I wake up with the sun; that was the point of opening the curtains last night. It’s a good thing I have an east facing window, or there’s no way I’d be able to get up at sunrise to meet Wisteria and Forest.
In the first place, why did it have to be sunrise? But I do get where she’s coming from. Every time we’ve gotten to a point in our conversations where we might have said something of importance, we were interrupted.
Yawning, I slide of my bed, making as little use of my muscles as I can. I should head straight to Wisteria’s room, but a five-minute shower is, I believe, a reasonable detour.
I wash quickly and thoroughly, managing to keep my hair dry in the process. Thankfully, there are towels in the bathroom, and I brought soap from the bath, so I have everything I need.
To my delight, when I do a quick perusal of the stuff Sanda gave me, I find unscented deodorant. Sanda is my new favourite person.
I put it on, brush my teeth, change into the clothes Sanda gave me yesterday, grab the hairbrush, which also came from Sanda, and exit the room.
Finding Wisteria’s room proves rather easy. I was resigned to wandering the hall, but Forest is standing outside it, so my problem is solved.
I walk up to him and he knocks quietly just as I reach him. I have a feeling he was waiting for me to get here before he knocked…how considerate.
Wisteria opens the door quickly; she must have been waiting.
We walk inside and she shuts the door behind us, leaving us all standing awkwardly. I yawn and sit down on the carpet, leaning against the bed. It’s too early to bother with manners.
Forest and Wisteria follow my lead, though they sit properly. I note that they’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday.
Yawning again, I wave my hand and say, “We’re never gonna get anywhere if we don’t talk.”
I will admit that I am considerably less polite before my first cup of coffee.
“Right,” Wisteria says, “Well, what do you guys think about this whole…situation?” She’s hesitant, obviously. It is, after all, a delicate subject, and it doesn’t help that most of our classmates seem to have embraced being ‘heroes’.
“Library.” I say.
She nods. “That’s what I was thinking. We need more information if we’re to make decisions.”
Forest nods, agreeing.
I hesitate, but, “Are we a we?”
Wisteria frowns, opening her mouth. Before she can speak, though, Forest raises an eyebrow and says, “Do you not agree?”
“Not at all. Allies are a good thing. But we don’t know each other’s goals. Alliances break pretty easily.”
“Then do you want to be the one to start stating your goals?” he says, his eyebrow going even higher on his face.
“Your eyebrow is going to fall off before you’re twenty.” I snap. “In any case, what do you think of the teacher?”
He frowns. “The fighting teacher?”
I roll my eyes. “Mr. Melty.”
Wisteria lets out a puff of laughter. “You’re horrible!”
She’s not too convincing, shaking in laughter like that.
“Uh huh.” I wait for their replies.
Wisteria sobers up pretty quickly. “Well, I had pretty much forgotten about him.”
Forest nods, watching us closely.
“I get what you’re saying, but if we can’t remember then we can’t remember, and if we can’t feel that emotion, then, well, it is what it is. It’s probably a blessing to not remember. Otherwise we’d be emotional wrecks.” She continues.
I nod, assenting.
I feel like we’ve all turned into bobble heads, we’re nodding so much.
“Do you know if we can read?” I ask both of them, though it’s mostly aimed at Wisteria.
She shakes her head, saying, “I haven’t come across any written words yet.”
We look at Forest, but he shakes his head as well. I sigh. “I guess we’ll just have to figure it out when we get to the library.”
Wisteria nods. “I was thinking, what is it that you’re wearing?”
I look down at my clothing. “Oh, I asked a maid to get these for me.”
Forest raises an eyebrow, and I roll my eyes at him.
“You just…went up and asked if they would give you clothes?” Wisteria asks.
“Not exactly.” I proceed to tell them what happened with Sanda yesterday, though a much-abridged version; I’m sure they do not need to hear every particular.
“I see…I’ll have to get some myself, I can’t keep wearing the same clothing.” Wisteria says. “By any chance, do you know about the bath supplies?”
“They have a ridiculous amount to choose from. The only problem with daily necessities will be the bras; they are, unfortunately, not up to standard.”
Forest coughs, ostensibly to get our conversation back on track.
I point my hairbrush at him. “You know, we’re likely to be staying in this world for the rest of our lives. It’s better to get the small stuff out of the way first.”
