She placed her hand against my chest once again, unable to meet my eyes as she blushed every time.
"To cast your first spell, you first need to locate your Mana Core and Mana Circuits, which is what we have just done. Now, you need to understand how to send Mana through your Mana Circuits to reach your palms, legs, and every single inch of your body."
I nodded quietly as I could clearly feel the energy inside my Mana Core. There was a lot for me to use. But just as she said, I had no idea how to do so.
"I will guide you at first with my own Mana; try to follow what you feel within yourself."
A weak pulse of Mana once more entered my body, but this time it began moving away from my Mana Core, following the path of one of the many small veins of Mana that went through my body. I could feel it move along with Elena's right hand.
Then, it reached the tip of one of my fingers.
"Did you find the path I showed you?" she asked very seriously, acting just like a teacher would, which was definitely funny given her role as a princess.
"I think I got it…" I muttered as I closed my eyes and began pulling a small thread of Mana from my core toward the Mana Circuits. I followed the exact path that Elena had shown me, and then as the Mana reached the tip of my finger, a small ball of energy came out of it. However, it lacked an affinity. It was just energy.
"Good… you understand quickly. Though, it's not very surprising considering that those are the basics. For a mage of your skill, it's as easy as breathing without a doubt."
I raised an eyebrow as I stayed quiet, laughing inwardly.
Nevertheless, now that I had managed to control my Mana from within to the tip of my finger, I felt like I could control it everywhere within my body. I wasn't sure if the speed at which I understood things was normal, but… I hoped so since I needed to be ready before the beginning of the Royal Academy, which was two weeks from now.
Time was running out, and I needed to use every single moment to protect myself from all the dangers that could be heading my way.
"As you can see, your Mana is still devoid of any affinity. It's only a ball of energy, which isn't dangerous whatsoever. That's why the next step to cast a spell is to give it the power of one of your attributes."
"And how do you do that?"
Elena slightly smirked as she seemed to think I was joking with my questions. However, she still went ahead and explained it to me.
"Before casting a spell, you need to 'tune' your Mana to give it the type of energy you want. It must resonate within yourself. For example, to cast an icicle—which is the most basic Ice Affinity Spell—one's mind must be as calm as possible, not letting the slightest emotion seep through. To give your Mana an affinity, it mainly relies on your mental state."
"Let's say I want to make a fireball. What kind of mindset should I have?"
"Fire is explosive, filled with chaos. You need a lot of passion and will behind your actions, and the Mana will naturally 'tune' itself into fire. Try it; you'll see."
I nodded, unsure if putting passion behind my actions would change anything. After all, I had read a lot of books before, and that wasn't exactly how things worked. Nevertheless, Elena clearly knew better than I did.
I closed my eyes and focused. I decided to repeat to myself that I wanted to create a fireball, again and again inside my head, basically forcing my will upon my Mana. Right as I did so, the neutral Mana within me began taking on a small tinge of red and orange resembling a flame.
Elena seemed to feel it as she smirked, knowing that I had managed to do it.
A few seconds later, a small fireball had formed inside my palm.
"Good job!" she congratulated with a bright smile on her face.
However, there were still some things that I didn't understand, especially regarding 'tuning' your Mana to a certain affinity.
"How do you know how to think to use each affinity?"
"You should feel within yourself, especially when it comes to mixing two affinities; that's where things get very complicated. Also, the higher the rarity of the skill, the harder it is to learn and use it flawlessly."
That answer didn't really help since I didn't feel much within myself. However, it seemed like I would have to try some things out. All my affinities were high, which would make things much easier for me to use. I thought that the best avenue for me was to focus on a single affinity right now, since learning many at the same time would simply complicate things.
I tried to think one last time about what I might need to know regarding magic, but as far as I could tell, I had gotten all the information I needed to train on my own.
I would just ask Elena whenever I had a question for her by hypnotizing her.
I gave one last look at "Professor" Elena, as I had to admit that she was smoking hot when she was acting serious like this. The moment we were very close and touchy with one another had been honestly quite fun.
But all fun must come to an end as I removed the spell from her.
"Argh…" She grabbed her forehead as usual. "D-Did something happen?"
I just looked out the window as I could see the sun slowly going down. "Not really; I think I'll head to bed early."
I immediately noticed the blush on her face as I slid into bed. It seemed that tonight would be a little "awkward."