Vogel was flying around with his mother and four siblings, today. They were searching for food together while playing and having fun. Their mother said she was going to take them to a nearby pond that will help them level up their mana control skill.
Evidently, the sensation of the water surrounding their skin will help them feel the mana better once it exits their bodies. That will improve their control on the mana which will shorten the time it takes to level up the mana control skill.
Flying around in the lush greenery of the forest in the morning, left a refreshing feeling in Vogel’s heart. He was enjoying playing around together with his siblings while their mother watched them with happiness in her eyes. They took their time flying to their destination.
A while later, they reached a small pond in the middle of the forest. The water of the pond looked very clear and pure.
“Won’t there be animals down there, mother?” Vogel was worried that they would get eaten by a big fish or some other kind of animal in the vicinity.
“Don’t be afraid, child, nothing will harm you” she reassured him.
He found it a little weird that she wasn’t worried but after thinking about it a little, he realized that he didn’t see any animals in the parts of the forest that they have been in. Not today, not yesterday… never. There were only them. Even that small pond was devoid of any fish or creature.
“Alright, children! Now, as we discussed, stand on a shallow part of this pond and let the water cover you. At the same time, take your time in moving your mana outside your body while keeping your mental control over it. It will be hard at first but it will get easier” Their mother instructed.
One by one, the children landed on the edge of the pond and slowly found a suitable place to stand in the water.
“Ah… It feels so nice” Seva comfortably spoke. It seemed like she was taking a relaxing bath.
“Focus, Seva” Iola said, reminding her sister that they were training.
“R-right” Seva regained her wits and also started to practice.
All the children started to move their mana outside their bodies little by little. Their control over the mana was indeed better in the water. Once the mana started to leave the surface of their bodies, the children were able to feel it more clearly in the water. Although, most of the mana still dissipated the rate at which it would dissipated began visibly shrinking.
As time went on, their control got better.
[Mana Control lv2] Skill Gained
One after the other, the children acquired the second level of the mana control skill. Their ability to control the mana became much easier and the mana would no longer dissipate outside their bodies. However, that was only within a certain range. If they tried to move their mana outside of this range, it would dissipate naturally.
“How are you doing that?” Iola noticed that Vogel had a bigger range of control than she did.
“I don’t know, I just can” he replied.
“Your range can increase with practice, Iola” Their mother interjected. “Practice hard, child, and you will catch up to your brother” Vogel was the earliest of the children to practice mana control, therefore, it wasn’t surprising that he had more proficiency.
“Yes, mother” she readily replied. It seemed that Iola held her mother in very high regard.
“Are you going to teach us wind magic now, Mom?” Maethas enthusiastically flew above their heads.
“You can do so right now, children”
Now that they could control their mana while it had contact with the wind, along with their natural affinity for wind magic, they could pick it up in a matter of minutes.
Maethas happily flew and gathered with everyone on a tree branch. Their mother guided them on how to imbue their mana with the wind. Afterwards, they concentrated on doing it themselves. Although, their mother’s guide was helpful, in the end everyone had their own style of learning and applying magic.
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Vogel slowly made his mana imitate the wind as he focused on imbuing it with the wind around him. He quickly became successful as he felt in tune with the air around him. The more time passed, the easier it was for him to connect to the air around him. Slowly, his control over it began to show.
[Wind Magic lv1] Skill Gained
The power of wind magic allowed one to take control of the air. For birds like Vogel and the rest, they could easily fly wherever they wanted with the use of their first level wind magic. They wouldn’t need to follow the wind with their bodies anymore, instead the wind would follow them.
The others also acquired the skill soon after Vogel. Adrian, Seva, Iola then Maethas acquired it respectively.
“How do you feel, children?” their mother checked on them.
“This is amazing, mom!” Maethas said.
“It is indeed amazing” Adrian echoed.
The girls and Vogel also expressed their feelings. They felt connected with the wind more than before. It was a feeling that almost manifested into reality.
“This is just the beginning” Their mother said “Every step you take in improving your magic will make you experience the wonders of nature more fully… it is, as you say, amazing!”
Their mother continued by describing to them a wind magic skill they could learn at level one called ‘Jet Stream’. Jet streams were actually natural occurrences that happened in the real world. By using magic, they could learn to imitate nature in this regard. The skill itself would give them the ability to fly at higher speed at the cost of lower maneuverability.
It was great for long distance travel and flight through empty spaces, though not very good if used in a place like a forest where one had to turn every now and then. It’s not that it made turning impossible, it just made it harder than usual which increased accidents in places full of obstacles or crowds.
Their mother explained the phenomena of jet streams in detail. They started practicing by imbuing their mana into the wind and flying around while trying to imitate this phenomenon according to their mother’s description.
