Here is another chap, i was taking it easy with the wrtiting and would have writen it earlier but i had to rework the mana stone system so it took a while. Yes i used math for those who wonder and i would edidt....chapter 7 i think. Anyway ill try to streach the next big story point (the first one was chapter 1) to atleast chapter 14 or so. By that time the story will....well you will see life aint peaches and roses. As for the prices they are guess work based on my capacity/recharge ratio between difrent size. If any one wants ill try and post my formulas in the next chapter.

P.S.-This chapter is 15874 symbols so its 58% bigger!!! Tell me if you like them longer.(16k without the rant)

With my experiments done I, had dinner and went to bed. I think mom was talking about something but I was too busy with my own thoughts. Cause and Effect, for every action there is an action opposite in force and direction, and stuff along those lines. If mana is incorporeal, yet it can cause an effect in the physical word what are its limits? Can I make a fireball in someones head? How much can it emulate or improve the technologies of my old world, which most of which I only have basic theories and concepts!

Questions, questions and questions yet no one can give me answers. I guess it's a lot more fun to do actual research than to click a few buttons and get a barely satisfying answer. Yet I still want some help, part of it is bonding with mom the same way I bond with dad during training and when we made the crossbow. I want answers so that I can have a basic understanding of the worlds complexity, of the technology that people of this world posses. To know how far I can go without restrictions.

For example necromancy is considered evil. You take a random unfortunate soul and bind it to the remains of someone even less unfortunate, or are you? What of a skeleton is nothing more than a golem, a pile of bones driven simply by mana. The reason people don't use nukes and even try to reduce their overall number is due to simple fear. So if people think a necromancer is evil then they will try to kill them thus reducing the likely hood of them being able to advance their art to unimaginable heights.

So if a develop too fast, people will begin to get weary of my talents, they will either try recruiting, threaten, maim or even outright kill me out of fear. People generally try to remove threats to their life, career or even simply peace and quite. A fly buzzes in your room while you write a novel..smack its dead. Just like that.

Yet with my infamy, which came from god knows where, will I have even I problem? Depends. I am viewed as a threat to society already so they either avoid me like the plague or keep a very close eye on me, unless its a personal grudge. Which makes no sense, I'm three years old, who did I wrong? Saint Grocery of the milk bottle or something?

With deep and philosophical thought I drift in to sleep.

I'm all rise and shine next day. It's a bit late though. How long was I brainstorming? I get out of bed, dress up, open the door and see mom put breakfast on the table. Not by much, an hour? Maybe two. Not much thats for sure. I sit on my chair and wait for breakfast. Mom turned around with a warm smile.

Clarice>"Good morning sleepy head."

Salion>"Morning." I say with a tired expression rubbing my eyes.

Clarice>"You were quite focused on something yesterday. Even during dinner you barely responded. What was it?"

Salion>"You refused to teach me magic so I had to do it myself. And after my small success I was thinking towards more complicated spells, and the danger of being too smart for your own good. Why didn't you teach me magic anyway?"

Clarice>"Did you read the book? If you still haven't I cant teach you. You need to learn the basics"

Salion>"I already told you I read it. It was a total waste of time. But you didn't listen. And even if I want to show you what I learned by myself, I cant because I'm out of mana and the spell takes my whole supply just to activate and the stones I usually use for control. I need my own mana to cast it."

Clarice>"You learned a spell? So whats its incantation then?"

Salion>"Spells have incantations? Why are they even necessary?"

Clarice>"This is why I told you to read the book, all you need to know is there"

Salion>"Thats a double no, the book on magic is full of generally useless information. Everything useful I can probably write with capital letters on a single page. And not to mention there was nothing mentioned about casting. Just some stupid exercises that I figure out on the day I got my mana, baseless theories and just a spam of information about the elements and how they interact with each other, which is in the useless category as well"

Clarice>"Thats odd, there should be basics about some spells in the basic books of magic, I leaned the flare I usually use from there."

I got up, got the book and showed it to mom. I pointed out each category of information, from the basic mana theories, to useless elements and finally to the exercise and some ideas on mana sensitivity (Which I don't need more off for now), they are put in that exact order. No actual magic whatsoever. Mom had a bewildered expression.

Clarice>"This cant be right. This is the same book I read as a kid. It should have 4 basic spells at the end. Gust, Flare, Sprinkle and Trow Earth. Exactly one for each basic element. Yet this one doesn't have them."

