Chapter 30 : Mid-Morning

“Are you fucking serious!?” snarled Fiona as she held her arms straight down along her sides and balled her hands into fists “I can't believe how far you're taking this stupid bullshit!”

Anton had stayed true to his word when it came to his claims of converting a section of the dungeon into a classroom. Three false-walls had been set up to create a stage-like elementary school room. And these walls had then been crudely decorated to resemble a kindergarten setting, complete with an alphabet running along their top edge and a series of posters depicting various animals, maps and anatomical diagrams strewn randomly across two of the three walls. A large blackboard took up the majority of the far left wall and sitting in front of this was a broad wooden desk.

Glancing up from his place behind the large desk, Anton leaned back in his leather desk chair and grinned as he took in the sight of the two scantily clad dark elves standing together at the top of the dungeons landing.

Both Fiona and Kianna had become quite a spectacle after literally squeezing themselves back into their former school uniforms. The white-cotton dress blouse and short plaid skirt ensembles that they currently wore did little more than accentuate their finer features as they barely managed to cover them in any way. The blouses in particular were clearly struggling to simply remain in place after having been stretched to their limits around the fully developed female bodies that they were never meant to adorn. Wide gaps existed between the barely clasped buttons across the front of the blouses and these open spaces gave a clear, tantalizing glimpse of the bra covered bosoms that were somewhat hidden beneath them.

The dark elves midriffs were fully exposed as the blouses ended just beneath their busts, and this left absolutely nothing but smooth skin between the blouses and the comically short skirts that were fitted tightly around their hips. These skirts fluttered playfully about at the very tops of the dark elves thighs and any bending motion, regardless of direction, would immediately expose the thin panties that they currently wore. Knee high white socks and flat dress shoes completed their skimpy attires.

Kianna had taken her school girl look even further by braiding her hair into twin pigtails that were tied off with ribbons.

Each of the dark elves also carried with her a small satchel that held sets of seemingly pointless empty notebooks and other elementary school level supplies.

“Good morning Miss Vale, and Miss Vale. If you would kindly take your seats please.” said Anton as he indicated the two child-sized school room style desks that were set up in front of his much larger desk “Class will be starting in a just a few moments.”

“I hate you!” hissed Fiona as she pointed her finger right at Anton and glowered down at him from her place at the top of the landing “I hate you so fucking much!”

“Yes Miss Vale, I am aware of that.” smiled Anton as he absently arranged a set of papers on his desk “That, however, will not excuse tardiness. So please take your seat so that we may begin today's lessons.”

With a wide smile on her own face, Kianna snickered as Fiona snarled and began to grind her teeth together.

“Price of power, price of power, price of power!” repeated Fiona as she followed her sister down the stairs and across the main floor of the dungeon to the classroom.

“Thank you ladies.” said Anton as the two dark elves situated themselves at the small desks and sat at attention “Now, welcome to your first day of class! I'll be your teacher for the rest of the semester. My name is Mr. Antonius Faustus North. But you may refer to me as your Master!”

Fiona groaned in frustration and let her face fall into her open palm as Anton rose from his seat and began to write out his name across the large chalkboard. She groaned again and glared at her sister when she noticed that Kianna had taken a notebook and pencil from her satchel and was diligently taking notes.

Kianna smiled to herself as she wrote out Anton's full name, followed it with an equal sign and wrote the word “Master” at the end before underlining everything twice. Once finished, she looked back up at attention and blatantly ignored her scowling sister.

Like the dark elves, Anton had taken the opportunity to dress the part of the role he was currently playing. Clad in an off-white dress shirt, red tie and black slacks. He completed the “Professor” look by donning a tan colored tweed jacket with leather pads on the elbows and lens-less wire-rimmed glasses.

“Okay, now that I've introduced myself... Let's go ahead and take an attendance real quick...” mumbled Anton as he picked up a clipboard from his desk and absently looked over a paper attached to it “Then we can get started...”

“Oh, come on!” grumbled Fiona as she flopped down onto her desk and hid her face against her folded arms “You have got to kidding me!”

“Okay... Let's see here... Kianna Vale?” called Anton as he looked up from the clipboard.

“Present!” cried Kianna.

“Wonderful!” said Anton as he made a mark on the paper “Now then... Fiona Vale?”

“Die! Just die! Please die!” raged Fiona as she left her face hidden “Or just kill me instead! I don't even care anymore...”

“Fiona Vale!?” repeated Anton as he acted as though she hadn't said anything.

“...Argh!” growled Fiona as she lifted her head “Present!”

“Excellent!” said Anton as he made another mark and then set the clipboard back down on the desk “Well. Looks like we have a full attendance today. Wonderful! Just wonderful!”

