The rest of my lessons pass in a flash. We keep going over more letters and words. Even if we haven't gotten to any of the other topics Claire is supposed to teach me about, just having this one thing that I can make progress in... It's amazing. She even compliments my handwriting, saying that it's really neat and pretty. In fact, she compliments my hand writing... kind of a lot, actually. It's a little weird, and makes me worry a bit. Is she... trying to encourage me? Like, is she trying to make up for how much people are going to insult me for it later...?

Despite the bit of worry, the lessons are great and I learn a ton of new words. After all, two of the letters we cover today are 'n' and 'o.' Which are apparently used in tons of different words! All sorts of useful words like kin, lone, deign, and aloof. It does feel like she's still teaching shorter ones. I struggle more with the five letter words, but I do my best to remember them. Then she introduces a six letter word, 'solace.' That ends up being the hardest word today, and she tells me to practice it more when I go home so I'll be able to remember it.

Still, it's a very interesting word. She explains how it it means comforting someone, especially when they're sad or distressed. From her descriptions of what it means and how it's used, I'm immediately reminded of how Reena helped me. So that, that's solace... I'm going to remember this word.

We finish up class at the eighth bell and Claire heads out for the day. I sit briefly in Eryk's office after she goes. I let all the information from the day sink in, then look back over to Eryk again.

"Feeling any better?" he asks.

I think for a bit, then answer. "Yeah, I think I do." There are a few moments, Eryk waiting, before I ask, "Hey, there's a word I wanted to know. It's like, when you don't care about something. Do you know the word for that?"

"Mm, there are lots of words to express that. If you're just talking about not caring about a specific thing, common ones would be 'indifferent,' 'callous,' or 'disinterested.' He takes some time to go over the more minor differences between them, and I nod slowly, though none of them quite hit the mark. He must be able to tell, because he goes on afterward.

"You may be looking for something a bit different. Assuming it's based on what happened the other day, it could be 'apathy.' Rather than not caring about something specific, it refers to a complete lack of emotion toward anything." I can see him considering saying more, but he eventually bites his tongue and leaves it at that.

So, 'apathy,' that's the right word to describe that complete lack of feeling. I nod and say, "Ok, thanks Eryk." I'll be careful of that from now on. Even though I've been more stable lately, I think I sort of felt that way last night. The cause is a bit... but just knowing what to call it feels like a small step forward.

"So, any idea where you're going today?" Eryk asks.

I frown a little. "Not really, I don't really know any other kids. Where should I even look for them?"

He shrugs. "That, I can't help with. Maybe around a well or something?"

"Thanks anyway, I'll just look around." I stand up from my chair and say goodbye, repeating the farewell to John as I pass him outside. He waves a bit, and I walk off into the northeast district.

----------------------------------------

This is... really weird. It's been a while since I've just walked around all on my own, hasn't it? Given how clean I am, I head toward the southern end of the district where I won't stick out quite as much. Maybe the central district would be better, except my clothes are clearly not nice enough, no matter how much I've been washing lately. Not that it really matters with my bright white hair. I don't fit in anywhere...

I don't know where to find other kids. All I can do is wander, trying to ignore the eyes that are always drawn to me.

Suddenly, Myra grabs my attention because I don't seem busy at the moment. "What is it?" I ask silently.

"I figured out something cool, I'm a magical creature!" That one grabs everyone's attention. No one knows how to respond though. I actually stop walking, just standing in the middle of the little street I'm on.

"Umm, explain?!" I launch the question back. I haven't really been paying enough attention to her adventures in the mountains to recall. To show us, she channels mana into her claws, then rakes them across the solid stone of the mountain beneath her feet, slicing through it with ease.

"See? I can channel mana to my claws to make them cut better," she explains. Then wordlessly, adds on that she's always been able to do that, but never understood how she did it before. Wait, so being able to make her claws sharper makes her a magical creature? "I guess? At least based on what you know about magical creatures," she answers my thought.

"Yeah, I would call that something strange and mysterious..." Of course, that's pretty much all I know about magical creatures. There could be more to it. Still, how did it take her so long to notice?

"It's a special finishing attack that's really draining to use." She mentally gestures to some giant spiky... thing... she just killed, lying a short distance away. "Or it's supposed to be, now that I can use mana for it, I can pretty much do it all I want." To demonstrate, she easily rakes her claws through the stone a few times, it just takes a little mana.

