Xopil was still peacefully snoring away when the sun had reached its apex in the sky. When he did finally, slowly open his eyes he found himself alone in the room. Unconsciously he frowned slightly, but that disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Xopil went to the kitchen, pulling out all manner of pots, pans and ingredients with a certain flourish to his movements.

Meanwhile outside five women were diligently practicing their magic, earth in particular. Winter who, out of the five of them, had the most experience with the earth element, was attempting to repair the cracked foundation. She took a piece of the broken foundation and examined it closely as she used her earth magic to carefully dissect and analyze what it was made of. This is... there's weaknesses riddled throughout it, a mishmosh of materials was used in order to... ah yes, I see... He made it to be fragile, but also so that...

Beda was off to the side hovering a ball of water over her palm. She had been staring intently at the little ball for a while, finally she started to manipulate it; the ball shrank smaller and smaller until she had a single drop remaining. Is this as simple and basic as it can get...? She dropped the water onto her palm, and spread the liquid thinly. With a thought she trimmed the water further and levitated it over he palm again. She pinched that speck of water between her thumb and forefinger. In an instant she filled her immediate surroundings with thousands of that incredibly tiny water drop, creating a misty haze around her. The next moment she willed the drops into a single ball, and then split it again into mist. Beda nodded in satisfaction as the water disappeared, completely blending in with the air around her.

Lexi was practicing with her air magic, taking the slightest breeze she could and cutting it down until she had a fine bead of air trickling through her hair. She cut that bead down in size until it was able to pass effortlessly through two strands of her hair, she continually made it smaller and smaller until she only knew where it was because she was controlling it; and at that size, she was able to weave it through her hair without feeling it. She got a crazy idea at this point, turning that infinitesimal spot of air into a blade. That could be dangerous... particularly if... At this point, Lexi's eyes went wide. She reverted the blade back to it's default state and duplicated it, until there was a gale wind circulating around her, at which point she had drawn the attention of the other four women.

Calypso was literally playing with fire, she summoned a tiny flame and was batting it between her hands. Yep that's it. Nothing to see here, moving on...

"HOLD IT!" Calypso shouted. "I feel like I'm getting left out here, or that I'm not even trying to improve."

A ball of yarn appears!

"I am not amused," Calypso huffed angrily. "You got lazy when it was my turn."

"Short answer: Fire is overdone, overused, and I have doubts I could make it interesting. This skip had nothing to do with you. Honest."

"But you've already proven magic here isn't typical." argued Calypso. "You probably have no idea how to handle fire."

"You know what? Fine. I can blame you if anyone falls asleep."

Calypso was grinning smugly as she looked at the tiny yellow flame in her hands. She manipulated its size, increasing and decreasing it on a whim. She paid particular attention to the change in heat she felt on her face, especially when she remembered Xopil's flame had no heat. How had he done that since it's a natural part of fire...? Calypso studied her captive flame. Does a magical fire have heat or is that something we just automatically apply? For that matter... does it make light naturally too? Calypso slowly dissected her magic, stripping off the heat that it radiated on her face first. Calypso was slightly amused when the flickering light it emitted had also disappeared. Calypso scratched her chin thoughtfully. Just what is the default state of magical fire? Calypso's natural curiousity kicked into overdrive the more she delved into her fire magic, the more she questioned it, the more her flame changed, but did she get closer to its true nature or was she simply restructuring the flame in her hand as her whims took form?

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Fire is hailed as the most destructive magic... but is that really so?" Calypso questioned aloud, as she looked at the tiny pitch black flame on her palm. Her question did not go unnoticed, as four pairs of eyes turned to look at her. Upon seeing the unusual flame in her palm, and how she casually threw it at the nearby inn, warning bells went off in their heads.

"Anybody hungry?" Xopil asked while walking around the side of the building. He noticed a tiny flame black as midnight approaching, and he continued to watch it as it hit the side of the inn. Very calmly he peeled the flame off the building and nonchalantly placed it on his shoulder like a pet. "Nice progress...but can we not use the building we live in to experiment with? Accidents are still possible, after all."

"Sorry, my curiosity got the better of me," Calypso admitted.

"That's not the important thing here... Xopil was in the kitchen, cooking?" Lexi looked worried.

"...Ha. Ha. Ha." Xopil laughed forcefully. "I was hungry and I made enough for everyone. You don't have to eat it though, that's fine."

Xopil turned to leave, and ignored the ensuing banter as he was followed inside.

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"But seriously, that was the best I've ever eaten... and after living for over a thousand years, that's saying something." Lexi commented. "We should have you help with cooking."

"That's actually... not a bad idea," added Winter.

"No, it is." Xopil disagreed, "I am not a cook. Two left hands in the kitchen, that's me."

"Then... how?" Lexi asked.

"Well... actually I used magic to prepare that. I used it as magic practice."

"...I'm not sure if I should scold or praise now." Felicyta shrugged while shaking her head.

"Eh?" Xopil was confused.

"Only you could pull that off, seriously... continuously using magic is such a drain." explained Winter.

"Weren't you all using magic all morning?" Xopil asked.

"...Now that you mention it, I was." Winter replied.

"Same." Added Lexi.

"..." Felicyta, Calypso and Beda also nodded.

"Sounds like you're using magic more efficiently in addition to more potently." Xopil confirmed then added, "The rest of today we'll share what we've learned and tomorrow we'll start practicing with element augmentation properly."

Xopil with a wave of his hands collected all the plates, and washed them in a matter of seconds.

"...We should have taught him magic much earlier." Felicyta mused as they left the room.

"Would be nice to relax in the hot tub as we share magical theory. Did you repair it yet?" Xopil asked.

"Unfortunately, no." replied Winter, "I still have much to learn."

"That's the answer I expected actually... I did use a lot of augmented magic but it was also a bit of a hack job just to give you girls an incentive to practice, so I'm certain you can make something even better." Xopil admitted.

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Several hours later the sun had set, and the group of six were still talking. "I almost wonder if 'fire' magic is inaccurately named." Xopil commented after hearing how Calypso had modified her flame seemingly without limit.

"What do you mean?" Calypso asked.

"Is all magic that versatile? Can you take away the ability of air to blow things around, or with water can you take away that wet feeling when you have water on you? With earth magic, can you make a something you can't feel even though you know it's there?" Xopil asked then added, "What if it's all the same magic, but we divide it into four elements since that's how we perceive it?"

"It's certainly possible, but doesn't seem probable." Felicyta said. "Too many inconsistencies in it. If it's a single magic, why would you need to have a basic concept of water once you can use air?"

"...Also doesn't explain why mixing two elements is so potent either, but then why is it possible to augment magic like that in the first place?" Xopil replied.

"That's how it was created, by you... a very long time ago." A new voice entered the conversation. The five women were on guard immediately.

"Xiara?!" Xopil almost fell over. He ran to her and hugged her tightly. Beda, Calypso, Felicyta, Lexi, and Winter eyed the newcomer jealously. Xiara smiled inwardly. Her man was hers, after all.

"I sensed the magic fluctuations here, I followed them like a magnet. It was fortunate I wasn't any further away, they were very faint initially." Xiara explained as Xopil held on to her like she may disappear at any moment, "I'm sorry it took me so long to get back."