Chapter 43: Ayaka's Fervor

Third Person POV- Ayaka: 

"It's already been a day..." Ayaka whispered to herself. The mana surrounding her lashed out leaving deep gouges across the field as it continued to rampage under the loss of focus. 

"Don't let the mana run wild, my protege. Believe that he will be fine and focus!" The flugel, Jibril, shouts snapping her out of her mind and taking the reigns of her mana.

She peeks at the floating woman, eyeing the way her wings don't so much as flap, and how an invisible pressure radiates out of her form. She didn't understand why the flugel sought her out. But she had a fairly good idea who was the one that might have made it happen. An innocent girl turned angel might have something to do with it. 

She sighs internally. It didn't really matter much to her, magic was fascinating, and being able to learn it through someone so magnificently talented in that area was a dream come true. Now that a one-on-one opportunity presented itself how could she not take the plunge? She had many questions and she was sure the woman was a treasure trove of all sorts of knowledge.

How did the circuits work inside her body? Did they function like veins? She just had to know, maybe she could continue the experiments. She was so close last time! Well, not really, but it was closer than the other dozens of times! And what about the way the mana changes and morphs into an element? Hers automatically does that but she wants to find out the process. Would she be able to prevent the automatic change and then be able to cast it into a different element on command? And how much mana would it take to condense it into a ball to form a core? Would her body not be able to handle the pressure or would her new mana-filled constitution allow the process to be easier? On second thought, she's still just a human, she already learned that the hard way. It was sort of under control, but in the experiments, she found out that just creating tiny mana circuits caused the absolute shredding of her muscles, so it's best to not go down that rabbit hole.

Anyway! Would the elements she possesses change the core to suit her needs? Perhaps some tests should be done- at a later later time of course- but she should at least begin the testing phase by launching some big attacks to see how it might affect her exhaustion and such. 

She will give Ryu a piece of her mind when she sees him, but for now, she will learn to her heart's content. She narrows her eyes. He still has far too much to explain, her eyes peek at the floating woman once again, if he hid Jibril then what else has he hidden? The supernatural is dangerous, she agrees with that assessment, but answers need to be given or else things will start to crumble. And she knows how terrified he is of her silent anger. Flames burst out of her hair at the mere thought, but ice rapidly shot out and cooled her volatile body. She shook off the tiny mistake with an awkward laugh trying to play it off when Jibril stared with a raised eyebrow. 

One way or another he will need to talk. She shook off the remaining annoyance and focused on the mana lighting up her body. It filled her with a pleasant warmth- ironic considering her elemental type- lighting up her brand-new world and entrancing her to seek out its mysteries. The mana flowed violently at her distraction, so she refocused. As soon as she did, it became tame almost as if seeking a connection. It was peculiar, but this made it far easier to what would be an appropriate word, conduct. Yes, that's the one.

A stray thought reminded her about not needing to worry so much about her mana changing into ice or fire, it was only when she consciously thought about those elements that the mana inside her changed. It was far more sudden when she launched attacks, however. 

"Good, your mana became far more tame. So what makes the many races better attuned with mana compared to humans? You may be the outlier, but it does change the fact that lil Shouko is rapidly gaining," Jibril asked as she floated upside down. Ayaka eyed her but took the time to think it through. 

It was a simple but equally complex answer. "The different races were either born attuned with an element, a magic core, a dragon heart, or near the Dragon Veins that eased the magical attunement. Humans retain their constitution, it's boosted and is attuned with mana, but far less and it takes a more neutral form," Ayaka said pleased with herself at her answer, but also running through the other variables in her mind. Half-bloods, those who were only tuned to Touki, outliers, and others in between. They benefitted in different ways. 

