Chapter 38: Chapter Thirty-Six: Spirit Draining

“Well, that concludes my explanation, at least about the Soulia side of things…there’s some other stuff that we’ll cover some time later.”

“Understood!” I gave her a sloppy salute.

“Hehe,” Master chuckled at my antics. “Anyways, I hope you ate well at breakfast, this might take a bit of energy from you.”

“Breakfast?”

Master facepalmed.

“Did that dumb starfish forget to take you to get something to eat before dropping you off at the library?”

“No?”

“Ugh. That idiot. Do you want to go get something?”

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t really eaten anything since coming to this world still. But I’m fine? Maybe this body doesn’t need food.’

“No, Master. I think I’ll be okay.”

Her face contorted into a scowl. “You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, fine. But you have to eat from now on. Three meals a day. I’m not taking no for answer. Heck, I’ll even cook for you myself if need be. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Master," I giggled.

Her frown disappeared, transforming into a gentle smile as she poked my side.

“What’s so funny, huh?”

“The motherly act doesn’t suit you, Master.”

A blush made its way across her face.

“Hey! I’ve had enough of this disobedient pupil! Don’t you think you’re being a bit too rude to your master?” she shouted, tackling me and tickling me mercilessly. 

“Ahahaha! I give up! I give up!” I half-laughed half-yelled.

 

—⁕????⁕—

 

After taking a few to catch my breath from the torture that I was forced to endure, Master began her lesson.

“Alright!” she clapped her hands together. “Since we both share affinities with the Water and Fire elements, we’ll start there. You’ll have to get help from Mayari or her sister for Darkness and Light.”

‘Specifically, those two? That’s interesting…’

“Is Darkness and Light uncommon elements to be attuned with?” I asked, unconsciously tilting my head.

“Sort of, but why do you ask?”

“I just thought it was kind of odd that you specifically said Mayari or her sister, who I haven’t even met yet.”

“Well, there isn’t that many Light or Darkness users under the sea anymore, because of a certain conflict… and those two are the most trustworthy ones available. “

‘A conflict? Sounds interesting…I’ll have to inquire about that later.’

“Anyways,” she said. “Back on topic, come here.”

“Okay,” I responded, moving closer to her.

She beckoned me to sit down, so I did, and she followed swiftly after.  She then poked her index finger into the middle of my sternum.

The finger lingered as she began to speak.

“This is where the majority of the Soulia in your body is kept. Also, known as the physical manifestation of your soul realm or simply the soul core.”

“Okay?”

She moved her finger away from my chest.

 “I want you to try to sense it. Take a deep breath, and sort of follow that breath as it goes down. You’ll know when you find it, it feels almost like a ball of slime.”

I took a deep breath and tried to track it as it made its way through my body. I felt absolutely nothing.

“Try again,” Master said.

I took another breath, starting the process again only to come up empty again. Then again, and again.

After around my thirtieth breath, I was beginning to get frustrated.

Then an idea struck me.

‘Why don’t I try to use that dirt sense?’

Dirt sense being the ability I had as a seedling. A lot had changed since then, but I had a feeling that I was still able to utilize it or something similar.

Recalling the feeling I felt using dirt sense, I took in another breath. As the air(water?) made its way in, I felt a squishy glob in the area around the middle of my chest.

“Found it,” I said.

“Great!” Master smiled. “Let’s get on to casting then. We’ll start with fire then. So the whole thing works in three steps. Step one: You conceptualize your expression. In this case, we’ll be going with the most basic of the fire element, a match flame. Step two is chanting. Chanting is you proclaiming your will to the world, and is the action that moves the Soulia from your soul core to the outside world. The word for this expression is Aurvi. Ah-ree-vee. Though when you get a better grasp on it, you can chant in any language you want. Finally, step three is using the expression. Simple enough, right?”

I nodded my head in agreement.

“Alright, I’ll show you first, then you’ll try it.”

She snapped her fingers.

“Aurvi,” she said, her voice resonating around the field.

A small golden flame burst into life, blasting out of her hand before calming down and eventually dancing on her finger.