She made me eat my breakfast faster while checking the book over and over, like the so called missing pages will pop up from mid air. When I was done we got up and left for the village. Customary greeting and pleasantries were left aside, as mom strode directly in to the general goods store, with the book in hand.

When we got greeted by the soft ring of a bell our attention turned to the counter and behind it was Arlie. She didn't look like last time, she looked genuinely glad to see us. Good thing that I made her a pair with Sam, they do look cute together.

Arlie>"Hello ms.Bloodsteel what can I help you with" She said with a smile.

Clarice>"Hello Arlie. Would you mind getting your grandma for me? I have to talk to her for a bit."

With a nod Arlie opened a door behind her. I could only hear footsteps like some one is acceding a staircase. A few moments later followed by heavy and uneven footsteps and Rose walk trough the door with Arlie in tow.

Rose>"Oh Clair, what a surprise to see you here. I haven't forgotten an order have I?"

Clarice>"No, We are here for the book I bought last year. It is supposed to have the four basic spells at the back, but they aren't there."

My mom gave the book to Rose to look over.

Rose>"Oh my let me see." She gave a few pages a quick look "Ah yes, there is nothing wrong with the book. This is supposed to be the new edition. A load of... oh my almost made a slip of the tongue. This so called new edition is only supposed to give only basic understanding of mana as a whole and not teach new spells. It got remade a few years back. I thought you knew."

Clarice>"Why would they remove useful knowledge from the book? Those four spells are very helpful to any community it makes life easier for every one."

Rose>"Well you know how the Royal family is, they tend to be a bit paranoid. The books with actual spells became almost twice the price and they recalled all books on advanced magic. Now the only place to properly learn magic is The Academy."

Clarice>"Those idiots... Any chance I can trade it back for something else? My son started to learn quite late due to his father training and we only recently began to teach him the basics. At this rate the book is an overpriced piece of kindling."

Rose>"Your personal opinion about the book aside, it has been selling just like the previous one. Not well I'm afraid. People rarely care about magic these days. While I cant give you all the money back I can give you a 20% discount for a single trade. I know it doesn't sound much but it's the best offer I can give you, considering that you always buy smart unlike most of the idiots in this village. Don't let my nagging fool you I do love idiots who spend so much at my store, not to mention little Sal's wooden toys have been selling quite well. Oh that reminds me."

Rose feels around her robe and takes out a pouch. She takes a few silver coins from it and gives them to me. I look a bit puzzled until it clicks. Last time I told her that I don't want her to buy my toys but to give me money only if they sell. I did give her quite a bit, most of them were quite nice. I even managed to make a whole set of wooden building blocks. I quickly count about 5 silver. The hell!!!

I look at her and I have no idea how I look. She just smiles like the grandma she is.

Rose>"Well your toys have been quite a hit I even managed to sell the wooden kit for whole 2 silvers. I might be old but I know talent when I see one. Those are all the money from the items you made. Minus a few coppers for my time haggling the price and praising the anonymous carpenter of his skill. You should make a brand for the toys, it will sell better."

Salion>"Thank you, thank you,thank you!!!!!" Once I calmed down about my big score and praise, I notice every one had warm smiles on their face."What brand name should I chose?" I asked every one

Arlie>"How about just the toymaker? Far as I know very few people make toys, and most are custom made for nobles. You probably are the only one who made toys for kids at affordable rates. And since they are wood they can last for quite a while."

Salion>"Thanks! You are quite knowledgeable about it."

Arlie>"I am going to take over when I get married, so I have to know what sells when and where. Its the basics of running a store after all." She said with a matter of fact attitude. Never thought id see one.

After that I asked Rose to show me the mana stones in stock. Since she didn't know about my smarts, mom made a comment about needing them for something. And since she is apparently teaching me magic, she made me choose which stones are necessary for her work as a test.

Arlie went at the back and brought a box. In it were stones of many different shapes and sizes, separated by size. I easily recognize the tiny and small labeled ones. Those are the ones I have. There are a few medium and 2 large ones. I take a few medium ones and examine them. Rose just looks at me with curiosity.

While the tiny and small stones are mostly round..ish, there are some irregular shapes like cut stone or something, but the overall volume is about the same. Huh so people aren't as stupid as I thought they would be. Apparently the size classification is about volume or you can call it capacity if you want. The tiny stones are about 0.5 cm in diameter and the small are about 1cm so im guessing each next classification is double the diameter of the previous one. Though the price is more than double, excluding the tiny ones.

