The Celestial Land

Chapter 7: The Nature Energy

Elleste walked through the halls of the palace. She really did admire this grand and luxurious building. Everything was made from wood and gave the strong sense of nature. She really liked comfortable the atmosphere here.

However, she knew that she couldn't slack off, otherwise, other people woul easily bullied her again just like the Gracia girl just now.

She passed another few batches of purple talent mage and secretly counted. There were a lot of classes here, and the batches alone numbered around eighteen.

Elleste knew that the powerful humans cared more about the other humans who had high potential in their respective fields to be trained differently. They cared more about those who had the highest potential.

This also puzzled Elleste greatly. After all, she only knew that there were only four colors to describe the potentials. Whereas hers was milky colored. Was her talent almost on par with those purple mage then?

As Elleste arrived at the door of twenty three and hesitated for a moment.

"Come in. I have been waiting for you." The sudden voice made  her jumped slightly, but she quickly regained her senses and knocked lightly before opening the door.

There was a beautiful woman with silver colored hair in front of her, making her seemed to be like fairy Elleste had seen on television sometimes. Mage Serena gave off the ethereal feeling, as if she didn't fully belong to this world.

"Your talent is pretty good." Mage Serena gave her a smile. "So, when Mage Allan requested for someone to teach you, I take the job."

Elleste blinked. She felt that this woman gave her a strange feeling, though she didn't know what that feeling was. It was very faint.

"Take this seat." Mage Serena dragged a seat and placed it near her. Elleste walked and took the seat, she sat facing Mage Serena directly.

"Have you read those low-level spells written on the books given to beginner mage?" Mage Serena.

Elleste nodded and honestly answered. "I have read it, but unable to understand the content. After reading it, I felt like the words are gone from my mind. I couldn't remember it."

Mage Serena nodded at her and explained. "That's only natural. You don't have the nature energy right now. I will tell you how to absorb it then."

Mage Serena quickly explained the method to absorb the nature energy. Elleste obediently followed the instruction. She sat on meditative state, above the huge rune that had been placed by Mage Serena before.

She sat there for a long time. Half an hour, an hour, two hours, and three hours passed. However, she still unable to feel the comfortable feeling of something fresh and comfortable on her entire body like Mage Serena described. She opened her eyes and frowned.

"Focus on your mind. There was something bothering you that you are unable to focus. Concentrate and integrate yourself as if you are one with the nature. Those energies will naturally come to you as well." Mage Serena said.

Elleste quickly nodded. She closed her eyes again and enter meditative state. However, this time was different. She had gained some ideas after seeing the walls made from wood and Mage Serena's explanation.

This time, she imagined herself as a tree. A small seed that yet to be sprouted. Over the time, rain gradually fall, giving the chance for the small seed to be sprouted.

Slowly but surely, the tree continued to grow. It absorb the nutrients from the ground, as well as being helped by the sun thorough the process of photosynthesis. Through this process, Elleste gradually able to fuse herself into the nature.

She imagined herself as a tree, having her root pierced into the ground. The earth energy at the from of invisible light finally began to fuse with her body little by little. The process was extremely long, as it was Elleste's first time, so she wasn't that skilled at this yet.

There were also other elements swirling about the tree in Elleste's imagination. They were wind energy blowing on the leaves, water energy through the rains, and the lightning thorough the it's bolt that almost touched the tree's log.

It was all within Elleste's imagination. However, Elleste didn't try to absorb them, she focused on the earth element first. After all, she was still didn't have much control over those earth energy, how was she supposed to absorb other energy then?

Mage Serena silently watched Elleste from the side. She didn't look impatient at all after waiting for more than eight hours. Occasionally, there was a strange light flashed across her eyes. It was hard to guess what she was thinking about.

Until the night, Elleste still hadn't woken up from her meditative state at all. Her body felt really comfortable because of the earth energy entering her body. It gradually strenghten her originally weak physique. Albeit the difference still very faint, what was important that it was there.

As Elleste opened her eyes, she wa startled that the sky had turned dark. She looked up at Mage Serena with an apologetic look before getting up.

