“Now I’m going to start with a few questions about magic and I want you to answer them. What is mana, why does space magic not require mana, and finally, what is space?”

Wanting to know the boys foundations he asked three questions each with a varying degree of difficulty.

“Mana is the energy that is inherent in everything and exists everywhere, our ability to manipulate and shape it is what is considered magic.”

Charles nodded as the boy continued.

“Space Magic doesn’t require mana as it focuses on our ability to control space itself with our mind rather than interfering with it by the usage of mana. As for what space is, I don’t know.” Vincent slowly lowered his head as he finished speaking embarrassed he didn’t study hard enough.

Charles listened as the boy finished repeating almost word for word what can be found in any basic magic textbook. He didn’t expect him to know what space is so his inability to answer was acceptable.

“Not knowing something is fine. Being able to say it proudly is how you learn what you didn’t know before. Don't be ashamed about something you don’t understand. We all know nothing the moment we are born and there is no shame in that.”

Vincent nodded happily as his embarrassment cleared and Charles continued on.

“Space is exactly that, space. Between you and me what is there?

Not knowing how to reply he said the only thing that came to mind “Nothing?”

“No, there is something, there is air, there is light, there is space. Imagine a cup full of water now make the cup disappear, what happens to the water? It falls, disperses, or whatever you want to call it. With nothing there to hold it, it simply goes away. How can there be air or light between us with nothing holding it there? Space is holding it there, and space magic is your ability to manipulate that invisible ‘cup’.”

Amazement filled Vincent's’ face his face as he slowly came to understand the profound knowledge, but soon he got nervous and was perplexed.

“Master I appreciate the knowledge but why are we focusing on space magic so much? What about fire or even light magic?”

This time it was Charles’ face who was confused.

“Do you not know? No, you wouldn’t have asked if you did.”

Looking to the maid behind them who still had not left and stood patiently waiting at distance not to far or too close the maid nodded. It would seem as if the lady of the house had left it to him to tell the boy of his condition. Taking out a small card he handed it to the boy and told him to channel his mana through it.

It was a special card that could display everything where as most status cards would only show the basics like their name, age, mana capacity, acquired skills and if they were so lucky, their ability, but this card also showed if the individual had any inclinations towards magic and with what aptitude it may be.

The boy did as told and what was displayed on the card was shocking.

Vincent Hart Human: (6 Years) Mana Capacity: Low Talents: Space Magic (Exceptional)

His only talent was towards the racial magic humans have, while its aptitude was favorable, with his mana capacity being low and having no talent in other magics of even mediocre aptitude, it meant that it would take him years to learn even the most basics of spells only to be able to barely use them anyway.

Space Magic, while being the human racial magic, didn’t mean every human could use it, like everything else it had to be taught, but it did mean that every human has the talent for it no matter how poor, and since it wasn't as flashy a magic as the other forms of magic, most passed it over.

Unfortunately, Vincent did not have such luxury. If he wanted to use magic like his hero Tiberius, he would have to learn space magic.

“I… I see.”

“We can take a break if you need a moment.” Charles looked at the distraught child with sympathy. As he was in a similar situation in the past, but he was lucky. While his aptitude for space magic was high, he also had an average rating in earth magic allowing him to specialize in it and use space magic on the side when he had the time or need.

“No, let’s continue.”

Impressed with his resolve Charles decided he would do his absolute best not to waste this child's perseverance.

“I’m going to teach you two skills today and I will come back once a month to see your progress.”

“Skills? Not spells?”

“No spells require mana, skills do not. However, the reason that space magic is considered magic even though it uses neither spells nor mana is because its skills also have a proficiency rating like spells of other schools of magic. As such once I teach you these, I expect you to learn them and use them often to raise their proficiency and thereby their strength.”

“Okay.”

“The first thing I am going to teach you is Telekinesis, it allows you to manipulate the space around an object and thereby manipulate the object itself.” Charles demonstrated this by lifting the tea cup off the saucer next to the snacks the maid provided a few minutes before during the time when Vincent was coming to understand his limits and brought it to his mouth for a sip before placing it back down on the saucer without touching tea cup at all.

Awe filled Vincent's face. It may not have been as flashy or as powerful as the magic Tiberius used but it was still impressive none the less.

