Mana is like Air

“Come on, the monsters activity will increase as the night approaches. We better leave quickly.” Said Alexander hurriedly.

The three friends recovered from their shock and followed after Alexander. They studied their steps every time, and raised their guard, fearing that another monster would suddenly appear and they didn’t even know how their end would be.

Elyan wanted to ask something, so he came to Alexander’s side and spoke: “Uncle Alexander, where are we going?”

“The only place in the forest and which monsters cannot approach is the center of the forest, we are going there. There is enough space to settle down and it will also be the training place for the next two years.” Alexander answered quickly.

As he continued to move, Alexander raised his head.

“Ghraaaaa.” A huge yellow leopard with fiery rings around its body jumped out without warning and opened its jaws, trying to devour the group.

“Piss off.” It didn’t cost Alexander trouble using too much of his strength, his light-speed punch slammed onto the face of the fiery leopard, and its skull was shattered into a pile of white fluids.

The three’s hearts were about to stop, but they soon saw the headless corpse had fallen to the side. They walked past her and continued on their way with feelings of terror.

Who knows how they would have ended up if not for Uncle Alexander. At the same time, their admiration for the latter increased.

By advancing towards the center, there have been plenty of times that different types of monsters continued to get in their way. Was a lions the size of an elephant or bigger, connected to three snake-like tails, an army of poisonous scorpions, a group of large birds that attacked with their beaks like sharp swords, even a mighty plant resembled a giant rose except that its petals had disgustingly human faces.

Upon seeing these monsters, the three finally realized that the Forest of Monsters was truly aptly named.

However, and in front of Alexander who was creating a fireworks scene with his light attacks, these monsters were absolutely nothing. He was smiling as he eliminated each one of them without any signs of reaching his limit.

This left a deep impression on the other beginners.

At some point, Alexander told them to start running again.

“Uncle Alexander, is the center still far away?” Gray asked expectantly.

“The Eastern forest covers roughly half of the southeastern part of the cont…” Alexander explained, however, quickly re-examining his words and remembering that he had forgotten how these children had never left their city before.

“To put it simply, the forest is about three times as big as ‘Peace’, so guess how long it will take to get to our destination?”

It seemed as if the mathematics master Gray was thinking, after a series of operations inside his mind, he pressed on his glasses and said: “With this speed we’ll arrive in three days.”

“It seems that you are not a completely useless person.” Alexander smiled and sneered. He had an impression of Gray, an honest but weak-willed person who complains a lot, lazy when it comes to muscular effort, but the best in matters of intelligence. He has great respect for Elyan, and this is what pushes him to try, despite his unwillingness to do so.

***

The eastern forest was not only confined to flat areas of giant trees, bypassing mountains, rivers, and obstacles of monsters that appeared from time to time especially amidst the quiet of the night, the three days passed quickly. Everyone finally arrived at the center.

Everyone watched their surroundings with attention and explored the area.

Strangely, there was nothing in the grassy space that extended in front of them. It was a flat land without any obstruction, save a part of a small river which ran through the northern end and then continued towards the other outer parts.

If it weren’t for those trees that surrounded the area from the outside, everyone would have thought that they had already left the forest.

Julie approached first cautiously, walking around the new place but did not see anything incorrect, she turned her gaze towards the others and smiled: “As uncle Alexander said, there are no monsters here. It seems to be safe.”

“Choose a suitable location for pitching tents, preferably near the river. After you’re done, leave your things and we’ll start training.” Alexander raised his eyebrow thoughtfully as he directed his words. At the same time two tents appeared in the air, leaving the others to deal with.

The area by the river was clean and they didn't need to remove any of the pebbles or sticks of brush.

Elyan took care of securing the poles in the soft soil, while Julie worked on the tent drapes and Gray pulled the ropes until they were completely straight.

With their teamwork it didn’t take them long to finish. Julie occupied one for herself while the boys used the second tent.

With breakfast provided by Alexander in advance, their energy was renewed.

Elyan changed into a pair of new clothes, which he had taken with him before leaving ‘Peace’, a black summer T-shirt and stretchy joggers. Julie also took off her school jacket, which smelled of sweat and dried mud. Underneath was a gray bottom shirt with bare shoulders.

