Magic Cultivation

*Ceres Austrix*

It was a sunny day. The wind blew across the green grass field. The tall grasses dances corresponding to where the wind blows.

Mom and dad were there, sitting in a picnic blanket, sharing food among themselves. They sat there as they watch us play, running around as kids should.

"Hehehehe."

Laughter of joy can be heard throughout the field. I was running behind him. I'm having a lot of fun, somehow.

"Trent! Gotcha!"

I tackled him, and we ended up falling down together. Instead of crying, we burst out laughing.

"Hahahahhahaha.!"

"Trent..."

"What is it, Ceres?"

"Do you know what you'll do when you grow up?"

"Hmm. I don't know yet."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Dad said every guy should find a wife when they grew up. I don't know what to do yet because I haven't found anyone."

"Is that it? So then, choose me. I'll cook for you every day. I'll have mom teach me so I'll get better."

"Yeah! That'll be great. Please be my wife when we grow up."

"Yes! That's a promise."

We sat on the green field and held out our pinky fingers, making them interlock with each other.

"Please be my wife when we grow up."

It was the one line that I can vaguely remember.

"Please... Please... Please... Please..."

The word repeated until the voice got lower and lower and vague.

*Snap*

I opened my eyes. I had my body wrapped in this large blanket and my head rests on these soft pillows.

"It was a dream... Huh."

I was still laying on the bed, reminiscing about the dream that I had. If I'm not mistaken, that dream was an old memory of when I was a kid.

It was promise between us. We were genuinely happy about that promise. Now that I think about it,

"Does he still remember it?"

I don't know. That was when we were kids. It was when were kids who don't know anything about marriage.

I realized it myself, I kind of took the promise seriously a little bit. I had mom to teach me how to cook and do chores at home. Time went pass by and I forgot why I was doing these for and thanks to the dream, I finally remembered why.

****

*Swish* * Swish* * Swish*

Sounds of punches and kicks can be heard. Every strike produces this crisp sound.

I was dressing up inside the guest room. I was hearing those sounds. Hearing it repeatedly caught my attention. I wrapped myself in clothing and proceeded to see what's making those sounds.

Listening to it, I feel like it's where the garden is.

Now, I have a balcony in this guest room. It leads to a clear view of the garden and the city, beyond the castle walls.

I walked to where the balcony is, and went looking.

There, I saw a moving figure. The body is glistening with sweat, but it was muscular. I was only watching him in only a period of time, but he had my attention already.

*Pluck* *Pluck* *Pluck*

He had a wooden dummy in front of him. Sounds of clunking wood reverberated throughout the air. He was using it as a sparring tool. Punches, kick, palm strikes, many moves were thrown at the dummy.

It was still at least an hour and half before the sun fully shines. The sounds of bird chirping goes off on the background.

After a few seconds, he stopped. He stood there and I can assume he's on a cooldown because he had his fists to his waists.

He had a perfectly visible synced breathing pattern. I counted how much time he rested and managed to count up to a minute.

His cooldown ended, and he continued what he was doing seconds ago.

"Trent, you really grew strong."

When we were kids, he was always a crybaby. He would even cry even to the simplest of reasons.

He had a caring mother to counter his crybaby persona. She tends to him when he gets bruises. His mother really had his back. She would always make sure that he eats the right food at the right time.

Unfortunately, she died when Trent was three. With his child-like behaviors, he didn't understand what the word "dead".

With no one to take care of him, my parents decided to take him in.

I said no one because at that time, his father left when he was two, that's was the story I heard. It looks like he doesn't remember a thing about him, neither do I.

At a young age, he had bad things to deal with, but those didn't have a negative impact on him, figures, he was still a child at that time.

When he got older, he grew more fond and got more attached to my parents. He still had the feeling of longing.

He grew older and eventually that feeling left him. We got older and that childish side of him disappeared.

He continued hitting the dummy, and I stayed still, watching.

****

*Trent Faer*

I had sweats running down my face. I had been practicing my martial arts for about an hour. Magic comes next.

I was thankful that the castle had a wooden dummy. It made my training easier. Sure it's covered in dust, clearly a sign of neglect but it will do.

I started off slowly. Hitting the dummy slowly but all strikes had force in it. After going slow, I went up to a medium. I got a little faster. The sound of clunking wood is more visible to the ears, and then fast. At this point, I visualized the dummy as a real person.

A punch:parry. A low kick:knee block.

I've visualized all possible moves he can do, and to counter that, I did what's most likely is efficient in situations like this.