“Now I want you to try as well, the trick to beginning is understanding what space is and how you imagine space itself. As I’ve already taught you about the concept of space, next I’ll explain how to imagine it. Since I can also use earth magic; I think of space as a clay – as that is what is familiar to me – in that way it is quite easy for me to mold it and move it about. To lift the cup I imagined a hand made of clay lifting the tea cup and moving it for me.” Charles demonstrated once again by taking another drink of the tea. It really was a fabulous tea. He wondered if he could get some leaves of it after he left.

In his thoughts Charles almost missed Vincent lifting up the croissant to his mouth before it fell just as he was about to take a bite out it.

“Hahaha, don’t lose concentration or that will happen. Best be glad it was with the croissant and not the tea ah-hahaha.” As he laughed, Vincent started to pout, but truthfully Charles was more than impressed, he was amazed at how fast Vincent was able to grasp Telekinesis. Even if his aptitude was exceptional, what he just accomplished was well beyond that. Normally it would’ve taken a week or more for someone with such a high talent to accomplish what Vincent just did in mere moments. As he continued to laugh Vincent suddenly drooped forward only to be caught by Charles he was coming down from his exhilaration at having such a gifted student.

When Vincent came to he looked around only to see the maid with a slightly worried look and Charles calmly sipping his tea the normal way this time around.

“Don’t worry it was just a few seconds. That can happen when you over exert yourself with space magic or try to do things beyond your current means. So, what did you try to move?”

Looking away, Vincent responded. “Your chair.”

“Why you cheeky little, no, after that laugh I might have deserved a little something. In any case, you knocked yourself out for a few moments by trying that so I’ll leave it at that, let it be a lesson for you.

However you should know that that is a good way to train your proficiency. By trying to lift more and more objects of different size, shape and weight and interacting with them your proficiency will increase a good rate. The strain it puts on your mind will also allow it to grow letting you do more complex things like moving multiple objects in tandem in the future. Do be careful not to let yourself get knocked out at inopportune times as it can be very dangerous for obvious reasons, and space magic puts quite the strain one ones mind. Make sure to know your limits in the future.

Now, moving on. The next skill I’ll show you is called Storage, it will be much harder to grasp an I don’t expect you to learn in for a while.” Charles started to use the skill but paused as he realized he forgot to ask an important question.

“Out of curiosity, what did you imagine space to be?”

“I didn’t, instead I visualized myself moving the object and space seemed to conform to achieve what I wanted.”

“Fascinating.” Charles noted that he would have to think on that revelation further later. He then activated his Storage skill and a black spot appeared next to him as he pulled out a small jar of honey with a spoon in it and put some honey in his tea – not that it needed it he thought – and moved the honey back to the black spot before it quickly dissipated leaving no trace it was ever there.

While Vincent was still processing what he saw, Charles started to explain.

“Items in Storage do not experience the passage of time so storing food in there is a good option especially if you are on an extended trip where dry rations would be the norm. You can keep other items inside but it would be wise to think upon what you might need in the future before you do so as the space inside of the Storage is limited. If your proficiency rises the amount of space you’ll have access to will increase and could become comparable to a small carriage. However that is far from the norm as raising the proficiency of Storage is quite difficult as it is reliant on your understanding of space and how capable your control of it is.

Different people with this ability will store different things depending on their needs. A ranger might store a second string, a few quiverswith extra arrows as well as some food and water. A scout might have items to help disarm traps as well as set them, and a warrior might carry some a rag, some oil, and a stone to take care of their armor and weapons.

Do not assume that everyone will keep the same things or that the items stored will even make sense. I once came across a merchant who went out of his way to learn the skill only to keep his absolutely full of cabbages. When asked about it, the crazy fool would go on and on about some youth breaking his cart and such. So don’t rely on others to carry the things you need.”

“I understand, master.”

Vincent nodded and yawned as he thought about what his master had said.

Noticing his tired pupil and that the day was coming to a close Charles stood up from his seat and motioned for Vincent to do the same.

“It’s getting late, let us go see what is for dinner and I’ll tell you the method for Storage next time I visit. Until then, practice more with Telekinesis and think over what I’ve taught you so far.”

As they walked towards the house the maid started to pick up the tray along with the dropped croissant and headed back into the house while she amused herself thinking about circumstances might have led the merchant Charles mentioned to such an extreme. At some point during her journey she swore she could hear somebody cry out,“My Cabbages!”