Chapter 22 Unedited

An almost inaudible sound comes from below me. The only way I could describe it is if there was a quiet explosion. Instantly, as that sound fills my ears, I lose my balance and find myself on my ass. The footing I just had is now a pit of sand. My head turns to Ava and I ask, "Did I just put too much mana into the ground?"

She responds with a nod, so I get back up and dust myself off. Once I find myself back on solid ground, I instantly get back to work. The mana flows to my feet slowly but consistently. Eventually, it flows into the ground and I say the chant while stepping forward that could be mistaken as me kicking the ground.

This time, I feel the ground beneath instead of sand. A loud slam resonates throughout the room and immediately after, one of the girls yells "Are you ok?" as I fall onto my back and cough while trying to catch some of the air escaping my lungs. Before I know it, Ava and Sarah are both on top of me, looking me over.

Both of them frantically ask "Are you hurt?"

Before I could answer, they both fire off "Does it hurt anywhere in particular?" at the same time again…

I just cut them off and snap "I'm fine. I'm just trying to get the hang of this, so please don't get like this after the first injury!" After that leaves my mouth, they both get off me shakily but quickly, which makes me feel a little guilty.

So with a sigh I say "I'm sorry girls, it's just we talked about this. Take it slow and you know that me hitting the wall wasn't too bad."

It did knock the wind out of me and definitely hurt, but I don't want people jumping all over me like that. Not even to mention their version of sparing made me feel bad since I got lightly tapped while I was trying to actually attack like you're supposed to.

Once I'm on my feet again, I take a deep breath and try to relax. I jump in place for a second, then kick off with a chant, putting much less mana into it. In a flash, I find myself in the middle of the room.

It's not a pit of sand or the wall that's what I call progress. Then without a break I try to Glint Step back to Ava just for as soon as I kick off the ground, one of my feet loses its footing. So this time, instead of falling onto my back, it's straight into my face.

Again, I find the girls surrounding me, but not daring to touch me this time. Instead, I hear a more sad "Are you alright?" in unison.

"You're doing it again…"

Ava says "What again?"

Do they do it unconsciously? I guess I'll just ignore it so I say "Nevermind I'll just get back to trying. I need to do it more than once."

Ava just nods, and I get back up again. All I need is to go just three feet, not anything further. My chest expands as air fills my lungs. The chant leaves my lips with the thought "Just three feet" playing in my head on repeat.

Once I kick off, I prepare to slam into another wall or the ground out below me just to find myself around three feet from where I was.

Immediately, excitement bursts out of me and I yell, "Hell yeah, a good one!" but my victory is short-lived as I hear Sarah say, "I know it's your first manageable Glint Step but make sure you can do it again before celebrating."

That ruins the mood…

I just respond by saying, "You're right."

This time I go through the steps a lot quicker just trying to copy what I did just moments before with the same line of thinking, which is just telling myself to go only three feet in my head over and over. This time when I kick off, it's just like the last one, a manageable burst of speed. So instantly I try again with it turning out the same as the last.

Right as I'm about to do it for the fourth time in a row, I hear "Don't do it again!" loudly reverberate throughout the room.

Author's note: Sorry if this is short but I'm back! The move to my apartment was rough because the first night one of my cats ran out and hasn't came back.