[Jet Stream lv1] Sub-skill Gained
They all picked up the skill fairly easily. Afterwards, the family flew back to their nest. It was still the middle of the day and the children still had a lot of energy so they played around together.
Since they just learned wind magic, Maethas suggested they race each other. It wasn’t really a suggestion since just after he said it, he flew off while laughing and saying “You can’t catch me!”
“He didn’t even say where the finish line is” Vogel sighed.
“B-But I wanted to go and play in the pond!” Seva said despondently.
“D-Don’t worry, sis. We’ll go play there again tomorrow if you like” Vogel tried to comfort her.
“Really!? Thank you, brother” Surprisingly, she recovered pretty quickly.
“Come on, let’s go play” Vogel said cheerfully. Adrian and Iola had already flown after Maethas. The siblings flew together through the forest. Iola got ahead of the rest and almost caught up to Maethas. She seamlessly flew through the trees of the forest. Adrian was more laid back and just flew leisurely with everyone. Vogel decided to adopt Adrian’s mentality and also have a leisurely flight through the air while Seva seemed to stick with Vogel wherever he went.
Iola seemed to be the only one taking this seriously as she did her best in surpassing Maethas. Eventually, the siblings reached a clearing in the forest.
“Whoever reaches the other end of this clearing wins” Maethas shouted as he activated jet stream and flew even faster. The wind whistled behind him and Iola as they shot forwards in a straight line. The other end of the clearing was in sight. At their speed they would take less than half a minute to reach the other end.
At this time Vogel and the rest emerged out of the forest. Once Vogel saw the clearing, his heart pumped as he also activated jet stream and flew off. This was a great opportunity to fly at his maximum speed and use the magic that he learned.
“Ah… Brother, wait for me” Seva cried as she used her magic and flew off after him. Even Adrian became interested in the race and followed after them in his highest speed.
The wind whistled as the three of them caught up to their brother and sister. Surprisingly, the timid Seva was the fastest. She wasn’t very interested in winning until she met Vogel’s encouraging gaze. At that moment, her eyes shone with resolve as she flew forwards even faster.
Iola had passed her brother when Seva shot forwards, passing them both in the blink of an eye. She happily flapped her wings and perked herself on the nearest tree, waiting for her siblings.
Iola arrived, astonished at her sister’s display.
“Wow, sis. I never knew you were so fast” a rare comment of praise came out of Iola.
Vogel and the others arrived, too.
“You were amazing, Seva” Vogel praised.
“Yeah, that was awesome” Maethas echoed.
Adrian couldn’t help but show a hint of admiration for his sister’s talent as well.
“T-Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate it” Seva replied to her siblings.
They continued to play around in the clearing, experimenting with their new found abilities of wind magic and having friendly competitions with each other. They all finally returned home around sunset.
“Welcome back, children. Were you having fun?” Their mother was sitting at the nest waiting for them.
“You should have seen Seva today, mom. She is really good at wind magic” Maethas enthusiastically told his mother about today’s happenings.
“Oh, you have a talent, child. You should nurture it” Their mother encouraged Seva.
“I will, mother” She happily replied.
They all continued to chat for a little while longer before the day’s exhaustion caught up with them. The children all went to sleep soundly beside their mother as usual.
In the middle of the night, Vogel lightly opened his eyes. He had had an unpleasant dream about his previous life. He looked up to see his mother’s peaceful expression. She was also awake.
“Oh, can’t sleep?” She had noticed him looking at her.
“A little” he lightly replied.
“Mother, where’s father?” he changed the subject.
“Father… is gone, child” her voice faltered slightly as a hint of sadness appeared in her expression.
“Oh…” Vogel was sad to hear this. He hadn’t had time to think about something like a bird father in the situation he was in. But now that he was used to it, he started to wonder where he was. From his interactions with his mother and siblings, he realized that their behaviors were identical to humans. That meant that his father was probably like his mother; intelligent and human-like.
“Your father was the kindest person I’ve known in my life. He helped me and many others like me, showed us a better world” His mother reminisced to Vogel.
“If there is one thing I want to teach you and your siblings, it is to be kind. All of you, children, can help change this world for the better” she continued.
“This world…” Vogel whispered as he looked up at the sky, full of start light. He didn’t know a thing about this world yet. He knew it was definitely much stranger and probably more complicated than the one he was used to.
“Yes, this whole world would be even better if the people were kinder. Because, you see, kindness is infectious. If you help someone that person will also want to help others. It’s such a great feeling to know that you have the ability to make the world a better place, it’s like magic”
“That’s not always true. Not everyone likes to give back, some people just like to take endlessly” Vogel gloomily replied.
“Even the deepest well has a bottom” she replied “But you’re right, there are some very horrible people in this world. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t even try to be kind, though. Your father’s kindness brought me here with you, children. Remember that you can also turn someone’s life for the better”
“I...” There was a pause “I’ll try to be kind”