EFate: An MMO Story Chapter 52: Morningstar's Magical Manor (3)

Morningstar led him to a small room just off to the side of the entrance to the manor. A large window allowed the sunlight to stream in which illuminated several tables and benches facing the front of the room. Near the back of the room stood a pair of bookshelves with books bearing t.i.tles such as, 'An Introduction to Arcane Magic', 'Elemental Spells: The Basics', 'Mana Constructs', and 'An Archmage's Knowledge of Basic Magical Theory'. A pair of comfortable looking chairs sat beneath the window, perpendicular to the tables and benches. Seeing the layout of the room, Eric quickly came to the conclusion that this must be a cla.s.sroom, a guess that was supported by Lucy's statement a moment later.
"This is where I teach the villagers of Tonbura village how to use magic. I won't bother teaching you personally. For now, read the books on the shelves. They're all specially picked to teach beginner mages how to properly wield the arcane. Read them, and you may ask me questions for up to half an hour a day as part of your tuition. If you want to ask more questions after that, you'll need to pay the tuition fee again," said Lucy.
"You're not even going to teach me yourself?" Eric asked, imagining his silver growing wings and disappearing into the blue sky.
"It would be a waste of my time to teach you the basics of magic personally. For now you need to learn how to properly control your mana and the correct way to create mana constructs. Once you've learned those we can move on to learning elemental magic and the manipulation of spell structures."
"What's wrong with the way I control mana?" Eric protested. Lucy snorted, "For starters you do it in the crudest way possible. The way you circulate your mana from extremity to extremity is how the earliest mages supposedly did it. Supposedly because it's a technique that hasn't been used in centuries."
"There's a technique to circulating mana? I thought it was just something that made it easier to infuse mana into a spell formation," said Eric. Lucy rolled her eyes, "And if you were able to make that infusion even faster and easier, maybe lose less mana, or infuse more mana in a smaller amount of time. The end result would be…" she trailed off, giving Eric a look that clearly meant he had better get the right answer or else.
"That we could cast spells faster and use less mana?"
"Exactly. That's what a proper mana technique will do for you. There are several basic techniques recorded inside the books in this room. Feel free to train in whichever one you'd like. It's not like there's any penalties to switching your mana technique. Just try to find one you like and stick to it, familiarity breeds competence in this case."
"I have to leave in," Eric quickly checked the time, "Just over half an hour. Can I come back to read at another time?"
"You can come in here to read whenever you want, but you're not permitted to take the books outside. And I wouldn't advise attempting to go further inside the lab when I'm not around. Got that?" Lucy stated in a matter-of-fact manner, clearly not caring whether he got it or not. Nodding meekly, Eric watched as his new teacher grabbed a book from the shelf, tossed it towards him, and left before the book could arrive.
Catching the book, Eric took a peek at the cover, 'Mana: A Mage's Guide'. Checking the time, he saw that he still had at least another half an hour before Mark and Griffin were set to arrive. Curling up in one of the chairs, he opened up the book and began to read.
Most of what the book covered was fairly basic. It started off by explaining what mana was, and then launched into various examples of the applications mana had in society. Far more than just a tool for combat, mana could apparently be used almost akin to electricity in the real world, with many specialized spells and magical tools that made life more convenient for the residents of Nasvencia.
According to the book, mana was something akin to the embodiment of energy. When a mage cast a spell, they were converting the energy in their body into mana, and then giving that energy a shape using runes. Originally, all energy was arcane in nature, but after a spell had been cast, that mana could be converted into a different form of energy through the use of elemental runes. Simply casting an elemental rune on its own without an accompanying rune would allow the mage to convert their arcane mana into another element, which could be drawn freely from the body as long as the mage had mana.
Most inhabitants of Nasvencia didn't bother with arcane magic, instead choosing to simply use their mana to create water to drink, or fire to keep themselves warm. More advanced magic such as the magic required to service magical tools, like the magical gems that provided light, was taught to tradesmen who performed roles similar to plumbers and electricians on Earth. Despite the advanced level of the magic that they were tinkering with, because they had never learned about magic itself, instead just learning what they needed for their jobs, they were not considered mages, but rather craftsmen.
