《World of Reincarnation》


 Prologue

    It wasn¡¯t anything particularly important, heroic, or tragic that killed me. I wasn¡¯t hit by a car trying to rescue someone, I wasn¡¯t killed in a war, and I definitely didn¡¯t kill myself. Intentionally at least. It was a simple act of forgetfulness. I forgot my epipen at home, and died with my throat swollen closed.


    Then came the darkness. I had no idea how long it lasted. It could¡¯ve been seconds or centuries. There was this odd sense of timelessness to it, but eventually, it ended.


    When I could see, could feel, could exist again, everything had changed. Knowledge I simply hadn¡¯t had before now existed, and it felt like it took precedence over what made me, me. I was still me, still John, the plain college student, but at the same time, I was less John than I was Sen Suyun, a young child who¡¯d recently had his fifth birthday. I knew what was happening, it was part of the new information that was suddenly there, I had just awakened.


    I collapsed to my knees, dropping the training sword that I had been swinging until a second ago¡­ But no, I had been dying just a second ago.


    I just sat there in confusion, trying to sort out my thoughts that were me but not me. My parents were your average suburbia parents, Samantha and Jason, but at the same time, they were Tyr and Odessa, part of the main branch of the clan¡­ my clan¡­


    I could see the instructor pointing to me, giving some sort of lesson to the other kids, but I couldn¡¯t seem to hear anything coming out of his mouth. I knew he was named Sylt, and he was a bit past strict, leaning towards cruel. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    It was at this point my frame of mind cracked even further, I hadn¡¯t been thinking in english. My first instinct wasn¡¯t even to speak in english any more, it was to speak in Alvarian. I knew how to read and write in it, how to speak it, and it felt more fluent than my english which I had been speaking for right around two decades.


    The memories of Sen, of me, just seemed to be more recent, though I¡¯d only died what could have been a second ago. The five winters I had been through, wait, winters? Not years? And was it truly me that had been through those winters or Sen?


    I knew what the answer was supposed to be, it was buried between my other new memories, my soul was suppressed until the body became old enough to handle the stress of my grown soul, but I couldn¡¯t help but doubt that it was me. Had I just taken over a body? Or was I really Sen all along like the teachers had claimed? I wasn¡¯t completely naive, but everyone here went through this rite, so I couldn¡¯t help but hope that it was the case, as otherwise an entire species would be dying and replaced by other souls when they were children.


    I decided to shelve the matter and accepted the story given to me, if only for my mental health. I tried to figure out, or rather compartmentalize a bit more of my confusion. I accepted that I am both John and Sen for now, though I know that they want me to cast away my previous life as much as possible, as they want us bound to the clan.


    When it came to my parents... Well it seems in neither life was I close to my father, though in this one I wasn¡¯t even particularly cared for by my mother. All the youths here were taught in communal groups rather than cared for by our parents. I chuckled, my mouth feeling terribly dry. I was closer to some of the teachers than I was to my parents in this world.


    When it came to language, there was no reason for me to go back to using English, so I just continued with Alvarian. Everything else, I could figure out later. I took a deep breath and stood up, only to be asked what I was expecting.


    ¡°How many?¡±


    I held in a sigh as I gave an answer that would drop me to the bottom of the barrel in everything in this world.


    ¡°It¡¯s my first reincarnation sir.¡±

 Chapter 1

    It didn¡¯t take long for the looks of expectation to turn to disdain. I shifted from foot to foot, feeling awkward. While in some parts of the world first time reincarnators were quite common, this wasn¡¯t one of them. Our clan prided itself on having almost only two time and up reincarnators, with those who had reincarnated four or five times not being terribly uncommon in our clan. Anything after five reincarnations was relatively rare as well in most other clans, most reincarnators souls falling apart after their fourth reincarnation.


    Eventually, the looks of disdain and pity went away as Sylt yelled at all of us to get back to training.


    ¡°Especially you Sen, clueless first timers need the most training.¡±


    The rest of the class was spent being singled out by Sylt, every slight mistake corrected, and often hit with his cane as he corrected my posture, the angle my sword was swinging, anything that he said was wrong.


