21 Improvements

*Clang*

Dinner had finally been served. In front of Teo stood a full plate of mashed potatoes, wild deer cutlets, and an assortment of local vegetables. All seasoned with various regional herbs from the nearby forest. Even though the whole clan had gathered for the occasion and proper etiquette was expected, he dug in ravenously without a care for anything else. Apparently, he was very hungry.

Most family members present, even his grandfather Troy, could not help but wonder why the boy was shoveling food into his mouth like a starved beast, but Thoralv only smiled gently. He knew precisely how taxing the task he had demanded earlier had been.

Luckily, the Enchantment went without a hitch, and they managed to complete the magically enhanced sword free of major defects. It was no ordinary Enchantment though; it was the first marketable product which Teo had worked on so far. It may not seem like much, but it was quite the achievement and marked Teo's admittance as a certified Enchanting Assistant —an impressive feat for his age.

Following the traditions of the craft, Teo even had the honor of naming the sword. Naturally, he had only done so after a lengthy break, as he had been completely drained of energy. He had not been in an excellent condition even before he started, and obviously, the further exertion did do no good to alleviate his exhaustion.

After a long thought process, Teo finally had decided to christen the sword 'Eclipse', named after its smooth, black surface, seemingly able to swallow up all light.

His plate freed of all organic matter, Teo decided to retire to his room and plan out his routine for the next weeks. He was swamped already and had to squeeze his new training sessions into his daily schedule somehow, but according to Goliath, the results would indubitably be worth it.

***

The next few weeks were rather peaceful, and apart from the increasingly harsher training sessions which he continued to force on himself, nothing noteworthy happened.

During the first week, Teo's Mana Core had already grown from a small pea to a slightly larger pea. Yet even a whole moon later, its size was still somewhat inferior to a chickpea. Progress seemed to slow down a lot for every millimeter he managed to expand it.

Only after putting in several moons of daily effort, spending dozens of hours on knitting thread after thread after thread into the ever-growing ball of energy —while tolerating the excruciating pressure he would have to endure during the task— did Teo manage to increase its size to grape-like proportions.

His body was getting used to the vast quantities of arcane power he sought to contain in it, allowing him to increase the pressure more and more. Not only had his Mana Capacity risen by what would have taken him over two years of traditional exercise, but the effect that regular practice had on it (its growth rate, so to speak) had even risen a bit, hinting at a slight advancement of his Mana Affinity.

Overall, Teo was pleased with the tangible changes he was going through, and the only thing bugging him was that he lacked suitable opportunities to show off his newfound prowess. Goliath's striking indifference to all of his ongoing advancements was just as stinging to him as a hundred paper cuts on a single finger, and by now Teo was already longing for some external validation —even though he was unwilling to share his secrets with anyone.

His control over Mana and foundational Magic had continuously grown more profound over the last moons, and he was already able to fell a small tree with a well placed Mana Bolt, a sharp contrast to his initial results. In fact, he could probably best many of the more talented fourth years with his skills.

His Enchanting skills also received a substantial boost thanks to his finer control and enhanced perception of Mana, making his uncle incredibly proud of the young genius he had managed to cultivate. Much of his success stemmed from the fact that Goliath's techniques gave him a massive advantage over other youths his age, but he was not without remarkable talent himself.

Teo had even found the time to practice another Element; he just had not made much progress with it yet. It went without saying, that his first choice had fallen on the Fire Element, as it had always held a certain charm for him.

In alignment with Goliath's suggestions, Teo had started by working on his ability to sense the Fire Element in his surroundings, just like when he first started to awaken his Mana Sense. He had spent weeks without noticeable changes though. At first, he could not even tell if a candle was lit or not with his eyes closed; only when close enough to feel its warmth —or burn his fingers.

After around two moons, he managed to advance to the next level and became able to instinctively sense the presence of burning or hot objects in his surroundings. Now, after almost half a year of trying, Teo felt that he was very close to awakening his Fire Vision.

For the second half of the year, even the curriculum of his school would experience slight changes. Starting from next week, optional courses about practical uses of foundational Magic would be offered, at least for the students talented enough in Magic.

Usually, practical courses would only start from the third year of Magic School, and even those would be quite fundamental. However, the Council had recently decided to accelerate the exposure of children to elemental Magic by a year, leading to this awkward transition year that played right into Teo's cards.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

Naturally, every member of his small group had already awakened their Elemental Vision and had at least mastered the basics of foundational Magic. But so far, this was only encouraged for self-study and not systematically taught in class. Teo had actually tutored Angelika and Jack in these aspects sometimes during the last year; he did have quite the head-start thanks to Mr. Atkins' individual lessons after all.

Also, it wasn't entirely without remuneration. Both of them had shared their insights regarding their Elements with Teo. The explanations about what their nature and properties were and what they felt like when handling them, complimented the theoretical knowledge from class perfectly. They were not sure why Teo was so interested in the topic, but they were happy to share their experiences with their friend.

Jack took right after his father and possessed an intermediate grade Fire Affinity, rather fitting for his hot-headed personality. Angelika, however, had a shocking high-rank Darkness Affinity, earning her a stipend for the Saint Joujack's Magic School in Sigella, and probably for wherever she decided to go after that as well.

Apparently, she came from a lineage of simple cabbage farmers and was the first in her family to awaken a noteworthy Affinity for anything. Some fifty years back, she would not even have been able to enter a school at all, since her family was unable to pay for the hefty tuition fees. But the stipend of the Association paid not only for this; it even covered the relocation of

Angelika was not very gifted in practical Magic, and its allure of power didn't entice her that much either. Still, she poured in all the effort she could muster and studied in every free minute she had, fearing that the Association would cut her family's support if she was found to be lacking. An unfounded fear, as the stipend was unconditional, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.