Beliefs

The quiet night soon gave place to the soft chirping of birds coming from the air vents carved through the stone. Leona slowly opened her eyes due to the bright orbs of light that felt more like faint sunlight than actual lights.

"Mmm…"

She placed her hand against the couch and sat up. Her instinct was to bring her left hand to scratch her face but as opposed to what she was used to, there was no arm nor fingers to help herself.

'That's right…'

She tilted her face to the right before scratching her left cheek with her right fingers. She sighed. At times, the realization of not having an arm would give a hit to her self-esteem, leaving her in low spirits.

She slowly leaned to the right and grabbed the scabbard beside the couch. The cold blade felt heavy on her grip as she placed it on the left side of her hip before pulling one side of the leather belt around her back prior to pulling the clasp from her left and proceeding to struggle with the strap for a few minutes.

"Tsk…"

She clicked her tongue as she was having trouble passing the metal pin through one of the holes in the belt.

However, despite her struggles, someone pulled the scabbard from her hip as she was about to fasten the belt. With a clearly offended expression, she turned to the side and noticed Robert standing with the scabbard in his hand. He twisted his hand while looking at the weapon's handle as he said.

"You won't be needing this anymore."

That made Leona raise an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"It would be pointless to wield a sword in your current state." He threw the scabbard to his left hand before snapping his right fingers. A wooden staff appeared from thin air. "Here."

He tossed the staff on her lap. It was lighter than the frostburnt silver sword but for something made out of wood, it was surprisingly hefty.

She picked it up and raised it in front of her. One of its sides was bigger with a crooked s shape with the very tip flowering outwards with splintered wood as it was seemingly ripped out of a bigger part of a tree—below it, the wood became significantly thinner as Leona's slender fingers could curl around it while comfortably tucking itselves against her own palm.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"What do you think?"

"Um…" She twisted her hand while looking at both sides of the staff, but nothing notable caught her eye. "I supposed I could smack someone with it."

Robert frowned how brows and shook his head slightly before sighing, disappointed.

"I need to remind myself that this isn't common knowledge despite it being a world filled with magic." After mumbling he tilted his head up before massaging his nose ridge with both index and thumb. Following another sigh, he offered her an explanation. "You can use this staff to cast spells. The main advantage of using a tool as opposed to your own hand is the ability to decrease the amount of mana you need to protect yourself from the spell's backlash. Think of it as a countermeasure to mana recoil."

"Wait… how am I supposed to cast a spell with this thing?"

"It has mana circuits just like our soul plus it was modified so it has a mana gate at the very end of it." He tapped at the splintered part. "Though shoddy work, I did manage to make it so it would last for a few years even if you use it regularly to practice."

"Still, it doesn't really quite make sense to use it." She raised the staff forward. "Wouldn't I need to have my own mana circuits into it to channel mana through it?"

He rubbed the corner of his eyes before setting the longsword on a nearby wooden stool.

"Come on, let's head outside."

Without wasting time, he turned around and headed to the doorway. Leona looked around for her leather boots but instead found a pair of sandals beside her feet. After wearing them, she used the staff to stand up—looking one last time at the sheathed longsword before following him outside.

She was staring at the staff as they walked through the cavern tunnel. Her thumb traced along the shaft and it scraped her skin slightly. There were a few hints of old bark still encrusted on the tool which made it truly look amateurish.

"You'll burn a hole through it." Robert said as he was glancing over his shoulder. "I'll have you know, staves made to cast spells are not something usually made in a day so don't fret on details."

"You made this yesterday?"

"After our talk, yes." He turned around and kept walking until they reached the entrance of the cavern. The shadow of the mountain expanded about halfway to the coastal city before the morning sun could be seen shining against the tiled roofs of the buildings. "To uphold my promise, I need you to become strong enough to survive and since I can't do anything about your missing arm-" He pointed at her left side. "-I figured it would be better for you to improve your magic."

"But didn't you fix Phoebe's legs the other day? Couldn't you do the same for my arm?"

"It's not that simple." He shook his head. "Those slimes were fed her mother's genetic information, adapting it to her body was nothing too difficult. However in your case, I can't just jam a slime in there and tell it to grow you a new arm. Many things can go wrong if I were to rush something delicate like that."

