Chapter 35: Master Mage

chapter 35.

01. Reskeme began to sweat, In a shaky voice, he said," I have fire magic, not life magic." Reskeme decided it would be better to say he had fire magic instead. Kellar glanced at Katherine before saying," Show me your fire." Reskeme channelled his mana for 5 seconds before creating a spell outside of his illusion. A dark green fire came to life in the air above Reskemes hand causing Kellar to take a step back. Reskeme said," Why do you look so surprised? Is your fire not green." Kellar opened his mouth to say something only to shut it again. Kellar look around the training yard for a moment before pointing at a wooden pole. Kellar said," show me, go burn that wooden pole." Kellar walked beside Reskeme and stared at the fire like it was the weirdest thing he had ever seen.

02. Reskeme was nervously trying to keep his calm, Kellar seemed to be believing him. Reskeme approached the wooden pole and touched the wood with his fire. The wood began to burn with a menacing green flame and immediately began to corrode at a rapid pace, Reskeme watched in fascination as the fire ate away a chest-high pole to the ground in 20 seconds. Kellar was staring at the stump in fascination, Reskeme said," see its fire." Kellar laughed to himself trying to pretend he wasn't too fazed. Kellar said, " of course you are a fire mage, I'm sorry I doubted you." Reskeme said, " Well you are a master fire mage, can you teach me how to cast my fire at a distance.?"

03. The Master mage said," you first need to connect to your amulet. Reskeme had forgotten about that and was now a little excited, the change in topic from his magic to the amulet was also something he appreciated. Reskeme really didn't want anyone to find out he was a demon, Most people would not allow demons to live, let alone train them. Reskeme reaffirmed to himself that lying, was way better than the truth, at least for the foreseeable future. Reskeme asked, "what will this amulet do to me?"

04. Kellar pulled a basic looking amulet out of his robe and checked it over for a few moments before nodding his head. Kellar said," this is what we The mages guild call a mana gauge, you will channel all your mana into this amulet, The amulet will measure your how fast you channel and the density of the mana. Kellar said, "I will channel my mana through you until I feel your body cant channel anymore today," Reskeme looked alarmed, Kellar calmly continued," I am a master mage and have the licence to do this part of the process, He smiled saying, " the process may be uncomfortable but it is necessary for the mana gauge."

05. Reskeme said in a bit of a shaky voice," That sounds painful." Reskeme firmed his resolve, He said," Alright I will do it!" Reskeme was not going to avoid a little pain if it would help him get something as useful as a mana gauge.

06. Reskeme braced himself, Kellar places the copper amulet in Reskemes shaky hands and began channelling. Kellar said," Alright no point in delaying, Channel as much as you can, hold nothing back." Reskeme took a breath and channelled as hard as he could while making sure even in his nervousness not to break his illusion. The mana gauge easily accepted the mana he was giving it, Reskemes veins began to ache. He kept channelling until he was feeling the burn of his veins, Reskeme began slowing down his channelling when Kellar calmly said, "Keep going you can still channel a lot more mana." Reskeme channelled for 10 more seconds until his veins felt like they were burning. Kellar covered Reskemes hand with his own holding them both in a strong grip.

07. The master mages mana entered Reskeme, The burning sensation that felt like a bad sunburn turned into a full-on blaze, Reskeme screamed in pain. His muscles tightened up causing the amulet to dig into his hands, He frantically grasped onto the medallion waiting for the pain to stop. Reskemes eyes were watering and his throat was getting raw, Kellar finally stopped after channelling his mana through the boy after a solid 10 seconds. Kellar seemed surprised when Reskeme looked up.

07. Reskeme collapsed to the ground gasping for breath, He looked up at the smiling Kellar who looked just as excited. Reskeme looked down at the amulet in his hand and noticed there was no colour. He confusedly looked up at Kellar, The Mage laughed at his look of confusion, Kellar said," don't worry it shows no mana because we just used all of your mana." Reskeme went pale at that thought. In a bit of a panic, he asked," how long till I can channel another spell?." With amusement in his tone, Kellar said, "you just put your mana channels through a lot of strain, it wouldn't be a good idea to channel any more mana today."

08. Reskeme was horrified when he realized that he might not be able to cast any more illusions today. Kellar saw the terror on his face and said, "Don't worry you should be able to cast a first layer spell in an hour, Keep in mind it will be very painful to do so." Kellar said," your mana veins need time to heal from so much channelling, it's not like a wound, it should only take the rest of the day and most of the night to heal. Kellar said," channelling mana is very similar to doing exercise, If you don't tear the muscle it will only take a day to recover, Once the muscle is torn you might take a week before you can channel again.

