3 New Friends.

"What should I do now? " I asked myself out loud. I wasn't paying attention still trying to process all this new information. That didn't stop the ever perceptive Lyla though.

" well, I would normally advise you to check the voices of the spirits around you. There's an easy estimate of 500 in this room alone, though they don't seem to be terribly interested. You could try doing something that interests them. " her voice was calm but a little too eager. " besides, I also benefit from their like of you. "

She had confirmed my suspicion. " So, these spirits. " I said before she corrected me by looking around.

" These are *Little Spirits.* they don't have a lot of impact on their own, but when they all start talking they can be exceedingly powerful. Though you will have to get used to their tiny little voices being jumbled into the masses," she said correcting me and being more overly informative than I would have liked, but I didn't complain.

" Ok, these little spirits. They can give me the power to do things? Like cast spells?" I asked with a confused tone. My face couldn't express my emotions but I could hope to convey them through the sound of my voice.

" Yes, they will likely give you passive energy for just existing. They have already done so, and are doing so right now. you have about 262 spirit points at the moment because they are passively giving you energy. Though they could easily double that simply by taking an active interest in what you're doing, so do something exciting. " She said trying to encourage me with just her voice.

" I miss having facial expressions already, " I huffed at her.

" me too, mee tooo. " she replied with a sense of shared anguish.

" So, then, if I have 262 spirit energy, what all can I currently do with it?" I asked expecting her to bring up plans, but I found myself shocked when she didn't.

" That's up to you, I can tell you that it responds to your will just like mana. Try conceptualizing whatever it is that you want. Experiment with the limitations, and find out." She said with a supporting tone that told me politely that she didn't like that I was leaving her all the work. "

I held out my hand and tried to picture the energy I saw before when I threw the ball of energy at that skeleton, only to be suddenly interrupted by a question." Wait, where is the energy being stored?" I asked Lyla hoping she would have the answer to that.

" Having trouble visualizing? that's fair. Your energy storage is a crystal in your chest cavity around where your intestines and stomach would be if you still had flesh and bones. " she said promptly. " there are channels cut in your puppet from your crystal to the palm of your hand, and from the palm of your hand to the tips of your fingers. "

" so if I imagine the light from before in a circle in the middle of my torso, filled to the brim, and think about it traveling through the channels to my palm it should come out?" I asked trying to be the inquisitive student. I hesitated for a moment contemplating why I cared so much for lylas approval. It wasn't like me.

Then she responded snapping me out of that train of thought. " That should just about do it. Though you should think about that image further. Remember, your energies respond to your will, so whatever you think about them will happen. That being said, don't stop the energy in your arm, you may blow it off. "

" So there's the other shoe, I have the ability to throw globs of magic acid, but that magic acid could just as easily turn on me if I don't treat it properly?" I snarked.

" Yep, that's right on the money, good job. Don't mess up," she said giggling again.

I once again held my palm out and pictured a glowing ball of energy in the pit of my stomach. when the thought occurred to me, "If it's similar to light, then doesn't that mean that it's leaking out of me? Since light is an emission of energy from a source?" I said allowed, once again not remembering that I am not alone.

"Correct, you are constantly leaking various energies from heat to life energy. There is a state in which you can enable to seal up all the gaps, but you're not advanced enough yet to properly do so without exploding. So I would focus on the spell you're trying to work instead of your emission, glowing one. " She teased confirming my line of thinking again.

I pictured the orb for a third time, ignoring the fact that it was a glowing sphere emitting light, and focused on some of the energy leaving the orb. I pushed and prodded when suddenly a small branch-like tube began to fill with the energy, that had to be the channel that Lyla was talking about. It filled further, traveling up and around where my heart should be and out to the palm of my hand where I could feel it begin to drip. I barely kept myself from panicking at the situation and Mentally developed the image of the drip defying gravity and attempting to pool instead, watching as the energy began dissipating as well, " its about twice as much effort to form the energy into shape outside of my mana channel, is that normal?" I asked Lyla.

" Yeah, that is normal. Your *free-forming* the energy at the moment, you should try forming it into a shape. What's a good weapon that your semi-familiar with?" she inquired, inspiring a new line of thought.

" How about an arrow? " My Mental imagery already shaping the energy into the shape of an arrowhead and adding a shaft.

" That's good, once you get it into the shape you desire, you should devise some sort of propulsion on the item to propel the arrowhead, " she said with a cheery tone.

I did as she said, and imagined that the arow had a firework attached to it, that would spray energy out and direct the arrow. Specifically, those bottle rockets that I used to enjoy as a kid. Unfortunately, that stray thought popping into my head caused the arrowhead to whistle loudly and fly away from my hand before impacting the wall and scorching the stone. " What was that?" I asked dumbfounded by this new development.

" You thought about the propulsion system going off, didn't you? At least you managed to form it on the right side. Plenty of newbies stab themselves with Energy arrows the first time they make one. " She remarked.

" So just thinking about the thing, doing the thing, makes the thing do the thing?" I asked with haste.

" Well, yeah. Didn't you listen when I told you that the energy responds to your will? Energy freely given will always try to respond to the will of its current owner." she said as if I was missing something, Which frustrated me to no end. I *almost* took a deep breath so I could scream at her for being a bad teacher when I remember that it was a bad idea.

" OK, I'm sorry, I'm less than a day old in your world and I don't know anything. LIKE NOTHING about how this works. Could you please help me? " I managed to squeak out. I felt like I would have been grinding my teeth if I had any.

" No, I can't. I can only guide you for this part. Everyone's method of channeling their energies is unique into and unto themselves. You could have gone with a billion other combinations but who you are and your current mindset dictated an arrow, you could have done a sword, a dagger, a whip, a kunai, literally any weapon ever. but you chose an arrow. Even your propulsion system was built on a past memory of something called a *Bottle Rocket*. " She said with emphasis as if she didn't know what that was. " The only thing that it was missing was the." she was cut short by the sudden pop on the other side of the room. " I stand corrected," she stated.

" So it's that complicated? wow, they really went all out with the magic system here didn't they?" I took a moment to realize the size and specificity of the situation and note that my little flub cost 10 spirit points. What a world.