    I hadn¡¯t been a slouch physically in my previous world, and I¡¯d prided myself on my hand eye coordination, but seemingly everything I did here was wrong. Eventually, the lesson ended, with me stinging all over from the instructor¡¯s cane. We then headed off to the next class, the basics of mana strengthening.


    Mana was a mysterious energy that permeated everything, said to be generated by life of any kind, and mana strengthening was enhancing our bodies through infusing the mana into our bodies. There were specific breathing techniques and patterns to allow the mana to flow, and we were told to practice it any chance we got, as it was something that was mainly based simply on how much you have done it.


    There were different techniques of mana strengthening, which focused on different effects, with the best of them even lengthening your lifespan indefinitely, and some were more or less effective, but as simple students, we were given only the most basic of teachings, having a general strengthening technique that evenly strengthened our entire bodies. It would enhance our lifespan, but even if you practiced religiously, it would only triple our lifespan or so. It was still a very good technique considering the entire world, but for our clan it was only the lowest of techniques.


    I was going to be stuck with this, the lowest of techniques, unless I somehow managed to impress the elders enough to learn one of the more advanced techniques, something that was sure not to happen with me being a first time reincarnator, at least until I became much much older.


    I didn¡¯t even have the advantage the other reincarnators had, of knowing techniques from their previous lives. It was relatively common for people nearing the end of their lifespans to spend them on creating more effective mana strengthening techniques with the knowledge they¡¯d gained from that and previous lifespans, compounding the experience advantage, they would have a stronger technique from childhood, strengthening their body ahead of their peers. That was even ignoring the fact that they¡¯d already have more combat experience than me, something which would keep them ahead of me.


    As for combat experience, it seemed to be everything in this world. I¡¯d thought that wars were common on earth, but I was sorely mistaken. Here, wars were fought over the slightest provocation, the world filled with small city states constantly warring. There were a few empires, but they were relatively rare, most of the small city states vying to control even a single more city or mana well.


    Our clan was relatively powerful, controlling multiple cities, and a mana well in the same city I lived in, enhancing the mana density nearby, making mana enhancement that much more effective.


    The only way we maintained our control however, was training every child of our clan in the ways of combat. While the general populace wasn¡¯t trained, as we still needed farmers, artisans, and merchants, every member of our large clan was, forming an elite army, and with multiple reincarnations, the general populace would be able to form a rather powerful militia if conscripted, often having battle experience from one of their lives at least.


    Thoughts of this new world ran through my head as I slowly relaxed, and tried to focus on my breathing technique, a long breath in, held for six heartbeats, followed by three short breaths out, feeling the mana flow in and out of my lungs as I did so, the mana spreading from there to the rest of my body as I guided it, trying to evenly distribute it throughout my entire body.


    While you could focus the mana on specific parts of the body, for example your skin, where it would quickly become tough as stone, while becoming even softer to the touch, it left you vulnerable to any technique that bypassed your skin, something the teacher had made abundantly clear, making an example of one of the students stupid enough to try.


    I slowly lost myself in the sensation of the mana imbuing my body, and the pattern of my breathing creating a constant flow of mana in and out of my lungs. The worry and confusion slowly faded under the feeling, and I didn¡¯t become aware again until I heard the soft ringing of a bell signifying the end of our session, a soft sound so as to not startle us out of meditation, as that could cause the flow of mana to become unstable, causing injury rather than strengthening.


    I was pulled aside by the teacher as it ended, the rest of the students streaming by me.


    ¡°So I heard you awakened as a first timer. Don¡¯t be too discouraged, everyone has to start somewhere,¡± Jade, the only kind instructor among them tried to console me a bit.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best,¡± I replied, trying to hide my worry about it.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be someone relatively strong, if not in this life, then in the next. You¡¯re quite talented in the sword, even if you lack experience. Just keep working hard.¡±


    I smiled a bit, belying my worry, and thanked her. She was the only kind instructor, and supported everyone, even those that ditched her class to hide their own personal mana strengthening techniques. If anyone ever had any trouble they could come to her, and with her experience with many techniques, she would be able to help even most of those who had their own techniques if they ran into any troubles.


