Sitting across from the two squire candidates, Darius said, "Cross your legs and place palms on your thighs." Daniel and Talia both obeyed, placing their hands on their legs, trying their best to imitate Darius. "Have you felt mana before? You may have felt it when you did the crystal test a few days ago?"

Daniel nodded, "I've learned a spell before, young master. I have a pretty good idea of how to use mana." Darius gave him an annoyed look before turning to Talia and saying. "Have you felt your mana yet, Talia?"

"Mana? What's mana?"

Darius sighed. Though he wasn't surprised. Why would young children have a decent understanding of mana? It was unfair of him to expect them to have a deep understanding at their age. "Daniel, do you know what mana is?"

"Mana is an energy found in the body. It's the basic building block of all magic." Daniel couldn't help himself from gloating a little bit.

"You aren't wrong. A basic building block is a good description. Mana is unused energy flowing through our bodies. Just as blood flows from our heart to the rest of our body, mana flows from our mana heart, pumping mana throughout. If you focus, you can feel your heart beating and your blood flowing. It's even easier to feel mana."

Closing her eyes, Talia did her best to feel for the mana in her body. Her closed eyes shut tight, and sweat started to form at the top of her head before Darius interrupted her, "Don't force it too much."

He walked over and felt her shoulders, arms, ribs, and legs. "You are heavily malnourished. It's pointless to strain yourself now. You'll only hurt yourself. I'd say in two months you'll recover enough to train properly, but or now, just listen and eat. That's enough."

Talia's face grew red as she looked at Darius. He couldn't help, but frown, "I'm going to teach you some basics today. So that you can practice on your own. If mana is energy flowing through your body then magic is the application of mana. Actually, it's more than that. Magic is the application of mana and will."

"Will? What do you mean?" Daniel abruptly rose his right hand as though he were in a classroom.

"What spell did you learn?"

Daniel tilted his head in confusion, "What does that have to do with will?"

"Just answer my question."

Daniel placed his left hand out in a salute before placing his right hand just below it. "Oh spirit of the earth, bring forth your burden, and may your burden be light! Pebble Formation!" Beads of sweat fell from his nose directly on the tiny pebble he formed in his hand, but the look of triumph on his face was apparent. He remembered his father saying that there were probably less than one hundred kids his age that could properly cast a spell.

Daniel looked at Darius with a smug expression before he noticed Darius casually open up his right palm and chant, "Oh spirit of the earth, bring forth your burden, and may your burden be light. Pebble Formation." Talia looked at the two boys with eyes full of wonder. Her appreciation and curiosity for magic had only grown since seeing magic for the first time. "Woah!"

A small pebble appeared in Darius' hand before he closed his palm and crushed it.

"I'll show you the importance of will in a second." He opened his palm, and the crushed pebble fell through the gaps in his fingers like sand. He repeated, "Oh spirit of the earth, bring forth your burden, and may your burden be light. Pebble Formation."

This time a stone the size of a human head formed in Darius' palm. Talia and Daniel weren't concerned with the fact that the child in front of them was holding up a stone that should have been far too heavy for a child to casually hold. They were more interested in the fact that he had created such a large stone from Daniel's spell.

"How is that possible?" Daniel even leaned in to view the pebble as though he was looking at the mysterious laws of the universe up close.

"It's will. When forming the spell, you can change it if you have a strong enough image while shaping it. This is difficult to take advantage of in battle since the spell will take longer to form." Darius tossed the stone behind his head before continuing, "Can the two of you imagine the possibilities if your wills are strong enough? Every spell you cast can be far more effective than average mages. As long as your image is strong, and your will even stronger."

Daniel asked with a hint of skepticism, "How can will affect the spell matrix?" He formed the spell matrix in the air above his palm before pointing at it and asking, "Isn't the magic set in stone by the matrix? That's what I was taught."

Poor Talia couldn't understand half of the words the two boys were talking about as she was trying her best to keep up with the conversation.

"Magic being bound by a spell matrix is weak thinking. If we can change the spell structure through our wills we can cast magic without a spell matrix eventually. It's not entirely necessary." A stone formed above Darius' palm in a moment without any hint of an incantation. "Chantless magic is an example of not relying on the chant to activate a spell. I'm sure with enough practice I'll eventually be able to cast a spell without the matrix either. The chants and matrixes are just crutches we use to cast spells. Magic is just the application of mana and will." Darius emphasized the last part of his sentence while looking the two kids in the eyes.

Talia didn't know what a matrix was, but she was too afraid to ask.

"How do you apply will? Just an image?"

Darius smiled, "A strong image is important, but there is a cost. Changing the spell has the consequence of making it more mana dense. That means you need the mana to do it. Making a large stone costs over 4 times the mana of creating a pebble."

"Why not just learn a 2nd Circle spell then? Instead of doing the extra work." Daniel realized how stupid that sounded before all the words even came out of his mouth.

