TBATE: The Dragons Of Diacathen

Chapter 9

My father responded immediately as I could sense mana spreading throughout his body.

Feigning a punch, I twist my torso and go for a high kick, but was promptly blocked by my father's left arm.

It was obvious he didn't expect my kick to be so powerful because his arm flung back from the blow, opening his guard. However, before I was able to make use of that opening, he used the momentum to chop his right hand at my body.

It was obvious that I was now in a disadvantageous position, but with a full previous lifetime of fighting had already prepared me on how to counter him.

I took his chop with my left forearm and right palm to soften the blow, and also to create enough space for me to slip inside.

My body wasn't big enough for me to shoulder-toss him so instead, I grabbed his right arm and kicked the back side of his right knee.

Losing balance, he fell forward as I used my mana-imbued body to throw him. Unfortunately, he regained balance too quickly and I had no choice but to put some distance between us before he got a hold of me.

"Well I'd have to say you're better than all of the mages I've trained! Your old man's going to get serious now, though! Be careful." He put on a more serious face. It was apparent to both of us that we had both been holding back.

The mysterious fact about mana formed inside the core during the earlier stages was that it differed depending on how augmenters and conjurers used it.

While expensive, many parents choose to have their newly awakened child tested to see what element that they were most adept at by using a special device. A conjurer's attribute became very noticeable depending on what type of elements they had an easier time casting.

For augmenters, however, it was a lot less obvious because most of their attacks were focused on using mana to enhance their bodies. However, even augmenters had differentiations in how adept they were in certain types of elements. One quick example was culmination of gathering mana into a single point and releasing it in an explosive attack. While no visible flames were involved, an augmenter who had an easier time utilizing mana in that manner would typically be considered a fire-attribute mage.

That was only applied in the beginning.

While it differed per person, after a certain threshold in one's mana core and comprehension of the element, he or she could be utilize mana in a way to actually pertain to the user's attribute. For conjurers, this meant that they could start slowly progress away from the training wheels of chanting and start shortening their verses or even completely foregoing it in the element that they were adept at.

For augmenters, it would become much more noticeable because they could begin manifesting their elemental attribute instead of manipulating mana in a manner corresponding to their elemental attribute.

For example, before breaking through, a fire attribute augmenters attack would simply carry a more powerful explosive burst, while wind attribute augmenters would find it easier to manipulate mana into faster and sharper attacks.

However, upon sufficient comprehension, the augmenters' element attribute would actually influences their attacks physically. Earth-attribute augmenters could learn to produce a gauntlet of earth and can even learn to create small seismic shocks by stomping their foot, while wind-attribute augmenters could be taught to release small blades of wind and create a vacuum effect in their punches, and so on. All of these were essentially techniques that mages could utilize upon sufficient comprehension of their respective element.

Of course, conjurers still had the major advantage of being able to influence a lot more of their surroundings. Their range was also a lot farther, but their weakness was still the vulnerability that they had the process of chanting as well as their bodies that weren't naturally protected by mana.

Because of these differences, both types of mages that could break the threshold are much stronger than mages that couldn't, and ultimately determined the talent and future accomplishments they could achieve.

While conjurers could innately control elements because of how proficient they were at absorbing nature's mana with their mana veins, augmenters are different.

For every one attribute augmenter there was, there were ten that wasn't. There were cases of attribute augmenters that never break the threshold and become fully-fledged elemental attribute augmenters. This was where proper schooling came into play; with enough guidance from early on, mages would more likely be able to be led to comprehension of their elemental attribute.

His two fists ignited, bursting into fiery gloves of scarlet. This control over his fire element was novice, apparent from the steam coming from his body. This meant that there was unnecessary mana being spread out throughout his body.

I had learned early on that my father was a fire attribute mage, but after reaching a bottleneck for years while being busy as a father, he was able to reach the orange stage and, more impressively, was able to break through in his comprehension in fire. He could now be considered as an official elemental augmenter, or elemental for short.

I shot him a proud grin, before readying myself as well.

"Impressive, Dad... but now it's my turn."