The scenery inside was very peculiar. Inner surface of the orb was completely white towards the top and its colour grew dim as the surface approached towards the bottom to the mana.
Below Arthur's feet was his muddy brown colour mana. The surface of the liquid was completely calm that someone might mistake it for an extremely smooth ground.
Arthur was amazed by the fact that he was not drowning and instead was able to walk on his mana. Each step Arthur took formed very subtle ripples which ran to walls of orb, rapidly expanding in radius but dying down almost immediately.
Arthur felt like he knew everything about what was happening in the orb. He could even feel the slightest of ripples forming in his orb. He felt like he even knew exactly how fast they traveled.
"Hmm, 75%" Arthur spoke as he analysed that the mana was only filled till 75% of the orb.
He gently raised his hand in an attempt to make mana rise up with it but nothing happened. The surface was as calm as it could be.
"Just how do I control it now"
It was not like Arthur couldn't control mana or that it was difficult to do. Arthur just simply didn't know how to do it. It's similar to how a child couldn't drink water from a small glass himself. It's not like the child can't drink the water from glass placed in front of him or that it's inherently difficult but he just doesn't know how to.
Arthur did everything he could think of for about three hours but the mana didn't budge one bit. At last he closed his eyes again and came out of his orb and opened his eyes outside.
A completely serene, peaceful and quiet environment came into Arthur's vision.
"It's already evening?" Arthur murmured to himself softly. "But I was only for about an hour inside there"
"That's because time flows differently inside a mage's orb and outside world. Your mana must have been dark muddy brown in colour" Gideon spoke from on top of a branch on a nearby tree.
"One of the major criteria for advancing to the next rank is concentration of your mana. Mana too is divided according to their concentration.
Rank 1 have dark muddy colour mana
Rank 2 have dark red colour mana
Rank 3 have dark green colour mana
And so on. I will give you a book back at base. You can read it from there. But what's really interesting is that as the mana changes colour and the mage advances to higher rank. The time difference grows smaller and smaller until it aligns with external time. Which gives the mage more time to grow the concentration of mana"
Arthur understood now. The lower rank mages could advance quickly by growing their mana concentration more but their efficiency is very low because just three hours inside orb can practically take a whole day. But as the mage grows in rank and their mana changes colour they will have more time to practice as this time five or possibly six hours means a day outside but proportionally it gets increasingly difficult and takes more time to increase their concentration of mana.
Arthur thought for some time before he finally opened his mouth and asked "Though I entered the orb the most I could do was create small waves. I just don't know what to do once it's in front of me."
Gideon already knew that this was a possibility. A child learns to speak from his environment even before he studies the language but if he was raised in a completely quiet environment then even a healthy child won't be able to speak because he doesn't know what he is supposed to do.
"First I need to change his perspective and make him see mana as his own extension like his hands and legs. Rather than a different entity."
Gideon jumps down from the tree as he slowly landed on the ground.
His hands behind his back and face completely calm as he spoke "Get up Arthur and attack me with whatever means possible. If you could land Even one attack then I will directly teleport both of us to the base"
Gideon's offer made Arthur heart jumped
"Surely he doesn't mean we will climb up the way we descended if I can't land a hit." Arthur looked at Gideon's face closely "shit, he means exactly that"
Fist raised as Arthur got into a fighting stance.
"It's only one hit"
5 minutes later
Thud…
Arthur fell to the ground. Various bruises all over his body.
"I couldn't land even a single hit. It's like I am fighting a ghost. All my punches felt like they were passing through thin air."
"You are not utilising your body to its full extent Arthur." Gideon spoke as he slowly walked over.
"What do you mean, I did all I could but you were like a mist. I couldn't even touch you." Arthur raised himself and sat on the ground.
"No, you feel like you are utilising your entire body but you are missing something important. Do you know what it is?"
"Mana?" answered Arthur, narrowing his eyes in doubt.
"YOUR MANA. It's your mana. Don't think it's different from you. It's an extension of yourself. Extending outward from wherever you command. When you punch, make it jump out of the orb and imagine it flowing to your elemental heart and finally coming out of your fists, extending your reach to however long you desire." Gideon spoke in a stiff tone.
"We elementalist create elemental hearts precisely for the purpose of drawing out mana easily in a fight without concentration. So that the filtered essence can come out almost instantly. So Arthur, believe you can do it because you already can"
These words sent Arthur into deep thought. Often in life people give up and fall down exhausted from all the work. Thinking they did everything they could when in reality they haven't seen a fraction of what they can do. From their birth to the day they die they are constantly fed the average strength, average stamina, average speed, average sleep stats that they start to believe that the average actually means them.
For that reason only the greatest of things are often achieved by ignorant people. Ignorant of failure. Ignorant of the facts that what can be done and what cannot. Everything is impossible until someone ignorant of the impossible comes and does it.
All his life Arthur thought that controlling mana is difficult, Being a mage is difficult. Magic is something so grand that cannot be understood by any human.
"That's right. If the world shall fail then I shall overcome the world" Arthur thought before standing up. Raising his fist up again for round two.
"Now that's the spirit, come and show me what you can do." Gideon spoke freely as he gestured Arthur to come forward with his hand.
Arthur shuts his eyes tight to clear his mind and with a sudden impulse stepped forward to punch at his opponent.
Within a second Arthur punched multiple times but each time the attack was deflected or dodged by Arthur.
"My arm, extension of my arm" Arthur thought as he looked Gideon directly in the eye.
The next punch felt unusually slow but he could feel some unrest in the orb.
It was waves.
Waves were forming because of Arthur's will.
Woosh…
Suddenly the brown muddy mana flew out in a perfectly streamline flow into a channel. It entered into the elemental heart and from the other side fire essence came and flowed through the open channels to Arthur's fist. All this felt almost instantaneous.
The flames came out from Arthur's fist like it would from a flamethrower but more powerful and reaching to almost 9 meters.
Haha "yes, I did it, I finally did it!! I actually controlled mana." Arthur exclaimed as he raised his head to look at Gideon who was nowhere to be found.
"Above me" Arthur looked up like he felt something coming down.
Bam…
The kick from Gideon sent Arthur flying. By the time Arthur looked up, the kick was already just inches apart from his face.
"very good. But don't forget that you are still in battle" Gideon spoke as he landed on ground with his hands still behind his back.
"Hmm, I expected him to take at least a week before performing something of this scale. Looks like he entered the flow state after getting beaten up and fighting for so long. He even sensed me coming from above, unlike before where he solely relied on his eyes. His learning capabilities really are something"
Though Gideon didn't say it, he knew that even he couldn't do something of this scale after not using mana at all his entire life and then just listening to the instructions.
Arthur got up again, fists raised to his face again but with a smile this time.
Seeing the smile on Arthur's face after all this, Gideon realised something
"He have natural aptitude for fighting"
Gideon left out a small chuckle
"That's it for today. You already consciously controlled your mana. Let's go back to the base. It will be night in about an hour"
Though Arthur wanted to try controlling his mana more, he was also relieved to hear that training was finally over. Until he saw the same carrier chair again.
"Gideon, surely you don't mean…"
"Of course, you did lose the bet. Didn't you?" said Gideon with a gentle smile on his face.