"Ya got a little bit better, boy!" Jack exclaimed with a wide grin after slamming me to the ground. "But you're still too passive. Attack like you mean it! Don't show mercy!" He then kicked me while I was still on the ground and sent me crashing into a nearby tree. I gasped in pain and flickered in and out of consciousness as my back hit the hard tree trunk and I flopped on the ground.  

Yet, even though I was barely conscious, while using the tree as support, I used all the strength I had left to stand back up. He really doesn't hold back. But I need to get stronger. Feeling the determination burn inside me, I took a deep breath, shook my head, and readied myself again. 

Jack let out an impressed whistle. "I can see the determination in your eyes, boy. But what are ya going to do with those jelly legs? You're staggering left and right like a drunken man." 

The moment Jack said that, I looked down and noticed that my legs were shaking uncontrollably. It seemed like I had hit my limit. I finally noticed the signals my body was sending me. It got harder and harder to keep standing as exhaustion slowly caught up to me and I ultimately started to slowly slide down the tree. After a few seconds, I sat on the ground, while resting my head against the tree. The tree trunk was warm and comfortable. I closed my eyes and tried to catch my breath, while listening to the nearby rushing river, the rustling of the leaves, and the singing of the birds flying above me.  

It was a short, peaceful moment until the memories of the village came flooding back, and my eyes snapped open. It had already been three days, but the painful screams of the villagers still echoed through my head. I haven't talked much with Jack since then. He acted like nothing happened everytime we trained, meanwhile I didn't know how to act or talk to him anymore. I didn't hate him, but I was unable to trust him anymore. The smile he had when he watched the village burn was still terryfing. However, I still wanted to know more about him. I wanted to know how he became like this. Even after these threatening words he said to me. I asked Tony about his past once, but he refused to give me an answer. Maybe I really am soft. I thought while letting out a small sigh.

"What's wrong boy?" jack said while raising a brow.

"Nothing." I answered while looking down so I didn't have to look at his face. 

"Could it be..." Jack wondered. "Are you baffled by my beauty?" he began to laugh. "That must be it! I knew I was still handsome!"

I didn't respond but instead looked away. He was still pretending like nothing happened. A few meters away from me was Tony who's been sitting on a rock at the river bank, calmly reading his book while waiting for us to finish. I started to think about what he might be reading when a sudden cracking sound caught my attention.

Jack had already stopped laughing again and was cracking his neck. After that, he pulled out a small bottle with booz in it and took a sip. "Let's stop for today." He said calmly. "I don't want to break you before Tony can teach ya anything!" He began to laugh again as he left for the carriage, meanwhile I only rolled my eyes.  

After sitting on the ground for a few more minutes, I took a deep breath and stood back up. My body was still hurting. But I slowly made my way towards Tony, who after noticing my approach, closed his book and stood up. 

"Took you long enough," he said as calm as ever. "Seeing that your body is not in the best condition, I propose that we focus on mana manipulation for today," I let out a relieved sigh. My body wouldn't have withstood another round of combat training.  

"In the past two weeks," Tony began, "you have managed to reach circle rank 2. But you still have difficulty attacking with your magic." He extended his hand, palm up, and began to gather wind inside his hand. Tony was a circle rank 6 wind magician and thus a master when it came to wind magic. After not even a second, Tony had already gathered a violent vortex of wind magic inside his hand. And after uttering two words, "wind blade." He shot a blade of wind toward the tree I was leaning against a few minutes ago. The tree was easily cut in half and the blade crashed into a nearby hill, causing a huge explosion. But the sheer force of the spell did not only cut the tree. It also flung the top side of the tree several meters away, sending it crashing down into the nearby river.

I was flabbergasted by his powerful - yet over-the-top - demonstration of his wind magic. But what was even more impressive than the sheer power of such a simple spell like wind blade, was the fact that Tony managed to do it with only two words of incantation.  

"You probably wonder how I managed to fire such a strong wind blade with only two words of incantation, right?" Tony asked as if he had read my mind.  

I was already used to him saying what I was thinking, so I was not even suprised. "Yes," I answered. "I read that the incantation for wind blade is 'Wind gather inside my hand and form a powerful blade to strike down my foes, wind blade!'. How did you manage to cut it so short?" 

Tony sat back down on his stone and began to explain. "As you know, we use our imagination to cast spells. And Incantations help us with that. Incantations control what kind of spell it is, where we want to cast it and how strong it is..  But for you, it's not as important right now. Enchanters rarely need to use incantations because they only manipulate the mana inside them or the mana close to them. They most often enhance their body with their corresponding element or enchant their weapons which is simple to imagine. Incantations are most commonly used when Enchanters cloat their whole body in armor or create new weapons with their element. Casters, on the other hand, use environmental mana to cast spells. They manipulate it and bend it to their will. And to do that, they need incantations."

"If incantations are so important for you Casters. Then how did you use Wind Blade with only two words?" I asked. 

"It's because of experience. If you use a spell for a long time, you start cutting away unnecessary parts of the incantation." 

"So, would it be possible to silent cast spells like wind blade as well?"