    I was then off to the next class, mana combat. While mana strengthening gave us a stronger base body, mana combat taught us how to use mana in live combat. If you circulated mana in a certain pattern, it would instantly boost your strength up significantly, though for whatever reason you could only use your personal mana for boosting, as it was called. You could also use your personal mana to create powerful punches, compressing the air to explode it in a shockwave, enhancing your weapon or limbs with flames, or other combat techniques. While our personal mana would be increased along with the strengthening of our bodies, it wouldn¡¯t be until we ignited our mana furnace that we would truly become part of the clan¡¯s fighting force.


    Class was spent practicing the spiraling mana flow within our bodies which led to the instant strength of mana boosting for the few minutes we could handle it, then was spent focusing on creating our mana furnace with another breathing technique, this time for very short breaths in followed by a short then long breath out. We would then grab the mana brought into our bodies through our lungs, and focus on compressing it as much as possible while spinning it. While there were different types of mana furnaces as well, again, we only got the most basic kind, one which reminded me of a spiral galaxy.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    My mana furnace was not dense enough to ignite, and I had chosen to create it around the position of my heart. While it didn¡¯t take up any physical space within my body, it was still there, spinning within and throughout my organs, and I could sense it with a sense I¡¯d never had on earth. It was oh so slowly spinning, with a single arm spiraling out of it. At later stages, it would have multiple arms, and when ignited would generate enough mana for us to spend hours fighting while mana boosted.


    I slowly dragged as much mana as I could focus on into it, and compressed it as much as possible, then would focus on spinning it as fast as I could. Though it seemed to have no effect, I knew over months and years it would slowly accumulate until it ignited. Class was soon over, and thus ended the day.


    I went back to my home, a small building hidden among many similar buildings. I announced my presence with an ¡°I¡¯m home¡±and was replied to with a ¡°Welcome home¡± by my mother. My mother in this world was named Odessa, and was beautiful, with blond hair and golden eyes, and I mean golden, not hazel, a bright reflective gold color. I¡¯d inherited them from her, and think they looked quite cool, especially when contrasted with the black hair I¡¯d inherited from my father, who was sitting beside my mother wearing a stern expression.


    I took a deep breath before announcing to my parents in this world.


    ¡°I awakened today¡±


    ¡°Oh, congratulations! My mother had a smile on her face as she continued. ¡°How many times have you reincarnated?¡±


    ¡°It¡­ It¡¯s my first time.¡± Even though I had memories from my previous life, I still felt like a child saying something he knew would disappoint their parents, almost like coming out as gay to heavily religious parents.


    My mother however, didn¡¯t even break her smile a bit, but got a slight bit of pity in her eyes as she continued. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll do plenty well for yourself even if it is your first time.¡±


    My father on the other hand, simply looked disappointed. I felt I could almost see a little of the disdain I¡¯d seen in the other children¡¯s eyes.


    We ate together that night, my mother making a large meal along with lots of side dishes and grilled meat, reminiscent of KBBQ from my previous world. After the celebratory meal at me having awakened, I decided that the best way to lose myself and avoid the worries and negative thoughts brought about by the disdain and disappointment of others would be to lose myself in meditation for mana strengthening, and if it helped me keep up even a little with the other children, all the better.


    I continued to meditate until my head started to bob with tiredness. While mana strengthening would partially replace sleep, you still needed to get at least some sleep. I then went to bed, tired enough that the negative thoughts couldn¡¯t keep me up.


    The next day went much like the last, with Sylt continuing to single me out as an example, and the other two classes going much the same as they had been going before I had awakened.


    The following days went in much the same fashion, and slowly days faded into weeks, me becoming more and more cemented as Sen Suyun, and feeling less like John. Unfortunately, the classic take advantage of your previous world knowledge was useless here. When everyone has reincarnated, there¡¯s nothing to invent. We have modern toilets, lights, every sort of modern convenience. We even had computers and the internet. Oddly enough, most of them ran off of mana rather than electricity, many of them running off of the ambient mana, with more powerful items running off of mana stones.


    A few weeks later, I found out that my mother was pregnant again, and that led to a large celebration, many relatives I hadn¡¯t known I had showing up to congratulate her. Even with the big news however, classes continued, and so continued my hell in Sylt¡¯s class. Every day, I would be berated, and when I¡¯d finally gotten decent enough with the sword that I wasn¡¯t constantly berated, he had us switch to using the spear instead.


