Avatar: Mage of All Elements

So I came here to see how local magic differs from southern magic. And the big question hanging in the air is, how do I apply to be an apprentice? You can't just go to the first person you meet, because I need subtleties, and there aren't that many strong magicians, and they're usually busy. But what the hell is no joke, so after asking the locals, I went to the strongest teacher.

They sent me to a place that was practically near the palace. There was a man named Pakku, one of the best magicians in the village. The building for the water magic training wasn't really a building, because what made it different from the other buildings was that it only had two walls. That was all. There were a few fountains on the grounds. The rest of the place was covered with ice and snow.

And at that moment, an older man was already there, scolding one of the boys. I didn't interrupt them, but sat down not far away and watched, waiting for their lesson to end.

«Hello, could I have your attention for a moment?» I asked politely when the class was over and all the students had dispersed.

«Just a little», he said wryly.

«I would like to learn water magic from you.»

«And why would I want to teach you?» he grinned, still just as sarcastic.

«I come from a southern tribe.»

«Well, then study there», he waved his hand and walked leisurely to the exit.

«I've already studied the south.»

«All the more reason not to. Our methods are too different. The most you'll get is medicine. You can go there safely», he said with a barely suppressed laugh.

I knew where they taught healing magic, the villagers had told me. That's where I went. And this place was more like a training building, since it had four walls and a ceiling. I knocked, but it was already dark, so no one was inside. I had to wait for the next morning, and as soon as the sun came up, I was back outside the healing building.

«Hello. Are you Lady Yugoda?» I said politely.

«Young man, I am flattered, of course, but here at the North Pole, a lady is someone who is married. Whereas I have been a widow for many years», she replied with a smile. She was already an older woman, with strands of gray hair.

«Everyone you've healed calls you by that name», I said, still smiling.

«But I didn't heal you», I told her the story of yesterday and expressed my wish to be trained by her, «Oh, that Pakku. It doesn't really matter which tribe a person comes from, the basics are the same here and there, and he just has a grudge against the southern tribe.»

«I see», I scratched my chin, «So will you train me in healing?»

«As a rule, men are not trained in healing, for there is no courage in it», I could tell from her intonation that she was remembering someone, and wiggled like that.

«Then I will be the exception to that rule. So please teach me. It's important to me», I bowed.

«Alright, then come in», she replied after thinking for a while.

This building was also made of ice. Since it was still morning, no one was here. There wasn't much space inside, and the room was circular in shape. In the center was a wooden model of a man, scrawled with incomprehensible lines. As it turned out later, these were spiritual channels, through which healing magic is conducted, the body speeds up its regeneration many times over, and what is interesting is that this method does not wear out the body. And that was the main difference with the southern style.

If Hama taught me to act on the body itself, which repaired the damage very quickly, but in general depleted the body greatly, the northern style of treatment was based more on the complex restoration of the entire body, and although the treatment itself was slower, the body did not suffer.

There were all kinds of tricks to repair the damage even faster. For example, if the heart was sick, you could put energy through it and turn it counterclockwise, and that would speed up its recovery by five to ten percent. And there were many such tricks, for every organ and every part of the body. This is what we learned in class, memorizing everything, because if you do it wrong, the effect can be devastating.

It took me a month to learn it all and not get it all mixed up, after which I went to ask Pakku to apprentice me again. While I was learning, I tried to make myself visible to as many inhabitants as possible.

Some ignored me, others I managed to strike up a conversation with. Usually it was my peers or older people. But I achieved my goal and moved from the «Stranger» category to the «That guy» category, which was not so hard to do in one month.

And it was interesting to learn the customs and traditions of the locals. For example, I learned that the beads I was wearing in front of everyone were wedding beads and should only be worn by girls.