Chapter 9 - The hardships of life
"Mana is an energy that encompasses all of us. Every living thing has mana, and we have suspicions that non-living also have it but in much smaller quantities. Mana is very malleable, easy to control in small quantities but very hard in high quantities. It allows complete change of its properties, capable of 'bringing' to reality what we want.
Some people are born with abilities that naturally utilize the mana in their bodies, these abilities usually work in ways that are beyond our comprehension, very rarely are we able to replicate them with even a small power output as the person born with it does unconsciously."
As Ne'zuk finished explaining it he turned to us, who were sitting on the ground, and continued.
"Do you have any of those abilities?"
We both shook our heads, although my control over creation and destruction could be considered something like that it was for sure something that didn't use mana. But it could use it to complement its capabilities.
"Alright. If you had, our training method would have to change but this way things are easier. It's also not always that those abilities are good. I have heard of many cases where they end up something more like curses.
"We, of Ixtal, know of 2 types of magic. Elemental Magic, which we have pride on, is deeply connected to the material realm, it encompasses elements like fire and water and reaches into worldly concepts that have not yet been studied deeply. For example, it allows for the levitation of things, and we can somehow make objects heavier but we do not know how or why.
The other is Spiritual Magic, which is connected to the Spirit Realm, it encompasses life, death and things that have to do with a soul, although it is possible to use it to also make things that may seem outside of the scope.
Lastly, we think the Aspects use another type of magic, although we have no knowledge on what it does."
After the mouthful that Ne'Zuk just uttered Akila raised her hand, with an excited expression.
"Can anyone use magic?"
Ne'Zuk smiled a bit, "Technically yes, but it is much more difficult for someone born without innate abilities to learn how to control mana. It is also not something I can teach you specifically since the way to manipulate it varies from person to person. Since we do not have the same culture it would also be difficult to make you 'see' the way we see mana."
"Basically, my teaching ends here, I can only help after you learn how to manipulate mana. It's good that Team Leader Ptolemy already knows how to do it, this way we have more time to try to stop the void."
…
Parallax is the observed displacement of an object caused by the change of the observer's point of view.
Imagine you're sitting in the car, the road signs close to you go by really fast, but if you look at the trees beyond the road they will move a lot slower.
By knowing the distance your car travelled and how much the trees moved you can calculate your distance to the trees with trigonometry. Easy
That's how astronomers calculate the distance to 'close' stars. Every six months, Earth changes its position by ~300 million kilometres (~186 million miles) due to the orbit around the sun. By knowing how much a star in the night sky moved and our distance to the sun we can calculate its distance to us.
This only works for 'close' stars though, since the other ones are so far away that they do not seem to move in the night sky.
This was how Akila was trying to discover the distance from Runeterra to my star, I have obviously given her the distance from Runeterra to the Sun, so all she must do now is wait for the half year to pass since she registered its position in the sky.
In the meantime, she is free, so she has mostly been trying to control mana for the week we have been here.
During the day me, Ne'Zuk and our research team, composed of 50 members are trying to find a way to stop the void or just destroy its influence all together.
Apart from discovering that the void also has some kind of anti-magic, a type of magic that seeks to consume other magic, which means pure mana is not something that we can use against the void. Unless we use so much that the anti-magic can't keep up.
"Ugh, this is so annoying!" Screaming in frustration Akila fell backwards and started looking at the night sky.
"You still can't do it?"
"It's easy for you to talk Teacher, you already knew how to do it…"
"Hmm… If you can't do it you shouldn't force yourself. It is much easier to do difficult things in the way that you like."
"What do you mean?" She tilted her head.
"I'm saying you have to find a way to enjoy doing it, that way it will be much easier to progress. Remember what Ne'Zuk said, every person controls mana in a different way, all you have to do is find the way you like to do it."
Her face told me she was hearing me in chinese, not understanding anything. I never expected her to learn something like this quickly, in fact, she doesn't need to learn it, but she seems to really want to do it after seeing what magic is capable of.
For a child she did have a respectable perseverance, barely being bothered by her own failure she continued trying.
According to Ne'Zuk, children have an easier time at controlling mana, but even talented ones take a long time to learn how to.
The key to life is to focus on improving oneself. You gain nothing by comparing yourself to others. Are you jealous of them? Strive to become like them.
You want something that others have? Fight for it.
No one said life was easy. There will come a day when you will realize that if you don't try to become a better person you will be stuck in the same place. Always living the same day over and over again.
It is when you are faced with difficulties that you must press onward. Fighting them to the point you will never have to worry about it again.
Akila wants magic, and I am not going to help her more than I already have. I do not want a disciple that gets everything in a golden spoon. I want someone that will not surrender when faced with the hardships of life.
---
A/N: Chapter 9 and still only the second time I have used mc's name :/