23 - Mind Crash

Zwei woke up from the 7th watering eager to start training with Mila. The problem was: she woke up too early.

It was still night, Mila was probably sleeping at this time. Yet, even knowing this the child was too excited to go back to sleep, her brain just thinking too hard on the training session that she would have once the sun was up.

To be fair with her, she did try to sleep a bit more, but could not. After the spectacular failure she decided to spend her time doing something useful, and that was, obviously, training.

She began to repeat the same exercise Mila taught us last week. This time though, there was a difference, the root system was a bit thicker, stronger, but less mana was being naturally circulating in it. Weird.

Things keep changing every watering. At first the seeds were a bit brighter, then the root system more prominent, more mana in Zwei's body, and it kept going up progressively. Yet, now the mana is diminishing? Is that normal? Why would it have less mana than last week if we just went through a watering session? Neither me or Zwei could answer that.

She trained for a couple hours until we heard noises outside the room, meaning someone was up. She dashed outside her room just to meet Einer. The disappointment in her face!

"Why do you look so sad to see me?"

"Ah.. nothing… I'm… sorry"

"Why are you sorry?"

"...."

"Whatever… I'm going downstairs, are you coming?"

"Hhm. no.. I… …" an awkward 20 seconds later staring at Einer "Yes, I'll come."

Zwei always felt inferior to the others, but they were good to her. They even got pissed for the inferior complex and did their best to support her. But Zwei only saw it as an act of pity. She even did her very best to be the most invisible she could possibly be, as to not bother anyone with her presence.

This trait in her nature did not do good with her real talent. If only she had a bit more self esteem… She was only showing this type of behavior near her household members, she did just fine outside with friends.

We were descending the stairs when we heard the front door open, and for our surprise it was Mila. She was getting home this late? Or is it this early? Is it normal for her to be out?

"Mila?!" Zwei was also startled with the unexpected arrival.

"Oh, hi. Good morning. You woke up early."

Mila did not explain why she was arriving at this strange hour. None of the girls asked about her business in the middle of the night, in respect for her privacy and status as theirs senior and teacher.

"Are you going to sleep now?" That was the only question Zwei made sure to ask

"No, I promised you I would review the lesson with you as soon as you awoke, and I will keep the promise. Let's Dedicate and get to the session after." Mia referred to the Seontto usage for mana replenishment and filtering as 'dedication'. I'm not entirely sure why.

"YES!" Zwei was incredibly happy with the development, she made haste to the table to start as early as possible. Yet she did not try to rush the dedication, she was aware that it was an important ritual and should not be made light of.

As soon as the dedication was over, they headed to Zwei's room to start the new training session. Just both of them. Einer did inquire about the private training and got herself a promise from Mila.

"Zwei needed a bit of help with mana circulation... I think you are ok, but I can supervise one of your training sessions too, make some corrections if needed. I'll call you once I finish with Zwei" Yet, Einer was not nearly as happy with the possibility as Zwei would have been.

The exchange only made Zwei's self esteem drop even more. "Was she the only one who needed dedicated help to do the bare minimum?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The session began, Mila calmly observed her progress, and was apparently very happy with it. She did, however, review everything from the beginning anyway, and made sure to praise Zwei's progress on the new technique.

"I did not expect you to do this well, you remembered every path I showed you! That's incredible" Zwei was happy with the compliment, but deep down she did not believe it.

"Can you teach me more!?"

Mila stopped for a second, deep in thought. Only silence reigned in the room for a few minutes. Mila's expression changed a bit, and with little conviction she decided something.

"Zwei, I think I can, but only a little..." she said that, but did not seem entirely sure of it. Her voice waved for a second. That was unusual.

"Please teach me!" The girl was extremely happy with the news, she was being given the opportunity to improve even further, she would not let this go to waste.

