Training: Day 3

Alice started nudging me. "Damon, Merlin is asking for you." I sit up in my bed and face her. "This early? Can't he wait like another hour or 2?" She started shaking her head. "He said, word for word, 'If Damon isn't in the library by 10 AM, I will use him as a testing dummy for new poison spells.'"

I shot up from bed after that. Being alive does sound a lot better than being dead after all. After I got ready, Alice and I started walking to the library. "Hey, Damon? Would you go on a date with me tomorrow after training?"

I felt my jaw literally drop. Why would a girl like her want to associate herself with me? Let alone go out with me. "Sorry, I know it was sudden. Don't think of it like a date; think of it as hanging out." That alleviated the nerves I was feeling. "I would love to go on a date with you." It took every fiber in my being to not cringe at that sentence after I said it, but she started giggling.

"Thank you, Damon; it means a lot." I felt my face get hotter and start blushing. We made it to the library and saw Merlin waiting for me. "9:56, you were close." I couldn't look him in the eye as his stare felt like it could melt my soul if I looked. "Enough of the lovebird stuff. Alice, I'll talk to you later."

Alice pouted from being told to go away, but she walked away, blowing me a kiss in the process. "Keep it in your pants." I started chocking on air from the comment. "I wasn't thinking about that." All he did was shake his head. "Sure, buddy. Now, let's get on with training." I went into the library and sat where I sat yesterday.

"Today, I have a simple lesson for you. How to manifest your Mana into a spell. Make sure you pay attention; I will ask you to copy the steps as I list them." I nod, still in fear of him testing poison spells on me. "Mana flows through your body like a river; to use magic is to take water out of the river for your use."

His explanation was simple, but it made sense to me. "The easiest way to cast a spell is to imagine a specific element and focus all of your thoughts on that element. Then, pull out some Mana from your body to manifest that element out. Do you understand it?"

"I understand it. Just imagine what spell you want to do, and then take some Mana to do it." Merlin's expression changed to disappointed in me when I explained it. "That is not at all what I said, but demonstrate it for me if you are so confident." 

"I've got this. Just watch and learn." I'll admit, I'm being cocky. I don't know if I can actually do it, but I have to try. Since he had mentioned a river, the first thing that came to mind was water. I put out my hand, focusing on the thought of water. Water began to form in a ball above my hand.

"Ha, hahaha, I actually did it!" Merlin looked astonished that I did it so easily. "You really do have a knack for magic. Most beginner mages can't do it for an hour, but you took one attempt. I might need to take you someplace else to really test the lengths you can go." The water splashed on the table as I stood up. "Let's go then."

"Looks like someone is excited. Fine then, we shall go." He led me out of the library and to a room connected to the outside of the castle. The room was full of mages practicing their own magic. "We shall go over to the dummy to see what you can do, Damon." I nodded and followed him over to the dummy.

I followed the steps he gave me before to make another water ball. [Obtained Waterball Level 1] I blasted it towards the dummy. The force of the blast made a hole form where the dummy's torso used to be. "Impressive. Try to do it with another element." I nodded and started to think of a different element.

I put my hand down to the ground, focusing on the earth instead of water this time. [Obtained Earth Pillars Level 1] A pillar of earth shot out towards the dummy at great speed. The dummy's head was hit clean off with that spell. Merlin started taunting me to try and make me do a stronger spell.

I focused my efforts on keeping my composure. The wind blew past as I did so, making me focus on it. "Is that all you've got? You don't seem very worthy of being trained by someone like me right now." That had brought me to a boiling point. My anger was climbing as I focused on the wind. [Obtained Tempest Winds Level 1] The walls of the training area literally blew away from the force of the wind I caused. "Is that enough to please you?"

"That's a D-Grade spell, like Fireball. You really do have unlimited potential. That's enough for today; you can leave."

"I'm not done; I have one more I want to do." I focused on one more element, lightning. The bright flashing of light, the loud booming sound. [Obtained Thunder Shock Level 1] A blast of lightning hit the dummy full force, vaporizing what was left of it. "Now, I'm done." I fell over on the spot because my stamina was too low compared to the amount of Mana I had used.

I woke up later that day with Merlin sitting next to my bed. "Good, you're awake. I wanted to give you these." He handed me 4 books. 3 of them had text on the cover that I couldn't read no matter how hard I tried, and the other one read, "How to Use Mana Offensively."

"The 3 books in a different language were written by my grandfather, the original Merlin. I haven't been able to decipher them yet, but seeing the potential you have, I've decided to gift them to you. The other book is so you don't die tomorrow when Lancelot wants to spar with you."

I looked at him with hesitation in my voice. "Spar? He wants to spar?" Merlin nodded and then left my room with the fleeting words, "Good luck; you'll need it." The thought of sparring with Lancelot scared me a lot; he was much stronger than I was. The stress from thinking about sparring was enough to make a man pass out. So I did just that and went to sleep.