brother's retry (the beginning after the end)

Already?

ASHTON LEYWIN'S POV:

I watched intently as the aether drifted through the mana aura. Then the raw mana started to drift through and wrap around the aether. Quickly pitch black motes of nox formed from the mixture.

"Hey uh, I can't move aether. Like at all." I was slowly starting to realize this was going to be the hardest part of the training I've been through.

"Yes you can. You just need to know how. Also, you'll need at least your 'circuits' for this. I would say it'll be easier with your full eclipseforce active." she smiled.

"How? I haven't seen a single mote of aether move for me." I asked her as I stared up at her.

"I already taught you everything you need to know to learn so unless you can do it yourself you'll fail." She stopped smiling and walked back to the entrance that we came from at the start. She left me to figure it out on my own.

'Guys? Any tips?'

'No, you need to learn by yourself.'

'So I'm supposed to magically learn this by myself?'

'Not even learning, just connecting dots.'

'Ugh, what does that mean?' I tried to ask but received no answer.

Ok then let's try to do this. I activated eclipseforce as I studied the purple motes of aether. Each one seemed to stay steadfast in response to my attempts.

Sighing I tried my best to recall the lessons I had learned, all I need is to connect dots so I know what to do...

___________________________

The Aether slowly drifted to the left as I sent out the idea into the world. It slowly started to close in on my fire spell I was preparing before I had the mana forced away from my control.

"Hey! What gives?!" I yelled as I saw Alrice walking back toward me.

"That's how you lose your core kid." she said nonchalantly.

"What do you mean? I just moved aether so it should be better right?" I had spent a full day before I realized the whole point of learning mana zone was to show me how to guide aether instead of command it.

"No, that would have been worse. You need every type of natural mana when creating nox or it seeks out where to find it. When it doesn't have mana in the atmosphere it'll substitute it with your pure mana inside that core of yours." she tapped my sternum as I looked at the drifting aether.

"Alright so pull all four mana types and then the aether together?" I asked and started to draw in the mana.

"It'll work but I would suggest keeping mana zone active helps nullify any issues that may arise from the nox. Anyway it's a good defense mechanism as well when your control over all elements is stronger than the opponents." she smirked as she looked at me. "Gotta say you'll be hard pressed to find someone with better elemental control in the lesser continents."

"I see, so mana zone is to be kept active when using nox." I made a mental note as I looked up. "Well how do I do stuff like the nox fire and nox water?"

She shook her head "you should be careful when using them. Just add more of a certain type of mana, but that raises the risk of it attacking your core."

I nodded again before activating mana zone and started the process of creating nox. It wasn't too hard simply bringing them together was easy now. The real struggle was learning how to make it, just like I was told. With a smirk I started doing the best I could to get this to be like second nature.