Chapter 9: A brief history of magic

James exited the palace and entered a large training field. It was a massive space with two swordsmanship fields in the center and around the edges filled with training equipment. Normally this training field was full of royal guards and knights but today it was empty because James is going to use it for Erias's lesson. 

James went over to the side where there were 3 large boulders lined up. While he waited for Eira to come he began to think about what he will teach it has been many years since he taught someone. That last person he taught was Henry so he was a little rusty.

 He didn’t need to wait long soon the doors opened and Eria entered the training field her eyes widened as she laid eyes on the massive field she took a few seconds to look around then spotted James. “Hi, Jay!” She said with a cheerful smile as she went over to him. “Hello, Eria are you ready to begin?” He asked curiously as he looked over at the young lady. “Yes I think so..” she replied slightly nervous.

 “Don’t worry it won’t be that hard today. We will determine if you are talented. But before that let me give you a brief recap about magic. I’m sure you know it but I’ll repeat it just in case so there is no confusion. Is that okay?” He asked from a simple background check he knew she attended an academy like every other noble.

 But James' way of teaching is much more efficient and different from the academy. Once Eria nodded in agreement James cleared his throat and began the lecture.

 “As you know all magic originated from Chaos magic. And from that chaos magic. Came light and dark magic. Light and dark magic are called ‘Core Magics’ Only one person per generation can exist with light magic. The same goes with dark magic. It is impossible to have two light or dark magic users. It’s always one. One light magic and one dark magic user. No more, no less. Anyway from light magic came other magics like fire, wind, earth, water, ice, and many many more. And from dark magic came shadow magic, blood magic, and necromancy magic. Many people believe dark magic is evil because of this but the reality is that magic itself is neutral. There is no such thing as “good or bad” magic. It’s the person who uses it but magic itself is a tool. Plus dark magic also has given us a lot of useful magic. One example is prophecy magic. Many people don’t realize that prophecy magic comes from dark magic. Anyways all of this is called ‘elemental magic’ since it uses the surrounding mana to take the form of elements. But there is another kind of magic called ‘Aura’ this magic is different. Aura is a manifestation of your will. Anyone can have a strong aura as long as their will is strong enough. And with that strong aura, you can do incredible things. For example” he raised his hand then clenched his fist then suddenly he punched a nearby boulder making the large nearby rock crumble into pieces.

 Erias's eyes widened as he witnessed James smash a massive rock with his bare hands. ‘So this is what the strongest mage is capable of…’ she stared at the crushed rock taking a few seconds to process. “C-can I do things like that?” She asked him to which James smiled.

 “Of course, with enough training, practice, and desire you can do anything. But right now If you attempt to do what I just did you won’t be able to make a dent in the rock. You need to practice but don’t worry I’ll help you. For now, let’s focus on elemental magic since it’s easier. Now concentrate and try using your ice power.”  He instructed to which Eira nodded and raised her hands she closed her eyes and focused soon small shards of ice began flying out of her hands. 

James watched her carefully as she performed her spells. He instantly knew something was wrong even the most common person with the weakest magic can do better it’s clear something is wrong internally.

 “Hmmm… something’s wrong.. please sit on the ground with your legs crossed there’s something I need to check.” Eria was confused but she simply nodded and sat down on the floor and crossed her legs. James sat behind her and put a hand on her back. He then began to analyze the mana in her body. After a few minutes, his eyes widened with shock. 

“hmm…You have a conflicting force. I don’t know how or why but something most likely another element is fighting a battle for dominance inside you. Since having two elements is impossible the elements clash. I will need to seal the other element. I don’t know how you got another element inside you but it’s not natural. This is similar to mana poisoning. I’ll look into it but for now, for you to use your magic I need to seal it away… this will hurt so please bear it as much as you can” 

When James finished speaking Erias's eyes widened. ‘What! A conflicting element? How is that possible? Everyone knows that it’s impossible to possess two elements. Is that why her magic is so weak?’  She sighed and simply nodded. 

“Okay Let’s do this then.” She said without hesitation she knew this needed to be done she no longer wanted to be a burden to James or her father.

 James closed his eyes again and began to focus he poured his aura into Eria and manually began to balance out the two elements like taking salt out of water. Once he separated the two elements he began to suppress and seal away the other element. It took over half an hour. 

It was painful for Eria and it was extremely difficult for James since this is a very high-level technique that only very few elder mages can do. 

But eventually, James managed to seal away the other element which allowed the ice magic to flow more freely. “It is done… are you okay? I know that was difficult..” he asked concerned. Eria felt exhausted but was happy it was finally over. “I’m fine,” she said with a smile because despite all that she felt much better inside. 

Her mana was now flowing more easily she feels like she can do anything. “let me try again.” She said then stood up and raised her hands. Then suddenly out of the ground emerged large spikes of ice. 

Eira was shocked at how easily she could do it she tried it again which made an even bigger spike of ice. It rose from the ground very quickly. She raised her hand then clenched her fist and shattered the spikes of ice then she raised her hand and made the ice shards rise then sent the shards flying into a nearby boulder. The shards flew at the boulder with incredible speed once they hit the boulder the tiny shards of ice made noticeable dents in the large rock. 

After seeing this James was impressed. Since the other element was still inside her she couldn’t use her full power. This was 70% of Erias's power yet it was so much. Since she is a noble she has vast amounts of mana and she has a lot of potentials. 

There haven’t been many notable ice mages but the few notable ones have been extremely powerful. Everyone considers ice magic the weakest because very few people have mastered it since it’s very tricky and complex. But Eria has a lot of natural talent.

 “Well done. Keep practicing and I'm sure you’ll improve and climb to new heights” James said with a smile. Eria nodded she had a large smile on her face. She felt like she can make her father and late mother proud. “I will try my best!” She said with excitement and determination as she spent the next two hours practicing with James.