Eric yawned, stretching his arms upward as he arched his back in the sunlight. While this insight into the uses of magic outside of combat was certainly interesting, he was really hoping to find tips on how to become more powerful as a mage.
Flipping the page, Eric finally saw what he'd been hoping to find, the t.i.tle of the next chapter promising the information he sought, Mana Circulation. Nestling more deeply into the chair, he began to voraciously devour the knowledge on mana circulation.
Just as Lucy had said, there was far more to mana circulation than simply moving the mana from his mana vessel to the mana construct in order to cast a spell. Mana circulation had been discovered by the earliest mages many centuries ago, and many techniques had been developed in the interlying years. Mana techniques as they were called, were separated into a few broad categories, there were techniques which focused primarily on efficiency, attempting to exert total control over the amount of mana infused into the mana construct. Techniques which focused on speed, ignoring mana wastage in exchange for reducing the cast time of a spell to its absolute minimum. Balanced techniques which focused on a mix of both, falling somewhere in between the two extremes. And techniques which focused on a specific type of mana, enhancing the cast speed and mana efficiency of spells using that mana compared to regular mana techniques, but being worse than a regular technique when using other types of mana.
Flipping the page, Eric spied the thing he'd been looking for: a half page diagram showed a basic mana technique, with various arrows creating a rough circuit through a human form. In the margins, little notations explained what the various symbols and signs throughout the diagram meant.
Furrowing his brow, Eric bent over the book, attempting to make sense of the diagram. Checking the time, he saw that he still had just over ten minutes before he was due to meet Mark and Griffin in the square - which was hopefully just enough time for him to decipher the mana technique in front of him.
Carefully observing the diagram, Eric began to circulate the mana in his body through the paths shown in the book. Feeling the mana as it attempted to escape from the path he set for it. Occasionally he would consult the diagram, referencing the notes in the margins or tracing the lines along the figure before closing his eyes and resuming the circulation of mana.
Over and over again, Eric forced the mana through the paths shown in the diagram. Feeling the mana rus.h.i.+ng from his mana vessel through the paths. With a small exhale, he constructed an Arcane Strike rune, infusing his mana into the mana construct and feeling the spell take form.
With an exultant expression, Eric allowed the spell formation to collapse, the rune fizzling and shattering into shards of violet light as he opened his eyes with a triumphant grin. While it hadn't been by much, he had felt the increased speed with which his mana had been infused into the mana construct. He had spent slightly less mana to cast the Arcane Strike as well, not by much, but definitely less than the normal cost.
Repeating the process, Eric attempted to cast Arcane Strike using both his original technique for infusing mana, and the mana circulation technique shown in the book. Sure enough, the technique in the book was superior in every way to his crude method.
Sitting back down, Eric checked the time. Swearing briefly, he quickly closed the book and replaced it upon the shelf before das.h.i.+ng for the door, leaving Morningstar's lab behind as he raced for the village square.

As Eric dashed out the door, the air in the cla.s.sroom s.h.i.+mmered, a section of air just over five feet in height seeming to separate from its surroundings and become distinct. A cat that had lain unnoticed atop one of the bookshelves yawned as it watched the s.h.i.+mmering air morph into its owner.
Becoming corporeal again, Morningstar stared after the half-elf as he disappeared over the ridge of the path, fading from her view. Shaking her head, she looked up at the cat who met her eyes with a disinterested yawn.
"Well I can certainly see why Arthal was interested in him. He learns fast, even if he's not the politest student I've ever met," Lucy said to the cat. Meowing at her, the cat began to lick its front paw, clearly ignoring its owner.
"It's not like I asked for your opinion anyways," Lucy told her pet with a peeved expression. Staring out the window one last time she whirled around, heading for her tower and leaving the cat alone once more to nap in the sun.