Chapter 28 Mana control 2

"That's a topic for another day, let's focus," Alfred said.

"I'm still amazed that at this age you can't feel Mana, children at the age of five are taken to be tested if they have an affinity to magic, and if they do, they are taken to the academy for training, which city did you grow up in?" Alfred asked.

"City...uhmmm... I'm from Woodville" Lewis replied, Woodville was the starting village he enter after starting deep dive.

"Isn't Woodville a small village close to whitewood forest?" Alfred asked.

"Yes"

"That's quite far from here, anyways let's begin, today's lesson is Mana control, and to control Mana you first learn about it, since you can already cast a spell, you'll have no trouble learning it," Alfred said.

"So what do I do?" Lewis asked.

"Mana is the essence that flows through all living and non-living things, connecting them to the fabric of the world. It can be harnessed and channeled to create magical effects, before you first need to learn to sense and control it, for example, cast a fireball toward that tree" Alfred said.

"I should cast a fireball?"

"Yes, I want to explain what Mana control is," Alfred said and Lewis did as he was told and faced the tree Alfred pointed.

[Fireball]

The flame hit the tree and created a black dent on the tree. Lewis turn towards Alfred but Alfred had his eyes closed and both of his palms rubbed against themselves.

[Fireball]

Alfred mumbled and a streak of flames was shot towards the tree, unlike Lewis's flame, it was refined into a sharp blade and pierced through the tree before fading out.

"It created a hole!!" Lewis was surprised.

"That is Mana control, Instead of just releasing the flames I shaped my Mana therefore shaping my flame" Alfred explained.

"Okay, so what do I need to do?" Lewis asked.

"You won't be able to do this for a long time so don't get your hopes up, shaping Mana is one of the hardest things to do, that's why elves are different from humans," Alfred said.

"Elves can bend Mana to their will, creating a technique called Mana construction, the ability to make inanimate object temporary with Mana"

"Stop making me angry" Lillian snorted.

"I'm not making you angry, I'm giving you the motivation you need" Alfred chuckled slightly.

"Motivation my foot, you told me it's useless for me to try, then why are you motivating me?"

"Since when did you take my word, and since we are on this topic, you know your problem might be solved if you return home" Alfred spoke.

"Return home...where...to who, do you think anyone is waiting for my return, even though I return to an elven city and ask them to take a look at me, what do you think would happen" Lillian spoke as tears filled her eyes.

"Then maybe we can find a rogue elf who knows a lot about sealing magic"

"I thought you said it wasn't a seal?" Lillian asked.

"You insisted it was a seal, but to me or all the other humans you had visited, they all had the same answer, nothing is wrong with you, you just have no aptitude for Mana" Alfred spoke.

'What are they talking about, rogue elves, seal, I don't understand any of it, I thought Alfred wanted to teach me about Mana? should I say something' Lewis pondered as he looked at both of them.

"Umm...I'm still here" Lewis spoke.

"Oh, I wanted to teach you right, fireball" Alfred muttered as he stretched his hands towards Lewis and two fireballs shot out from his hand.

"What are you doing!!! Fireball" Lewis shouted as he also shot two fireballs to cancel Alfred's attack.

>THUD!!<

Lewis fell to the ground as he shot the spell, both fireballs canceled themselves and faded into thin air.

Lewis stood up breathing heavily as he looked at Alfred who was grinning ear to ear, Lewis was sure this was just a test but it was too risky, what if he didn't cancel the spell, what if he was too late.

"It seems I underestimated you, let's begin," Alfred said.

"What was that for, were you testing to see if I could counter your spell?"

"No, I was testing to see if you have what it takes to train under me, most mages are lazy, and most of themselves are full of themselves when they meet non-mages, training under me is different," Alfred said.

Lewis took a deep breath and sat down again waiting for the next step in his training.

"So now that you have an idea what Mana is, try to sense it, Mana is like a flowing river insides your body, and all the rivers are connected to a single point which is your Mana core, try to sense it," Alfred said and Lewis closed his eyes focusing as hard as he could.

"What are you doing?" Alfred asked and Lewis opened his eyes.

"I'm trying to sense Mana like you said" Lewis spoke.

"You are just closing your eyes, I'm going to try something else to fasten your learning, though it's painful, just bear it," Alfred said as he walked towards Lewis and placed his hands on Lewis's back.

Lewis prepared himself for the pain that would follow as Alfred said but after a while nothing happened, "is something wrong?"

"Why are you stiff, relax your body, I'm going to infuse a tiny bit of Mana inside your body, hold on to it and try to move it around," Alfred said.

Lewis's felt a tingling sensation in his back, it felt like a liquid was being pushed inside his body, Lewis quickly closed his eyes.

"Now try to...oh that's it, you are doing great," Alfred said as he could feel the Mana in Lewis's body moving around.

At first, it was just a tiny bit then it turned to a pea-sized shape, and then to an orange-sized shape.

"I think you should stop there for now and focus on moving it around your body," Alfred said but Lewis couldn't hear a word he was saying.

"Lewis didn't you hear what I said" Alfred shouted, "He's going to get himself killed" Alfred muttered as he sat back down and watched him.