Dinner was a quiet affair, Mary was quite tired and not her usual chatty self and Jax was as silent as ever. Almost as soon as it was over they had retired to bed and John had returned to the library. The books themselves were rather short, and he made it through 3 in just a few hours. Then he stumbled across a diamond, a book on water manipulation, he had scoured it for information and then run to his bathroom.

He sat in front of his full bathtub for quite some time. He sank his mana and his awareness into the water, this wasn't necessary for earth since he had started at a higher level but it was necessary to learn the manipulation. Water was a fickle thing, unlike earth it was easy to mould and shape, but it was also happy to keep still and maintain the shape. Its nature was to flow and change and it was not easy to force it to obey. Instead, the book had suggested encouraging the water to flow, directing it to bend and swirl how you needed it to rather than forcing it.

Nothing happened as he sat in front of the tub, trying to will the water inside to move.

John awoke on the tiled floor of his bathroom to Mary calling him down for breakfast. He stumbled to his feet and made his way downstairs. The couple explained that they were intending to head to the market to buy some groceries and other necessities and asked what he intended to do that day. John explained how he had stumbled across the book and had spent the night trying to learn water manipulation. He explained he had an affinity for water but had never learned how to use it.

The two gnomes shared a surprised look and then had another one of their silent conversations. Maybe this was a sign language that used eye movements? Mind reading? After a minute or so Mary turned to John.

"We have some experience with water magic and if you'd like we could try to help you some with your learning once we're back from the market? Why don't you come with us and we can show you some of the city along the way? It's always nice to have someone to help us carry out bags" she said with a laugh and a wink.

"Really!? that would be amazing thank you so much, of course, I'd be more than happy to help with your bags!" John rushed to answer, affecting the same excitable tone that Mary and Tilly had used. He was not going to turn down extra help with magic and considering their house, John had a feeling these people were better water mages than they let on.

After clearing up breakfast the three of them hopped in the manna-cart and headed towards the market. The two of them were surprisingly spritely despite their age. On the way, Mary pointed out all the best stores. A blacksmith, jeweller, enchanter, alchemist, tailor, all sorts of mundane and fantastical stores were littered throughout the streets.

As they grew nearer to the market, the buildings began to think out and instead there were stalls filled with all sorts of good, furs, clothes, reagents, fruits, swords, armours the variety was enormous, peddlers were hawking their wares and great crowds of people were surging through the place. They parked in a space a few blocks away and walked into the crowd.

John managed to get a good idea of what the local currency was like throughout the trip. One of the inert mana crystals he had would be the equivalent of about $10. When filled with mana they were worth about $50. There were both smaller and larger crystals that were worth varying amounts but he had about $700 worth of crystals on his right now, $1500 if he filled them. That was good to know for the future.

When they returned, they unpacked and Mary filled up a bowl with water.

"If you read that book, you will know not to try to force change upon water but to guide it, however, the way you guide it is not as simple as many would think, you do not push or pull upon the water but you must picture a gradual slope beneath it, allow it to flow down that slope and make it spiral downwards."

Putting his hands on either side of the table John sank his mana and awareness into the bowl. The feeling of flowing water and rushing rivers returned to him and this time he did as she said, he pictured the bowl as a mountain with a lake atop it. He pictured the water flowing from the lake into a river, a winding river that spiralled its way down the sides of the mountain.

"Good, Good. Now take that flowing water and from the bottom of that spiral form another, this time going upwards, keeping his focus on the image of the falling water, let it flow down the spiral up into the sky."

That confused him a little, how could something fall upwards? He tried anyway, he pictured the mouth of the river at the bottom of the mountain. It reached the foot of another and began to spiral up it, the water flowed up the spiral, just as it had down and came to a rest in a lake upon the top, like a mirror of the one it had come down.

"Excellent, now, open your eyes."

In front of him the bowl of water was moving, around the edges of the bowl, the water whirled, coming down to a point in the centre of the bowl, from which the water spouted upwards, forming a tornado of water that rose from the bowl. a screen popped up in his vision.

Skill Gained NAME: Water Manipulation You use your will to guide the flow of water, directing it into the states you wish Effects- Allows you to control the shape and movement of the Water, proficiency and efficiency increases with skill level MP cost- Variable Activation Time- 3s Level 1

The window made him break his conversation, splashing water all over the counter. Mary was smiling and clapping before and Jax raised his hand and all of the water flowed from the floor and counter back into the bowl.

Over the next few hours and with their help John managed to get his water manipulation up to level 4. They also taught him a couple of new runes. A common Water rune called Spray and a common miscellaneous rune called Bolt. Spray could be used to make a create a spray of water and Bolt would allow him to form a condensed ball of an element that could be fired at a target. Apparently, miscellaneous runes could be used by any mage, even the ones who were focused on an element like geomancers or hydromancers.

They were also willing to sign a letter of recommendation and the necessary paperwork for him to visit the mages college so that he could register for classes. He just needed to come up with the necessary 300 mana worth of mana crystals for each class he wanted to take. It was expensive but apparently, the tuition was worth it and he could take the class up to 5 times for no extra charge if he needed to go through it again.

Happy and full of anticipation for the following day where he would be able to learn more about magic he slept early that night.