There was a meadow by the west side of a 50-meter wide river where a village named Green Flower had formed 2 years ago. Calling it a village wouldn't do it justice and it might have been better to call it a town. The town was currently growing very fast.

The reason it was currently growing very fast was because of the monster around the mountain that many adventurers came to slay to make a living. North of the river where the river flowed down from the mountain everything was covered in snow. On the east side of the river Jill and Tesra we're currently conversing.

“Now Tesra, the first thing we gotta do is build up your foundation. Tell me what's your favorite element in the whole wide world?”

Tesra thought for a few moments and then answered. “My favorite element would be fire.”

Jill looked neutrally at her. “Why is your favorite element fire?”

Tesra looked into her memories and answered. “When I was around seven I remembered walking on top of a frozen lake for fun. The ice cracked and I fell through. after my dad rescued me he placed me close to a fire pit with a blanket. I felt warm, happy, and nice while I was by the fire.”

Jill smiled at her answer. “Beautiful story, now here's a fire.”

Jill conjured fire on a bush and it burned melting the snow around it. There was smoke from the fire slowly rising. Tesra looked at the fire then back at Jill wondering what she was going to say.

“Let's sit close by the fire Tesra and I'll start telling you things.”

The two came close to the fire and Tesra wonder if she was going to sit on the ground but Jill made the earth rose into two chair and dried it. The two sat on the chair and Jill spoke.

“Before we start, tell me what you know about magic.”

Tesra looked at Jill and answered. “I know that magic needs mana and that fire, water, stone, darkness, light, and wind can be brought forth from magic. There are also enchantment that can be done with magic and curses are related to magic.”

Jill nods at her answer and then looked at the fire and spoke. “I'm going to dump massive information on you, after I'm done you can ask the questions, are you ready?”

Tesra nods with a determined face. Jill then proceeds to tell her about mana being all around, conjuring, spells, element affinity, ranks, and other concepts of magic. After she was done explaining Tesra asked a question.

“What rank are you Jill?”

Jill smiled and was smug. “My rank is low rank 2.”

Tesra was surprised at her answer and became excited.

She asked. “Do you think I can reach your rank one day?”

Jill smiled and was about to answer yes but then she remember she had the daily quest which rewarded her stats. After thinking for a while Jill looked at Tesra and spoke.

“I forgot to mention one thing about magic which is talent, to be precise it's about how strong your mind is and how strong your will is. To explain, the stronger your mind is, the better you'll be able to manipulate mana. The stronger your will is, the more mana you can control. As long as you have the will and the mind your body will slowly adapt to better store mana and use it. Currently, I can't tell you how strong your will or mind is but if I had to guess on how long it would take for you to become a low rank 2. I'd say it’d take you around 30 years of your life with my teaching.”

Tesra looked at her hands and asked. “How do I make my will and mind stronger?”

Jill looked at her and smiled. “That's pretty easy, you can simply go through hardship in life and your talent for mana will slowly improve, but if you're looking for huge improvements in talent, then you can simply go through life and death situations. Remember Tesra, mana follows a person's will, and a person's mind manipulates mana.”

Tesra nods at her answer.

“Alright Tesra, now it's time for me to teach you how to absorb mana.”

Tesra straightened up and waited for instruction.

Jill spoke in a soothing voice with mana that made Tesra body turned to jelly“I want you to feel the warmth of the fire and try to absorb mana from it into your heart, keep your breathing steady and be calm.”

Jill looked at the fire and added mana into her perception. She could see the mana flowing close to Tesra but not doing anything.

Jill decided to sing a song with mana in her voice. “Let the little warmth into you so you’ll be warm and nice...”

Jill sang for many minutes and finally, she saw mana went into Tesra. Tesra started smiling and pulling mana into her heart. Her little heart filled with mana and soon she wanted to send mana into her mind and the moment Jill saw that she remembered something and stopped the song.

Without the song, Tesra lost rhythm and the mana went away from her. She looked at Jill in surprise with a questioning look.

Jill spoke to her. “Your mind isn't strong enough to handle mana yet and if you let mana into your mind it will destroy everything about you. Sometimes mages can overpower someone’s mind with mana and destroy the other's mind.”

Jill didn't know where she got this information from but she just decided to go along with it. Tesra became thankful to Jill for stopping the song. Jill then smiled.

“You don't have a high affinity for fire yet but we’ll increase it soon enough, for now I want you to try and manipulate the mana in your heart. I need you to take off your fur coat and wish the mana to warm you.”

Tesra took off her coat and became cold instantly. Jill then took the coat into her hands. Tesra wished to become warm and soon mana spread out around her body and started keeping her warm with the concept she had of warmth.

“Alright then, looks like we're done for today. Let's head back for a meal. Using mana can make you hungry quickly.”

Tesra nods and the two-headed back to the log cabin. Meanwhile, inside of Jill's head, Jack started talking.

“Hey, guy, who would win in a fight? The three of us combined to the become the peak of rank 5 or the three of us split up with our own body all at the peak of rank 5?”

JJ spoke. “The three of us combined to become the peak of rank 5 would win since our experience and skills combined would make us more than strong enough to take on ten peak rank 5.”

“Id says the three of us combined to become the peak of rank 5 would win too since from my studies I have discovered that our combination makes our mana three times thicker which makes our magic three times stronger.” Said Jelly.

Jack smiled and said. “Then wouldn't it be better if we all started exploring this world at the peak of rank 3 where we can combine to be the strongest instead of the peak of rank 5 where we're individually weaker?”

“I agree,” said JJ.

“I also agree,” said Jelly.

JJ spoke. “Currently we're at low rank 3 and it would take us two years to reach the peak of rank 3. Because of this, I suggest we finish Jill training as a herbalist soon so we can start rolling.”

The other two agreed and sent out a mission to Jill.

-

2 Year Mission

Become a master herbalist in 2 years.

Reward: Can leave the mountain.

-

When Jill saw the mission she was shocked for a moment and stopped. Tesra looked at her and asked.

“What's wrong?”

Jill smiled and started walking. “Nothing, it's just that I now can leave the mountain in two years and start exploring the world.”

Tesra looked at her weirdly for a moment and asked. “Have you always been living on this mountain your entire life?”

Jill nods and Tesra spoke. “What about your parents?”

Jill was going to say she didn't know about her parents but memories came from somewhere of her being abused by her parents and she spoke while smiling. “I don't remember much of them besides the facts they were mean.”

Tesra felt sorry for Jill and decided to go and hug her. Jill was surprised since this was the first time something like this happen. Jill spoke smiling happily while she was being hugged.

“Thanks for the hug Tesra, it made me warm. I'm sure with your heart you'll become a great mage one day.”

Tesra smiled while hugging her and spoke. “Thank you for saving me, when you decide to go out and explore the world in two years can I come with you? I don't have anywhere left to go.”

Jill nods and spoke. “Sure, but just know that I live wildly.”

The two let go of each other and walked towards the log cabin together.

“That felt touching,” said Jelly.

“That felt cringe,” said Jack.

“It better not become two girls and.” before JJ could finish the other two used mana to make the sound of his words go away.