Magic with Brother Corhyn

General POV:

Max gave Corhyn his remaining 150 runes, leaving him with no runes left. However, this didn't depress Max, quite the contrary at the moment, he was really excited. Brother Corhyn, then proposed to go down to the hall, because there is more space, and no one would interrupt them. So, the two walked by the blacksmith, down the stairs and then they just entered the hall from the door which was normally closed.

"Very well Max, let's get started. First of all, do you already know an incantation?"

"I don't", Max denied.

"Alright, that's unfortunate.", frowned Brother Corhyn; "Well, it doesn't matter. I suppose that you also don't know the principle of incantations?"

"Actually, my knowledge is very poor I will have to trouble you, please explain it to me."

"Don't worry. So, the most important thing is the seal, without it, it's impossible to cast an incantation. Although, there are rumors, which say that some of the demigods are able to do so. Please tell me that you have at least a seal and if you do show me."

"I do, here." Max took out the Finger Seal and gave it to Brother Corhyn, who then inspected the seal. After a while Brother Corhyn gave the Finger Seal back to Max.

"Alright, this is a good seal. Let's get started. Take of your upper armor and sit down in a comfortable position."

Max did so accordingly, once he sat down in a cross-legged position, Brother Corhyn continued.

"Try to empty your mind. Breathe in and breathe out slowly through your nose. Close your eyes and think of nothing. Try to sense every part of your body. "

Max tried to do so, but struggled lot at the beginning. After Max spent, what felt like an eternity, in silence, he finally succeeded, his heart rate slowed down tremendously, and his mind was as calm as the sea in the morning. As Corhyn noticed this, he spoke quietly:

"I am now going to inject some of my mana into your body, in order to awaken your mana flow. You will feel uncomfortable, and it might hurt, once you feel it, try to keep the circuit moving. I know this sounds vague, but I trust you will know what to do. Good luck. In 3... 2... 1..."

As he put some mana in the body, Max felt like a bullet hit him. He felt so much pain in his back, that he couldn't breathe for a few seconds. Soon, he could feel something moving in his body. Is this mana, Max asked himself. He immediately tried to control it but failed. Therefore, he listened to Brother Corhyns advice and gave his best to keep the momentum of the mana. Soon, the pain lessened, and Max could feel the mana circuit. He could sense the continuous flow of mana through every part of his body. He felt like he found a new sense of control of his body. When Brother Corhyn saw that Max stabilized, he congratulated him:

"You did it, I knew you would. You see, because your mana circuit, has been dormant your whole life, it is very dangerous to stimulate the flow with external mana, as it could go rampant, resulting in your death."

As Max heard this, he wanted to give Brother Corhyn a piece of his mind for not telling him beforehand of the danger, but in the end decided against it. Corhyn then continued to explain what mana is.

"So, first of all you need to know what mana is. To put it in a few words, it's the energy of your spirit, meaning if you deplete your mana pool, you will become tired and fall asleep, or in the worst-case scenario, you will die. So, how to do recharge your mana, you ask yourself. There are 3 ways. Depending on the strength of your soul, mana can refill itself, but this process is very, very slow. The second and most useful way would be to reenter the calm state you were in before. This way, when your mind is at ease, the refill process is accelerated by a large margin. The last way would be to drink a legendary Flask of Cerulean Tears. Now let's get started for real."

Corhyn didn't give Max any time to process the information, as he began to teach him the Catch Flame incantation.

"Put your seal in your hand and try to channel mana towards it. You know that you have succeeded, when the seal glows."

This was easier said than done as Max spent the next hours trying to do so. Eventually he managed to make the seal glow for a few seconds. Corhyn congratulated him and encouraged him to repeat it. Max then noticed that the task was getting easier and easier to do as time went by. At last, he had no problems getting the seal to glow.

"Alright, in order to cast the flame, you need to visualize it, try to think of a as many details as possible. Once you feel like, you see the flame in front of you, you need to quickly channel mana from your heart to the seal, as quickly as possible. And the most important thing is your faith. You need to have enough faith in the Two Fingers. You need to belief that it will happen. I will now show you the mistakes you might make and how to correct them."

Brother Corhyn then proceeded to explain some mistakes and how to avoid, he then left him. Afterwards, Max continued to practice the incantation, but he soon had to stop, because he felt that his mana reserves were low. Therefore, he went to meditate, after a few hours his mana reserves were almost full but instead of continuing to practice he went upstairs, to make a small break, as he was physically exhausted. Back upstairs, he noticed that the library of Gideon was open, so he entered. Gideon was inside, burying his head in his books. He then noticed Max.

"What do you need? I have little time to spare."

"Senior, what do you mean, a house guest? What can I do to earn my stay here?"

Max already knew the answer but in order to improve his relationship with Gideon, he had to pretend like he doesn't, so that he could have a conversation with him.

"Oh, are you aggrieved? At the notion you are but a visitant here? Then you would do well to remember the first words grace given to you. Stand before the Elden Ring and become Elden Lord. If those words held any meaning to you... Follow the guidance of grace, lay low the shardbearers, and claim for yourself a Great Rune. Do so, and the doors to the Roundtable`s inner chamber will open. And you will receive the wisdom of the Two Fingers. Only then, I will impart you a proper welcome. As a true member of the Roundtable."

Max nodded and on his way out, he could hear Gideon curse quietly:

"I'm sick and tired of them. These namby-pamby Tarnished think us no more than a shelter from the rain."

Then Max went back to train vigorously the Catch flame incantation. For the next few days, he only rested in order to refill his mana and to eat and sleep. After countless failed attempts, eventually he got it. However, this wasn't enough for him, he wanted more. He wanted to also learn the Flame Sling incantation, but this turned out to be a tricky task, as he needed to hold the flame in his hand and steadily provide more mana to it. If he did it too slow, the flame would die out, too fast he would lose control over the flame and he would have to start again. This was way harder than the Catch Flame incantation. So, another week passed, but this time Max didn't just train the incantation, but also practiced riding Torrent. After endless training, he could hop on the still forming Spectral steed , like in the game. Furthermore, he found out that he could strengthen parts of his body, once he infused them with mana, however he could only do some basic movements, like for example increasing the strength, when he attacks with his sword. The downside was, that these moves consumed a lot of his mana, that's why once he could throw fireballs without any problem, he decided it was time to return to Limgrave and to farm some runes. Furthermore, Max was sure, that if he were to face Rick and his soldiers again, he would defeat them without too much trouble.

Then he went up to Melina and said:

"Melina, its time. Teleport us back, to where we were, before we came here."

Hearing this, Melina was delighted and spoke:

"Very well. Then let my hand, rest upon you, for but a moment."