Alright, so Myra is a magical creature... I'm slowly wrapping my head around that one. But it's really weird how Myra can use mana to power her magic. How do normal magical creatures use magic if they can't control mana?

Well, she did have quite a bit more mana than any of the animals or people I checked before, so maybe magical creatures naturally have more mana than other living things? But wouldn't that mean they use mana for magic? And once again, that doesn't make any sense if they can't control mana...

Just to make absolutely sure, I ask her and she confirms again that she definitely couldn't sense or control mana at all before I changed her. I hang my head a little, I'm not getting anywhere with this.

In that case... My best guess it that they use their magic some other way, but they're able to use mana instead if they can control it. But... why would a magical creature be able to control mana? I can only control it because I'm a rail unit. So... I guess taking over Myra so she can control mana made her magic way stronger than other magical creatures, huh...

I start walking again. Despite the amazing new discovery, I don't really have anything I can do with the information. It's great to know, but there's no real application...

Before my attention is completely diverted, Myra mentions one other thing. A bunch of creatures living in the mountains has been riled up all day. She can't say why, but it's giving her a bad feeling. She's really far north now, so she's going to start making her way south again. In case anything really bad happens up in the north, she wants to be out of the way.

Again, good information that I can't really do anything with... She notes that this means she'll be closer to town, so she may as well pick up some elemental mana while she's nearby.

"Sure, sure," I smirk a little as I answer.

We all return our attention to our own tasks, which leaves me still wandering the northeast district. I didn't notice any other kids while I was talking to Myra, but...

I stop, shifting to stand against the wall of the alley I was walking through. Is this really what I should be doing right now? Yeah, Eryk told me I have to go play with other kids, but... but...

I sigh, sliding down to sit against the wall.

"I'm lost," I finally admit to myself. I don't know what to do. I've spent days, but haven't made any progress with anything I've been working on. Mind-speaking is going nowhere. Controlling mana indirectly didn't seem to work. Making solid creations hasn't gotten anywhere except for me doing horrible things to those hobins.

Alright, sure, I haven't been working on them that long, it's only been a few days. But still, I managed to pin down all of the mana types and their uses so much more quickly. Why is it so much harder now? I have my mark and Reena and I should actually have guidance but... But I don't.

I know she doesn't want to interfere, but I don't know what to do and it feels like I'm not making progress fast enough working blindly on my own. I only have a month before the next battle.

I haven't learned anything that might help.

I am going to die again.

Leaning my head back against the wall, I stare up at the sky, watching a cloud slowly glide above the alley I'm sitting in. I have to remind myself that there are some things I have accomplished. And I have leads and things left to look into. It's not like I'm at a dead end. I'm just lost. I have to keep up my aimless searching in hopes I find something. But I'm running out of time and don't even know what might help.

Maybe I could ask Reena if there even is something I could do to survive. But she already told me that I can't, that's why she tried to stop me from going into battle the first time. If a god tells me it's hopeless, what can I possibly do? But she told me it was hopeless the first time, and I managed that, right? Yeah, if I count dying, then bringing myself back from the dead as 'managing.'

"Ugh..." I grumble. I'm still not getting anywhere. I need a plan. I'd love to find some kids and play and just forget about my worries for a while, but now that I'm stable enough to seriously think about my problems, I have to do something about them or I'll end up dead. Playing can... wait, I guess...

I have no way to stand up against rail units. I don't know if there even is any way that I can learn, no matter how I try. At least for now, the only thing that can fight them is another rail unit. So, what about Effy? I still don't know whether I'll be with her in the next fight, but maybe I can talk to her and learn more about the divine armaments so I'll know what I'm up against?

I don't know how much she's learned since she started using her divine gear, maybe she'll figure out something new too. Then she'll do better in the next battle and... maybe help protect me too? It's a long shot, but everything else is just as bad. At least some basic knowledge is likely to help a little.

She should be around town, so I ask Chisa if she can find her. With her incredibly sharp vision, she is super confident, swinging up high over the town to search. And maybe a little over-excited, it's a bit funny.

Now, how do I actually meet Effy? Last time we went out the North Gate. No one else uses it, so we can't keep meeting like that or it would be way too suspicious... I mean, every time I show up, so does a rail unit. Not that hard to put together...

Well, she might be expressive enough now that people don't realize she's a rail unit. If it wasn't for her robes...

