Magical masteries III

Beyern couldn't help but chuckle, as the condensed mana ring had been decompressed into the normal size of mana.

But it wasn't enough for even one magic missile, which took at least 180 mana/3 hours of mana, but he could decompress prepared mana! So he could make a 1st ring with all that mana inside it, and then use it to shoot out a magic missile in an instant!

-Or he could do the easier thing and open up his mana circuit bit by bit like a normal mage, which he would do, at a later date.

He compressed his ring once more, and took it back to it's home.

This time it was about time for {Telekinesis}, a classic ability that many people enjoy. It allows for one to control physical objects, that's basically it. It's a stable of 'Psychics' and the sort, but since they're a mage sub-class, mages get to have the skill too!

-Though not all the cooler usages are sponsored for mages, like using psychic energy to break someone's mind, ect.

Now, to get said 'Psychic energy', which is not just another name for mental power or mana, being a mix of the two. Yep, you gotta mix mental energy with mana.

Sounds hard, but suprisingly not extremely difficult. Just hold the mana still, put in some mental energy, and mix it up.

The real hard part is properly controlling it.

So think of this; Your hand, which you used to use to move objects, became the object you moved, and also the thing you used to move it, while also not being real at the same time, and you're not supposed to even have it in the first place!

But at least the conditions weren't that hard to fufill, just making the stuff and using it too poke a stone a bit was enough.

===

Congratulations, Beyern, due to your use of a force not meant for you to move objects within physical world, you have gained the mastery {Telekinesis}.

===

Beyern decided to put it on the back burner, the feeling of using psychic energy grating at his nerves for some reason 'The line 'Not meant for you' easily explains it.'

Though the mastery was useful, he was still a mage at his core, he would do magic, not mysterious mind tricks.

He scoffed in mock arrogance, and thought of the final mastery he had to gain; {Mana-infusion}.

'Wait a second, those beasts could sense mana, and those people in the mages' guild took a particular look at me, is there something that allows me to sense mana?'

He would look into that, it was more important than making artifacts or something- He wasn't a craftsman anyways, he was a necromancer, not an enchanter.

{Mana-infusion} would be picked up when he had nothing better to do, and {Mana-manipulation} had hit a wall.

'Well... With the support of 10-star {Mana-manipulation} it'll be a breeze anyways... So I'll use pick it up.'

This time it was extraordinarily easy, just get some mana, put it 'Inside' some pebble, mix it in properly, and then truly connect it with the pebble, and then manifest it.

And voila, you've made a rock slightly less easy to crush or crack, of course, to a miniscule degree.

===

Congratulations, Beyern, due to strengthening a pebble with palpable ease, you have gained the mastery 'Mana-infusion'.

===

There's actually a mastery called 'Enchantment' and all that, and Beyern could've gotten it if it were associated with his class. But he did a simple enchantment, the easiest way to get {Mana-infusion}.

Now, since he had finished his bucket list, it was time to learn {Mana-concealment}.

Yes, remember that? If you do, good job! Give yourself a pat on the back, Beyern definently did. Though for a completely different reason, that he realized he could use {Mana-concealment} for more than just not being noticed by annoying mana sensors.

He could use it to practice forbidden magic in the city with little chance at being caught! Oh, and he could use it in battle too.

But first order of business was actually getting the mastery.

So; How did you conceal mana?

Easy; Make it harder to interact with the thing that people use as a basis for sensing mana, since to sense something, one must interact with it or something related to it.

But, what do people interact with to sense that there's mana? And what if Beyern, instead of decreasing it, dialed it up to eleven? Wouldn't that increase his intimidation factor?

Beyern couldn't help but praise himself mentally, while gathering mana for the test.

From what the guy in the caravan said, to get it you needed to... And I quote 'Silence your mana'.

At first Beyern thought it was stupid to 'Silence' mana, since it couldn't make noise. But recently he realized that mana was confusing, and the guy was probably doing the best he could do with his repetoir of words.