*Bam!* Bam!* Bam!*

My strikes got really faster and stronger at the same time. The more faster I go, the more the visualized enemy got faster.

Fluid movements and techniques are the key. Just simply throwing random punches and kicks won't do the trick.

I continued practicing with the dummy with continuous series movements.

After minutes of training, my body eventually got tired.

"Gah!" I gasped.

After stopping, a huge relief was flowing throughout my body. I was bending catching my breath. Every day was like this but I got used to it, all I need is a 5 minute rest.

I sat on the ground, filled with green grass and grabbed my water pouch.

My resting time ended so it's time for training to continue. This time I'll practice magic.

I moved the dummy aside and stood in the middle.

Inhale. Exhale.

I can feel mana. Inside my body and all around the place. The mana all around is raw magic. No one can use the mana in it's raw form. One must be able to learn ways on how to use the raw magic all around us.

There are two ways to gather mana: first is mana cycle and, what I'm using, mana dome.

Now, mana cycle is basically the process where the caster uses mana, and the mana residuals used is being scattered all around the place, waiting to be reusable again, it lasts about 30 minutes before it's suitable for using again. Then, when used mana is exhausted, raw magic is being collected as a substitute to the missing mana. It's like basically breathing. It's easier to use but the amount of magic of a user is just a fraction of what mana dome can provide.

Another note: mana cycle works passively and mana dome needs activation in order to work.

I've activated a tiny, invisible dome around me. A fair amount of mana was collected.

8 balls of mana appeared around me. I put myself in a fighting stance and started to shadow box.

The purpose of this was to train my mana concentration and manipulation. I moved all around, and I started to maneuver the balls all around the place. I continued what I was doing for at least 10 minutes.

The longer I maintained the consistency of the balls the more I got tired, and I eventually stopped.

"Gah!"

I gasp to force air to enter my body.

The balls disappeared one by one.

Done with the warm up exercise, now on with the real thing.

I pulled back the dummy to where it was earlier. I stood parallel to it.

"[Spatial Acceleration]"

I activated that spell, upon doing so, I can feel a great increase of speed.

I approached the dummy and started to spar with it again. This time, I was even faster. Every move I make would make a transparent copy of me from nanoseconds ago, making the moves I've made.

"Done."

I'll try another advanced spell this time.

"[Aerial Trespass]"

Seconds after, my feet started to rise along with my body. I was floating, and I started flying around.

This spell is one of the many spells of the many elements that was taught by Master Catalina.

Currently, I've learned 6 advanced spells out of the 10 category: fire, earth, water, air, creation lightning, light, shadow, space/void, time.

I've learned 6 advanced spells out of these elements, namely: [Fire Dance] for the fire affinity, [World Pillar] for the earth affinity, [Tidal Wave] for the water affinity, [Aerial Trespass] for the air affinity, [Herald's Lightning] for the lightning affinity and [Spatial Acceleration] for the void/space affinity.

It may seem impressive that I know these spells but compare me to the common adventurers, this is nothing.

There are other levels of spells: Novice, Median, Intermediate, Advanced and Integrated.

I continued my magic training for about 1 hour like my martial arts. Every day, I do my own training for two hours. Master Catalina doesn't teach me magic anymore, seeing that I've improved this much but I doubt that she'd taught me everything. She had only taught me up until Advanced Tier. There is still another level. Seeing that, I questioned her that there is another level left. She simply said "That level is up to you to learn. It's the most advanced level of all. Even if you found another master, I doubt he/she will teach you that level."

"Why?" I responded.

"You see, one has his own understanding of what magic is. To learn that level, you must also have your own understanding."

"My own...huh?"

Up until to this point I had difficulty of what to do with Integrated spells.

I've read books but they vaguely taught what Integrated Spells are. Every book that I've read only said this: "Integrated Spells are when all things collide."

I've never even understood what it meant. It kept me awake for many nights. I think going here in Chermion, would give me answer. Mr. Toto once said that there is a library inside the castle where there are books that only exclusive to the royal family.

I saw the door to the entrance last night, I think the library is rarely visited. Good. I think I can study magic there peacefully. I want to learn Integrated magic as soon as possible before the entrance exam.

I continued where I left off. I trained there until I've fully consumed the 2-hour time.

****

I changed my clothes to a standard every day clothing and proceeded down stairs.

Meters away from where I'm going, I can hear the voices of the Queen, Master Catalina, and Mr. Toto.

"Oh you're right... Oh, Trent."

"Hi everyone. Queen Elizabeth."

"Hi."

"Hello."

"So, you got any plans on what you're doing today."

