It had been a week since Ryu went to the forest for the first time with Jue and Aiena, and after going with them for 3 days he came to the conclusion, that it isn't bad and actually a positive to have experience with the party,

"where are we going, Snow?" Ryu asked with a curious gaze on Snow, who was walking at his side.

"Just a bit more," Snow answered as she resumed walking.

Today was the day for Snow's special lesson, early morning even before breakfast time Snow woke Ryu up, and now when the sun was just barely hitting the horizon here, they were walking inside Zerah forest towards an area Ryu never visited before,

"Is it far Snow?" Ryu asked,

Last night Ryu didn't sleep on time and kept channeling mana in the light glyph as the training for mana channeling and increasing his mana pool.

In this world of Pefrion, only 1 of 6 have the potential for being a mage and much lesser of them have the potential to grow properly as one, therefore most people with average talent make a magic sub to learning other weapons and skills,

"We reached," Snow said while yawning,

'Reached where!? What is this place' Ryu was skeptical as Snow had brought him to a dense forest area with nothing in sight. He looked up and ask,

"Will I be learning a new chant? Snow" Snow moved her head in denial and moved towards an especially thick tree.

Placing her hand on the bark she channeled her mana in it. Ryu stood there confused,

'What is she doing?' Ryu wondered, and he was shocked. The tree suddenly split open from the middle making a small entrance of sorts in the middle of it,

Snow looked back towards Ryu.

Putting her hand on her, waist she said with a coy smile,

"Follow" even though she said just this in her mind, she was very pleased

'Ryu shocked look so cute,' she thought as she and Ryu made their way inside the entrance of the tree, as soon as Ryu stepped inside the tree, he falls straight down

'What the hell was that!!' he was shocked and thankful to his luck that it wasn't a deep pit. He looked around noticing the place was dark and was about to draw a light glyph when Snow shouted from above,

"Don't draw anything!!!" Ryu was shocked he hadn't heard Snow shout this loud ever, and looked towards the place voice came from.

It wasn't visible but soon a light ball shined making Snow visible,

Ryu waited patiently for her not moving a bit still shocked by Snow's sudden shouting, Snow finally was standing on the same ground as Ryu, and when she walked towards him, he noticed there were lines drawn all over the ground in squares and circles one going through another,

"Sorry, forget to tell the stairs attached to the wall" then she checked Ryu for any scratches. when satisfied she spoke

"Ryu test time,"

"Okay teacher," Ryu replied. He liked calling Snow teacher whenever she is teaching and surprisingly it made Snow more confident in teaching,

"Ryu, what is mana pool?"

"The total capacity of a person to hold mana is called mana pool," Ryu answered confidently,

"Nice, now what is a basic requirement for using mana without using a skill?" Snow questioned.

"A person who got a sense for mana and can channel it will be able to do magic," Ryu answered with a smug smile,

"What is the difference between a mage and a magic-user?" Snow asked,

"A mage is someone who got great mana sense and also mana channeling skill, a mage can also increase their mana pool by channeling mana in glyphs and spells to near limits in order to increase their mana pool unlike magic-users and people who can't or don't actively expand mana pool, they rely on using skills and level up for increasing mana pool" Ryu answered confidently but Snow said back while patting his head,

"Your answer isn't proper Ryu, the magic-users can also increase mana pool by glyphs and spells channeling, but for them, it is very slow and ineffective as they can't actively sense if they are reaching their limits or not… be sure not to say they can't do it, it might hurt their pride as magic users,"

Ryu nodded but, in his mind, he was thinking,

'Isn't it just the same?' but he swallowed it back,

"Okay, Ryu, so the last question, what do non-mages who want to expand their mana pool faster do?"

'A simple one!!' Ryu thought and answered,

"They use a magic weapon, one that uses high-quality mana crystals to act as a proxy"

"Correct, they get their pool expansion as mana in crystals dried up and disappear although a bit slower than leveling up and glyph channeling. This is the best alternative, especially with quality mana stones," Snow said,

the magic weapon in this world of Pefrion are two types those that use mana crystals and those that don't, the former is used by those people who don't get mana sense in the least, even if one doesn't have that one could always feel mana of a mana crystal and using the weapon containing mana crystal have somewhat similar but lesser effect than glyph channeling and spells and it also depends on mana crystal quality,

Snow was explaining other stuff, but Ryu only hear half of it as he wondered again

'Snow changes a lot when she is in teaching mode' but suddenly Snow said

"Now ready?"

