Aida was honestly grateful to get away from Sue and Levi after several hours of listening to Sue’s neverending stream of commentary and Levi’s praise of Sue’s analyses. The most helpful bits of information she got from them was the aftermath of her drowning. Professor Lloyd was the fastest on the uptake, and had essentially teleported over to their ring, cutting Dev’s mana channeling, and causing the sphere of water Aida was floating in to drop, leaving Aida in a heap. He immediately started channeling his own mana into Aida, while shouting for Healer Luk to come in and take over.
Luk had allowed Sue to enter the combat ring and dry Aida’s clothes and hair with her Fire mana, while the instructors focused on the rest of the matches. “Pritchard was an absolute blister. He was so happy about the way you got knocked out,” Sue said angrily. “Although I’d rather get a defeat like that than the way he lost to Caleb.”
Levi nodded gravely. “Yes, much more respectable to go out forcing the highest ranked Element to use all of his mana instead of losing because you ran out of mana first.”
“I see,” Aida said slowly. “…I kind of wish I could have just lost without having to drown, though.”
“Don’t worry! I’m sure the instructors will give you a point for that,” Sue said cheerily.
The conversation devolved into Sue and Levi theorizing how the instructors might grade people’s performances, and predicting which students would get a point from today’s matches. Aida took this opportunity to clear out her notifications and evaluate her current stats.
Character Stats
STR: 3 - 0% to next level.
FOC: 7 - 88% to next level.
INT: 5 - 75% to next level.
DEX: 2 - 57% to next level.
VIT: 5 - 80% to next level.
Congratulations! You have leveled the following skills:
Freeze (Lv2) [+3 RP]
Mana Blast (Lv3) [+6 RP]
Water Manipulation (Lv3) [+3 RP]
You have enough RP to learn a new Skill. Please select from the following:
1. Detox (Lv1) - Costs 5 RP to learn.
2. Ice Blast (Lv1) - Costs 5 RP to learn.
3. Water Cage (Lv1) - Costs 110 RP to learn.
Total RP: 69
Shocked and intrigued, Aida flicked through the two new skills available to her. Ice Blast and Water Cage were exactly as they sounded: she could create a small spray of ice particles for the former, and form a watery prison for the latter. Unfortunately, she didn’t have nearly enough mana to sustain the Water Cage for more than a few seconds, let alone be able to maneuver it the way Dev was able to. She cheered slightly at the thought that she forced Dev to use such an ability on her, and that she managed to catch such a powerful opponent off-guard at all.
Glancing out the library’s windows, Aida finally decided it was time to take her leave of Levi and Sue. Bidding the two farewell, Aida made her way almost to the front hallway before she realized she had left her wand on the desk. Smacking her forehead at her negligence, she headed back to the library.
Lightly running her fingers along the books on the shelves, Aida wondered what types of fairy tales existed in this world. What genres, series, and authors were popular? What even constituted as fantasy in this world that allowed its inhabitants to cast magic?
As Aida approached the desk the trio had been occupying (it was one of her favorite tables: nestled in a corner of bookshelves that provided comfortable privacy, yet received ample natural light due to its placement right in front of a floor-to-ceiling window), she felt a flutter of mana - no, two swirls of mana - emanating strongly from the nook, accompanied by unintelligible murmurings. Pausing where she was, she withdrew her own mana, trying to avoid detection. Aida peered through the shelf on her right, where she was able to get a somewhat obscured view of the table she had been approaching.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Suspicious, Aida retreated, rounding the corner of shelves so she could get a better view of what was happening. Stuffing her fist against her lips, she stared wide-eyed at Sue and Levi, feeling like an absolute pervert.
Levi had Sue pressed against the bookshelf, one forearm placed above her head and the other hand pressing against the shelf at her waist, effectively boxing her in. Sue was gripping the sleeves of Levi’s tracksuit, gazing deeply into his eyes. They were positively aesthetic; if it weren’t for the ridiculousness of the pose, Aida would have been certain they were posing for her. Slowly backing away, Aida decided she didn’t need her wand for physical training anyway.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Creeping among the stacks of books, Aida didn’t relax her movements until she had exited the library. Only then did she exhale, releasing her tightly held mana at the same time.
“Aida.”