There seems to be a few stones that don't match any category piled up together. Rose said that they are pieces of broken stones and only a mage can properly classify them.

The price range is quite broad. The tiny and small are about 20 and 60 copper respectively, and from there the price goes sky hight, medium are 410 copper and the large one is close to 40 silver. 40 SILVER!!!

When I asked rose why the price is so ludicrous she explained that the medium one has about one third of a normal persons mana, and the large one has about 3 times.

When she said that I was slack jawed. 3 times is a lot. With training I got about one sixth, imagine what I can do with the big one. I noticed I was drolling over the stones when mom wiped the droll of my face. That earned a few laughs on my embarrassment.

Not satisfied I asked about their uses. She gladly explained that the tiny ones are used to make jewelry or in the hand of an enchanter some very weak enchant that can only serve for cosmetic purpose, like making a letter on a ring glow when mana is fed in to it. The small ones are usually used to help recharge the bigger mana stones but it requires the full attention of the person doing it, or until the stone is empty then they move on to the next one until the stone is recharged.

I asked how much time it takes to use a small stone up and to my surprise a lot more than I do. I need 15 minutes or so to empty the stone and an actual mage needs a whole hour. Hah I guess mana manipulation is quite useful. Wait! Does that mean that I am 4 times better at manipulating mana than the average mage? Awesome!! I hope it can grow above and beyond, if it stagnates I will only have a really crappy advantage over a normal mage.

She continued with medium one being used for mana training. There is an enchanted version of it that is called a fire stone, it is used buy non mana users to start a fire. On the how, it mimics a weaker version of the flare spell. Weak Flare. Yeah I know they are good at naming stuff. Cant they name it spark or something?....

Apparently not, spark is the basic spell for a mage with lightning affinity. By its description I would name it sizzle touch or something but I guess I don't get a say in the matter.

I asked if I can learn enchanting but mom laughed and crushed my dreams by telling me that only people approved by the royal family can learn it and those are usually graduates of the academy. On my 'what if I'm self thought' question she said that there are no laws against learning enchanting, but the only knowledge about it is controlled by the royal family.

Back to the stones. The large mana stone is used to make a staff or to power spells directly.

Salion>"If the small mana stones tale a lot of time to empty how do they use the large on for spellS? Wouldn't it take a whole day for just the basic spells?"

Rose>"Well you would be right, but they cast the spell with the stone not with the mana in it." I look at her confused "In other words they make the stone cast the spell. It requires a lot of training in order to achieve so not every one can use it."

Salion>"Then how does a staff work?"

Rose>"When you want to cast a spell you channel mana for it trough the stone, in turn using a bit of its mana to make the spell stronger or cost less. It is a lot easier than making the stone cast the spell directly and more useful in battle due to its utility"

Salion>"Does it have to be a staff? Why not put it in a shield?"

Rose>"Quite open minded aren't you? Well I'm no expert but it is something about wood conducting mana better, or so I've heard."

To sum it up. I'm a prodigy in mana manipulation, which without enough mana is useless as a torch during midday. There is enchanting but the royal snobs wont let me learn it. And I really want a large manna stone.

Salion>"Miss Rose why do you have large mana stones anyway? Its not like anyone from the village can buy it."

Rose>"Well it just so happens that last year a sold one to a person that lives in our very own village." I gave her the 'spill the beans' look "it was miss Sarah. I expected you to know at least who the regional village manger is."

Salion>"Whats a regional village manager?"

Rose>"By the gods, Clarice what have you been teaching this child?"

Before she could give mom the blaming look I chimed in

Salion>"I never asked, and it never came up in conversations. Not to mention I don't like her."

Rose gave a hearty laugh

Rose>"Well you wont be the first one, considering her job. She has to manage tax collection from a predetermined region. Hers is about 5 or 6 villages. When the tax collector from the city comes she has to give him the tax for the whole region."

Man I wish it was that simple, if it was I could probably have a more peaceful and normal life. I haven't played with kids my age yet!!

We talked a bit more and I decided to buy a few more stones. I got a medium one and 3 more small ones. I wanted to buy another dozen smaller ones but I lacked the funds, with the discount it came to 472 copper. I'm quite happy with myself. Now I can continue with my research. But before that I need to check up on Mark to see if the order is in yet. I hope he only took samples since I didn't quite know what I was looking for. And it wont be the last time either, I don't know the names of specific elements, just their physical properties so it will be a pain to search in the future.