“Fine, fine.” He holds his hands up in a mock surrender pose.
“You’re a lot different than I thought you were.” Wisteria looks at me, tilting her head.
I shrug. People will think what they think.
“…Do you really think that we’re not getting back?” Wisteria asks.
“We can look into it, in the library, but I doubt there is one. Even if there were, it wouldn’t be so easy to find. We do have until we’re twenty-five, but by that point, what kind of life are we going back to anyways?” I lean back further onto the side of the bed, looking up and closing my eyes.
“I see…it’s true that we’ll have disappeared for a while, if we get back…why twenty-five?” Wisteria asks.
“Twenty five is when the brain fully matures…”
“The teacher.” Forest says.
“Mmm…I’m quite fine in my unmelted state.”
We’re silent for a minute.
“Hey…do you guys…want to fight?” Wisteria asks.
“If I’m going to be living here for the rest of my life,” Forest says, “I don’t want it to be as a soldier.” His face is serious; the first time I’ve seen him like this, though that's not saying much.
I snort. “Pardon the dramatics, but if they think I’m going to obediently fight in war for them after they ripped me from everything I know and love, they’re in for a surprise.”
Wisteria nods, keeping silent for a moment. “I think we need more information, about this world, before we can make a real decision. But I can see why they’d do all this. If we were in the same situation, would you summon people too?”
I shrug. “Probably. I’m not really angry; even if I had the ability to be angry with them, I doubt I would be. But I’m not going to play along with them. I don’t have that kind of compassion.”
Wisteria nods. “Then I’ll follow your lead. If the both of you plan on leaving, I’ll come with you. I’m not overly keen on warfare either.”
“Well, we should stay long enough to learn a bit, since we’re being supplied with everything we need anyways.” I say. “We’re going to have to time it right, when we leave.”
Wisteria and Forest both nod. “We’ll have to talk it over later, but for now I guess we really do need to learn about this world…it’s not like we have any money, or skills we could get a job with.” Wisteria says after a moment.
“Mmm,” I reply.
“There is the Adventurers Guild,” Forest says. “Once we have a grasp over our abilities…”
“Well, that is pretty much what you do when something like this happens, I suppose.” Wisteria smiles.
“Since we’re in another world anyways, we might as well enjoy it.” Now that Forest brought it up, I won’t deny that the idea of exploring this world is exciting. It’s just that the worry over this entire situation is overshadowing anything else I might feel.
Once we leave, I’m pretty sure I’ll be excited.
Silence returns to the room, and I realize again that none of us know what to talk about in a situation like this; in the first place, we don’t know each other, so we can’t really trust each other too much.
I’m a bit surprised that we’re alike in that, though I suppose we’d already have a group of friends in this class if we weren’t, so maybe it’s not that surprising after all.
“Well,” Wisteria says, standing up, “I’m going to get clean clothes, and proper bath supplies. I feel disgusting.”
“Were there not bath supplies in the bathroom?” I ask, trying to recall if my bathroom had any other than the ones I’d taken.
“There were some.” She replies, and I assume that means that there weren’t enough.
“I’ll go as well.” Forest gets up, so I drag myself to my feet reluctantly, since everyone is standing now.
Forest opens the door, and we file out of the room.
“How long do we have until they get us for breakfast?” I ask.
“About half an hour?” Wisteria answers, tilting her head, assessing. I can see her thinking.
I take them to the baths first, and seeing as I have no idea how I would find Sanda, we ask a random maid we encounter on the way there for clothes.
She informs us that they (whoever they are) are making wardrobes for us that will be in our closets after breakfast, apologizes for the inconvenience, and hastens to go get clothes.
We all glance at each other uncomfortably. Like Sanda yesterday, she had seemed nervous, bordering on afraid, even though we were nothing but polite.
Continuing to the baths, I wait in the changing room for Wisteria to finish, since I already showered. In the meantime, I brush out my hair with the hairbrush I’ve been carrying around, and French braid it again.
If, as I suspect, I’m going to be doing a lot of fighting in this world, I’ll have to braid spikes into it or something. I’m too vain to chop it short, but leaving it as-is is too disadvantageous in a fight.
While I’m musing about my hair, the maid we enlisted to find clothes for us, or more accurately, for Wisteria and Forest, comes in with Wisteria’s clothes.
