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<01/03/1972 ~ 09:01 | Dakota Training Academy, Fronas, Gulop Region, Sprawn Valley>

When Monday morning settled in, the atmosphere of Fronas was in much more panic than it had previously been in, during the unusual night of Blue Port Town. With Jane taken out of the action a few days ago, hardly anyone looked like they could move past the invisible depression that spread to their lives. Despite the unexpected actions of yesterday night, Jane made her appearance again in class. Danny and Taylor noticed it just as soon as they walked in together. Jane already made it to her seat, though was reluctant to sit down.

Everybody was turning heads to each other, whispering while others weren't as quiet. People were spilling rumors left and right, likely from the unclear events that left several adults in bad shape recently. The people here didn't seem down anymore, but rather alert. Even from the distance, Jane didn't look too bad for being sick, but she wasn't moving around much either. Taylor and Danny walked in to take their seats, greeting Jane on their way there.

Danny decided not to make any comments about why Jane was allowed to be in school when she should be home resting off her fevers, but if she was allowed here at all, then it would be difficult to challenge the idea in front of the girl. So instead, he kept to his usual greeting.

After hearing the voices of Danny and Taylor, Jane turned her head to face forward and sat down, ignoring their acknowledgment. Instead, she waited for Eliza to decide whether or not to tell everybody what happened Sunday night. Technically, Eliza has already decided, but it was unclear for now as to what that meant. Jane remembered well that any time important news events happen anywhere in Sprawn Valley, it's up to the school's staff to fill in what is really going on, regardless of age, race, etcetera. It was protocol after all, especially since ProCom news doesn't always have time to visit any moment of interest, nor are they quick about it. Even though this was very bad news, Jane knew that everyone enrolled here deserved to know the truth.

Taylor ducked her head down a little, unable to grab Jane's attention. She was ignoring her completely! Maybe Jane was mad at her and Danny. Whatever is going on, this isn't Jane's typical behavior. I hope she'll get over this soon.

After the morning bells rang again, Eliza stood at the front of the class in a gesture demanding everyone's attention. There was much delay until total silence was granted, since many of the teens here were going on about what happened in the field last night. But at the distance anyone else was standing, it couldn't have been possible to know everything. Eliza caught the glimpse in Jane's eyes, as well as that of Danny and Taylor. All three of them were there to help out last night, but Jane in particular was willing to kill herself over those crystal shards. It was actually impressive to see that much dedication to an act of assistance. One thief, and Jane turns into a totally different person. Eliza had just the perfect comparison to add that to as well. Jane's behavior is exactly the way any and all Leray agents are supposed to act in a situation given extremities. But she was aiming to become a Leray master, right? Kain and Bella did their very best, for what it was worth. Given the circumstances, Jane did arrive rather late to the scene, and the thief still got away because he was just killing time to charge up that teleportation symbol.

Eliza shook her head, realizing she had the floor. Jane was certainly remarkable, and often full of surprises. But this isn't new information, and right now, the entire class needs to know what happened that night. "As of right now," she began, "every other class in session today is being told of the events that unfolded last night." Since everybody who didn't know would give anything to find out, not one student uttered a word as soon as she opened hers. "And it's the job of Dakota to inform everyone of an official emergency or crisis. I regret to inform you all that the stash of Dakota's crimson crystal shards were stolen from our vault on January 2nd, at twenty-three hundred forty-five hours."

Some of the students gasped loudly, and others were stunned to silence. Eliza could feel that wave of dispute coming, but she wasn't finished yet. "The identity of the thief or his motives has yet to be identified. As of now, this is a matter of regional investigation. Everyone living in the Gulop region, as well as all students of Dakota are expected to take caution whenever wandering outside of your own home. And for your safety, avoid conversing with total strangers. That is all we are able to disclose at this time." Eliza just stood there paused. That was all she was required to say, and thankfully, it was all she wanted to let out. Everybody in the class was becoming their own source of uproar, and many of them argued with each other regarding which one was right about which rumor. Eliza could care less, but the sudden glaring of Jane caught her eye again. Danny and Taylor both hopped out of their desks and approached their teacher first, though Jane was waiting behind.

