“It’s easy being brave when you’re stronger than any human will ever be and you can cast spells with your mind, taking everyone by surprise. You are just a human, yet when the Odi were on the rampage and everyone, me included, only wanted to save their own skin, you kept a level head.
“You found a way to shut down the Reactor and kicked me in the nuts to risk your life alongside your friends.
“That’s the moment I stopped being envious of Verhen for having such a cool girl in his life and decided I wanted to at least try to be worthy of the affection of a person like you.
“I may have gone overboard accepting your mother’s assignment, but when I heard that you didn’t cut Lith off even after seeing him go all out, I thought that maybe you would have accepted me as well.” Morok shapeshifted into his Tyrant form, looking at her reaction and pleasantly noticing that Quylla didn’t flinch.
“As Baba Yaga told you, I was born a human-Emperor Beast hybrid but I relinquished my human nature just because it made my life easier. That said, here are a few things you should know about me.
“I spent so much time alone that I have forgotten the basics of social interaction, I’m rude, and my mouth moves faster than my brain. If after hearing all this you are still willing to go out with me, I promise you that I’ll do my best to make the experience as less unpleasant as I can.”
Quylla finished healing him in silence, pondering Morok words. On the one hand, the way he had described her was beyond charming, pointing out qualities that Quylla herself had never thought of having.
On the other hand, Morok was really rude, he clearly found Friya hotter than Quylla, and he wasn’t even human. Just a faceless white thing full of eyes that looked way less cool than a Wyrmling and more out of a small child’s nightmare.
“Thanks for your kind words. I’m really flattered by your attentions-”
“I’m feeling a “but” incoming.” Morok sighed.
“-But I’m really busy right now, I’ve barely got the time to sleep.” Quylla said.
“Sure, no problem.” Morok got back on his feet with a kip-up and started to weave a Warp Steps. Prolonging his stay would only make things more awkward than they already were.
“If you give me your contact rune, we can set up a date as soon as soon as Master Faluel gives me a day off.” Quylla took her communication amulet out of her dimensional item.
‘Mom is right and so is Friya. If I don’t date, I can’t find anyone. Maybe getting out of my comfort zone is exactly what I need right now. Worst case scenario, I’ve only wasted a few hours of my life.’ She thought.
“Gods, yes! I did it! She said yes!” Morok clenched his fists in triumph and made strange gestures before remembering Quylla was still there. “I mean, sure thing. Call me whenever you want, I’m unemployed so I’ve got lots of free time.”
He mistook her stupefied gaze for scorn, so he rushed to say:
“I mean, I’m between jobs. I don’t plan of sitting on my ass for long…” While he rambled an excuse after the other, Quylla sighed and exchanged their contact runes.
“Now you’d better go. Master Faluel is about to start her lesson.” She said.
“No goodnight kiss?” He asked with a disappointed look on his face.
“It’s early morning and this wasn’t a date. Master Faluel!” Quylla yelled.
“Yeah, but back at Baba Yaga’s hut it was still night…” A Warping Array cut Morok short and moved him thousands of miles away, in the middle of nothing.
“…and I must have pissed off the Hydra big time. I really need to learn when to shut up.” There was nothing around him as far as the eye could see. For all Morok knew, it could be the Blood Desert or even the Empire.
“Today, I’ll teach you about the art of Forgemastering and about the many similarities it shares with Healing.” Faluel had a radiant smile, hoping that Morok would never reach civilization in time for his date.
“At some point in their life, all mages learn a bit of both. Healing magic allows you to treat conditions that even Invigoration can’t fix while Forgemastering provides us not only with combat tools, but also with commodities like communication amulets or dimensional items.
“Both disciplines require a subject to be practiced, but while Healing affects physical matter, Forgemastering deals with energy, leaving the physical aspect to blacksmiths or craftsmen in general.
“Another way of seeing it, is to consider Healing the discipline that studies life forces while Forgemastering studies the mana cores. Even though it led to terrible consequences, Lith managed to fix Protector’s core by merging his knowledge as both a healer and Forgemaster.” Faluel said, making everyone shudder at the memory.
“Before starting, let’s answer the question: what is a mana core? Except for Awakened who can actually see it thanks to their breathing technique, to anyone else those two words have no significance. Quylla, Friya. Come here, please.” The two did as Faluel asked and reached her in front of the class.
The Hydra placed her hands above their shoulders and channeled her breathing technique, Lifestream, through their bodies. Suddenly Faluel’s lair disappeared and the two women found themselves looking inside themselves as if they had used Invigoration.
At the same time, to the rest of the class, their bodies glowed with a golden light filled with black spots, and midway between their solar plexus and their navel, there was a sphere of energy the size of an apple.
“All living bodies produce mana, that’s why the seventh element is also called the element of life. Mana is stored and accumulated in your cores, ready to be used when necessary. As you can see, Quylla’s core is bright blue with tinges of violet.
“She’s still 18 and cores develop up to the 20th years of age, so she could achieve a deep violet or even a bright violet core. Unfortunately, that places her beyond the level where even I can Awaken her.” Faluel sighed.
“Friya, instead, has a bright cyan core. The color of a core determines not only the strength of the spells conjured but also the quantity of mana stored inside the mage’s body. Both of them are not Awakened, in fact, their cores produce just enough mana to fill their bodies and their mana flow is so slow that it’s nigh-unnoticeable.”Â
“What about the golden glow and the black dots?” Nalrond asked.
“Respectively me covering their organs to not make you puke your breakfast and the impurities. Lith, Tista, it’s your turn.” After the pairs of siblings exchanged positions, Faluel used her Lifestream again.
“As you can see, an Awakened core is akin to a heart. It constantly beats, absorbing the world energy with every breath they take and then releasing pulses of mana that course through their bodies.
“The phenomenon is what we call mana flow. Each cycle tempers the body, making it able to offer less resistance when casting spells and slowly removing the impurities as the next breakthrough approaches.
“Even though Lith and Tista are both Awakened, a blue core is different from all the others.”Â
