3 Magic Training

"Crimson Clover, you now have the ability to sense the flow of magic and that means you can learn magic."

Aldoun asked me to follow him into a room in the same building. When we arrived, I saw a woman in a witch's robe writing something on a blackboard.

"Looks like you're busy, Melissa."

The witch in front of us responded to Aldoun's words with a short sentence, "If you weren't blind then you wouldn't have to ask whether I was busy or not."

"You're acting cold as usual. I understand if you are busy but I have an important task for you. I want you to train this young man next to me because I want to make him part of the magic knight unit."

That was the first time the witch named Melissa turned her gaze towards me. Her flat expression and deep gaze made me unable to tell what was going on in her mind.

"Hmm, I see. Very interesting. Ok, I agree. In exchange you have to help me find a magic artifact."

"It's a deal."

After reaching an agreement, Aldoun said to me, "As I promised at the beginning. I want to give you a job but before that you have to train with this woman first. Her appearance may not be convincing but Melissa is a great witch."

As before, the quest description appeared again in front of me.

[Quest Name : Magic Training.]

[Quest Type : Job Quest.]

[Quest Rating : E.]

[Quest Information : Aldoun wants you to join as a magic knight but before that you have to practice your magic skills with Melissa.]

[Quest Reward : Magic Knight Job.]

[Failure Punishment : Failed to become a magic knight.]

I nodded understandingly towards Aldoun and at the same time Melissa said to me, "Don't waste any more time. Follow me, I will train you right now."

When I came out of the building, I couldn't hold back my curiosity and asked Melissa, "Where will you take me, Miss Melissa?"

Without looking at me, Melissa casually answered, "Out of this city of course. Do you think I will train you in the HQ? Magic is something very dangerous, especially if you can't control it. The safest place is a wide open space."

What Melissa said did make sense. The game I play is very real and in accordance with reality. Unlike PC or Mobile online games where we only need to click to complete the mission, in Gaia Project each player must be able to work on their own to find ways to become stronger just like in the real world.

When I walked through the city streets, I saw many players trying to communicate with NPCs using all kinds of methods.

Most of them looked like stalkers, even the worst of them prostrated themselves begging the NPCs to teach them magic.

Seeing them like that made me so embarrassed that it made me look away.

"Aren't you players? Begging like that is very embarrassing and your actions could be very detrimental to other players." Of course I didn't say those words out loud and were only in my mind.

As I expected, some people who couldn't stand it immediately hit them with magic attacks while there were also those who summoned magic knights so the players would be caught and not cause any more trouble in the city.

What I just saw naturally caught Melissa's attention. In fact, the mysterious appearance of players is of particular concern to NPCs, especially if they receive news from other cities about the appearance of the players.

"You're also part of them, right? I don't know who you really are but I'm curious. How can all of you use teleportation magic but at the same time beg to be taught how to use magic? It does not make any sense."

"If you really lose your power, you just need to find a way to get them back, right? Knowledge about magic shouldn't disappear easily in your brain. Unless all the reasons for your appearance are a big lie you just created so Aldoun wouldn't arrest and imprison you all."

I was stunned to hear Melissa's question just now.

Put aside how she received such complete information quickly and accurately even though she had been inside the HQ from the start. I also didn't hear Aldoun talk about this when we met her. What surprised me was her analytical ability. Aren't the NPCs in this game very intelligent like super AI?

When I found it difficult to answer the question or suspicion Melissa had just expressed to me, a player called out to me while pointing his index finger at me.

"Hey, everyone look! Wasn't he the one who saved us before?"

"Eh, right! But who is the beautiful girl walking in front of him?"

"Damn. He must be on a quest. How can he get quest that easily when the rest of us haven't even started a single quest in the first place?"

"Don't tell me he's a beta tester?"

"Are you moron? Gaia Project has never held anything like a beta test."

"Instead of arguing what if we just ask directly? A few walkthroughs to help us is certainly no big deal for him."

Being surrounded by so many players of course made me feel disturbed. Without realizing it I grabbed Melissa's hand and said, "Uh, Miss Melissa, I think it's better if we get out of here right now."

Melissa seemed to take a deep breath when she saw my expression then something that amazed me happened.

"If you want to live in this city then you have to be able to restrain yourself and not bother other people."

Melissa took out a fan and recited the mantra, "O wind, ruler of the sky, restrain those who try to disturb the harmony of nature – Wind Jail!"

Instantly all the players who tried to approach me were caught in a vortex of wind which slowly made them lose consciousness due to lack of oxygen intake.

If I knew what Melissa was thinking right now then I would be grateful to the players who acted recklessly just now. Thanks to them, Melissa began to reassess the level of threat that current players can generate.

"Thanks to them a lot of my time was wasted." After saying those words, Melissa returned to guide me until I came to a large grass field.

Standing facing each other, Melissa asked me, "Do you remember how you defeated your enemy in the test room?"

I nodded and answered, "I threw a ball and my enemy burned to ashes."

Melissa began to explain, "Everyone has an affinity for natural elements. But only a few can control and use the power of these elements. If you successfully pass the test room, it means you are able to control one of the elements that has an affinity with you."

Melissa took out two types of paper with mysterious writing on them and placed them on the ground.

"Released." She said with a calm tone.

This is the second time I saw magic and this time the magic I saw was transformation type magic.

The two pieces of paper disappeared and in the same place two human-shaped doll figures appeared.

Melissa explained to me again, "Every human can only control one type of natural element. There are some exceptions but that is only for certain people or races."

"What I am showing you this time is transformation magic and every wizard can learn this type of magic because this magic is not magic that utilize natural elements."

"These two dolls are dolls specifically created to train someone in using and controlling magic. They also have names and we usually call them Ki and Qi. First I want you to train with Qi. You can already feel nature's mana, right?"

Focusing myself, I tried to feel the energy I previously felt when I first opened the mana pool.

After about ten seconds I started to feel a warm aura starting to flow to all parts of my body. This aura must be the mana that came from my mana pool.

"Good. You can channel your mana. Now look at me. I want you to channel your mana right into the palm of your hand."

I saw Melissa's palm released some kind of energy which started to spin like the wind and formed a ball with a perfect circle.

"Remember, you have to understand the nature of your elements that you have. To control them, you have to be able to understand these powers of yours."

Following Melissa's guide, I refocused my mind and began to channel my mana into the palm of my hand.

Slowly I could see sparks of fire right above the palm of my hand and that meant the natural element I had was the fire element.

The excitement made me a little impatient and act rashly. I poured in more mana into my palm and I lost control of it.

An explosion occurred and sent me flying backwards. Luckily Qi acted quickly and kept my body from flying further than it should while Ki sucked in the flames resulting from the explosion so it didn't cause a fire in the surrounding area.

I still felt pain and soreness in my hand but Melissa said in a flat tone, "This is a valuable lesson for you not to act rashly and impatiently like before. Do it again and this time don't hurt yourself like before!"

Even though there were painful burns on my hands, at least the explosion didn't make me lose my hands. Not giving up, I went back to training and this time I was determined to succeed.