    For whatever reason, I liked the spear more than the sword, even if I ended up berated more often due to the new weapon. When I was finally getting used to it however, we switched to using bow and arrow. I knew that we were simply learning enough about weapons to decide on which one we preferred, at least for those of us who didn¡¯t have a preference from their previous life, but it still made me a bit sad.


    Eventually, more and more of the students began to awaken, and as they did so I started to fall to the wayside, not being as experienced in combat. While most of the students got sent off to instructors that taught specific weapons due to their preference, I got stuck trying a few more weapons before I eventually decided to go learn the spear.


    The new instructor was strict, but not as mean spirited as Sylt, and I quickly took to the spear, unfortunately far behind the other students who all seemed to have years, in many cases hundreds of years, of experience with it.


    The year passed by, and I continued to fall behind, the students with their more advanced mana strengthening techniques pulling ahead in bodily strength to match their lead in spear technique. While I was struggling to learn how to create shockwaves from compressed air utilizing mana bursting from my fist, they would show off the multitude of techniques they had learned in their previous life, flames or lightning cladding their spear, or floating through the air, seemingly only a step away from actually flying.


    I continued to persevere as the year started to pass by however, and soon my little sister was born, and she was absolutely adorable. She¡¯d inherited both the golden eyes and blond hair of our mother, and was extremely loud, constantly screaming for more attention. My poor mother started to be run ragged, but she seemed happy regardless.


    The years slowly passed by, and I slowly grew in strength, continuing to lag further and further behind my peers unfortunately. My sister grew up along with me, and continued to be a constant nuisance for our mother, though she always seemed to be well behaved around our father and for some reason even around me.


    My peaceful time continued, until I went on my first trip to another one of the cities. Our group was walking along with large bus like vehicles filled with mana stones, transporting them to the nearby city of Elin. I¡¯d pestered my father to go along with him until hey¡¯d finally agreed, and was enjoying finally getting out of the massive complex that housed our clan. I was stuck within the bus like vehicle carrying the mana stones, but at least I was going. At first, I¡¯d wondered why we didn¡¯t have more vehicles, but upon seeing the adults keeping up with the bus without any visible effort, I shoved the thought to the back of my head.


    The forests we were going through was beautiful, with trees as large as the redwoods from my original planet standing vigil over the road we were walking along, when all of the adults in the group perked up, and drew their weapons.


    I panicked a bit, and instantly went to the windows of the bus to watch. I looked around, worried, and soon people were pouring out from behind the trees, somehow having hidden even in the old growth forest with a lack of bushes and short trees.


    The people I assumed to be bandits soon impacted the line of adults who apparently had been there to act as guards for the mana stones, and the bandits broke upon them. The bandits seemed to be experienced fighters, but they couldn¡¯t stand too long against our warriors one on one. Unfortunately, the odds were far worse than just one on one. There had to be at least three of them for every warrior we had, and they were starting to pressure our fighters, being pressed back in their circle around the wagons.


    I watched my father, completely worried about him. I may be reincarnated, but I¡¯d come to see him as my real father, at least for this life, and I didn¡¯t want him to get hurt, even if we weren¡¯t particularly close.


    Things were starting to look very grim, as one after another of our warriors started to pile up wounds, their defensive fight slowly looking like it may be lost, when an old man who had been driving the bus snorted, and walked out of it.


    I watched him in confusion as he slowly waved his arms around in some sort of pattern, then started as flames, starting small, started to follow the motions of his hands. I watched, mesmerized as his flowing arms slowly created more and more flames, and after a short moment, he ripped his arm downward in a harsh movement, sending the flames careening into the bandits.


    The bandits were engulfed in the flames, which seemed to cover each and every one of them, while completely avoiding our warriors. As the flames and screams slowly faded, I watched in horrified fascination as the now bodies collapsed. I couldn¡¯t hold myself back, and puked, utterly disturbed by the smell of cooked flesh, but couldn¡¯t hold myself back from thinking that I wanted to be able to control flames like that mysterious old man.


    After getting a hold of my my now empty stomach, I went up to my father, who seemed to have fared better than the rest of the group, as he didn¡¯t seem to have a single scratch on him. I was soon asking about the guy who had controlled fire, as I hadn¡¯t seen anyone have any techniques that were even close to what he had done.


