Arden’s head ached as he opened his eyes. The sun was shining on his back and he hadn’t even managed to get his shirt off before he had fallen asleep. He had a horrible taste in his mouth and his back was stiff from sleeping in such a bad position but he pulled himself up and rubbed his face. His mind still reeled at the knowledge that had been forced into it. He looked again at his hands and as if on queue a series of spells came to mind. Simple ones meant to serve as initial teaching aids.
He took a deep breath and chanted softly to himself, saying words that before tonight he didn’t know, and to his surprise he felt the hair on the back of his hand stand on end as an electrical current arced between his fingertips. He looked at it with a grin and then noticed that he had gained 3 experience for his basic magic talent and 3 experience for his overall character level. That was a surprise, he did not expect to get character experience for practice tasks.
This wasn’t the first time the system had imparted knowledge to him like this. When he gained his farming talent and its augments he had been flooded with knowledge, but this was the first time that the knowledge he had gained had been so utterly alien to him.
Mina had explained how magic worked before. On their trip back from the dungeon she went over it all again to him a second time, trying to make him feel better about the situation. Getting these talents made what she had told him make more sense.
The card was just the entrance to magic. Spell cards gave you access to becoming a spellcaster, but having a card would open up a wider variety of magics. Mina had a water magic card, a light magic card, and a ward card. So she could manipulate water, light, and raw force. She didn’t have an overt healing card. Instead she blended her water and light magics into healing. She couldn’t heal as quickly as someone with a healing card, but the cards didn’t define her magic.
In the same way, Arden’s magic wasn’t limited to just lightning. He lifted his hand and focused his mind on the knowledge given to him by the talent. Chanting softly he waved his hand from left to right slowly, and a gust of wind ruffled the blankets on his bed. He watched as in his vision a small meter appeared to the left side, opposite of where his health meter would appear when he was wounded. The small blue meter began to drain as he fiddled with the simple magics.
Experience Gained:
Basic Air Magic
At the same time the green meter at the bottom of his vision, denoting his stamina, appeared, showing him that the magic consumed both mana and stamina if he used it repeatedly.
This made sense, as he had seen Mina panting heavily many times after battle when she had been forced to lean on her magical talents repeatedly. The stamina returned quickly, but the mana did not. He watched it for several moments before it ticked up from 14 to 15 points. And nearly half a minute more before it ticked up from 15 to 16, his limit. Again he used the simple practice spells and again felt mana flowing out of him. After repeating the spell the third time his stamina ticked down once, and then two points the fourth time he cast the simple dweomer.
“The more I use it, the more taxing it gets” He reasoned and that made sense too.
Experience Gained:
Basic Air Magic
Attribute Experience Gained:
Stamina
Intelligence
Now that was welcomed. He had wondered how he would level his intelligence card, knowing that it would be the foundation of his magic and the source of his mana points. But how to exercise the mind was a more difficult concept than strength or stamina had been.
“This won’t be quite as hard as I thought” He said to himself. He continued allowing the electricity to crackle across his hands, smiling at the new sensation when a scream erupted from below. Like a shot Arden was up, moving down the narrow staircase. He nearly fell down the stairs into the kitchen just as his sister, Talia, dragged their father into the house, Trin followed behind crying, trying to help their father. He was bleeding from his leg badly and Arden rushed over to take their father’s weight as Talia rushed to the sink, grabbing a raggedy towel they used for dishes. Ebrin grabbed Trin and put her on top of the table, which was unusual and made her look him in the eyes.
“Trin, it’s ok, stay ontop of the table for now ok” He said and she sniffed, trying to fight back the tears of youth. Talia wrung out the rag in an attempt to clean it and soaked it with fresh water just before she rushed back and wrapped it around her father’s leg, knotting it tight. Ebrin yelled at the pain and levered himself into a chair at the table, grabbing Arden and pulling him close.
“Your brother is still out there. It’s a damn woppletinger. GO GET HIM!” He said, snarling against the pain in his leg as his daughter started pouring water on his wounds. Arden bolted for the wall next to the door, picking up his sword and shield. He wasn’t wearing his studded leather armor, but his heavy leather jerkin counted as basic armor to the system, which was better than nothing. As he stepped outside all three of his statistic bars flashed into view, meaning that there was danger nearby. His health, stamina, and mana were all full and several new icons flickered at the top of his field of view. He ignored them as he made his way around the side of the house and towards the field.
The farmhouse was only about twenty yards from the large field. As he ran his head was on a swivel. It only took him a few moments to find his brother, hanging out of a tree, beneath him a rabbit-like creature was doing everything it could to get at the boy. His brother was bleeding from his leg too and it kept him from levering himself up into the tree fully. The sight of his brother wounded added speed to Arden’s steps and he did his best to stay quiet. Hallidan saw him and resisted the urge to call out as Arden used the tall wheat to approach. The Woppletinger snapped its teeth at the dangling boy just as Arden broke cover and slammed his shield into the rabbit.
The Woppletinger was huge for a rabbit, coming up to Arden’s waist. Other than its giant size the rabbit was normal save for a set of deer like antlers erupting from its head. He hunched down and put his shield into it, then his shoulder into his shield, blasting it from its feet and causing it to roll away from the tree. Arden put his shield up and pushed into his brother’s back, helping him get up into the tree fully so he could straddle the bottom branch.
“It hurt dad!” His brother said and Arden lowered the shield.
“I know, he’s inside with Talia and Trin. She’s looking after him” He said, lowering himself into a defensive stance. The rabbit found its feet and chittered at him. It began to warble and two glowing spears of ice formed on either side of its antlers. Arden lifted his shield and suddenly a smirk crossed his face. He shifted his weight and held the shield slightly differently. He felt the mana begin to pool in his arms and legs, seeping out of his skin. Looking up he saw the two spears of ice lance towards him, slamming into the shield. He felt the mana in his body reinforcing the shield and his clothing.
The creature expected the pair of ice spears to have more effect and charged in after them, anticipating that Arden would be off balance, what it didn’t expect was for Arden to activate his shield block skill. The shield shimmered for a split second and the monster bounced off. Leaning in after Arden activated his slash ability. His sword shimmered similarly and with a single swing one of the woppletinger’s antlers flew free of its body and Arden backed up.
Again the woppletinger began building up one of the ice spears, only able to create one now that its antler was severed. But Arden felt something, felt the magic of the severed antler. He smiled and activated his lightning arc for the first time, targeting the antler. The magic poured out of him and the antler began to glow. It lifted into the air and the rabbit didn’t notice it until it was too late. A streamer of electricity arced away from the antler slamming into the Woppletinger. The rabbit let out a chittering screech and collapsed, smoking, and laid still.
Arden watched as nearly a quarter of his mana vanished into the card to recharge it and realization dawned on him. The spell cards stored enough mana for a single use, and drained from him to reset themselves. This changed how he thought about them. His physical skills consumed stamina to activate, while the spells seemed to be the opposite. They would activate, then require mana to recharge to be used again.
“Well, that was easier than I expected” Arden said, looking up at his brother, who was already climbing down.
“Father, we need to help him” His brother half squeaked as Arden helped get him out of the tree. He looked his brother over and found a small tear in his pants but only a light scratch on his leg. He would have Mina look at it later, monsters could cause some pretty nasty infections even from light scratches. They ran back to the house and found their sister pouring hot water on their father’s leg.
“Is it dead?” He asked, grimacing against the pain.
“Yes sir” Arden said flatly, looking at the leg.
“Ok go get Mina, we’re gonna need her” He said, and Arden didn’t even say yes sir as he bolted out the door, sprinting down the path towards the village. As he did he brought up his system announcements.
Lesser Woppletinger Defeated
Experience Gained
Skill Experience Gained
Talent Experience Gained
Looking at the numbers he noted that this one use of his new shielded caster Talent had gained nearly a quarter of its first level. This wasn’t entirely surprising, as he had seen other talents grow that quickly at first. His mana had already recouped from the use of lightning bolt and he was ready to fight again. Surprisingly he had only taken two hit points worth of damage from the attacks. Before he would have been far more wounded and the difference felt shocking to him. He could feel the pain in his arm where the shield strapped to him, but it was minor.
He ran flat out to the village center and started running towards Mina’s family home, only to skid to a stop when he heard her call out to him.
“ARDEN!” She said and he nearly stumbled as he tried both to stop and to turn at the same time. He crashed into the corner of the tavern and bounced off, nearly going head over heels before coming to an awkward stop, turning to find her running up.
“Mina! I need your help. My dad is hurt” He said and she reached him just as he finished arresting his momentum. She started and pulled him back onto the balls of his feet.
“Where? HOW?” She said, seeming to catch on quickly.
“Woppletinger, ambushed them from the field. His leg” Arden said with a ragged breath as she pulled him back into running. They made their best speed towards the farm but by the time they got there even Arden, with the benefit of his stamina card, was starting to flag. Twice he had received notifications that his stamina card had received experience.
