"Did I explain it well enough for now Chaise? I'll teach you the details of each one in our future lessons okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine with that. I'll probably need you to tell me these basics again though."

"I was planning to. Now I bet you too have been wondering what this stone is...wait where did it go?"

"Shiva and Asura have been playing with it in the floor the whole time old man."

"How did they get it? I put it on the table."

"I got bored with playing with it so I gave it to them."

". . ."

"Umm, sir? Isn't it a tool for testing mana capacity?"

"Yes, it is. *sigh* She stole my thunder... To use it just put your hand on the crystal. It will glow, the color and intensity depends on how much mana you have. They weakest color is white, then blue, it follows the color wheel so purple is the strongest color. Lavender would you like to try first?"

"Yes please!"

She eagerly puts both hands on the ball and stares at it expectantly. It doesn't keep her waiting long the ball begins to glow, light fills it by a third. Eventually the light adopts a blue tinge. She takes her hand off of the stone. It keeps the light for a minute before fading.

"That's pretty good. Most children your age only reach mid white level, if they have potential to work as a mage. You are above average and could probably become an accomplished mage if you work at it. It might even be enough to join the academy if you train well. I'd say you probably have a mana pool of about 350. If you got a guild card you'd be able to get an exact measurement from it, but they won't give you one until you're at least C-ranked. I'd give you one, but I'm only allowed to give it to students. Chaise, it's your turn."

I drop a hand on to it, and immediately take it back and leap away! *hiss* my fur is standing on end. I glare at the ball.

"Chaise what's wrong?"

"That was gross! It felt like it was creeping under my skin, reaching towards my mana pool!"

"Really? I don't think anyone has ever had that reaction before. Now that I think about it, animals and magic beasts hate these stones. Is it because they feel the same thing you just did? Interesting... Oh well, just bear with it, okay Chaise? I need to know your mana capacity."

*sigh* The old man is serious about this. I guess it's important? I hesitantly touch the orb again. *shivers* It just feels completely wrong. The light has changed color so I take my hand of it as quickly as possible. The light is filling the orb and has taken on a green tinge.

"This is very impressive Chaise. Having this much mana at your age is considered being a top quality genius. You probably have a mana pool of about 700. It makes sense with your lineage. As long as you train at all entering the academy will be a breeze for you. I expected as much though."

Lavender is staring at me with her mouth open. She looks silly. She then rushes over and hugs me, she holds my hands at starts jumping up and down, saying how great that is and that she's happy for me. She has way too much energy.

.....

Eventually Lavender calms down. The old man then teaches us the chants for some of the most basic spells in attribute magic. Apparently there are different tiers for the attributes. Fire, water, wind, and earth make up the lowest tier so that's what he taught us. Afterwards Lavender left. She forgot her basket so she had to come back for it though. It was my free time next, the old man said as long as I practice my magic like I usually do, I can do whatever I want for the rest of the day. So I explored the forest with the pups. We found a cold spring with a stream and we played in the water until dinner. After dinner I practiced my control of secon- of mana. *sigh* I don't like calling it that I want to call it my second energy, but I don't know the spoken words to say it with. It's only the first day and I've begun to realise just how much I am going to have to learn. I made the right choice, and this is the fastest way to grow strong enough to find mother. I miss her. Once I used all of my second energy I crawl into bed with the puppies. Yeah, their warmth helps...

.....

I'm following the old man to get my weapons. It's been three days already so they should be ready. Lavender came again yesterday for magic lessons. The old man was teaching me about attributed magic, it will be awhile before we can move on from it. Couper is sleeping at the counter, using his arms as pillows. The old man looks at me and puts a figure to his lips.

" shh~ Let's not wake him."

The old man goes behind the counter and grabs a box. It has a few letters on it, one of them is a C! The old man puts a small bag of coins underneath Couper's hands. Then we walk back to the house. I'm still not use to being in the city, all the noise and smells give me a slight headache. We get back to the house. The door has been kicked in.

"Why, just why? It wasn't even locked!"

I can smell him~ Gareth is here. When we go inside we see him sitting on the couch, eating cookies. He raises a hand in welcome.

"Hey, finally back I see. You didn't think we'd meet again so soon, did you Chaise?"

"I asked him to be your teacher for your weapon and physical training. I'm hopeless with weapons. He is a knight so he is used to training others, and mainly uses physical fighting instead of pure magic."

"Yup, I'm the best in the area. Besides that monster of an instructor who works at the academy *shivers* their training is almost torture..."

"Okay, I was wondering if you'd teach me old man. I was concerned about it because you aren't that strong physically."

"I never told you that."

"I can sense it."

"That will be useful in fighting. That is a coveted skill that all fighters need to learn. You're already getting ahead of the pack, aren't you Chaise!"

"If you're hunting with a pack it's stupid to run ahead of everyone else, it makes you a target Garet."

"Nice! You already know some tactics. Why don't we go outside and get started? It will take awhile to introduce you to the weapons."

"More lectures? The old man is giving me enough of those."

We've started walking outside. Garet is carrying the box of weapons. We go to the large square area behind the house. There's no grass here, the square area only has hard, light colored, dirt. Garet lays all the weapons on a rolled out cloth. He points at one of them.

"This is a sword..."

He names all of the weapons and how they are generally used. Garet is being very serious.

"We'll start your training with the sword. Every three days we'll switch weapons so that you can get a feel for all of them. On those days 3/4 of our lesson together will be with weapons. Every fourth day we'll devout completely to physical training. Once you figure out which ones you absolutely won't use well stop training with them. Let's start. Hold the sword with both hands. Spread your feet apart..."

Garet started correcting my stance. He doesn't stop until he feels satisfied with it. Then he would make me relax and start from the beginning. Eventually he let me start swinging the sword, stepping forward as I do so. I keep doing this until it's dinner time. After dinner Garet leaves, he lives in the city. I can respect him for being so serious about my training, I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful to the old man too, but that doesn't mean I have to act respectful towards him.

As I go to bed I remember what the old man said. Tomorrow is the last day of the week. Hmm, I wonder what this 'orphanage' is like.