Chapter 10

“Well you certainly are a unique case then Arthur, most do not share your foresight.”

Theo walked over to the large pot bringing the barrel of water with him and filled the pot with water and soap.

“Help me finish up with the pot and tomorrow night I will teach you a bit about cooking. It won’t be very exciting but it will allow you to be sure that you are eating something edible.”

“Thank you Theo.” Arthur quickly made his way and did his part in washing the inside of the pot, not a single bit was left dirty.

“Well that about does it Arthur. I don’t have anything else for you to help me with, just remember to be back here tomorrow.”

“Thank you for the chance to learn Theo.” Arthur ducked out of the tent and quickly made his way back to Cassia’s tent.

Upon entering the tent Arthur saw Cassia meditating on her bed.

“Hello Arthur. As you can see I am very busy so if you could I would like to be left alone.”

‘Ok that is weird but I guess I can just practice magic for now.’

Arthur sat on his mat in a crossed legged position and placed the cup of water just out of his reach when he sat with his back straight. Arthur pointed his open palm towards the cup and made some of the water float. He made it come towards him until it floated a few inches from his face. Arthur had the water take different shapes and forms that ranged from simple squares to spheres with a ring.

********

For the next four days Arthurs schedule went something like this.

In the morning he would practice his magic with Cassia and have breakfast with her.

He would then at noon go and train with a longsword and his armour with Hambel while about an hour after noon they would have something to eat.

Then about an hour before dinner Arthur would go and help Theo with cooking, he would then eat dinner and then help with cleaning up.

Then Arthur would return to Cassia’s tent and practice a bit of magic before he went to sleep.

/- - - - - -\

+ Long Blades Level 6

+ Block Level 6

+ Heavy Armour Level 4

+ Mana Manipulation Level 5

+ Hydromancy Level 5

+ Cooking Level 3

\- - - - - -/

Arthur while seated on his mat looked at the level of his skills. ‘I almost can’t believe how far I have come in just a few days.’ Arthur looked at the water that easily was two full cups worth coiled around his arm like a snake. Cassia walking into the tent gasped in surprise.

“I will never get used to how quickly you progress Arthur.” The look of jealousy was clear on her face.

“What can I say, I am very gifted and I am happy for your guidance.” Arthur said with a large smile on his face.

“Well I have a new lesson for you. I believe it is time for you to learn a proper attack spell for hydromancers.”

“Is that so?” Arthur quickly gave his full attention to Cassia as she spoke.

“Yes, now follow me outside to the archery range where we won’t accidentally hurt anyone.”

Arthur followed Cassia to the archery range, an improper one but enough to test ones skills at. Standing on the outside of a fenced area where the targets were placed at various distances, Cassia raised her right hand and a small amount of water formed and molded into a pointy shape before she flicked her hand and the water bolt pierced a target before losing its structure and dripping to the floor.

“That was a spell called water whip.” Cassia said as she turned to Arthur. “It's one of the simpler ways to use hydromancy in a combative manner.”

“That was cool but how do you give it such range? I've tried to control water from a distance but it just falls to the floor.”

“It's quite simple really.” Cassia beamed, finally she had something she could actually teach him and would likely require her help in achieving. “Did you notice that small flick I did when I shot the whip? Well that along with my control over hydromancy gave it enough speed to reach its target. Although you will most likely need to use a larger motion to give the bolt enough speed.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The look of confusion was slowly disappearing from Arthur's face until he realized something and asked another question. “How did you get that water? I didn’t see you bring any with you.”

“An excellent question Arthur.” Cassia smiled at her students' keen eyes. “When you become good enough at any type of basic elemental magic you will be able to generate that element at will. Now the amount you generate will be dependent on your level of skill and you will likely only learn this at level 10 for each type, but when you don’t have access to a fire or water source it can be very helpful.”

“Ok how should I go about doing this?” Arthur asked as he walked up to the fence, condensing a handful of water in his hands.

“You need to shape the water in a way that will allow it to move through the air with as much speed as possible, a pointy shape like an arrow head works well.”

Arthur did his best getting a thin cone share in his hand. Arthur took his water cone and after bringing it back threw it forward towards the nearest target.

The water whip sailed through the air until about the halfway point where it noticeably began to fall apart. It lost its momentum and fell apart and onto the ground.

Cassia watched from behind Arthur watch on as he performed much better than anyone else had that she knew of.