Jibril grinned. "That's right. The other races are far better attuned with mana at birth and automatically have some form of talent to manipulate said element. You'd be surprised how many of them keep their history in one of their private libraries, taking them was a piece of cake. Oop~ Anyway, your mana is far more malleable and already has not one but two elements. I'd say your mana resembles that of my master, Ryu. As you grow in power, I'm sure you will be able to fiercely will it into existence. The process has already started as I'm sure you noticed." The grin turned ferocious as the gleam in her eyes. "Training you will be just as fun as training my master. The mana responds to you doesn't it, well, this affinity will make it easier for your experiments..." She finished in a sing-song voice. It took all of Ayaka's mental power to not bolt out of the room at the scary tone, but she had remained rooted on the spot on discovering the similarities that Jibril pointed out. If Ryu is able to, then why couldn't she?!

But as more of her words began registering in her brain, the one that stood out the most was the word 'experiments.' She prided herself as a girl of action.

And that is what she did. 

Ayaka wholeheartedly threw herself into her mind rapidly letting her mana spread out all over her body as she increased the thickness and made the 'veins' connect with the rhythm of her heartbeat. The mana responded eagerly, tearing through her muscles a bit- not as much as last time- and shredding her blood vessels as she tried to even out the mana throughout her whole body. Before she could even start the next step, a swift chop on her head interrupted her and the mana that threatened to go out of control was eased into a pool within her by a gentle prod of a foreign presence of energy. It felt familiar and she felt the tell-tell signs of Jibril. 

"That acknowledgment didn't mean you could jump right into it, fool. Yes, you will be able to perform devastating attacks with your malleable mana, but right now it's only tamed and attuned to launch attacks outside your body. You are not yet ready to be performing surgical experiments within your body. You are a human, you will not automatically heal from the damage caused by the mana forming circuits within you," she said glowering at the meek Ayaka as the healing light of magic reformed the muscles she tore. Jibril sighed and then asked her a question. "Now tell me, what would be the first step?" 

Her mind raced through ideas. What would be the first step in the process, what would make it easier on her? "A way to heal the damage?" She said tentatively. 

Jibril smiled but shook her head. "You would think so, but that still requires you to perform accurate ways of mending yourself. No, what you need to do first is to mold your mana and cover yourself with it. This will help your body adjust to the power your mana has, allowing it to use your mana as an energy source to mend itself," She held up a hand to stop Ayaka from asking something. "Yes yes, I know you want to ask what the other steps would be and how fast you can get started, but this is important my protege. Once you get that first step then yes you will be able to perform small experiments, but the next thing you will need to do is train your focus. This will be in the form of performing complex chants and launching spells, in other words, magic practice. I will give you spells to do, but that is not the point. You will need to make your own, by that point you will have lots of mana to play with and the proper discipline to do your crazy experiments."

It was at that point that Ayaka noticed that Jibril was hovering inches away from her face, staring at her and daring her to foolishly dive into what she was about to do. She couldn't help it, she needed to find out what the mana would do and how it would interact with her body. The steps did give her lots to think about and she was more than a little excited at the prospect of making her own spells and how she would be able to mold together ice and fire. A shiver of excitement ran up and down her spine at the prospect of inventing her own spell book and then she would freely be able to perform her mana core/circuit experiments. Seems like something that will be far off in the future. But she is ready! 

Her eyes glowed and a pulse of energy sent waves of power throughout the training room. Jibril only raised an eyebrow at the display, noting the fact that Ayaka did not notice. 

Ayaka trembled at fought off the excitable energy burning within her. She needed to or else she risked unleashing her fire mana and then having to use her ice mana to cool, she didn't want to repeat that mistake again. It was a careful balancing act, because of how deeply linked emotions were with power. 

She would claw her way to the top and find answers about it all. Magic was so wonderful and brought so much wonder to the world. She daydreamed about creating pillars of fire and ice and then combining them to form something explosive. 

Jibril snapped her fingers in front of Ayaka, sending a wave of sparkling energy through her as she snapped to attention. "You are still far off from being able to even take the first step, you have not mastered the beginner spells yet, we are about to dive into the lectures for intermediate spells, so you must get to it. But first, you need to improve your mana conducting outside of your body. Now from the top!"

"Yes, Teacher!" Ayaka shouted in joy. Daydreams could wait. Ryu will get what's coming to him. For now though, magic awaits.