dev 3 - protective shroud

While he believed that this may be a little complicated for Chuck..

Why not give him a try? After all, Nerin was certain that Duran's words could not be mistaken - and that this Energy magi was indeed capable to an extent, so much so that working with him would be worthwhile. Besides, ever since the discovery of what he intends to learn back then, back when he fought against the Syndicate..

Did he really have the time to be picky?

The answer would be 'no', or so he figured. And so, the two of them make way to the wilds, far enough to ensure that they do not disturb people around, or perhaps even destroy a structure or two. Instead, he'd opt out to learn to control this strength somewhere else.

After all, it mostly revolved around his mana circuits.

"The reason I called you here, Chuck, is because Energy magi are known to be the best when it comes to manipulation of mana circuits and the flow of raw mana as a whole."

"There's particular technique that I've been studying, one that involves enhancement to greater degree- if only briefly- for me to deliver devastating blow. I don't know how well I control it - and in truth, I end up hurting myself as result."

So much so that he feels he would almost collapse.

"What I ask of you is to direct me on how to direct this enhancement correctly, help me stabilize the flow of mana and help me find the 'right frequency' with which to distribute it."
(Nerin)

Chuck places a hand to his chin.

"Hmm interesting, I see so you already have a technique in mind aye?" He would ask with intrigue.

"Well for starters I just want that you understand what energy magic really is. You see energy can be known as mana in its purest form, outside the body anyway, Say the skill mana ripple for instance. Most magi can use it, it's a form of energy but seriously unrefined, it's like an enigma of energy really" He explains.

"Imagine that skill is a lump of iron, and energy in contrast is more of a much more refined sword in that sense" He delves further.

"I'll get on to mana circuits in a bit but I'd like to show you something first of all. Think of it as an example of what I mean"

He then faces a tree in front of him in this wilderness, or rathe a line of trees.

"Alright" he says holding his hands out palms brandished towards the trees.

"Hya!" he chanted as a ripple of mana escaped his pals crashing into the tree and blowing it apart.

"Take note, the tree disperses, the mana that came in contact with it simply blew it into smithereens, but now watch"

Chuck would then clasp his hands together before bringing them to his stomach, a ball of energy begins to grow <Hmm bigger, than usual, I need to make it even bigger!" he says recalling his fight with Liz, now that he had more space and time to practice he would focus on inputting what he had said before, putting even more energy into his energy beam. This took a while and was a little embarrassing, the more energy he tried to input into his palms the more exhausted he felt. The energy would dissipate once it got just a little over regular capacity and he would have to start gathering the energy in his palms again.

Eventually it seemed he was still too adept to accomplish this feet at the moment so he simply would mark his progress and save it for another time rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that was trying something, back to the lesson" he says as he begins charging the energy in his palms to the standard size.

"Hmmmm, Haaa!" he'd yell as he blasted the energy forth which easily swept and demolished several trees in front of him.

As the smoke faded from his hands he placed them back to his sides and clasped them whilst returning to a more straight standing position.

"As you can see, an obvious difference in shape, power and effect, the range and size is something I'm till working on" He says.

"Now that you hopefully have a better grasp of what energy actually is the next part will be more attune to what you were saying earlier. You seem to know allot about mana circuits. As for the technique you speak of I cant say I've heard of it but I can imagine the reason why you end up hurting yourself" He would raise a finger as he began to explain. "You see as you saw from the example mana is actually meant to be used as an ingredient, not the final result. Energy is a magic it's not mana or it would be called mana magic" He would then continue.

"This could be why it hurts when you try and use raw mana without any of its properties altered in order to achieve what you speak of, the effects can be very random and could even end up damaging your mana circuits for a prolonged period, which is why I think you would have much better results if you attempted to shape the mana your using for such a powerup into mana beforehand, see where I'm going? Energy is much more controlled than mana". He would explain.

"Now as for how to actually achieve energy magic what you must do is identify yourself and your mana, who is Nerin? What is Nerin. Meditate and get in touch with your mana, develop a deeper understanding of it and its properties, its density, it's capacity... it's rhythm. Energy magic is not really taught. It is achieved" he'd finish.



(Chuck)

Much like the hot, melding iron..
Energy and mana could be shaped as a whole.

That's something he could guess before, but not truly wrap his head around the concept, per se. If anything, at times he assumed that simply 'pushing' out the energy outward would be enough - what he didn't realize is that it could be adapted, shaped in different ways, and perhaps even act as protective field at times for you. Carefully listening in, Nerin slowly nodded to the words spoken along.

"So this is much like.. clay, yes? Something that you can shape with your hands." Something that you can work in its raw, pure form. To an extent, the gears in his mind were beginning to process it, already in attempt to figure out what exactly he could make out of it, but.. rather than hurrying up to do anything at all, he would opt out to observe Chuck for the time being.

Manifestation of raw, pure form.

This.. might've given him the idea, in a sense. After all, while he explains and shows these results to him, he can't help but feel as if he's been missing out in the important concept of the mana as a whole - that it can be shaped and mended in many different ways, as if it was the source and fuel for the Creation itself.

How quaint..

"I never used it with any properties, no. Quite frankly, all I've done is just.. try and boost my own body, all to deliver a single, tremendously powerful blow." But now? Now he can see the flaw in his technique. Now he can see what has to be done.. and with Chuck's guidance, he makes for an observation upon the tree nearby.

A steady channel.
Inhale, exhale..

It's not that he was unskilled with mana manipulation. If anything, thanks to his raw strength and skill.. it wasn't necessarily difficult- the mana circuitry was put to work, prompting some of it to manifest around his fingertips; in it's unrefined form, it was rather.. unsubtle in how it moved, with distortion of air produced around his palm.