Aida jumped. Ezra was standing next to her. He had changed out of his blue and gray tracksuit, and was wearing the regular gray and blue blazer and slacks.
“Ezra…hello.”
They stood there for a moment, Ezra awkwardly avoiding Aida’s gaze. Aida couldn’t help but admire the clean lines and proportions in his uniform, looking as if it was made for him. Maybe that’s why I don’t ever look at regular people. Their clothes never fit quite like that.
“Well, it was good seeing you, Ezra,” Aida said, deciding she should go meet Caleb instead of ogling a minor.
“You did well,” Ezra blurted out. “In the match.”
Aida paused. “Oh…thank you. I’m not sure I was able to use your advice very effectively…”
“You did it exactly right.”
Aida blinked, her head falling to the side as she tried to comprehend his words.
“Everyone else is intent on creating their own affinities with their own power, but it’s incredibly mana-intensive to do so. You focused on the basics, which is just using raw mana - pure mana, not clothed in your Element - to use the water Devinne created against him.”
Aida mulled his words over in her mind. What he said made sense. Water Blast consumed much more mana than throwing water around with Water Manipulation did. She had thought Water Blast’s mana cost was a result of it being a combat skill, but didn’t she utilize the sphere of seawater the same way Water Blast was used? Removing the consideration that she didn’t create the actual liquid of the sphere at the pebble beach, the fact that she could treat the sphere like a projectile made it effectively the same mechanic.
“So that’s why you brought me to Shale Port,” Aida said slowly. “So that I could have a ready source of water to practice my Water Manipulation on, without having to unnecessarily spend mana on creating it…” she smiled at Ezra. “Thank you.”
Ezra looked away from her as he waved a hand, indicating that it was nothing.
“No, really, Ezra. Thank you. Truly. I appreciate you teaching me these things.” Aida took a deep breath. “And I’m sorry I offended you at Shale Port. You were right: that training session wasn’t a mistake.” Aida bit her lip as she thought about her next words. “There’s a lot of pressure on me to improve, but I shouldn’t have taken my irritation out on you. I’m really sorry.”
Ezra stared at her silently as she spoke, finally exhaling. “I’m sorry I abandoned you at Shale Port. And I never thanked you either for what you did for me at the docks.”
Aida flushed at the memory of her vapid yammering at the two silver-haired young men. “That wasn’t a big deal—“ she cut herself off, staring in shock at the back of Ezra’s head.
Ezra was bent at the waist, bowing to her with a straight back. A cloud of fresh, lemony scent wafted gently through the air, tickling her nose. His voice, slightly muffled because they were spoken to the floor, still managed to send a tingle through Aida’s body with its husky quality. “You have my sincere thanks for standing up to my brother the way you did. I don’t know why, but he’s not been as much of a nuisance since.”
“Really? What happened after that?”
Ezra straightened, towering over her. When had he moved so close?
“He’s still the same. Arguably worse, but for some reason…he annoys me less now,” he murmured, one corner of his mouth creeping upwards. “Riffraff.”
Aida bit her lip, trying to stop a goofy smile from spreading across her face. “I’m glad. It’s the least I could do after everything you’ve taught me. My reverence.”
They smiled at each other. Aida felt a warmth spread through her chest. I missed this. She extended her hand. “So…forgive me for my thoughtless words at Shale Port?”
Ezra’s eyes lingered on hers before he finally extended his own hand, carefully taking her fingers in his long, slim ones. “Only if you’ll forgive me for not understanding where you were coming from.”
“Done.” Ezra’s palm was so warm. She could feel his mana lightly emanating from his hand, the golden aura comforting and familiar, reminding her of simpler times. The time when she had just been warped into this world, and had discovered she was ridiculously weak with no knowledge of how to tap into her power. She was still ridiculously weak compared to the rest of her peers, but damn it all, she would carve her own standing in this world with everything she had before accepting the system’s designation for her.
Speaking of everything I have… “I’m sorry, Ezra. I have to go meet Caleb now. He promised to help with my physical training.”
Ezra nodded. “Caleb is a good person to learn from. All of his aptitude is in the body.”
Smirking a little at Ezra’s phrasing, Aida gave Ezra a small wave before running down the hallway, severely late for her lesson to become stronger.