straight to the front yard after eating lunch to wait for the next training.

"What should we expect from your grandmother's training?" Alice asked.

"Difficult," I replied.

"Why do you think so?" Mark asked.

"The previous trainings we had was easy, and we were not pushed to our limits," I replied.

"I guess we should wait for your grandmother and rest here," Josh said.

"I agree with Josh," John replied.

We patiently waited for an hour for grandmother to start our training.

"Get up now and make sure to keep at least a one meter distance from each other," grandmother said.

We followed her instructions, and she then gave us a wooden staff.

"What is this wooden staff for?" I asked.

"It is called a novice staff. It makes it a lot easier to gather mana, control mana flow, and form magic circles a lot quicker, so your mana control progress will be a lot faster and help you cast spells swiftly. This has limitations though as staffs have a limited amount of mana it can regulate and the durability limits the amount of spell and the tier level you can cast with it," grandmother replied.

"What should we do if we run out of mana while practicing?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I will refill your mana to speed up progress and not wait for it to fill on its own as it takes one day or longer," grandmother replied.

"What are we going to do for our training?" Alice asked.

"Felix, demonstrate what you did last time in practicing mana control, but this time you release your mana with the help of the staff," grandmother said.

I remembered the instructions on the book and followed them, but this time I gathered it using the staff and released it.

The color of my mana is dark blue with some black mix in it.

"What did you just do?' Mark asked.

"I followed the instructions on a book about how to practice mana control," I replied.

"What are the instructions you read?" Josh asked.

"The instructions were: Concentrate, close your eyes, and feel the mana stored deep inside your body. Then you gather a bit of your mana to the staff and release it into the environment," I replied.

My friends followed my instructions and succeeded in their first try.

I am a bit jealous that they did not struggle.

"Felix, can you tell me what the color of their mana is?" grandmother asked.

"Alice got a red color, Jack got green, Josh got blue, Mark got brown and John got white," I replied.

"That is right. Can you describe their magical auras while practicing mana control?" grandmother asked.

"Their auras were calm then, it made multiple waves and returned to normal," I replied.

"What else did you notice about magical auras?" grandmother asked.

"Magical auras are unique to each individual and the color of their magical auras depends on the color of their mana. They differ in size, shape, and concentration," I replied.

"That is correct. I will now explain what is a magical aura, so listen carefully," grandmother said.

We nodded.

"Magical aura is a small portion of the user's total mana that is constantly emitted from the body. The more mana you have, the stronger it is. It contains information like how strong they are, age, race, mana control, etc. There are two types of magical aura: flowing river and Stillwater," grandmother said.

"What is it like to have a flowing river aura?" I asked.

"Flowing river auras are affected by emotions, the volume of mana the individual owns, amount of mana flowing outside the body, and it creates waves that an opponent with good magic sense or someone like Felix can detect. The stronger they are, the more powerful auras they emit, and the bigger the wave they produce," grandmother replied.

"How about the Stillwater aura?" Alice asked.

"Stillwater auras are rare. It can be inherited or obtained through mastering advanced mana control. Individuals with this type of aura are mistaken for humans with no talent in magic, since they emit extremely weak auras that are hard to see or sense. Unlike the flowing river aura, the aura it produces does not get stronger over time compared to the strength of the user. It will also remain calm even if the user feels intense emotions and whether or not the individual is casting spells," grandmother replied.

"What does magical aura do besides that?" I asked.

"If you become powerful, the pressure of your magical aura will also rise. You can concentrate it on an individual or area to immobilize or crush them similar to gravity manipulation spell. Some very powerful and highly skilled aura manipulators can shape their auras to tiger, lion, bear etc. to intimidate others or even change the temperature of the environment," grandmother replied.

My friends turned their attention to me.

"You can see mana and the magical aura of others?" Alice asked.

"Yes," I replied.

They stared at my eyes for quite some time and gave up.

"Even if you stared at his eyes for a long time, you won't see it because you are not born with that talent and it is a hereditary talent passed down generation to generation," grandmother said.

"Then how are you able to see when there is mana everywhere?" John asked.

"I could turn it on and off whenever I want. You will notice that my eye color changes from blue to silver," I replied.

I showed them how it's done and they got impressed.

There are a lot of difference from what I see when I switch to my silver eye. I don't see any shadows with it and even if I stare at the sun, I don't get blinded by the bright light. I could also see the ethereal dimension and the spirits living inside it, and horrifying monsters that the naked human eye can't see.

"Why not spend time practicing mana control instead of wasting it on talking with each other?" grandmother said.

We went back to our positions and practiced mana control. We only stopped to eat snacks and wait for grandmother to refill our mana.

"Let's stop the training for now as it is getting dark already," grandmother said.

"Did we improve a lot?" Josh asked.

"Everyone improved leaps and bounds," grandmother replied.

"How long will it take for us to learn spells?" John asked.

"At your current progress, I would say 6 or 7 months," grandmother replied.

Everyone went their separate ways as we returned home to eat dinner.

End of Chapter 2

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