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“See? It’s easy. Just focus, think about what you want, say the word that I just, and boom.”

‘Sounds easy enough.’

I took a deep breath.

“Aurvi.”

Instead of a flame, I got absolutely nothing.

Master’s eyes widened in what seemed to be surprised, but she spoke with confidence.

“Try again, you’ll get it.”

So, I tried again. And again. And again.

Unlike the soul core sensing, I had no prior experience with magic, Soulia, or expressions. Whichever was the right term.

We tried turning to the water element, to no avail. With every failed attempt, I saw my master’s eyebrows furled further and further.

Eventually, she seemed to give up, instead opting to change my studies which she called ‘the real fun’ part.

I soon found out the name was a complete lie as I was running my third mile around the training field.

 

—⁕????⁕—

 

My days quickly began to fall into a routine of sorts.

I would wake up and have breakfast with Master and Ms. Kna’Ve. The food was made by Master herself. Oddly enough, I still never felt the urge to eat, though I did so to placate my master, and the taste was amazing anyways. Even weirder, the food that I ate seemed to just disappear. It didn’t add any weight to my frame (though that might be due to the small quantity), or ever made its way back out of me.

From there, I would do some physical training at the training area, or I would receive a lecture from either Master or Ms. Kna’Ve. During these lectures, they would ask me all sorts of questions.

After that, would be more failing at expressing my Soulia.

The day would end off with dinner then sleep.

After days upon days of this pattern, I was beginning to get irritated. As childish as it was, I began to get frustrated not only with myself and my inability to use Soulia, but I was starting to mentally direct some of that aggression towards my master.

 

—⁕????⁕—

 

One day, instead of going to beat the dead horse that was me attempting to get my Soulia to work for me, Master had something different in mind.

She wordless took my hand and lead me in the opposite direction of the training area.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To a restroom,” she responded. “There’s something I’d like to try, but I think you might need to do it in front of the mirror.”

Her answer sent me into my thoughts, and I mindless walked behind her.

We soon arrived at the restroom, another source of dread for me. Thankfully, I didn’t have much reason to go, other than showering. I still avoided the place like the plague whenever I could, as any glance at the girl in the mirror gave me weird feelings. Feelings that I couldn’t place. Feelings that I didn’t know how to deal with. 

And now I was being told that a mirror was necessary for the training exercise that I would be doing.

“So, what exactly are we here for?” I asked.

“You have an ability called spirit form. I thought that it might help you to express your Soulia, as Spiritoids are generally really good at using soul energy.”

‘Sounds logical to me…and I’d really like to be able to use that stuff.’

Resolving myself, I looked at the girl in the mirror, attempting to suppress the feelings rising from within me. 

I adverted my eyes and realized that I hadn’t asked how I was supposed to use the ability.

I turned to Master to only find her holding in laughter.

“Hey!” I pouted.

“Sorry, sorry,” she giggled. “You looked adorable giving it your all with no clue what you're supposed to be doing, I couldn’t find it within myself to stop you. But if you’re asking how to do it…I honestly don’t know.”

“Really?”

“Really. But if I had to guess. You have to focus on something, maybe like a feature like your flower or something in your head. A voice or something.”

‘Something in my head? Cute Ex Machina!’

As the thought popped into my head, I looked up at the mirror, finding changes already happening.

The girl in the mirror’s wild green hair straightened and turned to a sandy blonde. 

The flower than hung by her face fell, being replaced by two sets of horns that sprouted from her head.

The runic tattoo on her face reshaped itself, becoming sharper and more dangerous-looking. The symbols didn’t stop there, making their way down the left side of her neck.

I found saw the addition of tattoos on the girl's hands as well.

There was no change in height, but I felt even lighter than I did before. 

The only consistent between the two forms of the girl seemed to be her burning red eyes.

‘Honestly, she looks kind of like the negative version of Master. Golden hair versus black hair. Golden horns versus black ones. Only thing missing is the wi-’

My thought was cut short abruptly as I felt a pang through my soul core, and my vision blackened.