    After asking, my father got a sneer on his face as he mentioned. ¡°Mages. Useless unless you protect them. They focus on external mana control, and have practically no inner control. Give them one good hit and they go down.¡±


    I held in my desire for now, but soon I would have to ask my parents, I wanted to do that. The flames slowly following his movements had been mesmerizing, and the firepower he¡¯d had had been utterly overwhelming, turning a losing situation into a complete rout for the enemies.

 Chapter 2

    The trip to the city had been peaceful aside from the one bandit attack, and while I didn¡¯t get to explore much, what I saw impressed me. It seemed that high rise buildings were the norm there, unlike the conclave our clan lived in, which only had a few buildings that were over a couple of stories tall. Once we¡¯d arrived fully within the city, we went over to a building, and I saw my father discussing with a small rotund man, likely about something about the mana stones we were carrying. I wasn¡¯t sure if they were to be sold here, as our clan technically controlled this city, but I figured that there had to be some reason we were transporting the stones here. Maybe they were being brought here to be transported and sold to another power?


    They finished talking as my conjectures continued, and I was forced to get off the vehicle as they began to unload the mana stones. I walked over to my father before asking him ¡°could I go explore the city some?¡±


    He looked at me with his standard glowering expression before nodding, adding a short ¡°Just be back within an hour.¡± Hours weren¡¯t precisely the hours from my old world, they were closer to an hour and a half, and there were only twenty of them in the day, meaning that the day here was a good deal longer than one on my old planet, but hour was the closest approximation I could come up with.


    I grinned, and acting like the excited child I should be, I started walking off to explore. The multi story tall buildings were everywhere, some of them possibly exceeding the height of the skyscrapers from Earth. At the bottom floor of them, there would commonly be a store, then the space above them was likely used as workspace or housing. I wandered into a few stores, some of them similar to stores from my old world, grocery stores, clothing stores, even one I found dedicated to cooking implements, looking very similar to their earth counterparts, only powered by the ambient mana rather than needing to be plugged in.


    Other stores though, had no comparison. There were ones dedicated to the selling and buying of monster parts to be used in the creation of relics. Relics were items used to focus your magic, or to enhance the mana you had to create useful effects, usually weapons to enhance your battle prowess, though there were others used to improve formation creation or to make alchemical items.


    Another sold already finished relics, and yet another seemed to be an herb shop, but the outrageous prices on them clearly showed that they were items to be used in alchemy. I shook my head, alchemy wasn¡¯t something I was particularly interested in learning about, so I quickly exited the store, and continued my exploration. There weren¡¯t too many interesting stores, though I found out that superstores existed in both worlds, and soon I was heading back to the place we had brought the mana stones.


    I arrived to a short acknowledging nod from my father, and was soon back in the now empty vehicle as we headed back to our small city¡­ conclave¡­ thing... Where we lived. The drive back was far more peaceful, without any bandit attacks, and when we arrived I was greeted by my mother, who I asked if bandit attacks were common. She instantly got an enraged look upon her face before answering.


    ¡°Bandits aren¡¯t stupid enough to attack a Suyun group, one of the nearby groups is clearly getting uppity. Not that they¡¯ll have left any links to them to the ¡®bandits¡¯.¡±


    My eyes widened a bit, I¡¯d wondered why the adults seemed to have so much trouble with them, from what I¡¯d seen they were immeasurably stronger than the trainees I¡¯d been training with, and the trainees were supposedly some of the most talented youths in the area. The bandits actually being an attack force made a lot more sense.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad both you and Tyr are alright,¡± my mother said as she wrapped her arms around me in a hug, the angry expression she had when I told her we were attacked fading into a loving smile. My little sister, not sure why we were hugging, decided to join in while shouting ¡°Hug!¡±. I smiled, she was still small and adorable, she hadn¡¯t awoken yet, but she likely would soon, and I was worried she¡¯d be yet another person to look down upon me with it being my first reincarnation.


    I was honestly surprised by my mother¡¯s showing of affection though, I didn¡¯t see her much, and when we did there usually wasn¡¯t any of the physical contact like this. I supposed that was to be expected with everyone being reincarnated rather than normal children. She clearly cared for us regardless though, and I found myself surprisingly happy at that fact.


