Soul of a Human

Saphine's "tea party", also known as a lighthearted interrogation, was a complete success, more so after Tiara brought out her "gifted" bottle of alcohol. It was a delicious liquid, and without Clare staying sober, the whole party would have gone a bit off the rails because even if the girl's resistance to alcohol was higher than Avisim's, it still wasn't enough to share a whole bottle and not be completely drunk.

In the end, both Tiara and Clare agreed that Avisim was a "good one", supporting Saphines first instinct, leading Saphine and Avisim to meet up more and more, ultimately further testing the boy's political ideas and worldview. However, Saphine was smart enough to discuss everything with her two friends because she knew that her personal bias could make her see things that weren't there. This led to more "tea parties" and for Avisim to be dragged into the friend circle for real, with the introduction of the single other boy, Orth, to be postponed until he was done with his family situation.

All of this, including the affirmation of her friends, led Saphine to try dating Avisim for real. The question came as a big surprise to him, but thinking it over, he gladly accepted. Now while the three girls were having a very good time, another girl couldn't say such things because her arm hurt like a bitch, and worse, she had to sit through the lecture of her teacher regarding using magic responsibly. She would have no problem with that if her teacher wasn't such a giant hypocrite about it all, and because of that, she tried to defend herself.

"Do you even know what you did?!" Mor scolded Elly.

"Yeah, I put that ass into his place. AND even if just that one time I did it." The girl countered with a pout.

"Do you want a cookie for that? Using magic, you haven't trained and can only use sporadically should only be evoked in a controlled environment!" Mor growled.

°Hypocrite.° The human interjected with a strangely timed cough.

°Shut up.° Mor shushed his more reckless buddy.

"You're not allowed to scold me for that!" Elly hissed.

"I am. Because I have made my fair share of mistakes with new magic and almost paid dearly for it, also, think further! You could have killed him!" Mor continued.

"But I didn't!" Elly countered, leading Mor to let out an annoyed groan.

"If I can say something." Jorgen carefully put forward, getting an expectant look from Mor.

"Thor had it coming. You can't fault Elly for protecting herself."

"Yes! I don't. But think what could have happened. She just strained some of her muscles this time, meaning she was fortunate. You two can't control the energy at all, so she could have smashed his head like an overripe ball-fruit or shattered her bones irreparably with the force of her slap!"

"Wait, really?" Elly asked, a bit shocked.

"Yes, there is more to it than just strengthening your muscles! As I have explained at least four times!" Mor continued his scolding.

°Six.° The human corrected.

°I said at least!° Mor growled.

"You mean that whole strengthening our bones as well?" Jorgen asked.

"At least one of you listened." The Soul-kin grumbled.

"But at least I could use the technique." Elly put forward.

Mor let out an annoyed sigh. "Yes, you did. And as a reward, you get some additional lessons on how to use magic responsibly."

°From whom?° The human asked.

°Do not start this.° Mor growled.

°But you would need Clare or at least Orth for this. Maybe Saphine.° The human teased anyway and promptly got ignored.

"That's not fair!" Elly protested.

"Oh? So you want me to tell Lize about your stupidity?" Mor asked, with a raised eyebrow, instantly shutting the girl up.

"Thought as much."

"Good now that we cleared this up, back to training for both of you. All this has shown me that you need to master this technique before I even allow you to use it at all without me observing."

Mor redoubled his training effort with Elly and Jorgen, driving home the importance of being careful with this specific spell. He acquired a thin whiplike stick and hit his "students" on the head whenever they tried to take a shortcut or use too much power. This means that all Elly and Jorgen got from that specific training session was a throbbing headache because Elly was bored and wanted to get over it so she could do more exciting things. And Jorgen, on the other hand, had trouble regulating the energy in his body. Still, it was a minor miracle that the two Ice-kin even got as far in such a short time, alone that they could even begin to enhance their bodies, which was a giant leap for any Ice-kin.