"Eliza, we're so sorry," Taylor confessed. Though she already knew there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent this, Eliza had to know just how much they helped her out. Still, if they don't keep their voices down, everyone will know they were personally involved.

So much for remaining subtle. "There's nothing to be sorry about," she replied. "Each of you performed bravely, and without understanding what was happening at the time. So you had to put your trust in faith in the people you knew around you, instead of a stranger. I'm proud of that," Eliza admitted. "You have nothing to apologize for."

Danny knew it was more off topic, but after seeing Jane return to school so soon while she then started ignoring him and Taylor, he had to be certain with a different method. "Eliza?" He kept his voice to a minimum without whisper. "How is Jane today? You know, after..."

Danny didn't know exactly how to finish that sentence, but Eliza understood anyway. Jane sure was looking much better on a physical scale, but there was no way to be certain just how much she had recovered. "Well she seems to be recovering from her flu. Don't forget that because it is an unknown strand, she is unlikely to be contagious, and can heal without medication specific to anti-viral treatment." Eliza turned her head, stopping herself after realizing that Jane was walking towards them right now.

Jane didn't rush anything. The moments from before played again and again in her head, though she called it the train wreck that never ended. She did remember the guy's face, but it didn't do much to help her out right now. Still, what that guy did was wrong, and Eliza needs to know how much support she had. After reaching her teacher, at which Danny and Taylor were also present, Jane finally let it all out loud enough for anyone listening closely to hear her. That hatred, that aggression burning in her soul from just one robbery, Jane had to let it out in a way that would benefit the both of them. "Eliza?" Jane's hands were clenched just to show how frustrated she still was. "I don't know who the Scarlet Cult are either, and neither do I have any current information about that thief. But he made off with our crystal shards."

"I know," Eliza interrupted. "We'll just have to order new ones. It's tradition for all facilities in Sprawn Valley to have their own unique supply."

Jane waved her left arm horizontally to indicate that she had much more to say. "I know it isn't likely that I will encounter him or his gang again in the future. But if I do, if somehow I end up learning anything about the guy who stole our treasure, or about the group he is involved in, I will make it my first priority mission to return here and report to you immediately."

Eliza winced. Jane was still hung up on finding this guy. It's just as she thought before. Jane is acting exactly like a Leray agent would. Maybe she could have signed up for that job already. "You really want to find this guy, don't you?"

"Well, yeah!" Jane had risen her voice enough to command total attention from the students behind her. "He stole our crystal shards! Nobody should get away with that! I'll get that guy, if it's the last thing I ever do!"

Taylor backed up slightly to avoid going deaf, but she finally noticed one of the reasons Jane wasn't in sync today. It's because of yesterday for sure. Jane has never sounded so angry and determined before, at least not to Taylor's knowledge. Then again, if Jane had any thoughts on running off on her own, it would ruin Taylor's plan to stay here for good. "Wait a minute Jane. If that's your priority, then let us help." Taylor looked at Danny, conferring that he acknowledged her promise.

Danny saw what Taylor was up to. By agreeing to help Jane sincerely, it would help her get back to normal and boost her morale all at the same time. Plus, if he was ever going to make it to Junon, he would need Jane's help too, but that wasn't the notion Taylor carried. If Jane thinks they both cannot handle someone like that in the future, Jane's protection sense might kick in. Thus, she won't want to go looking for trouble, and that means everything will eventually go back to normal. "That's right," Danny assisted. Jane glanced at Taylor, then to Danny in surprise. Did she really think we wouldn't help her with something as important as that? "We want to help too, and wherever you go, we go."

Jane didn't know what to say, bouncing her head from one friend to the other, but she knew something was wrong with this. Taylor and Danny couldn't hold their own like she could. It's just too dangerous. "No! I can't let you two do that. Neither one of you are ready to take on that much of a challenge."

Well played! Danny didn't expect Taylor to be so precise and persuasive, but just like she planned, Jane would never risk their lives to go crazy tracking down danger herself.

