The rest of my week consisted of recovering my mana and loafing around at home until Tess came around to pick me up for Patria. The Mage Games were less than three days away and I felt confidence like never before. Sirius had bestowed upon me a power that only the strongest were capable of.
I thought about what exactly he said to me 3 nights ago. It was a little too surreal for my liking and I can’t wrap my head around why he was so much older than me, but I now had an objective. An objective that I didn’t know from which angle to approach.
All he told me to do was get stronger and become influential. I assume that means that I need to get my hands on classified information or travel to places where civilians aren’t allowed to go? He seemed to be someone well known himself so his work is probably available to the public? Hopefully Patrias’ libraries are open on the weekends.
Tess arrived in her military carriage in the early morning. I said my goodbyes to Ray and Violet who couldn’t stop bothering me about staying safe, eating enough and being respectful towards the city goers and nobles. Ray was especially adamant that I try and make a friend or two at the games, and that the proper etiquette could score me extra points when in the presence of nobles and other mages.
“Dad, you guys haven’t taught me anything about etiquette yet.”
“We know, that’s what Tess is for though.”
I could almost feel Tess’s anger radiate from behind me. “Yep, nothing to worry about Kenny.”
She said with a fake chuckle.
-‘’I’m so screwed…”-
We set off for patria and Tess immediately started teaching me the proper ways of talking to the nobles, how and when to talk to them and how to introduce yourself. It was pretty straight forward, you had to talk in a gentle and clear manner, always refer to them by their title and when introducing yourself you were to present your full name, where you’re from and show what elements, you are capable of using.
The trip would be a long one so I decided to sleep as much as possible, which was troublesome since it was still morning but I wasn’t looking forward to half a day in Tess’s face. Neither of us had forgotten about the slap so it was a little awkward between us, so I did something incredibly smart. I used all the mana I had and forcefully induced myself into a coma.
Upon waking up, I found myself at the gates of Patria. A large city surrounded by a chasm which acted as a mote, guard points set up at various points which I assumed were all around the circular city. The carriage pulled up to one of the guard posts where 3 guards were stationed. Two of them had the same white pants and navy jacket uniform as Tess, their faces covered by the same mannequin-like navy masks that Tess’s friend wore. The third guard I assume was a mage, since he didn’t carry any weapons on his person. Upon further inspection I could see the two mannequin guards had a deep orange core, and the mage had a bright yellow core. Tess’s core caught my attention next. I had expected her to have yellow core like the mage, but she harbored a bright green light in her belly.
The mage at the post had conjured a bridge of rock for us to get into Patria. No questions were asked about who we were due to Tess’s carriage. Mages, nobles and the military had 24/7 access in and out of the city, while civilians had to have a permit.
Actually being inside the city gave me a much better scale as to how big it really was. Most of the buildings on the outer edge were at least two stories’ high and as you got deeper into the center, the bigger the buildings would get. The streets were full of activity with vendors, markets, inns, bars and all sorts of people running around.
“I never expected the city to be this big and for it to be so busy either.”
“It’s only this part of town. Most of the markets and scammers are situated near the entrance to attract first time visitors and tourists. It’s much calmer near the center, trust me.” Tess said with a reassuring smile.
Once again, I activated ‘mana sense’, the ability Michael gave me, to scan the area. I mostly saw orbs of orange and the occasional yellow, as well as a new color, a singular dark blue light somewhere in the crowd. I couldn’t figure out which colors were more advanced than others and hoped that Sirius’ books would give me some clues. They were my only option.
“Does patria have any Libraries, Tess?”
“Of course, we do, should I rent you some books about fire magic?”
“That won’t be necessary, I just wanna take a look at what they have.”
“Sure thing. We can go have a look tomorrow if that’s alright?”
We arrived at Tess’s house. She lived about halfway between the center and the edge of the city on the Northern side, her house was slightly bigger than mine back in the village. The three-story brick house was surrounded by pavement, a gravel path outlined with small flower beds indicated a path from the sidewalk to the front door. The entire building was a stale brown color, aside from the red roof tiles.
Tess lived on the second floor and her apartment was minimalist to say the least. Two bedrooms, a kitchen, which also served as a living room, and a bathroom. Unlike my old p*ss pot and wooden tub, they had a functioning sewage and water system. On top of that, all the rooms had some sort of lighting mechanism and a device that could control the rooms’ temperature.
