Ch21 - Light Attribute

"Hahahaha," A bellowing laughter filled the room, what are you! a child!" She laughed.

"How about you stop laughing at me and begin teaching me magic? I'm useless in this state!" Ryan grumbled, though a hint of amusement flickered in his eyes.

Well, I guess I am not completely useless as I am slightly stronger than the average human due to those berries from the forest… But how can that compare to being able to send people to sleep by command or throwing a fireball? Ryan mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Eleanor smirked and said, "Alright, fine, let's start with which attribute you are! Have you cast any spells yet? Successfully?"

"I have casted one spell successfully, 'Lux'!" Said Ryan with a proud smile.

Eleanor's eye's raised. "Hmm, light element, you've lucked out there, Ryan!"

"Why? What's so special about the light element?" Ryan asked, a smile crept up his face.

"Well, it's a pretty versatile element with very few counters! You can do a range of things using light, from attacking to healing to… many other things! To be honest, light is quite a rare element, and I have met few light users, so I'm not that well informed about the light attribute." She said, shrugging her shoulders.

Eleanor continued, "Light is even rarer than my second attribute, psychic... I would have preferred water but this one's not too bad." Eleanor said it with a sad smile.

"How will we find out what my other attribute or attributes are?" Ryan said excitedly.

I hope I have the Earth attribute as well; I'm guessing it's the best attribute for defence, which is probably going to be the only weakness of the light attribute.

"Well, you could try to cast a spell in each attribute and see which one succeeds; however, there are many attributes and your mana capacity is quite low as a first-tier mage, so that wouldn't work, and… well I am a bit fearful of trying the normal attribute checking technique because of what happened to Toris, even though that will hopefully, only ever happen once. It's not worth finding out whether that theory is true or not. So I think we'll just use an attribute-checking stone later."

"An attribute-checking stone?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, they went out of fashion when the attribute technique was created, but they are still used in some Elvish coming-of-age traditions. We can obtain one from a merchant; however, they won't open for a while. Any other questions?"

"Just one more: how do you test a person's mana capacity?"

"Another good question, there are multiple ways: similar to a magic attribute stone, there is a magic capacity checking stone; once you touch the stone, it glows the colour of your attribute; dim if low capacity, such as an apprentice; and extremely bright if high capacity, such as a sage. Another way to measure your mana capacity is to check it yourself; however, as a newbie, it will be too difficult to use. If that's all the questions for now, you and I are going to meditate until the merchants open!" Eleanor immediately sat down in a lotus position and closed her eyes, shutting off her senses.

Why is she so eager to meditate? Psycho! Ryan followed suit, closing his eyes and searching for the elusive blue mana. Now, thanks to unlocking his sixth sense, the meditation technique had become much easier to perform.

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.

Time passed quickly while Ryan and Eleanor were meditating; the sun had already risen to midday and it was becoming afternoon.

Suddenly, Eleanor's multi-coloured eyes opened wide and gazed outside, following which she said, "Oops! We went a bit overboard on the meditation!"

"Ryan! Come on, let's go eat something!"

…

"Ryan?"

A few hours ago...

Soon after Ryan entered his meditation state, his mind entered another realm.

"Where am I?" Ryan wondered aloud as his eyes scouered the new area.

The realm Ryan found himself in was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It was the polar opposite of the void where he met the spirit and Jake. It was a place of boundless energy and vibrant colours, where the very fabric of reality seemed to shift and twist with each passing moment.

As he looked around, Ryan noticed that he was standing on a vast, open plain, with rolling hills stretching out as far as the eye could see. The sky above was a swirling tapestry of light and dark, with streaks of color dancing across the horizon like ribbons of fire.

Curious, Ryan began to explore his surroundings. There were no other living beings here, bar him and the mana itself.

But as Ryan ventured further into the realm, he began to sense something stirring beneath the surface—a presence that seemed to lurk just out of reach, watching and waiting with bated breath.

Instinctively, Ryan reached out with his mana sense, probing the depths of the realm in search of answers. And then he felt it—a flicker of recognition, a whisper of familiarity that sent shivers down his spine.

"Who goes there?" Ryan called out, his voice echoing across the silent plain.

There was no response, only the faint, distorted sound of colourful mana and the distant murmur of unseen voices. But Ryan could sense that he was not alone, that something or someone was watching him.

Ryan could tell that whoever was watching him was not someone he had to worry about; no, whoever it was, cared for him deeply.

But before he could explore further, he was yanked back into reality by Eleanor, who was shaking his shoulders back and forth.

"Ryan? Are you okay?" She asked, concern etched on her face.

Blinking away the remnants of his vision, Ryan shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "I think I just had another strange… dream."

"That's very odd; I've never heard of someone dreaming during meditation; what did you see?"

"I'm not totally certain, it was another world full of colours flashing around, and… I think someone else was there."

"Yeahh… You are probably just insane; did you at least recover your mana?"

"Recover? I can feel that my mana has recovered and the mana capacity has increased! but I can't tell by how much." Ryan exclaimed, which was followed by his stomach rumbling.

"Perfect news, let's get some food and then go test your attributes and mana capacity."

The duo exited their room, making sure to lock the door behind them, and hopped down the winding staircase into the dining room.

The inn was much quieter today, so they quickly found a table near the window. Freddy the innkeeper soon approached them with a friendly smile.

"Back again, I see! What can I get for you two today?" Freddy asked, wiping his hands on his apron.

"We'll have the special of the day, one mead, and two waters, please," Eleanor replied, returning his smile.

Freddy quickly returned with the drinks and, a few minutes later, two massive stacks of roasted meat and vegetables, accompanied by two small slices of toasted bread.

Ryan was over the moon at how delicious the mountain of food in front of him was, If the food from this world is considered bad by her, I wonder what her world's food tastes like.