But Beyern was a master of synonyms and grammar, he could explain it to himself; 'Mana that's in use by a person or creature causes a certain amount of 'Sound' within a sort of... 'Plane'? 'Realm'? To 'Silence' mana, one must use their control to force it to stop making said 'Sound', suppressing it to be exact.'

There were other means to sense mana outside of this sound he was currently suppressing, but that was for later ranks, and so, the future Beyern's concern.

Now with a suitable amount of mana beholden by Beyern, it was time to experiment.

He focused his spirit on the mana, trying to see if there was anything cool going on around his mana, nothing he could sense.

But even if he couldn't sense it, that didn't matter, as he took some mental power to force the mana into submission, specifically with his old friend 'Tide'. Having not used this for a day had truly caused a rift between them, but today that rift had been mended!

He was pretty close, though with a bit more effort he could probably get it. But then he had a thought, and jumped into the mind space.

He sighed, slapping the ruler on his hand, slowly walking towards his student, mana ball. He had terrible credentials, scored below average, and even had the 'Thrall' class, a true dissapointment. Many would've killed themselves to maintain the honor of their ancestors, but he had a will of steel.

But today he had messed up far to much for even Beyern, the lazy teacher of the royal academy, to ignore "Bad! Bad!" He yelled with each slap of the ruler onto the child's metaphysical skin.

After multiple slaps, he had brought order, hearing the class bell, he knew it was time to leave, even if the ball would return to it's unruly self-

'-I am not doing that again any time soon, it's so weird.'

===

Congratulations, Beyern, due to your use of the mental space is a way that is not highly reccomended, you have gained the mastery 'Mana-concealment'.

===

'Now, lets remember to do that, but in reverse, at a later date.' Beyern thought to himself, being satisfied by his spree of mastery gains.

Though, sadly, today's safe mastery grinding has come to an end, since the creature that makes this part of the forest dangerous, the Cannis Lupis, a large wolf-like creature, about three fourth's of Beyern's hight.

'-Huh, that's not supposed to be here. Wasn't there a Breyklir habitat close by?'

He smiled slightly, and took out ring 2, which he had built up as a compressed version, equal to ring 1's compression; Meaning 24 mana inside it.

Then he compressed it with all his might while taking out his sword, then compressed it even more while it started to rush towards me, then he manifested it and finally sho- "Ryder, stop!"

Beyern's smile did not stop as he noticed the Canis Lupus' halting, unmanifesting his mana and then continuing to compress it with all his leftover might.

He sheathed his sword as he saw the beast back off with the voice, now recognizeable as female called for it once more "Ryder, it's dangerous, please come back!"

The woman burst through the foliage, seeing Beyern before her and the Cannis Lupus, who, Beyern decerned, was probably called 'Ryder'.

She seemed cautious, something that displeased him. Cautious people were harder to befriend, trick, con, manipulate, and a whole load of other things. Some people might be able to use that caution against her, but Beyern wasn't proficient enough for that.

"H-Hello, I'm sorry for Ryder- H-he was just excited, please don't hate him." She said, Beyern spotting a wristband with the mark of the church of the god of the hunt, aka. The church of Xenxilir, god of hunting and taming.

Why did he spot it? He had a habit of passively looking over the body of any person of interest for any information, such as if they were part of a church "No worries, you must be a new faithful, yes?"

"H-how did you know?" She asked, quite a bit shocked, not catching on to the language he was using, and what it meant.

His smile lightened in intensity, showing a bit of displeasure "Do you not know? Priests of Xenxilir are able to gain a skill to automatically know if another is a part of the herd." He specifically spoke in refined and formal language, again indicating at something indirectly, twice over if you counted his words too.

The woman's eyes strained slightly, after which she quickly said "I apologize, father, for not recognizing you."

Though, the moment he heard those words, his ever present smile decreased "Know your manners, little cub." Slowly reaching to his side, though not indicating he would grab his dagger, he still prepared to throw it at her in an instant.

Seeing she started to shake a bit more, and even even smaller pupils, he mentally smiled 'Let the play begin.'