Ambushed

The clarity lasted for a few moments before Lucas felt a piercing pain. Since the pain was unexpected and as such he didn't prepare for it he had lost focus as the mana around him dissipated. Seeing what happened Azavius rushing over and helped Lucas off the ground as he was still holding onto his throbbing head.

"That was a rookie mistake, under normal circumstances it would not be as bad as you are feeling right now and would at most be a slight annoyance. Given how much mana was attracted to you though and how much was let in during those few moments the backlash was much more severe." Azavius stated with a serious face.

After speaking Azavius made a bottle of purple liquid appear from seemingly nowhere before handing it to Lucas to drink. Lucas immediately chugged the bottle hoping it would relieve his pain and fortunately it did. He heaved a sigh of relief as the pain faded away before thanking Azavius for the liquid.

Azavius waved his hand as if it was nothing before speaking again, "In the future, you must guide the mana in smaller amounts at a slower pace. Imagine your body as a stretchable container able to stretch limitlessly over time. In the beginning though one must allow their body to adapt to the current amount of mana they can hold before trying to store more."

Lucas nodded his head as he was able to somewhat understand what Azavius said and once again thanked him. "For the time being until you have more precise control over the mana that gathers around, you must first try to control the mana outside your body forming it into different spells directly before trying to store it inside." Azavius said.

"In reality, we do not even need to store mana in our bodies to use it we only do so because of the fact that mana does not center around us as it does you. If we were to try to form a spell directly then it would end up being weak and unstable. I believe that the only benefit to you storing mana would be the passive benefits it brings which I am sure you must have already felt.".

Lucas nodded his head as he recalled the marvelous feeling as though he was floating and seeing so clearly that the world now looked washed out compared to that moment. Seeing Lucas and Azavius interact with each other so naturally, the rest of the grand mages regretfully smiled and left the room shaking their heads at themselves.

Unknowingly Azavius had already snatched the talented young lad right out from under them as they were now essentially disciple and master. They were not too upset though as each of them rushed back to their rooms thinking that the phenomena they just witnessed may be the key they need to understand the way the world works allowing them to make progress in comprehending laws.

Azavius had a slight smile on the edge of his lips as he noticed the way each of the elders left without saying anything essentially giving up in the race to try and grow close to the young lad. After a while of talking Lucas stood up as he prepared to try and control mana externally.

Lucas once again entered a state of focus but this time purposely did not focus too much so that he could retain awareness of his surroundings. Due to his lack of complete focus, this time around mana gathered around Lucas in a smaller amount than before not creating as large of a phenomenon than before.

Of course when in relation to Lucas mana gathering in a "smaller" amount would still be considered quite a large amount by any other mage. Lucas began imagining a ball of water in his head and exerted his will on the mana that surrounded him. As he did so a small amount began to congeal in front of him.

Although the mana was indeed responding to his will the water did not look anything like the stable ball of water in his mind. Instead, it kept spilling to the floor and reforming creating a mess and looking more like an overflowing bucket rather than a ball of water.

Witnessing this Azavius slightly laughed before stopping Lucas, "I am glad to see that you aren't a complete freak when it comes to talent if you were already able to control mana precisely you may have even ended up being officially recognized as a Grand Council magician."

Lucas nodded as he suddenly felt mentally exhausted. Feeling mana was one thing but trying to exert your will on it was another thing that required large amounts of mental endurance. Seeing this Azavius sighed, "Go on and rest for the rest of the day and come back tomorrow. Once you are able to precisely control mana you can start trying to make your first wand.".

Lucas nodded his head as he stood up and bowed before thanking Azavius for the last time and leaving the room. After Lucas left the room Azavius's face turned slightly serious as he stroked his beard and began pondering, 'When he initially tried leading the mana into his body it was blocked by something, it felt... demonic.

The others seemed too distracted to feel it but it was definitely there. I've been extremely thorough though he is definitely human, but if this is the case then what exactly is going on here?'. Lucas continued his way through the temple completely ignorant to the fact that he may be exposed.

Lucas was quite hungry as he had ended up spending all day practicing magic. He decided to look for Barthiz so they could get something to eat together but she was nowhere to be found. He shrugged his shoulders before going to get something to eat.

