Chapter 68   - Elemental Magic

Kai stood rooted on the spot.

Did I hear wrong? Is it really happening?

“Come, we can sit in the garden,” Dora said, taking the lead.

He followed behind her bewildered. He had waited for so long, it didn’t feel real now that it was finally time. His heart started pumping in excitement. He was going to do magic, today.

Him. Magic. Today.

Technically he had already been practicing ‘magic’ for a while, using his mana to enhance his body. But that hardly counted. Getting slightly stronger or faster, in a world where every adult had superhuman abilities, didn’t feel very impressive.

Sketching runes felt mystical, but he had yet to make anything happen with them. He wasn't allowed to use any mana-infused ink until he could draw seven successful runes in a row. His record was three, still a long way to go.

That wasn’t the sort of flashy magic he dreamed of performing as a child. Controlling the elements, on the other hand…

With a giddy smile, Kai followed Dora through the rows of blooming shrubs to the arboretum. They sat on an empty spot between two trees, shaded by their canopies.

His fingers fiddled with the blades of grass, expectantly looking at his teacher.

“I see you’re impatient to start. Maybe we should start with some meditation to enter the right state of mind.”

Even before his brain could register her words completely, blood drained from his face. Like receiving the best present in the world, only for it to be taken away right as he was about to touch it.

Dora burst out laughing. “Ok, we can start immediately, but you need to focus. Can you do that?”

With salvation within his grasp, Kai nodded his head back and forth like a woodpecker.

The alchemist smiled, amused, and began her lesson. “A little explanation is necessary. I’ll try to make it brief. If you listen carefully, I won’t have to repeat myself.”

Kai zeroed in on her words, his eyes staring at her unblinking.

“Your body naturally absorbs ambient mana, but elemental particles are only a small part of the mana found in our environment and are far harder to convert. So, their percentage in your body is even smaller. Until now, each time you used mana to do anything, the aligned components were so small and diluted it might as well have been completely unattuned mana.”

Kai was puzzled by the revelation. Every time he observed his mana network in the last two weeks, the elemental particles appeared abundant to him. Apart from Space mana, he could easily detect all his other major affinities flowing inside his mana veins.

Distracted by a new dilemma, Kai momentarily forgot his impatience. Dora paused her explanation to let him think.

There is no chance her information is wrong…

“I must have been fooled by the high density of mana inside my body.” Kai reasoned out loud. “Having to look in such a small area, the elemental mana seemed at least on par with the outside.”

Even after realizing the problem, it was difficult to judge how much denser his mana was compared to his surroundings. Let alone make an accurate estimate of how much lower the percentage of elemental mana inside of him was compared to his surroundings.

Once she had his attention back, Dora continued. “You are correct, which is why you’ll need to learn how to distinguish which types of mana you absorb. But let’s not jump ahead. We were speaking of unattuned mana. Tell me, what other uses have you found apart from temporarily enhancing your body? Don’t lie, I know you must have tried even if I told you to wait.”

Kai blushed under her gaze. Of course, he had tried, how could he not?

“I wasn’t able to do much.” He sheepishly replied.

Seeing that Dora wasn't mad, he added a few details. “I tried to concentrate my mana as much as I could on an object to see if it would have any effect. The best I could do was rustle a piece of paper.”

That was after he exhausted half his mana, and got a headache for a day, but he left that part out.

“I also tried to push my mana through a few objects, but I never noticed any change. The only exception was if I used plants that already possessed mana of their own like in alchemy. Even then, I didn’t achieve much except ruining their internal circulation and making them wilt after a while.

“Did you perhaps mess with a few plants in the greenhouse?”

Damn, my big mouth.

“Absolutely not,” Kai said, giving his best angelic smile.

Dora rolled her eyes at his antics. Luckily, she didn’t seem too mad. “I’m glad you didn’t try any foolish experiment inside your body. I met many kids who tried to see how far they could push their muscles with unattuned mana. The most common result was broken bones and weeks of recovery.”

“Yeah, I thought that would be too dangerous,” Kai sagely said.

So, I tried to supercharge Empower instead…

Thank the spirits, Dora didn’t seem to notice anything.

“Unattuned mana is very versatile, but tricky to use in its raw form. Especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. There are ways around that, such as using it to power runes or inscribed tools. Using elemental mana, it’s much easier to obtain tangible results. However, that also makes it far more dangerous in inexperienced hands.” Dora gave him a meaningful look, looking serious.

“I’m trusting you a lot, Kai, and expect you to act responsibly. You risk more than a few broken bones if you mess with elemental magic. I won’t forbid you from using it, but you must swear to always ask me or Elijah if you want to try something. If you break this promise, I won’t teach you anymore, no matter what Lady Virya says.”

The conversation had taken an unexpected turn, but it didn’t look like Dora was joking. His track record, when it came to listening to advice, wasn’t the best.

Ask for forgiveness, not for permission, is not going to cut it this time.

“I promise,” Kai swore. He trusted Dora enough to know that if she went out of her way to make him promise this, she must have very good reasons. The fact she didn’t forbid him outright but told him to ask her first only reinforced this conviction. She was making it sound more reasonable to lower the probability he would do something stupid.

“Good.” Dora smiled and the heavy atmosphere was gone. “We can begin. Now focus on your mana and do as I say.”

Kai calmed his breathing and focused on the mana flowing inside his body. The network of luminous energy was now tinged by small traces of color. The vibrant green of Nature and the blue of Water were the most prevalent. Earth's rich brown was also present in minor part. The smallest by far were the dark particles of Shadow mana. He could see just a few hiding here and there in his mana veins.

They decided to start with Nature since it was his strongest affinity. Following Dora’s instructions, Kai started separating the aligned particles from the rest of the flow. The most challenging part was finding the ever-moving green mana.

