The Stork and the Giant Crow Tit
The Stork and the Giant Crow Tit
Early in the morning, waking up in time for abeoji's departure for work, I quickly finished getting ready and left the house with abeoji.
Usually, Maria eonni, who was in charge of my security, would have been waiting, but today, abeoji's attendant, Hyuntae ajeossi, had arrived in advance and was waiting in her place.
"What about eonni?"
"We agreed to meet at the guild."
"Is that so?"
Thinking that must be the case, I nodded my head, and after getting into the rear seat of the vehicle with abeoji, the car smoothly pulled away and headed toward the Changgung Guild.
Since the distance between home and the guild was not that far, it didn't take long before we arrived at the guild, where two familiar faces were waiting at the guild entrance.
Getting out of the car, I immediately ran over and hugged the woman standing in front of the main gate.
"Sia-ya!"
"Sua imo!"
Sua imo. She is the Guild Leader of the Changgung Guild to which abeoji belongs, and though not as much as Maria eonni, she is a close imo whom I have met often since I was young.
Jumping into the arms of Sua imo, who was quite tall for a woman—almost similar to eommoni—there was a soft tactile sensation along with a nice scent.
Eoh.
"Our Sia. Still a little child, aren't you."
"I'm not a child. I'm all grown up."
"I can't hug an all-grown-up adult, though?"
"Then I'll just be a child."
This soft and squishy feeling. I can never give this up.
After rubbing my head against Sua imo's chest for a good while before separating, I raised my head and asked her.
"Imo, weren't you busy?"
"When I heard our Sia was coming today, I finished all my backlogged work by yesterday."
Not long ago, when I visited the Changgung Guild for the remaining tests, she was busy with external matters so we couldn't meet, but to think she handled her work in advance just to meet me.
I'm touched.
"Then do you have no work today?"
"Of course. Our Sia is training for the first time. Shouldn't I be the one to set up the basics for you?"
"Wow."
Not anyone else, but Sua eonni, the Guild Leader of one of the top 5 guilds, is going to oversee my training?
I felt excited yet fearful at the same time.
What was I afraid of?
My own talent.
"Shall we go then?"
"Are we starting right now?"
"Of course. Why, do you dislike training one-on-one with imo?"
"No, I love it!"
"Then let's go!"
Holding the hand Sua imo reached out, I walked into the guild interior.
For some reason, feeling as if a chilly gaze was flying at me from the side, I turned my head to see Maria eonni looking this way with a nonchalant expression.
"Ah, bye to Maria eonni too!"
"Yeah, Sia-ya. Have fun with your training, and I'll come visit you at lunchtime later."
"Yup! See you later!"
Waving my hand at Maria eonni, I entered the inside of the guild with Sua imo.
For some reason, Sua imo glanced behind us and let out a chuckle, but it probably wasn't anything important.
Holding hands with Sua imo, the place we arrived at was the training ground located in the guild's basement.
Moreover, since it was an executive-only training ground, it was a good place to train just the two of us without interference from others.
As we stepped inside the training ground, unlike outside, a mana density several times higher was detected.
"Sia-ya, how is it?"
"What do you mean?"
"The mana, I mean, the mana. Are you okay?"
"I feel completely fine, though."
I felt sorry toward Sua imo who asked as if expecting something, but I really felt completely fine.
I could tell that the mana density was several times higher than outside, but other than that, I couldn't find any difference.
"Huuung, is that so?"
"??"
Contrary to my concern about ruining her expectations, Sua imo looked at me with even more interested eyes at my response.
"Then what about this?"
Kung—!
As soon as Sua imo finished speaking, the mana released from her filled the training ground.
Even earlier I had thought the density was high, but once Sua imo began releasing her mana in earnest, mana filled the training ground to a degree that was on an entirely different dimension.
In particular, rather than unrefined mana in a natural state, Sua imo's mana possessed a clear will.
Immensely heavy.
My body grew heavy as if someone had placed a boulder on my shoulders.
Was this how Atlas in mythology felt, supporting the sky?
At the weight that felt as if it would make me fall to my knees at any moment, I rebelled by releasing mana throughout my whole body.
The mana spreading throughout my entire body pushed back the mana oppressing me, albeit a little, and supported my body.
"Huuu... haaa."
"My... isn't this impressive? Our Sia."
"U-Until when..."
"Huuung... who knows? Should we try doing this all day long?"
Sua imo, who spoke while giggling with a mischievous face, was probably joking, but my face turned pale upon hearing her answer.
All day long? I feel like I'm going to collapse right now, though?
It can't be helped. In times like this, let me use that.
"E-Eonni... Sia is tired..."