“This is the stupidest shit ever!” exclaimed Fiona as she laid hunched over her desk and glared up at Anton “Is this really how you're going to teach us how to use magic!? Seriously!? You seriously expect us to take any of this shit seriously!? Look at us! Look at you!”

Anton maintained an expression of calmness as he merely gazed back at her.

“How the Hell do you-!” started Fiona before a blinding light suddenly filled the room.

Both Fiona and Kianna froze in their seats as Anton's aura once again shifted into existence and set his entire being ablaze with a dazzling inferno of living fire.

“Mana.” stated Anton as he stared down at the dark elves “Easily the most versatile form of energy in all of existence. It is the source of power behind all magic. And with it, nearly anything is possible.”

Her eyes wide and unblinking, Fiona rose back up to a sitting position and sat at attention as actual non-aura based flames began to form across Anton's shoulders. These flames began to travel down his arms as he continued to speak.

“It's difficult to say exactly how mana is formed, since no one has ever witnessed it actually coming into existence. As far as we can tell, it's either produced as a form of radiation during the destruction of different types of matter, or is a byproduct of certain kinds of heat transfers. We believe this because we know it's generated by the sun, the spinning core at the center of the planet and within the bodies of all living things.” explained Anton as he raised his arms and held his hands, palms upwards, out in front of himself “Although we don't know how mana is created. We do know quite a bit about how it works once it exists. And, what it can do!”

Their mouths hanging agape in awe, both Fiona and Kianna stared transfixed as the flames traveling down Anton's arms reached his palms and began to rise upwards as they formed into swirling pillars of fire. These flames then continued to spin faster and faster until they became two miniature tornadoes.

“As a form of energy, mana is unique in many ways. In its rawest form it's essentially inert, but stimulate it in any way, and its potential is limitless.” explained Anton as he bobbed his hands upwards and caused the two flaming tornadoes to double in size “It can be influenced by living things through either mental prowess, or through physical triggers. And due to the fact that its own make up is so simple and rudimentary, its base structure can be easily altered to take on the properties of other forms of energy. An example of this would of course... be fire!”

For emphasis, Anton closed his fists and caused the tornadoes to swell until they both burst and exploded into balls of impressive but harmless flames.

“This shift in dynamics goes down to the atomic level. And in this way mana can not only become a synthetic version of other energies, but can also be coaxed into forming a molecular structure and taking on an actual physical form. This is not an easy thing to get it to do, but it can be done. And this is how mana can be used to create things such as water.” explained Anton to the nodding dark elves “With a similar process, mana can also be used to alter the molecular structure of already existing elements and compounds. These changes will again take place at the atomic level, but will normally only last for as long as whatever was changed remains infused with the mana that changed it. And it will revert back to its original state once the mana is spent. There are ways to make these changes permanent, but these processes are usually very complicated. This is how we can turn one thing into another though. Lead into gold, sand into steel, milk into honey and so on and so forth. Amazingly, mana can also alter the molecular structure, and even the DNA, of a living organism. In this way it can be used to heal wounds, destroy living tissue or even allow a living thing to completely change itself by shifting its entire cellular structure from one form to another.”

The dark elves remained silent as they watched Anton's aura fade back into its invisible state. Once his aura was gone completely, he turned around and began to erase his name from the chalkboard.

“These processes and many more are the base elements of what we call, magic.” explained Anton as he wrote out the word in big letters along the top of the chalkboard “Magic, is the collective term we use for any and all processes that utilize mana in any way shape or form. And as such, any person who utilizes mana in any way or for any reason at all, is preforming what we call, an act of magic.”

The dark elves remained silent as they watched Anton continue to feverishly write on the chalkboard.

“The dynamics of magical acts and practices can be broken down into many different categories.” he explained as he stayed focused on what he was writing “Today we're going to focus only on those that pertain directly to dark elves.”

Stepping away from the chalkboard, Anton formed a long, glowing orange pointer in his hand and began to tap on the first words at the top of a list he had wrote down along the side of the chalkboard.

“All living things are capable of influencing mana and most will utilize it in one way or another. The mana that forms within living beings collects in what we call a “mana pool” and this is where the vast majority of any creatures magical power is going to come from.” he explained as he looked from one dark elf to the other and again tapped on the words “mana pool” on the chalkboard “There are some species who can harness the ambient mana from the environment around them, but most will just use the mana from their mana pools as it's easier to utilize and far more potent. The larger the mana pool a creature has, the more powerful they will be. As not only will they have more mana at their disposal but larger concentrations of mana will become more potent, and will thus generate more powerful effects whenever used. This is why certain species will always seem to be naturally more powerful than others.”

Turning to fully face the dark elves, Anton dropped the pointer and let it melt away as he raised both of his hands and held them palms up.

