: A Month Later, Back With Aquarina 𝗳𝐫𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝗯𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

It has almost been a month since the classes with my parents began. Every day I either had a class with my mother or a class with my father. The classes with my mother included a lot of lessons from her. Most of them were explanations regarding the secrets of magic, spells, and other magic-related stuff, while the other half was purely spell practice. On the other hand, when I’m learning under my father, it was split between Fire Magic and swordsmanship.

After almost a month of both, I naturally learned a lot. Then again, because these classes were basically never-ending, even when I was sleepy and tired, I would still be forced to do these classes and do my best. Well, my parents had high hopes for my strength to reach greater heights under the right tutelage, so I couldn’t possibly disappoint them.

With my mother, I had learned a lot of Nature-attribute spells. Yeah, surprisingly, we haven’t moved from that yet. Aside from Soil Enhancement, there was Plant Enhancement, Verdant Light, Life Infusion, and even unique spells such as Metabolism Acceleration. These spells were the basis of Nature-type magic, even though they also included the aspects of Earth and Life Magic, which are the basic components of nature.

Soil Enhancement helped make soil richer, while Plant Enhancement could make plants healthier and grow faster. Verdant Light was a healing spell, while Life Infusion helped a rotting wound suddenly gain “life”. The latter combined really well with healing spells, actually. And then... there’s Metabolism Acceleration. This spell lightly increases the metabolism of my body, enhancing my movement speed and senses in exchange for consuming a greater amount of energy.

Father, on the other hand, didn’t teach me any spells other than the ones he taught me on the first day. Well, he did tell me to make my own spell one day, but I’ll just continue using Ember for now. It’s the easiest method to conjure stronger Fire-attribute spells for me anyways.

He also taught me a few blade techniques throughout the month. Plus, we also have been sparring during the same time. While sparring, I noticed I was gradually getting better and better at the sword, even if I’m just wielding a wooden sword. Hmm... I don’t know for sure, but the sword might become my preferable weapon in the future.

.....

In any case, I continued working hard while also practicing on my own things such as Mana Usage and the like. Aquarina also sent me messages every day through the special artifact, which is pretty nice to listen to from time to time.

Speaking of Aquarina, the storm over Aquarina’s home had finally ceased, so now we were able to go back there safely! Well, I’m sure my parents could actually head there even in a thunderstorm, but not me. It seems they took me into consideration.

Anyways, now that things were done with the winter there, we could actually go back, and that’s what we were going to do now!

FLASH!

At the moment, we were flying on top of mother’s Familiar, the big white owl. To be honest, I missed seeing him. When she summoned him again, he greeted me rather politely. Surprisingly, he seemed to remember me. Now that I think about it, he’s actually incredibly smart, plus he can talk. Can all familiars talk at some point? Anyways, I don’t know what’s his real identity, but I probably shouldn’t ask something about it. From the looks of it, it was quite secretive.

His wings flapped with great strength, already outside of the floating continent of Cloudia within a short time. As we headed down to the continent of Gallatea, there was a beautifully nice breeze that felt incredibly refreshing...

I had gotten used to traveling like this. After all, I was already 4 years old. We’ve been doing this since I was 1 year old, so it makes sense that I would eventually get used to it. Even the high altitude doesn’t affect me that much anymore.

Then again, I still remember that one monster that emerged when we flew outside the first time. That monster inflicted a strange curse in my mind and made me hallucinate a dark future where... well, my parents died.

Thankfully, that thing was just an illusion, so I’m happy that something like this would never happen again. For now, we flew down with the help of the owl. A few hours later, we reached the massive jungles where the Amazon lived, which was as lively and green as ever. It’s like a secret natural haven that other human kingdoms had never been able to conquer.

“We’re finally back. Did you miss your friend, Sylph?” mother asked me.

“Sure did. Aquarina also missed me a lot, it seems,” I replied with a smile.

“I can tell. That little girl was sending you messages every single day, didn’t she? Can’t she let you be by yourself for a bit?” father said, letting out a light sigh.

“Well, we are best friends... Aquarina’s like the sister I never had, so it’s kind of understandable that she misses me,” I told father.

“I guess you’re right. Your bond is strong... that’s good. It’s especially good because you two are Heroes. Whenever you get to meet the other heroes in the future, the bond between you two will be clear, making you more capable of leading the others,” mother told me.

“I-Is that how it works?” I wondered, slightly confused.

“Well, kind of. I don’t know how much but yeah, kind of,” father answered.

“How?” I asked.

“When two heroes have a bond of friendship within the group of Heroes, they call the attention of others thanks to their tacit coordination. You could make use of this with Aquarina, which would allow you to lead the group through your bond in the future. It would allow you to know each other’s weaknesses and strengths, making it easy for you two to fight together. With that said, something like that would make them naturally follow you,” mother explained.

“I-I see... did something like that happen with you back then?” I asked.

“We weren’t anything like you two when we first met, sadly, but we did meet rather early, before the official meeting between Heroes,” father told me.

“I see! It must have been fun, right? I wonder how you two met...” I wondered.

“W-Well, your mother was rather... feisty. To be honest, I didn’t like her back then,” father replied.

“F-Feisty?! Well... you used to be a brutish kid back then...!” mother chided in response.

“Eh?! I... maybe you’re right.” father said in defeat, letting out a sigh.