Vol.2/Chapter 6: Fundamentals

I woke up in the morning, feeling refreshed as I have a more stable goal to achieve: Be strong enough, find my mother, and learn the truth.

As I noticed, Iresh is nowhere near me. I guess she woke up early and went somewhere else. I went out my room to see Samira preparing breakfast.

"Good morning, son. How's your sleep? Did you enjoy Iresh's company?", I can see a little grin on her while greeting me.

"It's pretty good even though Iresh is constantly tossing around. I guess this is the first time, in a long time, that she slept on the bed instead of the ground.", I shrugged of her tease.

"Also, if you wanna find Iresh, she's on the training ground. She said to notify you that you have a training with her and Almira.", I raised my eyebrow.

"Well, alright. The sooner, the better, I guess. I'm just gonna eat off my breakfast and will go there as soon as I'm done.", I sat down and started eating. Mom's cooking is delicious as ever.

After I'm done, I went outside the house after I say goodbye to Samira. The winds are stronger now, making a cool breeze that refreshes my body. As I was strolling down towards the training ground, I saw three unusual kids peeking in the corner. One is an elf based on her pointy ears, one is a taurus based on his horns and one is a dinosaur - a raptor, perhaps - based on his claws and overall body shape.

"H-Hello, big brother. I would like to thank you for saving us.", the elf approached me and gave me a garland. "This is for you."

The taurus one and the raptor one also followed and gave me a gift - a rock with the words "Thank you" in it and a cool wooden flute.

"I carved that flute with my own hands, literally. Hihihi.", the raptor said with glee.

"I'm bad at crafts so I just picked a random rock and said thank you in it. Sorry if it offends you.", the taurus lowers her head.

"No, no, it's fine. I appreciate the effort and thought. Also, when did I save you?", I asked in confusion.

"We remember you being a cool black angel with flames. We remember how you destroyed the humans that made us slaves and free us from their grasps.", the elf said.

"Gasp, we were rambling about all of this but we forgot to introduce ourselves. I am Ivory, a moon elf. This is Rent, a taurus, and Ibaka, a raptor. We were all kidnapped by those humans and made us slaves.", the three introduced themselves.

"Alongside other creatures in that wagon, we saw you hovering around while shooting these black flames. Some flames touched the chains and broke it. Soon after, other slaves joined the fight against the humans and we successfully fended them off.", Ibaka enlightened me.

"Again, thank you for saving us.", Rent lowered his head and the two followed.

"I see. I'm glad I helped you. Are you comfortable here with the tribe? I hope we're accompanying you in a good way.", I asked.

"Yes big brother Luca. We're really comfortable around here. Alongside some adults, we learned how wide the world is and how much we need to learn.", Ivory expanded her arms in a circular motion while happily telling me her dream.

"Kids! Don't disturb our savior. I'm pretty sure he is busy.", a large female orc shouted at the kids. They then hurriedly ran towards her. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Savior. On behalf of all the slaves, we thank you for saving us and I'm sorry for the loss.

"No, no, it's my pleasure saving you. Thank you also for the condolences. I wish we are accommodating you good. If you ever have any concerns, you can approach any guards, me or the chief itself.", I lowered my head in courtesy like Rent does.

"Thank you for the concern but we're living good here. We would like to help you rebuild your tribe before going back to our nations.", the orc said.

"I see. Thank you for your help. Anyways, I'm gonna go. I still have someone to meet up. Let's catch up later.", I said goodbye to the kids and the orc.

"I forgot. My name's Aru. Sorry again for the inconvenience and I hope you have a good luck.", They waved back at me as I went to the training grounds.

In the training grounds, I see flames and ice frolicking around. Iresh and Almira is having a practice with their magic too. I looked at my own hands and thought if I could also do that. I'm thinking if I should embrace the new me. While thinking though, the Bells of Death rang as a fireball almost hit me. Thankfully, due to this ability, I just dodged in time.

"Master Luca! Are you okay? I'm sorry, I was not careful.", Iresh rushed towards me. "Did that fireball hit you or hit your head on the ground?"

"Don't panic, Iresh. I'm fine, not even a bruise.", I assured her as she helped me stand. "What are you doing with Almira?"

"You shouldn't stand in the training grounds with some mages battling around. You might get hurt. Anyways, we're having a mock battle. We're seeing who is better with magic that would teach you the basics.", Almira also approached me.

"Oh, that's cool but please be careful around. Fortunately, I have this weird observation ability that activates whenever a fatal skill or move or anything would hit me or someone close to me.", I explained.

"What a convenient ability. What do you call it?", Almira asked.

"The Bells of Death.", the two ooh'ed at the same time.

"Creepy name but it'll work hahaha.", Almira added. "Anyways, I won so now I'm gonna teach you the basics of using magic.

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-Magic 101 with Wolf Seer Almira-

"Hello! Almira here. Think of this as your own point of view instead of Luca's. I'm gonna teach you how magic works in Espoir."

"There are three main components on how can you use magic - knowledge, mana and stamina.

"Knowledge with magic is the most important part of using it. You have to know your spells, your ability, your physical condition and how well you know the drawbacks of it. Without knowledge of magic, you're pretty much useless in using it.

"Mana comes as the main resource on materializing said knowledge. Everything in Espoir has a hidden energy inside them called Mana. It varies on the amount between species with humans having the lowest in the spectrum while mythicals in the highest. Mana is also important as it would affect how much magic and how long could you cast it.

"Lastly, we have stamina. It's the physical energy resource in your body. Well, it's also important because basically, your body is your vessel. Without stamina, you could not utilize your mana, cast your magic and you fail. You would catch your breath, fall down and die. Just kidding."

"Well, aside from that we have also five levels of magic that we can use and also different kinds and utility for magic but I would tackle that for another time. For now, let's go back to Luca's training".

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Back to Luca's POV:

"Well, there you have it. The basic fundamentals of magic.", Almira proudly said.

"Well, I pretty much see the gist of it. Thank you for teaching me.", I was excited.

"Well for now, ran around the training ground as long as you can.", Almira ordered me.

"Huh?", my excitement instantly vanished.

"I want to see how much stamina you got and how far can we use your magic without drawbacks. So go! Run!", Almira giddy me up as I started running circles around the training ground. I also noticed Ivory, Rent and Ibaka looking at me from a distance.

30 minutes later

"Pant, pant, W-WHY? pant, W-why do I have to s-suffer. Hah-hah", I was absolutely lost of breath and was panting heavily. The three kids from afar are laughing.

"Not bad, not bad. 15 laps around this decent size training ground is pretty impressive. I would commend your stamina.", Almira praised me.

"T-thank you for that praise but I'm dying. I-I need water.", I see Iresh rushing towards me with a water jug. I instantly chugged it like never before.

"S-slow down, Master Luca. You mi--", She stopped in her words as I choked with the water that I'm drinking, releasing some out my nose.

"Cough, cough, cough, fuck.", I continuously coughed as the two laughed crazily with the scene they are seeing.

I was happy with my first day of training. Well, the fact that I have a lot of stamina is pretty impressive but I need to be better. If I want to get stronger, like that female orc the Chief battled, I need to sought out knowledge and increase the capacity of using it.

I'm the son of two Gods. The power is already within me. I just need to find the courage and strength to use it.

"Oi, Luca. Come over here, I have something to show you!", Almira waved at me.

"Eh? What is it?", I groaned.

"Oh, don't give me that attitude. I'm pretty sure you're gonna love this. It's the one you're dreaming of anyways.", Almira grinned.

"Fine, I'm coming.", I walked towards Almira as I see her holding a glowing book.

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Gasp! T-this is...!