“Oi! Why do I need to stretch before using magic-I mean Arclight? Doesn’t it only have to do with your mind?”

“My teacher told me that it’s a good way to sharpen your mind, also it helps to loosen up any blockages that prevent the Arclight from passing through your body.” Claria replied, while reaching down to touch her toes.

“I see.” Touji slid down on the grass into a sitting position. “By the way Claria, could you stand behind my back and push. I need someone back there otherwise I can’t touch my feet.”

“Heh?! I... ah-sure, ok?” She replied, timidly stepped behind him.

“Ok, now push.” With a slight hesitancy she placed her delicate hands onto his shoulders and pushed quite gently.”

“Push a little harder, please.”

“Ah-sorry.”

“No worries.” They continued until Touji could almost touch his toes. Then he signaled to her that he was at his limit and that it was time to switch.

“All right, your turn.”

“Me? Ah-” she glanced around nervously. “I don’t know.” She said at last while preventing her eyes from making contact with Touji’s. Although he sensed this obvious sign, it was purposefully ignored.

"Now come on, don't waste time. Sit down."

She tried to resist, but quickly gave in when she felt his hands on her shoulders.

"Come on. Don't be shy. Just relax."

Claria did as instructed and sat down. She closed her eyes and started breathing deeply. Touji placed his hand firmly on her back. Her body reacted as he did so with a slight jolt.

"Oi. Is everything ok over there?"

"I-I was just surprised. That’s all. Really."

"Imma push now."

"I’m ready!" she said with determination, which was quite over the top. She then proceeded to reach her toes. Touji was rather impressed.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Good job. Now try and go further."

Claria pushed a little farther than she had done before and reached passed her feet.

-Holy-! Are the people in this world just naturally flexible or is it something they eat?

“E-excuse me. T-Touji are we finished?”

He was brought out of his thoughts with a slight tap on his hand as Claria tried to communicate that his hands were no longer needed on her shoulders.

“Oh, sorry.”

"Want to start training now?"

Touji nodded.

"First of all, place your hands in an oval shape. Then imagine what element and form you want to produce, in this case, take what you see me do now and use it as a reference. By the way don’t worry if your nuin looks different from mine because each person’s arclight manifests differently."

Touji watched as her fingers curled and released. Then he watched as her arms rotated clockwise and stopped. As Touji watched he saw the black dust or smoke quickly rush from all directions around her and then pass through the backs of her hands.

"Nuin!" she whispered quietly though just loud enough for Touji to hear.

Then a small orb of orange light materialized between the palms of her hands just like it had before.

"Damn, that looks easy."

"It is once you get the hang of it but that could take months." She replied while silently extinguishing the nuin.

-Months? That’s not easy at all then.

"Why did you say ‘nuin'? Isn’t that what it’s called?"

"Correct. The name of the spell is the spell itself."

"That’s quite intriguing. But what happens when a spell's name is too long? Or maybe should I be asking if spells can even get too long?"

"I’m not sure myself. Sorry."

"No need to apologize. Now, let me try."

Touji was quite eager to perform his first spell and now that his previous suspicions had been ratified he felt quite in the upper hand. From what he could tell, he could see arclight. Even if it wasn’t arclight, the smoke had something crucial to do with spells that was specific to him. If he pursued the path of arclight it would most certainly lead him to the answer behind his unusual existence in this world. Besides every protagonist becomes overpowered through some sort of magic and getting a head start will definitely be beneficial in the long run.

"So how does this work?"

"Do the motions I showed you while imagining arclight and then transforming arclight into the element fire. Then imagine that it takes form as the nuin orb."

"Well, that seemed like a rushed explanation, but here it goes."

He focused his mind on the air before him and pictured a small orange ball of fire above his head.

"Fire! -I mean, nuin!" He shouted. Touji waited with his eyes closed hoping to see a result.

Nothing happened.

"I’m not sure if I’m doing this right."

"You just need to focus hard enough to change the arclight to fire. I find that's the hardest part."

After a few more attempts and watching her closely as she performed the same steps, he tried again, but with the same result. After an hour of practice with nothing to show, he decided to give up.

"Hmmm . . . I wonder what’s for dinner tonight."

"It’s ok, Touji. Don’t worry about it. It took me a month to learn it."

"Claria, your efforts to cheer me up won’t be in vain." Suddenly, his voice lowered. "Because I will make it back. It’s a matter of when, not if."

"Did you say something Touji?"

"Nah, I was just thinking about food." He said with a fake smile.