^^ Magic Storage Device ^^

Due to my own surprise, I wasn't quite quick enough to catch one of the rabbits before they ran away, so I was left without breakfast, yet again, and now I would miss lunch, it seems, while the Owl that Miss Hiram had flown in on had no such issues, snagging and devouring two deer almost entirely whole in a matter of minutes.

"Well, one of us gets to eat, I suppose." I frowned at the owl as it disappeared into a magic circle, just like last time she'd un-summoned it.

"Is that why you're up here? Why not buy food from the marketplace, or just ask me? I am responsible for you now, you know." Miss Kip Hiram asked casually, plopping onto the ground next to me.

"When you didn't offer me food all day yesterday, I took it as a challenge; I was under the impression I would be hunting for my own food and making my own firewood... and buying food felt like cheating." I hummed, leaning back against the rock I'd chosen for my meditation and relaxing once more.

She frowned as she realized what I was saying, looking at me in horror. "I thought elves only ate like, once a week?!? Why didn't you say something?!?" She snapped, irritated suddenly as the realization hit home fully and came back around to anger.

"Why would You think that I had to?!? What stupidity brought you, -or anyone else for that matter, but specifically you, a supposedly learned woman,- to think that Elves, -whom all possess a naturally dense, yet lithe musculature, and are naturally stronger and faster than humans,- would require Less Food?!?" I snapped back at her, irritated by yet another human stereotype; there were many, and all of them were irritating.

She blinked slowly, sitting back on her heels, and hummed. "That... is a perfectly sound argument, and I am sorry that I didn't research more about Elves before taking one as an Apprentice... in the future, please tell me when you need something; while training your body is important, and I may prescribe increased physical exercise as punishment if I think you're slacking off, I'm never going to abuse you by refusing to feed you, or any other such barbaric methods of punishment."

"I suppose that's good to know... you scared off my breakfast, by the way. I was waiting for the plump rabbit to come closer to me while I was refilling my Mana Pool." I sighed, looking at the fat hares that were halfway down the mountain already.

"Refilling, Huh? The mana in your room was pretty big... how many times were you emptying out your mana to try the Third Stage? Don't feel bad if it's still a problem, sometimes the Mages with the most Power have the least Control." She waved a hand off to her left, and a small falcon appeared out of a portal, taking off and diving at a rabbit instantly; within seconds, it held a rabbit so big that it couldn't lift it properly, so it half-dragged the rabbit back to her hand.

"I got it on the first try, actually; that Guide was actually somewhat useful, if a little trite and needlessly esoteric! After I managed it, though, I simply stopped absorbing the Simple Mana from my breath while I sorted the Pure Mana out piece by piece... it was very slow work, and by Dawn this morning I'd only managed 10% of my Mana Pool, and I was hungry, so I used what I'd gathered to recreate the Mana Heart I built when I skipped Stage Three. Now I'm autonomously gathering Pure Mana, and pushing the Simple Mana into my weapons, in anticipation of our Lesson this afternoon." I explained what I'd been doing while I built a fire from some wood nearby, skinning the rabbit and carefully dressing the meat into proper bits; I'd intended for a Stew, so I didn't waste the blood, but with it bleeding all over the place, that was impossible now.

She stared into space for a few moments, muttering to herself under her breath, and I politely didn't listen to her comments, though I did wiggle my ears at her without looking, and she ceased her verbal grumbling. After a bit, she sighed, and shook her head. "Well, you should remember it was built for children!"

"Even more reason for it to be simple and succinct; the pictures added more than enough levity, enough so that no amount of stiff terminology would have ruined the experience." I nodded, wrapping the meat in the skin like a dumpling and placing the bundle in the fire, to hold the juices in while the cooking happened. A few herbal grasses I'd found as I wandered up towards the peak went into the wrap as well for aroma and taste.

"Hmm... I suppose. Still, no one's complained yet, so it can't be that bad!" She shrugged, eying the cooking process with interest.

"How many students have you had?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her for the absurdity of her claim and turning the bag carefully, making sure every part got equal contract with the heat while I added some more fuel to the fire.

"... well, I've trained three Conjuration Mages to Mastery, personally... and there's six more currently here in the city that are training as well, but they're not specifically my students. You'll get to meet them, I imagine, and actually have something to talk about with other kids your age... or half your age? I'm not sure of the age dynamics amongst High Elves, to be honest." She shrugged, and crossed her legs, leaning forward as the meat started smelling like it was close to done.

"I'm considered a young man, at twenty-seven, and amongst humans, my physical maturity would be that of a thirteen-fifteen year old, experiencing puberty. Mentally, I am a twenty-seven-year-old scholar, and I assure you that playing with children is not in the least of interest to me, but I suppose having people around that don't ridicule me for being a Conjuration Mage will be a nice change of pace." I pulled the meat out of the fire, pouring some dirt over the embers to bank the fire for now, and opened the bag on the ground between us. "It'd be better in a stew with some vegetables and potatoes, but you make do, I suppose. Enjoy."