Like blood, his mana would circulate through his entire body every few minutes. Instead of going crazy scouring his body, Kai opted for a different strategy. Focusing on one of the main mana channels near his heart, he let the Nature mana come to him, methodically separating one mote at a time.

After he activated Meditation, the process became quite relaxing. The task was easy and repetitive, perfect to make use of his skill. It took half an hour before Dora was satisfied with the number of green motes he accumulated, but he barely noticed the time spent.

“Do not let the mana slip,” Dora warned.

Kai opened his eyes, using a small part of his attention to keep the small blob of vibrant mana in his right hand still. After building complicated multilayered structures to train Mana Manipulation, this was not even worth mentioning.

“That was quite an interesting technique you used,” Dora said. He already knew she could see everything that happened inside his body, so he wasn’t surprised.

“Was I too slow?” He asked.

“No, your pace was good. The more aligned mana you gather, the harder it gets to find. When people get frustrated, it becomes even more difficult. The method wasn’t the fastest, but it was very consistent, which might be even better.”

Kai beamed at the compliment. “What method do you use, aunty?”

“Oh, after a certain point, it becomes instinctive to distinguish the elemental mana from the rest without even watching it. So I just do it with a thought.”

That certainly puts things into perspective…

“How long does it take to get that good?”

“Longer than a day. Now let’s put that mana to use.” Dora said, taking a small ceramic pot full of earth in front of him. “Here.” She offered him a gray seed no bigger than a rice grain.

Kai stared at it, confused. He didn’t recognize the species. “Do I need to plant it?”

“First send your mana inside.”

Kai felt very stupid. What else would he do with Nature mana?

Taking the seed between his index and thumb, he sent a trickle up his fingers. He felt some resistance from the seed, but it didn’t reject his mana to his surprise.

“Be more delicate and wish for it to grow. Think of the plant growing, your intentions matter.”

Kai followed her instructions, imagining the whole process in his mind. From a seed to a sprout to a thriving plant with a blooming flower. He had no idea what type of plant it was or if it even bloomed, but somehow that felt right.

Come on little seedling, this is for you. It will help you grow. I think…

The small resistance he felt disappeared. In less than a minute the seed had greedily absorbed all his Nature mana.

Kai curiously observed what was happening with all his senses. The seed glowed a brilliant green, a tiny crack had already formed on its surface.

“Plant it,” Dora said digging a small hole in the pot. “It needs nourishment to grow.”

Kai hurried to put the seedling on the soft ground as delicately as he could. Dora quickly covered it with a layer of soil and conjured a sprinkle of water.

“That's the next lesson.” She winked.

Kai wanted to ask more questions, but all his attention was captured by the seedling. He could only see it churning with his mana under the thin layer of earth. Just seconds later, two small jade leaves pushed aside the dirt and proudly rose.

The little sprout showed no intention to stop anytime soon. Minutes passed as it rose in height, adding more and more leaves. Kai and Dora cheered it on from the sidelines.

After almost five minutes the process started slowing down. The mana inside the tiny bud had been consumed to fuel the growth, and now it shone with a much more subdued light.

From a seed now stood a plant a palm high. If someone had told him it had sprouted less than a week ago, he wouldn’t have believed them.

I did this.

The realization filled him with wonder. It might not be as cool as shooting fireballs from his hands, but his chest puffed with pride as he stared at the little jade leaves.

It’s so tiny and cute.

“So, what do you think, Kai? Do you like Nature magic?” Dora asked with a bright smile.

“Yes, can we do it again?”

“Slow down, dear. I don’t think our little friend here can take more for today.”

“Is it going to be, okay?” He worriedly looked at the little sprout.

“It’s more than fine. It just needs a little rest, it’s a delicate plant. You can infuse it with mana once a day. It will not grow this much every time, but it will help. You also need to water it often and fertilize the soil. Nature mana alone isn’t enough to sustain it.”

Kai nodded distractedly, still mesmerized by the little plant. The lesson was not over yet, so he found a secure spot under the shade of the trees to secure the vase.

“Are you sure you don’t want to become a gardener? You seem to have a knack for it,” Dora said as he was sitting back down.

“I don’t think that’s for me.”

He really liked Nature magic, but spending the rest of his life working in a garden was another thing altogether. It was very exciting for now because it was his first magic lesson and the little sprout was tiny and cute. But what about after a hundred times? What about a thousand or more?

Dora didn’t insist. “Now that we’ve seen the basic use of Nature mana, there are still Water and Earth. From which one would you like to start first?”

“What about Shadow?” Kai asked.

“Elijah is going to teach you about Shadow magic.”

Here dies my last speck of self-confidence with shadows.

“I want to start with Water.”

The next few hours proceeded on a similar path. He slowly gathered the elemental mana in his hand before following Dora’s instructions on how to make use of them.

There were two basic methods to use Water mana. He effortlessly condensed a blob of water from the moisture in the air. Dora told him that, using the same amount of mana, a water mage could conjure a bucket. But it was a very good result on his first try.

The second basic use was water manipulation. Which sounded much more interesting, but they had to pass to his last element.

Earth mana didn’t come as easily as Nature or Water. Not only were the motes harder to detect, but they also felt less willing to follow his commands. The difference wasn’t insurmountable, but it took ten minutes longer to gather enough.

The basic use of Earth mana was only one - elemental manipulation. It had a very cool name, but all Kai managed to create was a dirt pyramid that crumbled as soon as he touched it.

It wasn’t exactly the deadly earth spike he imagined, but there was a certain euphoria seeing the earth move guided by his will. It wasn’t impressive magic, but it was magic. He only needed to give it time.

“What’s next?” Kai excitedly asked.

“Well, now you need to learn how to refill your reserves.” Dora gave him a smile that wasn’t really a smile.