Aida didn’t see Ezra all cycle, which was for the best. She didn’t know how their conversations would go - if Ezra still had confidence he could change his family’s mind, or if he would be swayed by their insistence to stay within their circles. All she knew was that she had already decided on her path forward, and the emotional instability that would come from reconsidering would be enough to make her break down harder than last time.
It was a very good thing Aida finally had her focus back. With the Affiliates becoming more comfortable with the students over the course of the star cycle, the weekdays became just as busy as the previous months, if not more so. The evening lesson blocks that were self-study sessions for Class 2 became more akin to in-depth applications and career discussions - mentoring sessions, if you would - with whichever Affiliates happened to rotate into their session.
Kuri had pounced on her earlier in the star cycle, coercing her to take on an assignment with her. Despite her protests about her dismal combat ability, Kuri had been adamant it didn’t matter.
“I know what your file says. I think you have a lot of potential, and I’d like to try growing that,” she said, nodding importantly. Mollified, Aida acquiesced to Kuri, earning her starry looks from Tera and Natalie. Are all Fire types this confident?
Aida met Kuri outside the school gates on Sun Day, as promised. Kuri beamed, waving with both arms and bouncing on the balls of her feet as Aida approached, her own travel pack bouncing cheerily along with her. “Thanks for coming so early! Did you have a good breakfast?”
Aida nodded, feeling queasy. She hadn’t been able to eat much, nervous as she was for the adventure Kuri was about to bring her on. Kuri and Sue were so similar; the young woman shared Sue’s enthusiasm for getting into random battles to test her mettle. Aida just hoped Kuri realized she wasn’t built the same way.
“Perfect! We’re going to take a small hike down to the river,” Kuri said cheerfully. “I’ve heard that you tend to prefer using water that already exists instead of creating your own, right?”
“Yeah, because my mana pool is pretty small,” Aida said apologetically as she followed Kuri’s skippy form down the road.
“Not a problem!” Kuri spun around to face Aida, somehow able to continue skipping backwards. “That’s not the worst problem to have, since it’s fixable. The fact that you already recognize you need to focus on efficiency is great, it gives you a really good foundation for improving. So that’s what we’re going to be working on today!”
As Kuri and Aida took the fork in the road that lead them towards Buddington Town, Kuri explained to her their goal for the day. Aida was leery at first as Kuri talked like she was going to make Aida a combat specialist, but as she continued her explanation Aida started to see the value of her perspective.
“So you have to be super familiar with monster physiology in order to pull this off?”
“Well, I do - but Tyda, he cheats by using his water affinity.” Kuri made a face. “He learned a little bit of Healing, just so he could help support us while we were trying to get off the ground in the beginning - but he ended up just using that to identify monsters’ weak points, so now he doesn’t have to study at all. Since you already know Heal, this exercise should be easier to pick up for you!”
Aida was nervous about Kuri’s expectations for her; she spoke so blithely, as if Aida had the knowledge and experience of growing up in this world, and all she needed was some dedicated coaching time. Watching Kuri’s lithe form striding ahead fearlessly recalled Aida’s feelings of insecurity from when she first woke up in this world, seeing everybody use their magic so easily while she could barely hold her mana within her. Three Wyndian months of hard work isn’t going to be enough to catch me up.
“Does Tyda still heal for you guys?” Aida asked, interrupting Kuri’s tuneless whistling.
“Sometimes,” Kuri nodded. “Not so much anymore, because we’re a pretty cohesive unit, so we fight well enough together that we don’t tend to get hurt. Ah, I think this place is a good spot!”
Aida braced herself as Kuri skipped off the path, waving Aida into the woods. They picked their way through the vegetation, Kuri seeming to have no concerns about running afoul of any monsters as she continued humming some clearly off-key melody.
“We’ll head down to the river, so that you have access to water so you can fight,” Kuri told Aida brightly. She must have seen the concern on Aida’s face, because she flashed Aida a quick thumbs up. “Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you. I promise!”
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They made it down to the river with nothing more than a few scrapes as they forged their way through some particularly stubborn vegetation, which Aida confirmed were not poisonous, much to Kuri’s amusement.
“Okay, so let’s try to put the theory into practice.” Kuri grabbed Aida by the shoulders and steered her to the river’s edge. Her soft voice was right next to Aida’s ear. “Don’t worry about keeping your senses on alert, just focus on my voice.”
