RAW: Ch 5 Beyond the City Walls

Thane opened his eyes excited, yesterday Lilith convinced Gunner to Thane off so she could teach him magic. Thane had taken a break from practicing his mana after the accident when he saw the spirits inside Lilith's body.

When he told Lilith, she readily agreed since Thane was an abnormality, and the next two-step could injure him and the people around him if not done correctly. However, Thane didn't expect when he came down from his room to see Lilith in a hunter's garb with light leather armor and knee-high boots.

"There you are, Thane. We have to move quickly to make it into the forest before the trading carts clog up the roads. Here wear these." Thane was at a loss for word, but he caught the stack of clothes Lorretta threw at him and started to put them on.

It was a miniature version of Lilith's outfit, a leather cuirass, and pants with the same steel-capped boots with thick soles. "I don't understand. I thought you were teaching me magic?" Thane asked as he followed Lorretta down the stairs.

"I told you already into the forest." Lilith opened the door to the back alleyway and walked around a cart piled high with equipment covered with tarps and strapped down with leather bindings.

"I thought you were teaching me magic. Why do we need to go into the forest?" Lilith grinned as she sat on the cart and patted the spot next to her, "Because you're going to learn magic the elf way. And things might get a little destructive."

Thane didn't like the way Lilith said destructive, but he climbed on anyway. "Isn't that a lot of stuff just for one day?" Lilith giggled, "One day? Don't be silly. We're probably going to be out there for the entire year."

Sighing, Thane slumped in his seat, "Oh don't worry, it'll be fun." Lilith assured him before she pushed her hands together and started to cast a spell. The ground rumbled, and a horse made out of roots and stones rose from the earth and neighed.

Grabbing the reins, Lilith gave them a flick, and the horse started to trot down the alley and turn into the street. People stared at them as the cart went by or, more specifically, the earthen horse carrying the cart.

"Is it okay for this many people to be seeing us?" Lilith shrugged off Thane's complaints, "When we come back, they will have forgotten about this whole thing."

As Lilith steered them towards the city gates, Thane was preoccupied with sightseeing as he had never been outside a ten-block radius from the bakery. Thane was so distracted he didn't notice when the guards stopped Lilith, and she paid the tax and left through the gates and over the drawbridge.

There was a long stretch of farm fields and tanneries before they reached the forest. Thane could feel something in the air change, "There's so much more mana in the air. Is that because of the wildlife?"

Lilith smirked, "Your grandfather must have been an elf if you can feel it so soon. Maybe one day you'll visit Ixilan compared to the Sacred Forest. This is nothing." Thane started to imagine what it must have looked like.

After a few minutes of following the beaten trail, Lilith diverted into the forest, and Thane would have thought the thick roots and branches would have delayed them, but the plant life bowed out of the way in the wake of their cart.

Eventually, the forest gave way to a large clearing with a lake and large white cliffs dominating the north. Thane jumped off the cart, hitting the ground with a grunt, "Where are we?"

Lilith smiled, "This is the same place where I taught my daughter. It's a sanctuary from the outside world." Thane turned around in time to see Lilith wave her hand wreathed in green light.

The trees groaned before they exploded, their trunks expanding to merge into one solid wall, "There now no one can get in without me knowing of it." Thane was miffed with Lilith's casual display of her mastery over magic.

Lilith smiled and turned to Thane, "So, are you ready to start learning?"

---

After they unboxed everything and set up the tent, Lilith sat Thane down on a stump as she started to teach, "Before you can cast your first spell, there are three techniques you need to master. Construct Creation, Mana Infusion, and Mana Injection."

"That sounds a lot like the techniques in the book you gave me?" Lilith flicked Thane's forehead, "Don't get smart, while they might sound the same. These are ancient elven practices taught to me by my shaman predecessors."

Thane rubbed the spot on his forehead while wondering when the kind motherly figure had disappeared. "For the first technique, Construct Creation, the goal is to compress mana so that it takes a physical form able to hold a shape on its own. While it might not win you a fight, it's an important skill to learn."

Lilith cupped her hands together and created a blue lotus flower that drifted into the air before floating away and breaking apart into particles. "The trick is to hold a shape in your mind and start funneling your mana into it. You want to create the outline first, then start to fill in the actual shape."

The first step was easy for Thane as he started to create a sphere. Lilith watched in shock as seemingly endless amounts of mana poured from Thane's palms. Using her Mage Sight Lilith could see the small sphere hovering in front of Thane.

Lilith couldn't believe how much of a natural he was, "Thane, have you done this before?" He nodded absent-mindedly, "I was tired of losing my mana, so I balled it up to use it later."

'Use later?' Lilith didn't understand but chose not to ask any more questions as Thane's brow started to bead up with sweat. By the time the sphere took on a blue hue, Thane could barely focus on the task.