"Jane!" Eliza hollered Jane's name as much as her voice could handle. With an angry tone, Jane shivered and turned head to face her teacher. "That's enough out of you. You're in a training facility after all. Have you forgotten what training facilities are designed to do?"

This time, Jane was both speechless, and unable to think of why Eliza was so upset with her right now.

"Danny and Taylor are not experts in Leray fights, but neither are you Jane. You think becoming a Leray master is easy?! You want to go off on your own to get killed, when you've already forgotten several important rules to Leray battling?"

Jane couldn't exactly figure out what Eliza was saying. Why was she mentioning rules now...? Oh! Jane likely figured this out already. Eliza was telling her that Jane wasn't ready to go secret agent on anybody yet. Unfortunately, she was right to a degree. That thief barely got a scratch on him from what Jane's powers were able to do, but her teacher wasn't through yelling at her yet.

"And look at those two." Eliza was pointing to Danny and Taylor both, getting them to point at themselves in question. "In just two short weeks of time, they couldn't even decipher what MP energy meant. But now, they're performing tricks as good as you. They want to train with you Jane, and you're turning them down. Going out of your way to face someone dangerous all by yourself isn't brave, it's stupid! How do you think that helps anyone?"

"I— I don't know!" Jane brushed back. "I don't want them to get injured either."

Danny turned to Jane, after finally understanding what Eliza was talking about. It wasn't expected that she would play her role in this, but he was ever so thankful that Eliza had the same thoughts in mind too. Jane shouldn't be going anywhere on her own to fight dangerous criminals like that. "Jane? If you want to track down that thief, that's fine. But he won't be alone, and the enemy will have strength in numbers if you are alone. Get it now?"

Eliza needed to make sure Jane wasn't thinking anything crazy anymore. "Jane? I'm not declining your offer to assist us, but you can't do it all by yourself anymore. All you need to do is train yourself, and let your friends train with you."

Jane ducked her head down in shame, for forgetting exactly what Eliza was talking about earlier; unofficial rule number seven. In an unusual situation that would likely involve danger in power, or danger in being outnumbered, always bring reinforcements. That one was reserved strictly for the task of Leray agents, but it could apply to a number of outside situations as well. Danny and Taylor are Jane's friends, and all they want to do is help. Being knocked out wouldn't mean the end, but if someone were powerful enough to use dark magic and then knocked them out, it really would be the end. Jane only meant to protect Danny and Taylor from that terror last night, and even then did she failed miserably.

"Come on. Let's help you, kay?" Taylor coaxed. After putting her hand on Jane's shoulder to cheer her up, Jane nudged it off swiftly, but she didn't have the facial expression of rage or anger when she did.

"It's a deal," Jane replied. Now she was holding her shoulder from the top. Somehow, the bruising pain from before still lingered, and Taylor's hand there a second ago seemed to make it worse.

Eliza tilted her head in confusion. Was Jane really still hurting in her shoulder, or was it from something else? "Jane, you alright?"

"Yes." Jane let go of her shoulder finally, and let in a slight smile from how much support she was receiving. The noise level in the back of the room had gone up, since almost everyone was paying attention to how much stuff Jane and her friends go through on a daily basis. "Just a shoulder cramp. Now let's go train."

"That reminds me," Eliza held up. She cuffed her hands around her mouth, amplifying her voice projection through the entire talkative class of students. "We have training today in dark room six. Everybody better get a move on. Finals are coming soon!"

Jane twitched from the news. She already knew that today would be training day, but finals were coming soon? The exciting moment Jane has been waiting for was finally around the corner. Awesome! "Ah— wait! Room six?"

"That's right," Eliza replied. "We're doing a rotation this year, and room six will be ours for the rest of the semester. It's actually much of a different dark room. They should actually call it a bright room."

Danny and Taylor looked at each other, wondering what Eliza meant, but they both shrugged to show that nobody had a clue. Even Jane seemed taken by its surprise. Dark room six must be a totally different area, but that would also be a good thing to test out how ready people are to changes in environmental factors. Following the rest of the Dakota crew, Danny, Taylor, and Jane proceeded to the new dark room with their teacher trailing behind. Today was designated as training day, which means everybody gets to learn some cool new spells.

