Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 18 (Part 1)

At that moment, the warm presence on Cory’s shoulder disappeared. When the spirit suddenly vanished, Cory was also bewildered.

“Instructor, the spirit… has disappeared. Why is this happening? Did I do something wrong?”

“It’s because you ran out of mana.”

The answer came from the senior trainee number 44.

Unlike beasts, spirits consume mana continuously while being summoned. Even if the spirit does nothing, the spirit master’s mana is consumed, and if the spirit moves vigorously or uses elemental abilities, a much larger amount of mana is consumed.

Of course, the amount of mana consumed when the spirit is just staying still is extremely small. It was to the extent that trainee number 44 could summon the spirit for several hours.

However, Cory’s mana was so poor that he couldn’t handle even a minimal mana consumption.

With the amount of mana gathered through yesterday’s mana training method, which was less than a tear drop, he couldn’t maintain the spirit summoning for even a few minutes.

“Ah! Mana.”

Mana is fundamental not only to magic but also to spirit arts.

Yesterday, only Rodin and Cory, who had a certain level of mana talent, were called to measure their spirit talent. Without sufficient mana support, it didn’t matter whether they had a spirit contract or not.

They moved for the next spirit contract. It was more than 1 km away from the place where Cory contracted with the fire spirit.

“Why are we contracting with the spirit so far away?”

“It’s because the attributes might mix.”

According to Instructor Serion, there are no puddles within 1 km around the place where the fire spirit was contracted. They regularly check to prevent water attributes from mixing.

“Ah! Come to think of it, it was a place where the wind didn’t blow.”

“Right. We blocked the surroundings as much as possible because the wind attribute could mix. The flat rock laid on the ground is for the same reason.”

Rocks also had attributes. They would certainly invade the fire energy to some extent.

However, it was still better than the earth energy directly coming up. They weren’t called the four major attributes for no reason.

The influence of earth, wind, water, and fire attributes is so great that blocking just these makes spirit contracts much easier.

“Ah! This time it’s a live burial.”

“Haha, live burial. It’s not wrong. This place is prepared for contracting with the earth spirit. Of course, there’s no wind blowing around, no fire, and no water.”

At the place they arrived, there was a large pit where a child could fit. To maximize the earth attribute, they had prepared to bury the spirit master.

“Hold this in your mouth. Who will go in first?”

“I’ll go in.”

Cory stepped forward bravely. The thought of being buried in the ground was terrifying, but he barely managed to muster the courage.

This time, he wanted to do it without Rodin’s help. He didn’t want to just follow Rodin around all the time. He was going to become the greatest spirit master on the continent.

“Hold this.”

Instructor Serion handed over something like a pipe. It was a bent pipe in the shape of a ‘ㄱ’, necessary for breathing even underground.

Cory went into the pit and held the pipe in his mouth. The pipe protruded upwards, reaching about 30 cm above the ground.

“Let’s bury him.”

“Yes.”

With no one else around, the task of burying Cory fell to Instructor Serion and Rodin.

Rodin, along with Instructor Serion, diligently shoveled and completely buried Cory.

The consistent exercise he had been doing recently helped. Even though he had been moving his body for quite a while, he wasn’t as tired as he expected. He hardly sweated, and his face was dry.

On the other hand, Instructor Serion, who hardly exercised, was drenched in sweat. Hearing him mutter “I should have used magic,” it seemed there was a way to solve it with magic.

“How long do we wait?”

“It was about 10 minutes in the fire pit, right? Hmm, it could be disruptive during the contract, so let’s take him out in about 15 minutes.”

“Understood.”

After 15 minutes, they took Cory out. When Instructor Serion looked at him expectantly, Cory shook his head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for. Number 108, get ready.”

“Yes.”

Next was Rodin’s turn. The time was also 15 minutes, and like Cory, he failed to make a contract.

“Let’s move.”

“Yes.”

Neither of them could contract with the earth spirit. They left with only disappointment.

This time, they went hiking.

It was much harder than the flat ground, and Cory was gasping for breath as if he was about to die. No, only Cory was struggling.

Thanks to the continuous exercise, Rodin found it manageable. Although he sweated more than while shoveling, he was the fastest among them.

Instructor Serion was floating around using magic.

Once was enough for suffering out of stubbornness. Having directly shoveled earlier and suffered, he couldn’t repeat the same mistake.

They reached the summit. The wind was blowing madly, making it hard to stand.

Just by looking at the environment, one could guess which spirit they would be contracting with here.

“Huff, huff, instructor… Huff, huff. Here…”

“How about you catch your breath first?”

“Alr… Huff, huff. Understood.”

Cory sat down on the spot and caught his breath for a while. After a few minutes, his rough breathing gradually calmed down.

In contrast, Rodin slowly walked around and stretched his body.

He remembered the advice from a former instructor to keep moving and stretch the muscles instead of lying down or stopping.

“Instructor.”

“Speak.”

“If I contract with the spirit here, do I have to come up here every day?”

“Since you have to stay close to the attribute, yes.”

“Oh! It would be better not to contract here then.”

Cory stuck his tongue out at the special forces training center building visible far below.

“Let’s start. Number 107?”

“Yes, I’ll go.”

Cory stepped forward first. Instructor Serion handed him a chain connected to a large tree.

“This is…?”

“Small bodies like yours might get blown away by the wind.”

“Ah!”

Cory wrapped the chain around his waist and moved forward.

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