"That was good for your first attempt, now. How long does it take for your mana to regenerate." Thane scratched his chin, "Maybe five minutes if I can get back half the mana I spent."

Lilith frowned, "How can you get back your mana?" Instead of answering, Thane held up his palm, and the sphere of mana flowed back into his body. Looking back to Lilith, Thane jumped when he saw the look on her face.

"Thane, how long have you been able to do that?" Lilith's hands twitched as if she was ready to jump into battle at any moment, "Ever since I started practicing magic, why does it matter?" Before Thane could react, Lilith was in front of him, running through his hair and scalp.

"Lilith, what are you doing?" After a minute, Lilith was seemingly satisfied, and she relaxed with a sigh, "Sorry, Thane, I had to be sure that you weren't one of them."

Thane's bow furrowed, "One of who?" Lilith's eyes spaced out a bit as if she was picturing something, "Absorbing mana is a trait belonging to the demon race. Promise me that you'll never tell anyone else about this."

Nodding, Thane promised, "Good, now try again, we're going to keep going until the sunset. You succeed or pass out trying." Lilith kept her promise. Thane passed out multiple times as the elf pushed him beyond his limits.

Several times Thane awoke after being thrown into the lake. By the time the sun was kissing the horizon, Thane was drenched in sweat as he focused on the bright blue orb in front of him. After holding the shape for five minutes, Thane collapsed and hit the ground, "That was your best one yet. I think you've finally deserved a break."

All Thane could do was groan into the earth before rolling over, "You think? I can't move my body!" Lilith smirked as she picked Thane up in her arms, "That's the way it should be. Now go to sleep tomorrow we hunt."

Thane wanted to ask what she meant, but when his brain heard the word sleep, it had already shut down.

---

Feeling someone staring at him, Thane opened his eyes to see Lilith watching him like a hawk, "Rise and shine, put on your armor and meet me outside." Wondering where he was, Thane looked around and saw that he was in a log cabin, "Did Lilith create this with her magic?"

Finding his armor on the table, Thane pulled the heavy cuirass over his head and walked outside. Lilith was waiting for him also in her armor with two bows clasped in her right hand.

"Here, catch." Lilith threw the smaller of the two bows at Thane, and he caught it with one hand, "I don't know how to use a bow." Lilith smirked, "I know, but you'll learn as with everything in life. Now take these and don't lose them."

Lilith pushed a bundle of five arrows into Thane's arms, and he had trouble wrapping his hands around them. "Aren't I supposed to have a quiver? How do you expect me to hold all of these."

Lilith didn't answer as she moved towards the wall of trees. Thane groaned but ran after her, coming to a stop by her side. As they approached, the trees bent to form a tunnel before closing behind them.

As they walked through the forest, Lilith started to coach Thane to use a bow, often pulling him aside and fire at impromptu targets. Most of Thane's arrows would sail past the mark or glance off the side.

Though Thane was a martial arts master, he had never touched a bow once in favor of hand-to-hand and melee combat. However, Lilith made it much more difficult with her unique requirements for learning the weapon.

"All elven archers can fire with both hands, as well as knock an arrow and fire within a span of a second." Lilith touted before showing off her skills, her hands moving in a blur before firing an arrow embedded into a tree trunk.

Thane nodded before closing his eyes and playing the image over in his mind, "What are you doing? Closing your eyes won't make you learn faster." Thane nodded and got into the same stance Lilith was in.

Then like he had been wielding the bow all his life, Thane grasped an arrow between two fingers, knocked it, and fired, hitting a tree, but the projectile bounced off instead of piercing into the wood.

"Nice try, you were able to hit the target this time. But the way your drawing the bow is all wrong." Lilith moved behind Thane and guided his hands, lifting his arms making him draw the bowstring taut.

"When you get older, you can use a recurve and even a longbow. I had a friend who could shoot a fly from over a thousand meters away." Thane tried to imagine the skill it would take to make such a shot, 'A lifetime of experience and in elf years, that can be in the hundreds."

Lilith only gave Thane a few more practice shots before she said Thane was ready to shoot a moving target. Lilith then took him to a field with knee-high grass, "Are you ready?"

Thane looked unsure, "Ready for what?" Lilith pointed her hand to the sky, and from her palm, a bright orb of light shot into the air. When it reached its apex, the sphere exploded with a loud bang.

The ground started the rumble, and Thane watched from the right side of the field. A horde of rabbits started to stamped, "Well, don't just stand there, start shooting."

Jumping into action, Thane did just that as his eyes moved from rabbit to rabbit, trying to line up a shot. Saying screw it, Thane started to take pot shots hoping that one would hit.

When the stampede ended, Thane sighed as he hadn't hit a single one.