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Chapter Theme Shift: The Hanging Edge ~ FFXIII OST

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Having Jane back in the action wasn't hurting morale at all. It felt just like old times having Jane join the class, affecting everybody by bringing them excitement. Eliza opened the door to the dark room using the card reader. In all of the other dark rooms, the lights are actually invisible, created from a lasting power of magic that brightens a hazy fog only in the ceiling section. The medium blue glow from that fog gives off enough light to see anything and everything, but the twist is that the tint of all colors are much different depending on which room you go to. In dark room number six, the coloration of the ceiling fog had a much higher lightness to the intensity, making it so much easier to see in front, yet a bit straining on the eyes to look straight up.

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And that's not all room six had to offer for surprises. Being a newly installed dark room that Mr. Chester's class got this year, it was now transferred to Eliza's group. As soon as the doors opened, the bright white lighting inside was nearly blinding since none of the people coming from the dimmer hallway florescent lights were used to the difference. Eliza forced everyone inside to keep things moving, but they all had to adjust their eyes to the new situation. The brightness of the fog was so intense that the room cast no shadow of darkness anywhere. At the same time, it wasn't bright enough after adjustment to hurt the eyes, so long as no one looks straight up. Needless to say, it was much easier to see everything in here than the last room Eliza's class had been assigned. The size of the room appeared bigger, but for some weird reason, the shape and room orientation was different. Instead of having walls to shoot spells at everywhere in randomized maze oriented locations, the room only had a few sawed off walls, with a special training station in the center of the room. A massive round solid steel dome populated the core of the dark room, and it was so big, that the designated stations at the edge of the dome were literally five meters apart. Each station looked close together from the distance, but they were all placed in a circular arc going all around the dark metallic grey metal dome.

Even Jane was impressed, since she had never been here before. The awe in her eyes went noticed, but Danny and Taylor were reacting in the same excitement. "Eliza was right. It should be called the bright room."

"It's clearly experimental, being new and all," Eliza reported. "Why have a dark and stuffy old room when one may get more space inside of a training area, with a more unique and open environment? Not to mention that visibility here is excellent."

"Are you kidding?" Taylor announced. This room? Experimental?! Room six is a total upgrade overhaul. Despite how large that structure in the center may be, it's genius to group stations in this way, because of how much free roam room is outside of it. "They should change all of the rooms to be like this."

Eliza laughed. "Some people actually prefer the darker dark rooms instead of places like this. Though with much fairness put aside, dark room six will not train you how to fight in the dark, or when visibility is poor. And let's not forget that stations other than Dakota are not always designed to have similar rooms involved."

"It's still cool all the same. Now I can see what I'm doing," Danny explained. There was no design flaw anywhere in here as far as he could tell. As serious as he sounded, everyone knew that their last dark room wasn't really all that dark either, but one would defiantly be having trouble reading in there. Everybody else was quickly warming up to their new training area, while Danny remained closer to Taylor and Jane.

It took about five minutes until everyone was training with their own abilities. Much of it was all the same for now, since classes typically train students how to perform simple and easy spells such as Fire Ball, Radial Stars, or weaponized attacks. Jane stood there and watched closely as Danny and Taylor demonstrated abilities slightly above their own level.

After standing in one of the circles placed at specific angles to the dome, Danny pulled out his training blaster and began firing the skill Blast Shot. Blast Shot uses a small bit of MP energy from the user to power the weapon and fire an unavoidable sphere of energy, but the damage level for each shot is about as low as Radial Stars, despite using non-elemental magic damage. Jane knew all of this off the top of her head. Taylor quickly infused magic into her hands. Though her attack was without a glyphring as well, she performed an excellent wind slash attack, striking the metallic dome dead center.