Gray also allowed himself to take off his winter shirt and jacket, but kept on his silver-rimmed glasses, without which he could not see.

“Uncle Alexander, we are ready.”

Alexander was about to take another puff from the pipe, but stopped when the three arrived in front of him. He let the pipe slip out of his hand and then adjusted his hat, looked at them with serious eyes and spoke: “I will not say any introductions or try to encourage you.”

“During the previous days, you saw for yourselves that this world is not as simple as you imagined.”

“The weak cannot escape, and there is no place for the cowards.”

“Strength is the only truth.”

“Because I am strong, I was not devoured by those monsters. For the same reason, you would have been eliminated if it were not for me.”

“And also... because you are weak, Elyan, that Isabella died.” Alexander said coldly, deliberately mentioning this matter.

“You can get mad at me and try to punch me if you want, but can you? No. Because you are simply weak.”

“If you are afraid and want to return to ’Peace’, no problem. Just mention it and I will do it. Even if you want to forget all the events you went through, there is no need to worry. I have a friend who will be able to help you.” Alexander was using the carrot and stick method but in the opposite way. He deliberately wanted to discourage the three and then slyly suggested sending them back to the city, while offering to forget everything they had gone through. It was truly a deal that no sane person would pass up.

Alexander did this not only to test their determination, but it was also his inner desire for these kids to give up. He did not wish them to suffer the dark fate that awaited them. A burden like that even he would find too heavy.

“Uncle Alexander, aren’t you talking too much unlike you used to?” Elyan smiled, how could he not realize Alexander’s true intentions? Maintaining his steadfastness and confident look, he said without backing down: “As you said, uncle Alexander, we are weak in front of these monsters, but you were here.”

“We are weak now, but we will become stronger, because you are here with us.”

“It doesn’t require much thinking, of course we will stay.”

“Hmph, you said there wouldn’t be any introductions but you suddenly started talking like a boring old man.” Gray sneered this time.

“Uncle Alexander, don’t worry. We will not back down after we have come this far. On the contrary, after seeing those monsters, it is another reason to aspire to strength.” Julie also spoke and did not bow.

Alexander was silent and surprised. He did not expect his words to have such an adverse effect. Seconds later, he also laughed: “Hah, being criticized by kids like you, heh, this really shows my age.”

“Then I won’t say more. Let’s get started.”

Alexander raised his hand and a glow of white light appeared on his palm, under his control the aura of light changed and formed a spherical shape. The ball rose and shattered, bits of light swam and enveloped Alexander, once again turning into a white arrow that continued circling the rest.

“Magic.” As he controlled the lights one at a time, Alexander said slowly.

“For those who want to walk the path of strength, learning magic is inevitable.” 

Hearing this, Elyan’s eyes brightened, remembering how unbelievable Alexander’s strength was and guessing that it was part of the magic power he mentioned just now.

He was sure that this was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

He immediately asked: “Is this what today’s training is about?”

“No, it’s a bit premature. As you are now you don’t even have the qualifications to learn magic.” Alexander said bluntly.

“Also, there is another important thing regarding magic that you should know.”

“The source of magic, or as many call it ’Mana’.”

“If we want to approximate the concept of mana in a simpler way, it is like air, it exists everywhere in the world. Humans, animals and beasts, plants and all living things cannot live without it.”

“Even for ordinary humans like you who don’t know how to use magic, without your realization you are interacting with your mana on a daily basis.”

“Here comes the important question, how can we utilize mana to use magic?” Alexander spoke mysteriously as he watched the expectant looks of the rest.

“First, not all humans are capable of benefiting from mana, just about half of them and those are what they are called ‘Deviants’. Secondly, it’s not like deviants are able to use magic directly, it takes a lot of time and effort.”

“Uncle Alexander, I have a question. Do the three of us have the ability to learn magic?” Gray didn’t say deviants because he found the word a bit strange.

According to Alexander, this was a prerequisite, which was for them to be naturally within the class of humans capable of controlling mana.

“Good question.” Alexander smiled.

“Yes, you are one of the ‘Deviants’.”

“This is one of the advantages of being a mage, you will be able to feel the people around you and get to know their nature.” Alexander was pointing to himself.