‘Dam, he truly is talented.’ Cassia sighed as she took a seat on a nearby stool.

Cassia watched as Arthur made repeated attempts to hit the target with a water whip and after an hour his first water whip landed.

Although it didn’t do any damage it was still significant progress for someone as new as Arthur.

‘Holy shit, I finally hit it. I didn’t damage it but I hit it, that's definitely progress.’

“Well done Arthur.” Cassia walked to Arthur as she spoke. “You have successfully cast water whip and landed a blow on a target with it. I expect that if you keep practicing by the end of the day you will be able to do some proper damage to it.”

“I would love to do that.”

“Feel a but coming my way.”

“But I was going to practice with Hambel again today at noon.”

“That's fine.” Cassia sighed. “But you should at least practice after dinner for a bit.”

“I will and I'll still be here for a bit since it won’t be noon for a while.”

For the next few hours Arthur practiced water whip under Cassia’s guidance. She would give him a few tips every so often that she found helpful. This helped along Arthur’s progress in mastering the spell.

Every so often Arthur got tired since spell casting was very tiring even if he wasn’t casting anything very powerful. Arthur had decided to take those opportunities to ask Cassia a few questions.

“Hey Cassia.”

“Yes Arthur.”

“What are spells?”

“Well that is a very complex and interesting question. Would you like the long answer or the short answer?”

“How about the short answer and if that isn't enough I will ask you for the long answer.”

“Alright then.” After a long pause to gather her thoughts Cassia spoke again. “A spell is in its most simple terms a technique to utilize a way of manipulating mana. For example with pyromancy a jet of fire propelled from your hands would be considered a spell, you are simply manipulating mana to generate fire from your hands.”

“So it's like a combat maneuver, just a technique used to give you the upper hand.”

“Yes that is correct Arthur.” Cassia smiled at Arthur's quick understanding of what is in reality a very complex subject. ‘If only Pollia was even half as good a listener as Arthur is.’

“Just be sure to keep practicing and eventually you will be able to create your own spells.”

“Create my own spells? That's possible?” The shock evident in Arthurs tone.

“All you need to do is manipulate mana in a way that hasn’t been done before or do it in a more effective way than has been done before. I personally haven’t created anything past a few simple everyday spells, that was a part of the curriculum when I was studying. But anything is possible, especially for you Arthur considering just how talented you are.”

Soon it was noon and Arthur left for the training area to continue his training with Hambel.

For two hours Arthur and Hembel sparred, Hambel obviously holding back so that he wouldn’t hurt Arthur. For those two hours everything had been the same as before, Arthur and Hambel sparred, they would take a break, Hambel would comment on Arthur's progress, and then they would continue until it was time for Arthur to go help Theo with dinner.

But today someone else showed up who they hadn't seen before. A young human male in his late 20s, with light olive skin, blue eyes, and blond hair. The human stood at roughly 5’10” and wore dark leather armour covering most of his body, and he wielded a spear most likely made from iron.

“What do we have here then?” The young human asked. “Your fighting is quite sloppy for someone your age Northman.” The human looked to Arthur and Hambel.

“He has only recently begun his training.” Hambel spoke up on Arthur’s behalf. “In fact he has only started this week and has already made such progress.”

“Is that so?” A small grin formed on the young human’s face. “If that is the case then I would like to test his skills myself.”

“I don’t think now is an appropriate time for that.” Hambel protested.

“Why don’t we ask him and see what he thinks.” The two turned to Arthur, one with worry and the other with a touch of curiosity.

“I am more than happy to spar with you Mr…”

“Saturio Quintilius. And you are?”

“Arthur. Is the spear your weapon of choice?”

“Why yes it is. Would the longsword by any chance be yours?” Saturio chuckled.

“How very observant you are. Shall we begin?”

“Of course, just give me a moment to prepare myself.”

Saturio walked over to the far end of the small arena-like area where Hambel was sparring with Arthur. Saturio positioned himself with his front foot forward allowing him to lunge at his opponent and his back leg just behind so that he could easily recover from any attacks. A training spear that he picked up on his way ready to strike.

Arthur drew his longsword and decided to take a more offensive position by holding the handle at the same height of his head and pointing the blade in his front, giving him an excellent position to both block and stab.

Hambel stood off to the side just outside the arena ready to announce the beginning of the match.

“3… 2… 1… Begin!”