By the time Jane found his way back home, all traces of the sun's light had already left the sky. His brother had long since gone to sleep, leaving the house empty except for faint sound of breathing coming from one of the doorways. Like bait left out for an animal, an idyllic-looking portion of the morning's stew sat near the kitchen. Jane suspected a basket might come over his head if he carelessly approached it.
'Well, the worst that could happen is that my brother doesn't let me leave home for a while.'
Despite all of the trouble it brang him, Jane was really thinking about that stew all day. The combination of the gamey, carnal taste of the rabbit with the earthy and dignified taste of the vegetables... the contrast in how one bite might waver between mushy, then fleshy, then suddenly crispy... the push and pull of refreshing soup and oily meat... Jane seriously considered running into the forest with a knife and murdering all the rabbits he saw for their meat. Even though he still felt a little guilty about killing the rabbit, turning into a dish like this couldn't be so bad of a fate. By the time he finished his portion, he had almost forgiven himself for taking a life.
---
Perhaps it was because he had spent most of the day unconscious, but Jane was still brimming with energy. While eating, he had more or less come up with a training regimen which would use his time most effectively. Plopping himself down on his bed, he began practicing.
First, he flipped the book of runes open to the first page, and looked at the symbol. Truthfully, his memory was good enough that he didn't need to open the book again to practice the runes, but he wasn't foolish enough to rely on his single glance from hours before.
He took a moment to comprehend the rune in it's entirety, and then began to draw out mana from his soul core. Initially, the mana was rather formless, but Jane began slowly morphing it into the shape seen in his book. The more clear the rune constructed was, the more powerful it's effects would be. This was part of the reason why Jane was brave enough to learn them in his own house. His lackluster control of mana would not be able to produce any terrifying effects.
From the midair shape, a small amount of vapour started to be emitted. As the shape got clearer, the vapour increased in density, before eventually consolidating into tiny waterdrops. Jane hurriedly released his control over the mana, for fear of covering his bed in water.
'So, that rune is "Water".'
From there on, he learned the runes for 'Air', 'Rock', 'Electricity', and relearned the rune for 'Heat' which he showed his teacher earlier. Outside his window, the aftereffects of his practice formed a messy pile on the grass.
Just as he was forming a new rune in midair, he found himself unable to draw out the required mana to complete the rune. This lead to the second part of his training regimen. Once he ran out of mana, he would begin taming ambient mana into his soul core.
Jane focused on the area where his Manaheart was supposed to be, and gradually began sensing the unfamiliar mana surrounding him. While tamed mana could be used like one's own limbs, ambient mana took effort to sense, let alone use. Jane began focusing even more on his Manaheart, directing through it his will to control the mana surrounding him.
With time, the particles started to slowly move towards his soul core, and passed through the outer shell. Now, he only had to prevent them from getting out. The longer he kept the particles near his soul core, the easier it got to prevent them from leaving. Once it no longer tried to escape, it meant that the mana was almost tamed, although it would still take time for it to stabilize and be usable.
As Jane focused on his task, he could feel his own mana, scattered within the air, slowly make it's way to his soul core as well. Once all of the tamed mana was back, he stopped gathering new particles, and instead waited for the remaining particles within his Manaheart to give up resisting.
Jane took a deep breath out, and wiped the sweat from his face. He was no longer full of energy, but the progress still made him eager to continue onwards.
He opened the book of runes again, and began where he had left off.
---
Although it wasn't a day of rest, Jane's teacher appeared in front of him the moment he was alone.
"You know, my disciple."
"What?"
"I've thought of something else you need to learn."
'Didn't I have homework?'
Jane, who was collecting wild vegetables in the forest, glanced at the elegantly dressed man who looked entirely out of place under the earthy canopies.
"Well, watch this."
Calex collected an extremely dense mass of mana underneath one of the vegetables in Jane's basket, and promptly sent it far into the sky. Jane craned his neck up to see where it went, but it was already too high to be seen.
"What the hell was that for?"
"Do you know what magic I casted just now?"
"No? I'm asking why you sent that celery into the sky!"
"When a master is at work, you should watch and learn."
He promptly gathered mana underneath another one of the vegetables, and it disappeared in the same way.
"Seriously, can you not?"
"I'll stop if you tell me what magic I'm using."
"I don't know, it just looks like a mass of mana particles."
His teacher began gathering mana again.
"Shit, just give me some time to think!"
Jane thought over the runes he had learned. No matter how spiteful his teacher was, he would probably not ask an impossible question. Therefore, the magic he used had to have been one which Jane already knew.
"Uhh, 'Air'?"
"Air? Is that a rune?"
The dense mana sent yet another vegetable flying. Jane hurriedly drew mana out of his soul core, and formed it into a symbol on midair.
"This uh, symbol."
From the hastily constructed rune, a faint breeze was flowing. It cooled Jane's mood down significantly, who was feeling confident in his guess. Somewhere nearby, a vegetable plummeted down at a dire speed, turning into mush as soon as it hit the ground.
"Correct. However, did you see my use of it?"
Truthfully, Jane did not see any of the runes his teacher used. He only relied on the effects of the magic and reasoning to determine the magic. His teacher began forming the rune for 'Air', only this time it was as big as Jane's head.
"The size of the rune does not matter; only the relative quality of it's construction matters."
The rune his teacher constructed emitted powerful waves of wind, blowing all of Jane's hair back. Right next to it, a tiny speck of mana formed, and began emitting the same effect.
"In other words, the same rune constructed with the same neatness and clarity can be as large or as small as it needs to be. However, there is an important difference."
Suddenly, thousands of tiny specks of mana emerged everywhere except for above his teacher, and a faint moisture filled the air. Heavy rainfall began to drench every part of the forest.
"The smaller the rune, the less mana it takes to make. It is also more difficult to form, though, requiring incredibly precise control. Achieving the same quality with a small rune as it would be with a large rune is difficult, simply due to small imperfections being greatly magnified."
Jane glared silently at his teacher, now being soaked head-to-toe and standing in muddied soil.
"Thus, you must also learn how to better both your perception and control of mana. Ah, there is one more thing."
"What?"
"It's occurred to me that you are passionate about magic. Passionate enough that no matter how much I annoy you, you'll still try to learn from me. Isn't that right, my dear disciple?"
Small runes gathered in addition to the preexisting ones, and soon, the sound of thunder could be heard.
"Because I really, truly, am a wonderful teacher."
Another, much larger rune was formed in midair, and began producing a smelly black substance.
"This rune produces things that can burn. If you want to warm yourself up, why don't you try making a fire?"