"You already know about orb and how all the mana in a mage's body is stored there. So now we will first start Manifestation of elements, since you have already done it multiple times now." Gideon crossed his arms as he explained.
"You mean creating fire when there is no fire around?" Arthur confirmed to make sure both are on the same page.
Gideon lightly nodded as Arthur raised his hands. With a thought all the mana from his orb was poured into his elemental heart.
The heart almost instantly took all the fire essence from the mana and directed it towards his hands.
Wooshh..
With a sudden burst powerful flames erupted and traveled horizontally for several meters.
"Stop," Gideon shouted.
Arthur tried but once the fire was out it felt like it just wouldn't go out until all the fuel was over.
Seeing that Arthur was unable to stop himself. Gideon kicked him in the stomach which sent him flying.
"Why did you kick me now?" Arthur asked out of confusion in an angry tone.
"Check, your orb"
"Tch, he never answers my questions" Arthur focused on his orb reluctantly.
After he became a rank 2 mage he didn't need to close his eyes and meditate to enter his orb. He could now check on his orb just by focusing without closing his eyes. Which might decide the outcome of a battle where every fraction of second can be life threatening.
"It's less than 10 percent. I am still left with 10 percent of mana" Arthur exclaimed as his eyes opened wide.
"Does that mean a sudden impact is needed to stop flames from forming"
"No Arthur, a strong conviction is needed. Even though this mana and flames are a part of you. You need to be harsh on them. Command like they are your soldiers and you are their commander. Command like they owe you money. If you want to cut out then cut it immediately and completely."
Gideon taught Arthur in a stiff tone.
"And did you just see yourself? You burned away 90 percent of your mana in just 30 seconds. If a real combat situation occurs then you would be out of mana before you even know it."
Arthur gave Gideon's words a deep thought. It was indeed true that way he is Manifesting flames is the worst way possible. It's like burning flames over gas which die out as soon as the nob is turned off.
Also in a real combat situation he can't stand at one place and expect to hit his enemy. Instead he would become a prey, waiting to be devoured by his enemy.
"Manifestation of elements consumes significantly more mana compared to Manipulation but it's significantly more difficult to learn the delicate balance and manipulation of elements compared to Manifestation."
Gideon spoke as he picked up a stone in his hand
"For that reason when it's about manifestation, mages create different moves which they can later use in the battle."
Gideon threw the stone in his hand which flew and hit a tree branch. Breaking its branch in two.
"Just like this stone. Mages equip themselves with a number of moves both in offence and defense which they created early in their training. By creating these moves all elemental mages can keep track of how much essence they are left with without checking again and again in their orb because they remember how much mana each move consumes.
They engrave the mana flow of the particular move in their mind so that as soon as they think about the move, it's executed almost instantaneously"
Gideon squatted down as he looked Arthur in the eyes and flicked his forehead.
"So, the entire fight becomes just a battle of wits. And the one who discovers all the moves of their enemy first, Wins."
The environment became heavy as the evening finally set in. Wind didn't blew as their was a profound stillness.
After some time of practicing with Gideon
Arthur stood in the centre surrounded by trees on all sides.
"My move, a controlled and deliberate act of flames which consumes an appropriate amount of mana" He took a deep breath in and slowly let it out.
"Hump, fire fist" Arthur punched in the air steadily but it didn't end their.
Flames flew out of his punch in the shape of his fist. But this time it was not continuous and instead was like an independent travelling punch which flew around 6 meters with an incredible speed before dying out.
"Success" Arthur exclaimed as smile touched Arthur's lips.
He quickly focused in his orb
"10 percent is gone. Hmm that's not bad so I can perform this move 10 times throughout the battle before running out of mana"
This was Arthur's first ever move which he made with help of Gideon.
"If not for Gideon it would have taken me a couple of days before making this simple technique but with his experience I could understand most of the things easily"
Fastest way of success is through a guide. No matter how bright and genius a person is. It would take him considerable more time to invent something completely new without the help of a teacher.
Teacher might not have invented anything or he might have invented something else but he have all the ingredients necessary to create something new. Now it depends on the student how he put them all together.
