16 The Thu'um and Magic

[In a forest]

"[F-FUS]!" a girl shouted with all her might, but all it generated was a gust of wind.

"Master, you need more oomph in your shouts!" Aerys, the trainer, instructed.

He wasn't the best trainer available in the ways of the Thu'um, but he was the only one present. They have been going at it for days, and a solid result has yet to come.

"F-cking HELL!" Kara cursed loudly; if Laura were to hear Kara's sweet words, she might've cleaned them right then and there.

Well, no one can blame Kara. She's been shouting non-stop for days on end. If she didn't have regeneration, her vocal cords should've spat blood already.

[An Hour Later]

"[FUs]!" shouted again, but couldn't quite get oomph like what Aerys was saying. All she could create was a force strong enough to stumble a toddler.

"A little more oomph, Master," Aerys repeated; he's been repeating that sentence since he started teaching.

Kara, hearing it repeatedly, is about to snap. "*Woooo*" she breathed out, thinking of strangling the owl perched on the tree.

"Aerys, mind perching here for a minute?" she asked 'kindly'; on second thought, she has already snapped.

Aerys, oblivious to the looming danger, silently glided down. The oblivious owl asked, "What seems to be the matter?" all the while tilting his head as a genuine owl would.

*Grab!*

"SQUAKK!" this was all he could say before getting grabbed by the neck. "I'll... SHOW YOU OOMPH!" she oomph'd the living daylights out of the Dragon.

A series of flapping could be heard as the owl struggled to get free, but could only flap his wings helplessly.

[Some choking minutes later]

"Now, what do you feel when you use the Thu'um? Don't say oomph, got it?" Kara asked the disheveled owl, poor Aerys.

Thankfully, Aerys was a dragon. If he is a genuine owl, eyeballs and guts would have popped out.

"M-Master, whenever I use the Thu'um, I always feel the emotions that associate with the word," he said, carefully remembering how it feels.

Kara, hearing this, was angered beyond belief. If he had started with this, then they wouldn't have wasted time.

However, instead of blowing up at Aerys, calming down is what she did. Being angered will only further waste time.

"I see," she said and began facing the tree that received all the shouts. 'Fus, force. Ro, balance. Dah, push.' she thought and started remembering emotions that correlate to the words.

Once ready, she released her intent of forcing something, "[FUS]!" Unlike her usual failure of a shout. This time she was able to garner force.

*Wush!*

The tree right in front of her that stood proud, now slanted, its roots threatening to uproot.

Kara, who saw this, was elated after endless tries. She played Skyrim, but still remembered the shouts used in the game.

The sad thing was, she read none of the books inside of Skyrim. And she also never listened to what those Greybeards said about the Thu'um.

"Master, I remember the problem now. To instill and use the Thu'um, one needs a strong will and a deep understanding of our language.

Us Dragons have naturally powerful wills and can naturally use the Thu'um. But a young person such as you have still much to experience."

Kara pondered about what he said. She can vividly remember the Greybeards saying understanding "Words" is the key to learning the Thu'um.

"So, is this magic?" what she wanted to know was important. To her, this was the first time she struggled to learn something.

If a Jarl in Windhelm knew of her thoughts, he might shout blood in anger.

Aerys thought for a moment before he answered, "Yes and No," sending Kara into confusion.

"Master, to us Dragons, the Thu'um is merely a way of speaking. To anyone else, they think of it as Magic.

The Thu'm differed for everyone as well. It strengthens with understanding and the Will of the user. The Thu'um, by my understanding, is to bring your Will into reality itself.

Isn't this the same with Magic? You manipulate reality with the usage of spells."

Kara absorbed the information that Aerys was saying like a sponge. He may have started as a terrible teacher, but now he's speaking his experience of it, which is good.

'To bring your Will into reality, huh? Well, this will be hard. How does one strengthen their Will when you live a posh life, anyway?' Truly a struggle.

"Anyway, mind showing your version?" Kara wanted to see the difference; if the Thu'um does differ, she wants to see the gap.

Aerys listened and transformed back to his majestic form, a dragon. Without wasting time, he shouted.

"[FUS]!" as he used his voice, the trees that came in contact with the force got uprooted from the ground. Dozens of trees, destroyed.

The Dragon was rather proud of his doing and smiled smugly. "Master, this is the difference. The Thu'um can be considered a discipline to train one's Will."

Kara, hearing this, was saddened; her happy imagination of having a shout galore shattered.

'Isn't this like cultivation then? Since this in itself is cultivating one's Will,' Kara thought inquisitively but was still okay with the result.

But she was rather shocked at the difference in their 'FUS' and Aerys was a young dragon at that!

But Kara remembered that she could turn off the physique of a Flugel, which she plans to do whenever she's training now.

She never expected the Thu'um to be a discipline and honestly thought of it as a way of controlling energy and combining it with Dragon's language.

"Anyway, it's my turn to teach you Magic," Kara was now fulfilling her part of the deal. If anything, fulfilling your part of a deal is a way to strengthen friendship.

"Very well, Master."

[Some days later]

"THERE'S TOO MUCH TO MEMORIZE!" Aerys shouted from the depths of his soul, never expecting to memorize hundreds upon hundreds of runic symbols.

