"I never knew a place like this existed, and i've been exploring the forest for a decade–" Syla's father was stunned by the view. "How did you find this place?"
"Hm mm, I used mana detection magic to see where the mana was gathered nearby, you see– mana is like an invisible string of weightless energy that will move to every force, including wind!—
"This place became a wind gathering spot due to how enclosed it is like a cage, the trees were acting as a wall, and so the wind blows from above to here and then goes back up when they reached the other side, leaving a lot of mana residue–
"That's also why you'll see a lot of slimes here, they love to gather in a place with a lot of mana." Hensen explained to Syla and her parents.
Syla was utterly shocked when he hears Hensen explanation, not only did she acquired new knowledge about magic, but also how mana works and the fact that slimes prefer places with high mana density.
"So cool!" She said unconciously.
Hensen looked at Syla and smiled, he finally saw the childlike face from her again. When he talks about magics and new stuff to her, Syla's face noticeably lit up in curiosity, proving to him that in the end, She's still a child.
"Alright, let's not waste anymore time, and start the magic lesson." Hensen said as he walked towards the near center of the field.
"Okay!" Syla replied happily, she followed Hensen while skipping, her parents also began to move to catch up to her.
When Syla arrived at Hensen's side, she saw a small slime near her legs, it looked just like how she expected them to be, a clear blue color like the ocean, a slimy texture and almost round body, all of that made Syla wanting to touch the slime.
"So cute!! Can i touch the slimes?" She asked Mr. Hensen for the approval.
"You can, but don't put your hands inside their body, it can cause pain." Hensen replied while observing the surroundings for any missed danger.
'Seems like there's no rogue goblin or anything dangerous.' He thought, letting out a sigh and looked over to see Syla playing with the slime on her hand.
She picked the slime up and positioned it against the sun, the light was blocked and scattered to every direction, just like a mirror.
"That's so cool!!" She said out of joy.
'A real slime! I can't believe it! they felt exactly like how i imagined them to be! This is my new world! I knew it! i want to explore this world further!!' Syla screamed her desire in her mind, she wasn't satisfied with just holding a slime.
"This is your first time seeing a slime right? How is it?" Her dad asked, followed by her mom.
"You need to be careful, even though it looks harmless, it can still be dangerous!"
"But it's so cool!" Syla replied with a big smile, that smile alone erased all of her parents worries.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hensen suddenly called Syla and told her to focus.
"Your lesson is about to start, come on." He said, his tone became serious for once.
Syla noticed the change in tone and knew that it's time for her to feel what real magic is.
"Yes." She said before putting the slime down.
Hensen then instructed Syla to stand a few meters away from him.
"Hold this stick and stand there." He said while pointing to a spot infront of him.
At first, Syla was confused with what Mr. Hensen was planning, but since she doesn't know much yet, she can only assume that it has something to do with her magic training.
Syla nodded and began walking to the spot that Mr. Hensen was pointing at, she stood there while keeping an eye at Mr. Hensen to see what he'll do next.
"Watch this closely." Mr. Hensen said, his hands moved in a strange pattern, as if he was summoning a spell, after a few seconds, yellow sparks appeared out of nowhere and it grew bigger in an exponential rate until it became a ball of fire.
"IS THAT– FIREBALL!?" Syla shouted in awe, she couldn't believe her eyes, it was real magic, Mr. Hensen summoned the fireball out of nothing.
"Hm? Ohh! Im surprised you know, do you know what it does too?" He asked Syla, not expecting her to answer.
"YE—" Syla was about to answer when she abruptly stopped. "NO! I DON'T KNOW!"
'If i answered that question, my parents will be extremely suspicious of me, i never saw fireball, how come i know what it does? I never read a book about magic, so even knowing that it was a fireball spell is already doing it a bit too much.' She thought to herself, sighing in relief for almost saying something completely impossible.
"Then, let me show you!" Hensen said, he turned towards Syla's parents, and they gave a slight nod.
Both of her parents were visibly nervous, they seems to be worried about something, that's when the unexpected happened.
Wooshh!!
The fireball on Hensen's hand was launched, and not just in any direction, but it was heading straight towards Syla.
"Huh?" Syla said as she saw the burning fireball flying towards her face.
'Im gonna die..' She unconciously uttered that word deep in her heart.
BOOM!
The fireball exploded mid-air, its trajectory was off by a mere strand of hair between Syla's head, it flew past her and created a loud explosion. None of the plants and flower was burned as the explosion happened way too high for it to catch on fire.
When the fireball exploded, Syla was left with cold sweat, her legs trembled, and her heart raced for the first time ever since she was reborn, this was the first time she experienced a life threatening situation.
"W- w- w- WHAT WAS THAT!?" Syla screamed at the top of her lungs, "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?"
"Calm down." Hensen said while summoning another fireball. "This is the magic lesson, try to dodge it this time."
"HUH!?" Syla didn't get enough time for a time out as another fireball flew towards her direction again, the trajectory wasn't off by a few strand of hair now, but rather it was exactly heading into her head. Syla panicked and instinctively dodged to the left, she barely avoided the fireball before it exploded again mid-air
BOOM!
"Ohh! You pass!" Hensen said, yet again he was summoning another fireball. "Keep doing that, and ocassionally use your stick to parry the fireball!"
"P- PARRY!?" Syla shouted.
'What is this!? Am i being executed!? Is this really the way to learn magic!? What am i supposed to do!? Is there anything that could possibly be gained from doing this!? Is it dodging? Absorbing the spell? Reaction test? I need to assume that this is really is the way to learn magic–
'Then how can i learn magic by doing this? What do i need to do in this situation?— Absorbing mana? Using my mana? Unlocking my mana circuit? Is it triggered by a life or death situation? I need to be as close as possible to danger?–'
Wooshh!
Another fireball was heading at Syla's direction, she glanced at her parents and saw them cheering for her, they seems to be ready at any moment to catch her in case she was injured.
'Come on Syla.. Show us that you're capable of this.' Hargal cheered for Syla, hoping for the best.
'When i first saw you obssessed with books, i knew that you have something special, if magic is what you chose, then let me carve that path for you as a father.'
.
.
A few minutes passed by, and Syla was visibly sweating, she managed to dodge every fireball that was thrown at her, it was an unexpected outcomes, not even Hensen was expecting it, he thought that atleast one or two would hit, but it didn't.
'Even though i casted that fireball with as little power as possible, it should still have the same speed as a normal fireball, and the explosion would cause her a slight burn, though i prepared a healing potion for it.. However, she dodged all of it and even began to held her stick in a stance.' Hensen thought to himself, Syla proved to him that she was worth the time, and that she is ready to actually learn magic.
Hensen then let his arms fall down, he stopped his barrage of spells and called Syla out.
"It's time for a break! Come here!" He shouted.
"Huff.. huff.. Okay!" Syla replied with heavy breath.
She walked closer to Hensen and her parents before sitting down beside them to regain her energy.
While she was sitting on the grass, Hensen suddenly touched her back with both of his hands and began to transfer some of his mana to Syla, the sensation was similar to how a cold wind grazed against her bare skin, she could feel the mana flowing, yet unable to use it.
"Huff.. huff.. Is this how people acquire the ability to use magic?" Syla asked.
"Haha, as expected of my daughter, you never disappoint me." Her dad crouched and extended his fist, trying to cheer Syla up with a big smile all while the morning bird sings in the distance.