Chapter 15: Magical LessonThe Month of Noel, Day 28, Year 681 of the Second Holy CalendarDominic's musical debut was a smashing success, earning him a standing ovation and a request for an encore. Luckily, Eliana had already told him that in this world, during an encore, you were expected to sing a different song. Dominic was just a one-trick pony who had spent the past few years learning one song, so he had to refuse. As if even the gods were acknowledging his success, he woke up the next day with yet another fever and spent the next two days in bed.

  When he recovered, he finally had his long-awaited magic lesson, taught by his father. It had been expined to Dominic at an early age that magic was mostly hereditary, although the Awakening process allowed commoners to grow their magic. Supply nobles still had an advantage because they were born with a lot of mana, while commoners were born with very little. The qualities of magic were also hereditary, with members of the Bck family having magic colored bck and gold, occasionally with a bit of red. Their magic also took on those same qualities, so by tradition, older house members would teach younger ones. Although, honestly, Dominic had considered reaching out to a branch family rather than spend so much alone time with his father.

  “Magic is the fundamental force of the world. It resides in all of us, and in all living things.”

  “Few more lines and we’ll get sued by Star Wars for copyright, dear father,” Dominic thought sarcastically as his father continued.

  “It resides in pnts, animals, monsters—even in those unholy, filthy, fucking goblins. It strengthens us and gives us life. Every time you breathe, you take the power of mana into yourself.”

  Valerius sat next to him on the loveseat. Dominic immediately wanted to scooch away but was blocked by the small size of the couch.

  “I’m going to use synchronization on you.”

  “Now, just activate internal detection and follow along. Learn it well because you'll literally be doing it for the rest of your life.”

  Dominic did as he was told, activating internal detection to view his own mana. Ever since his Awakening, the mana in his core had moved very slowly through his body, but hadn’t done much. He also hadn’t used it for anything, as he hadn't been taught how, and had been told specifically not to until properly trained. Worst-case scenario? He might literally explode.

  Valerius began maniputing his own mana, pulling it out of his core to swirl around inside his chest. He began transforming it, molding it into small threads, then asked Dominic to hold them. Dominic would mentally grasp the threads—they felt solid, like rock in his hand—and then Valerius would let go mentally, and the threads would colpse like gas dispersing in his palms.

  Eventually, Dominic got the hang of it. He had to mentally infiltrate the threads, forcing them to stay together using only his mind. The process was confusing. It was like hearing a foreign nguage—it sounded completely strange to him, yet was perfectly normal to those who spoke it.

  At Valerius’ encouragement, he opened his eyes and saw, through the window, that it was now sunset. They had begun in the afternoon.

  “That time just flew by,” Dominic commented absentmindedly.

  “That tends to happen when you’re using internal detection for a long time. That’s why you need to be careful with it. Anyway, we’re going to stop for today.”

  Dominic gred at his father resentfully.

  “Don’t look at me like that. Physically, you feel fine, but mentally, you have your limits. You need to rest and recover a bit before we continue. Eventually, you’ll have to do this constantly. You need to build up your mental strength bit by bit. It takes time, and there’s no point in rushing it. Also, whatever you do, do not practice on your own. I’m here if anything goes wrong—but if you try this alone, I won’t be. You might literally die. Multiple noble children eager to get a leg up have tried that.”

  “I hear you’re normally studious and get the praises of your teachers, but this isn’t a situation where I’m going to praise you for going behind my back.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me how to hold the threads together?” Dominic asked. At his father’s confused look, Dominic was about to continue, but Valerius raised a hand.

  “Everyone’s method for these types of things is different. You have your method, I have mine. According to some experts on the subject, everyone should have their own method. Your method is right for you; mine is right for me, that sort of thing. I’m not sure I agree with it entirely, but there it is. Besides, I don’t think you’ll be on the front lines much, so it’s not that important.”

  “Why don’t you think I’ll be on the front lines?” Dominic asked curiously, although he agreed with his father.

  “It’s instinct, kid. Instinct.”

  *****

  Over the following days, Dominic continued learning magic. He finally began to understand what he was doing. Around the third week, Valerius allowed Dominic to use synchronization on him. His father’s mana was swirling around his core like a tornado. This somehow grew Dominic’s mana pool—at least according to Valerius.

  He also expined why Dominic had to go through the Awakening process to swirl his mana: Veronica had shattered his core and reformed it in a way that constantly forced the mana inside to move, like a mini tornado. It also had several holes that allowed mana to be pulled into his chest more easily. Although Dominic hadn’t noticed, it had been sealed with small mana threads that seemed to be made from his grandmother’s magic, until he could properly regute his own core. Once he learned this, he made it his top priority.

  The creation of his own mana spiral took time. In total, it took six weeks to properly form his tornado, which he decided to call a key spiral. The most difficult part of forming it was mentally maintaining it—it kept colpsing, as it was hard to keep the mana both in a solid mass and constantly moving. But eventually, he got the hang of it.

  The hardest part after forming it was maintaining it. He was supposed to keep it going at all hours of the day—even while sleeping. Like walking or breathing, it was supposed to become second nature, something done without conscious thought. The logic was simple: the longer it’s maintained, the more mana you’ll gain.

  Dominic’s biggest question after all this was why constant movement increased the amount of mana. Although it clearly had a visible effect, the reason eluded him. When he asked Valerius, his father dragged in some old magic professor, who expined things in the most convoluted manner possible. Dominic eventually decided he just didn’t want to know.

  Mostly to satisfy his ego, he came up with his own theory: it was like muscles—working them out helped them grow bigger.

  Learning magic was a lot less exciting and a lot more work. It was like learning a new, difficult skill under the instruction of a drill sergeant. Valerius was more passionate about teaching magic than staying sober during the six weeks he trained Dominic. As a mark of respect, Dominic decided to stop calling his dad a junkie in his head.