Since the North Gate is probably out, I consider the others. Not the East Gate, there's nothing but the river there, and way too many people. Maybe we could go to the forest, but there's no telling if someone would see us. Normally I wouldn't be worried since we never really run into anyone as long as we go a good way in, but if she activates her divine gear, that will be way more visible and might draw someone's attention.

In that case, maybe we can just head really far in. It's more dangerous in the deep sections of the forest, but I'll be with a working rail unit, so there definitely won't be anything to worry about. Even I should be able to take care of myself there, now that I can knock out animals by touching them.

Once I've decided on my plan, I get going. Chisa comes through too, spotting Effy from high overhead, over near North Main Street. It's much easier now that she's familiar with Effy's black hair. Though she does sweep over a couple times as she descends to be sure, since the style is a little... odd. Still short after they cut all the rail units' hair for the battle, it's been about a week since I last saw her, so it's grown a little below her ears and started sticking out messily too. It's even more crazy than Francis' hair.

Surprisingly, no one on the street seems to notice her, just going about their business. Her robe is already stained kind of brown rather than bright white, so that's probably it. Maybe we could go out the North Gate after all?

I shake my head a little. I'm pretty far south and she's not that much further, and it would still be suspicious for anyone to go out that way. I keep myself walking while most of my attention stays on Chisa. She swoops over the buildings, slowing her descent. Unlike last time when Effy cleared the street with her presence, there are plenty of people wandering around. Since there's no way to avoid her being seen with Effy, I just shrug it off.

She won't be landing on the ground this time, so Chisa comes down on a nearby building, a short distance ahead of Effy. Standing at the edge of the rooftop, she gives a few flaps of her wings, watching for the woman to notice and look up.

A few people do too, but soon lose interest. At least Chisa doesn't see anyone aiming a bow at her or anything. As soon as she does catch Effy's eye, she drops from the edge of the building, tracing a curved path down. She spots the faint hint of recognition on Effy's face as she comes in. Effy raises an arm as the other people in the street begin to take notice of the bird flying low overhead. With one hard flap to kill her momentum at the last moment, Chisa makes a somewhat awkwardly careful landing on Effy's arm. She almost loses her balance before Effy steadies her with her free hand.

"You again?" she asks. Her expression is... not exactly blank like a rail unit. More just... kind of neutral and passive, like Eryk does when he's hiding his emotions. Even as she questions Chisa's sudden appearance, her eyebrows only twitch upward, just a tiny bit. Either she's still working on her expressiveness, or she's not that surprised, I guess...

Chisa gives a small squawk, then pivots to face away from Effy. As her gaze swings across the nearby crowd, they all look totally astonished. Drawing so much attention makes me cringe a little, I have to remind myself that all of those eyes are on Chisa and Effy, not me.

Just like last time, Chisa points with her body, leading Effy through the crowded streets of gawking people. I do my best to quickly get her onto the less used roads of the northeast district, but I totally didn't think this through completely. Having her pass out of the crowded West Gate with Chisa on her arm would be... really bad. As they walk, I figure out why I think it would be bad. I keep hearing people mutter 'Saras' as Effy goes past.

That's right, people relate birds to Saras, don't they? I definitely can't have her go through anywhere extremely crowded, I don't want to attract the attention of the gods through rumors or something... Instead of directing her through toward the West Gate, Chisa leads her north again. While the guards don't call her out as a rail unit this time, they all stare at the bird on her arm with wide eyes. At least it's better than going straight through town...

While I head down through the West Gate, Effy goes out the North Gate. Then we both turn, aiming toward the northern section of the forest. I quickly make my way into the trees just outside the gate, while Effy walks along the northern city wall. It's a good thing I can pinpoint our positions relative to each other, that way we can meet up once we're further into the woods. Based on the time and our speed, we should meet halfway between the ninth and tenth bells, so we'll have a decent amount of time to talk.

----------------------------------------

The trees grow thick, their branches and leaves overhead blocking out more and more of the light as I go. This is about as deep as I normally go to hunt, except that's usually in the southern section of the forest. The trees here aren't the same kind I'm used to. They have thicker branches and darker colored bark. A few lighter colored ones are mixed in, though I'd actually call them more green than brown. I notice it even more as I get deeper, definitely past where I would hunt. Checking my position against Chisa's, we should meet soon.

I start to get a bit nervous here, Emily warned me that the animals are more dangerous, and there are monsters too. And maybe some magical creatures? I don't know, she never mentioned that when she was talking about the forest, so maybe they stay farther away from town and you can only find them in the mountains?

