Serenity Academy

Chapter Eighteen: Absorption

That next morning Kyroth woke to a a very sore body, sitting up he hurt everywhere. "I did not know I was so out of shape." He whispered to himself wincing every time he bent over or reached for anything. Getting dressed took twice as long that morning, once finished he left. As usual the living room was empty as he headed to breakfast.

He ate quick, taking some scrambled eggs and some type of meat he had not had before and headed to class. Kyroth was on autopilot at this point still trying to wake up. He had not even searched the cafeteria for any of his teammates. With a sigh he pushed open the classroom door to find himself being the first one there sliding into his seat.

Half a hour later people started to show up, naturally they came in alone not really talking to one another. The tension between them all was a bit dialed back from before but you could still sense it. Kyroth was about to ask Syn how she was coming along with the barrier spell when Assera flowed into the room wearing a black dress that touched the ground.

"I hope you guys enjoyed the days off and got some good training done. I know some of you have taken advantage of the firing range." Her sly smile was on her face as it usually was. Kyroth was beyond being surprised if she knew where they had been. I mean they did show up on her map after all.

Pacing again she smiled at the class, "I figure you guys found out quickly that your limited mana hinders you greatly in practicing and learning new spells. Not to mention the slow absorption of the mana that you naturally can do." Stopping she slid onto her desk crossing her legs.

"I gave you that time off for you to learn limits, as well as to show you just how quickly your mana can be gone. Today we are going to learn one of the key techniques all mages learn. That is how to absorb the mana around you in higher quantities." She stated enjoying the looks of excitement or surprise on most of them. Spinning the chalkboard around it had a well drawn collection of pictures.

"Mana is all around us, some of you probably can feel it now as you sit here. Just like how you can feel the mana inside of you. Arcane mana and the mana of your element will be easily felt, other elements sometimes harder to feel.

Kyroth nodded as he listened, he could feel the mana around him even most of the elements as well. He wondered if that was another one of the things that made him unique and different. It was nice to always seem to be ahead of the game though.

Assera watched the faces of the students and smiled. "Seems some of you know what I mean. Everything gives off mana, even humans, once you have gone through the Occulus your mana is contained and does not leak out. Our bodies naturally absorb it as I explained previously, but you can consciously cause it to absorb faster. Does anyone know how this is done?" Assera asked hoping someone would step forward.

Ia, the woman Kyroth forgot existed most of the time due to her general absence from day to day life except classes rose her hand. With a nod from Assera she spoke, "You concentrate on the mana and then pull it towards you mentally, just like when you pull the mana from inside you to cast a spell. From what I can tell you have to be moving very little or not at all to increase the rate by much." Her voice was a bit scratchy, but underneath it was a smoothness.

"Very good Ia, that is a great explanation. She is correct, that is basically all you have to do, with everything else in magic it too will increase with practice. The more mana you absorb and manipulate the better you will get. Naturally the mana of your element will be drawn to you much easier then any other type." Her wide smile did not leave her face as she beamed at Ia.

Kyroth was kind of glad she had known the answer, as he figured he would need to try and find her outside of class and get her to open up. He knew what it was like to be alone here and it was not pleasant. Assera had drawn his attention again as she started to speak.