Now that I think about it, she can’t really walk into the male changing room to give Forest his clothes, can she? I ask, and apparently she got one of the male servants to do it. Thankfully, we didn’t put her in an uncomfortable situation.
I suppose we’re going to have to be more conscious of stuff like this…well, we’re leaving soon anyways, so there’s no point in getting used to being in authority, though we should be careful for as long as we remain here.
Wisteria exits the bathing room wrapped in a towel, and I point at the clothes the maid left on one of the benches.
I politely turn my back while she changes, and turn around again when she taps my shoulder.
…It’s the same. Her tunic is a blue-ish light purple, but other than that, it’s the exact same outfit as mine.
With a sinking feeling, I try not to imagine Forest’s clothes.
We grimace at each other, then Wisteria says, “Shall we go?” and opens the door, to where Forest is standing, waiting for us in his identical outfit with a dark green tunic.
I groan. “Are we some kind of weird pop band or something?”
Wisteria smiles. “I don’t think a pop band would dress like this either.”
I groan again.
We walk back to our rooms. Forest and Wisteria didn’t take too long, so we should still get there before someone comes to pick us up, but we have no time to go to the library this morning.
When we get there, I realise we miscalculated; breakfast is an hour after sunrise, but they’re waking us up ten minutes before that.
Which means that the poor person sent to wake us up is very distressed.
“Oops.” I say, but I’m not entirely sorry. The panic the maid is displaying is acute, which solidifies my idea that we are, for all intents and purposes, under house arrest.
Of course, I don’t like distressing innocent workers, but it’s good to know that I’m not just being overly paranoid.
“Are you okay?” I ask, with what is mostly fabricated concern. After all, I’m the solution to her problem.
“Ah! Where did you go?” The maid says, not over panic mode yet.
Forest raises an eyebrow, and she looks horrified. Bowing deeply, she says, “Please, forgive my impertinence.”
Wisteria glares at Forest, who looks somewhat sheepish.
“No, not at all. We were just in the baths.” I say.
She stands back up slowly, still pale, but looking relieved. “Then since you’re awake, do you remember the way to breakfast? Someone will bring the rest of the heroes to breakfast in about fifteen minutes, but since you’re already up, I can bring you there now?”
We look at each other and nod. “One second.” I say, unlocking my door and placing my hairbrush down on the bedside table, then locking it again.
Walking down, we stop at both Forest’s and Wisteria’s room so they can drop off their dirty clothes and various filched bath supplies.
I memorize the location of their rooms and pay attention to the surroundings as we walk to breakfast. I’m fairly good with directions, and having a mental map of this maze like castle can only be useful.
I’m going to have to explore. I don’t want to look suspicious, so I’m not really sure how, but I’ll figure it out. Well, exploring the castle would probably be normal for anyone. But as they say, guilty minds.
When we reach the dining hall, we’re the only ones in it, and breakfast is a buffet style.
Perhaps sensing my question, the maid says, “The King usually takes breakfast in his rooms, but I believe the princess will be joining you.”
She then bows and departs after murmuring a polite goodbye.
We head to the buffet. I grab whatever smells the most appealing and end up with some sort of smoked, fried fish on toast, what looks like a churro, and the ever-helpful coffee. I’m so glad they have coffee.
I wander over to a table while Wisteria and Forest are still choosing their food.
I consider eating the fish on toast with my hands, but I eventually pick up my fork and knife as Wisteria and Forest join me on either side. Since I’m on the end, they’re facing each other, which makes a nice little huddle.
The fish is good, all brown butter and smoke and flakiness, and the crunchiness of the toast makes it better.
Wisteria and Forest look at me like I’m weird for eating with such relish, and I notice they both have the typical bacon, eggs, and toast breakfast. Why spend so long choosing if that’s what you end up with anyways?
I roll my eyes. “Live a little. How many times in your life do you experience the luxury of palace food from another world?”
Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I can’t say ‘enjoy it while it lasts, because we’re going to leave soon’, can I?
Forest shrugs one shoulder, seemingly uninterested in the finer things in life, but Wisteria tilts her head, considering, then gets up to grab something else.
As I start in on my fried breadstick with cinnamon sugar (aka churro), Wisteria comes back with some sort of pudding looking thing.
She sits down, and a few seconds later, we hear the sounds of our approaching classmates.
