Chapter 15 - Water Magic

Althaea directed her to a small room inside the hut.

Unlike the main portion of the hut, this room was made up of smooth stone that was adorned with detailed carvings.

Ava was unsure what they meant however she felt they were unordinary.

'Those are minor inscriptions. Likely an energy gathering array for a specific Qi, this is a cultivation chamber.' Cense said.

Understanding the likely reason she was brought here from Cense words she looked up questionably at Althaea.

Althaea looked at her sternly before her gaze seem to soften briefly when Ava titled her head.

Letting out a light cough before returning to her usual collected self, Althaea said, "Now I will quickly describe how to enter a meditative stance…"

This part was simple enough. She entered enough of them by now for it to be second nature for her.

Nonetheless she still had to put on an act for her entering meditation for the first time.

So after a while she successfully feed back to Althaea describing the feeling of the Water Qi and how it felt like to enter meditation.

Althaea gaze looked more impressed by now and she was close to accepting her right there.

However there was one last thing she wanted to see.

"There's one more thing I want you to do…" Althaea said wondering if this is too difficult.

The only way for her to see her suitable spiritual energy without a means to test her was to try and make her contract, manipulate elemental Qi with her spiritual energy.

"Now this time when entering meditation… I want you to try and grasp those glowing specks, try to form a ball in front of you…" Althaea knew this was extremely difficult for someone who hasn't touched magic before to do, and was beyond what she should be asking of a young child.

Yet she had a feeling this unusual child could do it, she wanted to know if her Father was truly right about certain individuals having a blessed connection to a specific elemental Qi.

Doing what she was asked, Ava felt the elemental Qi in the air, the blue specks were much more abundant than usual likely down to the energy gathering formation.

'Now, Ava similar to what I taught you, grasp the water Qi, imagine it like threads from your soul tangling around them to capture them like a spider web.' Cense directed.

With Althaea and Cense silent direction she felt a tug on something within her soul, she knew from experience this was her spiritual energy being drawed upon.

'Now what she wants you to do is similar to a spell but not quite, it is far easier and only needs to be controlled for a moment. You need to condense that elemental water Qi, just try to picture squeezing it until it contracts to form a ball of water.' Cense said.

Doing what he asked, Ava pushed for that feeling. She used all her mental capacity to her limit to press the Water Qi together tightly, imagining forming a ball of water in front of her.

She felt this went on forever as she lost herself in that feeling, right when she was beginning to a bit a drained, her reveree was broken by a gasp and murmur.

"Incredible" Althaea said continuing, "Like Father said, some are born to be loved by a certain Qi, the way water responds to you is incredible."

Ava was wondering what she meant until she saw a large ball of water floating in front of her.

For a moment her mind went blank from the shock wondering how such a thing manifested out of nothing.

However this was all it needed for the ball of water to collapse leaving her a soaked mess.

Althaea struggled to hold in her laughter as she saw her face scrunched up in anger.

"I will now instruct you on water magic if that is still what you would like to do." Althaea said ignoring her soaked appearance.

Ava just nodded, she wasn't going to let getting wet ruin her opportunity to train as a mage.

"Now let's get you into some dry clothes, if I was a wind mage, I'd dry you off, unfortunately that's not an option." Althaea said before she dragged her into a room to change.

She provided her an oversized cloak before they returned to her mother and the awaiting Arwen who looked her up sceptically.

"She passed right?" Arwen said unconcerned.

"She did" Althaea replied annoyed by the smug look on his face.

Her mother on the other hand was concerned about other things.

"What happened? Are you fine my baby, did she hurt you?" Her mother picked her up and started inspecting her stringently upon seeing the change of clothes.

Althaea eyes widened as she saw the look of vengeance in Loriels eyes as she switched her attention onto her after seeing that her daughter was fine.

"Now it was only a harmless test…" Althaea was about to say before she received a mothers anger.

After calming her mother down after explaining the contents of the test, they were able to persuade her to let her come under Althaea guidance to start learning water magic.

Water mages was known as being healers, it had great appliances and gave you the ability to heal others, yourself, it was one of the most pratical magics to practice in the early stages.

Her mother would not ruin her daughters future for being paranoid over magic, she knew in these type of times it could prove essential to learn.

And just like that another thing was added to her routine of training.

In the mornings she would practice with Hoatan, continuing her exercises, sword and bow training.

Later in the evenings she would learn herbology with Arwen, learning about the different herbs and plants, gaining knowledge on their practicalities, benefits.

Then in the afternoon she learnt about water magic, to do with magic theory, how to apply and control Qi. She would engage in meditation and start learning the beginning spells a water magi would learn.

With Althaea she began to absorb water elemental Qi into her body and began refining it into her own.

According to her a Magi must draw in elemental essence into their body first to then manipulate the surrounding elemental Qi to form a spell.

The elemental essence in a mages body will be strengthened and it's volume will increase over time as they ascend tiers, however only a small amount of it is actually used to cast a spell.

To form a spell you require enough elemental Qi and will then use your spiritual energy to summon surrounding Qi using your own elemental Qi as a focal point to direct the required elemental Qi in the air to build up enough power for the spell.

She would store the Qi in what is known as a 'mage core', Mages bodies were usually stronger than non cultivators due to holding elemental Qi, however compared to warriors they were weak which is why their physical strength is often ignored.

Due to her affinity with water being high, gathering elemental Qi was incredibly fast for her, compared to her spiritual energy which grew excruciatingly slow there was a night and day difference.

Since she knew her soul already reached the standard of a Tier 1 Mage according to Cense, she knew she could begin practicing with spells and Althaea seemed to notice as well, which was why her training began preparing her for this.

Months past with this routine, and she felt there was a qualitative difference in all areas.

She felt the improvement in each passing day, due to being a beginner at all these occupations her progress was amazing.

Eventually she experienced the excitement on what it's like to cast her first spell, the Tier 1 'Cleanse'.

It was a basic spell that cleaned the body completely, leaving you with moisturised skin, removing you of any dirt or grime.

It was a simple spell that had not much flashiness or flair in comparison to something like a 'Fireball' would, however it was practical and her first proper spell so she was very satisfied.

They had not head any news about Father or the war with humans, instead of dwelling on this, she put it into the background deciding being anxious about something she could not control was not worth it, she poured all of her time and energy into her training.

Eventually, Hoatan asked if she wanted to go for a trip in the forest to have a more practical session on the different herbs and plants in the forest.

She was eager to go, the only problem was going to be convincing someone. Her mother.