Since I don't know what might happen, I keep my guard up. To be extra careful, I generate a little bit of extra water mana, and some air. With extra sharp sight and hearing, I keep a close eye out for anything moving nearby. And I immediately catch movement, eyes snapping to the slight flutter of leaves on a bush. Just some small insects.

I keep walking, my senses fixed on my surroundings to spot danger. At one point, I see something move. It's very large with dark fur, but also very far off, barely visible with only some parts of its body showing between the gaps in the trees between us. I don't think it even notices me as we both move past each other, going in opposite directions.

There are a few more unfamiliar animals that I spot at a distance, but nothing jumps out at me or attacks me before I finally meet up with Effy. Like I expected, about halfway to the tenth bell. If I include the time to get back out and home, we should go before the eleventh bell, so I only have a little over one bell's time to talk. Still, I have to take what I can get.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Just as we're coming near one another, Chisa squawks a little and flies up, carefully picking her way through the branches overhead until she breaks through the treetops and makes her way back toward the city. I also hear a flurry of activity, the animals in the surroundings scattering, all moving away from the direction Effy's coming from.

While I'm a little distracted by that, Chisa finishes threading her way up through the treetops and gains some height above the forest. With a glance back, she finds that despite the distance we traveled, we're hardly a fraction of the way through the forest toward the mountains.

Well, that's not that surprising, I was mostly going north after all. But still, judging by the distance I walked and the time, it would have taken a few bells to get all the way to the mountains, at the very least. Especially when dealing with navigating through the trees and getting past any dangerous animals and monsters.

But I guess that also means I'm not quite as deep as I thought and I probably don't need to be too worried about anything dangerous. I'm not sure how deep most people go, so maybe we should head in a little deeper...

In any case, just after Chisa leaves, Effy comes into sight.

"Aria," she says, her lips twitching ever so slightly upward. I smile back.

"Hi Effy."

"Is something wrong, why are we meeting here?" she asks. Once again, her expression is tiny, only a faint twitch of her eyebrows showing her worry.

"No, I just figured that since no one uses the North Gate except to go to battle, it would be too suspicious if we were the only ones, always going out at the same time, even if they never actually saw us together."

"Ahh, that makes sense. So we're meeting here instead."

"Right."

"What did you want to talk about?" she asks, moving straight onto the topic. I clear my throat a little, motioning for us to walk so we can get a little further in, just in case. She walks at my side, towering over me despite not being that tall for an adult.

I take some time to explain things. "I have been preparing for the upcoming battle, and I thought I could talk to you about the divine armaments and learn more about them. I can't access any of the knowledge about them like you can, so I was thinking you could describe them to me more, or let me see them. And I don't know, maybe I could help you with something in return?" I don't really know what I could help with though...

"Alright, that sounds good." After a moment, she adds a nod. I guess she is still working on her expressiveness. "So, what do you want to know about the divine arms?"

"Huh..." I'm not all that sure. The first thing I can think to ask is actually, "So, about the last battle. That was definitely not how it's supposed to go, right?" Even though I know that's not what should happen from training, I still want to ask and make sure.

"Yes, battles are not supposed to occur like that."

"Ok." Good, so at least it was weird like I thought. "So... my biggest contribution was identifying armaments at a distance..." I mutter to myself, even though I know she can hear. "I'd like to get better descriptions of them in case I have to do that again."

"Sure, which ones? I..." She actually hesitates a little, though I don't catch anything in her tone. "...doubt you want me to give in-depth descriptions of all of them, right?"

"No, that's fine," I return a slightly nervous grin at the thought of her attempting to describe all ninety six armaments in detail. "Just the, uhh, main ones I guess. The melee and ranged weapons should be good enough to know, just so I know what they're attacking with.

"Hmm..." Her hesitance makes me stop to think, then I start counting. Five, ten, fifteen... I keep counting off the armaments, which is likely what Effy is doing too.

"Oh, there are still thirty eight of those..." I mumble to myself, slowly thinking things through. "Then, let's rule out the ranged weapons. If they use bows like last time, they might be too far away to even see anyway. That makes it... thirty... Take out the basic ones that don't do anything special or unexpected... makes twenty three. Is twenty three alright?" I ask.

"Yeah, that sounds reasonable," Effy replies immediately this time.

