After getting a thorough beating by Alaric, not that I needed one after just blowing both of us up.
The old man explained to me a bit more about the elements and why the explosion happened.
"Listen, this time retard, it's not as simple as spewing flames from your fingertips the second you become a mage. It takes time and effort to even begin to master the simplest of spells. What you just did was plain retarded."
Alaric kept hitting my forehead with his pointer finger over and over while he spoke.
"You tried to impose your will on something you knew nothing about. You tried to command something you don't understand in the slightest. Would you listen to some random civilian on the street telling you to fix the way you walk?"
I interrupted.
"What's walking ha-"
I didn't get to finish before he interrupted me.
"Before you ask a dumbass question, let me finish first, you impatient brat. Maybe I'll answer your question while I speak!?"
I gave him an apologetic nod and scratched my neck in embarrassment.
"Good, now first things first. The explosion happened because of what I said earlier. You tried to command the mana to produce a flame for you. The trick is to guide mana, not command it. Don't get me wrong, you're still imposing your will upon mana for it to listen to your requests, but mana is constantly around us, floating; it's everywhere, and it's dormant."
He took another breath and walked around me, waving his hands in the air.
"To guide mana is to take it out of its dormant state and change its task to what you want to accomplish, that being a fireball or creating spikes out of the earth, etc."
"That's why I said it's like some stranger telling you that you're walking wrong. Mana lives in its dormant state. Who are you to command it differently?"
And then Alaric, who was initially facing away from me, did a complete 180 and pointed his finger at me.
"But to be honest, boy, I'm surprised you caused such an explosion. Most of the time, it takes months to even begin to start communicating with mana, let alone command it to a degree that it'd retaliate, causing you to lose control and cause an explosion. It's almost impossible. Well, at least I thought so before it just happened right in front of me."
"It's impressive to be honest, it means your innate magical talent is much higher than I initially presumed hmmm. Interesting indeed. I think this is the only time I'll ever be happy that something exploded in my face."
I was still processing the information about how to command, wait, no, that's not right. How to guide mana. I shot Alaric another question.
"You said I have to guide mana to get my desired result, so does that mean every element needs to be guided differently?"
Alaric smiled, a booming smile I've never seen before.
"Yes, good question! Every element varies, for example, fire, you need to compress the mana as much as you can, in a sense, the more you condense it the hotter the reaction you'll receive, and like the rest of the elements, you need to guide the mana along with your will, and imagine the result of that combination.
The others follow the same principles, but vary in the guiding process, imagination, and implementation of will are always crucial, though.
Wind mana likes to be free and sharp; it's guided in fast bursts.
Water mana is smooth; an example you'd understand is my swordsmanship. The way it flows into each move after the other seemingly in a cycle.
Earth mana is rough; it's easier to guide if you have an exact shape in mind, but it's harder to guide without precise images.
Dark and light mana are similar; they both should be approached with a calmness and delicate approach.
To use light for healing or darkness for corrosion is a bit too complicated for you right now. Same with illusion magic and divination magic. You'll learn more about it at Ashborn.
I'll explain the other elements at a later date."
He collected himself and then continued.
Trying to digest all the information the old man just told me, I couldn't help but admit I was a little overwhelmed. I wanted to start small, no, I needed to start small.
"Would it be a bad idea to start with fire?"
I asked.
"Mhm, considering the earlier reaction, let's attempt something a little more subtle. Try water. Remember what I told you earlier: Be smooth with your mana manipulation, and guide it with your will. Don't rush or compress the mana. Just imagine the result and guide it; it'll do the rest on its own."
Alaric gave me another smile.
"Go ahead, give it a try."
Still standing, I reach my hands out and make a cupping formation with my hands.
I wasn't trying to create a water blast after all, just a little bit of water.
I guided the mana produced by my twilight circle out of my body and right above my hands.
I willed for the mana to create water, and I imagined a stream running constantly in a gentle and calm flow.
And then what can only be described in one word happened.
Magic.
Water formed in the space I imagined. It couldn't have been more than a flask's worth, but it poured from nothing. I just created water out of thin air.
Letting my surprise interrupt my focus, I instantly lost the connection, and the water stopped forming, but that did nothing to quell my excitement.
"Alaric, did you see that! I did it! I made water out of nothing!!"
Alaric walked over and ruffled my hair.
"I don't think you understand what you just accomplished. Mages struggle to summon elements until the dusk rank. Twilight mages are usually too inexperienced to summon any type of element, no matter how small, and if they do, it's because of incantations, or chants for short."
I could see Alaric was going to continue, but I couldn't stop myself from asking.
"What's chants?"
Alaric put on a thoughtful face and then said.
"It's simply a sequence of hand motions and words, usually a sentence or two, that'll help with the process of creating spells. Most nobles guide their children by giving them chants to practice."
"So at Ashborn Academy, you'll see a lot of children making signals with their hands, or saying weird phrases as they point their hands at you."
I asked him two questions this time.
"Why didn't you teach me chants? And will I be at a disadvantage without them at school?"
Alaric answered without skipping a beat.
"No true mage at lower levels requires chants, boy. They're meant as a guide, a tutorial of sorts. But nowadays, almost all noble children and even commoners use them like it's the correct way to use magic. I'll answer your question with this: if your opponent in a life-or-death battle is standing in front of you, making signals with their hands or taking their time announcing their spell, what would you do?"
I thought about it for a moment, thinking it was a trick question, but then simply said..
"I'd smack him across the face with my sword if they were making hand signals, and if they were using words, I'd simply gain an advantage because I'd know what spell would be coming ahead of time, or at least the element."
Alaric laughed.
"Good answer, boy. Yes, exactly my point. At a certain point, magic spells are crucial in life-or-death fights and at an even higher level, some use chants for giant spells, but for a young magus, simply having superior physical abilities and skill will win you a fight ten times out of ten. You won't reach higher ranks if you rely on chants. No mage reaches the second circle while still using chants for basic spells, only big ones."
I replayed those words in my head a couple of times. Alaric might be annoying and lazy, but he's a second circle magus at a very young age, and any serious advice from him is something I'll always try and remember.
Alaric continued.
"Anyways, not teaching you chants was more of me looking out for you, but I'm very proud that you managed to summon water so easily. We have about a month until you have to leave for Ashborn."
He tapped his fingers on his arm.
"In that time frame, I want you to be able to cast at least a couple spells somewhat effectively, and effectively means you can't just stand there like a retard getting ready to be smacked; you need to be moving and constantly defending with your sword, attacking even."
I grimaced, knowing what words were going to come next, because I already knew.
Alaric gave a huge smile, and his eyes went into little slants.
"This calls for a new training routine."
End of chapter 6