"You have to promise me, you will not overextend yourself. You will not overtrain. You will follow my instructions to the letter. And most important of all, you WILL report to me every change you feel in yourself. EVERY CHANGE. Ok?" She had an extremely serious expression, that made Zwei back down on her excitement a bit. Was it this dangerous? Mila's expression was too different from the normal serene unworried one. Yet she was not letting this opportunity go.

"Yes, I promise. I'll be sure to report everything… that means..." Zwei was extremely serious too.

"What?"

"I noticed my mana diminished after last watering..."

"That's normal" That was the only answer, no further explanation came.

Mila sat down in front of Zwei. The room was small for two people sitting on the floor, they were extremely close to one another.

"I'll allow you to have a glimpse into myself, into a bit of my own mana system. It will be far easier to teach you if you know the end results. Give me your hands" Mila took Zwei's hands into hers. "Be aware, it is very different from yours at this point"

Their hands touched, Mila turned her hands to the vertical and instructed Zwei to do the same. She made sure all their fingertips touched. Their hands mirroring the other's.

Their hands were not that different in size, all the children had grown a lot, almost to the height of most adult women. The only parts that did not grow to match the adults were… the chest. Their chest was completely, 100% flat. Not a single growth could be seen in the area. Except for the seed, the seed was growing healthy on the inside of their chest.

"I'll start now, I want you to relax, let your inner mana loose a bit, I'll guide you. Be sure to pay very close attention to the structure I'm going to show you"

Zwei did as instructed. She relaxed her body. She calmed her mind. Her hands still mirroring Mila's. She let her control over the inner mana loose. She trusted Mila greatly.

Mila's mana started to overflow a bit, and we could easily feel it. It was a comfortable feeling. Mila's mana was fresh, safe, not invasive, serene… Her mana began to move, slowly, very slowly it created a dom covering their joint hands.

Zwei was completely focused on the flow of mana. At this point, when the dome closed up on their hands, her mana felt different. It felt like it was being mixed with Mila's. They were connecting.

"It won't last long, pay very close attention to every detail you possibly can"

Mila's warning came as soon as the calm and serene mana mixture began to turmoil. Mila took control of all of it and directed to her hands only. In the minute that Zweis mana was being forced into Mila's hand she could feel it.

Mila only showed us her hands. Only the circling system of a small portion of her. But it was mind blowing. My expectations changed in this breath moment.

The small glimpse of the system that we could feel in her hands alone was super strong. The mana paths were wide and stable. The mana flow was on a completely different level. We could feel all three systems coexisting and supporting each other. I could feel Mila's complete control over all flowing mana. The information that came with that was a lot.

Mila's power was worlds apart from where we were now. Is that really the upgrade version of what we have? Maybe it is like that just because Mila is too strong? It feels familiar but completely different at the same time. It is hard to believe that one day our mana system will be like that. Zwei did not take that much information well.

"Were you able to feel it?"

"Uhm" Zwei was… a bit lethargic at this moment. I'm not sure her mind is keeping up with all the knowledge she just received. It was a lot. And really shocking too. Mila did not seem too worried about her reaction, in fact she was a bit happy. Was exploding Zwei's brain expected?

"Good good. Rest up for today, don't train. We will talk tomorrow about it. Do. not. Train. Today. JUST REST. Got it?"

"Uhm"

Mila got up and departed from the room. Zwei was left sitting on the floor, and she stayed in the same position for a good 2 hours. After that her brain began to come back to reality again. It was funny, seeing her like that.

She was too shocked with the new insight, I don't fully understand why. For me it was inspiring, shocking yes, but not to that extent. I agree that it was mind blowing, but to actually have your mind crash like that for a couple of hours? That was just weird.

Zwei slept until the morning of the next day. She missed the night Seontto. Mila seems to have expected it, and left her to sleep. Mila did come in the morning and woke Zwei up.

"Good morning. You look better. Let's get down to the Dedication and I will explain what happened after that"

"Good morning"

They really only talked after the morning dedication.