Jane folded her arms in thought. She had taught them well. Eliza was right about one thing. After training personally with Jane, Danny and Taylor were both above the level of an average student here in this semester. Either one of them could qualify already for advanced training or maneuvering. Jane already graduated the maneuvering class, where one learns how to dodge attacks elegantly while attacking back, much like the style she developed at the same time to use her daggers in close combat. Jane was still a professional at that. She should have tried attacking the Scarlet thief last night with that style, but she didn't feel as good then as she did now, not to mention that the Magical Blitz attack she took totaled her shoulder.

Jane was reminded of what Danny and Taylor said to her the other day, about her illness not having anything to do with a flu, but rather side effects from what must have been the spell bomb's activation in Blue Port Town. Energy scopes are supposed to report exactly what kinds of changes take place during a spell bomb's usage, but this was the only exception. Something may have already changed within Jane, but whatever it was, she had no idea, and neither did anyone else. Even if Eliza was getting suspicious, there was no way she would have any idea as to what exactly happened to her either. Jane didn't even know. Something about the pain in her shoulder was concerning Eliza. Leray magic damage does cause physical pain in battle, but even without the aid of a med kit orb, that pain is never lasting.

"Jane? Why don't you try an attack as well?"

Jane checked over her good shoulder to see that it was just Eliza talking to her. Jane had been out of practice for a good while after that incident in Blue Port happened. With being unconscious for so long, even her friends may soar ahead of her. So her teacher was right. Even with the massive headache Jane was getting today, there was no excuse for holding back now.

Jane nodded to let her teacher know that she was okay with that idea. Then, she stepped over to the station adjacent to Danny's. All stations were walled off with 4.5-foot walls going from the ground up, all to prevent friendly fire from most elemental spells. Before actually thinking about what attack she should try and perfect, Danny and Taylor were both testing out different spells already.

"Scatter Beam!" Shortly after chanting the name and pulling the trigger on his energy blaster weapon, Danny managed to force out several smaller sized energy beams from his weapon, all impacting on the metallic substance in front of him as they dissolved into the substance. The attack spell finally worked. This was his first successful attempt at Scatter Beam, and it worked! The attack turns a simple blaster weapon into temporary shotgun mode, which sprays several Blast Shot attacks out of one barrel. Difficult to dodge, and still low in power level, Danny now had a better skill to work with should the need arise.

Taylor wasn't about to stop trying new attacks either. She was in the middle of using Whirlwind after Danny's Scatter Beam was fired. Sure enough not to get distracted, Taylor had to focus the entire time on keeping her Whirlwind alive. Whirlwind is a special attack that deals damage over time. On top of that, the damage is in the form of a powerful gust of wind that spins in a circle around the user, protecting them from all projectiles while delivering damage from all sides surrounding them. It's still technically a close range attack only. That's why she went with Wind Slash first. Wind Slash is a wind attack that deals slashing damage in the form of a quick flying projectile. The problem with it is that even at close range or long-range distances, it can be easy to dodge due to the size of the projectile. Taylor was remembering all of this from reading. Those textbooks really do come in handy for new skill inspiration, once you get past the boring bits.

Of course, now it was time to try Thunderbolt again. Taylor remembered that in the heat of the battle last night, she stuck with Ice Bolts while Danny went with Lightning Strike. Taylor wanted to know both attacks in case one backfires. Though she had studied enough on how to invoke the spell, now would be the test to see if she was ready to perfect it. Because of the recent invocation of other skills, it took no time at all for Taylor to stop using Whirlwind and immediately charge MP energy into her electrical attack of choice. Sensing the MP energy inside of herself and redirecting the flow of her magic to match specific locations and types was getting easier every time she tried it. Her mind was already so used to the process that Taylor needed less focus every time, but she remained vigilant for this specific purpose. The dark blue electrical glyphring formed a large ring of symbols around her left arm, and Taylor pulled her limb up to aim at the target in front of her. The target was simply a small section of the metal dome darker in color than the rest of the metal. The lightning is supposed to strike from the glyphring itself onto the target. Seeing one in action before didn't hurt her chances of getting it right, but as soon as Taylor chanted the name of her attack, "Lightning Strike!" it was just a moment of nothingness. Nothing happened, and the glyphring quickly faded out. Taylor still had difficulty with that attack spell, but she would get it soon.