They pelted into the farmhouse to find Arden’s father sitting in one of the dining room chairs with his leg propped on another, his sister holding a towel against it covered in blood.
That, he had expected, what he had not expected was to find the mayor there, harassing his father and insulting his inability to ‘maintain a decent standard of safety for his children’.
Mina immediately grabbed onto Arden’s arm as the mayor continued speaking.
“You have responsibilities to the village Ebrin, and you will fulfill them before you take care of your spawn, do you understand me?” He said and Ebrin grimaced. Arden could see he was doing it to avoid glowering at the Mayor.
“Where is it?” The mayor asked.
“Where is what?” Arden asked, sounding a little less respectful than he probably needed to be.
“The item dropped by the monster's body. A horn. Your criminal father is not allowed to own property, especially magical property. Every scrap and piece of trash you have in this hovel belongs to the village. Now, before I grow angry, where is it” He said with entirely too much scorn, like he was talking to a petulant toddler.
“The horn came off when I was fighting it, it’s outside near the tree. I left it on the ground because father was injured”
“I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR EXCUSES! YOU SNIVELING SON OF A TRAITOR!” The mayor said, suddenly furious. He took two steps towards Arden and then seemed to sense something.
“You are growing stronger… boy” He said, looking at him with narrowed eyes.
“Perhaps next time I will send the sheriff to make sure you live up to your promises” He said, sweeping past them and out the door, presumably to collect the horn.
Arden fumed, and Mina began rubbing his upper arm.
“I can’t heal your father if I have to hold you back, calm down Arden” She said and he took a deep breath. Moments later she was at his father’s side, instructing his sister to lift the towel. The wound was deep, and jagged and she sucked in a breath.
“Definitely a job for magic” She said, holding her hands over the laceration. Her eyes shimmered for a moment as she activated the spell. Her hands began to glow gold and the light shimmered on his father’s leg. They watched as the flesh began to knit itself back together, but at the same time the tattoo on Ebrin’s arm began to glow. They knew it would happen, that the brand would prevent the magic from fully healing the wound. It was part of how it limited his use of his cards and also limited any magic used on him. The wound knit itself mostly closed and the bleeding stopped entirely but his father would still need weeks of healing the normal way before he was back to normal.
Arden looked at the wound and the problem struck him. The harvest was set to begin in a week, and with his father unable to stand or work the entire harvest was in danger.
“The harvest” He said and he locked eyes with his father, who grimaced.
“You’ll have to take over for me boy, your brother and sister will help. We can’t fall behind, the village needs the wheat” He said, looking at Mina.
“Thank you girl, it doesn’t hurt anymore” He said and Mina nodded, returning to stand by Arden.
“I can talk to my father, maybe get some help” He said but Ebrin cut her off.
“You know full well the mayor won’t allow that. He wants me to fail. We have to do this ourselves without any help or he’ll try to have me extended again. What I need you to do is teach my boy how to develop his air magic, so he can use it to help in the harvest” He said, locking eyes with her. She nodded and turned to Arden.
“Tomorrow you’re coming to my home, we work on the air magic right up to the moment the mayor calls for harvest” She said and he nodded.
“Thank you Mina” Arden said, not knowing what else he could do to pay her back.
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“Thank you for always keeping us safe in the dungeons” She said smiling, before spinning on her heels and leaving.
“Eat your heart out Cole” Talia smirked, sharing a look with her father, who fought back a laugh.
“What does that mean?” Arden said, but neither of them wanted to say anything about it. Talia helps their father up and they get him moved to the porch. Talia goes inside to take care of Trinny while Hallidan and Arden sat next to him.
“Well this is going to be a bad couple of months” Ebrin said, adjusting his leg as best he could, it still hurt, he had just told Mina that it didn’t.
“How are we going to do this?” Arden asks, settling into the chair. His father leans back and seems to relax a bit.
“The first thing you need to do is see if we can get some basic air magic. Even if we can’t cut the wheat that way, if you can learn some basic air magic it will help us get it out of the field. You know that’s where the majority of the labor is, getting it baled and out of the field. Air magic can take some of the work out of that” He explained and Arden seemed to get the idea.
“There’s no telling if I’ll pick it up that quickly though, we need a plan if I don’t” He said and the others nodded.
