Ajax started working with Magnetic mana the next day, the only reason he didn’t start sooner was because he had run his mana dry getting it. That night he had gotten some very much needed rest after how tired he had been that morning.

In the following days Ajax started to get a very clear understanding of why Magnetic mana was only Rare, not only that but he was glad that this was only a stepping stone as he tried to approach Gravity, and in the future Attraction and Repulsion. He had been a little disappointed when he didn’t receive a Trailblazer achievement for gaining the skill but he had held little hope of doing so considering that there had to be a metal elemental out there that had managed to obtain it before him.

Once he obtained the skill for magnetic mana affinity his ability to manipulate magnetic mana started to mirror what he was able to with all of his other Rare mana types when they were first obtained.

The problem with magnetic mana was one that all fire users also dealt with, while they may be able to control the fire, not only in terms of direction and power but also intensity they were unable to exert any control over the heat that fire released.

Much like his experiment Ajax was capable of creating magnetic mana by simply molding his own mana into it but magnetic mana would very quickly deaspect and simply break down into the ambient mana. This could be countered by increasing the amount generated but that presented a whole different issue. His biggest challenge with magnetic mana was that Ajax was unable to affect the magnetic field it generated.

This was immediately obvious as he saw his own weapons stick together the moment he tried to augment one of them with a powerful enough magnetic mana. By the same token trying to use magnetic mana with a strong enough field anywhere close to him would cause all the metal pieces in his armor to get dragged towards the source as well.

These initial results had almost resulted in Ajax excluding magnetic mana from his melee fighting repertoire if not for an obvious interaction he had initially overlooked. While simply creating one magnet that was close to him was clearly not going to work without massive amounts of training, creating two magnets was something else entirely.

Magnets had the same attraction properties towards all metals around them, but they had a more complex relationship towards other magnets that entered their magnetic field, namely they could work together and attract each other or they could repel each other. It took a few tries but Ajax found that with the use of mana he could create magnets that had no south and north pole but were entirely made up of one pole.

The only issue with this approach was that right now it took Ajax almost ten seconds to change the pole alignment of his mana, this was currently far too long to be useful in combat but he hoped that the time would get lower as he got more experienced and the skill level grew.

Unlike the application in melee combat, magnetic mana did have an immediately useful application for his ranged combat. Much like his massively overcharged electric arrow from a few days prior firing an overcharged magnet could prove highly beneficial. Sure the arrow was all but guaranteed to hit armor, making precision strikes all but impossible sticking two heavily plated knights together with one arrow was something he could see himself doing.

Loathe as he did to admit it Ajax had been forced to concede that magnetic mana would most likely become highly popular should he spread his existence. The reason for this was fairly obvious, it gave mages, who traditionally wear little to no metal on their combat gear, a great way to deal with physical fighters that managed to close the distance. The practicality that a powerful magnetic bolt didn’t actually have to hit the target to knock them off balance and pin them to ground with their own armor would raise its popularity even higher among combat mages.

There was only one issue with this line of thinking, despite having generated the mana type and successfully copying it Ajax had no idea what rune would signify magnetic mana let alone any chanted spells with it.

Determined not to get too focused on his new mana type Ajax had picked up his usual training after a few days and just slotted magnetic mana as another mana type to regularly practice. Not only that but Ajax was paying very close attention using his [Sense Mana] to see if he couldn’t find a way to achieve Gravity mana.

“What the fuck was that?” Theron cursed as he felt his axe swing going off course.

“I felt it too,” Bobby said as the two stopped sparing.

“Is this what you meant when you said you wanted to try something out?” Donnie asked Ajax as the three plate wearers were called out to help him with his training.

“Yes.” Ajax confirmed.

“What was that?” Nelly was obviously the most shocked person there.

Unlike the others Nelly had a well developed [Sense Mana] skill, she was not only able to follow Ajax’s invisible projectile but she also noticed that it only affected the metal armor they were all wearing, she herself had felt a decent tug on her buckles as the bolt left Ajax’s hand.

“It felt like a weird wind spell,” Bobby said. “I could feel my swing being pushed to one side. It wasn’t all that powerful and it definitely didn’t have the slicing power that wind spells usually come with.”

“That wasn’t a wind spell.” Theron said, unlike Bobby who used a sword, Theron had gotten a much better idea of what happened from his axe as it had a wooden handle. “It’s like it only messed with my axehead.”

“It did a lot more than that.” Nelly turned to them once she noticed Ajax’s wasn’t going to answer her question just yet. “It might have been too faint for you to notice in the moment but it also affected your armor, there was just too little mana in the bolt for it to have a large effect.”

“How do you mean?” Jackson asked, also curious about the development.

“I’m not sure what spell that was but he basically launched a ball of mana that had no color, it was invisible to the eye I could only track it with [Sense Mana].” Nelly explained. “That ball seemed to suck all metal towards it, not only that but the closer the metal got to it the harder it pulled on it. It almost knocked me off my feet just by pulling on my buckles when he launched it.”

“It didn’t feel that strong.” Bobby said.

“The bolt went over your heads.” Nelly said. “Not only that but it seemed to get weaker the further it traveled.”

“Not quite.” Ajax finally decided to answer. “It has nothing to do with distance, the mana just breaks down once it is released so it gets weaker.”

Stepping into the dual area Ajax grabbed a wooden hammer off one of the training racks before he squared off against Donnie who was also in full gear.

“You sure it's a good idea, Ajax?” Donnie asked, unlike his brother Donnie had his large shield and small sword.

“I’ll be fine, just fight to the first clean strike.” Ajax said.

The mismatch in the fight was obvious, if Ajax was to use his [Mana Syphon] Donnie would be the one at a disadvantage but without it he had Ajax beat in terms of both Strength and Dexterity not to mention Endurance.

As both fighters charged Ajax quickly started to channel his mana, unlike his previous fifty mana bolt Ajax was putting a whole two hundred mana into this next one, not only that but he was also increasing the output at the expense of longevity.

Right as they were about to enter striking distance Ajax launched the bolt right at Donnie's feet. The large fighter had been around mana long enough to get a feel for the projectile that Ajax launched but was utterly confused when he saw it wasn’t aimed at him.

That confusion cleared up very quickly as he felt himself topple forward as his shield and armor were sucked towards the mana. Unlike the previous bolt this one stopped a few inches off the ground right in front of him. By the time he had regained his balance he had already dropped to one knee.

The horrible stop to his charge wasn’t the worst of his problems however, with all the extra weight he couldn’t even bring up his shield in time and Ajax got a clean open shot as the wooden hammer rattle his head inside the metal helmet.

Despite the seriousness of the situation everyone had a hard time not laughing as mere moments after the spar ended Donnie launched himself from a kneeling position a good few inches off the ground and onto his ass once when the force pulling him down abruptly disappeared.

“That is one hell of a trick.” Jones said.

“Yeah,” Ajax nodded. “Too bad I can’t use it when I have anything made of metal on me.”

“You should look into getting some weapons made of bones or claws, just on the off chance.” Jackson suggested giving Ajax a lot to think about.