"The things is..."

I bowed my head in front of her.

"Please let me use the library."

"Hmm. I don't see why not. You're free to use it. No one's been using that place since my husband left a month ago."

"Really!? I mean thank you my Queen."

"* Sigh* When will you call me Aunt?"

"Hahaha..."

I left the room, and I hear them laughing.

****

*Criek*

I opened the door and slowly entered the room.

"It's too dark."

I looked up the ceiling and saw a light stone. It doesn't appear to be working though. I searched the room, seeing if there is a switch to open the light, and there was. I flipped the switch, and mountains of books appeared right in front of me. There are several shelves that are lined up to each other. They had enough spaces in between them in order that a person could freely move.

To my surprise, it even has a second deck filled with book shelves. I looked right and left, almost all of the books here are about the size of two books, and there are also ones that extremely thick.

I can't wait to read. This is paradise to any bookworm.

I immediately closed the door behind me and started to collect books.

As expected, the books here are about magic. I grabbed every book that I find interesting. Of course I have plans reading all of the books here, but I'll read the books that I find interesting first.

- 3 hours later -

I've learned a lot, but never did I once found anything useful for understanding Integral Magic.

I had my back hunched because I was too focused on reading. New information.

- 2 hours later -

I was still reading. I could never get enough.

"There is a way to force raw magic to be reusable again. Studies found that using the Time affinity, one could speed the regeneration speed of residual magic. Even with this great discovery, no known man can use the Time spells. This discovery was proven with the help of an artificially made Hourglass Time artifact. It was called the Morgan."

- 1 hour later -

I've finished 6 books by now, everything about magic. I closed the last page of the book I'm holding. I stood up, and searched again for other books. No book interested me. Searching, I stumbled upon a dark corner of the library. Thick books were there.

I saw a book and read it's title.

"Universal Composition"

The title intrigued me.

"Universal Composition by Merlin Bismonth.

I opened the book. The first page contained of what appears to be the author's message.

It read:

"Universal Composition. This research is a scientific research by your's truly, Merlin Bismonth. This book contains all discovery I had. I think this would be a great source material in understanding magic.

As great as it sounds, this research was thoroughly trashed. They rejected it. They said that it contradicted their beliefs, and they also said that this would only cause confusion inside the Magic Community. Fools I see, even fools have power.

They called it trash. I fought for the research's sake, but the outcome remained the same. Seeing this, they clearly are fools blinded by beliefs.

If by any chance someone reads this, I hope you will be educated. If somehow this research helped in you in any way, I'll be glad to accept your appreciation.

- Merlin Bismonth"

That introduction peaked my interest.

"Page 1: Matter

Atoms - basic form of matter....

- It...

-

From years of researches and experiment, I've concluded that all things are composed of this tiny thing called Atom. It is the building block of life. What does it mean? It simply means, it's the tiniest form of any material. You could divide any thing, but this one can't be divided any longer. Thus it's called the Building Block of Life.

Matter - anything that occupies space and has mass

States of Matter

1. Solid - an object which it's atoms are closely packed together. Any solid has a firm and stable shape like that of a metal or wood.

2. Liquid - a substance that flows freely but is of constant volume, having a consistency like that of water or oil.

3. Gas - a substance or matter in a state in which it will expand freely to fill the whole of a container, having no fixed shape (unlike a solid) and no fixed volume (unlike a liquid).

4. Plasma - formed when gas is ionized or in which when you heat gas a little more it forms this. In other words, plasma is just heated gas.

An object can undergo all of these phases: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Example. Take an ice cube for example. In it's current form it's solid. Heat it a little, and it becomes water, which is it's liquid phase. Then heat the water, it turns into gas. Now, heat the gas a little bit more and you can make plasma."

The reading went on for hours, it was because the book was thick, I got a piece of paper and wrote down all the important parts. The book was thick but I managed to read up to 3/4 of the book.

I lost my track of time when reading. I got out of the room, and looked by the window. It was already night. I can't believe I was in there in a long time. My body feels do tired, so I immediately went down stairs.

I could hear people from the dining room. I feel like they're already taking their dinner.

"Oh kid. You were inside that room for a long time," Mr. Toto said.

"Ah. Sorry about that Mr. Toto."

"Don't worry about that. Take your sit and eat dinner with us."

I approached an empty seat, and sat down. I didn't noticed, but I had the book in my hands.

"Oh. It appears you still have a book in hand, Trent," Queen Elizabeth pointed out.

"Apologies my Queen. I'll return it after eating."

"Don't worry, you can borrow any book from there. If you want to, take that book and it's yours."

