After being unconcious from exhaustion for a few hours, Edward finally wakes up. His eyes slowly began to open as he felt a tranquil calm around him. He stared into the ceiling, an dcould not hear a single noise around him other than the calm breeze outside.
He smiled to himself as he joyfully decided to firmly grasp whatever he was holding in his right hand, before starting to wonder what he holding. He glanced over to see Cassandra holding his hand. His eyes twitched in response to the surprise of such a sight, and he grew nervous.
His face went slightly red and he could not find the right words to say at that moment, as he was quite embarrassed. Cassandra looked at him and gave him a gentle smile as she was finally able to take her hand back.
"Look who's finally awake. Good work back there."
"Wuh.. th-th-thanks…? What's goin' on? Why'm I here now? What happed back there?"
He looked over to Orin's bed to see he was not there.
"N' where's Ora?"
"He woke up about twenty minutes ago. So he went back to the hut to check up on the people there. I've been here making sure you two got proper rest."
"I see… Well, thanks, Cassie! 'Preciate it!"
"Don't go thanking me just yet. I think it's about time you boys' training starts, so we should probably find Orin and go find master Mike."
"Awright! Then let's go get 'em!"
Edward got out of his bed and went to go put on his coat. He then proceeded to open the door, only to see Orin stood right outside, seemingly waiting for them.
"You have risen, I see."
"Yeah. Didya just come now?"
"I came back about ten minutes ago. I thought it best not to interrupt you."
"Ya little sh*t!"
"There is no neet to get volatile, Ed. I was 'helping you out' by giving you some time to 'rest' by yourself."
"Smug punk!"
Cassandra stepped in to interrupt the tension between them.
"Stop that, you knobheads! We should probably get going now."
"Yeah, yer right"
Orin gave Edward a smug grin as they started walking, which visibly vexed him. Cassandra led them back to the top of the hill, where they were supposed to build their house. As they approached the top, they could start to see what looked like the top of it, according to the instructions.
Once they reached the top, they could see Michael standing in front of it, with several shadowy tendrils emerged from the ground and the house, which seemed to be building it. The tendrils started retreading back to the ground as they had seemingly finished the work.
Michael turned around to see his students were all at the top of the hill. He gave them a smile and pointed back toward the house.
"You're back. Congratulations on your first proper victory! I took the liberty of finishing the house for you."
Orin and Edward both stood still in shock as they witnessed that Michael, in a few minutes, did more than they did in an entire week.
"Master… How did you do all of this? We met just a few minutes ago and spoke to each other. How did you do this in such a short span of time?"
"It's nothing, really. I just used my magic to do it."
Micheal stood still with his hands in his pockets as the same black tendrils emerged from the ground around him. They were all in various lengths, swaying in different directions as some of them moved to lift up Michael and the others.
They continued to lift them up until they were as high up as the roof of the house. Edward and Orin were both amazed that their teacher was able to do such a thing with so little effort.
"How'dya get this good, chief!? Didn't ya say yer magic used that domain'o yers?"
"You're right, Edward. However, this is a part of my spell, [New god]. This is a part of [New god], titled [Skulker's grasp]. Though I suppose it's a spell by itself."
"Master, if that is a spell of its own, how many spells do you have? We have seen you do several things in that domain of yours, which all seemed strange to be a part of one spell."
"To put it like this, Orin… I have more than twenty spells at my disposal. And by twenty, I mean connected to [New god] alone, though I don't really have a lot outside of that."
Michael began to lower everyone down to the ground again as he was explaining.
"As a mage granted the title of dragon, it's important that I live up to the title with my skills. Although the best part about magic is anyone can become quite skilled with the right training. And the more connected you become with your own soul, the better you'll get."
Edward was confused about Michael's speech, and why he suddenly mentioned souls.
"Whaddaya mean, chief? Souls?"
"Indeed, Edward! Your soul is one of the most important parts of learning to utilize magic. Which brings us to the first of five chapters in a standard magic textbook, and what we will start drilling into you boys. For this chapter is called…"
They all reached the ground and what looked like spirits began to rise from the ground, spiralling like helixes around all of them.
"Souls and symbiotism!!"
They stood in awe for a few seconds, gazing upon the visual spectacle Michael had conjured for them. Tough Edward and Orin were both confused about what Michael was talking about.
"Symbiotism? Wuzzat, chief?"
"let's not spend too much time on that. but it's essentially when multiple organisms are connected to each other for mutual benefit for themselves and each other. I'll take you two inside and we'll start the teaching."
Michael led them into the house. As they entered, Orin, Edward, and even Cassandra gazed in awe upon what Michael had made. Not only was the house complete, but it also had functional furniture to sit on, as well as an area for teaching.
"Now, let's not spend too much time on this just yet. Sit down and we'll start teaching."
Orin and Edward sat down on their own respective chairs on one end of the table, Cassandra sat on the right side and Michael stood next to a chalkboard he had managed to get for the house.
"Now, to start the boring process of learning to use magic. This is normally just a theoretical series of lessons to understand the nature of magic spells, but we're gonna be using these kind of differently. Of course you'll learn what the soul is and how it works, but you'll be doing a lot more practical work than a normal school student."
Michael began illustrating a diagram of what seemed to be a body, as well as a circle with a spiral-shaped tail on top of it, along with some squiggly lines around the circle. The body was also illustrated with a circle in the head to represent the brain.
"These the main parts of how you use magic. It's divided among three main components. Mind, body and soul. The body is connected to the soul through mana that binds them together. When you use magic spells, you siphon mana off the bond until it recovers or runs empty.
The body also allows one's mind to be connected with how you utilize the mana, which is how a mage is able to mold their mana into a spell at will. The main purpose of this chapter is understanding the inner workings of the body's systems and how it and the soul synergize.
However, that's not what we'll be focusing on. You need to become skilled mages within two years, so you'll be using a method that I was able to theorize a few years ago, and am currently testing before I publish any studies on it."
Orin interrupted Michael's long speech to ask a question.
"And what kind of method would this be, master?"
"I'm glad you ask, Orin! Let me tell you right now."
Michael flipped the chalkboard to an empty side and started illustrating another, bigger soul with mana around it.
"This only works since you've already siphoned mana off yourselves for you attempts at magic. I confirmed that when I was teaching Cass. When you attempt to use magic, your mana cycles through your body until it forms where you want it to.
Your objective for this chapter is to be able to trace the feeling you get from it until you're able to feel your own soul. When you eventualy do, I want you to continue doing such constantly. I want you to constantly build a stronger understanding of your souls.
A mage who completely knows his soul will be the one to stand among the dragons. Take those words to heart and this training will guarentee you both to become full-fledged mages long before the deadline."