Lucas had a difficult time enjoying dinner as he was being given fierce looks by the mages and apprentices around him. After he was finished eating he quickly cleaned up and headed to his room looking forward to getting some good sleep. On his way back Lucas entered an empty hallway where he was ambushed by a lone student.

The student smirked before telling him that didn't belong here and that if he didn't leave that night he would make sure he would die the next day. Lucas was unintimated as slightly grumpy due to his feeling of tiredness. He just wanted to go to his room and get a good nights sleep.

Lucas merely told the student to fuck off before trying to proceed forward. The student had an ugly expression when he heard this as he pulled a wand from his robe channeling mana into it and drawing a backward P in the air along with a half circle behind it.

Upon finishing the drawing he forcefully hit it with his wand causing metal to gather and form into a sharp spear before being sent flying at Lucas. Lucas used his immense strength and agility to dodge the spike before rushing at the student with an enraged expression on his face.

The student was shocked by Luca's speed before focusing and channeling water particles as he drew another symbol in the air causing water to appear just in front of Lucas. Unable to react in time due to the fact that he was running so quickly he ended up slipping into the water being unable to stop himself.

The student smirked before calling Lucas a retard and sending numerous small rocks flying in his direction at high speeds. Lucas could only raise his arms in front of his face due to his lack of friction keeping him from moving out of the way.

Lucas felt searing pain as the rocks penetrated his skin. Not giving Lucas any time to do anything just as he reached the end of the water he sent a larger spike of rock towards Lucas at extreme speeds. Lucas was immediately impaled and sent flying to the end of the hallway.

The student laughed and spoke, "Told you I'd make you die." before disappearing around a corner. Rage burned in Lucas's heart as he burned the students face into his mind while removing the rock from his abdomen. Lucas coughed up blood as he weakly stood up after removing the spike.

He held his abdomen as he walked forward weakly knowing in his mind that the only reason he was alive was because of the demon power inside him. He had a strong urge to unleash his demonic power to the fullest extent before slowly killing the student in the most painful way he could imagine.

He managed to control himself and push the urge down though. He decided that he would grow stronger in magic before annihilating that ignorant student using magic, 'It will be more satisfying that way anyway.', Lucas thought to himself before reaching the area where his and Barthiz's rooms were.

Upon reaching his room he decided he would knock on Barthiz's door to see if she had come back yet and to get help treating his wound. He was slightly disappointed when he received no answer as he turned around and entered his own room. He carefully sat down at a chair and removed his robes before bandaging his injury.

Lucas was worried how he would explain the state the robes were now in but when he looked at them again the blood was completely gone and the hole closed right in front of his eyes. Lucas rubbed his eyes as he looked again believe he may have been hallucinating the first time.

He heaved a sigh of relief when he discovered he was not. Lucas closed his eyes and tried focusing lightly on the mana around him. As mana gathered around him he pulled on a very small amount and directed it to the external area around his wound. The idea had randomly popped into his head as he was sitting in the chair.

As the mana came in contact with the external part of the wound he suddenly felt itchy and when he looked down he could no longer see the wound. Although it was no longer visible he could tell that under the skin the wound was still there.

Both by the indentation in his skin and the sore feeling he had from the area. He did not care about this though as he only wanted to conceal the wound in case it wasn't healed by the morning and also keep blood from getting on his bedding.

Lucas dispersed the mana before laying on the bed in a slow an careful manner as he tried not to aggravate the wound. After laying in bed both mental and physical exhaustion hit him like a wagon as he fell into a deep sleep.

Lucas did not sleep well during the first half of the night as he kept dreaming about the statue he saw on the first day he arrived. In his dream, he was constantly being chased by the statue. He did not know why he would have such nightmares but after having the same dream a few times and waking up he began to be lucid during his dreams as he realized it wasn't real.

After realizing he was dreaming all the fear went away as he confronted the statue that had been chasing him. He called out to it and approached it with a pissed expression on his face as he hurled all sorts of insults at it. The statue turned to him highlighting Lucas in the huge lights coming from its eyes.

Lucas was blinded for a moment before everything began evaporating into darkness as Lucas once again forgot he was asleep as he stopped having nightmares and passed the rest of the night by peacefully. In another area inside the temple Azavius suddenly opened his eyes as he laughed loudly, 'That lad has quite the way with words.'.