Almost as if exuding unnatural heat.

At that point, he's known that there's something to it. Something that he doesn't quite control, but.. at the very least, he's trying; as he asks himself what he is.. his eyes steadily narrow, all in attempts to manipulate its properties.

"Like.. this?"

It almost looks like an attempt to wear this energy as if it were a 'glove', with the cover of waves of mana extending around his hand.
(Nerin)

Chuck is astonished and surprised at the mans talent, and even more so at the amount and intensity of mana that he was protruding in his hands, it was insane, like a dam of mana in the palm of his hands.

Chuck didn't know just how much helping this person would help himself as well as he furrowed his brow trying to wrap his head around his conceptualisation of mana and energy.

"Clay... of course" Chuck was starting to see why he had so much trouble holding and exerting so much mana in his hands. Up till now he had been thinking of mana as a raw metal, one of the hardest things on the planet, mana was connected to the mind, ingenious is what shaped its properties and willpower determined its potency. That's when it started to spark within his mind. What he was doing wrong. "Clay" he repeated with a slight giggle, such a simple concept yet he only just realised it now, he needed to think of mana as something more malleable, softer, more changeable and expandable.

"Hold that thought" he said as he turned towards the trees aswell once again.

<Think of it as clay.. not iron> Chuck would once again start gathering and manipulating energy into his hands, all this time he was making life harder for himself and he didn't even know it. As the mana began to build once he reached his normal momentum instead of widening the gap between his hands in order to try and expand the amount of mana, he would quickly clap his hands together, squeezing and bouncing the energy to expand it, with each clap, upon widening his hands the energy would get bigger. "Amazing" he would comment. "Forgive me i'm supposed to be doing the teaching but you seem to have inspired me somewhat" he says smiling at Nerin. However as his concentration falters so does the energy he had expanded as it fades before he has a chance to test releasing it...

"Whooops!" he says clumsily. No matter, he now had the ingredient he needed to figure out what he aimed to achieve, he was a happy man. All that was left was practice and a fitting situation to use and draw out all its power.

He would turn to Nerin now putting his full attention towards him. "Yes you seem to have it down to a T heck you put it better than I had thought" he says.

"All that's left is for you to focus on unlocking the state of mind needed to fully harness the properties of energy, once again I'm afraid meditation is the only place I can point you, as well as seeking advice from other energy users as well, you see the wonderful thing about energy is it's tangible, many magi have many different opinions and views on it, Task would be a good next step but consider this a brief lesson on attaining and harnessing energy magic. I hope it helped".
(Chuck)

Malleable forms..
One of the clay.

Without realization, it would seem that Nerin was actually.. coming about it pretty nice; all magi are capable of mana alteration and manipulation, at least to an extent, and he was more than certain that tutelage by the Energy magi would actually give him necessary insight on how to do all of that even better - something that he was seeing change within his prerogative by the moment.

If the way he shaped mana isn't a proof..
Then what is?

"It's okay. I'm glad that this could be of use to you as well- it would be selfish only for me to learn." He made a pause, the smile still remaining on his countenance. "Besides.. we never stop learning. So long as we live, we keep learning something new." It was the ideal that he grasped rather deeply into his mind. He imagines that even decades from now on, he would still have much to learn about the world around..

But here? Here, he intends to close his eyes.

Much like a glove, it continued to protrude around his hand in a wavy motion. Almost as if it were super-heated air existing in the fluid harmony with his actual part of the body, it would carefully make for a 'coat of arms' which provided necessary sustenance. Perhaps, with this, the technique that he studies could be taken to whole new degree.

Inhale.. exhale..

Steadily, the manifestation of raw mana continued to envelop his hand, so much so that it became almost distinctly blurry, if only briefly. Here, the channel of his mana was put to use in order to empower the appendage as well.. up until it became enough for a sudden 'flick' of strength and dexterity to surge into his hand.

Enough for a sudden strike.

That strike delivered against the nearest tree- surprisingly to him, and perhaps to Chuck as well, the tree shatters in a single blow - the cloak of mana acting as something to further enhance just how badly damaging the blow would be, so much so that it seems to leave a shockwave behind it, if only briefly..

"--Woah."

"I.. think I got it?"

Even he was in awe. This was.. surprising.
(Nerin)

Chuck's thin smile widened to a full blown pearly white gasp.

"That's it" he says with glee, once again he was able to further someone's career in the art of magic it seemed, he always felt intense pride whenever he did so.

"Woah indeed, you are a strong magi Nerin, I sincerely hope you achieve what it is you are seeking, shall we head back?" He would ask still half inspecting the shattered tree amazed at the power he had just witnessed.

Magic was a scary thing.

(Chuck)

He never expected it to be this way. When he was pondering about how exactly to do all of this, when he would hurt himself on daily basis, unknowing of what exactly he does wrong.. and yet, in this brief tutelage under Chuck, he already figured out exactly new way to approach this - in a way that he could not think about before.

Why only work mana inwardly..
When you can push it outside too?

Perhaps, this is the technique that he'd be taking in account for the ages to come. If anything, it feels like it could be a lot more useful than he imagines.. and that he discovered something grand, something great to be cherished - so much so that, even if he's still staring in awe, there's a tiny smile that widens upon his countenance.

"..Thank you."

Though.. there is no need for more words, is there? He idly rubbed at his hand, still in disbelief of what's been achieved. Surely there's more to it, but.. as it stands, perhaps it'd be better to indeed take a break.

"Yeah, uh.."

"Let's.. head back."
(Nerin)