"Pfft! Ahahahah! Alright, alright. It was only a simple test anyway. Shall we stop here?"
As soon as eonni, who laughed for a good while, finished speaking, the mana that was pressing down on me vanished in an instant as if washed away.
And Sua imo, who sat on the floor and patted the floor with her palm tap-tap as if telling me to sit in front of her, spoke.
"Now then, let's start the full-scale training."
Somehow, a strong premonition that this was going to be extremely tough welled up inside me.
**
Kang Sua looked at Han Sia, who was sitting in front of her, with extremely curious eyes.
She had also received a report through her subordinates the previous day.
That according to the examination results of Sia's physical traits, mana, and potential, values high enough to be evaluated as literally 'all-time record-breaking' came out in every field except for physical traits.
Intrigued by those words, Kang Sua, despite her busy schedule, cleared all her work in advance and pushed past the other executives to claim the role of training Sia first.
And so, today was their first meeting since her awakening.
From the moment Sia first got out of the car, Kang Sua showed intense interest in her.
Kang Sua, whose mana capacity was so vast that she would be second to none even among the top 5 Guild Leaders.
Having so much mana, she was someone who had poured a vast amount of time into mana manipulation, and for that reason, she was able to detect Han Sia's mana even more precisely.
As if proving that the people who conducted the examination didn't evaluate it as all-time record-breaking for nothing, the mana possessed by Han Sia was excessively vast and excessively pure to belong to a hunter who had just awakened.
Of course, there was nothing bad about having vast and pure mana, but that was strictly the case for a fully developed hunter.
For a hunter who had just awakened to have a vast amount of mana only meant that hardship would follow when learning how to manipulate mana.
This was also something Kang Sua could guarantee because she had experienced it firsthand.
'In a way, maybe taking charge of her first training session is fate.'
And because of that, she could teach her in even greater detail.
Kang Sua took hold of the left hand of Han Sia, who was sitting demurely in front of her.
"The training we'll do today is basic mana manipulation. Sia, since you have a lot of mana, let's practice slowly reducing the amount of mana you control at one time first."
Then, raising her other hand that was not holding Han Sia's hand, she coated her finger thinly with mana to demonstrate.
"You see the mana above my finger, right? First, you need to be able to do at least this much so it's easier to move on to the next steps. Let's aim for this today."
Nodding her head boldly at Kang Sua's words, Han Sia raised one hand just like her and focused mana onto her finger.
Woong—
Han Sia's mana moved toward her finger, but because the amount was so large, compared to what Kang Sua had done, the mana enveloped her entire hand rather than just her finger.
Seeing that shape, Han Sia slightly scowled.
'Fufu, cute.'
Kang Sua hadn't expected her to succeed on her first attempt either.
It wasn't for nothing that she set today's goal as coating a finger with mana.
Kang Sua looked endearingly at Han Sia, who was grimacing and groaning, seemingly dissatisfied that her mana wasn't being controlled at will.
Meanwhile, Han Sia, having completely dispersed the mana over her hand, gathered mana on her finger once more.
'Huh?'
Unlike a moment ago, this time mana was focused only on the finger area rather than the entire hand, and the amount was also reduced by about half compared to before.
However, as if still dissatisfied with this, Han Sia dispersed the mana again and tried once more.
'Mm?'
In the third challenge that followed, although the amount was a bit large, Han Sia succeeded in coating mana precisely over only the targeted finger.
The eyes of Kang Sua, who was watching that sight, were filled with disbelief as if unable to trust what she was seeing.
And then came the fourth attempt without a break.
Han Sia, dispersing her mana once more, wrapped mana around her finger.
As she did, although maintaining a steady amount consistently like Kang Sua had done was still difficult, causing the mana above her finger to waver, only an amount of mana similar to what Kang Sua had demonstrated gathered over her finger.
"Wow! I did it!"
"U-Uh... yeah. Right, y-you succeeded."
Even as she answered reflexively, she couldn't believe it at all.
The act of thinly coating mana over a finger.
How long had she practiced just to do that single thing?
What she, someone who could easily be called a genius, had barely managed to achieve similarly after cutting back on sleep and working hard for three days was coating mana over a finger.
Yet Han Sia, who had even more mana than herself back when she had just awakened, succeeded in just four attempts?
This wasn't something that could be judged merely within the realm of talent.
A realm of transcendent power beyond talent.
"You said this was the basics, right? Still, maybe because it's the basics, it wasn't very hard. After trying a few times, I felt like I got the hang of it? Now please teach me the next step!"
Looking at Han Sia, who was urging her with an innocent, clueless face to hurry and move on to the next step, Kang Sua felt fear toward a human being for the first time in her life.