“How do I go about creating a crystal sphere?” Ves'ra asked.

“You need any kind of crystal to start with …” Ayas started explaining. Ves'ra listened attentively as she was told the secret about the spheres. She did know why she would need a core, creating even the smallest of spheres needed an insane amount of energy, something she wasn't sure she had. Of course she had yet to experiment with her core, so she didn't know how much more energy she had.

They didn't get anywhere that day, Ves'ra only managed to get the very basics, something she was glad about because she needed some alone time to stew over what happened when she was creating the core.

The things she did - she didn't know anything about them!

That could only mean that the person that was both her and not her managed to influence it, at least she obtained some knowledge from the person when meditating. She would have to look into that - carefully - but the benefits could be enormous.

She would do that, later, as she would have quite a lot of time on her hands once she left the human city for their quest. For now she would sleep, creating her core had taken more out of her than expected.

---

Ves'ra took a week to create her first crystal sphere. It was quite fragile, but that was to be expected. Ayas told her that she would get better with practice, and the elf had yet to be wrong.

As of now she was following Ayas and Edeis, an older human woman she met just now, into the mages guild. Apparently Edeis had just formed her core-seed not too long ago, and Ayas wanted to compare their cores. That was a topic that interested Ves'ra too, so she readily went along with it, summer would continue for another month and a half, so she had enough time to research the enchantment for her armor after this little escapade. First she wanted to test her core though!

Edeis turned towards the elf as the door to the training room closed. “So, why did you have me come here today guildmaster?” She asked, curious.

“Young Ves'ra here recently created her core, something I did not expect, and in a way I did not expect her to. I had the honor of watching over her as she tried, and managed to, create her core.

She didn't do it like we did, and somehow wove her mana-veins into it, I want to see how it works.” Ayas explained with a giddy voice completely unfitting for an old person such as her. Before either of them had a chance to speak up Ayas continued. “Now seeing as the both of you don't have affinities that are even close we will have to be creative to compare your cores strength. Edeis I know you went through an official mage training, so you should be able to create a mana missile?”

“Yes guildmaster.”

“Good, Ves'ra, what about you?”

“Nope, I didn't have a chance to look into the books you gave me and my shaman didn't know how to use energy for anything other than telekinesis.” Ves'ra answered.

“Yeah, I thought that too, it’s not really a spell that's immediately useful for a tribal society. Doesn't matter, we can teach you, it’s more about mana-control, something you seem to have aplenty.” Ayas explained.

“I thought it is impossible to control energy too far from myself, wouldn't the energy just loose form when I remove my control?” Ves'ra asked, doubt written all over her face.

“That's true, mana will start losing its shape if you stop controlling it, but not immediately, if your control is good enough you can form the mana into a complex shape that will take some time to unravel.” Ayas explained.

“So what is that shape?” Ves'ra asked, intrigued.

“Let me show you, you see it is like this.” Ayas started, her magic painting a complex structure of interlocking lines into the air. She knew she wouldn't be able to get that on the first try, or the second, but it did seem possible. Energy wasn't really visible except in the night or in really high concentrations, so the missile hovering in front of her wasn't real.

“Can you show me how it looks when you use it?” Ves'ra asked.

“No problem.”

Ayas turned towards the targets strewn about in the room, and Ves'ra could feel a bunch of energy leave her before the nearest target was rocked back by an invisible force, like being blown at by a gust of wind.

Wait.

She thought the main strength of a core was increased total energy and the fact you didn't need energy to leave your body anymore.

“Thanks. How will it work though? Why would you want our energy to leave our body?” She asked.

“That's not it, these targets are able to measure the force they’ve been struck with, which we will use to establish a baseline for you to base your spell’s strengths on. Now get to it, we don't have all day.” She commanded.

Ves'ra did, but creating the complex form of interlocking shapes was a lot harder than it looked like, she would always create a false connection and it wouldn't work. An hour later she was quite frustrated, she had Ayas show her the spell again, trying her very best to copy it down to the last detail, but it just didn't work for her.

...

Did she have to copy that spell perfectly? No she did not, Ayas did say it just had to be complex enough to stop the energy from leaving its form immediately.

Ayas did give her an idea of the needed complexity, so she’d just have to form something similar.

She started by forming her energy into a cuboid, connecting every corner with a new line of energy. After that she connected each corner with an ellipse, building the construct outwards until she was satisfied.