(Kellars Pov)

09. Kellar was felling in a lecturing mood after his new students' question, He said, "mana backlash generally takes 10 days to recover from, this usually depends on how bad the damage is." Kellar continued and focused his harsh gaze on the attentive Reskeme, Never channel mana if you ever suffer from mana sickness, you must wait until the sickness has passed or you will suffer horribly before you die. Kellar had stretched the truth on that last part but felt it was better to tell students they would die, The harsh truth was most lived, it was only after they made the terrible mistake that they wished to die. The unfortunate mages that made the terrible mistake were left in a state of total agony until they inevitably killed themselves due to loss of their connection to mana and the inability to do anything other than writhe in pain.

10. In a much lighter tone Kellar said," soo unless you want to die horribly after suffering immense pain, do not let your body get mana backlash, Because I can guess you would try casting magic and that would lead to your own death." A much paler Reskeme looked much less excited about casting any magic today. He asked," How do I tell when it's okay to channel more mana?" Kellar said," well how do your mana veins feel right now?" Reskeme channelled a very small amount of mana through himself feeling all through his body burning like he had a flame inside him.

11. Reskeme recoiled from the painful sensation and stopped immediately, Kellar smiled at the boys' antics. He said," well now that you are connected with the amulet we can go over some basics of channelling." Kellar said, For now, I will explain how to create a third layer, Reskeme got much more excited than he was before. Reskeme listened intently. With a serious tone, Kellar said," Channeling the third layer of a spell is difficult for many reasons, The third layer is a sign a mage has also reached the initial stage of the mage ranks. Reskeme blurted out," what do you mean the initial rank?

12. Kellar sighed, He turned to Katherine and tossed her a coin, He said," Alright, I guess we need to go to some of the basics, Kellar grumbled, "he can cast two layers but doesn't even know what the ranks are?" Katherine chuckled at the mages' loss and tucked the coin in her pouch. Kellar glared at her before saying," Mage ranks start with beginner followed by the initiate, apprentice, journeymen, master, grandmaster, and the archmage. Reskemes jaw fell open and he looked like he had just seen a ghost. The boy said," You're telling me there are people out there who can draw more power than you,? I felt you channelling mana from across the room and it was terrifying."

13. Kellar said," Grandmasters are mages who have achieved something remarkable, It is a position most mages can only dream of ever getting. He gave Reskeme a harsh look, "I have been practicing magic for 30 years to reach the status of master and it is true I have gained a lot of power over the years." With a look of Respect, Kellar said," I have met 2 grandmaster mages and I know of 2 others each of them is on a much higher level of skill than me," He spoke with reverence when he said, "to gain the rank of grandmaster one must learn to control pure mana at will."

14. Reskeme said, " that doesn't sound too difficult, mana isn't too hard to control" Kellar laughed at him and said," well I will let you solve that problem when you get to it, you half to achieve the initiate rank and that is the second easiest to achieve. Reskeme cursed and in an impatient tone said, "Well what are you waiting for? tell me how to cast the third layer already.!" Kellar really didn't like the tone of disrespect and pointed his hand at one of the many wooden poles in the training room before channelling his mana and with a whoosh, a massive ball of fire surrounded the stump. His fire didn't start from his hand it simply appeared in a sphere around the pole, causing a flash followed by a wave of heat that hit them even across the yard.

15. Reskeme immediately shut his mouth and sat down doing his best not to wet himself after the display of power. Kellar casually continued talking like nothing had happened, " the third layer is comprised of a sequence of steps, first, you must create your first layer in a sphere, second, you must copy your fist layer with your second layer. Once you achieve this the process gets more tricky, For the third layer, you must create a bowl with your mana, Create a sphere for your first layer and start from the bottom creating your second layer." Reskeme was focused on the information trying his best to remember it all. Kellar said, "Once your second sphere of mana is halfway complete, start filling in the opening between your first and second layers." Reskemes eyes bulged and he seemed to have dawned realization on his face.

16. Kellar continued," Keep in mind once the second layer is complete you will no longer be able to cast the third layer. Make sure you don't rush, practice slow for your first 100 or so 3rd layer spells to get comfortable." Reskeme politely raised his hand and asked," Can you teach me how to cast a ranged spell? that was really cool." Kellar laughed and said," don't be rushing, that is too advanced for you, to learn, He paused what kind of Runes do you know?" Reskeme said," what in the hell are Runes.?" Kellar's hand came up and hit his forehead with defeat, He grumbled tossing over another coin to the laughing weapon master who was currently laying on her back holding her chest. Kellar contemplated his gambling addiction.