"Well, you can do that, Daniel, once you've learned a 2nd Circle spell. The important thing isn't just the effect it's the control you can have over your magic. Being able to control how much mana you put into a spell is more useful than just learning the spell equivalent."

"I see! It means you can make spells weaker or stronger. That means your magic will always be stronger than other mages of the same rank!"

"Guys..."

"Can you change the shape of the spell? How much control over the spell do you..."

"Wahh! guys! Wahhh!" Talia started sobbing. "I don't understand what you guys are talking about."

Darius sighed. He wasn't good at teaching and had neglected the scrawny girl who hadn't received a noble education.

"The important thing, for now, Talia is you can change a spell if you really think hard about it, and the practices I'm going to give you guys will help you learn magic faster. Rhea, my maid will help you with your vocabulary and educate you."

Talia nodded her head while wiping tears from her eyes. She quickly managed to get control of her emotions as she was afraid the young master would get annoyed and send her back to the brothel.

"Both of you close your eyes." Darius watched as the two kids closed their eyes before saying, "Breath in deep and hold it for 5 seconds... Now breathe out slowly... Look inside your body and feel your heartbeat. Follow your heartbeat and trace the blood flowing from your heart to the rest of your body." He gave them thirty seconds before saying, "Now go back to your heart. Look for something that feels warm. Something that feels maybe a little bit pricky. Tell me when you find it." Daniel spoke immediately, "I found it."

Talia took longer. Maybe a minute or two minutes before saying, "I found it!"

"Good, now follow the flow of the warm energy through your body. Don't make it do anything just follow it for now."

Darius waited patiently for the two kids breathing to become shallow. Neither one of the kids opened their eyes or lost focus even after fifteen minutes went by. "Good, now focus on the middle of your chest. Slowly drag that mana from your chest all the way to the tips of your fingers... Do you notice the tips of your fingers warming up?"

"Yes." Daniel nodded.

"I do!" And Talia gripped her skirt.

"OK, now hold your mana at the tips of your fingers for as long as you can." Darius scooted closer to the two of them before gently grabbing their wrists, "Don't move. I'll be able to tell how long you should last." Closing his eyes he focused on the two of them before saying, "Daniel, don't be lazy. Force the mana to your fingertips, not your whole hand." Talia's fingertips began to heat up to the point of turning red.

"Slow it down, Talia! Your putting too much force."

"I ca-can't."

"Alright, stop pushing your mana, Talia. We'll stop for now."

"You-young master! I do-don't know how!"

Darius took a breath. He put a small thread of Qi to the tips of her fingers to prevent them from exploding and forcefully broke off the mana concentration at the tips of her fingers. She gasped before trying to get a hold of her breath.

"Daniel, don't stop. You're getting distracted."

"Sorry!"

While patting her back Darius said, "Go to the front door and ask for Rhea. Tell her that Darius said you need a nutritious meal. You need to eat before training again."

"I can ke-keep going, young master!" Talia's face was bright red as she looked Darius in the eye.

"No, you can't. You need to know your limits. In the future when your body can handle it. I expect you to put in the same amount of work as the others. If not more, but right now... Daniel! You can keep going. Take a breath and focus your mana near your fingernails! Right now, I expect you to rest. Remember Talia, a knight knows when to obey their Lord."

"Y-yes, young master." Talia stood up before nearly collapsing. Her vision grew blurry, and she nearly passed out. "That's why you listen. You could kill yourself if you work too hard in your condition."

Darius sighed, "Daniel, take a break. I'm going to walk Talia back to the house. When I get back we'll begin again."

Roderick waited nervously for his father. It had been several hours since his father left, and the sun was already starting to set. He didn't know whether or not he should head back to the village because if he stayed any longer he might not be able to see if anyone tries to sneak up on him at all. "Dad..." The young boy was on the verge of grabbing the reins on leaving when he heard a noise coming from behind him. Panicked, he grabbed the reins and shouted, "Henry! Move!"

"Roderick! Wait! It's me!"

"Dad!"

Roderick ran so fast toward the back of the carriage he nearly tripped. He saw his father walking toward the back of the carriage, and he looked horrifying. There was blood all over his clothes and small cuts on his face.

"Dad?"

"I didn't clean up, son. You'll need to be used to the smell. Whether it be hunting animals for your Lord or defending him from danger. No knight can escape the blood of the world."

Roderick had never been afraid of his father in his entire life. But for once, he didn't get close to his father and hug him. He stood back until he saw the cuts on his father's face more clearly. He quickly opened up a box in the back of the wagon and found some bandage materials near the bottom. He cautiously walked over to his father while handing him the bandages.

"Grab the alcohol from my crate. Then pour it on the bandages. It will help clean the wounds."

Nodding, Roderick obediently opened the box and grabbed an alcohol bottle. He walked over to his father and cleaned the wound.

"Where are the bad guys, dad?"

Vince looked at his son for a few moments before deciding on his answer. "I killed the bad guys. It took me so long because I needed to give them a proper burial. I didn't take a shovel with me after all."

"Oh..."