Preparing for Academy 2

Madam Zell watched Jerod as he observed the light magicles. Once he seemed like he had an idea of what was going on she started to explain in more detail what was going on.

"Okay Jerod, what you should be seeing is the circulation of my mana. When collecting light and dark magicles you can hold them much like you can with other magicles. However holding the light and dark magicles will cause the magicles to circulate through your body to maintain their efficacy."

Jerod nodded. "I can see the magicles gathering and returning in a cycle. I can also see the energy travels towards your chest before returning to your hand."

"Good! I will stop the demonstration here. Now, before you can start gathering the light and dark magicles you will have to learn to circulate your mana around your body. Essencially you will have to focus inwards towards your core."

"Okay." Jerod closed his eyes and focused inwards.

"Once you connect to your core you may feel like you are swimming in water or moving through a swamp."

As Jerod envisioned his core he pictured found himself staring at an orb shaped object. Lindsay piped in at this time telling him that it looked much like what his soul was in the form of when speaking with the goddess Saurina. As he observed it closer he found his consciousness falling into the orb. Once inside he found himself experiencing the moving through water that Madam Zell was just speaking about.

"Okay, I feel like I am moving through water, now what do I do?"

"So fast? Amazing... Now what you will want to do is move towards the edges of that pool of water and you will find spots were the outer barrier of the water is thinner. Once you find one of these spots you need to guide your way through that spot and you should find something like a channel or pathway. Once you are in that pathway follow it to the end. Eventually you will find your way back to the water.

For now don't worry about going through the channel. When you are practicing later you will find that these channels go through your whole body. It will be up to you to map these channels to find the best route to the part of the body you want to move to. For example, when I want to heal someone I use the channel that goes to my hand to ensure the light magicles are where I need them to be before I structure them into the healing spell.

So for the final part of the lesson. When you want to use light magicles you will need to circulate your mana and while doing so you need to envision life energy. This can be different for everyone. Some people envision plants sprouting, some envision sunlight falling on their skin. You will need to find the imagery that works best for you. When you want to use dark magicles you will envision decay. A lot of people struggle with this as they picture decay to mean death and that causes them to either produce less magicles or use more mana for the same tasks that others may be able to do simply.

Decay would be like the wearing down of life. Of course this is where people associate it with death but decay isn't an end, it leads to an end eventually. I don't want to be too specific with the descriptions lest you have a hard time finding the imagery that works for you.

That is all I can tell you about using light and dark magicles for now. Once you experience it for yourself over the next six months then you can come back with any problems you run into. So, what questions do you have?"

"I have a few questions. First, you mentioned light and dark magicles are created from my mana, so does that mean I could create fire, water, earth, or wind magicles from my mana too?"

"Well, I suppose it is possible. Why would you want to do that when there are ample elements available in the world around you?"

"Just curious if it was possible. I know it would require more mana to do it that way. Next, when you were maintaining the light magicles was your mana constantly draining doing that or when they circulate does that return your mana to you?"

"Excellent question! Some mana does return when it circulates but not all of it. As the light and dark magicles interact with the air around you they lose some of the mana sustaining them. This is why holding a spell will constantly drain your mana. This only applies to when you are creating the magicles yourself. When you are gathering magicles from outside of your body you are using your focus to maintain them if you are holding them for a long period. If say you hold fire magicles gathered together for a long period you will eventually lose focus and they will dissipate. You would likely feel just as tired as if you had just ran from your house to this clinic."

"Okay, that brings up a new question then. Why do I lose mana when I am willing the fire magicles to do things if my focus is what gathers them?"

"Another good question! Your focus gathers the magicles together, this is basically like you are exercising, because essentially you are. As you described it you are vibrating your soul to gather the magicles, so you are basically moving a lot. You may not have noticed this at all yet if you have always just gathered them and released them. In this way you would see only your mana decreasing. The reason the mana decreases is because you are using it to direct the magicles to do something other than just exist. Why doesn't the fire start as soon as enough fire magicles are gathered together? That's because they can exist in close proximity without doing anything at all, but once there is a spark, your mana for example, then the fire would happen."

"That makes sense! My last question is why would I want to map out all of the channels in my body instead of just focusing on mapping to my hands as fast as possible?"

"That question takes us into future lessons, in essence once you are able to formulate the magicles into structures you will be able to direct the spell to specific spots on your body. This is helpful if you are ever injured but cannot reach the injury with your hands whether due to positioning or inability.

Since that was your last question let's have lunch and I will take you to meet your reading and writing tutor."

Madam Zell led Jerod to a door on the other side of the garden and entered a small dining hall. There they ate a sumptuous lunch and once they were done they made their way across town to a large mansion. Stopping in front of the gate Madam Zell informed the guard she was there to see the lord of the manor and gave her information. Shortly after they were met by a butler and led into the manor to wait in a reception room.

"Madam Zell! It is so nice to see you. We rarely get a chance to see each other face to face with you constantly traveling to do your healing."

A tall skinny man walked into the reception room with a large smile on his face. He had short brown hair with a small mustache. He was dressed in luxurious clothing that looked like it cost more than Jerod's entire farm.

"Hello Lord Yama, it has been quite some time. I like doing my healing work as it tends to keep me away from all of the politics of the country."

"Yes, yes I know. Let's not bring up any troubled past stories with our young guest here with us today. You say he has aptitude with magic, and you would like me to arrange for his tutor for reading and writing correct?"

"Yes, this here is Jerod. I will be recommending him to attend Hilas Magic Acadamy when he turns six."

"Hilas! Well, well, you must have impressed our dear Madam Zell quite a bit if she wants to recommend you to the best magic academy in our kingdom. Very well! I shall have him learn under Alfred. My daughter is starting to learn to read and write as well so he should already have his teaching materials ready. Seeing that young Jerod here is a commoner I think it best he also have at least some etiquette courses to ensure he doesn't run into any problems if he is to attend Hilas. There are many noble children that attend that academy so it will benefit him greatly to learn how to act."

"I was hoping you might add that to his curriculum. Jerod lives on a farm outside of town a few miles away so please inform Alfred so he can plan for appropriate start times for the lessons."

"But of course. We can start the lessons next week. Be here on the start of the week at ten bells in the morning. That should allow you plenty of time to get here and for Alfred to have the room prepared. Once you arrive inform the guards at the gate that you are attending Alfred's tutoring session and they will lead you to the lesson room."

"Th.. Thank you Lord Yama." Jerod was uncertain of the proper etiquette for talking to a lord so he was ecstatic that there would also be lessons to cover that. He nervously bowed hoping to show respect. He had not thought about how this world's society worked so this unexpected boon was extremely welcome.

Lord Yama just smiled and said some perfunctory words of encouragement. He then shared some pleasantries with Madam Zell before excusing them to leave.