I would have given my right arm to get my memories back, if I still had an arm. I would have to work with what I had and hope for the best.

“I think I could help with some of the magical words, as it seems that they resemble an old language from my old world, “I said excitedly to my guardians, “But with most of my memories damaged, I will need time to gather the fragments and make some sense out of them. For now, let's see if you lot can use some gestures to strengthen the bubble and then throw it somewhere. I will watch your work and so be able to tell you if there's any progress.”

“You said that your old world had no magic you knew of, but now you say that one of your old languages has some connections to our magic. How is this possible?, “Galen's confused look reflected my own irritation about Tiria's disclosure.

“I know, I know, but Tiria has just told me that my old world holds more secrets than I thought possible. I will search my memories for any fragments of usable knowledge but don't expect anything world changing right off the bat.” I said, depressed by my own limitations, which I didn’t cause, by the way.

My guardians resumed their work and I watched Galen trying to draw the control and fire runes with his fingers in the air, while he formed a bubble in the same space and ended the whole process as if he were trying to form a snowball.

I was more than surprised when I saw his mana collecting inside his hands to be bound by the two runes into a small fireball. He didn't show the same strain like before and now he could keep the magic steady without much concentration. I watched him look with disbelief himself at the bowl of fire in his hand and then a grin split his face.

“I did it! Marcus, look! I created a fireball as you described.”

I hated to disappoint him but I had to say it, “Sorry, Galen, but that's only a part of the spell. You have to throw the damn thing and destroy something with it. Only then is it what I call a fireball. Go ahead, try to throw it, but please don't hit something I built. I don't want to watch the hearth tree burning, okay?”

His indignant gaze hit me and then he turned around to search for a target. After a moment he looked at an old and rotten trunk some 20 meters away from him and threw the fireball at it.

I had thought that it would fly like everything else and fall down to earth, and obviously Galen did too, but the thing went flying straight into the sky where it exploded after around 100 meters with a loud bang.

“Galen, how much mana did you use for the spell?” Nala asked.

“Around 50 mana, I think. Let me try again and see if it flies straight in the line I throw it.”

I watched silent and enjoyed the show, as did most of the other elves around us. The mages with awe and jealousy in their eyes followed every movement Galen did.

When the fireball flared into being above his right hand he targeted the trunk again and this time threw it straight at it without adjustments as if it was an arrow. The fireball flew true and hit its target, exploding in a nice light show and throwing parts of the trunk in every direction.

I examined the impact like the rest and was quite impressed with the destruction caused. Most of the rotten wood was obliterated and still smoking. The former 40 centimeter in diameter trunk had a big hole in it with splinters lying some 5 meters around.

“I would definitely call that a success, Galen. Look, how far spread the damage is and if we could somehow add a lingering fire effect, like if you emptied a can of oil on something and lit it up, then the spell would be even more devastating. But this will do nicely against goblins. We saw that your reach is around 100 meters before, but I think that you could increase that easily as soon as your manipulation skill increases.”

Galen made a smug expression and seemed very pleased with himself, his wives rolled their eyes at me.

“Wonderful! Don’t you know how long he will nag us with that?” Kitara wasn’t very thrilled about me praising her husband it seemed. “We will have to cut him down to normal size for the next 2 weeks if you give him too much attention, Master. Come on Nala, let’s show him that he isn’t the only one who can kick some butt.

I felt a sudden mana surge besides me and could just hear Chara mumbling, Regis Igniate, when she threw her own fireball at a target. I could have been mistaken, but the spell looked somewhat bigger than Galen’s and when it impacted in a dirt pile almost 150 meters away Galen’s face went slag and pale.

“Dear, how much mana did you use for the spell?” he asked the young girl.

Chara smirked and shrugged, “Just about 200. I wanted to see if it would cause more destruction if I channelled more energy into it. I don’t know, Master, but there seems to be a difference, don’t you think?”

She folded her hands behind her head and her eyes sparkled with mischief. I will have to watch the little devil closely in the future if I want to keep a lid on her pranks.

HHer fireball had obliterated the dirt pile and left a crater with 2.5 meter diameter behind. If I could build thin stone pillars all around the place that my mages could blow up, they would explode like good old fashioned grenades, I thought. In this way we could slaughter masses of enemies with much less mana and I could perhaps add some oil too into the pillars to add to the destruction

Some quote from a movie meandered through my mind, ‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning’. What’s napalm? Damn memory block! No hard feelings, I had to move on.

All the elves looked aghast and delighted at once to my small firecracker. I would have to cut her down also and turned my attension to Nala, “Nala, would you please do the same as Chara and use also 200 mana for the spell? Use also gestures and words for it, as I want to test if your fire affiliation makes the spell stronger or not. I assume that your’s a bit higher than Chara’s?”

Nala pitched and said grinning, “You bet. I have increased my fire magic to journeyman already, so there should be some difference.”

I watched closely as she began with the spell and could see the difference immediately, as the mana looked much stronger and denser than Chara’s. Launching the spell in the same direction as my younger guardian I watched the fireball eagerly when it suddenly explode in the air with only burning the grass on the ground and a loud bang.

Thinking about the reasons for the air bomb I looked to Chara and Nala, “Tell me please your skill value with mana manipulation, as I think that could be the reason for the difference in range.”

Nala was crimson red with embarressment and almost whispered, “I’m at rookie 15%, master.”

Chara looked smug and held her head high, “I’m beginner 2% already, master!”

Okay, time to give her an attitude reminder. I concentrated on our connection and send a mental smack to the young woman like I imagined Gibbs from NCIS would do. The poor thing almost fell over rubbing her head with pain in the eyes when I hit her.

“Don’t be such an ass, Chara. You had a head start by being a city guardian earlier and being instructed directly by me. As it stands, I’m quite disappointed in you for only reaching 2% beginner. Train harder and expand your mana pool, young lady. I don’t nedd any slackers, understood?”

Maybe I was a little bit hard to her, because I could see tears forming in her eyes, but I had to disrupt any behaviour that could turn her into a narcissistic smug. I had enough of them in my former life and some of my nieces and nephews had turned into them too. This one won’t become one even if had to use a sledgehammer to imbue her with good manners.

Chara drooped and whispered, “Yes master, I didn’t want to be rude to lady Nala. It won’t happen again.”

Damn, it’s hard to be a parent. I wanted to pad her head and take her in the arms but that would demolish my goal, so I only said, “Good, be polite and work hard and we can forget about it. Now get back to work and try to help the others with their mana manipulation. If you are lucky that will also help you with your own skill and maybe give you the teacher skill also.”

She nodded and went to the mages standing by, waiting eagerly now for any instructions my guardians could give them. I watched Chara for another moment, silence making my other guardians somewhat awkward, and then turned back to them.

“Nala, I think you wanted to show me the spell again?!”