New Apprentice.

"Clang!"

Lucian and Harald exchange a flurry of blows, their swords filling the courtyard with the sounds of battle.

Layla is awestruck by the spectacle in front of her.

"This is too much for me..." She mutters to herself with a downcast look.

"I can barely hold their swords."

Layla's mind flits back to the beginning of the training session. Harald handed her his sword to show her current capacity. She dropped it nearly immediately, too weak to even hold onto it.

"Why does it have to be swords?" She questions to no one in particular.

The training session comes to a close half an hour later.

...

Harald chooses to continue into the next lesson right away, Magic. Using the courtyard for a practical assessment.

Lucian and Layla stand together while Harald walks towards them after taking a quick detour to the Magical Workshop.

"I believe you forgot about this, boy." Harald calls to Lucian, holding his Mage Sphere.

Closer now, Harald hands the sphere to Lucian carefully.

"Things were a bit hectic that night. So I haven't had the chance to go over it with you."

Lucian rubs his fingers across the smooth surface of the sphere.

"This is our best friend out in the world." Harald begins, calling forth his own sphere.

"Why?" Lucian questions.

"Because of its many uses, to put it simply."

"A Mage sphere can hold anything within the suspended reality it contains. Imagine carrying a chest full of gold. It would be cumbersome and weigh you down if you were suddenly ambushed. A Mage Sphere can not just hold it for you. It can dispense each coin contained in the chest separately."

'So it's basically a bag of holding. I wonder if you can put one inside of the other and make them explode?'

"Though, this isn't its only use. It can also record events and communicate directly with other Mage Spheres."

'So a cellphone, camera, and bag of holding in one. Why does it not surprise me that there's basically a magical cellphone here.'

"Lastly, a Mage Sphere is directly linked to a mage by their Mana Signature. Meaning that without you willingly opening the sphere, not a soul can access it."

"How do I link it?" Lucian asks.

Harald grabs his own sphere and holds it in his palm.

"Hold it in your hand like this."

Lucian follows.

"Now push your mana into it. Until it fills."

Lucian starts to flow mana into his hand, pushing it into the sphere as if he is trying to conjure lightning in his hand.

The bottom of the sphere lights up with blue light. Filling itself as if it is a glass of water.

After a few seconds of pouring mana into it, the entire sphere is now ignited by the blue light.

"Click." A mechanism inside the sphere sounds off.

Suddenly the sphere disappears from his palm.

"Where did it go?" Lucian asks, worried that he did something wrong.

"Don't worry. You've done everything right. You just need to think of it, and it will reappear, now that it's linked to you." Harald says calmly.

Lucian pays no mind as his focus drifts to something unexpected.

'Ding!'

'Mage Sphere absorbed.'

'See Description?: Y/N'

'Yes.'

'Mage Sphere: An ancient tool created by the Andril Necromancer "Kysus Veil" during the war of "Endless Night." It has since been adapted for use by Mages of all races and specializations.

Properties:

Storage: 0/1000ft

Communication Channels: 0/100

Soul Chains: 0/100

(Further Capabilities Locked)

Lucian's pupils dilate reading the description.

'Soul Chains? It was made by a necromancer? There's a lot more to this thing than what Harald just told me. Something tells me that Harald has no clue what this thing really does.'

Harald's voice echoes in Lucian's ears unintelligibly, as his focus is somewhere else.

'The war of "Endless Night," I think that's the only clue here. If I want to find out more.'

"Lucian. Lucian." Harald calls out, snapping him back to reality.

"Sorry, I was just focused on trying to call my Mage Sphere."

Lucian calls the sphere in front of him easily.

'That was simple.'

"There we go. Sorry, Harald."

"You're fine. I know this is a lot to take in all at once." Harald replies.

'Tell me about it.'

"Hold out your sphere for me." Harald says.

Lucian holds it out in front of him. Harald taps his sphere against Lucian's, creating a humming rhythm. Small runes appear on both spheres.

"We're linked now."

"If you need to contact me, you can just tap that rune."

Lucian nods in understanding.

"Alright, now that we're done with that. Let's start doing some more interesting things."

Both spheres disappear from sight.

"Today, we're going to work on Mana Control."

Lucian's face lights up at "Mana Control."

'We're finally getting somewhere.'

"Mana Control is the ability to properly manage the flow of mana into whatever spell you cast. This only pertains to Innate Magic, so we will not be using any incantations."

Harald casts a ball of Earth in his hand while he speaks.

"This is what I want you to do. Create a ball of lightning in your hand and focus on maintaining its shape for as long as possible."

Lucian casts a few bolts of lightning in his hand. However, attempting to form them into a ball causes them to quickly fizzle out.

"This will require your full focus and concentration until you've mastered it."

"Good luck."

Harald walks away.

'Leaving me to my own devices again. Why can't he just explain exactly what I need to do? Things would move so much faster.'

...