“Well the plan is that if you don’t, we just have to do it the hard way, which will hurt, but is doable even with me wounded, hopefully in a week I can at least stand upright. Mina got the bleeding to stop and that’s the important part. Did you have an easier time killing the wolpertinger?” He asked, suddenly changing the subject.
“I used what I bought from the system yesterday and yes, I was able to defeat it without taking much damage at all” He explained and his father nodded.
“You know how it works, the more you use something the stronger it gets. So make as much use of your power as you can”
“Yes sir, but I have a question” He said, taking his turn to change the subject.
“And I might have an answer” His father said, rubbing his leg above the wound.
“Will we always have to put up with the Mayor?” He asked and his father laughed out loud.
“One day I hope we will not, but I give no guarantees boy. The mayor is a bastard, that is for sure, but he’s still doing what the king allows him to do, until that changes, he will do what he’s allowed, not what is right” he said, looking at the tattoo on his arm.
“So we’re powerless when he comes and takes things that could change our lives?” Arden asked, and his father looked away.
“You know that horn was worth enough to hire men to harvest the crops this year, could have changed everything” Arden pressed.
“I know boy, but things are the way they are, one day that bastard’s diet will kill him and we’ll get a new pompous bastard. It doesn’t change, that’s what I learned over all these years, things do not change” He said, looking at him finally.
“We endure, we’re going to harvest the crops and thumb our noses at the mayor and his sheriff” He grinned and Arden stood up.
“I suppose I should start practicing then” Arden said, moving out into the path of sand that surrounded the house, they pulled up any grass or growth to help prevent fire from spreading should there be a forest fire.
Sitting down, Arden took a deep breath and began to focus. He stopped for a moment and smirked. When he bought the basic air magic talent knowledge flooded his mind, and one of those bits of knowledge was a list of ways to train his magic. Sand was high on the list so he took a moment to flatten the sand in front of him before calling up his magic. Air magic was difficult to control, the talent’s wisdom had told him that compared to the other basic magics air was more difficult to control, and it recommended not focusing on control at first, but on power. To this goal he would push the sand around and try to blow it from one side to the other. He wouldn’t try to make piles yet, or do anything specific other than move it.
Calling up the magic he began to chant softly. The words came to mind even though no one had ever taught him. Holding his hand out the magic began to flow out of him and the sand began to stir. He felt his mana begin to drain away and immediately he tried to increase that flow. His breath became ragged quickly and less than a minute later his mana bottomed out and his spell fell apart.
Panting heavily he laid back in the sand. His brother and father began clapping and he laid there sweating profusely.
Experience Gained: Basic Air Magic
Basic Air Magic has reached level 2.
Stamina experience gained.
Intelligence experience gained.
Warning, Mana low, arcane stance disabled due to low mana pool.
That last alert made him realize something. He had to keep some of his mana if he wanted to be able to use the talent. It was potent, but he needed at least some mana in order to utilize it, and bottoming out would cause his defenses to suddenly plummet.
“Well that’s good to know” He told himself, watching his mana slowly replenish.
Arden managed to repeat the process, allowing his mana to fill up all the way, and then using it, four more times before he got incredibly hungry. In the process his Basic Air Magic increased to level 3 and he actually was closing in on increasing his Intelligence for the first time. But by the time he finished his practice the fifth time his sister was yelling at him to come in and eat.
Food was simple. Bread, a hearty soup made from the leftovers of yesterday’s celebratory meal, and a small beer that Trinny was not allowed to have. She was always mad about that but father had a rule, you weren’t allowed to have small beer until you were a teen.
He ate two bowls while they had the extra food and lumbered up to his room to sleep. His sleep was utterly dreamless and he was awoken with a start by a very angry Mina shaking him.
“I told you to be at my house in the morning Arden!” She said, pulling him to a sitting position. He was so tired he hadn’t even pulled a blanket on himself yet. He rubbed his face and looked at her.
“I spent some time yesterday practicing, you didn’t tell me it would make me sleep like the dead” He said and she giggled.
“Yea, magic does that, you’ll get used to it” She said heading downstairs and giving him time to change, which he did. Five minutes later he stumbled down into the dining room to find Mina sitting at the table with Talia giggling about something.
“And what are the two of you giggling about?” He asked, moving to the sink and pouring some water into it from a pitcher before washing his face.
“You of course” Talia smirked and Mina giggled.
“Oh, great” He says, sitting down and drinking some water.
“What level did you get basic air magic to?” She asks and he smirks.
“Just level two. It’s exhausting” He said and she nodded.
