Chapter 84 First task

In Frigus there were tons of mountains, it might look small on the map but the world of Aurora was enormous. Other planets could not even compare to it. Just the tiniest speck on the world map might actually be bigger than the surface of other planets. Hence why there are still unexplored places everywhere. Mages do have the power to go out there and explore, but they needed to reach a certain level before venturing into the unknown as there are monsters that most have never seen before.

Frigus wasn't the only country known for its mountains, but Frigus was special since it had multiple mountains very close to each other. There was even a place where it looked like mountains were growing out of other mountains.

Lucas was climbing one of those mountains, The Saber's Tooth. A mountain so steep that it almost with the shape of a certain animal's teeth. Not many wanted to climb the mountain, there were some adventurous men, but there was nothing there. There were rumors of a magnificent sight if you managed to reach the top, but the constant snowstorm clouded any kind of light. There was only white. On this desolate mountain, there was a single man struggling to walk. Slowly the man set foot after foot.

He was carrying something on his back. It had the shape of a sleeping bag and had someone in it. This was obviously Lucas carrying Elam. The journey to the top was harsh, extremely so, to the point that even Lucas with his absurd training schedule was having trouble moving forward. The winds were simply too powerful to handle. If he wasn't carrying Elam, he might've gone a bit faster, but that was beside the point.

Panting heavily, Lucas arrived at the very top. There were only icy whirlwinds around him, shielding him from any outside light.

"*pant*..*pant*...we've..reached the top, sir Elam.""

"Splendid.", Elam said before he said a few more strange runes before a cabin appeared not much further in front of him. "This is a cabin I built some time ago, go inside."

The cabin was pretty small, enough for one to two people to live in, but nothing more. The cabin was hidden with camouflaging magic, something that Lucas had never heard of before. He was amazed and wanted to ask how it worked, but he was too tired to even ask questions. The cabin had light from within, otherwise, he would've never seen it. The snowstorm felt neverending, constantly blocking his view.

Entering the cabin revealed a small but comfy room. What was the most surprising wasn't the fact that it appeared out of nowhere, but the difference in temperature. There was a normal room temperature, perhaps even a tiny bit higher. The sudden change in heat made Lucas want to take all his clothes off. He placed Elam on the ground. He was nicely tucked in his sleeping bag, and because he had his face towards Lucas' back, he was spared from most of the snow.

He got out of his bag before grabbing a blanket en laying down on one of the few couches in the cabin. There were no beds to speak of, only two couches and a furnace to cook things on, and some magical lights that floated in the air, the rest was empty. Lucas sat down on the other couch, still catching his breath, not that he could sit for a long time because Elam had something to ask of him.

"Make some tea for me, the ingredients are on the counter. After that, I'll teach you."

The prospect of being taught made him gain some motivation. The camouflaging spell seemed very interesting. If he could combine his own hiding spell with the camouflaging spell he would be totally unseen by anyone or thing.

'Wouldn't that be great? Being hidden from everyone, we could do so many things!'

'Did you forget already? We can't move when we use the darkness spell, idiot.'

But his hopes weren't completely dashed as he believed that anything was possible with magic. He just needed time and enough resources to perfect it.

Lucas had never made any tea before, but there were some instructions next to the ingredients. Making the tea wasn't nearly as difficult as climbing the mountain, a nice change of pace. What was bothering Lucas was the fact that the ingredients were only enough to prepare a single cup of tea, and not much in him thought that it would be for him.

Giving the tea to Elam, he finally sat straight for once to drink. Sipping the tea, he showed a frown, "Ugh, you're terrible at making tea, remind me never to ask you again, blegh!"

'Why not make it yourself, asshole'

'No reason to be bothered by such small things, move past it.', Lucas didn't show the emotions on his face. He just kept staring at Elam, there would be eye contact if Elam opened his eyes, but it seemed like he'd rather keep them closed.

"Now, time for your lesson. First, let's test how strong you are, shall we? Create me a stone that weighs 5 pounds."

'Hmm, that's a lot easier than I expected.'

'Hah, alright then smarty pants, create it! Do you have the runes to specify the weight?'

'Oh...shit.'

Lucas needed to think for a while, earth wasn't his main element, so the runes weren't engraved in his mental sphere. The only way to use them was to remember each and every single one, which Lucas could do without too many problems. But searching for runes like you would in a catalog wasn't really possible, the knowledge became part of his memories, so he needed to check each one.

Not long after, he spoke the beginner rune of earth. He couldn't find the correct runes to specify weight, so he needed to check some runes before he could experiment. Conjuring a stone he found that it weighed quite a bit above his goal, his power was enhanced, more than a normal mage.

"Hmm? How fascinating, you are at the bottom of Rank 1, yet you have the power of someone who's halfway. And even with all that power, you can't even create what I asked of you. Too heavy, again."

'He figured out our strength so easily.'

'What did you expect? He's at least Rank 2, he could kill us with a single spell. Of course, he could sense our powers.'

Lucas tried again to conjure a stone that weight 5 pounds. His second attempt was quite similar since he didn't have many runes.

"Too light, again.", Elam was lying back down again, his back facing Lucas. It looked like he was sleeping, but Lucas knew better. Elam must've been constantly watching him with his willpower. There was no other way.

"Too heavy, again...Too light, again...Too light, again.....Too heavy, again.....Too heavy, again."

Lucas kept at it, creating a pile of stones next to him, all were off by a few pounds. Lucas had to provide magicules in order for a spell to work. Using runes, the number of magicules and their form was automatically decided for him, but now he needed to change it. At first, he tried to hold some magicules back or flood them with magic. Yet both ways didn't work out. Manipulating the form of the magicules seemed to be the only way, but Lucas couldn't figure it out.

Time passed, and at a certain point, Elam had to ask Lucas to get rid of his pile of rocks since they started to cover the entire floor. His magic started to run out, beginner runes didn't take much, especially as a Rank 1 mage, but he still depleted it.

"Even with all your power, you can't make a simple rock, how disappointing. Let's go back to school, tomorrow we'll do this again."

Thinking that he would have to carry Elam all the way back made his legs preemptively hurt. Why couldn't he just make it?

Left with his questions, the entire way down all Lucas could do was ponder. He needed to think about how magic worked, going back to the very basics and principles. He needed to improve his control a lot more if he wanted to succeed in the very first task.