Elwen the Conquered

“Pure mana? What's that?” Elwen asked, not understanding why Cladion was so excited.

“What? How could you not-” Cladion's hand nearly slapped his forehead, “Right, you're still new.” He sunk back down into his couch.

Elwen was sitting across from him, on the couch used for guests. She was confused when Cladion said he wanted to have a talk after their lesson, and even more so when he led her to the comfy couch.

“Even though you have that monstrous talent...” Cladion mumbled.

“Um? Is that good?” Elwen still had no idea what he was talking about. He told her that he ran a test of her attributes, but she had no idea what that was. She had even checked her [Status] page to see if it was something on there, but she didn't see it anywhere.

“Yes!” Cladion practically screamed, “Well, maybe. It's certainly unique. I haven't heard of anyone having pure mana! I mean, there are monsters that do, like wisps, but I've never heard of a person having it.”

“And that's a good thing?” She didn't like being compared to monsters.

“Of course! It's unprecedented! It means you'll be practically peerless when it comes to versatility!” Cladion answered, swinging his arms in big gestures.

“What does that mean?” He really needed to get better at explaining things.

“It means,” Cladion said, “that you, my dear apprentice,” Since when was she his 'dear apprentice?!' “Can cast any magic! Well, you should be able to, anyways.”

“Isn't that... normal?” She asked.

“No! Of course not!” He sighed, sinking back into the couch. He needed to take this slow. “Everyone who has mana has attributed mana. This means that the mana inside them takes on certain characteristics. Attributed mana can only be used for magic of similar attributes.” He explained, lighting a small fireball in the palm of his hand. “For instance, you would need some kind of fire attribute mana in order to cast this.”

“But wouldn't that mean I shouldn't be able use magic? I mean, you said I don't have any attributes...” Elwen interjected.

“That's the thing! Pure mana is the only exception! It is like...” Cladion pulled on his hair, “Gah! It's like you have mana from before it becomes attributed! Like you got it from the source!”

“So my magic is really strong?” Elwen smiled as she clapped her hands together.

“Well, er... kinda?” Cladion scratched the back of his head. “Not really. Your spells are probably about a third as strong as they would be with the right attribute.” Elwen drooped at his explanation. “But! You have versatility! No other mage would be able to cast whatever spell they wanted so easily! And this means that you could always pick the right spell for the occasion. I know quite a few mages you got into tough spots only because their magic type was countered.”

“So it's really weak...” Elwen practically had tears in her eyes. She didn't care that her magic wasn't the strongest, but she was devastated that it was so weak compared to everyone else's. She felt like her ability to do magic, the one thing that she had wanted when they came to this world, was being stifled. Like it was being taken away from her.

“Ah!” Cladion had no idea what to do with his crying student. He didn't have any training on how to deal with this! “I'll teach you how to do transmutation! You can use that to get the right attribute! Here, take a cookie!” He frantically tried to appease her, practically shoving a cookie in her mouth.

Elwen nibbled on the cookie, slowly recovering from her despair. “You'll teach me how to do transmutation?” She quietly asked with puppy-dog eyes half filled with tears.

“Yes, yes, of course!” Cladion responded, relieved that he was able to appease her. He was partly glad that he had decided to go on a diet, or the jar of cookies on his desk would have been empty. “Come, I'll teach you! I think I have a book on the basics around here somewhere....” He beckoned her as he practically ran over to the study, searching through his full bookshelves.

Elwen sat down at the desk she had been using for her lessons, still nibbling on the cookie. She was trying to savor it, it tasted like the sweetest thing that she had ever eaten. She was starting to miss sweets, the mean guards never gave them any. And now she had proof that they had some!

“Here,” Cladion set a thin book down in front of her, “This should teach you the basics. I'm going to see if I can find a focus in the store room. Read it and we'll do some practical lessons once you're done.” Cladion left almost as soon as he was finished, briskly walking out the door,

Elwen stared down at the book, reading the title. “Ricart's Introduction to Mana Transmutations, huh?” It was a thin book, probably less than a hundred pages. She opened it, skipping the foreword, and began pouring over the pages.

It was barely twenty minutes when Cladion returned with a crystal orb, but he didn't interrupt her as she studied the book. Instead, he returned to the couch and started munching on some jerky, staring at the jar of cookies on his desk, 'Stupid diet!' It had only bee two weeks since he started, but he was really thinking of giving up. He was just under too much stress, and he really wanted his cookies back. Even if they were just some cheap ones that he got when he last went into town.

After another hour, Elwen finally finished reading. “Done?” Cladion asked, getting up from the couch.

