Rise of the Arcane Heir

The Clocktower (2)

Callum watched the scenery go by as the train rumbled along the tracks. He was lost in thoughts since Dani had seemed angry when he called her. He'd given her the excuse that he needed to get away from everything and had decided to move to London for a while.

Naturally, she tried to talk him out of it. She argued he shouldn't make such big decisions while his emotions were a mess. Dani only gave up when he told her he was already on a train and that he would be staying with a family friend.

"Hey," Maya grunted to get Callum's attention. "You need to focus. You heard Grandpa, you need to refine your mana and deepen your understanding of magic before we reach The Clocktower."

"Sorry," Cal smiled. "You're right. What element do you suggest I start with?"

"Huh?" Maya raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous question. "How many elements are you attuned with? Two? Three?"

Maya's voice rose an octave with each number she said. However, before she could get an answer, Master Gurung sitting next to her chuckled.

"If he's like every other holder of The Magician's legacy then he'll be attuned to all six elements. Correct?"

"What?" Maya exclaimed in disbelief as Callum nodded. "Wait. Is that a requirement for inheriting it?"

"You could say that," Master Gurung nodded. "There's no need to be jealous, Maya. It's as much a blessing as a curse."

"Why would you say that?" Maya stared at her Grandpa in disbelief. "I can't even imagine what he'll be capable of!"

"And that's the problem." Master Gurung sighed as he gave her a sharp glare. "Callum, Maya, listen carefully. People will fall into three different groups regarding your talent. They'll either fear you, be in awe of you or want something from you."

Callum's expression darkened when he heard that. Fear could lead people to do stupid things and there was no need to mention those who would approach with ulterior motives. Although at first glance being in awe didn't seem like a bad thing, that wasn't the case at all. 

It could lead to jealousy and people coveting what made you inspire awe in others. Which could give rise to a whole other set of difficulties he would need to deal with. 

"As for your earlier question, Callum. I suggest you take turns developing your light, air and fire mana for now. Spend more time on your fire-type mana than the other two. At night you can focus on the other three."

"Is there a reason for doing it that way?" Callum asked as he frowned.

"Your legacy will probably mention it if you check it so there's no harm in telling you. There's a higher amount of fire mana available during the day due to the heat from the sun. The same can be said for the light element. However, both are mixed with the air element during the day. So you'll train your sensitivity to mana by learning to recognise the three of them, and train your control by separating them." `

"When it comes to the other three, naturally there's more darkness element available at night. Then the influence of the moon allows you to feel water mana more clearly. How it ebbs and flows around you. Of course, the chill of the night causes water vapour to condense into droplets of water on cold surfaces and in the earth. Which makes it easier to manipulate."

"Just like with the other elements mixed with air, this gives you the opportunity to separate the water and earth elements." Master Gurung nodded after completing his explanation. "Do you have any questions?"

Callum rubbed his jaw as he stared at the old man. He had the distinct feeling it was a loaded question. Perhaps some sort of test to see how much he understood from the explanation.

"Does that mean the weather and environmental conditions can affect how much of each mana is available at different times?"

"That's right. Remember, this only applies to refining your mana and storing it. If you end up fighting a fellow mage, it'll usually come down to how much mana you each have stored. There's rarely an opportunity to replenish your elemental mana in a battle."

"What about-" Callum began to ask before Master Gurung stopped him.

"That's enough for now." He chuckled. "If I keep answering questions you'll end up with more to ask about. We'd spend the entire journey on theory without you putting any of it into practice. Now, refine your mana."

Callum frowned at having been cut short but decided to trust him. Surely he had his reasons to insist on the refining and storage stage before reaching The Clocktower.

Now that I have a starting point I can always ask the Archives for an answer. He hadn't missed how Master Gurung hadn't mentioned how he should achieve sensing those mana types. It's probably another test.

He came to that conclusion since Maya was staring at her Grandpa with a frown on her face while chewing her lower lip. I only felt the water mana when I had a pure source. If I had to guess, the methods he's told me to do are probably more advanced. It's likely the ambient mana is thinner and harder to sense.

Callum quickly checked the Archives for a method to refine the fire element. It quickly came back with results for methods to be used with a naked flame which made him smirk. He posed a query to it asking how to draw the element without a pure source.

Luckily, the Archives of the Legacy didn't disappoint him. However, even at a quick glance, he could tell it was much harder than the first methods it came back with. 

Damn! Why are you doing this to me, old man? Callum squinted at Master Gurung who had closed his eyes. Maya opened her mouth as if to say something but stopped herself. She wants to help me, but something is holding her back. Is it because the geezer didn't say anything?

Well, it's not like I don't have the answer. I just need to put it into practice. Here goes nothing!