Adaceus jumped across the cityscape and eventually made it home at just the break of late noon. He hopped from the gates, landing in the garden and opening the front door to enter, finally completing his task.
"Adaaa!!"
A high-pitched squeal sounded, and a woman ran toward him with her arms spread out. She grabbed him and buried him into his chest.
His face was buried into two large pillows that swallowed either side of hid face, and she brought him deeper into her.
"Good to see you too, lady Ella," Adaceus said with a muffled voice.
The girl released her from him, and he fell to the ground.
"How are ya?" She asked, a wide smile plastered on her face.
"I'm good, Miss Ella."
"So I heard you went to my brother to deliver somethin', how'd it go?"
"It went fine."
"That's good!" And she widened her smile.
"Oh, by the way, you promised me that you were going to be tutoring me on my magic today. Is it still up, or do you need to rest first?"
"It's still up, I can get ready in a few moments, so why don't you, just go ahead, I'll prepare some tea on the way, okay?"
Sparkles flew out of her expression, and Adacues felt a tink at the top of his head, and she replied with a joyful 'alright!', and hopped in the direction of the training grounds.
"Huh, that girl is lively today."
### ### ### ##
Adaceus lifted the teapot and began pouring into two tea cups that were on the table. He glanced to his side to see Ella, sitting at the other end of the table, a wand clamped in both hands, sitting there with intense focus on a medium-sized orb at the tip of it.
It was a constantly orb of water that hovered at the tip of the wand, and Ella was staring really intently into it.
This was because it was a training exercise that focused on essence, a type of energy that was stored in something called a core.
He had learned much in the years he had been living on the estate, and the core was one of them.
The core, as it is commonly known, is a compact mass of mana that is innate in every living being.
It first forms in the early development of a young child, first developing as a little light of blue smoke, but after the individual continues to mature, it eventually reaches a maximum point of growth, turning into a full-fledged core. The max size it could potentially reach varies from each individual to another, and involves a manner of factors that go into it that contribute to its growth.
It is placed near the center of one's body, right in the meridian, and is circular in its shape, and is completely made of mana. It circulates mana throughout the entire body via muscles, veins, natural circulation, and even induced circulation, which enables a variety of things to happen or occur.
Firstly, all manner of individuals use the mana in combat situations, being able to utilize it in a process called Mana fusion, which is a sort of synthesis that separates into two different strands. Aura and Essence.
In order to produce both of these, an individual must specifically calibrate his/her core to that specific path that they choose. All individuals have a sort of affinity to one of the two, depending on the core that they possess; either they have a core that resonates more with aura, or essence, being able to discern what that is based on the circulation of the man on their body.
An Aura user circulates mana throughout their muscles, veins, or any part of the flesh. They do this by synthesizing the mana from the core into said aura, by a process of deep concentration that forms the mana into a tangible energy (Aura) that resides in a passive state in the body, fit for the aura user to utilize in any way. It can be used in all manner of ways, offensive or defensive, otherwise, making it a very versatile, adaptable energy in battle.
It is mainly used by melee fighters who are most seen battling in close range, which makes the use of aura very important to them for its versatility, being able to conjure defensive moves or empowerment of their weapons or movement abilities to close in the distance.
Meanwhile, an essence user circulates mana directly from the core to the outside of the body, synthesizing it in a more complicated way in the form of magic circles where spells are able to be conjured. An essence user basically channels mana in large amounts to form complex shapes and dimensions, letting it out into a singular point outside of the body in the form of a bright circle of light that can appear wherever they choose to summon it. These circles, named magic circles, allow the essence user to cast all manner of spells on, and although less versatile than aura for its time-consuming process, they have the advantage of having more firepower built into them.
While these are some of the common things the mana cores are used for, there are other, more unique variants. For instance, the user of both paths often train in the supportive areas of combat, such as for essence users that specifically utilize in the more assisting aspects, being able to enchant defenses to the people they choose and can even heal using recovery spells by transferring mana unto an individual, where as a user of aura can strengthen themselves with layers of defensive augments to tank incoming attacks like shield walls.
This was basically all that he knew of the cores. They were a new avenue of power, one solely unique to the world of Ediah. The things of this world's systems truly differed from the ones he knew of; the cores mentioned especially were a new concept he had never seen before. And Adacues sported tw of them in his body, well, the body he possessed.
"Remember now, keep focusing on it, remember keep it a circular shape."
"Kay," she responded, not looking away at the mass.
She was an essence user, more specifically an elemental magus. Most essence users have a sort of affinity with particular types of magic that greatly depend on the state of their cores and how well they resonate with a particular type, whether it be arcane, illusionary, golemancy, etc, or, in the case of Ella, an elementalist.
