The young spirit slowly emerged from the den, blinking its ethereal eyes as it surveyed the surroundings, observing the plethora of colors and the flow of mana in the air. It had been nearly a month since its birth, and with each passing day, it grew more accustomed to the world around it. Floating gently out of the den, it scanned the surroundings, instinctively searching for Pygan.

The den was located at a corner of a clearing, right under some tree roots. The clearing itself had large spots where large rocks were slightly poking out of the ground, making only small vegetation be able to grow here. The trees in the forest were big and spread out irregularly, mostly composed of deciduous trees that partially covered the sunlight. Most of the ground was covered with dead leaves and branches with large rocks poking out of the ground while a few boulders lay around. Going south from here, the ground quickly starts to get inclined as a mountain reveals itself and, according to Pygan, most of the rocks around here come rolling down from there.

At the opposite edge of the clearing, Pygan was standing at the top of a rock that was coming out of the ground, his vibrant red fur glowing in the morning light. Pygan seemed lost in thought, his gaze fixed upon the distant horizon.

But he quickly sensed its presence, turning abruptly, with the surprise in his eyes quickly turning into slight disappointment, as he let out a sigh.

"Well, good morning," He says as a small smile appears on his face. "Seems like you've finally awakened."

The Young Spirit's ethereal form pulsed gently, a response comparable to a simple nod. Despite knowing how to talk, it still preferred to keep things short by releasing slight fluctuations since it learned how to manipulate mana. Personally, Pygan wasn't bothered with it, but he knew he would need to make it stop doing that eventually.

"Come on," Pygan continued, gesturing for the Young Spirit to follow him. "It's time for us to move to a different spot."

The young spirit glided after Pygan, its spherical form rolling silently over the uneven ground. As they moved deeper into the forest, the ground started to get more and more inclined as the air grew thicker with mana, and the surroundings started to take on a more surreal glow. The trees they passed by started to get bigger and thicker with their trunks filled with scars and markings, probably made by boulders rolling down the mountain, the canopy shining with a plethora of different colors as the Young Spirit’s senses tingled with the increased mana concentration, and it instinctively began to draw in more mana.

Finally, they arrived in another clearing surrounded by ancient trees, their branches forming a natural canopy overhead. In the center of it, a small pool of water reflected the dappled sunlight, giving the area an enchanting aura. And of course, boulders. Some poking out of the ground, others just lying around, and even one that impaled the trunk of a nearby tree.

Pygan leaped onto a nearby boulder and proceeded to lie there to oversee its training… And to also sleep. He turned his gaze toward the young spirit and gave it a quick nod to start the training session.

The young spirit closed its ethereal eyes as it hovered closer to the center of the clearing, its form pulsating gently as it started to focus. It further extended its essence, tendrils of shimmering energy reaching out like delicate threads. The air around it seemed to respond, humming with latent mana, eager to be claimed.

The mana flowed with a soothing rhythm, moving from the outskirts of its spherical form to the deepest, most hidden recesses of its core, where it slowly merged to itself. It was a delicate process and the spirit focused intently, ensuring that not a single wisp of mana escaped its grasp.

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Initially, there was an eerie stillness within its core. It delved deep into its essence, attempting to draw the mana further inward. Time flowed by, each moment marked by a deliberate yet imperceptible shift in the spirit's connection to the mana. Hours slipped away unnoticed, and despite the passage of what felt like an eternity, It still couldn't discern the progress it was making.

Unsure if it was doing something wrong, it sent a subtle pulse of energy outward, seeking a response from Pygan. But instead of hearing his voice in its mind, a gentle pulse emanated from the fox spirit in return. The young spirit paused for a moment, its core aglow with curiosity and intrigue.

It opened its eyes, the sun was closing in on the horizon. It turned its attention towards Pygan, finding him curled upon himself, immersed in the same process.

It silently watched as mana slowly flowed in a spiral inwards, converging towards him. It was a subtle movement, so much that it was almost like he wasn't even there in the first place, perfectly blending in with the mana in the air.

The young spirit's mind was quickly filled with questions, first being why. It recalled when Pygan explained to him that they absorbed mana to increase their power, but absorbing it too fast could damage both oneself and the ambient around it. But still, wasn't this a bit too slow?

It felt tempted to wake up Pygan, but for a moment, the young spirit hesitated, wondering if it should ask him later.

But regardless of the decision of the young spirit, suddenly, Pygan's eyes opened and widened, his pupils getting slightly larger as he quickly got up and turned to the horizon, completely ignoring it as his tail slowly started to wag.

The air around the clearing slowly started to get warmer and warmer the longer his eyes stood locked in the horizon, to the East, with his back against the sun set. But again, suddenly, he recalled the young spirit's presence in the clearing as he quickly turned to it and said bluntly. "Stay here."

Then, in a great flash of light, Pygan's body shone like the sun as it grew, mana flowing outwards from his body and bursting into flames as he turned to the horizon again and jumped into the air, his form shining in the sky as a shooting star before arching down and falling somewhere down the mountain they were.

It watched in a mix of terror and awe as he repeated the same movement until his form was nothing more than a dot in the distance flying towards the darkness. The young spirit stood there for a couple seconds, processing what just happened and recovering from the fear that took over its body. It felt like it stood in front of a fraction of the sun for a moment, just like in the first seconds of its life.

Standing still for a couple seconds, it finally snapped back to reality as the sun finally set in the horizon and darkness took over the small clearing. At first it tried going back to absorbing mana, but it found itself unable to with so many questions inside its mind. It hovered around the clearing aimlessly, tried to splash itself onto the water, failing immediately since water couldn't interact with its form for some reason. And then it found another big question annoyingly disturbing its mind, another one to the pile.

It never actually stopped for a moment to ask why it never touched the ground or why it avoided some obstacle. Curiously, it tried landing on the ground and interacting with it, like Pygan, only for a bit of its ethereal form to go right through it, being slightly harder than water, but still very much capable of going deeper.

It proceeded to hit its form against everything around it. First weird thing it found was that it was unable to phase through trees and at the same time, realized why it couldn't do it.

The trees had a steady and slow flow of mana as always, one that could be considered its own and unique, although it was fairly similar to the one on the air. But if that was the case, why was it able to hover and move freely in the air?

At one point it stopped asking questions, it was starting to give it headaches.

So, in an attempt to escape boredom and the questions it couldn't find the answers to, it slowly made its way to an edge of the clearing, quickly making its way deeper into the forest.