EP.16 Adaptation Training -1

With the lake issue resolved, the Taotie problem settled, and the conflicts with my companions neatly cleared up.

I had assumed my happy vacation in the hot spring village could finally begin.

But...

"Yuu! Thas not it!!"

"Huh? It's different?"

"Not that, like this! Like this!! Ya gotta do it!!"

"It's hard for me when you explain it like that..."

Right now, I was being put through training by my companions and couldn't relax at all.

The abilities I had newly obtained were unfamiliar to me, while half the bodily senses I had relied on until now had vanished.

In other words, although my potential had now far surpassed any human's, right at this moment I was weaker than my former self.

That was only natural, since I had essentially sold off half my senses while still unable to properly use the abilities.

Anyway, Yata had advised me to train these abilities with my companions in order to compensate for those weaknesses in advance.

That was why the bizarre scene of me currently being scolded by Tia was unfolding.

"So ya wobble the air like this! Wobble-wobble an' it's wind!! Twirly-twirl an' it's a tornado!! Spin it roun' hard an' it's a gust!!"

"Ugh, okay. Let me try one more time."

First, I used the ability received from Qilin to create a link with Tia.

A slender thread, visible only to me, formed between Tia and me, then slowly vanished.

Though the slender thread had disappeared, the Power of Bonds seemed to have been properly applied, as a new scene began to unfold before my eyes.

Threads of a completely different form from the ones I had just seen.

If the thread created by my ability had been like a chain, the threads now visible resembled the strings of a gayageum.

And Tia had explained to me that these slender threads were the flow of the air.

The world I was looking at now was the world Tia had been seeing all along.

"So, you said that if I pull these threads tight, the wind stops."

"Yeah!"

While Tia could easily touch these threads, I couldn't touch them directly, only confirm them with my eyes.

Even so, that didn't mean I couldn't affect them at all.

If I thought about manipulating ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a thread a certain way in my head, the air thread obeyed accordingly.

In other words, if I pictured the image of pulling the threads taut, the threads would become taut as envisioned.

Once the threads went taut like that, every breeze that had been wavering in the surroundings would come to a complete halt.

"And after this, if I lightly pluck the tightened threads so they tremble..."

As I pictured plucking the taut threads in my head, a refreshing breeze arose, enough to make my hair flutter.

This form where the threads were trembling slightly was the gentle breeze.

I quickly grasped up to this process. However, the problem began from here on.

"Yuu! Now tornado! Let's make a tornado!!"

"Uuu...!!"

A tornado could only be made by twirling the threads just like twirling spaghetti noodles.

But this was unexpectedly a high-difficulty task that required controlling the force of thought.

If the intensity of my thinking force was too weak, the threads wouldn't budge at all, and if too strong, the threads would simply snap.

It was fine when they didn't budge at all.

The problem was when I applied too much force and the thread snapped—a powerful gust of wind would slam into my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body and hurl me far away.

Having actually been sent flying and slammed into a tree once that way, I had come to realize it was extremely difficult.

"Yuu!! If ya put in strength that weak, tornado won't get made!!"

"I-I know that, but..."

Yesterday and today, having learned the pain of being slammed into a tree, I had become quite afraid to put in strength.

Compared to Taotie's fists, the wind was at least bearable, but still, pain was still pain.

"Yuu! Hurry up quick!!"

"Alright..."

Why did the baby dragon who was normally nothing but adorable turn into a Spartan instructor the moment she taught?

It wasn't that I couldn't understand.

She must have been excited that I was using the same ability as her and seeing the same world.

There was nothing quite as pleasant as someone you liked becoming more like you.

However, the Tia who innately knew how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to handle the air and I were different.

My ability was acquired after the fact, and on top of that, I was only borrowing a part of Tia's ability.

So expecting me to be good at it already was too harsh.

"Ooh!! I finally succeeded!!"

The thread, coiled into a neat spiral resting atop my palm.

Now all I had to do was release the strength I had been holding tight, and a tornado would burst forth.

How many times had I struggled just for this one thing...

Anyway, at the fact that I had at last pulled it off, my shoulders rose and fell of their own accord.

"Yuu! Ya did good! Ya did good!!"

"Haha..."

Before I knew it, Tia had climbed onto my back and began petting my head.

It was a strange feeling, becoming the one receiving a position she had always been the one giving.

"Then let's make an even bigger wind now!!"

"Ah, that's a little..."

"Let's make it!!"

"Uuu...!! Couldn't you let me off the hook now?"

"Hehe, no way!!"

Tia's Spartan-style training went on.

***

"Do you understand...?"

"Yes, it was easy to understand!"

"That's a relief...!"

Second period was time with Kor.

Kor's ability was fire and death—it looked simple yet was unexpectedly profound.

Unlike with Tia, there was nothing at all visible ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to the eye, so it demanded even more imagination.

So I first received education from Kor on the theory and process of ignition.