“I’ve been told air magic is hard, but it’s worth it” She said.
“Water magic is very labor intensive too” She said, holding up a hand. Arden’s mug of water slid across the table to her hand.
“You do it so easy though” He said, reaching over and taking it back.
“Because my basic water magic is at level seven. If we can get yours to five things will get much easier” She explained, standing up.
“Hurry up, we have a lot of work to do” She said, walking out.
Arden spent two minutes stuffing his face with as much bread as he could grab and drinking all the water at the table before popping out the front door trying to look like he had just done neither of those things.
“We’ll have food at my place silly” She smirked, walking towards the village. He caught up and settled himself.
“Well given how much magic I’m going to be doing today I think having some extra bread will help” He says and she seems to agree.
“Ok, we’re going to be working on two things, what other magic talents do you have?”
“Basic Air Magic and Basic Mana Manipulation” He says and she nods.
“Ok we’re working on mana manipulation first” She says and he looks at her like her head is on upside down.
“That’s pointless, I need air magic, not manipulation” He protests.
“No, you need your mana to regenerate quicker, so that you can put more work into air magic, and so that you can spend less mana to do more. If you’re constantly falling over cause you’re out of mana you won’t be able to harvest the crops. And yes, your sister told me what the plan was this morning” She said as they walked past her parent’s home. Behind the home was an area set up for Mina to practice her magic, complete with a set of tools, fresh water, and various other things she would need. The area was similarly kept devoid of plant life and the sand would be the medium that Arden used to practice his magic.
“So how am I supposed to train with mana manipulation then?” He said, looking around. Mina walked up to a table that had two chairs pulled up next to it. On the table sat a strange contraption. Two quartz crystals were suspended from strings so that they hung a few inches from one another.
“With this” She said, sitting in one chair, Arden took the other.
“Quartz and other similar crystals like amethyst can hold mana for a brief period. At first, we’re just going to use one crystal. I’m going to put some of my mana in it, and you will concentrate on trying to keep it from leaking out. Once you can keep the mana in the crystal, you will work on moving it from one to the other, and back. You’ll lose a lot in the transfer at first, but we’ll keep working on it until you can move it back and forth without any loss, which should be somewhere around level five” She explained.
“And I take it you will be quiet at first, but as I get better you’ll start distracting me?” He asked, seeming to get the goal here.
“Exactly” She said, reaching out and touching one end of the crystal. It shimmered blue for a moment and then started to fade back to its normal translucent white. When it did, she touched it again and this time Arden attacked it with his will, trying to hold the mana in. It was utterly useless. For the first five minutes he would press harder and harder with his will but it seemed that the more he tried, the more easily the mana would slip out of his control.
“The harder you squeeze the more it slips through your fingers. Be gentle you big oaf” She said with a smirk, touching it again. This time the crystal turned a deeper blue, as she put more mana into it. Arden took a deep breath and relaxed, holding his hand up and trying to be gentle. Again the mana flowed out, but this time he could feel it bumping up against his will, flowing around it not through it. He nodded.
Experience Gained:
Basic Mana Manipulation
“A little better, keep trying” She said, smiling. And the training began again. As he worked Arden realized that the mana would react to him. If his emotion was strong, it would react strongly, flowing around and through him. If he was calm, and just placidly applied his will, the mana would react in a more predictable manner. He made sure to make a mental note.
“Emotion gives you power, but calmness gives you control”
Experience gained:
Basic Mana Manipulation
Again she infused the crystal and this time something clicked in Arden’s mind. The mana still leaked out, but this time he was able to form a small barrier and it had to flow around it.
“Oh there we go” She said with a grin, touching the crystal again. This time Arden began forming more barriers, trying to make a box around the crystal and she frowned. He was missing something, but he didn’t know what. She liked that he had formed a plane that the mana could not pass, but didn’t like the idea of him forming more than one.
“This is easier than you’re making it Arden, you’re still trying to brute force it” She said, and again the crystal turned blue. Arden struggled with his plane, trying to make a small open topped box that the mana couldn’t flow out of, but then it struck him. She seemed to notice something and he took a deep breath.
She touched the gem again and this time Arden didn’t make a plane, he made a sphere. The mana flowed right through it, but Mina sensed it and smiled.
“Better”
Experience Gained:
Basic Mana Manipulation has reached level 2.
Attribute Experience Gained:
Intelligence
Again she touched the crystal and this time Arden really put his all into concentrating. The world seemed to drift away and he focused on the sensation he felt coming from the crystal. This time the sphere was large enough to encompass it, and he thought for a moment that he had it, but the mana ran out of the crystal and collected at the bottom of the sphere.
