NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11 – First bath
Having finally had a genuinely satisfying meal for the first time, Sophia was delighted and brimming with motivation, itching to continue her magic studies.
"Fen, give me a pointer for air magic!"
"Oho, fine. Air, huh? Let's see, air magic category…" He was thinking hard about it.
"What's wrong?"
"Air magic's kinda complicated to explain."
"How so?"
"You don't really have something to work with… Water magic's categorized with water, earth has soil, and so on… Air is just, well, air."
"Just air, huh?" Thinking with her previous world in mind, Sophia knew that air was actually something rather complex. "Oh, I wonder if I could mess around with the concentration of the gases…? Like increasing oxygen could be fun with fire magic…"
"Oxy… gen?" Fen didn't seem to know about the composition of air, or it once more had a different name in this world.
"Ah, nothing, just getting ahead of myself." Not even knowing the basics, thinking about such things was useless.
"Okay then, let's try this, Sophia. Can you feel the breeze that's coming from the clearing?"
"Yes, it's very nice."
"Good. Now, close your eyes and focus your attention on it." As he said so, a gust of wind ruffled up his fur as if the breeze was getting stronger just for Sophia's training.
"Hmm…" The girl did as told.
"Now, try to see the wind."
"See...?" She was confused and opened her eyes.
"Keep your eyes closed!"
"Ehh?"
"Don't use your eyes to see. Instead, use your concentration and magic power to see it." Fen wanted her to pay attention to the second part, so he emphasized it.
"I see… well, not really." Sophia made a terrible pun before closing her eyes again. Concentrating on her surroundings, she felt the breeze hitting her body. Sometimes more substantial, other times gentler, but it felt like a constant stream. Using this observation, she tried to not only feel the breeze that was directly hitting her but also what was flowing around her. The girl kept increasing the range until she got a good picture of her surroundings, and she noticed something. "Ah."
"Oh, do you get it now?"
"Yeah, I saw it! No, well, I felt it…? It's kind of like a river… going along its path, being guided by something, letting it flow around corners, getting faster, slower, stopping even."
"Good. Now, let that something become you. You have to be the one who guides the air, dictating its path, letting it flow, and whatever else you want it to do." Fen said so, and the breeze was beginning to die down, letting his silky fur lay flat on his body again.
"Ah, so you were the someone guiding the air for me after all, huh?" Sophia immediately noticed that the wind's image in her head changed to something more uncontrolled-looking.
"Indeed. Now take over the reins."
"…" She went silent for a while. Eventually, the breeze around her seemed to be getting stronger, gently lifting up and rustling her hair, only for it to die down completely a second later.
"Seems like you- Oi!" Fen noticed that Sophia was starting to control the breeze but then was hit by a strong gust, clearly created by the girl in front of him.
"Ehehe, air magic's pretty fun." She had already managed to put her new powers to mischievous use.
"You…" Wanting to get revenge, Fen took control of the wind and literally blew Sophia off her feet, using his own magic.
"Gotta train some more!" Being defeated by the wolf, she became even more motivated.
Fen, not wanting to deal with her once that switch was flipped, left her alone and went to the other side of the clearing. There, he lay down on the grass and relaxed under the warmth of the sun.
Sophia continued to get familiar with the new type of magic for the rest of the afternoon. She got a much better grasp of her air magic and the other categories, namely water, earth, and fire. Once the sun started to set, the girl reunited with the wolf again.
"Welcome back. How was the training?"
"Very good. You may call me Avatar now." The girl looked really smug, much to the confusion of Fen.
"Avatar…?"
"I've mastered all four elements!"
"There are more than four categories, though?"
"Haa, forget it…" Sophia was sad that her joke didn't work because it had no background in this world.
"Okay?" Fen naturally was confused.
"A-Anyway, yeah, I'm quite confident with the basics now. I think I want to try my hands on the nature magic category tomorrow."
"That's a good idea. This forest, with all its overgrown plants, is the perfect place for it."
"Great! I'm looking forward to it."
Having agreed on a schedule for the next day, the two got ready for dinner, though it was primarily leftovers from lunch. After that, Sophia became painfully aware of something she had managed to ignore until now.
"What's wrong, girl?"
"Fen, I want to take a bath."
"Sure?" He wasn't certain what to do with this kind of information.
