16 16 Academic Endeavours (1/2)
The day started off with Corvig showing Donis the ”classroom” that they'll be staying in. Calling it a classroom was a bit of a stretch. It was closer to a modified office with a single desk and chair for Donis. The rest of the office was filled with neatly stacked books, papers and what looked like metallic trinkets.
It was a spacious enough room, with a sun facing window outfitted with blackout curtains. The floor was made of a teal soft looking carpet, and the walls were once again littered with bookcases. 'It seems the people of this world love their bookcases,' mused Donis.
”First things first Donis, even though you are gifted, you have no prior knowledge, nor do you have any experience in studying. So we shall start off with the absolute basics for you. Here,” said Corvig as he passed Donis a book titled ”Mana Manipulation – Classroom Basics”.
It was a medium sized violet book with a leather-bound cover. Donis eyed it curiously wondering what ideas or gifts of wisdom it would hold. He knew he couldn't expect much from it, seeing how it was the classroom basics, which is aimed at 10 year old kids since that's when kids normally learned magic. Still, it was better than not having anything at all.
”I want you to read it all. There will be words you do not understand here so you are required to ask me for their definitions, or uses. I will guide you through this book, and so each time you finish a chapter, I'll test you on it's contents and provide further, and deeper, explanations that should help you going into the next chapter. A lot of this though will be self study, because I have my own research to get to,” said Corvig taking a seat behind his desk, opening one of the drawers.
Donis nodded, opened the book and began reading with a drunken fervour. It helped that he knew how to read better than even his older sisters. One of the positives of actually being an adult mentally.
-[Basic Mana Emission 1/100]-[0% EXP] [The ability to use your will to influence mana from within] Ability Gained-
'Oh a new ability based on what I've read? So not only does it show that I've understood the concept enough, but the exact name of the skill being taught. Interesting,' thought Donis studiously.
The book described the basics of mana manipulation. How to sense it within, how to move it, how to control it, how to sense it around you, how to bring it in, how to change it and how to finally emit it from oneself. These uses seemed arbitrary at the beginning, but once combined with some practice and dedication you could use this level of magic to achieve very basic effects.
Donis read the book in silence for hours, with Corvig stealing glances at him while making a mental note of how devoted Donis seemed to studying. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Donis saw that if he used his will to shape the mana, or guide it in a certain way, he would be able to move very light objects, or even change the colour of his mana emission. He looked at his hand startled when he changed his mana emission to red from his normal gold.
'It's actually this easy to manipulate it? I thought this would take me years like it always does in those novels' chuckled Donis excitedly. He began using his incredibly limited mana pool to affect the objects around him. He first cycled his mana emission through the colours of the rainbow, then he noted that it took him 3 mana to fully cycle the colours.
-[Mana: 62/65]-
'Hmm, that feels sort of expensive, but I guess it might be cheap since I already have 65 mana without even leveling up yet. I'll ask Corvig about this when I run out of mana to practice with,' thought Donis.
Using his will, he ended up levitating a pencil using his mana emission condensing under it, then noted it drained 2 mana per second (2MP/s). Then did it again while changing colours and noticed it drained 5MP/s.
- Ding!
[Basic Mana Control 2/100] - [2% EXP]-
'Oh hell yeah, finally, a level up in that elusive skill. It's such an addictive feeling, I can genuinely feel a minute change in my ability to control it... I suppose that's why it's called that.. anyway. Hmm, changing the intrinsic state of the emission seems to up the cost considerably. I wonder if this affects users who use spells that combine multiple elements. Fuck, every time I explore magic, I'm just filled with more questions,' grumbled Donis.