Beast Evolution

"What do I need to do"

"There are steps that new mages take, first you need to be able to draw magic circles and create a magic circle from seeing a spell, second you need to increase your Mana pool"

"You said create a magic circle from seeing a spell, what does that mean?" Ray asked.

"When a mage has fire attribute, and another mage casts a fire spell that is new to the first mage, he's supposed to know how to draw the magic circle for the spell," Selena said.

"I'm not sure I can do that" Ray said.

"I know you can't, not all mages can...we'll start by increasing your Mana pool..." Selena shrugged as she was tired of standing.

"How do we do that?"

"We have been trying to start from somewhere since but you don't have any magical training that's why it's hard...you don't know how to increase your Mana pool?"

"I don't know how," Ray said.

"Mana is an external force that is in the world, while Ki is an internal force in the body, this training is just like Ki training but this time you won't be feeling the force inside your body, instead you would feel the force in another body" Selena explained, Ray nodded his head and listened to her.

"Mana isn't in things like wood or iron, instead it's in waters, plants, rocks, beasts, and air"

"Mana is in the air?" Ray asked almost immediately.

If Mana was in the air that would solve all his problems, after learning high-level spells he would be able to cast them without running out of Mana forever.

"Mana is in the air but you can't sense it so we won't start there, the easiest way to extract Mana is through plants..."

"Plants..."

"Tomorrow I heard you don't have anything to do, we should go outside, I'll get permission from Authur, and we'll go to the nearest forest and train," Selena said.

"Really, would they let you take me out?"

"Why not, it's for training and it's very important, for today you should just learn how to draw the magic circle of [Dark cloak] then tomorrow we'll train," Selena told him.

"Okay...wait...no no no, I promised Lily we'll go out tomorrow" Ray bent his head and spoke to himself.

"Who is Lily, is she your girlfriend?" Selena asked.

"Huh! no she is not, she is just my friend, we are supposed to go out tomorrow"

"If you want to go out with her it's fine, you can go, we'll train again anytime you have a free day," Selena said.

"Really...but we don't have another free day till after the tournament, or during the tournament"

'Instead of training... I'm thinking of going out with Lily, I think something is wrong with me, I would apologize to her so I can go with Selena, I need to be stronger so the next time I face someone, I would make a difference'

"I'm going with you, we'll train outside," Ray said.

"What changed your mind?" Selena asked.

"I need to get stronger so I can protect the people I love, and get my revenge on someone," Ray said confidently.

"Draco right... he's the man that attacked the academy"

"Yes...I also wanted to ask you, please don't be offended, where were you when Avalon was attacked?"

"I was busy, I came back as soon as I heard but it was already too late, the attackers were gone and the scroll had been taken," Selena said with anger.

"That's also one of the reasons I came to the knight academy, Authur predicted that the attackers would come to the knight academy so I'm waiting for them"

"Why would they attack the knight academy, they attacked the mage academy because they were looking for something, a scroll, is there something important in the knight academy?" Ray asked.

Selena chuckled slightly before speaking, "I didn't know you were the intelligent type"

"I'm not that intelligent,"

"Well I won't answer your question for now, but if you are trying to get revenge for what happened to you, you should train harder, twice or thrice as hard as you do before, you need to get stronger in the shortest time, and I want you to come up with a theory for your beast form"

"Huh! I don't understand your last statement, I need to come up with a theory for my beast form...you want me to expose myself" Ray said in a loud voice.

"I didn't say expose yourself, Luna can turn into a werewolf, do you see anyone calling her a beast... I'm just saying, in case you find yourself in bigger trouble and there's someone you need to protect but you can't let them see your beast form, what are you going to do?"

"You are right...but how can I come up with a theory, only a few people know that I'm a mage"

"Figure something out, not necessarily now... we're done for today, I'm tired so I'm going out"

"Go out, but you are a clone right?"

"Yes I am, so because I'm a clone I'm not allowed to have a drink or two"

"No am not saying that, but aren't you being controlled by the real one?" Ray asked.

"No, I was given a mission, it's my choice to do other stuff, as long as I'm doing my mission," Selena said.

"Okay, can you draw the magic circle one last time, or possibly draw it on something I can take back to the dorm"

"I don't have any writing material with me, do you?"

"No"

"Then take a look one more time, tomorrow I'll bring writing materials with me so you can draw and study magic circles," Selena showed the magic circle to Ray one more time but he still couldn't draw it.

[Transformation]

Ray almost went outside in his beast form before Selena stopped him, he was used to being a human so he didn't remember he turned into a beast earlier.

Ray and Selena exited the building and Selena locked the door, she headed towards the gate while Ray returned to the dorm.

'I need to rest, the mini tournament is still ongoing and I already lost to Jack so I'll just rest'

'Draco is going to attack the knight academy, and she doesn't want to tell me something, when he attacked Avalon, he was after a scroll, is there any possibility that he's after something similar or connected to the scroll'

'I need to train...compare to Draco I'm a weakling, last time I was rushing to meet him because I thought I would be stronger but now I need to train, twice or thrice as before, I'll start with basic training, then at night I would train with my spears'

'I still haven't forgotten that knight, maybe this night I would sneak into his room and check the potion, he wouldn't move around with it so it would be somewhere in his room'

'First things first, I'm hungry'

Ray walked into the dining hall and collected some food from the chefs, he was surprised that his food had beef in it.

Beef is served once or luckily twice a week and today was certainly not the day for beef, still Ray didn't complain and took it as his luck.

"Hi" Ray heard a voice and quickly turn around.

"Cynthia..."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, how about you, what are you doing here?" Ray asked.

"I'm cooking, I'm tired so I came to cook, unlike you guys we train by ourselves so we can skip, but sometimes we also have Instructors," Cynthia told him.

"You guys are taking it easy' Ray chuckled.

"Were you surprised to see meat in your food?" Cynthia asked with a smile.

"You were the one...thanks a lot, but you guys have your dining hall right?"

"Yes we do, but I usually take turns, there are different ingredients in both halls so I make use of them, so why are you just eating now, where were you?" Cynthia asked.

"I got into a fight with some boys, do you know a boy named Matt"

"Yes, you got into a fight with him?"

"Yes, and both of us woke up in the medical center this morning and from there I went to training," Ray smiled as he told her.