13 Merilin’s Worries

"Big Brother... I have something I want to talk about..." Merilin said softly.

Actually, now that I focus on her expression, I can see that she's extremely depressed over something.

"Let's go somewhere else first." I said while holding her hand in order to take her somewhere private. I really don't want anyone to think I'm bullying her!

On the way, I tried comforting her by telling her about the various things that happened before as a joke but her silence really made me quite worried...

What actually happened to her? Wasn't she with Anna just moments ago?

Hmmm, Anna is kinda dense in some areas. It's possible she said something she shouldn't have by accident. Damn her! Can't she pay attention?! Merilin's usually very sensitive about stuff...

"Did Anna say something?" I asked after entering our parent's room. She lifted her head and looked into my eyes with a mix of anxiety and worry.

It's not that our parent's weren't capable enough to buy personal rooms for both of us, they just wanted to have more rooms for other servants of the Swordwick Household. That's why they decided it would be okay for Merilin to not have a room of her own for now.

I, of course, was considered different from her since I was responsible enough to keep a tidy room and didn't really need help with doing my chores.

I knew that the worry in Merilin's heart wasn't unfounded just by looking into eyes. She had always been a smart girl who could work her way past anything she puts her mind to. There's a chance I wouldn't be able to help even if I know something was troubling her.

"Auntie Anna said... my affinity is weak... she said I'll be bullied if I became a Sword Mage...!" Merilin pitifully cried. My mind goes blank as I panicked inwardly, not knowing what to do. My thoughts started to race as I tried to comfort her with words...

"Don't cry, don't cry, I will get sad too if you start to cry." I said in panicked tone. Wait... Weren't my words more like a threat? Calm the heck down!

Damn! I don't want her to cry but I have literally ZERO experience in taking care of children. What am I supposed to do when she cries?!

Her little shoulders trembled a little after hearing my words, then she wiped away the tears on her face. She held back the sadness in her heart...

"Big Brother, don't be sad, I'm fine now." She said with a straight face.

I felt my heart soften as I heard her words. She's such an angel~! To think she's still caring about me even though she's the one crying. How adorable~

"Come here and sit down. You know how smart I am. Any problems for you are my problems as well. You have Rank C Magical Talent. Even if your affinity's weak, you'll still decimate those ordinary Specialists of D and E Ranks. So please have more confidence in yourself! Honestly, this big brother of yours is even worse in the talent department... Someone with Rank F Magical Talent like myself only counts as an ordinary person... How sad~! My tears are overflowing~" I consoled her jokingly as I led her to the seats near father's desk. My words seemed to have encouraged her as she snickered.

"Don't be so hard on yourself and tell me more about your affinity. Even if you can't become a fighter, you could still become a Healer, can't you? Isn't that the most special property of Water Ether?" I asked my sister who was still giggling uncontrollably after hearing my previous harsh self-criticisms.

She was well-aware that I didn't care about my status as someone with low Magical Talent and understood I was only saying such things to cheer her up.

"Mom said I have a water affinity and that water affinity is awesome! She said there were the best at healing their injuries and fighting bad guys at the same time." She responded as her expression was full of anticipation.

Seems like she really trusted me when it came my ingenuity with magic...

Hah... An affinity to Water Ether, eh? I really don't know how to answer her...

Unfortunately I understood about why this world's magical society viewed Water Specialists as the weakest type of Mages and Swordsmen on land..,

Being able to control Water Ether using Mana meant being able to control the element of water itself. Near the sea is where one would be in their most powerful state due to the excess amount of water that's surrounding them, but anywhere else, a Water Specialist wouldn't be able to do much.

A Water Specialist would be able to manipulate water into blades or freeze them into icicles that can also be manipulated the same way. They could be considered to be the most flexible type of fighters on both land and water.

However, such advantages were limited compared to Earth Specialists that could even fight underwater and Wind Specialists that could use their abilities to their full potential anywhere above sea level. Even Fire Mages had a greater advantage than Water Mages because they could enlarge even the smallest spark of ember into a raging flames using Fire Mana or Fire Ether.

"Can you show me your current control over Water Ether?" I asked curiously.

Merilin smiled and pointed her finger at a glass of water that was left on the table. A beam of blue light shot out of her finger and enters the cup. Then the water lifted and levitated before us.

[Spell Conjuring- Water Manipulation]

She gestured her hand in various motions, and with every movement of her finger, the water changed it's form to look like a different pattern or shape.

Seeing how her Water Manipulation had reached such a level really astounded me. A regular person would barely be able to shape water manipulated through this method as the intricate control of Aura and strong inner visualisation needed to control External Energy (Ether) are very difficult for beginners to comprehend.

You could even say that most Elemental Specialists with fighting capabilities were actually Martial Artists who're unable to control Ether.

Her easily being able to shape objects through Water Manipulation at such a young age really spoke wonders about her natural talent! Though even with that talent, she needs a better strategy against opponents on land. There is no Specialist who would ever give another person enough time to control Ether.

Now that I think of it... Why don't I try adding science to her magic? Her strength will definitely increase as long as she's able to visualise my thoughts.

"Can you turn them into little particles of ice?" I asked her meaningfully. A curious light appeared in my eyes as I mentioned knowledge from Earth.