    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have been if not for the old guy who threw fire around,¡± I said, hesitating before adding a bit more. ¡°I want to be able to do that, do you think I could learn?¡±


    ¡°Of course you can. I¡¯ll convince your father for you,¡± she said, alleviating my biggest worry about learning it. She was clearly aware of my father¡¯s aversion for mages.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± I shouted before giving her another hug. It wasn¡¯t until afterwards that I frowned a bit, I¡¯d been relatively averse to physical contact in my old life, but here it seemed to be the norm, and it seemed I was really starting to see Odessa as my mother.


    My father soon joined us, and we headed back to our home, a large building, though not to the extent of some of the practically mansions that some of the people here lived in. I was yawning by the time we got back, and slowly meandered my way to my room, collapsing on my bed as soon as I arrived.


    I woke in the morning, and went to the common room as it was a bit early, deciding to hop on the equivalent of the internet with the family computer, as I had at least an hour until the day¡¯s training began. I looked around a bit for recent news, which mostly focused on the different wars going on, and the prominent fighters in them, who seemed to take on the role of idols in this world.


    My little sister came up to me as I was reading a bit, looking to play with me, and I did for a few minutes until she started falling asleep again, so I left her to finish sleeping on the couch as I went back to the computer.


    I had been reading up on a war between two smaller city states, when my father came up from behind me.


    ¡°So I hear you wanted to learn how to be a mage.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    I was a bit nervous, but nodded.


    ¡°We¡¯ll get you some lessons, but you¡¯ll need to give up your weekend for them.¡±


    ¡°Really? Thank you so much!¡± I ran up and hugged my father, who got a wry expression on his face. I wasn¡¯t thrilled I¡¯d be giving up my short weekend, two days out of the eight day week, but I was only lounging around the house and going online or watching television anyway, so it wasn¡¯t going to hurt me, I had a decent amount of time after normal training to lounge around anyway.


    The week of training passed seemingly less painfully than before, possibly due to my excitement at learning magic. I knew that the warriors could pull off some impressive things, sheathing their weapons in an element, or jumping around like gravity wasn¡¯t working properly, but what I¡¯d seen the mage do was completely different. He¡¯d commanded the elements in the same way the warriors seemed to control their weapons.


    The weekend arrived, and I was more excited than my past self would have been, it seems that my childlike body was having some form of influence on my thoughts. I woke up early, and waited downstairs on the computer, when not long after my father came from his and my mother¡¯s room.


    ¡°Good, you¡¯re awake. Follow me.¡±


    I nodded, and started walking after him, going to a part of our conclave that I hadn¡¯t explored before, not that I¡¯d been around much more than the training areas. We passed quite a few houses, then arrived at one that seemed a bit isolated from all of the other ones.


    We walked up to the door, and my dad knocked firmly against the wood before we began to wait. It wasn¡¯t long until the door was answered by a gigantic man. He had to be at least six and a half feet tall, and was heavily built, with arms seemingly the size of my child sized waist.


    I blinked a few times, but the monster sized man didn¡¯t go away.


    ¡°Sen, this will be your teacher, Quell. Quell, this is my son Sen, he¡¯s the one you¡¯ll be teaching.¡±


    After the greeting, my father headed off, to wherever he goes during the day, and I sat there a bit awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot under Quell¡¯s gaze.


    ¡°So how many reincarnations are you at then?¡± Quell eventually asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s my first reincarnation sir,¡± I awkwardly answered, not happy with how this conversation started.


    Surprisingly though, Quell¡¯s expression changed to a grin upon the answer as I looked up at him with confusion.


    ¡°That¡¯s perfect. No snooty I know it all attitude to deal with, no misconceptions I have to fix, this will go well, follow me.¡±


    I followed him as he had asked, and arrived in a sand training area which had been hidden behind the house, with runes inscribed into a formation all around it, and a target covered in yet more formation runes at one side of the field.