Tony shook his head, "I may be able to cast  wind blade with only two words, but it is impossible for me to cast it silently. However, it might be possible for you to use silent casting with every spell, I believe. Do you remember when you first cast Torch?"  

I nodded. I forgot the incantation then and thought it was just pure luck. But now that I think about it... "Do you want to say that I silent cast it?" 

"Yes. Even though it is a beginner's spell. You cast it without the use of incantations. That's why I took you as my student. You show great potential Eldric."  

His words were encouraging. I didn't know that he thought so highly of me. Well, it's hard to see what he thinks when he always wears the same face.

"Enough of that," Tony disrupted my train of thoughts. "Let's get back to training. Today we are going to focus on attack magic. But because you are a beginner enchanter and not a caster, you won't be able to cast Wind Blade quite as efficiently right now." 

"Right now? Does that mean that I will be able to some day?"

"As you know, enchanters are not able to control the environmental mana as efficiently as casters. But you can still influence it at close range. And with time and training, the gap between casters and enchanters gets smaller."  

With that said, Tony started to gather wind inside his hand, which slowly crept up his arm until his whole arm was covered in a vortex of wind. 

"How are you able to do that so easily?" I asked him, confused. "I thought that casters aren't able to use the same spells as enchanters?" 

"Like I said, the gap gets smaller. Even I as a Caster, can cloak my body in wind magic. But I can't create armor or weapons. But that's the same with enchanters. When you get stronger, you will be able to cast wind blade too. So keep training." 

Tony released the spell and the vortex around his arm disappeared.  "That's enough theory for now. For the next 4 days, until we get to the capital, I want you to practice exactly that. Try covering your arm in wind or fire magic and hold it as long as you can." And with that, Tony went back to his reading, leaving me to train on my own. 

And that's what I did for the next 3 days. I managed to cloak my hand in fire or wind, but not for more than 2 minutes. It was hard for me to focus my mana on one spot for a long time, which also made it hard to use enhancement magic. So, I decided to double my efforts and started training at night too. Well, that wasn't the only reason I started to train at night.

Next to my normal training, I also started to focus more on the darkness that dwelled inside me. I meditated every night, trying to understand what happened during the fight against the wolf. Yet I came to no conclusion. The only thing I knew was that this darkness responded to my emotions. Before this dark mist engulfed me, I was broken, desperate, and angry. After realizing how weak I was, the dark mist came rushing out of my body. It made me stronger, more agile, and it gave me the courage to fight again. But not only that, it also did something to the stone sword Nia gave me. It changed its composition. I asked Tony if he knew of a glassy jet-black material that was strong but also sharp, and he told me that it was a stone called obsidian. I was still unsure of what this so-called obsidian was, but I figured it would be a good idea to research it once we arrived in the capital.  

Then the day finally came. After traveling for 8 days, we finally reached it. We stopped on the side of the road so that our horses could rest for a bit. And when I looked down the cliff next to us, I could see it. The Capital City.   

It was still a couple of hours away. But even from this distance, I could clearly see it. It was a massive city surrounded by stone walls and a river flowing through the center. The only way in was a large drawbridge over a huge moat. On the bridge itself, I could see a massive line in front of the gate that probably went on for several hundred of meters. 

The sun was already hanging low, so I gave up all hope that we would make it before nightfall which left me a little bit disappointed. I wanted to get there as soon as possible.   

Jack, seeing my disappointed face, reassured me. "Don't worry, boy. We won't have any trouble getting past this line." 

And just like he said. When we reached the line after a couple of hours, our carriage just went past everyone. We got a few angry looks, but no one dared to say anything. It was as if we were a couple of big shots who had just returned to the capital. After passing the line, we approached a massive steel gate that was big enough to crush even a full-grown dragon under it. Yet before we could pass through the gate, two soldiers blocked our way and demanded to see our papers.

"We don't need any papers, we are citizens," Jack waved them away.

"Even citizens need papers," one of the soldiers spat. He was the taller one of the two and looked stronger than the adventurers in the village.

Jack got slightly annoyed by their attitude and got down from the carriage. He put one arm around the soldier and began. “You must be new here, so I'm going to forgive you this one time.”

The soldier quickly freed himself and grabbed the hilt of his sword, preparing to draw. "I don't know who you are. But if you don't want me to arrest you now then-"

"I don't think that's a good idea," the smaller soldier interrupted with a quivering voice. 

"What, why?" the bigger one asked, confused.

"Because this is Jack Lantern. If you try to arrest him now, your head will be rolling!" 

The eyes of the bigger one widened in shock at the mention of Jack's name. He looked at Jack, then at the other soldier, and then back at Jack again. His face then turned pale and he quickly removed his hand from his sword, bowing to Jack. "I deeply apologize for not knowing who you are, sir," he said while trying to sound as formal as possible.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Jack said while giving him a pat on the back which made the soldier wince. "But don't let this happen again," he added before making his way back to the carriage.

The soldiers moved out of the way and gave us a final trembling salute before we could finally enter the capital. As we passed them, I could see the fear in their eyes, which made me wonder even more about who Jack really was.