I nibble on my churro and watch as the class wanders into the room. Somehow, I’m going to have to find time for myself, to check out my status, and investigate
Wisteria is picking at her pudding, and Forest is already done, with his plate pushed aside. I’m more than halfway done my churro by the time the rest of the class sits down with their food.
After a few more minutes in which the class finishes getting their food, Forest fidgets, I finish my churro, and Wisteria gives up on the pudding, the princess comes in.
I try to think of where she’d sit…there are two seats left open, one beside Forest and one beside the real ‘heroes’.
I hope she doesn’t sit over here. I’d rather the three of us have as little interaction with the people around here as possible; that way, we’ll leave behind less of an impression.
Though I doubt that very many people will look for us when we leave. It seems rather confidential, but that might just be me.
She gets her food, which is a rather odd image, though she is at least wearing less princess-y clothes than yesterday.
…Aaannndd she chooses to sit beside Forest.
She smiles at the three of us, and in my peripheral vision I can see the ‘heroes’ deflate a little bit.
“Good morning. How are you today?” she asks. As expected of a princess, she’s smiling beautifully, and while she’s polite, it sounds like she cares.
If I had to say what my idea of the stereotypical princess was, this would be it. Though at least she’s not stuck-up or arrogant.
“Good morning. I’m very well, thank you. How are you?” I sound like I’m speaking the phrases you learn when you’re first introduced to a language, and the words taste stale and awkward in my mouth.
“I am quite well, thank you.” She gracefully inclines her head, then looks towards Wisteria, who smiles.
“Good morning. I am also very well, thank you for asking.”
The princess then looks to Forest, who says “Good morning. I’m very well.”
I kind of hate formal-ish language. What happened to good old-fashioned hello? The three of us sound so stilted it’s sad.
“Today you will be receiving a lecture of sorts on the skill system. We have summoned your individual teachers as quickly as possible, so they will be here tomorrow. Today you will have quite a lot of free time, so do explore the palace a bit.”
After the princess gives off that spiel about our schedule, we nod. What else would we do? But at least now I’ll feel less paranoid looking around the castle.
“Oh my! I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t believe I’ve asked for your names!”
We introduce ourselves, then chat inanely with the princess while she eats. She asks about how we’re feeling, being in another world, and how we like the palace so far.
Our answers are perhaps the dullest combinations of words that could come out of anyone’s mouth in this situation. They’re non-committal in a vague, poorly worded way that doesn’t seem deliberate but is.
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It looks like Wisteria and Forest are as paranoid as I am.
Everyone is thankful when the princess finishes. Thinking carefully about what to say is mentally exhausting, and on the princess’s part, we seem to have bored her thoroughly, though she’s too polite to show it.
She smiles at us, excuses herself, and announces to everyone that we will meet in the courtyard we met in yesterday, if everyone is finished.
Of course, she made sure that she finished last, so we move as one large group towards the courtyard.
I didn’t really think about it earlier, but learning magic seems pretty cool, and I begin to feel a little bit excited. But my overall worry is still pressing down on me, and I barely register my excitement.
Actually, since Master of Air isn’t my sub skill, I wonder if I’m going to have trouble? Though I do have Master of Magic as a sub skill, so I’ll probably be fine.
I turn my head to look at Wisteria, but she looks as cool about this as she has about…well, everything so far.
Cool might be the wrong word, though. Mild? Gentle? Mellow, maybe? In any case, if she’s excited at the prospect of magic, she doesn’t show it.
Forest, on the other hand, is buzzing with suppressed energy. It looks like he really wants to learn the sword, and it also looks like he’s trying not to show it.
“Have you taken any fencing lessons before?” I ask, curious. If he wanted to learn the sword so badly, it’s not like there weren’t instructors on Earth.
He glances at me. “No, the timing was never right.”
I nod.
“Have you taken any fighting lessons?” he asks in return.
“Well, I took self-defence classes.” I shrug. I’m not a genius at fighting, but at least I can put up a fight.
We both look at Wisteria. “I’m a black belt in Aikido.”
The more I learn about Wisteria, the less I have figured out about her. Though I feel like Aikido suits her, once the original surprise wears off.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Just because she looks gentle doesn’t mean she is. Of course, just because she takes Aikido doesn’t mean she isn’t gentle, but it’s not something I would have guessed for her.
