Chương 18: Learning the Basic II

Rabbit breathed out a sigh as she wrinkled her nose like a rabbit. A moment passed as nothing happened. It took a bit of persuasion from Rabbit herself to make one of the elements to fly to her.

It was a brownish-green ball of energy that floated towards her hand. Rabbit delightfully reached over just about to cup the element into her hand when a blast of brownish-green energy stabbed her in her arms.

"Kyaaaa!" Rabbit stumbled backward. Fear laced in her eyes, realizing that she had a large cut on her arms.

"Pay attention to your control, Rabbit." Snow shouted. Angry that the girl wasn't taking power in front of her seriously. Many who carelessly let down their guards were known to get hurt without realizing what they were controlling and focusing—especially the Earth element, which was a lot easier to manage. For Rabbit to not pay attention to such an extreme made Snow realize how short attention span they have.

"Once you forget what you are dealing with, the magical energy rebounds back! Magic is not a toy and must always be used with caution." With a snap, Snow stepped forward, blocking the second attack from the orb that was aimed at Rabbit again. "Now, get up and focus!"

Rabbit weakly nodded. She got up shakily. She glanced up at the orb that was bubbling chaotically.

"When one calls upon any type of magic, it must be redirected or dispersed. Without a specific purpose or intent, the magic comes back at the caster. Such cases would most likely lead to injuries, as you can see." Snow's voice was like a focusing point; Rabbit hone back in to get control of her magic. "With that being said, imagine and speak the word you want to trigger it to release."

Rabbit shouted, "Bloom!"

The elemental energy swirled and grew into a giant sunflower. Rabbit grabbed ahold of the sunflower, jumping up with joy. "I did it!" She turned towards the group with a broad smile on her face as blood was still dripping down her arms. The others looked towards her with awe.

Snow raised her hand as white light glowed around her. Rabbit stopped, wondering what Snow was going to do. Light energy softly healed the open wound on Rabbit's arm, making Rabbit eyes became full and round. The wound closed.

"Eventually, you wouldn't need to say the words to trigger your magic." Snow casually stated as she finished her healing. "Now." She patted her clothes and folded her arms. "Cyrus, you're next."

Cyrus stepped forward, almost knocking over Rabbit from excitement. Rabbit yelped, scowling at Cyrus rude behavior. He strutted in. Waited in the middle, closing his eyes as if he was meant to be there.

"Well." Snow woke him up in his own little fantasize that he was cooking up in his mind. "Go on." She motioned him as she was getting a bit tired of waiting.

With a flick of his wrist, he raised his arms in front of him. Concentrating intensely, Snow couldn't help but wonder if he were constipated by the way he would scowl. The process took a lot longer than Rabbit to the point his scowling face was dripping with sweat.

A light chuckle broke out from Snow's lips as she was having a hard time containing her laughter, which at that moment, Cyrus drew one of the elemental magic towards him. It was Fire.

Instantly, Snow went silent. Her body tense as she watched with caution. Snow knew that this element was a lot more volatile than the rest. She had heard and seen some unfortunate accidents with the Fire elements, and it was never a pretty sight.

Cyrus' eyes sparkled when he saw the red elemental energy starting to swirl around his very hand like a tornado.

"Fireball!" Cyrus shouted as he changed the position of his hand and fired in front of him.

A massive fireball appeared about the size of a football and shot forward. The other gasped at the wild display, but just as quickly as the fireball appeared, it didn't move a foot before it puffed out into existence.

Silence.

Rabbit was the first to break out into laughter. The others followed.

"What was that?!" Rabbit was rolling on the ground, laughing so hard that she couldn't get up.

Cyrus frowned, giving her a death glare towards Rabbit, who was making the most racket. "A Fireball, but that wasn't supposed to be like that." He wasn't too thrilled that his magic just poofed and decided to disappear at the last second.

"You were trying to create a fireball without a target and fuel." Snow replied to his question. She walked over and stood next to Cyrus. "Projectile magic needs a constant source of fuel embedded into the fireball to help reach its destination and cause destruction."

With a snap, she called for a target that popped out from the ground. She then raised her hand and shot a fireball without a single word. Hot piercing energy shot from her fingers and slammed into the target. A sickening boom could be heard as the energy wave reverberated outwards towards the group.