“Yes... But I still don't really understand how it works...” Elwen answered.

“That's fine.” Cladion responded, “It's just meant as an introduction. If one could learn how to do proper transmutations from just reading a book, well, then there would be no point of the Academy! The real learning comes from actually doing it. Here, take this.” Cladion explained, handing her the crystal orb. “This is a focus. A water-oriented one. It's not the greatest one, but it'll do. Now, you remember the process, yes?”

“Um... yes?” Elwen answered, “I need to put mana through the focus while thinking about the attribute I want the mana to have.”

“Yes, good.” Cladion encouraged her, “But it usually helps to think of images related to the attribute instead of just the element. Try to image the sea or a river or something.” He held up a small stick, another magic device. Similarly to the disk, this one detected man, although it was used to detect mana in the environment. It was tuned to water mana, and would glow when it was exposed to enough of it.

Elwen held the focus up, cradling it in her hands. She started a gentle flow of mana to it, envisioning the vast ocean, trying to force the mana to change into water mana.

It didn't work.

“Why isn't it working?” She complained, frustrated that she wasn't able to get it to work.

“Keep at it.” Cladion told her, “It's perfectly normal not to get it on the first try. Try to make a clear image, and focus only on the water. Having too much on your mind will make it harder.”

She nodded and tried again, conjuring up an image of rain. It also didn't work. With Cladion's encouragement, she tried again and again. Until, nearly two hours after they started, she finally got the stick to glow.

“I did it!” Elwen jumped with joy, happy that she finally succeeded.

“Good job!” Cladion congratulated her. “Now, for the hard part.”

Elwen froze at his words, “That wasn't the hard part?”

“No, of course not.” Cladion explained, “The hard part is using that mana to cast a spell.” Cladion looked at the clock, noting that it was almost the end of their session. “Alright, we can try a couple times, but after that we'll be out of time.”

“Ok! Um... what do I do?” Elwen asked.

“Do exactly what you did to make the water mana, but cast a water spell at the same time. You know [Water Ball], right? Try that one. You will need to place the magic circle just on the other side of the focus, so it can use the water mana before it disperses.

And so, Elwen tried to cast her spell while using the focus at the same time. Unfortunately, even after a dozen tries, she wasn't able to do it. Sometimes, she could get the spell to work, but the focus wouldn't. Other times, she could make the water mana, but she couldn't cast the spell. She was able to do one at a time, but not both. And despite her insistence at trying again, they ran out of time and an enforcer came to take her back to her room. She would have to wait until tomorrow to try again.

Varian walked out of the forest, happy that he was able to slaughter all those who tried to take Elwen away from him. It turned out, the Assassin's Guild base wasn't too far, only about half-a-day's walk, from their client's base.

Apparently, it was 'Roderick's Reavers' who put out the bounty, the same gang that had tried to kidnap Cira. He was starting to think that they weren't some small time bandit group, and t it was disturbing him that there could be more of them out there. He killed all of them at the camp, but he found a couple of letters in the leader's tent. He believed that they were communications between this camp and some larger headquarters, although he couldn't be sure. The letters were either written in code, or the bandits were really, really dumb. He couldn't make any sense of them. But since they were written... He assumed it was the former.

Either way, he was satisfied with murdering all of them. He would even get a reward, once he turned in all the evidence to the guard-captain. If he was right and there were more of them, he would just kill them whenever he found them. At this point, he didn't even care if this was just a plot by the local group or the headquarters.

They managed to get a ride on a passing caravan back to town, which sped up their return significantly. It was almost night time when they arrived, so they went to one of the inns near the gate. Varian had no plans to stay in the city, deciding to leave early in the morning after he turned in the bandit's equipment to the captain.

“Alright,” Varian turned to Reia once they entered his room and took a seat on the bed, “I believe our business is done, so I'll release you now.” He had rented out a second room for her as a courtesy, but they had just one last bit to do before they could separate. “Go ahead and take your shirt off, I'll need to touch the crest to remove it.” It was more of an instinct than actual knowledge, much like the rest of the system-granted information.

Reia seemed to jump at his words, taking a small step back.

Varian let out a sigh. “Come on. It'll be over soon. I just need to remove the crest and we'll be done.” Why was she so hesitant? Didn't she want her freedom? It wasn't that bad, applying the crest? His was certainly painful, but he thought the other ones weren't as bad, especially the lower tier ones. “It shouldn't be painful, maybe tingle a little. I just need to remove the magic.”

Still, Reia didn't step forward, instead biting her lip and saying in a meek voice, “Actually, can you... um... k-keep me?”