I don’t know her, and I don’t know Forest.
Though I suppose I have to start somewhere. Worrying about it isn’t going to help, so I’ll just take my time with it. No one becomes best friends within a few days of meeting. Besides, I may not know much about them, but I feel like I have at least some sort of grasp of their personalities; enough that I’m fairly sure that they’re thinking with ‘we’ when making plans.
While we are talking, we reach the courtyard, the last of the large clump of people moving through the doors.
This time, the class separates into the three groups without being asked, as if it’s something natural.
Even though this is only the second ‘class’. The adaptability is both admirable and mildly disturbing.
In any case, we separate from Forest and join the magic group. Elias Gray is back in front, and after a minute or so while the class finishes shuffling, he starts right in on what I suppose is a lecture.
“Your individual teacher’s will be arriving tomorrow, so I’ll be giving a general explanation of how the skill system works. Also, until you receive proper instruction, please do not attempt to use your magic by yourself.” He looks at us with the same faint disinterest as he did yesterday.
“Just so you know, it’s not like everyone has skills. For the most part, people who are born with skills have a natural aptitude for them. For instance, I was born with ‘Air Magic’ as a skill. My magic stats are naturally higher than my other stats, and they are also easier to raise.”
“Of course, I can also learn other magic, as well as fighting, and I have. However, as I am ‘unskilled’ in such magic, it takes me twice the efforts for half the results, and I need to learn it from an outside source, as it’s not an inherent part of my skill.”
“Main sub skills are branches that the overall skill has. You can only choose one branch, and you must fully master every part of that branch before being able to choose another sub skill. You can learn magic from skills you don’t have, but its twice the work for half the results, and you can only learn the very bottom tiered skills, so most people don’t bother.”
“In the branches, in order to learn the higher tiered skill set of said branch, you must master the lower ones. At first, only a few low-tiered skills are available. Once you master said skills, you can start learning higher tiered skills.”
“Right, did you all get that?” he asks. The class is silent, though whether it’s because they have no questions or because they haven’t yet awakened from their glazed-eye state, I’m not sure.
That was one long chunk of exposition. If this was written down on paper, I’m pretty sure the entire class would just look down to the tl;dr.
I don’t think he even cares whether we really understood it or not. I suppose if we were born here, we’d know it already, but in this case, we can’t help our ignorance. I wouldn’t call it vital information, but it’s not really trivial, either.
More like…we would have figured it out eventually anyways?
I guess teaching people common sense is kind of irritating from his point of view.
“Okay, that’s it. Dismissed.”
…That was short. Or rather, was there any point to doing this at all? I mean, it’s good information, but it seems kind of like a waste of time and effort to gather us all, plus the teachers, who are all hotshots, for a really short information dump.
Maybe that’s why he was even less enthusiastic today.
The class stands around blinking, then various friend groups disperse. They seem vaguely disappointed that we didn’t learn magic today. Though looking back on what the princess said, this is all that was planned.
Wisteria and I look at each other. I shrug, and we turn to go find Forest.
“Hold on.”
I jump a little bit.
Shit.
When did he get behind me?
Composing myself, I turn around. “Mr. Gray.” I smile politely.
“Just call me Gray.”
“…Uh-huh…”
He smiles wryly at my discomfort. “No one actually uses titles like that. If you want a more formal title, you could call me ‘magician’ or ‘teacher’.”
I think for a second. “Yes, magician.”
“A stickler for manners?” he seems amused.
Not at all. I just don’t to become friendly with anyone in the palace…not that I can say that.
“Just a bit. Did you need me for something?”
“I said it yesterday, didn’t I? You have air magic as your sub skill, so I’m your teacher. Since I’m here already, we might as well get started.”
I look at Wisteria, who tilts her head and says, “Well, we’ll meet after you’re done, I guess? In my room.”
I nod in reply, and she walks off, presumably to find Forest so they can explore the palace…and the palace library. Lucky buggers. Well, Forest doesn’t strike me as a library person though.
Why did I choose air anyways? I could have chosen any other element, and then I would have today to explore. But no. I chose air.
I turn my attention back to the magician.
“For now, should we go over there?” he says. It’s a question that’s not a question. He points to a spot on the grass that’s a bit further away from the trees than where we are currently.