"Well, a shower would be fine, too."
"Hmm?" He still had no idea what was going on.
"While I haven't worked up a sweat once since coming to this world, thanks to the overpowered body god gave me, but… Just thinking that it's been day three already, something important to me feels like it's about to die… It's disgusting!" Now that she's been aware of it, she couldn't stand it even a second longer.
"Then go… and take a bath?" Fen, still confused about her outbreak, failed to see the problem.
"Mind telling me how? It's not like you have a tub lying around somewhere, have you?"
"Sophia, weren't you the one who created an earthen pot, filled it with water, and heated it up all on your own earlier? Don't you think this concept, when scaled bigger, would work rather well as a bath?"
"Hmm…" She thought about his, well, her idea. "Are you a genius, Fen?"
"You're just incredibly scatterbrained."
"I-, I can't deny that…"
"At least you're self-aware."
"Oi. Well then, if you excuse me, it's time to build a bath!" She got up and was about to leave. "Ah, Fen, no peeking, okay? You might be a wolf… and male, but I would still kill you!"
"Why would I want to peek at a human?!"
"Who knows what's going on in this world…"
"Don't you worry, I'm not into the humanoid type!"
"Good to know. Well then, until later."
"Sure."
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Having given her warning, she left the camp and started planning out her bath some distance away from it.
"Hmm, I know it's not really necessary, but taking a bath out in the open without any viewing protection is a bit… I don't think I would be able to calm down." She knew that she was the only human-like being around, but it still felt wrong. "Okay, let's make some walls!" Using her earth magic, Sophia created said walls, protecting three sides of her bathing space from uninvited viewers. "Well, the forest acts as a protective screen itself, I can leave that side open… four solid walls would feel too cramped, anyway. Good, for the tub, let's see-"
Copying the same technique she used for cooking the podadoes before, Sophia created a hole big enough to fit her easily. Once that was done, the girl reinforced and hardened the sides of the impromptu tub. Afterward, she set fire to the hole, baking the soil, hoping it would withstand the water long enough. She wasn't looking for a mud bath, after all. With the tub being done, Sophia filled it with hot water. "Let's see… Yeah, rather warm, but it feels good." Having confirmed the water temperature with her hand, the girl seemed satisfied.
Once everything was ready, she began to undress while nervously looking around. The situation, taking a bath in the middle of nowhere, made her nervous. Finally, being fully naked, though, Sophia got distracted by something else. "I've really… become younger, huh?" She looked down at her body. "N-Not that I was old in my old world, 23 obviously was still fine! Still, being… around 15 now is a striking difference… I know that's the time where one's body changes a lot, but I'm not sure how I feel about this revelation… My skin's now much more springy and soft…" She pinched and stretched the skin on her waist to feel the elasticity.
"Ah, no, let's not go there, after all. I think I'll get depressed, knowing how much my body changed in such a short amount of time… or is going to change again in the future? Wow, this sure is confusing. Ah, but I do look forward to becoming 16 once more…" She looked down another time and stopped at a particular area, her chest, to be exact. "I-It's not that bad right now… just a little modest, yes! At least my development is already at the point where clothes only make me look smaller than I actually am! There is something! Looking at them in the nude, there IS something!" She repeated herself for some reason. "Enough to get a handful to touch and enjoy looking at!" It was very important to the girl. "Not that this information is relevant for anyone else other than me…"
"Actually, while everything became… smaller and younger, I still do look somewhat mature, don't I? Like my body is 15, but my mind isn't? The way I move around and behave still matches my real age… In a way, it makes me seem more, uhh, experienced? That's great because I don't want to be treated like a kid! But still, I miss the growth spurt when I was 16. Yeah, I was really happy about that back then… Other than that, I don't think I would mind staying young forever. Well, nothing I can do about that." Giving her chest a last grievous glance, Sophia finally entered the bath.
"Haa~," Submerging herself, she let out a satisfied sigh. "That sure feels nice…" Doing nothing for a while, Sophia simply relaxed in the bath. Looking at the sky and noticing the two moons again, she continued to stare at them. "To think I'm getting used to this view already… Scary!" Sophia was once more surprised by her adaptability. "It sure is beautiful, though." Getting used to it or not, it was still a very splendid sight, and so she continued her observation of the sky for a while.