"You're speaking words I don't comprehend again…"

He passed his tongue around his teeth before twisting his mouth a little. He was lost in thought.

"Think like it's a jigsaw. I can't assemble the pieces together if I don't have a matching set." He interlocked his fingers. "It's the same with the slimes. It can't adapt to your body if it doesn't have your genetic material."

"And what is this 'genetic material' you speak of?"

"Hair, skin tissue, nails… any part of your body consists of a genetic code that can be 'copied' by those little things. However, even if you were to give some of your hair or nails for me to feed the slimes with, it takes time for them to adapt their own genes to yours."

"This sounds all too complicated…"

"It is. Even after living for centuries, this is the first time I ever encountered such a complex life form such as those." He massaged his right shoulder with his left hand while tilting his head around—cracking his joints. "Alright, Leona, do you know how to cast fireball?"

"Yeah."

"Alright." He pointed to the sky. "Show me your maximum firepower. No need to use the staff for now."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you want me to unleash a fireball at full power right off the bat?"

"So I know the full extent of your capabilities. I need Yuna to adjust your training based on that."

He motioned with his open hand towards the edge of the cave. Leona walked a few meters ahead of him before placing the staff on the ground and pointing her open palm to the sky.

She looked at him over her shoulder and he nodded while motioning with his hand for her to go ahead. She then turned around and took a deep breath.

Mana started to gather from the core of her body towards her extending arm—faint light blue strings spiraled around her limb before coalescing into the center of her palm. The mana entangled in itself forming an orb of bright blue light that slowly turned into a darker blue flame that swirled in a sea of contained flames in the middle of her hand.

She took half a step back with her left hand and sharply inhaled while focusing on her fingertips as they curled slightly inwards.

"Flames of destruction heed my call, bring ruin to mine enemies, Fireball!"

The flaming sphere shrunk to a third of its size before being fired into the air with a little help of wind magic. It floated in the air for a few seconds before finally going off with a violent blast of intense heat that painted the sky dark blue for a few seconds before the flames were fanned out by the cold morning breeze.

"Hmm…" Robert nodded to himself. "Not bad, for a beginner." He approached her and picked up the staff from the ground. "There are a few things you need to learn, but I'll have Yuna to teach you all about it." He gave back the staff and began to walk to the trail leading towards the city. "I need to speak with the merchant that helped you get here. In the meantime, go to the training grounds, I'll have Yuna bring breakfast and prepare you for training."

"Okay… but about the people that helped me. I'm not sure she'll listen to someone she has never met before."

"Not a problem." He snapped his fingers and there was a distortion of light around his face before he assumed the appearance of the swordmaster. "Common folk like her won't be able to see through this illusion."

Leona watched as he headed down the hill. On that note, she decided to turn around and head to the training grounds.

While walking through the trail, her eyes wouldn't come off from the staff. She could feel the faint magical aura it emitted but other than that it seemed like a normal piece of branch.

"How is this going to help me?" She extended it towards the open sky amidst the trees. "Crushing wind!"

Despite the staff, the moderate blast of wind generated from her hand opened a gap between the tree tops. Not only she didn't cast through the magical tool, but the spell was considerably weaker as if her power was being dampened by something.

'Something isn't right…' She was racking her mind trying to understand how to use it but outside of having a general feel for its power, she was clueless on how to proceed. 'I should just go to the training grounds…'

Though she was somewhat disappointed with her own inability to figure out how to use the staff, she was determined to grow stronger and prepared to train as soon as she reached the clearing amidst the trees.

The vast field of grass had dew drops forming at the end of the leaves and with the rise of the morning sun, the same droplets of water created a shining reflection of the sunlight. The refreshing cold air paired with an earthly and grassy scent made her feel more awake.

"Mmmmm…"

She stretched her arm out while also raising her left amputated arm. There was a slight crack along the joints in her spine as a blissful sensation coursed throughout her back.

After stretching, she walked to the middle of the grassfield and raised the staff towards the sky once again.

"Maybe I just need to go back to the basics…" She closed her eyes and took a slow and deep breath. As fresh cold air filled her lungs, she clenched her fingers around the staff and started to chant the simplest spell she knew. "Winds of time, grant thy power upon myself, Windshot!"

However, as opposed to her expectations of simply evoking the spell itself, she managed to launch the staff airborne which resulted in it flipping twice in the air before falling back down on her face.