"Mm... I guess I'll just have to teach you like I do the Adults who finally gain enough Mana to have an Affinity, then? A late bloomer! Anyway, I already ate, so I'll just take a foreleg... while you eat, however, I have something of a challenge for you, as part of today's lesson; attempt to turn the food you eat into pure nutrients, instead of 95% waste. You have the Chemical knowledge necessary, yes?" She snagged a small piece of the meat, swallowing it bone and all as an apparent example of what she meant.

"That... is both terrifying and disgusting..." I shivered at the thought of eating a Bone, so I placed a hand over the innards and inedible bits I'd tossed off to the side while I'd cooked, instead of my actual food. Wrapping them in my mana, much like the dagger, took only a few seconds, and then separating them into their most basic components took about a minute, as I made every change. When it was over, I had a bowl made of Quartz Crystal, (drawn forth from the ground surrounding us, which was loaded with the stuff,) full of water that contained all the remaining nutrients from the offal, in the form of carbohydrates, minerals, proteins, and simple Water to hold it all. "That is also terrifying and disgusting." I hummed at the water, which looked clean enough to drink, if I ignored its origins.

"Very true, but look at it this way; now you know how to make it so you can never be Poisoned! Well done!" She patted my head happily, then reached into her pocket, pulling out a bronze sphere and a small book. "Now for Lesson Two! Or, test, I suppose, because you seem to already know how to do all of this, with a little guidance; regardless, Lesson Two is about Runes! I'll give you a Book of Runes and this Sphere; if you can open it, you pass!"

I was reading the book before she finished speaking, drinking the knowledge inside like a man rescued in the desert. The first page held a forward from the author, as well as an explanation; 'Runic Languages: a Compendium and Expository Thesis on the Four Common Runic Languages, as well as their uses in Magic.' Beyond that was a page of page markers for various pieces of the book, and I skipped the alphabets for the Theory and Practical Understanding portion, which was more important to learn first, before the Runes got all jumbled in your head. I was learning four new languages, after all, so I needed the Grammar Rules and Syntax before I learned the extended Vocabulary. My notebook and charcoal were spread on the rock beside me as I took careful notes on the contents, for future study.

'Runes - Definition: Multi-Planar Sigils which hold Mana and shape it more acutely than would otherwise be possible without such Guides.
— A Rune is similar to an Alphabetic Glyph, but when examined by way of Mana Sense, it is possible to see the layers of magical circles that had been invisibly cast upon the object that the Rune is placed upon. Strung together, Runes can create incredibly complicated, intricate spells, which are generally self-sustaining.
— Runes of different Languages can be used together, but lack symmetry, and can cause catastrophic failures if not carefully calibrated; common sense advice would state not to attempt this, unless the language you're using doesn't have all the Runes you need.
— Creating a Magical Language is possible, but generally useless, and the language has to be complete, with grammar, syntax, and a full vocabulary to have any real use.
— Carving or Inscribing Runes is visibly simple, but you must magically craft every Magic Circle as you go; it isn't an automatic system.
— Runes that are not fixed, like those on moving objects, are not less potent or powerful, but they are generally placed into less-defensive materials, giving the illusion that stationary Runes are stronger.
— Runes can be used in various ways, and have in the past been used as One-Offs on things like arrows, sold to monster hunters so that they can use a Fully-Powered Destruction Spell on an enemy even without the skill to cast the spell, nor the Mana Pool or Affinity necessary, or even in Healing Potions, however rare.
— Runes are, themselves, Repositories of Mana, and thus can be used by anyone, even inanimate objects.'

After reading through the book and then my notes several times, fixing the information into my mind, I read the section with the languages, taking notes on the Magic circles that were required for each Rune; each Language was formed with a different Affinity in mind, and thus their effects were clearly different and making them was impossible if you didn't have the requisite Affinity, but knowing them would enable you to translate and understand the Runes, effectively quadrupling the amount of magic you understood, even if you couldn't use three quarters of it.

"Your speed of comprehension is... frightening... You know that, don't you?" Miss Kip asked slowly, seeing me close the book and set it aside, finished memorizing and comprehending it nearly thirty minutes after I'd started.

"I'm aware." I hummed, picking up the sphere and translating all the Runes, which were of the Restoration and Destruction Types, one of the mentioned rare and dangerous mixed language Enchantments; after writing them down and then examining the magic circles behind them, I had a pretty clear idea of what this item was, and how to use it, but to Open it was not mentioned within the Runes. This clearly meant that the sphere, which was made of several interconnecting pieces of bronze in a banded fashion, was a simple puzzle. Of course, having the Dangerous Mixed Runes added in meant that if you moved any of the pieces wrongly, you could cause a total failure of the Enchantment, and the resultant violent release of Mana could fry your brain like an egg in moments.

"You stuck? You've been staring at it silently for about five minutes. I could give you a hint, if you want?" Kip asked carefully.