"What do you mean? Aren't you a Dragon!? Shouldn't this be easy!?" Kara was undoubtedly confused, 'Shouldn't Dragons have an excellent overall memory?' she thought.

"Master, my way of magic is through incantation; my voice is the medium. Never once have I imagined reading stacks upon stacks of books!" he complained, but continued. "In all the worlds it has summoned me to, they use tablets to store knowledge and merely use books as records!"

Kara, hearing this, was disgusted. 'Learning through tablets!? The shortcut is terrible!' she vehemently thought.

"Those methods are terrible! To create those tablets, one has to transfer their knowledge and understanding onto a tablet.

Meaning — one transfers their interpretation and knowledge of the book. However, if you were to read the book, you make your own understanding!" argued Kara, the thought of learning knowledge through tablets was a disgrace for the writer.

When Aerys heard this, he couldn't argue since she did have a point.

"And voice incantation is terrible. A person who knows their meaning can prepare for your attack. How do you think I weaved through your Thu'um!?" Kara's statement said shocked Aerys.

"You know the effects of the Thu'um, even when you're a beginner!?" he asked, incredulous of what he heard.

'Sigh, since you're bound to me already, might as well blow your mind,' she thought and prepared a series of spells.

"[Duplicate Memory]" is a spell to duplicate a memory, often used when one is about to transfer a memory.

"[Transfer Memory]" she began to transfer memories about the world of Skyrim and how she knew the knowledge of the Thu'um.

[Moments later]

"..." Aerys was silent. Far too silent.

"To think the Thu'um, created by mortals... humans even... NORMAL HUMANS!" what he means is that the imagination and wills of countless humans have created the Thu'um for the dragons in Aerys' realm.

"Anyway, what do you think of the Dragons there?" Kara, curious about how Aerys would think of Alduin, Paarthunax, and the Dragonborn.

It took a while before Aerys calmed down and answered,

"That Alduin fellow is an ambitious one. Paarthunax is a dragon that I would respect. The Dragonborn? A dragon's soul in a mortal's body, interesting. The Blades? Useless mortals."

After that, the two had a friendly spar, much to Mother Nature's pain. However, Kara restored them once more by growing new trees.

[A few hours later...]

It was in the middle of the night, and two girls in their pajamas stood outside of their parent's bedroom door. A little cat with two horns was following them too.

*Knock*

*Knock*

*Knock*

*Clack*

The one who opened was Laura wearing a questioning look. "Why are you kids still awake?" she asked but brought them inside the room.

Thomas, who was on the bed browsing his phone saw immediately stopped and opened his arms. The two girls, seeing this, ran and hugged their Papa.

"Why are my two princesses here at this hour?" he asked but welcomed it. "Does Baba not want us here?" Aela called Thomas differently. Baba was her way of calling Thomas.

Thomas chuckled and embraced the girls over his broad chest, much to their struggle, but gave up within seconds.

Laura, who saw the scene, smiled and quickly joined in on the hug. "My girls are now getting prettier and taller by the day," she said and ran her fingers through their soft hair. "We got it from Mama~!" Kara proudly proclaimed.

"Kara, Aela, don't you think it's time to attend school? Both of you still don't have friends," Thomas said out of nowhere, which shocked the two girls.

It shocked them since it had always been Laura bringing up the subject of schooling; Kara didn't like the idea. In her mind, she could instantly graduate from University level education already.

However, Kara wanted Aela to go to school since she was a child through and through. A rather brilliant child, to be exact, but still a child.

The only problem was Aela; she would only attend if her sister attended as well. That condition placed Kara in a tough spot, then remembered magic.

"I will go, but only as Aela's twin. Changing my appearance will be no biggy; my original is too famous," this stunned everyone; Kara has always rejected the idea of schooling.

'My clone will do the job though, replication of Shadow Clone Jutsu, quite handy!' Kara thought, in no way will she want to re-experience bratty children.

Even Aela has her bratty moments, but those were very seldom. A bit of calming magic always helps.

Laura, hearing this, immediately agreed, though she didn't want her children there for the education. Nope, she wanted them to experience school life.

After all, she knows about Kara tutoring Aela advanced materials already. Aela is even helping Kara in experimenting with potions, simply put, Aela is years ahead of her generation.

Speaking of potions, Kara has fully automated her potion delivery through transportation magic. It's simply a money-making machine.

She expanded to the major guilds of each continent first since they have a stable flow of income. Kara didn't want the hassle of chasing after unpaid debts, such hassle.

Kara decided to ban those who did not wish to pay, which was completely fine, not her loss.

However, some guilds sell her potions to individuals at high prices. Angering Kara, she ended posting online that whoever resells her potions at high prices will face the consequences.

Others didn't listen — the consequence was them paying double the usual price for a vat. And it was permanent, sadly.

Kara didn't mind guilds selling her potions to individuals. Hell, they're even ordering more since they use their potions more!

Her problem was them selling at abnormal prices, and she taught those people a lesson.

Anyway.

Soon enough, the family dozed off peacefully after talking for a while.

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(CHEERS!)