Unmotivated Deity

Jien now understood the way that he was meant to cast the two spells he was given but that didn't help him actually cast them. After pondering on what he had learned for a few long moments he came out of his slight daze and spoke for the second time in the explanation regarding mana and the arcane arts. "My first spells were given to me in the form of feelings. I think to use them I would have to learn that type of casting, at least for those two spells."

To this Mark gave the young boy an incredulous look. What god would give a newly unsealed child a pair of spells that required one to use a silent cast based on feelings. Almost all gods gave their newest followers a word or phrase for a spell, or perhaps some sigils for a drawn cast. Maybe some gods that felt a youth was truly talented may impart a body casting spell method, but never ever had he heard of a god handing off such a difficult first task. Little did he know that for one, the spells weren't imparted by a god at all, at least not directly and secondly, this was the only method that the God of Tomes ever used to provide his follower with spells. Though it had been decades, possibly even centuries since the last non-lich follower of that god had passed away.

Mark took a deep breath before responding to that claim. "Well, before we even get into the idea of actually casting spells you need to learn how to properly move your mana." He reached across and held out his hand. "Put your hand on mine and I will do my best to help you get a feel for moving your mana. It is hard to do without outside assistance at first because mana likes to consolidate, moving s strand of it is like pulling a rubber band, if you don't put enough strength into it, the mana will just bounce back to your soul core. Sometimes if it bounces back to forcefully it can cause a reaction and cause internal injuries so learning how to first move the mana and then how to separate pieces from the greater whole and send them outside the body or into different body parts are the first steps."

With that explanation Jien placed his hand on top of Marks. Mark closed his eyes and then with a look of concentration on his face he instructed Jien to pay close attention to the feeling of what was about to occur. It would be his first steps to being able to cast a spell if he would be able to replicate these steps without outside assistance. Jien closed his eyes as well and concentrated as best he could on what he was feeling internally.

At first nothing appeared to be happening. He felt the same as always but after a few moments he felt a tingling where his hand sat on Mark's, it was as if his hand was being suctioned to the surface of Mark's palm. Shortly after he felt something warm begin to spread from just below his heart. That feeling though almost too minute to notice, began to move up from what was presumably his soul core up through the mana vessels and toward his lungs. From there that slight warmth seemed to spread through what he could only assume were his blood vessels and down his arm towards his hand. Finally at the end, when the warm feeling entered one of his fingertips there was a prick of slightly more intense warmth followed by nothing at all. The feeling had stopped from the source, his soul core, all the way to the tip of his finger there was no more warm sensation.

When Jien opened his eyes, he spotted a minuscule pinpoint of blue on top of the tanned hand that had moved from beneath his. Mark smiled at that sight, he had never actually tried to use this method with anyone, but it was the same method his mentor had used when he was young to teach him how to move and extract his mana. "That is your first successful extraction of mana" he stated with a satisfied smile. "I would suggest that you practice trying to replicate that process on your own, but don't overdo it. We only have so much capacity for mana and if we use it all our bodies will shut down. This in the best case can lead to passing out for quite some time, usually it leads to a coma that requires special treatment to get over and in the worst-case scenario if you really overdraft your reserves it can lead to death outright as your soul core will take your vitality as a replacement for mana to finish your spell."

Mark stood up from the ground and dusted off his pants. "That is all for our first day of training. It is starting to get late. I highly suggest you eat a hearty meal and then get some rest. We will be continuing with your training bright and early in the morning." With that said Mark started to walk back towards the guest house to get cleaned up. He still had to eat and then he intended to have a drink with the guards again before hitting the sack.

Jien also stood and started to walk towards the main manor. Unfortunately for him it was not as easy as Mark made it seem. His limbs felt like lead after having cooled down from the day of constant exercise. Luckily the manor wasn't very far from the training field so some five minutes later he found himself at the large oak door of the entrance. Waiting for him with the door open was Runa, standing inside with a bright smile on her face. She had been watching over Jien as he went through the process of his first day of training and was definitely impressed with his efforts. She led him inside and to his room where she ran a bath for him before exiting and going to perform her other duties while she waited for him to clean himself and dress for dinner with Lord Losler.

Jien took his time and soaked while thinking over the training session in general and more specifically about the training in regard to controlling his mana. He spent his time bathing attempting to repeat the process with his mana that Mark had shown him. He now had a sense what moving mana should feel like and could now vaguely feel his soul core, where he wasn't able to do so before. He did not seem to make any progress during his bath and eventually got out, dried off and dressed in semi-formal clothes for dinner. He exited his room to find Runa waiting for him. She had always had an almost eerie sense of timing, but Jien always found it soothing, knowing that she would always be right where she needed to be.

Soon he arrived at the dining room to see Earl waiting for him. After he sat across from his father, he saw that Earl was looking at him more intensely than usual. When Lord Losler caught himself doing so, he quickly put his focus on the food that had just been put in front of them. He had been thinking about his wife and reminiscing while looking at his son. He could now, more clearly than ever see her beautiful green eyes in Jien's. He did not want to discuss it with his son at this point though, he felt that there would likely come a time, and he had told Jien stories of his mother in the past, but there were of course things that he had not mentioned such as her choice of weapon or what they had been like when at or before arriving at the academy. He didn't want to influence his son's choices about his path by using him and his wife as a comparison.

Jien ate almost ravenously and having expected this Lord Losler had had the chefs prepare him a larger dinner. After eating his fill, he found himself to be nearly deliriously tired. He was in no way used to this level of physical activity and much like he had predicted, the previous night without sleep had led him to true exhaustion this evening. He excused himself promptly after finishing his meal and made his way back to his room. He undressed swiftly, if a bit clumsily as his body still felt like it was made of a ton of bricks.

After undressing he unceremoniously collapsed onto the bed like a sack of potatoes. It was in his last moments of lucidity and that he decided to try and give moving his mana one more try. With his eyes starting to grow heavier and sleep invading his thoughts he didn't feel it, but the mana had actually moved from his soul core through the path Mark had shown him and out his index finger. In his last moment of lucidity, the feeling of his first spell came to mind and though he didn't notice it having fallen asleep, the cover of 'Grafler's Theorem' glowed with a gentle white light for no more than a few moments before his room fell back into total darkness.