    ¡°This is the target field. It¡¯ll block any magic from getting out, and the target is the next thing to indestructible. So first things first, I think we should go over the basics of magic. What do you know about magic?¡±


    ¡°Honestly, nothing really, I just saw someone use it and thought that I wanted to be able to do that.¡±


    Quell frowned for a moment, but it was soon gone, and he began to explain. ¡°Magic is a bit different than your martial skills. Rather than just using your personal mana, you only use your personal mana to influence the natural mana in the atmosphere, convincing it with your mana to create whatever effect you¡¯re looking for. Magic is almost entirely based on image. If you can imagine a flame, then draw out your mana and push that image into it, it will cause the external mana to ignite, turning into a real flame. Some people use the image of vibrating molecules, others use the sensation they have to flames, the flickering look and feel of heat radiating from them. Everyone has their own image, and it¡¯s this image that lets you create magic. It¡¯s standard practice to shape your mental image with either words or motions, and I¡¯ll be teaching by showing you the standard motions I use. When you become more practiced, you can omit the motions, though it will always be easier to use them. To be able to push out more of your internal mana to influence the external mana, you¡¯ll need to work on enhancing your mana channels. You can use the standard breathing technique, just focus on the mana channels rather than evenly distributing your mana.¡±


    I listened with rapt attention to the lecture, and was about to say something when he continued.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to start with something simple, creating light. I want you to focus on your mana, and push it out of your body. It¡¯s probably best to use your hand for this, as many of the mana channels end there.¡±


    I listened to him, and focused on my mana, willing it to move. I slowly siphoned off a bit from what would become my mana furnace, which would be quickly replaced by the ambient mana, and tried to push it out of my hand, feeling some resistance as it reached the extremities of my hand.


    ¡°It will be difficult at first, as you haven¡¯t strengthened your mana channels at all, but you should be able to release enough to make some light at least.¡±


    I idly zoned out his words, and continued to press on my mana until a thin thread was pushed out of my hand.


    ¡°He seemed to notice I had succeeded, though I wasn¡¯t sure if it was from my expression or from some other method, and continued to guide me.


    ¡°Now you just need to focus on an image of light, and then press it into the mana outside of you.¡±


    Trying to listen to his advice, I slowly focused on the image of the sun, how it felt to stand in it, the light warmth on your skin, the pain caused by looking into it, the overbearing brightness of a summer¡¯s day. Once I felt I had a solid grasp on my image, I took those sensations and pressed them as best I could into the thin thread of mana exiting my hand, only to blind myself as it erupted into light. I cursed as Quell chuckled.


    ¡°Well you seem to have the general idea down, right now you just need to focus on enhancing your mana channels and practicing your image. It took you a good five minutes of focus until you managed to focus your image enough to press it out, and to be a proper mage you¡¯ll need to be able to do it in a few seconds. You¡¯ll also need to wait until you ignite your mana furnace before you can handle enough mana and strengthen your mana channels to create big effects, but that will come much more easily, even if it¡¯s more time consuming.¡±


    The rest of the day was spent with him instructing me. It was quite interesting, as he¡¯d have me do some motions reminiscent of tai chi as I would create an image, a different motion for each image, one for creating flame, which I could only make a flame the size of that on a candle, another for earth, where I would make a tiny pebble appear from nowhere, something which utterly destroyed my belief in the conservation of mass, even though it would disappear after the mana I fed it ran out. There were motions for water and wind as well, and when I asked about other elements such as lightning, Quell simply said to not get ahead of myself, and practice the base elements first.


    I wasn¡¯t sure exactly why those four were considered the base elements, and why he had me start with the image of light if it wasn¡¯t a base element, but I wasn¡¯t willing to go against my teacher, and so I would practice the motions as I would create an image. According to Quell, after a time, the motions themselves would create the image in my mind, due to simple association. My mouth pursed, I supposed it worked the same way as pavlov¡¯s dogs.


    The day continued, and Quell then guided me through finding my mana channels as I meditated using the breathing technique I had been taught, focusing the mana which entered my body into strengthening those channels rather than just evenly distributing it like I was used to. Once I had gotten the hang of it, he left me to it for a few hours, before he said that it was about time to go home. Looking around, it seemed to the sun was a good ways down, around the time that my normal classes normally ended.


    Getting up, I groaned. I had gotten stiff from sitting on the ground for a few hours, and my butt was sore, things I hadn¡¯t noticed until I ceased my meditation. I limped home until I got the feeling back in my legs, and was soon climbing the stairs to my room, where I simply laid down on my bed and continued the meditation, completely ignoring that fact that most people would sit legs crossed or lotus style to meditate, until I began to nod off and I went to sleep.