Chapter 65: 2-Chapter 27: Sara's New Training
The Afternoon sun shone down on the airship as it sailed through the sky. Down below, in the belly of the ship, Lucilla sat in the room assigned to her with Morella next to her, while Sara stayed with Cristina on the top side of the ship, doing who knows what. With how hectic things have been Lucilla hadn't had a chance to really spend time with Morella lately. So, she was glad to have this opportunity to be alone with her.
"Are you sure you're alright, you've seemed stressed lately." Or she would've been, but Morella has been fussing over her the moment they found themselves alone.
"I'm fine Ella. It's not really anything to worry about, it'll sort itself out." Lucilla said exasperated. Her main worry right now for some reason was her mixed feelings regarding Sara. Talking with Anastasia helped distract her from it, but it was once again the main thing on her mind. "Honestly it's not even a problem, just something stupid."
"Lucy, you've been moping, if you don't speak to someone, you'll never get anywhere with whatever is bothering you." Morella said. "It doesn't have to be me. Maisy, Judieth, or even Cristina cou-"
"Definitely not her." Lucilla rejected Cristina almost immediately. There was no way she would give that Vampire some kind of weapon to use against her.
"Okay, so not Cristina, but if you don't tell someone what's bothering you, things could end badly." Pulling Lucilla into an embrace, Morella continued. "If you're distracted in battle there's a good chance you could make a mistake and get hurt... or worse."
"...."
"Just think about it okay. It doesn't have to be me you talk with, just someone."
Lucilla sighed and gave Morella a small nod. "I'll think about it."
If she were to tell anyone her problems, it would be Morella. She trusted Yuki and Morella equally, but if she were being honest, Morella was the better choice to go to when it came to talking about your problems. Yuki just wasn't emotionally mature enough to give any real feedback or help. Though she was still very much reliable in her own way.
Lucilla just needed to sort things out in her own head a little before talking to anyone. The reason she was so stressed was mostly from the shock of hearing she had, at some point, subconsciously thinking of Sara as a daughter. Well, that's what Nielia was implying anyway. All she knew was that she was instinctively marking Sara the same way a mother monster would their child.
That clashed with her own perception of how she thought of her a Sara's relationship. She was only thinking of her as a student she would feel a slight regret for if she heard they died. Plus, Lucilla didn't think she was a very motherly person in general. While those close to her knew she wasn't actually a cold person most of the time, she understood she came across that way to strangers.
She also had to worry about what how Sara herself felt, since she still held a grudge against her for the little mind magic, she had Cristina do on her. She did end up asking Cristina about it again on this trip, apparently the spell would only last a month, so it's worn off by now. So, if she wanted to, Sara could now expose who she was and what she saw.
Lucilla also felt like Nielia was messing with her when she revealed that information, so she also wasn't sure if what she said was even completely true. Her weird protectiveness of Sara did give creditability to the prospect unfortunately. It was more likely there was more to the story than what she was told.
"That's the best I can get out of you I assume." Morella said with a small smile. "Well, that's fine dear, let's change the subject then."
The two of them talked for the next few hours, discussing whatever came to mind, and what they should bring Yuki as a souvenir when they saw her again.
-- -- --
A few hours before sunset, the air ship landed a few kilometers away from the border. The flying ship would be seen approaching the border if they continued on their course, the plan was to instead wait for night fall and fly there then. In the meantime, there was nothing else to do other than wait.
Lucilla was with Sara standing outside of the ship. Facing each other the young girl sat on the ground in a meditative pose, while Lucilla stood in front of her arms cross. Currently the two of them were trying to figure out what type of affinities Sara had. It was a very long and tiresome process.
"Feel the Mana in your body, feel how it courses through you and the intangible core that connects it all." Lucilla spoke. "Circulate the Mana through your body, but don't turn it into Chi, follow the circulation and how it naturally travels through you Mana-links."
Sweat could be seen on Sara as she attempted to concentrate. "Uhg! Haa, haa, I can't do it." Sara eventually said panting. She laid back on the ground as she stared at the sky in frustration.
"The books say this is how most people learn to identify their affinities." Lucilla started looking at the fatigue girl. "The books also said it takes a while. There are other ways to learn of course."
"What are the other ways?" Asked Sara perking up.
"You could learn some Arcane tricks, which allows you to dabble in all affinities. You don't even need to chant." Lucilla explained.
Arcane tricks were the lowest tier of magic that could be learn, even non mages could learn them. One could, for example, create a fire the same size and strength as a candle, even if they didn't have an affinity for fire. These spells were weak enough to learn that even without an affinity for the element, you could still cast it.
"Another way is to discover it in a fight." She continued. "Sometimes when in a fight a person will unconsciously imbue their Chi with an element. If they're able to they can learn how to reproduce the effect."
"How did you learn it teacher?" Sara asked with a tilt of her head.
"... You don't want to know how I learned. It might be the most effective way to learn your affinity, but I don't think you should learn that way. Ever." The Crimsoned eyed woman stated firmly.
One of the best ways to learn your affinity was to experience the element itself. Being drowned, frozen, and drinking enough water till you throw up just to learn if you have affinity with water. If you do, great, you'll have learned that fact by the end of the day, or the next if you are unlucky. If you didn't have an affinity, you just put yourself through torture for no real reason.
For Lucilla, when she learned her affinity for Dark magic, she was put into a completely soundproof room with the lights off for an entire day. The room was pitch black to that no matter how long she willed it, her vision never saw anything but the inky darkness, not even a silhouette could be seen. She could hear virtually nothing, so much so that the sounds coming from her own body seemed deafening. The beating of her heart, the blood rushing through her and past her ears, the sound of her own breathing. Everything was amplified since it was the only thing she could hear clearly. She nearly went insane. The combination of Darkness and silences was mentally draining for such a young girl.
