Len Pandora was swiftly sweeping the floor in a small countryside shop. Len firmly held the broom in his hands, his dark green eyes gazing upon the floor and his hair an utter mess.
It was quiet clear from his looks that he wasn't very fond of his work. As Len swept the floor he accidently bumped into a shelf, the sound of clanking glass made him turn around in a heartbeat. The shelf was filled to the brim with glass bottles filled with liquids of myriad colors.
Len breathed a sigh of relief as he confirmed that none of the bottles had fallen. "Good thing happened otherwise I would have been in for a round of lectures" Len thought as he continued to work.
After Len was done with his work he entered the storage from a backdoor in the shop. A rush of smells filled Len's nostrils but he had now gotten used to the smell of herbs. Len looked ahead towards the owner of the shop who sat on his workbench at the back expertly processing the materials for his potions.
"It's time for my class Mr. Morgan." Morgan turned around after hearing Len's voice. "did you do your wok?" asked Morgan but he sounded as if even asking this question was a bother.
"It's all done." Len proclaimed. After hearing Len's answer Morgan got up from his seat and entered the shop. Morgan took look around and then he dragged his finger across the floor their was still quite a bit of dirt left on the floor.
"quite the good job you did their." Morgan remarked sarcastically as he pointed his finger towards Len. "can you remind me why I work here Mr. Morgan?", "You are my student and you are learning alchemy from me but until you start making potions the chores are your responsibility and call me master." Morgan approached Len with a menacing look as he said that.
"Well master you don't expect me to work above my paygrade do you? I only work as good as you teach." Len put aside the broom and sat down on a chair. "Why don't we see how much you have learned then? let's begin son of a- ", "Language master." Len cut Morgan off in the middle.
"What does a Parson flower do motherfucker?" Morgan stared Len dead in the eye. "The Parson flower is a poisonous flower that can cause hallucinations upon consumption but its effects are rather mild. This flower is used for manufacturing both cheap drugs and cheap potions as it contains various anti-toxins and also acts as deadly poison for certain types of parasite. Among the parasites it is used against is an worm, egg worms are called egg worms because they ley eggs in the skin of various animals including humans, those eggs suck up the nutrients in our body and the larvae inside grows into a worm with them. The eggs on the skin look like horrendous the weak of the heart might die from just looking at them." Len explained precisely and without stumbling.
"What about the tri-colored herb you bastard?" Morgan was taken back by the flawless answer but he wasn't going to back down anytime soon. "The tri-colored herb is a mythical flower that can only be found near the nest of a phoenix. It's defining characteristic is the flower with three petals each of a different color. Every part of the herb possesses extraordinary effects but the valuable part are the roots as they contain very high density mana. The tri-colored herb is used to make the phoenix potion which can permanently increase mana capacity as well as boost their mana recovery and regeneration speed" Len picked up a glass of water and drank it gracefully while drinking Len gestured Morgan to continue with the queries.
"How long have you been studying about herbs?" Morgan knew the answer but he thought his memory was failing him. "Three months and I have never learned about herbs from anyone other than you.", "For god's sake even I took 6 months to memorize about all the herbs." Morgan was astounded by Len's talent and that talent of his was the only reason Morgan was still teaching him.
"Its good that you have a great memory but your knowledge is useless if you can't handle mana properly. The ability to precisely control your mana is absolutely essential for making potions and if you fail in that regard then even if you have all the knowledge in the world it is useless." as Morgan explained this his became softer, weaker to be precise. "The greatest curse in this world is being capable of achieving something but being incapable of doing it" Morgan's voice was drowned in remorse and their was also a hint of resentment and regret.
"You do remember that I don't even know how to sense mana." Len reminded Morgan. "Of course I remember, grew up in secluded mountain and shit. It's nothing difficult just meditate and try finding some kind of a light inside yourself, you will get it after some trial and error. Might take you a few days so just rest easy and keep trying that all the advice I can give you regarding this matter." Morgan lifted up his stuff and went to the shopfront leaving Len to practice by himself.
Len stood alone in the storage wondering what to do next. Len picked out a few herbs and put them inside an incense burner. As Len sat down to meditate the smoke from the herbs engulfed him, the smoke's effect kicked in without a delay and Len entered a trans like state, the noise around him vanished and Len's conscience was focused on one point. "a faint light" thought Len as he tried to sense mana.
After a while the smoke vanished and Len opened his eyes. Len's eyes were filled with a mix of disappointment, rage and hatred for himself. "It was useless" Len muttered to himself as his efforts had bore him no fruit, in his search for light all he found had was darkness, it seemed like a fate that he couldn't avoid.
Len sat down on the workbench and took out an apple in order to eat but as soon as he saw it a word sprang in his head and he couldn't help but say it. "devour" chanted Len and a strange yet familiar darkness emerged from his hand and engulfed the apple devouring it whole in an instant. "devour" Len chanted again as he thought of the apple and the darkness once again emerged from his hand and took the shape of the apple, as the darkness retreated back into Len's hand it left behind the apple it had taken before. Len's eyes were overflowing with joy and only god knows after how long he had smiled for real and why wouldn't he after all he was a skill holder now.
In this world a person's value is dependent only on their ability to use mana. Everyone in the world has a different way and extent of utilizing mana but one that thing can be said for certain is that skill holders are much more gifted than normal folks. Skills are innate abilities that let a person wield mana in a unique way granting them a power that no one else in this world can use.
"what more can I do with this" Len quizzed himself as raced his mind on how else he could use the Skill he had jut gained. An idea struck Len and he looked at the apple again. "devour" Len chanted and small strands of darkness emerged from his palm, the little strands looked like leeches as stuck to the surface of the apple, the dark Leeches sucked out the fluids from the apple making it shrivel up. Len threw away the shriveled up apple and placed his finger over an empty glass, "devour" Len chanted again and the glass was filled with apple juice. "delicious" said Len as he drank the juice with a glimmer of joy in his eyes and a subtle but menacing smile.
"It's time to close up boy get going" Morgan shouted as he entered the storage, "Master I succeeded in sensing Mana so could you teach me how to make potions." Len inquired with a sly face. "So what? You want me to work over time for something like that, never in this life bitch" said Morgan as he kicked Len out of the shop.