Though we aren’t really that close to the trees in the first place.
We walk over, and he immediately sits down cross-legged on the grass.
After a second’s pause, I follow suit, sitting across from him.
“The first thing you’re going to do is sense the mana around you.” He says.
“No skills?” I ask.
“Skills are a shortcut to shaping the mana. Besides, you don’t have any anyways.”
Right.
“So…why didn’t you just do this with the whole class?”
He raises his eyebrow slightly, and I get a faint sense of déjà vu…damn Forest. “Do I need to explain everything to you?”
“…As a teacher, shouldn’t you be happy that your student is interested?” Not that I really consider him my teacher, but still. It’s his job.
“I would be if my student was showing interest in what I’m trying to teach her instead of asking irrelevant questions.”
“It’s not irrelevant. I’m simply asking why I’m the only one to get taught.” I refute.
“For someone who cares about manners, you seem quite fine talking back to someone in authority.” He doesn’t seem bothered by it, but I am. That inconsistency could lead to our plan of escape being exposed.
Well, it’s not likely, but still. I need to work on my acting.
This paranoia is wearing on my nerves.
He sighs. “First, the people summoned to be your teachers are all top class. As such, they’ll want to teach their own methods, so I’ll just be interfering by teaching. Second, one person is going to have a hard time teaching ten teenagers who are excited about magic but can’t control it. I don’t want to have to clean up the mess when one of you set fire to the palace trying out a skill.”
I nod.
“Is question time over now?” he asks, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Yes, teacher.” I’m sarcastic, but I doubt he could tell with the tone I used. In the end, being too inquisitive isn’t good for my plan of being entirely unmemorable. On the other hand, the more questions I ask, the more I’ll know, and in this situation, knowledge is power. Life is a balance.
“For the first time you sense mana, it’s easier if you close your eyes. Think of it like meditation. You do have that where you’re from?”
It’s called Earth.
I nod. Now is not the time to correct him. I don’t want it to seem like I have too much attachment to the past.
Well, I don’t in the first place, but I also don’t want to forget.
Ah, this is stifling. Tiptoeing around and watching my words isn’t my style.
You do what you have to, I suppose. And soon, I’ll be out of here, so I should endure.
I nod again, closing my eyes. I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be doing, as I’ve never actually done meditation before. I have the faint idea of breathing + meditation, so I start to pay attention to my breathing.
In, out. In, out. A circular motion.
Nothing’s happening.
After a few minutes of nothing, as I search my mind for clues, I remember a vague snatch of conversation, in the way that one might see the faint outline of something in the mist that wasn’t there before.
“…imagine…breath filling…body…head to toes…let it out…”
I’m not sure that’s right, but, well, what the harm of trying? The lack of clarity in my memories is a bit disturbing, but now is not the time to think about it.
I imagine my body is empty, and as I breathe in, the air swirls into it, filling not just my lungs but the entire empty space my insides have become.
Then I breathe out, and the air rushes out in a tumble.
After I repeat that a few times, I finally begin to feel something. It’s not exactly a tingling, but a feeling in-between lights, electricity, and an awareness of sorts. It crawls across and in my skin and my muscles and my organs, and I can see, in my mind’s eye, a network of points and lines, drawn in electric lights, spread in an elaborate three dimensional pathway all across and through my body.
And then I sense the mana. It’s like dust particles made of light and electricity in the air, and as I breathe in, it swirls into my body, bringing a faint crackling electric taste with it, then leaving as I exhale.
I watch this in my mind’s eye while I sense it with my physical body. It’s almost like I’m occupying two bodies.
I continue to inhale and exhale the mana in the air until I realize that at this point in the process, I’m probably supposed to keep the mana. Though I don’t remember any stories where the characters actually breathe the mana in. Of course, relying on my memory of Earth is probably not the brightest idea.
This time, as I breathe out, I will myself to hold onto the mana. Surprisingly, it works, and I only breathe out air.
But the mana just sits in my body. Hesitantly, I will my body to absorb it, and it moves towards various points of light in the pathways and I feel a mild heat in my muscles.
Then I open my eyes and gasp a bit. What is it they always say in yoga? Don’t forget to breathe? Oops.
“…” The magician looks at me for a second. “Breathing is important.”
I nod. It’s a bit embarrassing, but there’s nothing wrong with what he said.