Learning what her other two affinities were, water and wind, wasn't any better. Thankfully The Dark, Water, and Wind test all happen right after the other. Since the understanding of the world was people can only have three affinities, they didn't try any of the other test after Lucilla discovered her third one. Though she couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if they had put her in the industrial size oven like they had originally planned. Maybe she could've had fire magic from the very biggening.
'Wait, if I can learn Fire can I learn any others?' She thought. It was already unprecedented that she had four Affinities, perhaps she could have more. The only other person that is capable of having more than three Affinities is the Hero.
Turning her attention back to Sara Lucilla relayed her experience to the girl. "Honestly don't expect to learn anything so soon, from what I read it will take about a month at the very least if you're starting from scratch. Sometimes a year if you're unlucky."
"So, there's no way to speed it up?" Sara sighed.
"I'm not saying that. We just don't have the resources to set anything up right now." Lucilla said. "The best thing to do would probably be focusing on trying to learn one element. You can do that by surrounding yourself with candles to learn fire or sit in a tub full of water for water, or sit in a cave for earth, so on and so forth."
"So just a less intense version of what you went through."
"Basically yes. Of course, there's still the risk of wasting your time trying to learn an element you aren't compatible with, but at least you won't suffer."
"... How would I learn the wind element that way?" Sara wondered out loud.
"Being high in the mountain tops or have an Air mage help out by blasting you with strong winds. Not like powerful wind tunnel, more like a very windy day where you have to squint and push against the wind slightly to move forward."
Lucilla thought back to the wind tunnel she was put in. The pressure of the air blowing against her was so great she was pushed against the wall unable to move an inch. The deafening sound of the wind was the only thing she could hear as she struggled to even breath. Her body was compressed as she felt her bones slowly break under the pressure. She grimaced at the memory. She read that people in the past had searched for tornadoes or other natural disasters, for the same effect the wind tunnel had for her. Lucilla couldn't help but find those people crazy.
"So, what element should I focus on?" Sara asked bringing Lucilla back from her stupor.
"Despite how rare Dark magic supposedly is, I think you might have an affinity for it, considering how weak your natural presence is." Lucilla answered. Dark and Light magic was apparently rare, but Lucilla knew a surprising amount of dark magic users. So, either those studies were wrong, or she was incredibly lucky.
"Another Dark user?" A voice said from behind her. "I know you aren't like evil Lucilla, but don't most story book villains and their subordinates embody darkness?"
Turning around Lucilla gave the red-haired Doctor a look, her scowl deepening as she rolled her eyes. Judieth just smiled with amusement as she pushed her glasses up. Judieth has known Lucilla long enough to know that despite looking annoyed, she was actually just feeling exasperated more than anything.
"What do you need Judieth?" The silver haired woman asked.
"Nothing, just seeing what you're up too." Judieth answered. "You should probably be training yourself don't you think? At your current strength I highly doubt you can face the Hero, even if that forest gives you a small boost."
"True... I wonder how Nielia even knows the Hero will even show up?" Wondered Lucilla.
"Probably got a small hint of the future from The Goddess of time if her small slip up from before was anything to go by. She probably doesn't know all the details, but most likely the Hero is there for you and not because he wants to help Drakove." The Red-haired woman explained.
"Doesn't that mean if we don't show up the Hero wont?" Sara pointed out.
"That's true, but that won't stop your father and brother." Judieth countered.
"That's... true." She conceded.
"To be more specific the Hero won't show if I don't make an appearance." Started Lucilla. "I'm not leaving Sara by herself though, so I'll be there if Sara is."
"So, in short, our plans haven't change?" Judieth concluded.
Lucilla shrugged and turned her attention back to Sara. Sniffing the air Lucilla tried locating Sara's scent; the scent of her Mana that is. While she still had to focus a little more than usual when it came to Sara, Lucilla was able to tell Sara's mana was flowing better than it was before. A small smile, that looked more like an arrogant smirk, formed.
The true purpose of today's training was to get Sara familiar with Her Mana. Sure, she knew how to form Chi, but everyone does that unconsciously and can pick it up relatively easy with only a day of practice. That also meant most people didn't have any real discipline when it came to circulating their Mana since they were, more often than not, self-taught and only used their Chi to help with physical labor.
Having Sara become more familiar with her Mana would help her discover her own affinity. Of course, Lucilla also hoped that while familiarizing herself with the Mana and concentrating on finder her affinity at the same time would help her discover what element she was compatible with much faster. It was only the first day, so the Silver haired woman didn't hold out any hope. She was pleasantly surprised to discover Sara's natural gift of moving her Mana. It was flowing much better than expected after her little exercise.
"Okay Sara, we can leave it here for the day." Lucilla told the girl then she turned to Judieth. "You wanted me to train right? What did you have in mind?"
Satisfied with Sara's progress on just the first day, Lucilla decided to take up Judieth's suggestion of training herself.
"Nothing much, just a simple sparing match." Judieth answered with a shrug.
Raising an eyebrow in question Lucilla looked Judieth up and down. She wasn't sure if the older woman in front of her could even put up a decent fight in hand-to-hand combat.
"I know what you're thinking. Just so you know, even without controlling Sable's body, I'm fully capable of fighting up close." The Doctor said feeling miffed. "Anyway, you won't be fighting me, I asked one of the crew to spar with you. Some of them are decently skilled."
"Mmm, okay." The monster woman gave a nod of approval as she and Judieth walked back to the ship, Sara trailing behind them.
For the next few hours Lucilla spent her time training until the sun set. Soon they would make their move.