"I'm trying to find a way to move the pieces so that there are no catastrophic failures in the system, due to the mixture of Restoration and Destruction Runes." I answered slowly, then twisted the top portion of the sphere forty-two degrees to the left, while the bottom was turned forty-eight degrees to the right. This aligned the Restoration and Destruction Runes, creating a new string of words that built a new spell, which I wrote down swiftly as the entire sphere began spinning the various pieces into places by itself, and expanding until no pieces were touching. At this point, the Runes on the exterior stopped glowing, being replaced with floating Runes surrounding the thing that had been held inside. "... a Mana Crystal?" I hummed disappointedly.

"Made of Ruby, yes! Well done!!!" Kip grinned, tapping the top of the disassembled sphere and causing it to turn again, creating a third sequence; instantly, I felt all the Mana in the surroundings disappear, sucked into the Ruby and purified.

"Wait... it just turned Simple Mana into Pure Mana? By way of deconstruction and reconstruction... using destruction to 'use' the Mana, then Restoration to Drain it, thus filtering it, and swiftly turning Simple into Pure... curious... how about..." I carefully shifted one ring of Runes one tick to the left, and grinned as the Mana began flowing out of the Storage Device and into my body. I repeated the process of pouring my magic into it until it was empty and allowing it to send it back into me several times over, effectively simulating the Second Stage that had been taught by the Guide and overflowing my Maximum Capacity repeatedly to simulate growth, until Kip took the ball from my hand, collapsing it back to its original form.

"Well, alright then... You've successfully learned how to Gather Mana, and how to use a Mana Storage Device, as well as all four Runic Languages... Now for Lesson Three: Summoning. This is the only one of these lessons other than Runes that you've never figured out before, so we'll start with something simple, and work our way up; your Mana Pool far exceeds my own, so I'll be using the Mana Crystal to keep up. We'll start with this." She carefully drew a circle on the ground with a piece of charcoal from the fire, taking her time to make each Rune perfectly legible while building their individual magic circles apparently with her mind.

"I wonder why Magic Circles are the accepted magical apparatuses? How do they work?" I hummed, drawing my own copy of her work in my notebook, and taking specific note of how she filled each rune with the entire sum of Power from the Mana Storage Device, then recharged it before continuing, making the process take longer than otherwise, but also making the Circle Blaze with Mana.

"Circles? They channel Mana into the Runes, activating them in order; they're also there to contain and direct the Spell, so that none of the Mana is wasted. Most Magic was created by people with small amounts of Mana, so it's almost tradition to just make everything as efficient as possible. Never Waste Mana; remember that." She nodded seriously, then stepped back from the completed circle. "Alright... now I'm going to summon something; watch carefully."

"Of course." I took my notes to the left side of the circle so I could see everything that happened, and set my weapons next to me just in case.

"Good, then let's get this show on the road!" She placed her hand on one of the Runes, the one to the cardinal south, and simply touched it with a bit of mana. At first, the blazing circle just dulled instantly to a vague glow, but after a moment a point of darkness appeared over the center of the circle, and spread into a Gate of sorts; it looked similar to the one which had brought us here, but I couldn't see through it at all. After a moment, a small winged reptile, barely as big as my hand, fluttered through, landing in the circle and looking around curiously.

Despite its tiny size, Kip reacted defensively, staring it down and backing up a step to get out of some imagined range of movement as the portal closed above it.

"I don't recognize this creature... what is it?" I asked, sitting kneeling to the circle and petting the top of its gecko-like head; it responded favorably, purring and leaning into my hand, and was completely unaggressive and docile as I picked it up and settled it on my shoulder, where it proceeded to snuggle into my hair.

"That... is a Mana Eater... they're usually placed in dungeons so as to keep Mage Prisoners from using spells to get free... and you should not be letting it touch you. It'll drain your Mana Dry in moments, and the longer it touches you, the less chance you'll have of recovering your Mana Pool-... unless you have a ridiculous ArchMage's amount of Mana and a legitimate Mana Sea." She sighed and rubbed her face stressfully as she realized I was regathering the Mana he was eating almost five times faster than he could eat it, meaning I was essentially exercising my Mana Pool just by standing here with him on my shoulder.

"I think I'll call him Laplace, because he's black with white shoelace markings." I nodded, scritching his chin as he purred on my shoulder, looking slightly bigger than before already. "Can you transfer the Contract to Me?"

She sighed again, but nodded, guiding my hand to the circle and getting me to push some of my Mana into it, making Laplace disappear in a portal, then reappear in the circle. "There; now you can summon him whenever you want, with a simpler circle that I'll teach you tomorrow, when we go over the basics of Gate Spells."

"How many Gate Spells are there?" I hummed, curious already as Laplace crawled back up onto my shoulder.

She chuckled softly, shaking her head and walking down the mountain. "Tomorrow, you crazy little Elf-Boy! If I teach you everything in one day, you'll go do something stupid!"

"I protest!!!" I called after her, but she didn't even bother responding as she summoned her owl and leapt aboard, flying down the mountain swiftly. "Hmph... she is quite rude, isn't she, Laplace?"

He snorted a small plume of fire into the air next to my shoulder, apparently in agreement, or maybe just in response to my tone; I wasn't sure of his intelligence level, so I didn't want to anthropomorphize him too much.