Ves'ra turned towards the targets and accelerated her energy towards it.

Success.

The same target Ayas used rocked back and forth, a little more than it did with Ayas as she noticed with smug satisfaction.

“Very good, even if it was a little weak, now Edeis if you would do the honors, third target.” Ayas instructed. The woman did, using a lot more mana than the both of them, taking her time to construct the spell before firing it off. The third target - about twenty five meters from their position - rocked back and forth even stronger than it did for her.

“Now I'm sure you're able to sense mana, try to match that amount and shoot at the same target, we will compare the power of the spells afterwards and Edeis will match yours, you did use more of your mana already. GO!” Ayas commanded.

Ves'ra summoned another sphere of energy to her hands, trying to match Edeis, before carefully constructing it into the shape. She could see why that spell wasn't useful in battles, it just took too long for too little effect.

After shooting at the new target she watched her spell hit, but to her immense disappointment it was a good bit less than Edeis’s. She resolved to do better the next time a competition like this came up, but now they had more important things to do. Edeis fired off another missile, using decidedly less energy than before, hitting the target again. The target rocked back and forth a little less than it did before, and after walking up and checking something Ayas seemed satisfied.

“Very good, that was still a little stronger, but that is to be expected, you are the more experienced mage after all.” She commented. “This is where the fun begins!”

“What do we do now?” Ves'ra asked.

“Now my dear pupil, now you're gonna hit these targets with everything you have until your cores are empty. You're only going to use spells with double the power of one of these missiles. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Get to it then!”

They did. This was the first time Ves'ra got to really cast spells ever since forming her core, so she relished in the chance, even if she did not get to use her stronger spells. Her core was still small, and even though her spells weren't all that powerful - she decided to blast the targets with bursts of wind - the continuous casting quickly emptied her core.

Looking at the other two she could see Edeis was already finished burning the targets in front of them, so she joined the two.

“So, how many spells did you both use?” Ayas asked, giddy.

“Thirty-seven.”

“Thirty-four.”

Ves'ra could see the enthusiasm leave Ayas eyes, she had clearly expected Ves'ra to have a more substantial lead.

“Are you sure you used the right amount of energy?” She asked, disappointment in her voice.

“Yes, I'm not some inexperienced hatchling!” Ves'ra said, she too was disappointed with the results.

“Same here, I mean no disrespect, but I know what I am doing guildmaster.”

“We will have to resume our tests, I refuse to accept that there is only a little difference! We will wait until your cores are full again and then continue.”

Ves'ra and Edeis agreed, leaving Ayas to brood by herself while they searched for something to eat to regain their energy faster. It wouldn't take long, Ves'ra could feel the ambient energy entering her body and refilling the energy cruising through it even as her own energy refilled her core.

It was quite fascinating actually, she had always been able to use ambient energy for her spells once her own ran out, with a reduced efficiency - just like every other mage - yet it seemed her core wasn't accepting the foreign energy, nearly all of it flowed through the core like it was no different from her energy-veins.

She returned about half an hour later, surprising a mumbling Ayas.

“Back already? Probably too warm, you will have problems without regulating your body heat, seeing that you are cold blooded.”

“No. I'm ready to continue, my core is full.” Ves'ra stated. Ayas eyes widened in surprise.

“Did I lose track of time again?” She asked, looking at her timepiece. Ayas eyes widened a little more, rapidly looking between Ves'ra and the timepiece.

“You sure? I didn't expect either of you for another twenty minutes.” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Why could that be? Cores can't store ambient mana, so your natural transformation and regeneration must be off the charts.. Say, have you ever had the chance to compare your regeneration to another mage?”

“No, I don't see what the problem is, I’ve always been able to use ambient energy, why shouldn't my core be able to?” She asked.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?” Ayas yelled, shaking Ves'ra’s shoulders. “YOUR CORE CAN USE AMBIENT ENERGY TO RECHANGE?”

“Only the tiniest amount, not nearly as much as normal.” She answered, taken aback by the outburst.

“Of course, it's still a core. A little more efficient but not more, the difference must be how it connects to the body, created out of your very mana itself. Yes, yes, that must be it.

Brilliant!

We will have to extensively test for more, just one test isn't nearly enough, but a good start!” Ayas snapped out of her rumblings. “What are you waiting for, let's get back to it, you can recharge again before Edeis returns, no time for a break!”