Hero of Darkness

Mana manipulation, the most important form of practice required for casting effective and powerful spells was something Kahn currently needed to master. 

In the past week after he started his magic training, what he did was understand the composition of various elements such as water, wind, fire, stone and lightning. 

The main reason was that he had most of the offensive skills & spells which involved these 4 elements. 

Even the Dark Lightning Strike consisted of the lightning element which was half of the force behind the attack. And since Kahn had no sources available to read and study about dark magic in his current situation, he had to at least improve his mastery over this element. 

In his hands, were two things that he had been studying since yesterday. One was soil and the other was a burning lamp. 

He started studying different elements by trying to feel the connection between him and the mana which was part of these things. But now, it was more about feeling and mastering the use of the basic ingredients of the dish he was going to cook instead of learning the recipe. 

Casting these elemental spells was something he could already do but while holding the samples in his hands, he sensed that his summoned elemental spells are nothing but a poor imitation and aren't dense or strong enough to give the maximum output in front of the real deal. 

The past week since he started, went into nothing but him trying to establish a proper connection with the mana present in these things and then trying to recreate them from scratch using mana restructuring. 

Although his affinity was increasing each day, the progress was extremely small. Kahn also realized that if not for his levels and rank, he wouldn't even be able to reach this stage in such a short time and maybe would need to spend months for the progress he made in just a week. 

Being a reincarnator in another world while given divine abilities and blessings from the gods had its perks & hacks. 

What Kahn was trying to do now was push past his current limits and exceed his understanding of mana. Although his photographic memory helped him read and remember everything.. The physical and mental limitations of one's body couldn't be surpassed automatically when it came to mana. 

[Maybe the other Heroes have top-grade instructors teaching them these things and mapped out their path already. 

That damn predecessor of mine had to go for the most radical way and kill off all the heroes, just to create more trouble for me.] he thought. 

Kahn already felt that other summoned heroes must have everything they needed in order to become strong or capable, let it be their fighting techniques or magical skills. 

At this moment, Kahn felt jealous of the others who were summoned just like him because how easily they already had the road paved out for them. In his case, he was the one constructing the road by himself. 

Let it be knowledge, resources, guidance and facilities… Kahn was certain he was already the weakest among the bunch. 

But there was no point in crying over the spilled milk. So he had no choice but to carry on with his use methods and available options. 

One thing he learned from the experience was that by controlling the flow of mana present in any substance, he could forcefully change their forms easily. 

While practicing fire spells, he increased the friction of mana and created fire, and with more practice, the intensity of the fire he conjured increased little by little and so did his understanding and control over that element. 

For wind spells, Kahn increased the speed of the mana in gaseous form, while he increased density to create ground spells and extremely volatile movements of mana to create lightning spells. 

Although not perfect, he was making steady progress with each passing day. On a few occasions, Kahn was so immersed in practicing his skills that he even forgot to eat. Only when Alfred personally came to inform him about the time for dinner, did he come back to reality. 

He learned how to recreate and command various elements, then how to adjust their density and speed.. He was learning new things everyday. 

And slowly as he tried to manipulate the mana and give it a similar structure and form the matter & physical state, the force behind the magic spells he created started increasing at a noticeable rate. The current progress was already 5% more than what he could do previously. 

But after another week passed by.. Kahn felt like he hit a plateau and reached the maximum extent of his ability. He now reached a level where he felt like his own body was his shackles that stopped him from becoming stronger and improving. As if he was now jailed inside a prison of his own making. 

But instead of feeling disheartened or giving up, he knew that all of this was part of the procedure. Just like how he had to steadily progress in his weapons mastery and combat techniques previously. 

To him, it was all worth it to learn and start from scratch because if he couldn't even master mana, how would he master World Energy? 

If he broke through to Saint rank without proper understanding and use of mana, he would have a lot of trouble in sensing and utilizing the world energy. Kahn didn't want to become the weakest of saints when he finally broke through. 

All of this was the foundational work for the future and he had to make sure that he did it perfectly instead of suffering through the consequences of being hasty. 

Two more weeks passed by as Kahn continued his days studying and practicing magic spells in a routine and one day when he was in a trance while handling and manipulating two different elemental spells, the system finally spoke after a month of silence...

[Congratulations to the host for becoming a Beginner Rank Magician.]