'Read for what!?' Ryu wondered, but nodded, Snow took a step back, and suddenly whole space they were in was lightened there were light glyphs on the walls and there was a huge glyph but what was more shocking than glyphs was,

'Mana crystal!! Deep purple!' Ryu couldn't hold back he moved towards the ground and touched the mana crystal he could feel it, this contains very dense mana higher quality than those that normal magic weapons use and incomparable to the mana crystal they used at home for the glyph stove or glyph chiller they use at home,

Mana crystals are compressed forms of mana solidified inside dungeons, they appear in special rooms called mana mines one of the main purposes for dungeon expedition after stampede and treasure,

Mana crystals are of varying quality, but the most common and least dense one is used in the home stove and chiller or lamps. Ryu had only a few times seen mana crystals of higher quality before that are used in weapons, but he knew the crystal that he was putting his hand on are denser than even those by a huge margin.

He turned towards Snow and asked,

"How Snow!?" and Snow giggled 'Revenge taken' she thought as she remembered when Ryu shocked him by pinning down Jack,

"I bought them next town when I was on a quest, they said someone didn't tell his name sold them and left the town, now stand so I can explain the purpose of this room," Snow answered she was feeling elated seeing Ryu shaken,

"Yes snow," he answered and stood up. Snow looked straight in his eyes and started explaining,

"This glyph is prepared with immense complexity. It took me more than 3 weeks to make it, when you will channel your mana in it, it won't do anything,"

'Ehh it won't do anything!?' Ryu thought as Snow continued seeing his confused expression,

"It would not do anything, but your mana will be channeled in it, there are mana crystals of high quality incorporated in this glyph so it will also act as a magic device, in simple words, it is for mana pool expansion if you regularly use this meditating while passing your mana through it in 3 years your mana will at least reach high mage level or near above mage level once you completely channel through the whole of the glyph, you won't be able to grasp and channel in the whole glyph at first but the day you will channel your mana in the whole glyph at once you will get your surprise,"

'She made it for me!!' Ryu was shocked and emotions filled him upside down, this thing wasn't normal he never heard or read of a method or glyph that can do the same, making someone's mana pool to above mage level from apprentice mage in just 3 years,

"Wasn't they costly? Why snow? You did so much already still" Ryu tried holding back but he was overwhelmed by his emotions and hugged Snow tightly like a kid, and she patted his head as she spoke cooingly

"They weren't that costly. The store owner bought them under pressure and wanted to get rid of them,"

It was very well the case that the store owner wanted to get rid of the high-quality item he got for cheap and that no one wanted to buy, but she didn't tell him that it still cost above 700 silver coins,

"And Ryu is my proud student. He deserves a head start!!" Snow kept cooing at him, and then when Ryu finally stopped hugging and took a step back, he noticed that Snow was looking very happy and she spoke

"Ryu, you might already know this but… keep this room and expansion glyph a secret" expansion glyph was the name Snow gave to the glyph she draws all over the room.

Ryu nodded looking around the room. He tilted his head,

"Glyph was made by you, but this room?" Ryu asked as he thought,

'The glyph could be invented by Snow. She is talented, but the room itself wasn't something she can make,'

Snow answered with a nostalgic smile

"This room is maybe an old elven construction. Felicia and I found it. We used it as our resting spot. She helped me make the glyph too,"

Ryu nodded as she heard the origin of the room Snow told the whole story as to how she drew a trap glyph on the tree to use on a rebound snake but it instead opened the hidden room and how Felicia scared her after acting as if she fell deep somewhere,

"Now Ryu, try it. Sit in middle and channel your mana," Snow instructed as she point to the middle of the glyph.

Ryu moved to the instructed place. He sat down in a meditative position like that of a Buddhist monk in his last life, he began channeling his mana inside it, his all concentration on mana going inside the glyph as if it was his extension,

'A bit more!! A bit more!' he pleaded in his mind.

He didn't want to disappoint Snow. After all, she put in it for him.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It is enough, did good," Snow said softly and Ryu let go. He nearly used all his mana and stood up,

"How much did I get?" Ryu asked excitedly. he had felt his mana going farther, but what Snow said made settled his excitement

"Only 4%"

"Only 4%!?" Ryu said back in shock,

"Yes, only the area that turned red got your mana," Snow said, pointing at the red lines where Ryu was sitting. It was incomparable to room size and Ryu sulk seeing that, Snow patted him,

"This glyph hard!!" she said, already out of her teaching mode,

"Go back? Breakfast Ryu?" She said and Ryu nodded, as they made their way back home Ryu was still shocked at the huge gap from her normal personality Snow gets while teaching and there was also a feeling of sadness knowing she will be gone for adventuring soon,

"Cheer up!" Snow said and patted his back as if she sensed his emotions and this was enough for Ryu's mouth to form a smile again, feeling lucky for having her in this life as a family.

 

[Author's note- Have fun!!]