Chapter 14 - Lesser Heal

"You don't need to hurry," Lyra said. "While you are moving from a point to another without having to use mana, you can decrease your concentration level. As long as you relax, you won't use mana, and thus you won't mess up while drawing the symbol."

Upon noticing that Zaos was having a hard time while drawing the last symbol, Lyra said that. In the end, he relaxed a little since it was his first try, and he could afford to fail. There was no need to hurry, after all.

"Remember, your mana completely obeys you. As long as you are focused, you will only use it when necessary," Lyra added.

Much to Lyra's surprise, Zaos actually succeeded in completing the spell on the first try. She could tell by looking at his hands that were glowing slightly.

Your Sorcery level reached level 04.

You have learned Lesser Heal

Health: 08/08

Mana: 28/48

Stamina: 05/18

Strength: 04

Magic: 24

Endurance: 09

Resistance: 24

Focus: 01

Sorcery Lv 04, Swordsmanship Lv 01

Lesser Heal

After hearing that voice and checking the screen on the corner of his vision, Zaos noticed that the energy that suddenly appeared on his hands were decreasing. So, he quickly touched his mother's hand and then used Lesser Heal on her. She somewhat looked a little less fatigued, and then she pinched Zaos's nose.

"Congratulations! You learned your first spell!" Lyra said and then hugged Zaos. "Incredible, Zaos. It is rare to find someone who succeeds on their first try. Anyway, did you notice anything when you learned the spell?"

"Somehow… I just felt that the spell couldn't work on me," Zaos replied.

"That is right, it is a simple spell, with simple functions," Lyra said. "If it could work on the caster, it would activate at the exact same time, and you succeeded since the energy was around your hands."

"All right, the next spell, please," Zaos said.

"No, no," Lyra shook her head. "You took quite a while to activate the spell, and the next one won't be any easier. So, you need to practice that one until you are fast enough to activate it in five seconds."

That seemed arbitrary, but Zaos quickly understood that was necessary. Just like his swordsmanship, he needed to build a decent foundation. Otherwise, it will be next to impossible to learn advanced spells.

Now that Zaos already knew what to do, he tried to use Lesser Heal on his mother two other times. But, unfortunately, while he succeeded in doing that, he didn't improve all that much in terms of speed.

"You look unsatisfied," Lyra said. "Practice makes it perfect, Zaos. Don't try to rush ahead. It is already amazing that you can train your sword arm and use magic at your age. Just try to improve little by little every day, and when you grow up, you will feel more than satisfied with yourself."

"Okay," Zaos said.

In the end, Zaos felt satisfied that his mother looked healthier than before. If her health could be improved that easily just by a basic spell, why his mother and father couldn't just hire some mage to do that for her? In any case, after another training session, Zaos decided to take a nap. Still, before it, he studied the screen on the corner of his vision.

"It looks like I will need to do something else to increase my health, but training my body with weapons will be enough to increase my endurance and stamina," Zaos thought. "By training magic, I can increase my mana and the effectiveness of my spells, and Resistance… I have no idea what that can do, though. Resistance against what? Magic?"

It made sense that mages would be somewhat resistant to magic. Regardless, even though apparently learning magic was what most people tried to do, it certainly was the most efficient way for one to increase several statuses. Zaos probably could learn how to improve his strength and health by asking his father, but Focus seemed like another matter altogether. Unfortunately, he still felt hesitant in asking his mother if he was the only one who could see that screen.

"Since no one mentioned or asked about it, I guess it isn't something common," Zaos thought. "I will need to keep quiet about this while I research this in the books at home. Not like I can research this anywhere…"

It would be hard to find time to do that since Lyra was always with Zaos, but he knew the chance would eventually come. Regardless, after his usual afternoon nap, Zaos tried the new stance his father taught him. Soon, Zaos came to learn that keeping that posture after running for a while was harder than he thought. To make matters worse, Zaos didn't hear that voice notifying him that his Swordsmanship level increased. So, he had a long way ahead of him.

While Zaos didn't make much progress with his physical training, his chance to do some research came sooner than he expected. That night, he woke up a while after midnight and quickly realized after going to the toilet that he could use that chance to do the research.

Zaos left the bedroom without waking up his mother, and he took his wooden sword with him. Suppose his mother wakes up before he returns. In that case, she will understand that Zaos left by himself, not that something happened. Regardless, despite the fact that the whole house was silent and dark, he still found some candles illuminating the doors. Thanks to that, Zaos quickly found the library that was located behind the living room. While Zaos had been there with his mother a few times to grab some books, it was the first time he came at night and alone, so the place looked even more ominous than usual.

"I don't have time to feel scared…" Zaos muttered. "Father is probably not a home, so this is a golden chance like no other."

Despite that, Zaos's heart was beating so fast and strong that he barely could hear the sound of his footsteps. In order to avoid the chance of him being locked inside the library, Zaos left the door semi-opened, and that worked pretty well, for his heart almost stop when he heard the door opening.