"That's not bad for your first time but it's quite weak even from a rank 2 standard. This carried power equivalent to a rank 1 move. To save more mana it seems you reduced it's density that it lost it's power" Gideon spoke who observed everything from a tree branch.
"So I should increase density to make it more lethal?"
Gideon nodded in agreement
Arthur again got into the stance
"Fire fist" he thought as he punched again. This time the flames were still in shape of fist but almost twice as big. This time the fist travelled 17 meters before dying down.
Arthur again focused on his orb and observed that 15 percent of his mana was consumed in this move. Now only 75 percent mana was left in his orb after both the attacks.
"Only 6 times." Arthur went deep into thought before he finally opened his mouth to speak.
"Since I can control the the level of my attack. Can I also raise its power one rank above me."
"You can, but the mana quality of a rank 3 is fundamentally different from rank 2 so it will consume a large amount of your mana." Gideon jumped down from the tree and landed softly.
"Even so," Arthur determined to at least give it a try.
Gideon understood Arthur's intent to test the limit of how far he can go.
"Alright fine, but before that replenish your mana to hundred percent for accurate measurement"
Arthur followed Gideon's suggestion and sat down cross legged where he stood. He meditated and focused to actively absorb mana from the surrounding. The mana levels rapidly as it was hundred percent again in 10 minutes.
Mana can replenish itself naturally too inside the orb but since it's passive replenishment, it would take around 20 minutes to replenish from 75 percent to hundred percent.
As soon as the mana was completely replenished Arthur jumped back up and took a ready stance again. He looked at Gideon who nodded in approval from beside him.
"Fire fist" Arthur thought as he punched again in the air but this time Arthur was covered in sweat almost instantly.
Flames formed again in shape of his fist and flew out of his punch but this time it's size was almost three times to that of a rank 2 fire fist. Mana was consumed rapidly as it flew more than 25 meters before dying out.
Arthur fell on ground exhausted but without wasting time he immediately focused in his orb.
"93 percent!!" Arthur exclaimed as 93 percent of his mana was consumed in just one attack.
"Do you understand now how vast the difference is between rank 2 and rank 3. And this grow exponentially as you ascend higher" Gideon spoke as he walked up to Arthur.
"So you can only raise the level of your attacks in early stages. In later stages like after rank 3, one rank 4 attack will consume more than 100% of
rank 3 mana so it won't even be achievable.
In almost all of the battles between two people who are at different ranks, most of the time the one with higher rank wins. Even if he is only one rank higher than the other person.
Gideon looked at Arthur deeply as he finally spoke
"Practice properly what I taught you today with Matilda tomorrow."
"Huh? Why? Are you going somewhere?" Arthur asked, dusting off his clothes.
"Yes, I will be going to Grayland tomorrow to investigate any information I can find on the empire."
"Grayland! The area which is under no jurisdiction and still maintains its own freedom" Arthur asked to confirm what he had read about it in books.
The Grayland is a very peculiar area. It exists between the borders of the central continent and western continent. So, this places it in a unique spot where neither nation can touch it to avoid an all out war against each other. It's not a very large city but it hosts people from every continent. Dwarves, elves, humans, Graces, Daemons , it hosts people from every place who are outcast in their respective continent.
But it's less of a place to stay and more of a place to stop by to earn money when they can't anywhere else. They take all kinds of jobs from acting as hired bodyguards for high profile people, mercenaries of war to assassination with price negotiable based on the target.
"Yes" Gideon spoke as he looked at the setting sun.
"Come on"
"Where? Isn't it almost night. Shouldn't we go to base" Said Arthur catching up to Gideon who had already started moving.
A faint smile emerged on Gideon's face.
"To get you some clothes of your size of course. These are Ben's old clothes and are so loose that they will surely hinder your movements in tomorrow's training with Matilda."
"What do you mean hinder my movements. I can practice element manifestation just fine in these ones"
Haha.. Gideon laughed awkwardly
"Well you see. Matilda believe in practical implementation more"
"What are you even talk….. .Oh" Arthur realised as he spoke in low spirits "she is gonna beat the life out me. Isn't she"
Back at the base
Achooo...
Matilda sneezed violently "Is someone talking about me?" she spoke as she gently rubbed her nose.