Training In The Champs

The next day, I spent the morning meditating. I still haven't managed to form a second big drop of liquid mana. I'll probably need several years to fill up my Datian completely.

While I meditated, I thought about how to make the exercise of the spheres more efficient, and less tiring!

If I start spinning the magic at the same time as I form the sphere it should be easier. I will test this theory this afternoon.

In the early afternoon, I left with Professor Ebbon in a carriage.

Before leaving I warned Eudeline and Tiburce that I would only be back a little before dinner.

We drove a little way to the rural areas of the capital. The houses are more scattered there. Many fields stretch as far as my eye can see. There are some common plants I know like wheat, parsnips, and cabbage but some smaller fields grow strange plants. Some are azure blue and as tall as corn and some are similar to pumpkin but they are neon pink and star-shaped.

I am surprised by the number of fields with vines. In this country, wine is present at every meal and every aperitif. It has an important place in the daily life of the inhabitants of this country.

The houses are beautiful. They have exposed stone facades and the whole is supported by large wooden beams.

The oldest ones are covered with ivy.

After a while, we stop at a grassland just between two fields.

"Guen we've arrived, you can get off."

"Yes, teacher." As I coming down I couldn't help noticing. "It's beautiful and there's no pollution!"

"What are you talking about, Guen? What's pollution?"

"It's nothing, Professor, I'm talking about the population here."

"There are only peasants and a few craftsmen in this area. They live humbly but are respectable people!"

"You're mistaken, professor, I was surprised at the number of tools that help them in the neighborhood."

"It's true they have quite a few. They've got sprinklers and automatic harvesters that are powered by magic stones. They also have spades, shovels and other tools that are powered by magic stones to make the work easier. They don't need to use a lot of physical force thanks to the stone. But most of the peasants in the capital are very rich. Peasants in more remote areas probably have half of what they have."

"The magic stones are really indispensable to this world!"

"Yes, they are indispensable. They are for the peasants, but also for the bourgeois and the nobility."

I walk a little further into the meadow and settle down to meditate.

This is a much more pleasant environment for meditation than my room or the study room. The sound of the wind in the grass and the singing of the birds and cicadas is much more pleasant than that of the maidservants and my nosy cousins. In the future I should go to meditate in the woods behind the property; it must be said that my many visits during the last few years have greatly reduced the number of creatures living there.

Half an hour later Professor Ebbon calls me out.

"Guen, it's time to put it into practice. Have you understood the principle of the exercise?"

"I think so, professor."

"Are you sure you really understood?! The principle behind this exercise is not so easy to understand!"

"I think actions are better than words. Look, teacher."

I use water magic again and assemble it by turning it. My theory is correct. It's faster and more effective that way. The sphere is immediately stable."

"Indeed you really understood the theory. But the practice is the hardest part. Today I would consider that you have succeeded if you manage to hold each sphere of elements for 1 minute. Do the exercise at least for the 5 elements which we understand their effects."

I'll start again. I create a water sphere but after 30 seconds it bursts.

"The slightest lapse in concentration or fluctuation in mana will cause a weakness in your sphere. With a weakness, it can only explode. When you manage to maintain them for one hour each, we will move on to the next step. Try it once with all the elements."

I've tried once with all five elements except the space element. I only managed to hold the Dark Sphere for 15 seconds. The big elements are harder to master.

When it comes to space magic, I can hardly imagine what it looks like.

"Teacher, what are the effects of space magic when you use it without an engraved spell?"

"She's got two. Space magic has two different materializations. You have to think of it as a modification of space. It can contract or expand the space where you use it. It can also move part of the space to a place where it's not supposed to be. It's like a transporter portal."

I concentrate and a stream of spatial magic is created. Where it passes, the space seems to contract a little. I gather it into a sphere and within 15 seconds the trembling sphere deforms and eventually shatters despite my efforts to hold it together.

"Well, start again, then we will alternate with an exercise for your magic of strength. The exercise is simple. You activate your strength magic and try to hit me as hard as you can. Unlike the sphere exercise, it will consume a lot of mana, but requires much less concentration."

"Yes, Professor."

I'm activating my strength magic. I bypass the professor and punch him in the back. Normally, I prefer punches in the back of the neck. This allows me to knock out my enemies instantly. But I have no such intention towards my teacher.

The moment my punch go to touch him, the professor avoided it.

The magic of force I used dragged me forward. I took a magnificent fall forward. If I didn't have good reflexes, I would have ended up with my face on the ground.

"Oh, well, at least you didn't throw me a naive punch in the face... I never said I wouldn't dodge your punch. You let yourself get caught, that's who caused you to fall. In a real fight, you would have died.

Go back to the spheres exercise and then we'll alternate.

When you're out of mana, we'll stop for meditation. Then we'll go back because you won't have time to fill your Datian to do the exercise again."

"Teacher, it only takes an hour to fully fill my Datian. That gives me time to empty my Datian once or twice."

"What? An hour! It normally takes several hours. I don't think I'll ever get used to your amazing talent!"

When the sun began to hit the horizon I had time to do the exercise a lot. I can now hold the sphere of water, air, and electricity for one minute. As for the large elements of space and darkness, I can only hold them for about 40 seconds.

"Guen gets in the carriage, it's time to take you home."