Unfortunately it seemed we would not be traveling together the next day. The traders, who turned out to be people that worked for Mr. Lach's brother, were taking a trip up to Ashber and then coming back to Valden where this group was located. It turned out that Mr. Lach's brother was a fairly widespread Merchant with shops and warehouses in every large city in Dicathen. To which he gave me a letter of reference that I would be able to use at any of them to either get a job or be able to trade directly with the vendors or even sell my wares once I became an adventurer.
"Young Steel it was nice to meet you. I wish you luck on your journey." Mr. Lach passed me an old leather bound book, thick pages of varying cuts lay inside, but no words were written across the top.
"Thank you sir, but what is it?" I asked before I opened the pages and my eyes widened. His words echoed my own thoughts.
"It's a book on mana cultivation and manipulation. It's just a beginners guide to be sure, but once you've learned all you can from it just take it to one of my brother's stores with the letter I gave you and you should be able to trade it out for the next one in the set." I nodded graciously at his words and stuck my hand out to shake his own. Despite our age difference my hand still nearly dwarfed his due to my size.
"Thank you, Mr. Lach. I'll make sure to take good care of it. Once I've finished it I plan to register as an adventurer in Valden. Though I should probably trade my axe in for a sword." I said eventually beginning to mumble as my mind trailed off on to what kind of weapon i should get.
"Well that will be a little difficult. Ya see, all the Adventurer's Guilds outside of Xyrus are just like an outpost. They just handle transactions, trades and quest completions. To actually register and become an adventurer you'll need to take a gate in Valden to Xyrus and register at the main guild hall." He replied
Nodding, I couldn't help but sigh as my goal stretched farther away. Steel had memories of people talking about the "teleportation gates" but based on all these memories it cost exorbitant fee to go through. Some people saying it cost a hundred gold to go through!
"I don't have much money to be able to go through a gate though. I guess I'll have to save up in Valden for a bit." I replied sadly.
"Nonsense! I don't know what tales you've been told, but gates fee is only 5 copper. And only 3 copper if you're a trader to promote trade. And you just so happen to have letter of reference from the Granite Trading Company." He said pointing to the folded letter that was still in my hand, resting atop the book.
It was true I did have that much at least, my small pouch of copper totaling 20 pieces. The weight in my shoulders eased as the daunting task no longer seemed so big. Just another few days walk to Valden and then a gate to Xyrus and I would be starting my adventurer journey.
"Well it looks like it's that time to get going, young Steel. I look forward to seeing you again, and I'll be sure to check in on your family while we're in Marlow. Let them you at least made it this far." Mr. Lach said, a smile raising bearded face.
"Thank you, Mr. Lach. I hope to see you again and pay you back for your kindness." I replied.
With my goodbyes to the rest of his party I shouldered my pack once more, now with the added weight of a book on mana and a letter of reference. One of the traders even made a trade with me, my axe for what they called a Longsword. I didn't have much knowledge on swords from either life, but from what he said this one was considered a "hand and a half" sword. Suitable for two and or one handed fighting without being too heavy or unwieldy. The go to choice for sword and shield users or augmenters that liked to mix magic into their fighting.
It was a 40 inch double edged blade with only a small cross guard at the top of the hilt and a deadly diamond shaped pommel that looked like it could cause just as much damage as the blade. It came with a fur lined leather sheath that I could belt around my waist. The only thing I wasn't able to afford or trade for was a kit for blade maintenance. Though he said the blade would last me several weeks as long as I just wiped it down good after any fights or trainings.
I walked at a decent pace along the tree line so that kept to the shade. While walking I practiced unsheathing and sheathing the sword, careful not to trip and cut myself. Learned the dumbass way that the blade was indeed sharp when I press my thumb to it. Said thumb was now tightly wrapped by a small piece of fabric I had torn from one of my shirts. At least I knew it was definitely sharp.
The day passed rather uneventfully which I figured was just fine after all the excitement of my last 2 days. The fight with the wolves and then the Mayor the day before. As the sun set I made a small campfire off the road, the burbling of a small stream just 20 yards away, where I bathed for the first time since the fight with the Mayor.
Once clean I settled down against a tree trunk with the fire to my side and opened the book on mana manipulation. Times like these missed the modern technology of my old world, a light at the very least would be nice. Hmmm perhaps I can use magic to create a light? I better read the book first before I go accidentally blowing something up, I decided as I opened it to the first page.
"All mages begin at the black core stage, the first stage of six each noted by the color corresponding with the core of the mage.
Black
Red
Orange
Yellow
Silver
Yes only 5 were listed because this is considered the core stages achievable to by mages. The 6th and final stage is mostly considered myth by the majority of mages. The White stage is reserved for Great War heroes or the most powerful adventurers from the past.
Each stage, besides black and white, is separated into 3 tiers. An example being: Dark Red, Solid Red and finally Light Red. This shows the stage of purification a mage's core has reached. The impurities being pushed out through meditation to cleanse the mana in the core. As mages pull unfiltered mana from the atmosphere. Some call it "dirty mana" due to the fact that we must purify it within ourselves, but this is just a misunderstanding.
The mana in the atmosphere is truly the purest form, the impurities come from our own subpar absorption methods and our lack of mana cohesion from most mages only having an affinity in a single type. Mages with more affinities would theoretically absorb mana the easiest as they would not have to filter out as much "unnecessary" mana.
The book continues on with descriptions and broke down the different affinities as well as the types of mages. Just by reading I could tell that I was most likely an augmenter by the way my mana felt in my body. It taught me how to envision my core where I found a black sphere and I could almost feel the weight of the impurities. It's as if my body instinctively knew which of the particles were the unneeded, the "dirty" bit of mana that had found itself inside my core.
As I sat there with the book in my lap I began meditating and cleansing my core. I got lost in the process, pushing and pulling at the mana with my mind. Focusing on bringing in "clean" mana with each inhale as I exhaled the bad. I could see and feel my core progressing until I finally decided that I should stop and go to sleep.
Only when I opened my eyes I wasn't met with the fire illuminated darkness. No, it was day time and I found myself covered in sweat and I felt dirty. It felt like the impurities I had pushed out of my core had been expelled in the form of sweat all over my body. Judging by the height of the sun it was nearly midday.
Had I really meditated on my core the entire night and morning? I shook the fatigue out of my head and expected to be groggy, but I found that my mind felt as sharp as ever. I didn't know whether the meditation was rest enough or if I should attribute it to the progress I had made on my core. Wasn't that the point of meditation in my past life? To cleanse the mind and sharpen focus?Truthfully I hadn't believed it back then, but I couldn't deny the effects it had here.
Standing up I kicked dirt over the my smoldering fire pit and headed back to the stream. There was no way I could continue with this gross dirty film clinging to me. But I made up my mind that I would need to be more careful when meditating in the future and making sure that I added in some sword practice to build up some muscle memory.
Though I was hesitant to do too much unguided sword training as I didn't want to develop bad habits. The extent of my "training" would over head chops and horizontal slashes using the blade like an axe which this body was familiar with.