89 Chapter 89 Training The Novices (2/2)
(ABOVE SKILLS ARE CONSUMED BY GRAND SKILL MANA CONTROL.)
(9 HOURS OF PROFICIENCY HAVE BEEN ADDED TOWARDS MANA CONTROL.)
(YOU CAN NOW REPAIR, CONSTRUCT, AND DESIGN MANA CIRCUITS IN OTHER INDIVIDUALS. RACIAL FAMILIARITY APPLIES.)
(YOU CAN NOW LEND AND DRAIN MANA FROM OTHER MAGES IN YOUR ZONE OF CONTROL. WILLING SUBJECTS ARE AT 100% EFFICIENCY. UNWILLING SUBJECTS RESIST WITH THEIR WILL VERSUS YOURS MODIFIED BY YOUR SKILL WITH MANA CONTROL.)
Joseph opened his eyes and stared at the mana slowly circulating inside Stephan. It took weeks for him to get to this point. His circuit was still weak, but would grow stronger with every practice. Having basic mana breath provided a nearly constant strengthening effect even if he didn't practice, but it would be stupid to rely on that alone. Stephan breathed out and opend his eyes.
”Wow. I can feel the difference in the mana inside.”
Joseph smiled.
”Welcome to the true benefits of being a mage. Normal humans can learn runes and even some simple spells but will never advance to mana circulation or generate a mana heart without possessing magery.”
Turning to Derek, he said, ”You're next. I have the hang of this now.”
Stephan paused.
”Wait, you mean you never did that before?”
Joseph looked at him with large round eyes. ”Of course not. I've been hiding that I'm a mage. I'm only 7 after all.”
”Then, how did you know how to do it?”
”Oh, I figured it out just now. That's why it took so long. I bet I can figure out Derek's in half the time.”
Stephan whispered to himself, ”Of course, Master Joseph could do that. He's a genius.”
Hmm. It's not the normal, 'As expected of William's son,' but whatever.
Derek had a mana circuit just slightly different from Stephan's. As Joseph started working on it, he was thrilled it took less then half the time. Surely, that was worth cookies. Stella agreed and disappeared to get some. Derek and Stephan both agreed they needed some time to adjust to their new circuits, and skipped out on sharing the cookies with them. Neither Stella nor Joseph minded one bit.
August 13-28
Chug and Tekaun were sending reports every day. It took half a day on a fast horse, a full day on a carriage, or a little over a day on a loaded wagon. Now that Derek had more magical staying power, the roads were being built so much more quickly. It took hundreds of trained men to replace what he could do now. They were making forms and filling them with mud, sand or the dirt from the sewer excavation, and having Derek cast EARTH TO STONE. It's not the best solution but without being able to get the quarry set up before winter it was a solution.
Joseph was spending an hour or so every night focusing on the pure EARTH rune. It appeared that training the base rune, slowly pulled up every spell in the family that you know, to the level below the base rune. It made Selena's existence more understandable. She only focused on FIRE, but it was at master, or grand master level, so all of her fire spells were naturally pulled up to at least advanced levels. The other mages that swore to him, were able to see a demonstration by Stephan on breath. His mana came out faintly green, but you have to look for it.
It reminded Joseph of lightly tinted gla.s.s, honestly. Now that things were truly running smoothly again, he had less need to oversee the city construction. It was time to science-up both of his main apprentices.
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