Lumios rubbed his eyes and walked down a hallway of the flying airship carrier as his completely bloodshot miruku tendrils' eyes darted around their gazes everywhere.
"How am I tired? I could have sworn I accounted for it when I made-" Lumios murmured as he noticed the door to the training hall was open. Lumios poked his through the open doorway and spotted Zalroth in the middle of his lesson.
"Alright... I'm not going to try and demonstrate how to create chakra because it doesn't show a visual effect unless you're using chakra-based forms; also, I don't believe you lot would like to be put under illusions," Zalroth remarked as he placed the Crescent Moon Staff against the front of the chalkboard.
Lola and the kids lent forwards as Zalroth raised his hand and placed his middle finger and thumb together. The kids were on the edge of their bean bags and intently watched Zalroth's hands as he flexed his fingers. Zalroth snapped his fingers, and a flame made of fire mana the size of a baseball formed over his palm.
"Ooh/aah," the kids said in unison as they watched the flame float in the air. Zalroth flicked the flame, and it splinted into two separate flames: a blue one and a magenta one.
"As I was about to say, when you meld... mix your magical energy into your qi, it forms into a little thing I'm sure you've heard off," Zalroth said, as the magenta flame twisted around the blue one, and the two flames mixed into a purple one.
"Mana!" Yumi called out with a flat tone.
"You don't need to be so loud, Yumi-" Lulu uttered before choking on her words as something in the corner of her vision caused a shiver to course through her spine. Lulu slowly etched her head towards the thing which spooked her and realised it was just Lumios watching from the doorway. Lulu blankly stared at Lumios' miruku tendrils' bloodshot eyes and shivered before snapping her head away.
"Is something wrong?" Jokel signed to Lulu.
"N-no... the prince's head tendril's eye just gave me the creeps," Lulu muttered while lightly rubbing the area next to her eyes. Zalroth quietly watched Lulu, and he pretended to be thinking of how to simplify his descriptions to the kid; once Lulu's breathing returned to a regular rate Zalroth continued his lesson.
"As Yumi said a second ago, when you mix your magical energy into your qi it will create mana, which allows you to conjure things like this flame here," Zalroth said. Zalroth waved his hand and wafted the flame away.
"And once you cast a spell, the magical energy inside the mana is used up and only leaving your qi behind; the same thing happens when you use chakra," Zalroth said. Coco raised her hand, and Zalroth asked Coco to ask her question.
"Why's only the magical energy used up?".
"Because your qi functions as a stabiliser to focus your magical energy when they're mixed into mana, and as such no matter how much magical energy you have, your max attack potency is capped to your current max amount of qi; so, if you have fifty qi and seventy magical energy you'll only be able to make fifty mana and then twenty mana after you've used up the original fifty," Zalroth said.
"Oh, and also, your amount of qi slowly goes up or down depending on various factors, while your total amount of kai and magical energy only increases over time and can be depleted before needing to replenish over time," Zalroth added. The kids nodded while muttering amongst themselves.
"So, qi is like HP in video games, and kai and magical energy are like two different stamina bars which are capped by the character's max HP?" Prima asked.
"That's a good analogy, but replace max with current," Zalroth said.
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"Wait, so getting beaten up means you can't use your stronger magic spells anymore?" Prima asked before she cringed.
"Don't answer that...," Prima muttered. Zalroth snickered, which caused Prima to cover her face it turned pink.
"It depends," Zalroth stated, causing Prima and all the other kids to make huh noises.
"When you get beaten up or injured your qi doesn't change just the amount you can access decreases; however, for example, if you have the pyrokinesis azure ability then it doesn't matter how injured you are, and also you don't have the qi limit imposed on your mana since the azure ability handles it for you," Zalroth stated.
"Why's that?" Snow asked as she slowly raised her hand after she already asked her question.
"Well, it's simple azure abilities are just clumps of qi which formed into..., erm, programs which act as stand-ins for your own qi and brain," Zalroth said while he watched the kids tilt their heads at him.
"Brain?" Callie asked as she popped up next to Zalroth before imminently being flung backwards by Zuno's telekinesis. Zalroth rubbed his head as he tapped his ears.
"Yeah... it's common knowledge there are two categories of azure abilities; common and unique, but in reality the categories are misleading; since the unique implies only the person with a given unique azure ability would be able to perform a given magical ability (when the categories only refer to the amount of a given azure ability in gem form)," Zalroth stated, causing everyone standing in the room to be left in shock.
"Papa, are you saying someone would be able to use my dream viewing AA?" Lola asked worriedly.
"Theoretically, but given how complex azure abilities in the unique category are trying to replicate them without the azure ability would be like needing to solve a high-grade maths equation every second, just to be able to move your body while also trying to focus on whatever you need to focus on," Zalroth stated.
"However, even though I said anyone could use a unique azure ability without the ability there are exceptions, take Scarlett for example," Zalroth said, which caused all the kids to gather around Scarlett. Scarlett giggled to herself as the other kids looked at her and tried to figure out what Zalroth was talking about.
"If you look closely at Scarlett's hands you'll see the holes next to her knuckles; those were formed due to her azure ability awakening, so no matter how much someone tries they wouldn't be able to recreate Scarlett's azure ability in the same way she uses it. Also given how particular azure abilities are the person would basically be making a completely different one if they were to try," Zalroth said before he grabbed Crescent Moon Staff and tapped it against the chalkboards to get rid of it.
"And with that, that concludes today's lesson, any questions?" Zalroth asked. Yumi raised her hand.
"Scarlett said... kitsunes have ability like mama, is true?" Yumi asked.
"Oh, are you referring to his power to be able to passively see what people's azure abilities are once they start working?" Scarlett asked excitedly, causing Yumi to nod her head. Zalroth yawned as he placed the Crescent Moon Staff back in his tails.
"So, what would you lot like me to teach you about next week?" Zalroth asked, to which he received a unanimous answer.
"Demonstration of you using our unique powers!". Zalroth exhaled exhaustedly as Xelphia(in her half/half body form) poked her head out of Zalroth's tails.
"Would you like my help with that?" Xelphia asked concernedly.
"Maybe for them to try out each other's azure abilities, but if I use it, it'll cheapen the lesson, so I do it the way I said for the first few," Zalroth said telepathically. Xelphia nodded before she dived back into Zalroth's tail pocket dimension. Zalroth sighed sombrely as he placed a hand on his forehead.
"I know he seemed like a genius... but I doubt he would've been able to replicate that... wait... were they a boy or a girl?" Zalroth said as his serious expression shifted to a confuddled and puzzled one. Lulu gazed at Zalroth and glanced towards the empty training hall doorway.
"Meanie... he didn't even stay until the end of the lesson, though he probably already knows all this stuff anyway," Destiny murmured.
"What do you mean? He's right here," Prima said. Everyone other than Prima and Yokuza glanced backwards and saw Lumios standing behind all of them while muttering words into existence without rapidly he muttered.
"Interesting; no wonder azure gems give off such a unique energy signature because they're pure qi. No wonder traditional scanners can't pick up on them," Lumios muttered. Lumios continued to ramble as Zuno carried Callie under his arm over to Zalroth.
"How can someone be both: the stealthiest and most attention-drawing person at the same time?" Callie asked as Zuno placed her on the floor.