Also, even if Mor scolded Elly for her thoughtlessness, he was impressed that she could use this specific magic to this degree. He somehow didn't believe that the energy she used was just luck. It had to be a calculated amount. The only thing she misjudged was how much of it she needed to protect her own body. Of course, he wouldn't praise her for this because she would behave even more reckless.

°But maybe you should let her run so she can start to walk?° The human offered another piece of confusing wisdom while Mor got ready for sleep.

°What does running or walking have to do with magic?° Mor asked with a sigh.

°I mean, let her experiment and just go full force. Some people learn better if you let them figure it out for themselves. ° The human explained, and Mor got thoughtful.

°Maybe.° He conceded. °However, I will only allow it in a controlled environment.°

°Which is only reasonable.° The human agreed.

This specific discussion led to Mor providing some heavy rocks for the next training session, much to Elly and Jorgen's confusion. Thus, even after Mor had explained what he had planned, the two Ice-kin didn't grasp what he wanted from them.

"You want us to throw them?" Jorgen asked for the third time.

"Yes." Mor sighed.

"Why?" Elly added.

"Come on! You can't be this dense!" Mor shouted.

°Says the right one.° The human grumbled.

"This is a test. I want to see how well you can control the magic energy."

"I see," Jorgen said, and Elly nodded, drawing another sigh from Mor.

"Ok, let's make a bet. If you can throw them further than, let's say." Mor looked for a good landmark, then remembered he could just make one, to which the human quickly gave his input.

"Those two spikes." He finished his thought by conjuring the first one and then a second stone thorns as a "goal", as the human called it.

"That's impossible!" Elly protested quickly, looking to Jorgen for support.

However, the Ice-kin boy just looked at the two spikes about 30 meters away, then down to the big rock on the ground, and guessed its weight to be about ten kilos.

"Is it?" Jorgen asked Mor, who in turn picked up one of those almost boulders, making a show of not using his magic for it. The Soul-kin hefted it as well as he could into a resemblance of a throwing stance. Then, with a grunt of effort and a spike of his magic energy, the stone flew off, easily crossing the imaginary line. The big projectile touched the ground for the first time five meters after the goal.

"No." He then stated.

°Show off.° The human giggled.

Jorgen then nodded, picked up the big stone with quite a bit more ease than the less muscular Soul-kin, and tried to replicate Mor's throw. Jorgen concentrated hard, gathering the energy from his surroundings, letting it seep into his arms, and then releasing it while making the throwing motion released it. The stone flew off, landing just over halfway to the goal, and Jorgen clicked his tongue in annoyance. Also, he again used too much power, and both his arms hurt.

"Too much power, not enough control." Mor's calm evaluation of the throw came. "Try again."

"I can't. I think I hurt something, " Jorgen said, but Mor just nodded to the next rock on the ground.

"Then maybe your body will help you not hurt yourself more." The Soul-kin stated.

Jorgen decided to trust his almost friend and picked up the next rock, his arms protesting at the strain. He may have overstressed his muscles, but Jorgen tried anyway. This time, the unwieldy projectile crashed to the ground after about ten meters. However, the Ice-kin boy felt that everything went right in this attempt.

"Just like that." Mor nodded, then went over to Jorgen and used his weak healing magic to remove the strain from Jorgens muscles. "Now try again." He said with a smile.

Elly's attempts ended when her arm snapped with a broken bone because even while she could throw further than Jorgen, with better control over the required power, her self-protection was severely lacking. Still, a broken bone is nothing Mor could heal in an instant. Meaning the exercise was over for her. However, the way she behaved after really feeling the repercussions of her recklessness gave Mor hope that she would soon be able to fix this quirk of hers.

In the end, none of them cleared Mor's requirements, and another week of training and teaching was called before they were allowed to retry. Mainly so Mor could fix Elly's arm completely, as daily healing sessions were needed for his rudimentary healing magic spells. Still, both of them went to the lessons and mundane exercises with much more enthusiasm, having a clear goal to pass. The human's idea was right on the money, letting them run so they learn to walk.