"Gah!"

She tripped backwards and fell on her back against the wet grass.

"If you're trying to use a staff for the first time. Maybe you shouldn't be trying to use a spell made for hunting."

Leona turned her eyes up and Setsuna was standing just above her using her own staff to support her weight.

"Good morning Lady Setsuna." The tactician turned to her right and used the forearm in order to stand up. Her cotton shirt was now wet throughout her back and right side. "Didn't expect to see you here this early."

The shrine maiden smiled discreetly.

"Good morning to you too, Lady Leona. Sir Krieg's training also starts early." She answered while using her left hand to levitate Leona's staff off the grass. "I hope you are making meaningful progress with your own training as well."

"If you count smacking myself on the forehead with my own staff as training, I'd say I'm doing pretty well."

She grabbed the floating staff and her eyes couldn't help themselves but gravitate towards the intricate looking staff that Setsuna held.

It was made out of wood similar to hers but the shaft was made out of multiple branches that twirled around to form a sturdy body that divided itself at the end in a circle. At the very center of the circle, a square shaped carved stone hung from the top of the staff with multiple hemp strings connecting the two.

"Well, I'll head back to the other two. I need to oversee his training after all."

She bowed slightly before turning around. Leona waved her hand while holding the staff.

"Well now…" After seeing her off, the tactician returned to her own training. "...I think I should just wait for Yuna."

She approached a tree near the trail and left the staff leaning against its trunk before walking back towards the middle of the grassfield. There, she proceeded to train as usual as she waited for her instructor.

After taking a deep breath, she focused on the center of her chest with her closed fist near it. Strings of mana began to creep up from her chest towards her right shoulder and finally coiled around her forearm as it gathered at her clenching fist. Her scarred fingers trembled while she compressed her mana into a singular point in the middle of her hand before transforming the raw magical power into a condensed blast of wind towards the sky with her open palm.

"Ugh!"

She stumbled as her arm was thrown back from the recoil. Though painful, she needed to increase her own mana capacity through usage of powerful spells.

Yuna's voice rang clear in her mind.

"If you keep constantly using powerful spells that quickly deplete your mana reserves, that'll teach your body and soul that you require more mana."

Leona took another deep breath as she started to gather mana throughout her body for another powerful spell. As opposed to mana originating only from the center of her chest, her entire body started to glow a soft blue hue.

She curled her fingers slightly inwards as fire started to crackle from a dark blue flame swirling in the middle of her palm. The intense heat was making the thin hairs on her arms curl.

"Ngh…"

She envisioned a violent blast just like the one she showed Robert—but this time, as opposed to using the aid of spirits, she was fully utilizing her own mana to fuel the spell.

The flame was becoming even more intense as she extended her arm towards the sky. From her eyes, the blue flame was turning the sky equally dark.

"Fireball!"

She yelled as she evoked a blast of wind to launch the sphere a few hundred meters in the air. Her body felt a bout of mana shock as her right knee hit the ground. However, it was not enough to make her avert her eyes from the massive explosion that tarnished the sky.

A circular blast of azure flames scorched the air and a secondary ring of fire spread out from the epicenter of the initial explosion. The violent shockwave traveled through the air and made her fall on her back.

"Woah…!"

The air crackled as the powerful overpressure rippled across the trees, prompting birds that were resting in them to fly away in a panic. Even the morning dew that formed amongst the blades of grass were also swept clean by the spell's aftermath.

That was by far, the most potent magic she had ever cast while only using her own mana to fuel it. Though in turn, she felt almost completely spent. It was as if she used every last bit of mana she had.

"Ugh…"

Symptoms from lack of mana were settling in as her vision started to become blurry. She clutched the side of her face as she took quick and sharp breaths to offset the dizziness.

"Leona!" The familiar voice of her instructor came from the right and as she tilted her head that way, she noticed Yuna running at her with a surprised expression on her face. "Were you the one who unleashed this spell just now?!"

"Y-yeah…" She was sprawled on the grass while glancing at her from the corner of her eyes. "I'm thoroughly spent…"

With those last words, Leona blacked out. Yuna smiled warmly at her—seeing someone do her best in training was something the young shrine maiden was fond of seeing.

She kneeled beside her and placed her small hand on the tactician's forehead.

"You did great. Leona."