She had awakened at a young age and was an enchanter/support mage who gave support to allies by strengthening them.
And now she was here, learning how to use combat spells.
The orb of water kept on morphing its shape until it vibrated fervently, turning still as it became a perfectly smooth orb.
Her face lit up, and she turned to Ada with a smile.
"Look, I did it!"
Just then, the orb of water exploded, splashing her face wet.
Adaceus then chuckled, "You lost focus."
Ella dropped her hands to her thighs, despondent. She sighed.
"I'm never going to get the hang of this, gosh, why is it so hard for me to use this wand. She raised it up high and stared at it with a look of confusion. The hand had a white body, a violet colored handle, and was encrusted with a red colored jewel at the top.
The wand was an item called Magical Equipment. Which is, in simple terms, a mage's sword or blade. Magical Equipment was basically used to make channeling spells easier for the user, and sometimes even strengthened their potency and effectiveness. This wand, in particular, had a strengthening enchantment in it that boosted elemental attacks.
"How the heck do you do this so effortlessly with that book of yours, Ada?"
Adaceus looked to his waist and brought out the grimoire that was hung there. In the time he was here, he had actually learned that this grimoire was actually a Magical Equipment, and it boosted his cursed magic.
Adaceus was an essence user as well, and his branch of magic was that of an arcana magus, a class of mage that uses mystical arts for their spellwork. They have by far the most access to spells and the most dynamic, versatile, and flexible out of any branch, being able to work with all of them to produce their spells. Think of it as a one-size-fits-all type of magic, in which they are good at everything, but not amazing at one thing.
This grimoire boosted his arcana magic, but also something else.
Cursed magic is what he dubbed it, and he knew how to use it. All the cursed magic spells he knows are in that book, and they were a powerful sort.
Many would think that this would cause some problems if he were found to use forbidden magic, but he wasn't worried.
Ella took hold of the book and opened it up clumsily, only to have her face contort like wrinkled paper.
"What the heck is this bunch of scribbles in here? What language is this? How the heck can you understand this, let alone use it?"
"Don't know, I just happen to be able to use it since I found out it was like that wand."
He was lying, of course, he knew exactly why he was able to read the text.
He rubbed his left eye, the one that the red marble was on. It had the ability to translate what was on the grimoire, allowing him and only him to be able to understand the grimoire, and why he wasn't found to have a forbidden item in his possession. Without the marble, it was just a regular book.
This item was strange, and he still didn't know what its properties and capabilities were. But as for right now, especially when fighting because of a specific ability it had. It helped him, and that was enough until he could learn more about what it contained.
"Hahhh, why can't I do it toooo. I'm sooo jealous," she said with a sigh, putting the book down and slumping her shoulders.
"No need for that, okay? You just need to practice more, that's all. You are a capable mage, you'll learn in time."
"Huuuh, I know, it's just, why is it taking so long? I rarely struggle when it comes to magic, but I can't understand why I'm having trouble."
She said this as she opened her hands, magical circles appearing as a current of wind blasted her face, and in a few moments, she was completely dry.
Adaceus noticed a change in her face; she went from being chipper to being despondent. He stepped closer and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, and Adaceus picked up the wand and gave it to her.
"No need to feel sad, Ella, you have no need for that, don't be too hard on yourself because you hit a hurdle, just keep trying, okay?"
She held it in her hand.
"Thanks... Ada."
"No problem, now, let us leave behind this sad sapiness and return on to our trial at hand!!"
Adaceus said this much too loudly, manipulating his tone to make it sound like an old man, dancing about and pointing to the sky. He made sure to exaggerate his moves in a goofy way. This always put a chuckle and laugh on her face, as in her own words it made him seem like an old geezer, and she found it funny how he talked and the way he moved, and he greatly emphasized it.
Immediately, her mood started to morph into a smirk, then inch by inch it slowly turned into a wide smile, and then a very slight chuckle, to a resounding laugh.
"Ahahaha! Wow, you sound even more stupider this way, Ada, more than usual."
Nhn, Adaceus groaned, that was quite the painful insult.
"Hahahaha!" She continued on, and tears welled in her eyes from laughter.
"Haah," she sighed. "Thanks for that, Ada, I really needed that."
"Right, good, now that you've calmed down enough, are you good now?"
"Yeah, yeah, Ada, thanks for this, really."
"That's swell Miss Ella, now, I think we should get going, its starting to get dark out."
"Yep! You're right, goodnight, Ada!"