Soul School (Chapter 5)

"Ok, I will stay here until I can recover. by that time, I'll decide whether or not I will agree to join your clan." He announced. "with all of that aside, how are you feeling? According to our records, the one chosen by The Wall Of Valde will receive immense power. This does not come without its risks. The mortal body cannot handle such a sudden boost in energy and should be in a comatose state for months, depending on their compatibility. The higher their compatibility is, the longer they remain unconscious. We have speculated that this occurs because they receive more energy than one with a low affinity for this power. Still, someone with the lowest compatibility should be unconscious for at least a month. Still, you woke up after only a couple of weeks. Of course, it's also possible that it was longer considering you were unconscious when we found you." Ronda stated. "other than my entire body aching, I don't feel much out of the ordinary. Ok, follow me," Ronda demanded. "Did she not hear the part where I said my whole body was aching?" Manu thought. Walking swiftly to another building, Ronda guided him to a room full of mysterious vials and jars.

"everything here contains the essence of powerful beasts as well as magical fruits made to boost one's cultivation." Ronda states. "wait, did you say magic?" Manu shouted. "I thought something was off when they explained this wall to me, but I wrote it off as some religious superstition, but she definitely said 'magical fruits' just now. Just what the hell did I get myself into?" He doubted. "Yes, I did, here drink this; it'll help you recover from your physical ailments," Ronda returned, handing over a vial with a green substance inside. "what is this?" he asked her. Even if he trusted her, how could he drink some mysterious liquid when he has no idea what is supposed to be contained in it. At the same time, if they had bad intentions, he'd have been dead long ago. The least he could do was trust her. Throwing his head back, he drank the liquid in one shot. "you should feel your physical ailments go away within the next few minutes." Ronda casually told him. "judging from your reaction, magic is not commonplace where you come from, so I will have to start teaching you from the basics. Keep in mind you are a special case; not many can say the Mardak Clan head herself personally trained them, so don't disappoint me, Mr. Champion." Ronda informed him.

Walking Manu out to an open field, Ronda announced, "Now, I will demonstrate magic to you. Since you know nothing of sorcery, I will do my best to catch you up to speed on the basic principles. Keep in mind these concepts are meant to be taught to people at an early age. By the time someone is your age, they should already begin devising their own style of magic; however, since you are entirely in the dark about these things, there are many things that we will have to skip over. Do not let this be an excuse. To make up for the time gap, I've decided to give you full access to our library. Remember, if you have any questions, do not be scared to ask. You are responsible for studying in the disciplines you are interested in. Do not slack behind, and we will get you in fighting condition within a month and a half, understood?" Ronda commanded. Manu started thinking back, he's never been good at studying, but he couldn't make any complaints. He was about to learn magic. This was completely different from the useless studies of his time in school.

Ronda commenced her lecture. "Source is the power contained within your soul. Some people are born with a naturally greater source density than others, but this does not mean they are always stronger. No matter who you are, your source can be trained and refined. Some may have to work harder than others, but such is the way of life.

Additionally, everyone carries a soul beast predetermined from the time one is born. Different soul beasts can utilize various techniques that the person can only learn by communicating with the soul beast; however, this only comes with time. For now, I will teach you about different styles of magic. Keep in mind with enough training. Everyone has the potential to put together their own style. Still, like everything else in the world, how far you go is up to you. The basic styles are element style, impact style, and particle style. The first two are pretty straightforward element style utilizes elements on terra. Fire, earth, water, and wind, are not the only elements people can utilize. Any element can be used as long as your understanding of it is sufficient. Next up is the impact style. A style that focuses on using tools or physical prowess can be classified in the impact style category. Examples of this are swordsman, blacksmiths, martial artists, and so on. These people use their source in a different way than other sorcerers do. Instead of directly using their source to manifest their skills, they infuse it into their muscles and weapons, focusing on the impact created hence the reason it's called the impact style.

Last but not least, particle style a bit more complicated than the previous two. This combines one's knowledge with the source contained within them. Only people with a deep understanding of how matter works have access to this magic. Practitioners of this style specialize in manipulating matter itself, and so they use skills like transformation magic, manipulation magic, and separation magic, to name a few. It might help to show you, so pay close attention." She said. Ronda shut her eyes and simultaneously balled up her fist. Following this, Ronda's eyes opened, and she released her grip, making her hand flat as a blade with her fingers clasped together. "Hmph." Swiping her arm horizontally, she cut a tree clean in half that was about one kilometer away. Manu was amazed. This was not at all what he expected. Where were the flashy beams and incantations? "This is particle style infused with the wind element," Ronda explained.

"By focusing on a target and visualizing your technique, you can create a variety of different attacks," Ronda stated matter-of-factly. The only thing he could think to himself was, wow, he was amazed that someone could cut such a large tree like that in the snap of a finger. "In one week, you will learn how to produce an attack that is equal to that in power. Now we have to find out what your soul beast is and the amount of source you possess so that we can work out a training program tailored to you and your soul beast." She informed him. Ronda took Manu over to the middle of the village, where there was a pyramid directly centered. Now he had realized just how large this village really was. There were so many different areas and buildings he didn't know about. It's a shame that these two were among the last of their village. "Place your hand here and close your eyes. Tell me what you see." Ronda directed, pointing at a crystal ball.