“Make yourself at home Kenny. We won’t be doing anything today so feel free to go explore. Take this amulet incase you need to find your way back or if you get in trouble.”
Tess threw something akin to a locket plated with gold in my hands.
“Press that switch on the back and send some pure mana into it.”
I did as she prompted and the locket opened. Pure mana started flowing out of the locket and hovered above my palm, moving spontaneously until Tess opened her locket. It was almost like a hologram from sci-fi movies back on earth, clearly projecting Tess’s face from the neck up.
“Wow this is incredible. How Is the mana able to know what image to project?”
“Beats me kid, but this is how we communicate with each other here in Patria. I want that back before you leave here next week. Anyway, I have an errand to run real quick, the city is safe but if you go looking for trouble you’re obviously going to find it. I’ll be back soon with food and then we can discuss our plans for the Magi Games.”
“Yes ma’am.”
-“Is she really going to leave a 4-year old all alone? I pray for her future offspring.”-
Tess left and I had to decide between going to look for a library, or replenish my lost mana.
-“Why not do both at the same time? And how have I never thought about this before?”-
People either meditate to absorb mana from the atmosphere or they just let nature run its course and absorb mana naturally. I had wasted a lot of time in training from just having to replenish my mana and the thought of absorbing mana while using it never occurred to me.
-“Never mind, the library can wait. What if this is something only people with mana sense can do? Michael, I hope you’re watching, I’m about to invent the metaphorical wheel!”-
I started by meditating, trying to really get a feel for what I was experiencing, then I pictured my own body, imagining mana coming in from the earth through my butt, and the mana leaving my palms in the form of fire magic. I figured that if I could pull this trick off with fire magic, it would be a breeze to do with earth magic.
I could clearly feel mana tingling my tail and legs while the plasma in my right hand caused a light visible through my eyelids, I was definitely doing what I intended but was unsure if it was actually working. Managing to hold the fire while absorbing mana manually had been easy, so I decided to try and walk around while doing it. This was also easy but required a bit more focus before I could do it without even thinking about it.
I paced around Tess’s apartment until she returned home, never ceasing the fireball and mana absorption.
“Kenny, I’m back. you home yet?”
“Yes, I’m in the bathroom.”
“Oh, my bad. When you’re done be sure to flush. Just press the big blue button.”
My bowels started bothering me but I continued my training. Still holding the flame, I came out of the bathroom and Tess looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Kid, you know my house has lighting, right?”
“Yeah, I know, I was just… Testing something with my fire.”
“Alright, just don’t burn the house down.” Tess opened one of the cabinets in the small kitchen and took out two wooden bowls. “Here you go kid, eat up. You’re probably starving. I’m quickly gonna go clean myself up.”
Dinner consisted of stale potatoes and meatballs drenched in too much gravy, but my hunger overwhelmed my need for good food. By the time I finished, Tess came out of the bathroom. Her military uniform did a good job of hiding all her curves, because I was not expecting such a beauty to walk out of the bathroom. Except for the chest area, she looked good in all the right places, she seemed to be especially proud of her long legs since she was strutting around in shorts.
-“If I were teenager my hormones would be going bonkers right now.”-
Trying to get myself to stop thinking about what’s underneath Tess’s garments, she sat across from me with a sigh.
“Kenny, I have good news and bad news. What do you wanna hear first?”
“Bad news, I guess.” I said reluctantly
“Alright, bad news is that we won’t be going to the library tomorrow. Good news though, the Magi Games start tomorrow which means we’ll be done a day earlier.”
“Oh, I was expecting worse. Does this mean we can go to the library after the games?”
“I’ll see if it fits in my schedule, so no promises. Some things popped up suddenly so I might be super busy after the games.”
“I see, in that case I’m going to bed, before my nerves keep me up all night. Goodnight.”
I laid in the king-sized bed pondering about how to approach tomorrows’ games. I actually wasn’t all that excited, I only wanted to see how helpful mana sense could be in a fight.
-“Oh right, my mana reserves.”-
After trying to hold the flame whilst absorbing mana, I assumed that half my remaining mana would’ve been consumed, but to my surprise I had more in my tank than I started with. My idea had actually worked and albeit a small step, it was one in the right direction none the less. If I had more time, I would’ve tried doing it while completing tasks that required more of my focus…
***
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