"What are these 'particles'?" She seemed confused as she asked in return. There weren't any scientists on Sphera so it was natural that some words I know of don't exist yet. This could perhaps be considered the difference in language that stemmed from the lack of research on science.

"Forget it. First make extremely tiny balls of icicles, then start to hit them together while imagining that each ice ball is gathering electrical charge." I moved on by instructing with a serious look on my face. Merilin is probably confused about what I'm talking about and it's only natural for her to think this way. After all, the people of this world believed that all lightning belonged to the Lightning God and that electricity couldn't be produced without imitating it using Mana.

After all, a storm clouds was the only place one could find Lightning Ether.

It wasn't that the knowledge of Sphera's residents was wrong on this point since according to what I've been taught from a young age, the Lightning God was the one who gifted humanity and the Beast Race the ability to manipulate an imitated form of lightning in return for neutrality.

In fact, one of the big reasons those residing in the Blood Nation were called Barbarians was due to how their God didn't exchange anything for land.

All they did was invade the lands of Sphera and killed others ruthlessly.

Merilin studying with Anna seemed to have paid off as imagining things from a description alone wasn't something talent alone could replicate. There needed to be diligent heart under that talent if anyone wanted to initiate creative forms of Spell Conjuring.

Even if she doesn't understand what 'charge' meant, she DOES know what 'electricity' is. However, a look of confusion appeared on her face as she was unable to understand how smashing together a few tiny icicles could generate any form of electricity...

"I don't now if that will work." She said doubtfully but listened to my words anyway. She may not believe that I'm right but she trusted I wouldn't joke around with her feelings right now.

The ball of water above her hands turned into a plethora of small icicles that rapidly collided together at high speeds. With her outstanding control over water, not even one part of the icicles ricocheted into our faces.

The process was somewhat tiring until Merilin saw a spark within the artificial cloud-like battery she created through intricate control over Water Ether.

"It's lightning! Wow, look! I can make lightning!" Her face was flushed red with excitement as various ideas popped into her head after seeing my experiment actually succeeded. This discovery opened a whole new world of endless possibilities for a girl like her.

I mean, for a person to master Lightning Ether was impossible! There weren't many Lightning Specialists on Sphera and there hasn't been anyone who could become one without guidance from Devas, who created their own religious order, or Titans.

The only reason Humans of Sphera were able to gain an affinity to the five elements of nature: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Lightning is due to their interaction with those elements at a young age. It was only natural that every child would gain a deeper understanding to the elements they had spent time with all their lives.

Even if they were born with an affinity for lightning at birth, they still wouldn't have the ability to conjure lightning bolts without the knowledge of how itself lightning comes into existence.

Unless a human child was born in a place where they'd constantly be electrocuted by lightning, the chances of a rogue Lightning Specialist appearing was practically nonexistent.

From what I could tell by looking at Merilin's new Spell, she could only produce a 'blue lightning' that wasn't in any way similar to the lightning created by Lightning Specialists. This must be because her lightning is a product of a water spell and is a natural occurrence instead of a 'magical phenomenon'.

"Calm down. You can try to slowly experiment by yourself now that you've found how to generate lightning. No one would be able to bully you once you've got the hang of it. Just try to remember one thing: You can't control the lightning itself. The only method to control it would be to find a way to control where the Lightning will strike." I walked out without even letting her ask any questions after I explained to her what she needed to know. There's no way I'd be able to explain where I got my knowledge from so I'd rather let her figure it out herself.

Perhaps she wouldn't understand even if I explained everything to her, and even if she did, she wouldn't know how to properly apply the knowledge I've shared to her to create personal Spells.

The most effective way to help her along would be to show a new direction to grow her abilities and allow her to slowly figure things out by herself.

Although lightning is incredible, the dangers of being unable to properly control it have turned into stories that are usually told to scare kids. I'm sure her fear of it will allow her to gain better understanding regarding how to manipulate it as safely as she can. Even if there are some accidents, I'm entirely sure she isn't stupid enough to generate enough lightning that could hurt her.

I looked at my hand after entering my room and unleashed my own Aura Manifestation at full power, allowing a diamond-like glow to surround me like a supernatural flame of magic energy.

This extremely pure Light Aura created by my Colourless Attribute is probably amazing for those with extremely deep comprehension and intrinsic control of Light Mana, yet it isn't something a person at my level of expertise can master for now. My motive for releasing Aura Clad was different.

I tried using my Aura to imitate Water Ether, causing its diamond-like glow to turn blue like a sapphire. This Aura allowed me to improve the dexterity of all my bodily movements by fivefold.

I was not done yet as I remembered the phenomenon caused by Merilin's Spell and turned the water into countless icicles which collided together to form lightning. Merilin herself probably was unable to understand much about her 'Blue Lightning' just by seeing her own demonstration, but I myself felt enlightenment! The sapphire glow on my hand slowly turned a shade of amethyst purple before I clenched my fist. A small amount of lightning generates around my hand to control.

For now, I can just barely control my own personal Lightning Spell. This will be my trump card for any enemies in the future! A thing to help comfort the paranoia that's always haunting me...