The first steps in Magic
A month and a half have passed since Savior lent the magic basics book to Ritzy. Currently, Savior was finishing giving his final test on Ritzy's knowledge of magic basics.
Savior,
"Well, that is my final question. Seems like you have been studying. Now we will be able to start the next phase of your training. Starting tomorrow after sparing, I'll be teaching you how to convert your energy into mana"
Savior took his leave which left Ritzy alone in the room.
"Seems like tomorrow I will start training in new territory. Everything before wasn't new training for me so it wasn't too difficult but, now I have no prior experience. I just hope that nothing too impossible comes up like me not having the ability to use magic or something. All I can do is wait and see".
...
The next day after sparing, Ritzy was laying on the floor taking a break from the tasking training session.
Savior,
"Now that you've taken a little break, let's me explain our next training session. Converting magic is a very tasking and dangerous thing to do. One wrong move and you can hurt your self very badly. Worst case scenario, you hurt yourself so bad that you can't convert magic anymore, so pay attention".
Hearing Savior's warning, Ritzy stood straight up and gave his wholehearted attention.
Savior,
"Your energy goes through your whole body, from your head to your toes. The best way to feel your energy is when you take a deep breath and concentrate on feeling the energy entering your chest. The energy entering your body feels cold and refreshing. After taking in the refreshing energy, you should concentrate on putting pressure on the energy and it should start feeling heavier and warmer. The dense energy your feeling is magic. Also, don't lose concentration or you will hurt yourself from the inside. From there, I want you to distribute the mana through your body. Try to let it flow through your body naturally or you could hurt yourself. Everybody has a different flow so I can't help you with deciding on how the magic should flow".
Savior stopped himself and then said,
"I want you try this now before we continue".
Ritzy nodding in return as confirmation, he started thinking.
'Isn't what he is talking about very similar to the circulatory system. I believe he is talking about how people use oxygen as energy. How it goes through your lungs, to your heart, and then through your body. I'm gonna try this theory".
Ritzy started fixing his posture in a straight-up position and then raised his arms in the air to allow the easy flow of oxygen through his body. Ritzy focused on his breathing, taking bigger gulps of air each time he breathed in. He started memorizing the feeling of the flow of oxygen through his whole body from start to end.
Feeling confident about the feeling of oxygen flowing through his body, Ritzy commenced gathering the air in his lungs. Feeling his lungs expanding, Ritzy forcefully tried to condense the air, trying to make the hot feeling like Savior explained.
Not feeling anything, Ritzy thought,
'Can I not use magic, or am I doing something wrong? Maybe this isn't the location where I condense it. Probably, it's in my heart where I have to condense it'.
Taking another deep breath, Ritzy continued the flow of oxygen through his lungs, then moving it to his heart and tried to hold it there. Having the feeling of energy inside his heart, Ritzy started condensing the energy. Luckily this time the energy started feeling heavier and warmer. It felt as if dense warm balls were inside Ritzy's heart. The balls made Ritzy's heart fell heavier, but even though it felt heavier. Ritzy felt more energetic. He felt like adrenaline was held in his heart. Ritzy's heart was pounding with energy.
After a couple of seconds, Ritzy started losing concentration. Lossing control over the mana in his heart, Ritzy felt his heart burn. Savior noticing Ritzy face changing into one of pain, Savior quickly gave a hard slap on Ritzy's back. Effectively causing Ritzy to stop condensing the energy and stopping the heartburn. Also effectively causing Ritzy to writhe in pain.
While Ritzy was bent backward from the pain and trying to soothe his back by rubbing it. Savior started talking,
"Try no to keep the magic too much in your chest. You will start getting a burning feeling and hurt yourself from the inside. Now try again, and spread it through your body".
Trying again, Ritzy didn't hold the energy in his heart. Once the energy was condensed, Ritzy allowed the energy to spread through his arteries. Spreading the mana through his arteries to his whole body, making it into each of his body's cells.
Savior sensing mana in Ritzy, he became ecstatic but quickly hid it. Savior then talking in a dull tone,
"It seems like you have some talent in feeling magic. Also, don't get too happy about it. Just because you have some talent, it doesn't mean you can slack off".
Ritzy nodded while he heard Savior rant about talent.
After five minutes of talking, Savior finally said,
"This marks the end of your training. I want you to train some more during the night but be careful. Try to control the energy and don't lose concentration. I won't be there to monitor you".
Ritzy placed major importance into Savior's words. He listened attentively because with that small heartburn he had earlier, Ritzy stated to understand the dangers. The possibility of actually losing complete control horrified Ritzy.
Savior,
"I'll be telling the cook to send the food pills to your room. I don't want you to forget this feeling of making mana over dinning in the dining room, so you'll be eating alone today in your room".
Ritzy was happy to hear that he could continue training because he didn't want to stop, but he was still sad. He is still being punished and not allowed to eat actual meals yet.
...
In the dining hall, Savior went to Christopher instead of with Elizabeth as usual. Christopher noticing Savior coming to him, Christopher stood up and greeted Savior. After Savior gave the customary greeting to someone higher position to him.