Aida closed her eyes warily, covering them with her hands for good measure. Following Kuri’s encouraging words, she searched for a harmless creature that also wasn’t so jittery it would flee. She settled on a snail that was slowly making its way along the bottom of the river, completely unperturbed by the flow and uneven terrain.
She first observed the snail’s own mana, which was flowing smoothly and evenly in a perfect sphere around itself; Professor Bruce would have been proud. Activating Heal, Aida looked for weaknesses - any sign of injury, anything that could be a shade off from the bright, healthy green the snail was flaunting.
“That snail doesn’t have any weaknesses!”
“False,” Kuri declared. “You just need to look a little more carefully. Try zoning in on the edge of the shell.”
Skeptical, Aida did as Kuri instructed. The shell seemed to have another layer over it, a translucent barrier that gave Aida the impression it would be extra difficult to break through. However, as she narrowed in on the edge where the snail’s flesh met with the shell, she noticed what Kuri was trying to point out to her.
In addition to the shell’s natural barrier, the snail had also developed scales on its body. Those scales had their own mana shield, but right where the shell sat on the snail was just…smooth skin. It was a small, almost inconsequential sliver of exposed skin, but once Aida saw it, she couldn’t seem to unsee it.
You have learned Crit Up (Lv1).
Total RP: 89
“You see it?” Kuri breathed, excited. “You’ll probably need to practice on some more creatures before identifying weaknesses become second nature, but that’s the gist of it. For people with small mana pools like us, we have to make sure every attack counts.”
“You have a small mana pool, too?” Aida asked, turning around to look into Kuri’s sparkling blue eyes with new respect.
“Yup! That’s why I thought I could help you,” Kuri said cheerfully, shaking Aida’s shoulders so enthusiastically that her head bobbled like a toy. “So many people think practitioners with naturally small mana pools are ineffective and useless, but it’s about how you use mana that’s most important. Practitioners with big pools are inefficient and depend on overwhelming you - but if you’re careful and get good at dueling, you can outlast them!”
Aida laughed awkwardly, shaking her head in wonder. Since she had been surrounded by the naturally gifted leads, she always just assumed everyone who was a worthwhile combat-oriented practitioner had a base level of ability that she didn’t have, and that it wasn’t worth trying to catch up on. Like trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
But here was a young woman, the primary damage dealer of an elite Adventuring party that Sue professed to idolize…and she had a similar handicap as Aida? She gave Aida hope the way Dev and Ezra’s heartfelt words of support weren’t able to. Hearing someone with the same limitations as her succeed was much more meaningful than well-meaning but empty platitudes from people who just didn’t have to start from the same line as her: far behind everyone else.
Kuri smiled at Aida, raising her hand for a high-five that Aida returned. “Awesome! You can totally do it - let’s try finding a monster for you to practice on. I’ll keep its attention on me, so that you can take your time aiming for its vital points.”
“Isn’t it a bit too soon?” Aida squeaked as Kuri dug through her pack. “Maybe I should practice on a bird or something?”
“Don’t worry, we can handle it between the two of us,” Kuri reassured Aida. “And I find having a sense of urgency really helps to solidify a new technique.”
“I’m really not like Sue—“
Kuri put a comforting hand on Aida’s shoulder, smiling at her gently. “Really, Aida. Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.” She winked before leaning in conspiratorially. “After all, the first time Tyda brought me out to train me up we were in a much more dangerous place than this, and much younger than you are now.”
Aida gulped, but retreated to a small outcropping jutting out over the water Kuri pointed her to. She pulled out her wand, tugging experimentally at the water with her mana to make sure she could grab a hold of it immediately if she needed to.
Just stay level-headed. I’m still full on mana, there’s plenty of water, and Kuri’s a professional. Aida shook her head firmly, clearing her mind of all useless thoughts and focusing on Kuri’s frame. Kuri’s mana was already swirling, in much different patterns than Aida had seen in the school. Unlike the perfect defensive sphere Bruce pushed the students to hone, Kuri’s mana jabbed out in streaks periodically, as if she was probing her surroundings. Before she could even try to come up with her own theory as to why Kuri let her mana run wild like that, Kuri spoke to her.
“Just use your mana blasts for now to hone your accuracy. Don’t worry so much about doing damage,” Kuri called back as she finally pulled out a large stick of incense. “And most important of all, don’t be afraid to run away if you have to.” After one last smirk for good measure, reminiscent of Sue’s scary smile before heading into a fight, Kuri lit the incense, waving it above her head.