"Really!?"

Oops. I raised my voice a little. I had the book on my laps and proceeded to eat.

****

The food was delicious. I finished earlier, so I waited outside, with the book still in my hands. I was waiting for the three of them to finish saying their goodbyes. Ceres came out first.

"Hey there, Trent."

"Hey."

"I didn't saw you all day. It seemed that you were inside that library all day, reading books."

"It seemed like it. Hehehehe."

"So, what's your plan for tomorrow, Trent?"

"I plan to practice in the morning, and spend my day reading."

"What's with that boring schedule?"

I looked at here with that forced smile. She was pouting.

"How about this? You and me explore the city tomorrow?"

"I don't know."

"Grrh. It's settled.You're coming with me tomorrow."

I couldn't say no.This girl is forceful.

"Ah, Ceres, for how long?"

"The whole day!?"

"Seriously!?"

"Yes. Seriously."

* Sigh *

It seems that I need to finish this book by tonight. I won't have any chance to read tomorrow.

After minutes of waiting, the two finally came out, and we proceeded to their mansion.

- half hour later -

"We're here. Wake up Ceres."

"Yes."

We got out the carriage, and I saw their house. It's big. The castle was bigger, but you can't call their mansion small either.

Mr. Toto opened the door, and lined up maids and butlers welcomed us.

"Welcome home, masters." they all said in unison.

"Sebastian."

"Yes. Master Totorinth."

"Prepare the baths, and also prepare some clothing and a spare room for Trent right here."

"Yes, master. This way, master Trent."

"Y-yes."

****

I just finished taking a bath, and was inside of the guest room.

I feel like everyone is all asleep, but I stayed up, finishing the book. It was still early.

After an hour of reading, I finished the book and proceeded to sleep.

****

As usual, I was training. I've finished my martial arts training, and now I'm practicing magic. I'm currently doing the mana ball exercise.

"Guh... 15 minutes. New record."

Now, I'll try Integrating a spell, meaning, I'll try making a variation of one spell.

I'm currently on the backyard of Mr. Toto's mansion.

There was a big tree at the backyard, I decided to make it into a target practice.

With all of the information from last night, I'm ready to try it.

I pointed my index finger, and my thumb pointing upwards.

"Mana collecting."

Take it slow. Focus on this one shot.

"Mana concentration. Water sphere:formed."

Now, readying.

"Compacting water atoms upon impact."

The projectile is now ready to be fired.

"[Water Bullet]"

I activated the spell, and the water sphere flew off towards the tree.

* Splash *

Upon impact, the water sphere slightly froze. I saw it for the first time, and I was surprised. It really did froze. Spikes of ice formed.

Now, I touched the frozen water wrapping around the tree.

"Separating water atoms."

The ice started to become into a regular water and it started to fall off into the ground.

* Clap * Clap * Clap *

I heard a loud applause from behind my back.

"Impressive. You've only read last night, and here you are, making Integrated spells."

"I don't need your recognition Maste- mean mother."

"So, what specialization are thinking of getting during the examination. Is it sword fighting, magic or magical swordsman."

"I think I'll go for the last one."

"You serious?"

"Yeah. I'll be able to show what you two have taught me."

"Hmm. Get ready, tomorrow is the examination day."

"Yes. Maste- I mean mother."

She started to leave, but I've got a question.

"Mother..."

"What is it?"

"Are you be able to dodge this!?"

I immediately threw 3 ice spikes, another variation of [Water Bullet], towards her.

The spike got close but never managed to even enter her field. It melted.

Clearly she casted a spell.

I could clearly see a image distortion around her.

"Air barrier combined with fire affinity..."

"Hmm. You won't even hit me, but you tried."

"I see, so you casted [Air Barrier] and increased the temperature with fire affinity."

"Clever boy. However, are you be a be able counter this one?"

She stomped her right foot, it created a wave of ice towards my direction. I tried to copy what she did earlier, but with a little twist.

The ice made contact with my heated air barrier.

The ice continued coming, but my barrier manages to block it. I've made the air around me move rapidly.

I made this to make up for the lack of reaction .

"Hmm," she smirked.

She stopped.

"Impressive replication of what I did and with a twist to make up for the lack of reaction time. Don't you fail the entrance exam now."

"Yes. I won't, and thank you for making me realize something about Integrated Spells."

"I don't know what you mean. Well then, I'll be on my way."

She knows, but her pride didn't let her admit the truth.

"Now then, let's practice some more."

I immersed myself in creating simple integrated spells.

END OF CHAPTER