Jane quickly evaluated how well both of them were doing. It was almost amazing. In no time flat, Danny and Taylor were going to catch up to Jane. Then again, there are some abilities she has always kept to herself, even though she cannot invoke any one of them yet. Be that as it may, Jane will always stay in front, that is if she can get some work done today.

Jane could feel the watchful eyes of Eliza focused on her. Without looking behind her to the left, it was easy to detect. Her teacher probably wanted to test Jane, see if she really could use a spell of her choice. True it was that almost a full day ago, Jane completely failed to invoke a single spell. The attempt in doing so screwed her hands up in the most unusual way she had ever seen so far. But last night, she didn't fail to do anything. In fact, her magical spells themselves were super impressive at that. The Shadow Wave she invoked then was for some reason much more improved and larger in size than her normal Shadow Waves. Maybe she has just used it enough times to make it super refined. Best start out with that spell then.

Jane charged up the MP energy she needed to in order to invoke Shadow Wave. It only takes at most 7% MP to use that kind of attack, which means it takes even less if one has done it enough times. Short and simple! Jane's hands began glowing a bright blue color. It wasn't unusual. Everybody's hands often glow different colors based on which attack they are using or storing energy for; that is because the hands are most often the release point of focused Leray energy. In this particular spell, Jane simply redirects the flow of magic from her hands to the ground, emitting an effect that creates an entire wave that advances bound to the ground for up to 75 meters in distance, until crashing into the target to grow at the end while inflicting magical slashing damage in a combination of hits. She had done this before several times, so this will just be a warm-up. "Shadow Wa—" Before she could finish her chant, an incredible searing pain shot into both of her hands, and the intensity of the glowing magic aura there increased. Jane gritted her teeth and let out a painful groan. The scene happening right here was attracting the attention of her teacher and her friends immediately, all with good reason.

Eliza made it by Jane's side in seconds, making Danny and Taylor follow. "Jane, what's wrong?!" She figured it out after getting closer. It was the same exact thing that happened before, right when Jane was about to be released from medical the other day. Eliza did this test before to see if it was possible for Jane to use magic when she was sick. Even after getting better from her illness, her hands retained the auras blue in color, while electrical-like arcs were traveling everywhere within the boundary of Jane's two palms, not to mention that Jane's entire arms were shivering out of control due to the reaction. From the looks of things, the trembling had to be involuntary as there was the absence of goose bumps on her uncovered arms.

"Crap Jane!" Taylor burst. "It's happening again!"

"Stop shouting!" Jane commanded. She needed to shout herself just to shut everyone up. Her head was hurting much worse than before, though the stinging sensation on her palms was still more overpowering. Their loud voices didn't help one bit. The pain in her hands dampened suddenly, but not the pain in Jane's forehead. It was like a migraine on a massive scale, growing quickly and out of nowhere. Any worse than this and Jane would scream her head right off. Her hands were still pulsating magical build-up everywhere, with sparks flowing through and forcing her muscles there to twitch. Jane desperately tried to control either one of her hands, but only the right one was barely responsive. It was like ordering her body muscles to do something only to have them not respond, or to take forever to respond at all. Halfway paralyzed, Jane tried to control her hand again, getting her arm to aim at the target like before. It was a bit embarrassing having half the class watch in worry as Jane was trying to decipher her own mysterious problem. Out of everything she could be popular and known for, this was not one of those things she wanted to be remembered by.

Eliza could see that Jane was trying to restore control of her own body again. Her right arm was somewhat responsive, because involuntary actions do not just force one to take such precise aim at one of the stationary targets painted onto the metal dome in the room. Yet her left arm was stiff as a board as it strung out, her fingers twitching uncontrollably. It was entirely possible right now that Jane was just trying to do as Eliza said before; unleash the energy that got trapped inside of her hands. And there were more ways than one to do that. "Jane? Use a weak attack. It might fix this."