Everyone could feel the power behind her magic. They stared at her gaping as if she was some kind of genius. Some took a few steps back to not get on her wrong side.

Already, she had shown them that she could control more than one type of magic, wondering what other magic she had hidden under her selves. It wasn't that she was a genius; she had a natural affinity with almost every elemental magic there is, but her use of such magic was considered elementary compared to her light magic that she specialized in.

"Next." Snow turned towards the crowd. She wanted to quickly get through this part and move on to more delicate practice.

Nobody moved, most were scared of her or worried that they would mess up. It wasn't until Silvia took a step forward. She gracefully came over to where Snow stood, and she waited for Snow to take steps back to give her actions before she started her elemental summoning.

For her, she took a straightforward approach. Blue energy swirled around her hand. Snow knew that it was the water elements by the way the crisp, soothing sound was heard when Silvia used her magic.

Water was formed in Silvia's hand silently.

Snow was impressed. So far, out of the seven, Silvia had shown the group that she had the best control and potential in using magic. If she didn't know any better, she had a feeling that Silvia was a genius and knew that her potential was going to be vast and profitable for her in the future.

The others didn't take long to find their elemental magic without too much of a problem. The twins, Leo and Cleo, had Earth and Wind. What surprised her between the two was their ability to control each other's elemental power as if they were borrowing from each other. Snow didn't understand how it was possible, but she knew that these two were unique in their way.

Eleanor had a bit of difficulty, but she didn't hiccup as badly as Rabbit. Her elemental power was water.

Mike was the last one to step up. He didn't seem to be confident around a swarm of elemental magic hovered around him like an excited dog meeting its master, waiting for him to summon any one of them.

Snow couldn't help but be jealous of Mike's gift. To be a hero, the amount of magical power he had in store of his body was considerable ten times, maybe one hundred times more than her.

Still, to be able to teach a Hero personally was a privilege.

"Pick one at a time." Snow interrupted Mike, who was about to horde up four at the same time. "It will help you focus better without having to control all four at once when you are starting. I know it's cool to be able to control four but learn the basics which will help you be able to efficiently handle all four, over time."

She knew that Mike would probably even be able to handle all six if he wanted too. But he was just starting, and such power was too much for him at once.

"Pick the one you have the most fondness too."

"Understood." Mike took her words to heart. What happened next, shocked Snow.

A lightning magic erupted from his hand, crackling erratically.

Snow instantly knew that the danger intensified. All lightning magic was a ticking time bomb for any new person. If she didn't know any better, she cursed silently in her mind at him for choosing such a problematic magic to handle. Even she had difficulties keeping it in control.

Mike hand intricately controlled the lightning magic as it slithers in between her finger like a snake. A broad grin appeared as he played with the spell as if it was a pet without any words.

Everyone could feel the erratic dangerous power even more than the fire magic itself. They all took a significant step back in fear of being caught in any mishap that Mike would cause.

Mike poured more magic into the electrical snake that grew to about a man-size.

Snow was baffled. At the rate that Mike was pouring, she was frightened that he would grow it the size of Wyvern.

"Stop pouring in magic!" Snow shouted in alarm. She could feel the erratic magic that was starting to collapse.

"How?!" Mike called out in panic. He realized that his magic was out of control.

"Everyone get back!" Snow raised a particular light barrier around the group as she braces for impact. There was no way she was going to be able to control an inflated magic that was doused with a Hero's magic.

Still, she didn't give up. She knew that the disaster needed to be averted, or the Hero was going to get severely injured.

Without overthinking of the consequence, she rushed in. Grabbing Mike by the arm, she threw him into the back behind the barrier. The erratic lightning magic hissed and thundered with anger as it didn't have a direction for release. It saw her, and she knew she was in trouble. Instinctively, she pulled up a light barrier around her own body.

The snake hit Snow squarely in the chest, shocking her. She let out a painful grunt as the snake ravaged her body in waves. The pain intensified, she tried her best to not leak out the unpleasant voice and held it in as best as she could. Even with the barrier around her body, she didn't expect it to have such an impact. She increased the dosage around her body to lessen the blow as best as possible in a short given time until finally, it let her go.

Hot sizzles like smell dangled in the air.

