Ohe group finally quieted down, Dawn asked, “What I expect from the sessions being held soon?”
Richard ughed before waving his hand in dismissal and replying, “I wouldn’t worry about the normal o is mostly just mana manipution exercises that you learn from us if you don’t already know them. Too many people think they are pointless.”
Miana butted in, remarking, “They are wrong, of course. There is a reason all the more skilled mages are well-practiced when it es to mana manipution. How much you focus on the fuals acts to weed out those who are not serious enough about their development.”
Shaking his head, Richard smiled at Miana before replying, “It is as Miana expined: even if you have special permission to join us, you still have to have at least a minimum level of skill. Seeing you produce orbiting fireballs is enough to know that you have more skill than most.”
Viera spoke up , “I told you all she would be an iing addition, did I not? She even thought of the method of charging mana stohat Morris taught me on her own. Anyways, to gh the basics really quickly… Step one is to form a ball of mana above your hand and keep it stable. Two is moving your hand and keeping it tered above. Three is keeping it in the same retive positioilting your hand. Four is holding it below your hand.”
She then stopped to take a breath, holding up her hand as Thomas began to speak, then tinuing her expnation, “Five is to rotate it around your hand while your hand is stationary; six is the opposite, moving your hand around a stationary orb. Seven is where most fail, repeating the prior exercises without using your hands at all. People ofte into the habit of requiring the use of their hands rather than just making it easier to do quickly. What you dispyed in the sewers is well beyond this point, as you produced multiple spells at ohout using your hands, had them orbiting you in different paths, ahem off with accurae at a time. I’m sure you see how far beyond the basics you are from that.”
Somewhat surprised, Dawn nodded, unaware that what seemed so easy tht be difficult for others. She then remarked, “I do that with fire and light, but I ’t even e close to that level of trol with anything else, so I guess I still need more practice…”
Hearing this, Miana ughed before replying, “Why not? Fire magic is mana moving rapidly. Air magic is mana moving slower. Force is mana held still. It is all mana in the end, so all of it ought to be equal. Don’t think of it as different types of magic, think of it as being a different application of the same mana.”
Dawn muttered under her breath for a moment before densing a small orb of water ahead of herself, only for it to fall apart wheried to move it. “Well,” she said, “I at least do it without hands, but I still need practice thinking of it as the same, I suppose.”
Richard stepped forward, raising his hand, which rapidly gained small spheres of fire, earth, and water orbiting it. Withdrawing his hand to wave at them as they kept moving. He then announced, “This is what you normally have to be able to do to join the group, so you are a bit behind overall, though I think you outcss us in your usage of fire. What do you think, Miana?”
Instead of answering immediately, a number of balls of fme appeared before Miana, one or two at a time. When she had twenty, several of them became unstable as the others pressed into much smaller spheres. The twelve that were left floated into a number of different orbits, several of them colliding with one another.
Miana shook her head before remarking, “No, I ’t match that trick of hers. I might be able to with enough practice, but it is just too much to focus on at onbsp; I wouldn’t feel fident with more than three of them at oherwise, I’d likely burn myself.”
Smiling, Thomas waved his hand toward Miana and said, “See, even our resident fire expert has trouble matg you. So, it isn’t too out of hand for you to join us, just keep w on your trol of ic.”
“Thank you, that makes me feel better about being here. I’ll certainly do my best!” excimed Dawn as she turo look at Niphru. She then asked, “What about Niphru?”
Viera joined in, replying, “Well, we’ve seen his wind magic is very rough right now, but those fmes of his are quite iing. To be able to keep them going without spending mana… Many of us would love to be able to do simir, so perhaps he help us learn how he does it. And just being able to be around an Awakened more is worth it.”
“Indeed, I’m really excited to be able to work with Niphru,” stated Richard before croug down and addressing Niphru directly, “I do hope we haven’t made you unfortable by excluding you from the versation; I realize you haven’t said much.”
Niphru shook his head before standing up from where he sat. “I don’t mind at all. Dawn and I are closely linked, and I ask her things silently. If she ’t answer, she ask in my pbsp; I was mostly just listening and trying to make sure I learn from everyone,” he replied before quickly creating small orbs of fire and water, setting them spinning around each other.
“While I mahis, I ’t do much more with water magid am not good with earth either. I mimic Dawn’s steltion of fme, however. We both work to teach each other and improve, and our bond helps with that a great deal. Don’t worry too much about me,” he tinued, sitting back down.
“If no one has any questions, maybe we ought to go get some sleep,” Richard said, lookiween everyone, getting nods all around.
After sharing farewells, everyouro their own rooms. Sihey had already bathed, Dawo make food i while Niphru went out onto their baly to practice his air magic over the edge, safely away from anything not secured in pce.
Around half an hour ter, Dawn called Niphru bato their home, where she had prepared a meal for them. Following their dinner, Niphru asked about reading one of the more advanced books they had, so Dawn helped him read, turning the pages for him and discussing what they read.
Eventually, with much yawning, they put the book up and headed to bed, excited about the meetings in the following days, even if they had been told the first would not help much.