Before she explains, Effy says, "Release," activating her divine gear. Glaring light streaks out through the previously dark forest. For a moment, I expect my sensitive ears to pick out the sound of animals scattering from the disturbance, but there's nothing. Instead, it draws my attention to how our immediate surroundings are absolutely silent. I guess the animals are already staying far away from her.

Effy presses her gear to her forehead and closes her eyes, stopping in place. She takes a few breaths, and I have to assume she's using her access to the knowledge of the divine armaments to get better descriptions of them. I wonder how that works? Does she actually see them, or is it more of a feeling, or something completely different?

There isn't really any way for me to know since I can't do it. Maybe I'll ask about it when we have more time. So I just wait briefly before she begins her explanations. Once she does speak, I listen carefully.

As she goes through the armaments one by one, she starts with the ones that empower their user. I take note of the few that would actually make them more dangerous in battle, unlike say, Tian, a hand-axe that makes the user more difficult to injure and strengthens other defensive armaments, but doesn't make much of a weapon itself.

Among them, I pick out Sid, a set of claw weapons that are dark gray and can pivot with the motions of the user's hands, because it increases their speed, like their body is pulled along whenever they attack.

Then there's Lu Don, a short sword with a thin blade and golden guard, that apparently puts off small gusts of air around it. That one let's its user maneuver more easily, like they don't have as much momentum as they should. I picture that in my head as I nod a little, working to remember it.

The last among those is the only poisonous armament, Rab. It's a knife that causes immediate paralysis anywhere it cuts. According to Effy's better description, it actually curves forward, with a blade on only one side. That should make it pretty easy to recognize.

Then she moves on to the ones that can be activated for some special effect. Unlike the previous ones where only a few seemed specifically dangerous, all of these are. There are eleven of them, so I carefully split them up into categories in my head as she describes them, focusing on the differences between them so I'll recognize them later. Two swords, two staffs, two axes. Then there's one hammer-axe, a spear, and a polearm which all might look similar from a distance... Besides those couple, the rest shouldn't be too difficult to distinguish.

Just one dagger and club. I do take a moment to separate the knives though, since there were two other knives earlier, Para and Rab. This new one, Carn, is pretty scary, allowing the user to instantly move a short distance in any direction. Just disappearing and reappearing somewhere else. I think the word they used back in training was 'teleport.' I make extra sure to remember her description of that one. Straight black blade, white handle. I nod a few times as I memorize it.

"Alright, last are the... different ones." I actually pick a trace of uncertainty out of Effy's tone. She goes on to explain them. She only touches on Catherine briefly since I've already seen it myself.

Then there are two other swords, which I mentally separate by size. Smallest is Catherine, an ordinary longsword. Then Rostoros, a hand and a half sword, and lastly Balmung, a huge two handed sword. Effy points out that Balmung has a star on its blade, just like Catherine. It's huge and dark gray though, so it should be pretty easy to spot. I think back for a moment, remembering that the sword is basically made for smashing through magical defenses.

Then there's Rostoros, probably the most terrifying one. Despite being smaller and having a very plain description, just a hand and a half sword with a brown handle and a plain silver blade. The only detail that stands out are the two stars on the blade, like how Catherine and Balmung have one.

Standing opposite of its simple appearance, is what makes it so scary. It cuts through anything.

It's not like other armaments that are extra sharp or good at defeating defenses like Balmung. Its blade simply cuts everything, even things that shouldn't cut. Things that don't have form, like the special areas created by spells like Bastion or Vigil, those spells 8C and Effy used in the last battle. It just cuts through all of them, somehow. Even though it doesn't make any sense.

What makes it even more unnerving is how simple and plain the sword looks, especially compared to how bright and flashy a lot of other armaments are. So if I see an extremely plain looking sword, I'll be extra careful.

And lastly there's Arcane. Even listening to Effy's description for a while, it's difficult to picture. Two floating, double sided polearms. Or lances maybe, but with blades coming off each end, so long they nearly touch. Judging by her description of the size of the weapons compared to the handles, and how the blades hardly give room to hold the handles, they sound like incredibly unwieldy weapons. I... guess that's why they float.

They're also bright, shining silver and gold in color, with two stars on each side of the weapon. Well, they'll definitely be distinctive if I ever see them...

I really, really hope I don't, given how they're probably the most powerful armament when it comes to close range combat. I mean, they basically fly around, moving however the user wants, they're incredibly sharp, nearly indestructible, and just having them increases all of the user's abilities massively. The only relief is that they're so stupidly mana intensive that I'll probably never have to see them...