Mike got up, realizing his mistake. "Snow!" He yelled, fear laced his very heart as he saw what he had done.

Snow stood in pain. She couldn't talk as opening her mouth hurt. It took a great effort to just raise her hand to motion that she was okay.

The others stood in place, unsure what to do.

With great effort, she plopped down onto her butt, sitting in place as she healed. A light glow of light magic encased her whole body, giving her a warm ticklish heal. This was the only self-healing magic she could do on herself, which wasn't many. The surface skin healed, scraping away the blackish-brown skin that fell off like flake and left behind a soft pink skin.

"Oh, my god." Rabbit jumped over, watching and even sniffing around Snow. The magic softly dimmed, giving Snow a more polished look. "Is that self-healing magic?"

Snow was too engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't answer.

"I can't believe there is stuff like this. Is there even amputation magic or even resurrections? That would be so awesome." Rabbit stated with glee.

The others started to come over, wondering how Snow was doing.

Mike slinked over, ashamed at his lack of control. He quickly hid away his feelings and gently spoke, washing away his player-like attitude. "Ms. Snow. Are you okay?"

Snow shook her head.

"Do you need a place to rest?"

Shaking her head no, she flopped onto her back. The others watched with worry as they could see the accumulated stress that she had incurred in that small little mishap.

"Ms. Snow." Mike had seemed to magically conjure up a jacket, which he took from Leo. He squatted down, picking up her head and slipped in the rolled-up coat for her to lay on.

Snow didn't complain; she was in too much of a mind-numbing pain, where she couldn't be moved.

"Ms. Snow, I'll go get you some water or maybe something else to drink?" Mike asked, concerned that Snow wasn't answering.

"That would be nice."

Mike bolted when he heard what Snow had asked for. Looking around, he saw a small refrigerator near the exit next to the desk. He quickly ran over to grab a bottled water and rushed back. Halfway through the run, he was already unscrewing the cap as the water splashed onto his hands.

Eventually, he came over, carefully bringing up her head for her to take a long sip.

Snow took the drink gratefully. She has never tasted such delicious water since today, maybe it was because her taste buds were all fried up, but it was delicious. As time passed, the throbbing pain went away; her concerned student silently watched her like a hawk.

Her thoughts were a mix match of curses at herself and Mike. She felt pathetic for being so weak. She also felt stupid and ashamed for neglecting her studies and practices. Silently, she promised to herself from that day onwards; she decided to practice and learn more. The thought of tripping over herself on such a simple level against Hero's energy fluctuations shouldn't have put her in such a predicament.

With that being said, she focused back on healing.

Snow stayed on the floor until she felt the wane of the pain. Getting up, she stood up tittering back and forth a few times before she was stable. The others didn't know what to say. They stared at her as if she had risen like a zombie. Her hair was a bit frazzled and puffy, which reminded them of cotton candy.

"Well…" She patted her knees, sweeping away the dirt as well as around her butt. "We're going to practice some simple energy control."

The others were a bit taken aback that she would continue the lesson, which she significantly did not want too. She had a job to do, and she was going to flawlessly end the hour without her getting fried again.

Snow summoned up her magic to summon up some small items for the Players to use. It was a trinket size ball in a ring. She handed it to each one of them, as she explained. "You want to focus your energy into the ball itself as it will float up and spin. If you can make it float and spin, you have the basic understanding of magical control."

The others watched, forgetting that she was hit just awhile ago. They quickly went to work to figure out how to summon their magic.

Mike came over, the haughty air that he had in the past was gone. Instead, shame and guilt was plastered on his face.

Snow didn't let it bother her; she was glad that he was a lot more considerate in person than he put him out to be. The only thing that she could think of was that it was probably all for a show when he was around his friends.

"Ms. Snow. Are you sure you are alright?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She let out a sigh. Maybe he was too worried. "I'm fine. Thank you. That wasn't as bad as magic I had been hit with before."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Mike observed her satisfied. "If you need any other help, just give me a heads up."

"I'll do that."

Mike left, going to his corner as the other Players came over, asking him how he was able to control such powerful magic.

Snow let out a heavy breath as she was finally left alone. Now, she just needed to keep teaching for the next couple of months, and she was free to do whatever she wanted to do. She decided for sure to take on an extended vacation away from the Players themselves.