Jane heard her teacher loud and clear, trying desperately to fire an attack she could do in her sleep. Jane didn't try and charge energy into her hands, since it probably had enough of it already. Her spell took longer than usual to initiate, so Jane coaxed it on, after which the orange glyphring spawned in front of her, spinning in place with its slow elegant movement. "Radial Star!" Jane's hand turned from the glowing color of blue to orange in a flash, and shooting stars came out of her hand successfully. However, only ten out of thirty of those stars came out at once, and her hand turned from orange to blue again, still sparking with electrical looking energy. This couldn't be right! Jane knew the power of her skills down to the letter. This had to be the weakest attempt for of Radial Stars in all of her attempts. Not only was the magical spell half-cast, but all of the stars began to fall downwards before ever reaching the target, and every single one of them missed. Jane knew the reason for missing, that her Radial Stars didn't come out with enough juice on her side. She gave it everything she had. The only thing that didn't make sense was why Jane's Radial Stars was weaker than standard levels. Any evaluation team would have rated Jane's spell power as a power level zero, for not doing any damage, missing the targets, and failing all at the same time.

"Agh! Try a Fire Ball then." Eliza only needed to raise her voice slightly. The volume level in here did lower significantly after many of the students came by to check out why Jane's hands were sparking up an electrical storm without actually leaving her body. Eliza had a reason for making Jane push herself this time compared to before. This scene, this condition... It's familiar enough to recognize, a condition affecting those who could be greatly injured, though Eliza was still uncertain. If Jane can just release enough magic and be fine afterwards, it would confirm her theory and help Jane recover faster.

Jane took another deep breath and concentrated. Eliza was right. Giving up won't solve anything, and the reason for this has to be related to something. Spell bomb or not, Jane was going to fix this somehow. Even if her head hurts, Jane recalled before the last time this happened to her hands how long it took to calm her down. If somehow releasing energy can resolve this once and for all, it's worth a try. A Fire Ball attack was just as easy to perform. Not at the time of learning it in Jane's memory, but after all of the practice now, it was less than simple. Jane tried adding just a small ounce more of MP energy this time into her malfunctioning right hand. The red fire based glyphring formed all on its own, and was much smaller in size due to the magical design around it. But as soon as Jane released the energy into her attack, the Fire Ball that formed in her hand exploded before leaving the effective radius of the central glyphring. Though it caused no immediate damage to Jane's health or HP levels, the Fire Ball didn't disperse like it was supposed to. Jane couldn't believe it! A simple Fire Ball attack, and she can't even perform that spell. How was she ever going to learn Flying Guillotine at this rate?

Eliza let out a loud sigh. This obviously isn't working. Maybe it isn't magical build up after all, but perhaps a most unusual strain on her natural MP energy in relation to whatever illness she has. The flu can't cause this, not to her knowledge. It was futile to try and make Jane march when she isn't able to get herself out of a painful situation. This deserved a day off. "All right. Jane, take a break and wait for that to wear off. I need to procure a drink."

Danny watched Eliza head for her bag of personal items. Was this really that stressful for Eliza as well, that she needed to go drink... Wait. Was his teacher talking about alcohol? Here?!

"I'm not giving up!" Jane returned. She kept her sparking hand aimed at the target, determined to get this right. She had waited all her life to become a Leray master, yet now all of her spells, everything she worked so hard on was becoming undone! I'm not going to let that dream die right here!

Taylor watched while Jane began straining more of her body to let out additional magic. This time, nothing was happening though. She could tell by Jane's stance and reaction that she was however releasing MP energy to try something, but nothing was happening. The same affliction that got Jane earlier reappeared, but it was gone last night. Maybe the spell bomb causes temporary magical malfunction? No, why would somebody design that?

"Thunderbolt!" As soon as Jane tried to release her power again, it hit her. Like a solid iron brick to limb, Jane immediately rushed her left arm to cover her right shoulder. The pain her shoulder was in returned with quadruple the amount of intensity. It was like something had literally crushed the inside of her shoulder, and Jane couldn't even move that arm to take it off anymore. Just a second afterwards, her headache doubled in power as well, sending her down to her knees. Her right arm was no longer reserved for target practice, but rather doing the same job as her left arm, just for her head instead. Jane was now experiencing two distinct pains in both her shoulder and head at the same time. Both were bad, but the headache was worse. Jane wanted to consider how humiliating this must look. Top student of the class, now in sheering injury from something that didn't even make any sense.

