Ancient and basic runes

"Today," I looked at the face of my kindly smiling master who has kept this same face ever since I told him I opened my Sea of Consciousness yesterday, "..is a special day kid."

I tilted my head, openly expressing my confusion, not understanding any more moves of this weird master of mine. Looking at me, he cleared as throat as he continued, 

"Today, I'll teach you your very first spell."

"Is it a Time element spell?"

His complacent grin broke down. I remember what he told me when I pestered him day and night regarding my magical affinity.

I wanted to pull his white beard for keeping me in the dark for so long, but his next few sentences and a stream of warnings that followed made me unsure if it really was a blessing or just a curse.

'Turns out, I need to minimize the use of my mana in the presence of others so they don't find any clues, and even still my combat power will be lesser than those at my stage, simply because there were no spells of the Time element available'.

I was starting to think a lot of how serious and caring this old man had been towards me all this time. Perhaps, I'll need to start taking him seriously as well.

A refreshing breeze blew by, we were back near the wooden cabin where he had tested my affinity. He stretched his arms wide, letting the breeze wrap him up in a mild embrace.

It was the very first time I recognized the beauty of magic being displayed in front of my eyes in full bloom. A few seconds later, he was gliding a few feet off in the air.

The soles of his feet shone with clusters of shining light. Noticing my gaze, he uttered, 

"It's my Light-elemental mana, my unique mana. Your unique mana will be Time-elemental. Our mana is stored within our Sea of Consciousness at first but then it centers into the mana core that you'll create in the Second Grade, but it's not as if your Sea of Consciousness will be useless at that point. It would still be the home for your mana core and with its size, it may even hold more mana than the core itself. Therefore…" I saw a shining tendril of light stretching out of his fingertips and growing crazily in size in the next few seconds, turning into a 10-meter long snake-like beast.

"...it's important that you increase the size of your Sea of Consciousness as much as possible before beginning to form your mana core. To reach the 3rd Grade as a mage, you would need to connect your Sea of Consciousness and your mana core in such a way that both entities act as one. The beginning of that connection marks the threshold of the 3rd Grade."

I don't know how I looked back then, but my eyes were definitely shining with boundless curiosity and a raging desire to acquire this power for myself.

'Who would be able to stop me from going home when I become a Grade-4 or Grade-5?'

Noticing that I'd become a little lost in my thoughts, the old man knew he had gone a little too far in piquing my curiosity and had distressed me instead.

To cover up for his embarrassment, he took out a thick old book he was hiding under his robes as he said, "This would be my very first gift to you as your master, a precious book containing around half of the basic runes that exist out there. By now, I'm sure you understand that runes are the language of mana right?"

"Yes master," I quickly nodded my head, hooked in.

"The functions of runes are as vast as your imagination could be, simply boundless. But the most primary use of runes has always been this, to help mages channel their magic power and cast their magic. Environmental mana has been present ever since the conception of this world but using it has always been an uphill task. Our ancestors, therefore, tried their best to systematically break down the veils that covered the mysteries of mana layer by layer." Speaking till this point, his tone turned a little emotional, "Generations of efforts, generations of failures piled up but finally, they were successful."

The joy in his tone was palpable at this point, I was able to clearly feel it, 

"They had found some runes that form naturally whenever a mutation occurs in the environmental mana of the world and it gains 'divine will' of its own. These runes were perfect in every sense of the world. Later on, these were called ancient runes by the successors but it wasn't as if all the problems were solved just like that. They had another monumental challenge ahead of them, that is, ancient runes were too complex. Only a few were able to form a connection to them and utilize them as they were just far too 'sacred'. They couldn't be replicated, and couldn't be understood by most, even damaging the psyches of those with poor elemental affinity. To make magic available for the common populace, something else was required, therefore, another long study and hardship began, until simplified or basic runes, some of the most basic forms of which you hold in your hand, were made. Now, do you understand?"

"Can I read ancient runes then?" I looked at the book in my "master's" hand and asked for a better alternative. I wasn't greedy, my reason was very simple. If I only learned simplified runes, it would take a lot more time to cast spells and I needed to grow strong quickly, otherwise wouldn't it be useless to go back home if my family has already passed away.

Master Golver continued to spin fables like a granny weaving yarn, utterly involved in the storytelling mode, giving a little too much and a little too little information simultaneously,

"It is passed on in myths that only a portion of our ancestors were able to utilize ancient runes, but their power was still vastly superior. The mages that now sit at the peak of our world and their organizations also teach their direct descendants and important subordinates ancient runes at first, to see if there's anyone capable of utilizing them. Sadly, we simply don't have any ancient runes to be able to have that luxury. But don't be disappointed kid, it still depends upon the proficiency of the caster with the runes to be able to bring out strong elemental magical power, and studying simplified runes is a lot easier than ancient runes."

Master's face twitched again, he realized he had once again veered off track in his flow and ended up telling me information that didn't matter all that much. Now seeing me all lousy and disdainful about studying simplified runes, he quickly started nagging like a shopkeeper trying to sell his last piece of subpar silk, 

"Runes are simply required to channel elemental power that is, your mana, if your mana is purer, more refined, and more in quantity, you can use even the most basic rune of the specific elemental mana you have an affinity with and call upon the destructive powers of the environmental mana of that element. More combinations can also be learned and utilized to increase the damage and power output—"

"Will it be stronger than ancient runes though?" I just wanted to know but it broke the master's confident facade, hitting him right where it hurt the most.

".....not really,"