"Before I teach you magic, there are some things you must know. First off, what I did back there was use a spell. It allowed me to collect world essence and shape it into a ball of fire. That is how the arcane arts work. World essence is a strange and powerful force. It is dense and all attributed. Every element is present in it; fire, water, metal, wind, etc.

What an arcanist does is that using his own essence he summons the surrounding essence and places it under his control. Then he shapes it, converts it into whatever element or attribute he wants and uses it. In my case I summoned fire-attributed essence, concentrated it in my palm and shaped it into a sphere. I can then fire it at someone or use it for something else".

'Like scare your student you mean', Valerian thought. He kept his mouth shut though.

"However using magic that way requires control over arcane energy, something you do not have so our first task will be to help you find your energy and control it" Jonas informed Valerian.

"Find it?" Valerian asked a surprised look on his face.

"Yes find it! Or have you already discovered it?" Jonas asked expectantly.

Valerian quickly shook his head. He would know if he had a world-warping energy at his fingertips or sloshing about in his gut. Jonas on his part corrected his expression. It was too much to hope for that Valerian would have already made contact with his arcane energy. It seemed he might have gotten too used to his nephew performing incredible feats. While contacting your arcane energy on your own wasn't too difficult it required some stimulus such as danger which wasn't something a sheltered boy like Valerian would have experienced.

"People like you who possess arcane energy but have not accessed it yet are called prospects. Once you've done so you will have officially stepped on the arcane path as an Arcane Disciple. However, it is not so easy to be an arcane disciple. It is the first step and the foundation for your career as an arcanist and thus requires special preparation.

It is split into five sub-stages which are, the arcane baptism, energy gathering, arcane manifestation, sea formation and the energy condensed stages. Only when these are achieved can a person truly be called an arcane disciple. Thus arcane disciples who have completed all these steps are called true or consolidated arcane disciples.

The arcane baptism requires you to use your newly acquired arcane energy to transform your body into a vessel capable of absorbing world essence and transforming it into arcane energy. The energy-gathering stage is where you begin training your energy, and as the name implies increase it thanks to your arcane baptism. Once you have a sizeable amount you can then extend it outside your body in the arcane manifestation stage. It is at this stage that you can cast spells.

The majority of the disciple realm though involves the gathering of arcane energy. This is with the intention of creating a sea of arcane energy within the body to support the drain of spells. Once this is done this sea can then be condensed into an arcane crystal in the final stage aptly named the energy condensation stage. It is only when the arcane crystal is formed that a person can be called a true arcane disciple".

As such our current goal is to help you make contact with your arcane energy. Then you can use the Manifold Elemental Incarnations to perform your baptism. Once that is done I can begin teaching you what I know about the arcane arts".

Valerian was excited now. How could he not be? He was on the cusp of becoming an actual arcanist. Soon he too would be able to conjure balls of fire to fling at his enemies. Maybe not fire but wind and metal were definitely assured.

Finding his arcane energy was simple. The only reason he couldn't control it was because he was unaware of it. All he had to do was bring it under his perception. This could be done by having someone insert his own arcane energy into his body to stimulate his own, or use an array to accomplish the same thing. Valerian opted for the array method.

He sat cross-legged in the array, having been placed in a special introspective state. Honestly, Valerian had never felt anything like it. He was hyperaware of himself, his immediate surroundings and most of all his internal state. He could feel his heart pumping and the blood that flowed through his veins. He could even follow it as it meandered through his body's pathways and dispersed into his organs. His mind was focused and his perception honed and aimed at himself.

Jonas assured him that it was a meditative state that he would learn to enter on his own. That it was a simple, core skill for all cultivators. In the beginning, it was fine if his trainer helped him enter it but eventually he had to learn it on his own. Thankfully it was not difficult to learn.

All the same, Valerian was more concerned with sensing his arcane energy at the moment. He felt nothing which made him wonder whether Jonas had begun or not. It was at this point that he felt a now familiar and uncomfortable tingling sensation. Immediately his inner world trembled and he felt it. It was like the clouds had parted and the sunlight was streaming in illuminating a previously hidden part of him. A part he had never known. He sent his sense diving in.

He perceived it as a giant agitated pool rumbling with tumultuous waves. Instinctively he knew it wasn't supposed to be this way. It should be calm, and tranquil. 'The array must be causing this', he realised. Reaching out to it with his mind he tried to calm it. Instantly the waves stopped. He looked on amazed as what had just been choppy water became peaceful with a mere thought. For a while, all he could do was test just how much control he had over it.

He raised his own waves, parted it, shaped it into orbs that whizzed around. Even raised the entire pool hundreds of meters up and caused it to fall back down as rain. He was having so much fun he nearly forgot what he was meant to be doing but once he remembered he immediately got to work.

Jonas looked at Valerian with concern. Technically the process was harmless but this was the first time he was on this side of things and with his first student too so he was justifiably nervous. Which is why relief flooded his face when he felt Valerian's energy surge and then begin to circulate throughout his body. Clearly the boy had started employing the Manifold Elemental Incarnations like he was supposed to. He could feel the world essence in the area swirl and converge around him.

"How is it going?" he heard a voice ask.

He turned around confirming that it was his aunt who had spoken. He glanced around to see the rest of the family also revealing themselves. He wasn't surprised though he had felt their presences from the very beginning. It was Valerian's first training session so of course, they'd come.

"Everything seems fine. It is even going better than expected".

Aunt Clara laughed softly. "That's Valerian for you. Always exceeding expectations".

Richard was next to speak. "What's next?"

"Well, he is supposed to circulate his energy in accordance with the method throughout his body for at least thirty complete cycles. Then he will start using it to perform his baptism", Jonas replied.

"So we wait?" his brother surmised.

"Yes!" he admitted. He took a long look at his nephew sitting there in the middle of the courtyard. Then dismissing the array in place, he created a completely new one. This one had two circles and its function was to gather world essence around Valerian. 'That ought to cut the time down somewhat', he thought. Then he settled down on one of the stone benches to wait with the rest of the family.