“That girl...well, she's got some serious skills ya'know?”

Kynos nodded slowly. Ever since Elise entered the room, he had sensed constant activation of magic. He had no idea what it meant, as it wasn't having any effect on him.

Eliza sprung up. “Alright! Let's go outside for some show and tell.”

Kynos followed the mother/daughter pair, who looked like sisters, out of the fancy mansion that served as Eliza's house, and entered into a spacious field looking for all the world like a bizarre park. Several different trees grew in impossible ways as vines that would have long since killed those trees coexisted with them, twining around their branches. Flowers actively bloomed and withered, roots floating in the water, and not a single animal could be seen. A large mound of soil was piled in the middle of the area, near a deep hole.

Eliza casually dug her hand into a small pouch on her waist and threw the contents, what looked like several seeds and bulbs, into the hole.

“Okay Kynos, show me what you got!”

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A variety of plant creatures crawled out of the hole, including a shrub bristling with purple thorns, a tangle of vines that waved tentacles menacingly while slithering along the dirt, a stunted, grayish tree with 3 holes making a face that looked like it was having a hard time living, and what appeared to be a giant apple with tiny feet. Kynos prepared himself for combat.

He had invented a new way to use his magic, after listening to Mith musing dreamily about one day having metal sticks that spewed deadly missiles and metal tubes that exploded into city-destroying fires.

Kynos created a large mass of shadow, extending them into long and hollow tubes. Then, he created a fireball in a shadow furnace that fed into those tubes, which extended to stab into each plant creature.

While fending off a few vines and thorns, he exploded flames through the tubes, immolating the creatures from within. He had planned to use the trick on monsters that needed to be destroyed from the inside.

The creatures collapsed, smoldering or outright blazing, and Eliza clapped her hand excitedly.

“Ooooh, Roland was right! You ARE worth training. Sweetie, show him that it won't so easy!”

Elise wrung her hand together, “b...but mother...”

“No buts! I can't afford to have my own girl not do anything after seeing that!”

The girl lowered her head, but stepped forward obediently. She raised a single finger to point at the dying plant monsters.

“Rise.”