“Tsk… so close” She said with a smirk and his concentration shattered, the sphere with it, causing the mana to dissipate. She just smiled at him and touched the crystal.
Arden thought for a moment and the mana ran out of the crystal, but Mina could sense he was thinking and waited before touching it again.
“I have to keep it in the crystal, but to do so I need to make a barrier in the same shape as the crystal or it will just run out of any gaps I leave” He said and she nodded.
“That’s how I move it back and forth isn’t it, I have to make a barrier around the crystal that holds it in, but has a gap pointing at the other crystal, which is also surrounded by a barrier?” He said and the system told him he was right before Mina did.
Experience Gained:
Basic Mana Manipulation has reached level 3.
Attribute Experience Gained:
Intelligence has reached level 2.
“Exactly, the trick is moving it back, because you have to learn to manipulate the containment to alternatively hold and allow the mana past” She explained and he seemed to get it.
“Ok, so mana manipulation is in essence knowing where the mana wants to go, and either allowing it to, or holding it back based on what you need?”
Experience Gained:
Basic Mana Manipulation.
“Precisely” She said, holding up a slender finger towards the crystal, she locked eyes with Arden and he took a deep breath.
“Ok, let’s try again” He said, clapping his hands together. She touched the crystal and this time it turned an even darker blue. She was putting more mana into it to give him more time to work.
Arden concentrated and it seemed easier now, likely because his intelligence had leveled up. The barrier formed and he began molding it to the shape of the crystal, starting with the point where the mana flowed out, the tip pointing towards the other crystal. He molded the barrier around the entire length and it seemed to snap to the crystal’s shape as if it wanted to be there. Some of the mana leaked out, but that seemed impossible to stop, but when he was finished, the entire crystal was covered in a containment and it still glowed faintly blue.
Experience Gained:
Basic Mana Manipulation
Attribute Experience Gained:
Intelligence
Stamina
“Ok we have earned a break, we’ve been at this for almost two hours now” She said and Arden looked around, realizing the sun was much higher in the sky than it had seemed to have been only a few moments ago. Mina giggled.
“Yea, same thing happened to me the first time I tried this” She said, pointing at the crystal, Arden looked and it was clear again, his containment had shattered with his concentration.
She got up and went over to a small pump, getting them fresh water. Arden ran his hands over his face and drank.
“Thank goodness our first card is always stamina, or this would be utterly impossible” She said, drinking deeply. Arden noticed she was sweating, likely from having to put so much mana in the crystal over and over.
“Sorry I didn’t pick it up quicker” He said and she shrugged.
“Quicker than Cole did” She grinned. He was dumbfounded.
“Wait, I got this quicker than the ‘perfect son’ of the Vanhouse family?” He said with more scorn that it was probably worth. She laughed.
“Believe it or not, Cole is not naturally gifted at everything Arden. He’s had to work hard for the power he has, just as you did” She scolded him back.
“Yea, I guess, but you guys have all of… this” He said, gesturing around to the space made specifically for them to train, filled with expensive custom made equipment.
“I suppose that is true, how did you train anyway?” She asks, looking around.
“With my father, against my father, we cut down logs for me to train my attack skills on, it was slow going cause you don’t get the same experience gain against training dummies, and we had to do a lot of work just to get the system to recognize a log as a training dummy” At that she grimaced.
“Oh, well it worked, you’re probably stronger than anyone save Cole at this point” She said and Arden shrugged.
“Debatable”
“Well now you have a way to get stronger, and I’m going to help you. So let’s go back to this ok?” She says, looking at the crystals.
“When you do it this time, we’ll focus on trying to lose as little as possible in each trip between crystals ok?” She said and again Arden focused.
The next six hours passed just as quickly as the first two, and each time they stopped Arden was surprised at how rapidly he was progressing. By the time the sun began to hang low in the sky he had managed to reach level 5 in Mana Manipulation. Mina had guided him in finding an augment for the talent that increased the base regeneration rate of his mana by 50%. At the same time his basic air magic had improved to level two and she had aided him in finding an augment for that as well.
Improved Mana Regeneration
Augment
Increases base mana regeneration rate by 50%.
Electrical Subdivision
Augment
This augment adds additional spellcasting options relating to electricity magic.
He half walked, half stumbled home after promising Mina he would return in the morning to begin work on the true goal, his air magic.
