Change of Season
Luna decided to stop looking for some books about the lightning element as she remembered that she had to wake up early. Then she tidied up her bed, changed her clothes, and began to sleep until morning.
Before the sun rises, Luna woke up first and opened the red thick curtains while yawning. She didn't bother to open the window and instead washed her face to wake her sleepy mind.
"I'm still a bit sleepy. Sleeping is hard, waking up is hard, everything is hard," Luna uttered.
She began combing her long black hair and took a bath even though it was a cold morning. After that, she went downstairs where her body shuddered because of the cold temperature downstairs. It was the first time she experienced that kind of temperature in Vermillion except for the moment it rained hard on that unknown
grassland.
"I-I think it's a wrong idea to take a bath today," Luna uttered. Even though she wore a navy blue long-sleeved dress, it didn't help to decrease the cold. Another thing that she noticed was it wasn't that cold upstairs and thought, 'The temperature change is unbelievable!'
She saw no one was in the main lobby except for Miss Zione who had just arrived.
"Good morning, Miss Luna," she said.
Luna greeted her back. Then she saw her with two glistening red gems in her hands while standing in front of the fireplace. She threw it there which it glowed after and a medium-sized fire formed, increasing the room's temperature.
After that, some female servants began to appear on every corner on the first floor of the mansion. They were replacing the floating yellow candles with red ones which were blazing with more warmth than the yellow ones.
"Miss Luna, I don't know that you will wake up early. I'm apologizing for replacing it this late," Miss Zione said.
"It's nothing," Luna uttered and hastily shook her head to show that she didn't mind.
She started to understand it. The contrasting temperature on the first and second floor was because of the candles. Miss Zione first changed the candles on the second floor as they all spent the night on that floor since their bedrooms were located upstairs, leaving the ground floor to be changed on the next day.
"Why is it so cold today?" Luna asked. She sat on the couch near the stone-built fireplace and took off her sandals to feel the soft fluffy carpet on the ground.
"It's because the winter season here in Vermillion just started, Miss Luna," Miss Zione answered.
Luna's eyes lit up. "You have a winter season in this nation?" she uttered.
Miss Zione slightly tilted her head in her direction with her still cold face that startled Luna a bit. "Why Miss Luna? Don't you experience winter season?" Miss Zione said.
Seeing Luna's reaction, Miss Zione thought that it wasn't normal to have winter days where Luna came from. 'How beautiful it would be,' she thought.
"Hmm, it's not that I didn't experience it but the country where I live is a tropical one with only two seasons. I only came to see the snow when we travel to different countries," Luna said.
Miss Zione nodded as a response and had clearly understood Luna's reaction earlier. "I'll excuse myself a bit, Miss Luna," she said.
Luna nodded. Since the place Luna sat was comfortable enough, she patiently waited for Akiro to wake up and teach her about his powers. Not long after, an hour has passed.
"Did I wake up too early?" Luna uttered. She looked at the window near her and saw that it's a little bit dark compared to the usual morning. Nonetheless, she was sure that it was the time they should wake up.
Then several footsteps started to be heard along the wide stairway. Luna turned her head and saw Akiro and Ryle.
"Good morning," Luna greeted.
"Morning!" Ryle uttered.
She began to observe that the two of them including Miss Zione wore thick clothes for this winter season. Then they called her for breakfast. It did not last long. Akiro immediately called her for practice.
"Aren't you too strict, hmm?" Ryle uttered.
Akiro didn't respond and told Luna to follow her. She began to wonder where they would be practicing. Last time, they trained in a huge garden but since it was extremely cold outside, she was guessing if there was a huge practice room inside the mansion.
'It's huge after all,' Luna thought.
They ended up in a dark blue two-way door. Akiro opened it with a golden key in his hand.
Entering, she saw that it was indeed a huge room with only one window on the left side that was partially covered by a blue curtain. There was also a fireplace that Akiro lit up with red gems as Miss Zione did.
"This will be our practice room for the time being," he said.
Various tools and weapons were on wooden racks and several glass bottles in different sizes with unknown liquids were found on a huge cabinet with a glass pane. He picked up a thick dark brown book and turned towards her.
"Let's start," Akiro said.
Luna nodded as she waited for his instruction
"On the task you joined with me, you did not have the chance to display your ability. It is unexpected. Since Miss Mavel is not a bad person, we didn't need to snatch away Claret by freezing time," Akiro said.
Luna nodded. She didn't have the chance to use her abilities thus she didn't help much and thought, 'I'll make sure to contribute more in his next task.'
"First, I want to see your progress of time-freeze but Miss Zione will have to bring rabbits here," Akiro said.
Luna's brows furrowed but it disappeared instantly as there was no way to prove that she did stop time if there were no living things in the room except them. Then someone knocked on the door and entered. She saw Miss Zione followed by ten snow-white fluffy rabbits.
Luna's eyes twinkled and began to think how Miss Zione was able to command them as if they understood human language. She left after that while the rabbits began eating an unknown vegetable that Miss Zione gave them.
"Now start practicing," Akiro said.
Luna closed her eyes, calmed her mind, and began to sense magic. She started feeling the warm magic substance inside her veins. Not long after, she succeeded in forming the golden pocket watch much faster than before. Several more tries and it would not be impossible to match Akiro's speed in it.
Then she closed her eyes again and thought how time would immediately freeze once she opened her eyes. A surge of magic substance was quickly felt by Luna. When she opened her eyes, the white fluffy rabbits suddenly stopped moving, not even an inch after the time was frozen.
"It's still working!" Luna said.
Akiro nodded and seemed content with her astounding performance however, he was still as resolute as ever. "Do it a hundred times more," he said.
Luna's eyes widened. She blinked her eyes and pinched her rosy cheeks wondering if she was dreaming. 'Am I hearing right?' she uttered.
After practicing the first step of bending magic, she found out that using time powers was still much more exhausting but Akiro wanted her to practice it a hundred times.
"O-okay!" Luna said. Determined and unwavering, she repeatedly stopped and returned the time back to normal while counting numbers.
'You want me practicing a hundred times? Fine, I'll do it with an astounding feat,' she thought.
"34, 35, ..." Luna uttered.
Meanwhile, Akiro was left baffled by her actions. It was good that he isolated the room or else, the people downstairs would feel dizzy because of her. Although they would not know that it was time-powers, they would sense something wrong especially if the ones using it were a novice. It would need a certain time before she became completely familiar with it and use his power continuously without alarming others.
He waited patiently and didn't forget to remind her about this later.
Meanwhile, Luna continued to practice her power and familiarize herself with it, not knowing what Akiro was thinking.
--To be continued...
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone