Aura

Vincent focused, whatever came would not be positive.

"While we have a piece treaty, our people are not as united as the empire. The tend to be a bit"

Massaging his forehead Svend continued,"Blockheaded. Old hate is hardly forgottenl, they barely tolerate us recruiting their normal men. If they learn you are a mage, it would end disastrous. So"

He raised his wooden spoon in the direction of Vincent's eye. "Under no circumstances are you to reveal you identity to anyone, even if they are part of this camp."

The young boy nodded. He understood full well that it could cost his life the moment his plot armour ended.

"You seem to be a clever boy, I hope you will keep that head of yours until we regroup with the tenth legion."

He tapped the spoon on the table. With it as the epicentre white frost manifested itself. The chill raised Vincent's hair, the air seemed to have gotten cold.

"As you know, this is magic." He tapped at the small circle of ice. "Normally, you only know you are facing a mage, when you can observe him use his magic. So when it is too late."

He shrugged his shoulder.

"That you are a mage however, anyone even remotely capable in the craft can find out."

'That's unfair'

"I can see, you are not very pleased with it. And neither would I." Suddenly the formless pressure spread out again, the room seemed to cool down even further and Vince needed all his concentration not to shiver.

"This is what you are doing all the time, albeit much weaker. You should know of your mind space?"

Vincent nodded.

"Try concentrating on it. The runes of your spell are probably turning even right now, attracting the mana in the air. That itself is not the problem, the problem comes from the mana they accumulate. It should beat in the rhythm of your runes, gving of a small formless pressure. It will only increase with the volume of your mana. You will eventually learn how to control it, for now however you should just keep your magic empty at all times. Serves as a good training too."

Svend placed the a small silver coin on the table. The proud face of Julius reflected in the light of the iron lantern.

"Try send you mana in it."

Vincent closed his eyes and used his fingers to feel the metal. It was cold.

Then everything else disappeared, replaced with the silver runes rotation around a now sizeable blob of blue energy.

It was pulsing, in power. He willed it to move towards his finger. It offered not the slightest bit of resistance, moving fluidly through his body.

Only when it reached the coin, did it pause. A slight push, was all he needed to get it inside. Much better than last time.

Vincent could feel it, or to more exact, he just knew every millimetre of the coin. Like a three dymensional model it floated in his mind.

He wanted to observe, learn but the mana was slipping away from his grasp.

No matter how hard he tried to keep it, it was like sand flowing through his fingers.

Vincent chose not to hesitate any longer, and gathered the magic in a ball to push against the wall of the coin.

It was like throwing an egg against a stone. Without causing a change the mana splintered and flew away.

What went wrong? Sadly the book only explained what was necessary to fully understand the runes and absorb them. It wasted not a word on how to use the spell. Maybe a method to prevent the wrong people from using it.

Slowly Vincent opened his eyes, and heard a slow clapping. "Amazing, I mean it. You were fast to spend your mana for only having the rune for how long? A month?"

The boy chose not to correct him.

"Now you should start to try and keep your consciousness while casting. Try imagine it like this: With one eye you look inside, while you look outside with your other. I know, it is difficult but you will have to learn it eventually."

Vincent nodded and strode out of the tent, he had a lot to think about.

Just as he opened the entrance, something fast flew towards his head. He cough it.

There in his open palm lied a small silver coin.

"Take care. You are small and skinny for your age, when I was about eight I was a head taller."

Svend laughed and Vincent only nodded silently.