Eliza finally turned around to see that Jane was now in a severe level of pain, and rushed back there to help her out. "Jane. Not this again!" Jane wasn't responding well to her yells, but Eliza was certain she heard her. Eliza hunched down and helped Jane up, when she saw that Jane was holding both her head and her shoulder. That spot again... Eliza figured it made sense for Jane to get a bad headache for overdoing things last night and before, but the shoulder pain made less sense. Eliza remembered that exact moment. Though she was on the ground, and didn't get a good look, Jane got hit by the Magical Blitz attack, landing on that same shoulder. So why now does it still hurt? After some thought, Eliza came to the conclusion this morning that it couldn't have been dark magic, because everybody else recovered with healing orbs. Jane was the only exception, despite how many others were fighting the same man. Taylor and Danny, they both recovered perfectly fine. Real time damage would have prevented that recovery, but it's not the only thing that can prevent recovery either... What happened to Jane?

Eliza shook her head, snapping herself out of the short lasting trance. Jane was hurting bad right now, after failing to get over this new aliment in her hands. Both of them were still glowing blue with random static arcs jumping between her fingers. It was with less intensity now, but it did not go away either. "Jane? You're taking a break and that's final." Regardless of the cause, Jane had to be overexerting herself in some way. Maybe she really just needs to rest after all.

"We'll take her home," Taylor offered. She had to carry Jane right after Eliza let go, since her student was in such bad shape. Taylor could tell just by looking. Jane was conscious completely, but the headache she was having was just overpowering. Taylor carried Jane by her good shoulder, and Danny made sure Jane would stand to be moved like this, all the way back to her house.

Taylor remembered having a headache once, and it was terrible. For the entire day, no matter how much anyone wanted to cheer her up, all she could focus on was the pain, second by second with no relief. At least Jane can't say that she doesn't know how she feels anymore.

Danny supported Taylor whenever she needed help, slowly making their way out of the classroom. Jane's hands finally stopped glowing blue after another minute, and the electrical sparks went away too. They probably weren't actually made of electrical energy, but instead a result of some kind of energy balance malfunction that created such interesting alluring lights. It was only Danny's best guess for now. How could anyone understand how Leray energy works? It's a force from another dimension that acts as a magical center for a specific unknown energy. Jane's spell bomb is equally as mysterious. The only way to know what it has done to her is to track the man down.

Eliza was confident that Jane's friends could get her home with no problems. They were good at taking care of her anyway, but something was more than just wrong with that picture. A headache makes sense; that she could understand, but why is there lasting pain in Jane's shoulder? Was it something the thief did to her, or is it related to something else? Jane never officially recovered from her flu after all, but this all started after the beam of light in Blue Port slammed into Jane's body. Eliza never got to see that herself, only reading about the reports. But what if something that attacked her much earlier is still affecting her magic now? We could be blaming other symptoms on some unknown strand of a flu. There may not even be a flu. Someone isn't telling someone the truth, and the rest of the situation makes no sense. No medical illness in the world has ever documented the prevention or misfire of Leray magic, unless only caused by the lack of MP recovery. Under her curious breath, Eliza uttered, "What the hell happened to Jane that night?"

The students around the class were no longer training for the most part. Some were curious, and others were panicked into thinking Jane was contagious with something vile! Eliza had to eventually tend to her herd again to make sure nobody goes throwing rumors around, but as far as the situation stood, it was time to bring in the big guns. If Jane won't recover from this, then agent Foster will have to look into the details. Kain and Bella probably won't try to look into what happened in Blue Port. For all she knows, they might be protecting any one of Jane's secrets since they know her too well. Mr. Foster is a complete stranger to Jane. It makes him an asset since he won't harbor any particular emotions towards the young girl. With his reputation for solving so many small cases in the past, it's the best bet for now. Still, that will have to wait until free-for-all training ends today. At least she could make a memo of this for the right moment.