After that, I drew the image in my head based on what I had learned.

Just hearing about this educational curriculum might sound like my head was about to crack open, but in reality it wasn't so.

That was because Kor's teaching was kind and simplified so it was easy to understand.

"You're doing well...! Just think of turning up the flame on a gas stove just a little more, like that, and you'll be fine...!"

"Ooh!!"

Not only in theory but in practical application, Kor guided me excellently.

Thanks to her kind teaching, I soon succeeded in producing a flame as big as my own face.

But Kor's teaching did not end there.

She had me be able to freely control the size of the flame, and also taught me so I could adjust the temperature at will.

Not only that, she briskly taught me advanced processes like broadly dispersing the fire and the spontaneous ignition of a specific point.

If Tia holding the teaching rod had been a strict drill instructor, Kor was the complete ideal teacher.

"Kor, you seem to have a talent for teaching."

"Do I...?"

"Yes, you're so good you could be a teacher right away."

"A teacher..."

I felt a slight doubt at the sight of Kor looking a bit downcast even though I had complimented her.

Had Kor had an unpleasant memory about teachers, and had I poked at it?

That worry crept up from inside my heart, and the thought that I should apologize quickly occurred to me.

"I guess you don't like teachers, I'm sorry!"

"Ah! No...! It's not particularly that..."

"Then what?"

"I-I just thought that, more than a teacher, wouldn't a mom who teaches her child well be nicer...?"

Looking at Kor, who blushed slightly and casually revealed her true feelings, I simply nodded silently.

Aaah, Kor really was sacred after all. How could such a beautiful wolf have been born into this world?

In my heart I wanted to make Kor a mother immediately, but it was lamentable that our circumstances were not yet favorable enough for that.

But still, if we someday find a peaceful daily life, then at that time...

Before anything else, I'd have to make our fox a mother first, or my life would be in danger, wouldn't it...?

"Seon-ju, a wild wolf has appeared..."

"Wolf?"

When I looked where Kor's finger was pointing, two wolves emerged from the underbrush, snarling.

The two wolves, drooling as they eyed me, seemed to be in such a famished state that they paid no attention at all to the Divine Beast next to me.

This place was a certain field in the Eastern Great Wilds. It was a place where it wouldn't be strange for hungry wolves to show up at any time.

"What should we do? Shall I handle it...?"

"No, I think it'd be good to try out the abilities I've learned this time. I especially want to see the efficacy of the death ability for certain."

"Understood, then I won't interfere separately..."

As I had been taught by her, I created a fireball in the air. And into it, I imagined a wolf dying and imbued it with the concept of death.

A heart attack as the cause of death would be sufficient.

I shot the flame completed like that toward one of the wolves.

At this, the wolf leaped this way and that trying to dodge the fireball, but dodging a fireball that moved according to my thoughts was close to impossible.

In the end, the wolf came into contact with the flame, and was soon engulfed in fire.

But it wouldn't have been hot. Because the death placed into the flame was instantaneous death, not death by burning.

Sure enough, the wolf did not seem to be in pain even while ablaze.

However, the wolf's body began to tremble, and soon it collapsed to the side with a thud.

Its body must have been reacting as if a heart attack had struck it.

"As expected, it doesn't die..."

"Since I'm only borrowing a part of the ability, it seems I can't bestow complete death."

Bewilderment hung in the eyes of the fallen wolf; it seemed panicked that its own body wouldn't move.

It meant the wolf's consciousness was fully alive.

The limitation of the ability, ending at little more than postmortem convulsions.

Regrettably, unless it was for subduing, the death-handling ability didn't seem to have much use.

"Seon-ju!! Be careful...!!"

"Huh? Whoa?!"

The other wolf suddenly lunged at me.

I had been so focused on the experiment that I had forgotten there was one more.

Thanks to swiftly blocking with my left arm, I was able to avoid a fatal wound.

The wolf, having bitten into my left arm which had already lost all sensation, chewed and gnawed this way and that, trying to tear the arm off.

Blood began to stream from the hole thus created, but not a single bit of pain came to me.

"Kor, look at this! It's biting me like this, but it doesn't hurt at a..."

The moment I was about to show Kor, my excitement unconsciously rising at the novel experience.

"Yipe?!"

-Crunch!!

Before that, Kor, who had dashed near me, grabbed the throat of the wolf that had been biting my arm.

And then she squeezed the neck so tightly that the sound of crushing bones rang out, and the wolf's teeth, which had been clamped down, were forced apart.

"Kyauung! Kkiuung!!"

Kor's hair was blazing crimson.

Her silence spoke for exactly what her feelings were right now.

On the other hand, the wolf caught by that Kor ceaselessly produced sounds of pitiful wailing, in agony.

And at last...

-Snap!!

The wolf that had bitten me met its end in Kor's grip.

The teacher who taught me directly what true death meant, and that teacher's terrifying other side.

...I decided not to mess around, and to stay still.