I'm definitely seeing the connection between how powerful some armaments are, especially the ones with stars on them. That definitely has to be a mark to separate them from the others, to show they're more powerful.

Having finished explaining, Effy lowers her gear from her forehead and opens her eyes. "Dismiss," she mutters, and her gear vanishes. We stand silently for a short time, eyes adjusting to the dark again, as I go over all of the armaments once more, trying to fix a good idea of their descriptions in my head.

Once I think I have it, I check the time. Three hundred fifty ticks since we got here, so almost one bell, that puts us... about a quarter after the tenth bell. Her explanations really did take a while. We have about a hundred ticks left before we need to start heading back, enough time to do... something. But what?

"Hey, I've been wondering about something," I speak up as a plan comes to mind.

"What is it?" Effy asks.

"Could you combine some armaments with Metallica?"

She pauses, then asks, "Why?"

"Uhh, that's kind of hard to explain," I scratch my head, trying to pull my scattered thoughts on this together. "Basically..." Then I clear my throat and try to give a good, clear explanation.

"There's this thing I've been working on with, uhh, humans, and some of my thoughts on how it works is based on the Metallica and how it relates to a story I heard about something else, so I wound up sort of coming up with a name wrong based on it..." That was the opposite of a clear explanation... Shaking it off, I continue anyway. "And then I was also thinking about how the stars on the armaments work and how important it really is for determining how powerful they are, so I wanted to test it out and get some idea of it... or something like that. Does... any of that make sense...?"

"Not really. Release." Without bothering to ask anything else, she suddenly summons her divine gear anyway.

"U-umm?" I blink rapidly into the blinding light. She doesn't want any clarification on any of that?

"So, which armaments do you want me to combine?"

"Uhh..." I flail mentally for a few moments. I didn't expect her to be so... willing? Eager? - to go through with this, so I'm not sure. "Actually, that one," I realize aloud. "Can you combine two Sval arms?" Those were the normal floating shields she used a lot during the battle, the ones that weren't the mirrors anyway. They're really good at protecting from ranged attacks or enemy spells. If she had an even stronger version of that, she might find a real use for it in battle, making this whole test not... quite such a waste of mana...

"Ahh, that makes sense, I might even use it in battle." I blink. I guess she followed the same train of thought I did.

"Alright, how much mana do you have?" I ask, and she checks her gear.

"Three thousand five hundred twenty," she reads off. I wince. She used almost eighty percent of her mana in the first battle, just to protect me...

"I-I'll give you the mana for the armaments, ok?" I ask.

"It's fine, you were already going to give me mana before the next battle," she points out.

"Well yeah, but still, I feel bad asking you to use more when you already spent so much protecting me..."

Her lips twitch. "Alright, you can give me mana for the combination." The hint of a smile eases the guilt a little, and I nod.

"Now first..." She takes a short breath, then calls, "Metallica." and draws the book from her gear. It floats up into the air beside her. Watching her gear, her mana doesn't actually decrease from summoning it. Huh...

I look at the book for a moment, it's a simple brown, a lot like Ren, and pretty thin. I try grabbing it and turning it around in the air, finding that it moves easily. I look at the star on the front and back. It's... different than the one on Ren, isn't it? I get the urge to ask Effy to summon that one so I can compare, but push the thought away. We don't have that much time and I don't want to get distracted.

I release the book and nod for her to go on. "Sval." I check it closely again as she draws the floating shield from her gear, watching her mana reduce to three thousand five hundred fifteen.

"Costs five mana," I note, and she nods slightly.

"Now, into the book..." she mutters. She moves her hand, directing the glowing shield, slightly purple and transparent, over toward the book. As it approaches, the book opens, revealing the first blank page. As soon as the shield touches the page, there's a small flash of light, and the shield vanishes. At the same time, an image of the shield appears on the page in the book. So far it's like we learned... I check Effy's gear again, finding that it went down by ten mana this time. So... either a set cost, the cost of the armament plus five, or double.

Repeating the process, she draws another shield, for another five mana. It goes into the book with a flash and...

"Thirty mana?" I exclaim. It cost even more than last time! Way more! No wonder why they said it isn't mana efficient! If you include all the summon costs and everything... "That's fifty mana total..."