Savior asked,
"Marquess Christopher, I was hoping I could set an appointment with you and Mrs. Elizabeth Reds later tonight. I have some news about your son's training".
Christopher,
"That is no problem, just notify my wife and then we'll see each other in my study in one hour".
Savior,
"Thank you for indulging my request. I'll take my leave now".
...
Inside Ritzy's room, Ritzy was sitting cross-legged meditating. Ritzy was currently training in converting energy into mana.
"This feels very inefficient. The mana is being transferred into my cells, but it disappears after a while. It feels as if my cells are using mana as a replacement for oxygen. I can't have this because I'll just be losing mana for no reason. It's like making an inefficient storage system".
"Also, creating mana feels like I'm inserting batteries. It doesn't feel like an easy flow. I'm going to need to improve my mana conversion so I can have a constant flow of mana".
"Well let's take this one step at a time. I'll start with my storage problem first because I don't want to be wasting energy. To solve this problem, let's copy the blood cycle but skip the cell's consumption part. Normally the cell will consume the oxygen and make it into energy but instead, I'll flow the mana through the arteries to make a cycle. But what can I use to stop it from being consumed. Maybe I can make a mini-mana wall. I do remember people making shields with magic in the books I read. But how did they make the walls? Well, let's just check If I can make one before I continue by testing it with my body. If I remember correctly, mana is connected to us. That we have to use mana as an extension of ourselves".
When Ritzy converted the energy into mana and had it fuse with his body again. Ritzy started imaging the shield in front of him in the air. After a second, a shield was being created in the air that was as tall as 5 feet and 8 inches thick. Even though mana was being consumed as the shield existed, Ritzy was excited as he pulled the floating shield closer to him. When Ritzy grabbed the shield, it felt as if it was made of glass and easily breakable.
"I need to make this shield stronger. I don't believe this is strong enough to be useful. Maybe with more mana, it'll become stronger".
Ritzy then began pouring in more mana into the shield. More mana was being consumed to maintain the shield but this time when Ritzy felt the shield, it felt as hard as a rock.
"This is good but I need something stronger. If somebody hits me with a weapon, this shield will only be able to withstand a couple of hits at best. Probably, I should copy a metal's atom alignment. Metal is typically aligned in rows. This probably helps make it into a stronger material".
Ritzy then began moving the jumble up mana that made the shield, into a dense alignment. The shield was skinnier but when Ritzy felt the shield. It felt like the iron from Ritzy's old favorite knife from his old world. Even though the shield went from 5 feet tall and 8 inches thick to 3 feet tall and 4 inches thick, it became much better for defense. Now it was able to withstand a great amount of hits.
"This is amazing, now I'm seeing why Savior put great importance in me learning magic even though there are many more other jobs I could take like a berserker, knight, or archer."
"Wait, I'm wasting too much time in making a shield instead of improving my mana making. I can't rely on myself making most of my mana during combat. It's only been two minutes and the mana is already almost drained completely".
Ritzy stopped pouring mana into the shield and let it disappear. After the shield disappeared, Ritzy started reconcentrating on his body.
"Now for the delicate part, I need to make many small shield through my body to stop the cells from consuming the mana".
Ritzy commenced breathing in air, allowing oxygen to fill his lungs. Ritzy then moved the oxygen to his lungs then to his heart to condense it into mana. Feeling little dense balls in his heart, Ritzy pumped the dense mana into his arteries. Once the mana was flowing through his arteries, Ritzy didn't have his cells consume the mana by making mini-mana walls though his body. With the walls up, instead of the rest of the mana being consumed. The mana passed through the capillaries, and then into the veins. Going through the veins, the mana went back into his heart and the cycle began again with mana circulating through the body. Also as a bonus, since the mana was still sitting in his body. No mana was being consumed with the making and maintaining of the mini-mana walls.
Helplessly, as the mana cycled through Ritzy's body, his cells couldn't consume anything because the mana wall stopped it from being able to consume oxygen to make energy. With no energy being made, Ritzy felt as if he was going to pass out.
"What's happening!? Wait, I think my cells aren't even able to consume oxygen. I need to take off the mana wall I made".
After taking the mana wall off. Ritzy felt energy coming back into his body, but then the mana started infusing itself with Ritzy's cells.
"Hmmm, it seems like I can store the mana into my circulatory system, but the mana wall doesn't allow oxygen to flow through to make energy. It seems as if I can't provide energy for my body while I store the mana".
After Ritzy pondered for a while about how to fix this predicament. Ritzy remembered that the mana is thicker than oxygen. Ritzy became joyful to this realization.
"I can just make the mana wall with holes big enough for oxygen to go through, but not big enough for oxygen to go through".
Ritzy started making mana again and having it cycle through his circulatory system, but this time the mini-mana walls were made with holes. As seconds ticked by, Ritzy felt his body having no problems. It acted completely normal, except for the feeling of mana going through his blood.
Ritzy has successfully created a safe storage system for mana. Ritzy will be able to now store his mana and not have mana be lost as time passes on.
Ritzy said in a Joyous tune,
"This is great, now I don't need to worry about mana storage. Now with the storage problem fixed, I just need to make a constant flow of mana. I can't rely too much on stored mana".