"No need to feel sorry. This process of feeling the nature energy is extremely important to you. So, you shouldn't be disturbed or it will take longer the next time you tried to do it again." Mage Serena smiled.

"I will escort you back to your cabin then. Remember to go back here again for a few months."

Elleste was a bit surprised. She nodded. She would rather be with this kind mage than those arrogant mage humans. Even more, the teacher was quite intimidating.

"By the way, Mage Serena. At what stage is Mage Allan?" Elleste curiously asked.

Mage Serena raised her eyebrow and chuckled lightly. "Mage Allan is at a step above mine. He is at fifth stage."

Elleste nodded her head, enlightened. No wonder that he seemed to be more powerful than Mage Serena. However, she couldn't but wonder why Mage Serena was so easy going and kind, unlike those other mages. The aura she gave off also seemed gentle.

As if knowing what she was thinking, Mage Serena began to told her. "It's natural that you felt pressure from people who are at stages above you. After all, even if it's just one stage difference, it's something that cannot be easily crossed."

Mage Serena got up from her seat. "Alright. I will send you to your cabin now."

Elleste followed Mage Serena as she walked towards one the corner of the room instead. Elleste was a bit puzzled, but after seeing the wide rune carved into the floor, she immediately understood. Mage Serena's room was quite spacious, and there were a lot kind of rune drawn everyhere.

"If you are interested in learning about rune. I can teach you. Runes are the art that can be mastered by any races." Mage Serena explained as she stepped into the huge rune, followed by Elleste.

Mage Serena began to use her staff and waved it countless times to the lines of the rune below. It seemed like she was channeling the nature energy to the rune. Gradually, the rune lit up in various colors: green, violet, orange, red, and many other colors.

A few moment later, as the light from the rune was getting denser, Elleste felt like her body was being squeezed by a huge hands, and her skin was pierced by countless needles. It was uncomfortable and quite painful. Luckily, her eyes was closed. If not, she was afraid of the feeling having her eyes flew out of their socket.

The painful feeling lasted only for a few seconds. However, it felt like century for Elleste. As soon as it gone, Elleste didn't even have the time to look at her surrounding. She let out some coughs as she gasped for breath.

Her body felt so weak that she could barely kept herself standing.

"Eh, I forgot to tell you about the effect of the transportation rune." Mage Serena looked at Elleste apologetically. She waved her staff and a comfortable feeling made its way to Elleste's body. She gradually felt better.

Looking at Mage Serena, Elleste could only bitterly smiled. If she had known that the effect would be like this, she probably would've requested to escorted by walking. Maybe, she could also ask some pointers regarding her nature energy abasorbtion.

Rune transportation didn't really suit her right now, because her physique wasn't strong enough. Mage Serena probably forgot about this matter.

"Thank you, Mage Serena." Elleste bowed at her. Mage Serena smiled at Elleste and disappear into the motes of light. A few seconds later, her presence was completely gone.

Elleste sighed and opened the cabin. She found that Arlina had returned long time ago. She was sitting on the her bed in meditative state. As Elleste entered the room, Arlina opened her eyes.

"Your training ended at so late night." Arlina looked at Elleste, then she widened her eyes. "You actually have been successful in feeling the nature energy, even absorbing them."

Elleste blinked. She looked at Arlina, feeling slightly puzzled. "Why is your reaction like this? Is that a bad thing?" Elleste also remembered that Mage Serena didn't say anything about this.

"Tch, of course not." Arlina snorted, she looked at Elleste, feeling slightly dejected. "Your talent in becoming a mage is actually this good." Arlina was shaking herself as if she was in disbelief, "no wonder that a Mage Lord personally came to appoint you in a batch."

Arlina was looking at Elleste from head to toe, making Elleste felt the slight goosebumps. Then, she remembered Arlina's identity as an undead, who looked like a vampire. They liked blood, didn't they?

Thinking about this, Elleste was alarmed as she saw Arlina's look. It was as if she was seeing a delicious food.

Arlina chuckled at seeing Elleste's expression. "Why do you look so anxious? I won't do anything to you."

Elleste heaved a sigh of relief as she found out that Arlina just messed with her. However, this also remind her that she was in an unfamiliar world and she had to remain vigilant.