"That's enough to summon ten shields normally," Effy notes. I take another look at the book floating in the air. Now instead of the image from before, it's changed to include a star right in the middle of the shield. Despite the insane cost, this is what I meant to check with this whole experiment.

Like they said during training, using Metallica to combine multiples of the same armament adds a star to it. That's where I messed up with naming those metals. It only works this way with the same armaments, combining different ones doesn't add a star like this. Combining like this should make it stronger, right?

After looking at the armaments that already have stars on them, I just had to wonder... just how much stronger are armaments with a star on them?

"Hey, can you summon it? How much does it cost?" I ask.

Effy nods, then places her hand on the book rather than her gear. "Sval," she calls, and pulls a floating shield from the page with another small flash of light.

"That was... seven mana. That doesn't... seem that bad? If the stars mean the arms are stronger, maybe it's worth the one-time cost?" I shrug though, since I'm not really sure. "Though, that is still a forty percent increase..." I mutter after I think about it a little more.

"Is that all?" Effy asks. I bite my lip, unsure. Is there anything else I want to try? I check the time, and that makes up my mind for me. We pretty much need to leave now to make it back on time. I still need to give Effy fifty seven mana too.

"Yeah, I think that's all. I'll give you the mana now." Effy nods and dismisses the armaments. I touch her wrist, just below where the gear floats, and slowly begin pushing mana into her. I watch the number on her gear as it... doesn't change. I keep pushing mana. And pushing, and pushing.

It goes up by one.

I blink a few times. How... how do the gears measure mana exactly...? I just poured a decent amount into her. Maybe... about twenty percent or so? Since I can make more of the water and air mana I have, I just push most of the rest of my mana into Effy. Her gear goes up by five in total.

She looks down at me, her eyebrows pulling in a bit. "Uhh, I... I didn't realize just how much mana is counted as one mana," I tell her, and pull more from my well. I have to pull carefully a few times until I'm full again, before I push all of it into her, watching her gear rise by another four. I repeat the process, and it goes up by five this time.

So... I can hold somewhere between four and five mana? That's it? That's not even enough to summon Sval, which isn't supposed to be that expensive. Does that mean that I've been using tiny fractions of single units of mana this whole time? I can't even imagine how many individual motes would make up one mana...

As I skim a little from my well and feel the change, it's definitely somewhere around twenty percent. That lines up, so I guess the smallest amount I can take from my well is one mana. With a few more careful pulls as I work, I realize that I don't have to pull out whole number units, it's just that I can't draw less than one.

I keep going, drawing and pushing repeatedly. It alternates between four and five, but usually five. I count off to compare, finding that it increases by five three times, then four once. So, I can hold just about four and three quarters units of mana.

Finally, I've returned Effy to her original three thousand five hundred twenty mana. "Dismiss," she mutters, letting her gear go out again. I take a few moments to make more water. Ten percent... about half of a unit of mana. We stand for a little longer.

I look up at Effy and nod a little. "Thanks for talking to me."

"You're welcome. It's... nice to have someone to talk to..." For the first time, her eyes flick away from me just a little as she speaks. I take her hand and begin leading her south, heading back toward the west gate. I pick up the pace a little, but she has no trouble since she's an adult, much taller than I am.

"An adult..." I mutter under my breath.

I turn and look up at her again. She's an adult. A woman. I can't tell with the rail unit robe she's wearing, but I still remember seeing them all naked after the bath. She has curves and big breasts and that adult women have, but she's like me. No childhood, no life experience at all. I have trouble getting by when people think I'm a little kid, how could she possibly manage if people expect her to be an adult?

On the outside, she might be all grown up, but both of us have only lived for five years... With most of that time spent sitting in a tiny room.

Despite her physical appearance, she's more of a child than I am at this point.

Did they really need to force us to grow up so fast...?

Effy glances down when she notices me staring. "Hmm?"

"Hey, I want to tell you a story," I say, without even thinking.

"Ok." I think I hear the hint of a questioning tone, but it mostly comes out as a statement instead.

"This is a story called Little Billy. It's usually told by parents to..." I trail off. I never knew about families until Francis explained it to me. I clear my throat, and start explaining, pretty much the same way he did, all about parents and children, where they come from, and how families are important. Effy just listens silently to the end.

"Alright, I understand. What about the story?" she asks. Her face doesn't really show it, but there's a faint, excited sparkle in her eyes. In makes me smile sadly, just a little.

She's really just a kid...

I draw a breath, then tell the story.