First Homework

Deciding to wander around the lands and complete the task given by Dylerun, Arthur clutched the mana cube that he's been given.

It wasn't the first time that he was wandering about Agartha, not at all; it wasn't the first time that he'd reflect upon the places he's seen, and he already knew what exactly he had to do.

Despite the distracting thoughts of what's been happening between him and his brother, he was determined and focused to complete this task to the end. There was no point in education, unless he truly went through with it properly, right?

Among the first places, it was the plains, the place between Crafthold and New Valmasia. It can't possibly hurt to reflect on the place that isn't very far and thus practice through it, besides, it'd more than likely be a safer option than anything else that's located far out from New Valmasia.

Since that's the place he assumes he'd be opening his first Rift.

He arrived. Looking around himself, he could see the countless plants, the life of the plains for what it was - flowers, occasionally plants that could survive in dry climate such as cactus, a buzz of insects in the sunset hours of the day, and the soft breeze caressing his cheeks--

-- and his red hair locks, too.

An inhale.

Clutching the mana cube, his eyes closed, pouring his mana into it, while sampling the ambient mana from this very place and exchanging it for his own. In fact, it was the sort of a 'mark' that could lead him back to this place easier in the future.

That was the purpose, right? To acknowledge the place like that.

"Time to move on."
(Arthur Rowan)

The next target were the swamps.

It took him a while to travel there, and it wasn't exactly an easy trip either; the jungles were full of dangers, that including different animals, preying monsters, disease, unfriendly environment and much more.

And as much as he disliked the Gehennan lands, he knew that it was absolutely necessary to reflect upon the places like this. He'd need to collect the mana samples and mark at least up to five places, or at least he thought so - the more you know, the more you could expand your Riftmancy.

Or at least, that's what he believed.

"Ugh..."

The smell of the swampy area, of course, wasn't exactly pleasant. It's something that Arthur would need to endure and live through if he wished to reflect upon this place too--

-- and closing his eyes, the sampling process began.

The cube in his hand was humming in a quiet tone. In fact, it went as far as slightly shake too; being charged with potent mana coming from Arthur's hands was quite a fuel of energy for the cube, and once the exchange of mana with the land happened and the mark set in, it was time to get going.

There are more places to visit.
(Arthur Rowan)

Next destination was south of Agartha.

Taking a long trip to the place that Askaheim denizens used to call home, Arthur found one of the nifty spots to produce a relatively safe mark, away from the eyes of all the people - and away from the people that'd potentially interrupt him.

Of course, at this point, he'd get a better grasp at how this sort of marking is done. It's to concentrate, preferably use the mana cube since it helps to focus on a single spot, and then trade the mana with the ambience of a place - to establish a trace of own's mana, while sampling the presence of particular area, something to memorize in your mana circuits--

-- and of course, a memory of the place itself.

Knowing that Riftmancy relies mostly on Cognitive Casting technique from what he's heard earlier, such every single process was done through this technique.

Whole ideal was to draw the mana from circuits by using one's thought process, and then project it upon the reality through your sheer will. It wasn't easy, but thankfully, Arthur has been pioneering this casting technique for a while - it wasn't the first time he'd process large amounts of mana like this to a single spot.

Ending it soon, he decided his next destination as well, and quietly murmured.

"...Only two more to go."
(Arthur Rowan)

The final destination was to be around Gaiar Aetherius, and the west of Agartha.

These two places were fairly familiar to Arthur, as unfortunate as it sounds, since his family did spend a while living around here. Why? Because there were no other alternatives, other than fleeing to the likes of Zheng Island - but what's the point to flee to the people that were on the brink of destruction?

It would be a suicide.

Yet, such thoughts did not distract him. Focusing the flow of mana through his circuits by using the Cognitive Casting, he made his way through two spots that he's had in mind, and used the mana cube he was carrying all along to reflect upon these places - all to ensure that he gets the proper sample of their mana ambience--

-- and of course, marks these areas down.

Considering just how much time he spent here before, it wasn't hard for him at all. Truth be told, it took only a little while before the markings werefinished, since the factor of him previously doing that did contribute to that.

… The only real issue now was returning home. It's quite a distance, isn't it? At least, he was done with his task.

"Time to go home..."
(Arthur Rowan)