Practice

After a few more monsters like Orcs, Imps, and Bad Bats, Sona, Aika, and Koneko decided to take on groups of these monsters that only Kisuke and Medusa are fighting. Kisuke asked Medusa to supervise them as she has a lot more experience than the three young girls and it would be helpful for them if she can pass them some of her knowledge regarding responding to different situations.

After the four left, Kisuke and Line became alone. Due to this, Line became slightly nervous as she anticipated Kisuke's next instructions.

"How far have you practiced magic?" Kisuke asked first.

"Sona-san asked me to feel the flow of Mind... Mana inside me when I cast magic. I practiced until late at night yesterday until I can properly observe the movements of Mana without risking myself causing an Ignis Fatuus."

"Mind showing me your magic?"

Line nodded at him and cast healing magic on him. Kisuke observed the magic and Line herself and nodded at her, "Good. Now I have an idea where you are. And I have a way for you to improve fast, however, it'll be dangerous. Of course, there's an easy and safe way, but that would take months or years of hard work. What will it be?"

"Which would you recommend?" Instead of deciding by herself, Line asked. Although she's tempted to do the hard and fast method, she doesn't actually know if that's the best for her and her future.

'Hooh... This is great. She can become an asset sooner than I expected. She'll also help me create connection to the Loki Familia. Sona and the rest really found someone interesting.' Kisuke thought and said, "Either is fine as it would result in the same thing."

"Then I want to improve fast! I'm already hovering around level 2 for a very long time now."

"Great. But don't ever bring that impatience when you actually practice. That's one of the dangers of this method. It's fast but you can't be impatient."

"I understand. Please tell me what to do." Line nodded eagerly while also taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

Grinning, Kisuke gave her the first thing she should do, "First, deliberately cause an Ignis Fatuus."

"Huh...?" Line asked in confusion as she doesn't understand how losing control would help her control the violent Mana. And on top of that, Ignis Fatuus, if extremely unlucky, it may injure her permanently and her path towards magic will be forever closed.

"I told you, right? It'll be dangerous and you can't be impatient, or else, it could make you retire being an Adventurer." In Line's perception, Kisuke grin became that of a mad man which he is actually.

Swallowing her saliva, Line asked nervously, "But why Ignis Fatuus?"

"Not specifically the Ignis Fatuus, but the way you'll be casting your magic which will cause you to lose control of your magic. I assume that you already memorized some parts of your healing magic?"

"Yes."

"Then what you'll need to do is to cast your healing magic and while at it, you're going to catch one of this Mana strand and move it yourself according to the original movement."

"I see... It may sound simple but the moment you try to grab Mana, it'll revolt despite following the original path of the magic which will cause Ignis Fatuus."

"Right. You have to try and try again to find a way for you to actually control it. Hence, the contents of your training will be causing an Ignis Fatuus, and if you become injured, you'll use your magic normally to heal yourself and try to memorize more parts of your magic. I'll be watching you while you do it so that I can give you more instructions depending on your progress."

"I understand. I'll start now."

Kisuke just nodded at her and sat down on a protruding rock to watch her.

Line took another deep breath and closed her eyes as she cast her healing magic on herself. After a few seconds, however, the light which was supposed to heal her suddenly blasted her with shockwave which sent her flying backward, "Kyahh!!!"

Line thought that she would be rolling on the ground in pain and scratches but that didn't happen as she suddenly felt someone catching her in midair.

Kisuke, with Line on his arms, landed on the ground. Realizing their position, Line's face heated up and felt embarrassed. However, Kisuke immediately put her down and said, "Continue," with a flat tone that roused her from embarrassment.

Seeing how serious he is in teaching her, Line shook her head and threw away her useless thoughts and answered with renewed determination, "Okay!" Since he's properly teaching her, she should take it very seriously. That's the only she can do for now.

For the next three hours, Line would be thrown away by her own magic which would sometimes injure her greatly that she had to use some of her expensive potions as her healing magic isn't enough.

She also got used to Kisuke always catching her so she focused entirely on her magic without minding much about her safety while also following Kisuke's advice of not being impatient so that she won't cause a fatal Ignis Fatuus.

The group who's hunting for monsters also returned for lunch but what they saw after returning to Kisuke and Line make them stopped their steps, "...K-Kisuke... What did you do?" Aika asked while her mouth is twitching and the rest of the girls also has similar expressions.

"Hmm?... Ah..." Kisuke looked towards them and became confused at their expression. He then looked back at Line who also just opened her eyes. Since he's only focusing on her progress and the movements from his surroundings, he didn't realize Line's appearance after being repeatedly activating Ignis Fatuus.

Line's clothes, after countless shockwaves that hit her, became so tattered that it revealed her underwear, hence, the reaction of the girls.

Line looked at them, who's looking at her like something is wrong with her. Now that her mind has been taken off from the training and Kisuke's serious atmosphere already disappeared, she finally felt the cold draft grazing her body. She then looked down and her mind blanked out before she screamed on top of lungs as she covers her body, "Kyaah!!!"

Kisuke immediately pulled out a blanket from his inventory and draped it on top of Line, "Ehem... Let's rest for now and eat our lunch..." He tried to diffuse the awkward position. But feeling the other Adventurers coming due to them being attracted by Line's scream, he suggested, "Let's go somewhere else before that."

The girls also realized that it's a misunderstanding and sighed in relief. Medusa approached Line and help her stand up while also offering her to fix her clothes.

Thankful with Medusa's offer, Line sighed. But her mind went back to her training and her progress, 'I already memorized 3/4 of the overall magic circle of my healing magic and I can only write my own lines of Mana, albeit, only slightly... But it means that it's really possible to control Mana..." Clenching her fist, Line promised herself to work harder after seeing a visible achievement and improvement.