Though it would have been fine if he didn’t say anything at all.
“Did you sense the mana?”
“Yeah, it went into my…muscles I think?”
“…” He looks at me again. “I told you to sense the mana.”
“Yes?”
“Not absorb it.”
“…But isn’t that what comes next anyways?” I ask.
He sighs. “How did you absorb it?”
I’m hesitant. “I breathed it in, then it went into my muscles?”
“Don’t do that again.”
“Why?”
“You don’t know how to deal with it yet. Now you just have unneeded energy you can’t use in your body. You might be fine now, but if you do it more, you’ll start to feel bad.”
“Oh. If I do it enough, will I explode?” I ask, curious.
“…That is possible. However, your rate of absorbing mana is roughly proportional to your ability to store it, so you would start to feel sick long before you exploded; unless you were really stupid, you would stop.”
I nod.
“Now I’ll teach you how to absorb it properly.”
“Properly?”
“Yes. You absorbed it from the inside, but for most skills, you absorb it from the outside. Try absorbing some into your hand.”
Hmmm. I go back into the meditation state, this time noticing my ‘separation’ from my physical body, and when I get there, I focus my minds eye on my hand.
I remember to breathe.
Since it went through the points when I absorbed it from the inside, I guess I’ll try the points on the outside this time?
I’m not sure how my will can be exerted on the mana particles that aren’t touching me, but whatever the reason, when I imagine them entering the points in my hand, they do. Or maybe the points are acting like magnets for mana?
Instead of being absorbed into my actual body, this time the mana turns into something like a current, cycling along the paths between the points in my hand.
Rather than a feeling in my physical body, it’s more of an awareness. Well, I can see it clear as day in my mind’s eye anyways.
I wonder if I can make the cycle bigger?
I encourage the current to move to points along the surface of my arm, and it willingly obliges. To no small surprise, I notice that as soon as I increase the area the current is cycling in, my body automatically absorbs more mana to keep up the speed of the cycle.
“Good. Now open your physical eyes.” His voice sounds far away.
…Does the body in my minds eye have eyes that I can open?
“Do not do what I think you’re about to do.” He warns.
It seems I’m giving myself a reputation for being a bit of a troublemaker as far as magic is concerned. Damn.
It’s not like I was really going to do it. Right now. Well, I should listen to the guy with experience, I guess. But seriously, how does he already have that impression of me? I’ve been trying my hardest to fly under the radar.
I open my eyes and I’m sucked back into my physical body. The vision is gone, but I still have that faint awareness in my hand, that spread up my arm when I increased the circuit’s area.
“You should feel the mana, right?”
I nod.
“Now here’s the hard part. Hold out your hand, palm facing me.”
I obediently hold out my hand, and he pokes the centre of my palm. I start a bit as, originating from the place he poked, the mana in my arm gets drawn back into my hand and starts cycling in a different way. I can feel something building up; my hand is getting warm.
“Let the mana go now.” He says.
“How?”
“However you want.”
Thanks. That’s real helpful.
My hand is now somewhat uncomfortable as the mana cycling keeps accelerating.
Well, whatever. I try to push it out with my mind, and surprisingly enough, it comes out as a slice of air. As I wasn’t particularly aiming at anything, given that I didn’t know that I had to aim it, it nearly slices the magician.
He dodges it though.
“Now replicate that.” He says, not minding the fact that I nearly took his head off. Well, it probably would have only sliced off a bit of his ear, but still.
I look at him like he’s kind of crazy (I mean seriously, he could have told me what that would do, so that I knew to aim), but I draw mana in with the intentions of creating another air blade, and the mana automatically cycles according to the pattern needed.
At least it’s somewhat easy.
I slice it out, and once again, it emerges from the center of my palm, which is still facing towards my teacher.
Once again, he calmly dodges it.
“There you go. Now you know magic.” He says.
“What?”
“A bit, anyways,” he says, disregarding my tone of disbelief. “We’ll continue tomorrow.”
Only after he says this do I realize that the sun is beginning its descent.
After I notice the sun, I also notice the vast emptiness in my stomach, which takes that exact moment to loudly complain.
Which is fair, I suppose. I’ve missed both lunch and dinner.
I don’t remember so much time passing. Maybe while I was doing the meditation?
But hey.
I smile.
I just did magic.