The next day after the lessons, Tiara was "captured" by Clare and whisked away, leaving Mor and Orth to train on their own. This was also when the human brought up another impossible idea.

°Ya know, now that we know how to refill your reservoir… How about we try combining techniques? Maybe this is the opportunity to enlarge your reservoir.°

°What do you mean?° Mor asked.

°You know, combining Snow's technique with Tiara's. When you "inhale" magic, try pulling at the same time.° The human explained.

°How would I do that?° Mor wanted to know.

°The fuck would I know? Just try it!° The human answered with a sigh.

"Do you have another idea?" Orth asked suddenly.

"How do you know?" Mor asked back.

"Simple. Whenever you feel safe, your facial expression and gestures completely tell on you when you're talking to the human." Orth chuckled, making Mor smile.

"Right, I forgot. Well, the human thought I could make my reservoir bigger by combining Snow's technique with reservoir refilling," Mor explained.

"You still haven't given up on that?" Orth asked.

"Of course not! Also, why did you pass on Tiara's lesson?" Mor countered.

"I'm in no hurry and believe in our traditions. There must be a reason why we learn specific skills at specific ages. Therefore, I don't want to rush ahead," Orth said with a huff.

"Well, watch me!" Mor stated and sat down.

He began by "exhaling" his energy, and in the process of "inhaling," he simultaneously pulled like Snow had taught him, but it failed. For Mor, it felt like trying to pull water through a far too small straw. Frustrated, he tried again with more force, and this time, something already weakened ripped, flooding his body with power. Instantly, a strange nausea befell him, but the high of the energy made him not notice it.

°…! …. … … …..?° Someone called out to him.

°….!° It continued.

Mor felt great. His reservoir was without limit. Turning to one of the targets, he unleashed a hail of ice thorns, like his mother often did, following up with an enhanced kick that shattered the target and stripped the plastering from the wall behind it.

Orth looked with fear at his friend. The power Mor unleashed was incredible, but the crazy look and unhinged laughter concerned him deeply. Just as he wanted to intervene and try to stop his friend, Mor simply crumpled to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. Orth rushed over, and to his dread, he noticed the crimson liquid flowing from Mor's mouth, nose, and ears, seeping into the sandy ground.

°Oi! Hey! Wake up! Come on!° A voice called out to Mor, a voice he took a while to remember.

°I feel terrible, what happened?° Mor asked.

°I don't know. Somehow, you succeeded, then went crazy. I wanted to stop you, but you didn't listen, and suddenly, nothing happened. I woke up just before you, and we're somehow in the healers' station.° The human answered.

°How did we get here?° Mor asked, slowly opening his eyes, noticing the familiar wooden ceiling.

°Orth, probably?° The human offered, and Mor thought it to be the most plausible explanation.

"You're awake?" Amber's familiar voice greeted his awakening.

"Yes, but I don't know what happened," Mor answered.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Your friend brought you in, and you shocked him and everyone else in the infirmary quite a bit. That makes me remember…" Amber said, and the human only got an

°Duck!°

out before Amber's slap connected with Mor's cheek.

"I told you last year! Don't do dangerous experiments without a healer watching! Do you have a death wish? I can't even begin to guess what stupidity you tried to end up like that! Your idiocy has exhausted THREE healing adepts, and that was only just enough to keep you from dying! In addition to that, it seems your magic reservoir is leaking. No matter what we did to let you regain magic, it instantly vanished!" Amber scolded him, and Mor flinched at the ferocity of the aged healer.

"I'm sorry," Mor mumbled, utterly cowed.

"You should be! You're forbidden to try whatever you tried again!" Amber continued.

°I second that!° The human added.

°You be quiet! It's your fault. I'm in that position right now!° Mor growled.

°Hey! Don't come at me like that, fucker! You accepted and thought it was a good idea! Don't put the blame on me now!° The human countered.

°But it is your fault!° Mor continued.

"Stop with your strange fidgeting and listen to me!" Amber stopped the brewing fight without even being aware of it.

"Sorry, Amber." Mor apologized.

"You should also apologize and thank your friend." She said sternly, and Mor nodded.

While he nodded, he felt something strange on his throat, and when he tried to touch the point, something crumbled away. At this moment, Mor noticed two things, first, he was naked, and second, looking down, there was a brownish crust over his pale chest. It crumbled away when he tried to rub it off, revealing a slightly wet red liquid.

"Is this blood?" He asked, stunned.

"Yes," Amber stated.

"Mine?" Mor asked further, and this time, Amber nodded.

"You really almost died. When you were brought here, you were bleeding from every orifice possible and impossible. It looked like you were sweating out your blood for a moment." Amber explained.

"Also, you're staying here until you can regenerate your magic again." She ordered the boy, while he got paler as the realization finally sunk in.

After that, Amber left, returning to other patients and leaving Mor with his thoughts and the human. It didn't take long for Orth to return, giving Mor another of the big, simple, marine-colored robes every second-year boy wears as school uniform. Orth sat down on the lip of Mor's bed and looked reproachful at his friend.

"I know, I'm very sorry. I won't do it again. Thank you for saving me. I owe you." Mor apologized.

"You really do. I was scared when you dropped. What did you do?" Orth asked.

"I did what I told you, pulling more magic into my body," Mor answered.

"I understand. Don't try this again," Orth said, wanting to say more when two more people appeared.

Mor didn't know what happened when his right cheek flared with pain and, a second later, his left. Those were far more forceful than Amber's weak Soul-kin slap. For a second, Tiara and Saphine looked at each other, and then, in silent agreement, they slapped him again.

"That's for scaring Clare!" Saphine stated with a huff.

"Don't do stupid things while you're supposed to be my guard!" Tiara added.

°We're back to being a lady killer!° The human chuckled.

°Are bad jokes, how do you deal with almost dying?° Mor asked.

°Yeah, don’t you?° The human asked.

°No, you idiot, I'm shaking! I'm scared of how close it was!° Mor answered.

"Sorry, I couldn't stop them," Clare said, tagging in after them, and Mor quickly protected his cheeks from another attack that didn't come.

"I'm sorry for scaring all of you." He apologized.

"You should be! Finally, I found someone my age. I can call a friend or even family, and then you can do stupid things!" Tiara scolded him.

"You can't always throw yourself in danger like this! Even though you are a commoner, we're still friends!" Saphine hissed.

"What those two said," Clare added.

"You're outnumbered." Orth dealt the finishing blow, and Mor looked dejected at his fingers and the pieces of dried blood on his hands.

Ultimately, it took Mor three days to begin regenerating his magic power. Amber had almost given up at that point and was close to giving Mor another good scolding for ruining his life as a Soul-kin. Luckily for Mor, he was back on his feet by the fourth day, and in agreement with the human, they didn't train for three more days. Giving Mor's body time to regenerate, at least that, was the plan…

While Mor was again stuck in the infirmary, the school had gotten a new resident, stalking out its prey, making plans, and scheming. Early on, the figure saw an opportunity, but its prey was drawn away in a hurry because of some kind of commotion. Also, it couldn't act carelessly. Discovery would mean failure, meaning it simply had to bide its time and wait. Its prey had to evade day after day, while it needed only to succeed once.