“For an example of this. A dwarf and a sphinx could both preform the exact same spell, and use the exact same amount of mana to create a ball of fire. The fireball created by the sphinx will always be far greater than the dwarf's, simply because of the way the sphinx's mana is concentrated. On top of this, the sphinx will be considered the more powerful of the two since it will not only have the more potent mana but far more of it as well. A dwarf may have enough mana to create an inferno big enough to burn down a house. But a sphinx, in contrast, could incinerate an entire city with the mana it has available to it. Now this example isn't meant to be derogative towards the dwarves, they're far from harmless after all. It's only meant to illustrate that magically speaking, there's just no comparison between some species and others.” said Anton as for emphasis he created a small fireball in one hand and a much larger one in the other “Now in regards to the elves, they're collectively considered an upper tier race when it comes to magical prowess. The high elves in particular are the most powerful of the original 3 species, and that's why they're seen as the ruling class of the elves. These days this distinction is pretty subjective though, as the dark elves are easily on par with them in raw power. And any new attempt by the High Elven Empire to establish itself as a force of ruling power in the world is guaranteed to end with the dark elves reminding them just who the actual ruling class of the elves truly is.”

Smiling wickedly, Fiona snickered as she nodded in agreement.

Shaking out his wrists, Anton dispelled the two fireballs as Kianna raised her hand to signal that she had a question.

“Yes?” said Anton as he pointed to her.

“How powerful are humans though?” she asked “Are they more powerful than elves, dwarves and sphinxes?”

“Yes to dwarves, technically. But no to elves and sphinxes.” answered Anton “Humans are actually at the exact center of the mid tier range when it comes to magical prowess. In fact there are many scholars that will often refer to humans as the “neutral zero” in regards to magical power.”

“...Neutral zero?” questioned Kianna “What does that mean?”

“It's just a term that's applied to humans when they're used as a point of measurement.” explained Anton “On a graph showcasing the basic magical prowess of multiple species, humans will naturally fall at the very center. And other species will often be measured against them using a plus or minus method. Since humans are used as the starting point in these measurements, they're considered 0. Now off the top of my head, I don't remember any of the exact numbers, but I believe that when it came to dwarves, elves and sphinxes it would be something like minus 4 for dwarves. Meaning that it would take 4 dwarves to equal a single human. And it was something like plus 5 for wood elves and rock elves and plus 7 or 8 for high elves and dark elves. Now I'm not at all sure where sphinxes would be on the scale but I would imagine that they would have to be something ridiculous. Probably plus a few dozen humans or more. They are a very powerful species after all.”

“Wait! Wait, hold on a second!” cried Fiona as her smile became devilish “So you're saying that dark elves are actually way stronger than humans!? Like, there wouldn't even be a competition!?”

“...Magically speaking, yes. The average dark elf is quite a bit more powerful than the average human.” said Anton as he gave her a knowing smirk “That's only when you're measuring from the baseline set by the average though. And even with that being the case, you should never forget! There are plenty of ways for someone to improve themselves. And not everyone is going to be average.”

“...Still though!” drawled Fiona as she playfully drummed her fingers on her desk and continued to smile “That's interesting to know that a dark elf is so much more powerful than a human!”

“That is interesting, isn't it...” said Anton as he let a broad smile spread across his face “It's so interesting to think that for a human, a dark elf would make such an amazingly useful familiar...”

Fiona's smile vanished the instant she registered what had just been said.

“I mean as the most powerful of the elves, a dark elf really would be the perfect choice.” continued Anton “In fact, it's hard to imagine anything that would even be better.”

Fiona's face hardened as she merely stared back at him.

“Really makes you think...” drawled Anton as he narrowed his eyes at the stoic dark elf “Doesn't it?”

Fiona let her eyes fall to her desk as she began to scowl silently.

“...Anyways.” smiled Anton as he turned away from her “Back to the lesson. Now, as I've explained to you two before, there are many ways that a mana pool functions like a sort of muscle. The more use, or exercise that it receives, the larger it will grow. And as it grows in size the more concentrated and potent the mana stored within it will be. So again, like a muscle, it can become stronger through effort and training. Unlike an actual muscle however, there is no limit to this. And although the process of expanding beyond a species' normal standard is an extremely slow one. A mana pool can, technically, grow indefinitely.”

Joining her sister at attention, Fiona looked back up at Anton as she took in this information.

“This is exactly why you should never assume that someone is going to be weak magically. No matter what they are.” explained Anton as he folded his arms over his chest “People may be born at one point or another on the scale of power. But with enough effort, it is entirely possible for anyone to become extremely powerful... and possibly even reach the level of a God...”

The dark elves had both become transfixed as they listened to what was being explained to them.