Ritzy focused on his body again. From his breathing to mana being created. He made his body mimic a motor. Every time he breathed in, more mana would be created. It felt like a machine constantly pushing gas into the motor or in this case, mana pushed into the circulatory system.
Unfavorably, Ritzy started feeling woozy again. He felt as if he was about to collapse. Out of terror, Ritzy stopped making mana. Once the mana stopped being created, Ritzy began feeling fine again.
"It seems as if making mana prevents me from making oxygen. I should try only using half of the oxygen in making mana".
Trying again, Ritzy started making mana with half of the oxygen. Not as many mana balls were made and not as much oxygen was there for Ritzy's body, but Ritzy was filled with glee. Even though he wasn't getting as much when he focused on only making mana, he is now able to make mana infinitely and constantly. Also, the lack of oxygen didn't affect Ritzy at all.
"It seems like Savior's training in breathing was effective. Not only when somebody hits my lungs and I lose my air I can still fight, but I also can take advantage of making mana and function normally with little oxygen".
"Now that I learned how to do some basic storage and constant creation of mana, I have to learn how to control this magic. I don't know any spells are how to use elemental magic but, it seems as if I can use magic to create items like the shield. I should try making some more weapons. Once I'm able to make a couple, I'll call it a night. I had some training before where I had to keep my self diligent even when sleeping. Maybe I can incorporate that with sleep so I can still make mana while I sleep".
...
As Ritzy continued his training, Savior was having a meeting with Ritzy's parents in Christopher's study.
Savior,
"Thank you for allowing this meeting"
Christopher,
"It was of no difficulty. Now please speak of what is happening with my son's training. Is there a problem or something?"
Elizabeth,
"Is Ritzy okay!? I know you said while we dined that Ritzy was training, but in reality, did something else happen!?"
Savior,
"Do not worry, his training is going well. Well, in actuality-".
Elizabeth,
"He is unable to learn! Did he reach his limit! What happened, please tell me!"
Savior,
"Do not worry, your son has a bright future ahead. I just needed to give you two an update on his training because Ritzy is very unique".
Christopher,
"Unique? Is he like very skilled in one thing, or is he unable to learn something?"
Savior,
"Ritzy is very talented. No, more like he is exceptional. A person born with a potential that very few others had in history".
Excited Christopher said,
"Could it be his blessings doing! Did you find out what his blessing does? It must do something with strength since the Father God is probably the strongest god".
Savior,
"It could be because it would make sense everything I have seen from Ritzy. The thing is that your son is talented at everything. Not only talented, but also given a major advantage over others. Your son can pick up and learn very quickly anything I teach him."
"For heaven's sake, he is already able to make his own magic at his young age! Typically the average magician learns how to make their own magic when they are in their late thirties after learning from a young age. Even some of the best-talented ones are only able to make it in the early twenties. Originally I had planned that during our sparing sessions, Ritzy would be using an item that stores and make its own energy. I wanted him to start learning spells now, and to try to teach him how to effectively use it in combat. Now though, I think he'll be able to use his own magic during sparing sessions".
"Also, your son can control his body greatly. He is already comparable to a veteran hunter. I have to hold back my strength during our sparring sessions but every time during our sparing sessions, I can't hold back my skill. His combative skill is comparable to someone who fought bravely during a war".
"Another thing that I believe Ritzy hasn't noticed is that he has strength way greater than his age. Ritzy has been pulling a plow that is used by cows with ease now. I believe he is now unable to raise his strength like this anymore. In addition, if Ritzy grabs a regular iron ingot. Ritzy should be able to crush it with a simple squeeze".
"I believe because he got the blessing from the father of all gods, he has an affinity with all the other god's domain. I still haven't seen the end of Ritzy potential. It wouldn't be wrong to assume he has a great future ahead of him".
Christopher and Elizabeth were awestruck from hearing this news. It's common knowledge that a blessing will reap great benefits for an individual, but this whole time they were a bit worried because they didn't know what the Father God's blessing meant. With this news, they were both ecstatic.
Savior,
"Also while we're in the subject of Ritzy's training I have a request".
Christopher,
"Just name it".
Savior,
"I want to be left with complete control over Ritzy's training. We'll be training at a fast pace so I want to be able to do anything needed without having to set an appointment with you to get permission. Also, I would like some help to keep this a secret. It would be best for Ritzy to not know he is exceptional. I think he would place more effort in training if he believes he needs to put a great amount of effort just to be like the rest".
Christopher,
"That does make sense. Okay, everything you ask will be done. Also, since we're already here. I would like to extend your stay here. I know I only hired you to teach him some basics and learn what his talent was but, I believe no one can compare to you in this area. After all, you had the potential to become a king".
Savior,
"Yes, I was going to ask the same thing".
Christopher,
"Thank you, since it will be a long time. I doubt you'll be fine with the regular one legendary resource we agreed upon. I can't give you any more legendary resources because we only have three in total, so what do you desire?"
Savior,
"Do not worry. Just provide me with everything we'll need for Ritzy's training. I just request that If I ever need help, that your family can be there for me".
Christopher,
"Thank you, you have a deal. Just say the word and my family will be there!"