Magical Training (Part 3)

[POV AQUILES VIRIDIUM – YEAR 271]

The next day, Luna arrived at sunrise and began to teach Aquiles. She was surprised to see that Aquiles had memorized the book in less than one night and quickly put his learning to the test. In the first 10 days, Luna focused on the fundamentals of the book that Aquiles had memorized, forcing him to sit for hours on end in a meditation position while she used her own mana to guide and assist him in attuning to the natural mana around him.

Initially, Aquiles struggled to sense the Elemental mana of nature, but with his Golden Eyes activated and the teachings from the book and Luna, with each passing hour, he came closer until he finally managed to use his own mana to manipulate the mana of the elements around him. "That's it, that's how it's done." Luna exclaimed with enthusiasm as she saw a small and faint whirlwind of wind form around Aquiles.

But Aquiles couldn't maintain it for long. His mana depleted, and the whirlwind disappeared. "Hahaha, I did it." Aquiles exclaimed as he smiled towards Luna.

"And it only took 11 days, that's almost as fast as me the first time I used magic at the age of 2!" Luna spoke with genuine appreciation, but Aquiles felt as if a knife had just pierced his pride. "Am I even worse than a two-year-old?" Aquiles inwardly questioned with dismay.

"I need some time to rest. My mana reservoir is depleted." Aquiles stated as he took a deep breath.

"When you master this technique, you'll be able to save a great deal of mana from your reservoir by using some of the ambient mana to complete your magic!" Luna spoke with a gentle smile, trying to cheer up Aquiles.

As more and more days passed, Aquiles mastered that trick. It took 25 days for him to be able to use his mana to tune into the subtle flow of mana around him, but he did it. This made every spell he cast much cheaper compared to before. Aquiles realized that if before he needed 100 mana to conjure a fireball, now, by using his mana to control the ambient mana and shape it into magic, he only needed to spend 40.

"So that's why you and the other Son of the Forest don't need to chant anything to perform your magic..." Aquiles spoke with understanding. At the same time, he made the earth right below his feet rise into a perfect cube with just a hand gesture, releasing mana through his fingertips to connect with the mana contained in the earth to shape it as he wished.

Now that his mana was connected to the earth, he just had to imagine the shape he wanted, and a cube of earth rose to stand out from the rest of the ground. Then, Aquiles moved his hand while imagining another form, and the earth took the shape of a clay doll similar to Luna, but in a reduced size, with only 30 centimeters and few details.

As Aquiles' training progressed, his skills improved rapidly as the weeks went by. In the second month of training, Luna introduced Aquiles to the learning of runic writing. Almost every day, Aquiles asked her to teach him the magic of the Pillar of Oath. He did this because he realized that this magic would be extremely useful, as the ability to make others not break the oaths made to him would be extremely valuable.

Luna had initially refused, saying that they should continue to focus on magic and only later focus on runic writing. However, Aquiles insisted so much that she relented and began to teach Aquiles the simplest runes before complicated ones, such as those that bound the soul to the magic of the Pillar of Oath.

"Let me see if I understand, basically, these runes attract mana to an object. Like, for example, a sword imbued with a runic inscription of the fire element could catch fire by igniting the mana from the environment?" Aquiles inquired, as soon as Luna explained to him the principle of fire runes.

"You humans, always thinking about weapons. There are other ways to use fire runes besides destruction. Like, for example, the place where we are. Lirael built a runic heat barrier that prevents snow from falling in this place and at the same time keeps the temperature here quite warm." Luna explained as she demonstrated that the waterfall was the only place without snow.

"So that's why, I really felt that this place was warmer than outside." Aquiles spoke with a silly smile as he finally managed to figure out why the place was so different from the rest of the forest. "And what else can fire runes be used for?"

"You could make an object immune to fire, at least up to a certain temperature. You can also increase the temperature of a place, anything your mind can imagine. And the same applies to the other elements." Luna spoke about things that wouldn't harm anyone, but Aquiles' mind could only imagine a scene similar to the Dothraki wave with their Arakhs covered in fire advancing against the Night King's army in the TV series, but now he was imagining his own army advancing against his future enemies.

"I'm all ears, master!" Aquiles affirmed as he looked at Luna in a new light.

"Runic writing, like magic, is also not limited to the 4 basic elements. There are many other types of runes, such as light runes, darkness, metal, and many others, but the metal runes have been lost for a long time. Since you are still a beginner, I will focus your learning on the fire element first, then on the water element, then the wind element, and finally the earth element, and when we finish with the 4 basic elements, we move on to the next levels." Luna spoke, and Aquiles nodded, obedient like a little lamb, while paying total attention to her words.

...

During the first 3 months of training, Luna taught Aquiles about runes. She expected him to take at least 1 year to learn everything, however, thanks to his photographic memory and hard work, he only took three months to absorb everything she had to teach about the 4 basic elements. But to Aquiles' dismay, Luna did not continue to teach him about runes, but instead focused again on magic. It wasn't difficult for Aquiles to mold the 4 basic elements, but when Luna began teaching him new elements like lightning, wood, and others, he had extreme difficulty.

Watching Aquiles concentrated, with his forehead dripping against the ground as he tried to use his magic to make a small sprout of mint sprout from the ground, she smiled and continued to watch. After some more time with no results, Aquiles gave up and cast a hateful look at the mint sprout and muttered angrily, "Grow already, damn it!"

Luna laughed, a sweet laugh that caught Aquiles' attention, causing him to turn to her. With him looking her way, Luna spoke amidst giggles, "Sorry, but you should already know he's not going to listen to you."

Aquiles waved towards Luna and began to complain, "I poured all my mana trying to nurture and control it, but it didn't even budge while I'm already out of mana again. I know you said you don't know any other way to increase my mana reservoir, but does your mother know of any method?"

"My mother doesn't have time to help us. Ever since you informed us about the escape of the Night King, she's been busy with my brothers reinforcing the wall spells," Luna said calmly.

"I see..." Aquiles spoke with a slight tone of disappointment in his voice.

"Don't be so down. Your mana reservoir has expanded a lot since we started training. The first time you created the Wind Cyclone, you could only maintain it for 3 seconds before your mana reservoir was emptied. But yesterday, when you used it, it lasted almost 13 seconds. You're already more than 4 times better than before," Luna said with a smile on her face, trying to console Aquiles.

"You're right. I feel like my mana reservoir expands daily, and there are still a few months until my deadline. By then, I'll certainly have a decent amount of mana!" Aquiles agreed, more to calm his own impatience than Luna's.

"I know you have plans to go to Essos to assemble an army, but I don't think just a few more months will be enough for you to learn everything I can teach about Elemental Magic and runes." Luna said with a little concern.