Chapter 302 (Patreon)

Chapter 302

The group finally left the beastfolk continent behind and set sail, literally, towards the demons, while Kel accompanied them to provide additional support in the unlikely case of something happening in the ocean. However, things were quite calm, so everyone just took it easy and had a relaxing time.

“Okay, teach me everything I need to know how to use and control my new powers!” The group had been at sea for a few days already, and as things remained quite peaceful, Anna decided to take the chance to ask Aura about her offer to show Anna how to control the increased magic Sophia had gifted her. For that, the two went to the domain in one of the standard plain biomes to experiment.

“This will be interesting~.” The wolf let out a small chuckle while looking at the princess. “I looked forward to teaching you. It comes with a condition, though.”

“I’ll do anything!”

“That’s quite the dangerous thing to say.”

“Don’t care!” She shook her head. “I want to become good at using magic!”

“As usual, I like your motivation. However, my condition is Ari.” Aura paused for a second to wink at her. “Well, kind of. Firstly, I don't want to deal with her chewing one of my ears off because I overdid it with you. Secondly, I want to train her, too. I worked on some projects with her in the past, and she's great fun. I want to beat the last remains of restraint out of her!"

“That’s a TALL order!” Anna’s eyes grew wide. “I should probably take the blame alone, but talking her into you training her is something I can at best help because you have to convince her there.”

“Good enough~.” As the wolf was looking forward to playing with the princess, she easily agreed here. The condition was more of a bonus for her.

“Thank you so much!” The princess's smile was beaming. “Where do we start?”

“An excellent question.” Aura paused for a second. “I’m not good at teaching from the ground, so how about we start with something you’re already good at? I noticed a few times already that you’re skilled at sensing magic, so let’s expand on that so your control of it becomes just as good.”

"Okay!" She sounded incredibly happy about the praise. “Mira actually mentioned something similar when I asked her for help, too. She gave me a little training session on how to sense it even better, too!”

“Oho, trained by the Mira already, and you asked me to further increase your skills! What an honor~.”

"You're incredibly skilled and strong, so I, of course, want you to teach me! If anything, it’s my honor!”

“A good reply~.” Aura really liked the attitude of the princess.

“Let’s get started!” She was getting excited.

“How about I demonstrate some magic, and you try to recreate it perfectly by sensing how much power I used?”

“I’ll do my best!” The princess reacted with an energetic nod.

“Okay, focus on the trees over there and keep a close watch on what I'm going to do with the one on the left.” Aura gestured to her right, where three trees were standing roughly 50 meters away from them on the plain. A moment later, a whirlwind started swirling around the left one and ripped off every leaf without hurting even a single branch.

“Woah, such immaculate control!” Anna excitedly clapped her hands. “Not breaking off a single twig while doing this is amazing!”

“Ehehe~.” The wolf enjoyed the praise. “Fen’s actually even more skilled at finely controlling magic, that’s how he came up with the detection thing in the first place, but I’m also quite confident about it.”

“For good reason, too!” The princess smiled at her. “It’s also impressive just how little magic you had to use to take off the leaves. If you can control it to this level, you actually become more efficient because you waste less, huh?”

“That’s exactly how it is.” Aura nodded a few times. “From the sound of it, it seems like you managed to sense how much power I used?”

“I think so, yes!” She reacted with a strong nod. “Whether or not I can recreate it is a different story, though. I haven’t used my magic much since Sophia boosted me, since I was concerned about not being able to control it. After all, I got like 20 times stronger in an instant. I might not be able to accurately determine the amount of magic I use.”

“Well, you’re never going to learn how to control it if you don’t use it.”

“Fair enough.” The princess had nothing to add there. “I assume you want me to take off the leaves and nothing else, too?”

“Exactly.” Aura then looked at the trio of trees again. “You have two tries~.”

“You sure know how to do a prep talk.” Anna lightly rolled her eyes, but she then still started concentrating to recreate her magic. A little while later, strong winds began to form around the middle tree at a rapid pace. It soon enveloped it entirely and leaves were flying around everywhere. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there, and many little twigs were ripped off as well. Once it was over, the tree had only its main branches left.

“Well, the tree itself is still standing, so there’s that.” Aura let out a small chuckle while facing the dejected-looking princess.

“Yeah, I saw that one coming.” The tiger awkwardly scratched her cheek. “I realized the moment my magic activated that it was too much. I used so little, but it still was way too much. It’s such a small percentage of my new powers that it’s too hard for me to measure while using magic right now. I have so much more training ahead of me!”

“You don’t have to activate your magic the moment it leaves your body, you know?” Aura immediately saw the problem.

“What does that mean?” She tilted her head.

“You activated your magic by imagining the winds around the tree, right?”

“Well, yes…?” Anna only got more confused.

“That works well for everyday magic, when you want to be fast, or have perfect control over what you’re doing.” The wolf nodded a few times. “If you are experimenting, want to make absolutely sure to use the correct amount, or are just training, you can separate the steps a little more. Instead of immediately activating your magic, you first release your authority in the area you want to use it. Then, once you made sure it’s the correct amount, you activate that instead of your internal powers.”

“Kind of what we do when creating biomes in Sophia’s domain?” The princess tried to understand her explanation.

“Pretty much.” Aura nodded another time. “Just that we use it instead of letting nature absorb it.

“Ohh!” She excitedly clapped her hands again. “Let me try that immediately!” Anna began to concentrate again and focused on the feeling of flooding the surroundings of the third tree with her magic power. Once she was certain it was the right amount, the tiger activated her magic. Right in that very moment, a whirlwind formed around the tree that was a lot gentler than her previous try. It effortlessly ripped off every single leaf and scattered them around in the area, but all the branches and twigs remained unharmed in the process.

“Oho!” Aura seemed quite impressed by her immediate improvement. “You really are talented, my gut feeling did not deceive me. Doing it like this is a little slow, so it will be a bit of a disadvantage in a fight, but that’s just a matter of getting the hang of it~.”

“Ehehe~.” The princess enjoyed the praise. “Well, right now, I’m not too interested in fighting people, so it’s okay. Regardless of that, getting faster at using magic definitely is something I want to become able to do!”

“Using magic to fight is the pinnacle of fun, though!” Aura’s eyes started sparkling. “I can’t recommend it enough!”

“Why am I not surprised to hear that from you?” She let out a small chuckle while looking at the battle wolf. “I mean, I kind of get it, but good control comes first! Afterward, I want to get more creative with stuff now that I don’t have to worry about running out of magic in the middle of playing around anymore. Once that is taken care of, we can work on giving me the title of battle princess.”

“Oh, that’s a good title!” Aura liked that idea. “I’ll make sure to make that happen~.”

“Sure!” Anna scratched her cheek again. “For the time being, I would appreciate it if I could learn about accurately controlling my magic and get faster at using it if that’s okay with you.”

“Of course!” The wolf reacted with yet another big nod. “I want to train you using more offensive methods to get a foundation for the future battle princess, though. It will absolutely help you get more skilled, and I'll have some fun, too~.”

“As long as it won’t be painful.”

“…” Aura paused for a second. “Sure! I need to change a thing or two, but that can definitely be arranged!”

“Oi!” Anna didn’t like her reaction.

“Ehehe~.”

Afterward, the duo took a short break so Aura could come up with an alternate way of teaching the princess before they continued their training session.