New Skill

After a bit of walking, Kantuta set her sights on a group of

large rocks to her right, eyeing them with intrigue. Walking over to the

stones, she waved the group over, sitting on the boulders with the

instructional piece of paper in her hands.

"Siquioce, Yuchauzh, you two come over here. I wish to make

use of this guide for Siquioce."

Obliging, the two other adventurers took their spots near

the natural structure, with Yuchauzh resting his feet on a shorter stone and

Siquioce placing his rear on a rock next to where Kantuta was sitting. Still

suffering from dryness, he took a moment to extract more water from the air

before turning to face his friend.

"Right, this." he said with an afflicted expression, "What

do I have to do?"

Kantuta straightened the paper and scanned her eyes over it,

humming to herself as she silent-read. After a quick review, she set the paper

down and looked at Siquioce with sparkling eyes.

"Ah, it seems like this is a mana-based technique. I do love

those. Alright, then…"

She got up and raised her arms in a Y-pose, closing her eyes

as she took a deep breath. Nodding towards Siquioce, she gave him a warm,

inviting smile.

"Follow my movements, Siquioce. According to this paper,

this is one of the easiest ways to gather mana from the environment."

Tilting his head, Siquioce observed Kantuta for a few

seconds before jumping to the ground and moving his arms to match Kantuta's. Though

he still was not entirely used to coordinating his body out of the water, he

still managed to position himself in an adequate way, albeit in a wobbly,

uncertain way.

"Like this…?"

"Perfect. Now, simply wave your arms around like this.

Imagine that you are wafting in mana directly into your body."

She provided a demonstration, moving her hands gracefully

towards her chest like she was fanning herself. Peeking one eye open, she

watched to see if Siquioce was doing the same.

Taking notice of the situation, Siquioce got himself in

line, doing a sloppy wafting motion to match his guide. As he did so, he felt a

tingle in his core as a strange sensation slowly dripped into his sense of

being.

"Hey…" he said, "I feel funny…"

Kantuta smiled, closing her eyes as she, too, felt the same

sensation flow through her.

"Do not worry, Siquioce, this is natural." She stated, "Keep

on doing what you're doing, allow the mana to fill every pore of your body."

Siquioce made a disturbed grumble, trying his best to not

get freaked out by this foreign feeling. Instead, he moving his arms in and out,

keeping up his circular motion until he felt as though he was about to burst.

"Kantuta?" he managed to squeak, feeling tighter than a

balloon, "Can I release now?"

Opening one of her eyes, Kantuta noted her friend's

puffed-out cheeks and reddening skin, seeing that he was very tense. Chuckling

at this, she stopped moving her arms and set them out in front of her.

"Yes, you may. In order to execute the Heart Spring maneuver,

you must hold your arms close to your chest and spread them out over your head.

Imagine that you're throwing an arrangement of flowers into the air. Oh, and

you must shout 'well' while doing so, don't forget that. Go on, try it."

"Nngh…okay."

Summoning his strength, Siquioce moved his hands towards his

chest and held them there for a few seconds before drawing an arch in the air

with his extremities.

"Well!"

Upon completing the maneuver, a geyser of green liquid

erupted from Siquioce's head fin, coating everyone in its healing juices. Once

the welling stopped, Siquioce, who was somewhat refreshed by his own liquids,

let out a relieved sigh and rested his back against the rock that he was

sitting on.

"Very good, Siquioce," Kantuta said, "You're a natural. Yes,

now you can revitalize us whenever you see fit. Just be warned, however, that

the process of mana-gathering can be quite tiring. But I'm sure that you are

already well aware of this, hehe."

"Yeah, I could tell…" Siquioce groaned.

At that moment, Yuchauzh, who had been resting, stirred to  notice the green liquid tainting his chest. He

grumbled, wiping the substance off of him with disgust.

"Yuck, someone barfed all over me. Gross…"

"Actually," Kantuta corrected, turning to face the orc, "That's

where you're wrong. Our friend Siquioce here just used that new Heart Spring

move that was given to us."

"…Still, yuck." Yuchauzh shook his head and set it back

down, "What kinda spell even does somethin' like this? Besides, we were completely

fine."

"Hmph, whatever." Kantuta rolled her eyes before turning back

to her Samanian ally, "Here's hoping that you use your new power wisely,

Siquioce. Hm…thinking about it, perhaps your learning experience would've been

more interactive and streamlined if you were able to read along with me…"

She thought to herself for a moment, tapping her chin as she

turned a curious eye towards Siquioce.

"Hey, you know what? I believe that it's about time you

learned the language of this world. You cannot just rely on my Translate spell

for the rest of your life. Come on, we can start now."

Siquioce held his hands out in front of him and shook his

head, "No, not now! I…can we not just save that until we get somewhere, you

know, wetter?"

Kantuta's eyes widened slightly as she gave Siquioce an incredulous

look. Afterwards, however, she simply pouted and crossed her arms.

"Fine, then. We will wait until we get to the jungle."

Looking relieved, Siquioce made sure that his bluegull chick

was secure on his head before walking ahead of the group.

"Okay, good. Let's go."