“This is still incredibly difficult to do of course. And realistically it's not even something that's worth trying to accomplish, since it could take many lifetimes to even get close to that point. But even as hard as it would be to achieve, it is still technically possible.” stated Anton “You two in particular are going to need to play a bit of catch up since your own mana pools haven't been given much of a chance to grow yet. There's no reason for you two to worry about this though, as luckily a mana pool will grow fairly quickly until it reaches its species' standard size. So with this being the case, it shouldn't take too long for you to reach what's normal for your ages.”

The dark elves nodded slowly as Anton turned back to the chalkboard and reformed the long pointer.

“Moving on, we next have abilities.” said Anton as he tapped on the chalkboard “An ability is a magical act that can be preformed naturally by a given species. Most species will have at least a handful of abilities but some species can have several dozen. Since most abilities come naturally, they generally don't need to be taught. And those that do are still learned fairly easily. In the case of dark elves, a binding ring and an aura field would both be examples of abilities that-.”

“Wait! What's a “binding ring” supposed to be!?” interrupted Fiona.

“...This,” said Anton as an expression of annoyance spread across his face “is a binding ring.”

Fiona's ears pointed themselves straight upwards as a glowing ring of orange light suddenly appeared around her.

“Oh shit! No! Not this crap again!” she cried as thin chains shot out from the ring and immediately began to wrap themselves around her torso “Dammit! Stop it!”

“Now, as I was saying. Before someone forgot to raise their hand... The majority of abilities don't necessarily need to be taught as they often come naturally.” explained Anton as he casually watched Fiona struggle against the assaulting chains “When it comes to dark elves in particular, the use of many of their abilities is first dependent on them mastering control of their auras. And as we have seen first hand, neglected dark elves who aren't nurtured correctly don't develop this control and are magically stunted as a result.”

Kianna's expression became sorrowful while beside her Fiona cried out in frustration as she lost her battle against the chains and ended up completely ensnared by them.

“This type of scenario isn't unique to only dark elves, as there are other species who also require nurturing to fully develop their abilities.” continued Anton as cradled his chin in his hand and let his eyes fall to the floor “I am somewhat starting to think that this might explain why dark elves only have one child at a time though...”

“Huh?” questioned Kianna “What do you mean?”

“Well, think about it for a moment.” said Anton as he looked back up at her “If a dark elf isn't given the attention it needs while younger then it will grow up to be essentially helpless, at least magically speaking. So to make sure that this doesn't happen, dark elf parents will only have one child at a time. This way they can focus on that child and be sure that it will develop correctly.”

“...Oh. Yeah, that does make sense!” exclaimed Kianna as she nodded her head in agreement “So I guess that's why it seems like such a bad idea to have more than one baby at a time then?”

“...That's right.” said Anton as he tilted his head in thought while staring at her “You did think that was a bad idea. Right away even. ...Hm, I wonder if this is something instinctual to dark elves then? Something you do, without even realizing it, or questioning it? ...It might very well be something you just do without even understanding why you do it at all? ...That's, an interesting theory...”

“...Hey. Wait a second?” questioned Kianna as she lowered her ears in embarrassment “...Are, are you studying me right now!?”

Blinking in realization, Anton ducked his head and chuckled.

“Maybe, just a little bit!” he smiled before turning back to the chalkboard “Anyways, back to-.”

“Oh, come on!” cried Fiona as the chains wrapped around her torso tightened enough that her bust, which was barely being held back as it was, suddenly burst free of her now overly stretched blouse and exposed her bra covered bosom whilst sending buttons flying in multiple directions “Motherfucking-!”

“Miss Vale! Would you please stop disrupting my class with your indecent antics!” chastised Anton as Kianna covered her mouth to stifle her laughter “Honestly! Have you no sense of modesty!?”

“...I fucking swear!” raged Fiona as she struggled to twist free of the chains “I hate you! Oh I hate you so much!”

“Be that as it may. You'll still be receiving a demerit for this little stunt.” declared Anton as he leaned over his desk and made a mark next to Fiona's name on his clipboard “I won't stand for such outrageous behavior in my classroom, Miss Vale. Do you understand me!?”

“I, you! Fucking! Dammit!” screamed Fiona as she threw her head back and kicked her legs “Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!”

“Such ridiculous nonsense...” sighed Anton as he grinned at a still snickering Kianna “Anyways. As I was saying. Dark elf abilities include the aura field, binding rings, aural manifestation and what I refer to as “dark mode” which is the ability I used when I became solid black and menacing. I've come to call it that since I have no idea if that ability has an actual name or not.”

Still struggling in her binds, Fiona's ears were, like her sister's, clearly focused on Anton and what he was saying, even as her face was twisted with a glaring fury.

“I know there are a few other abilities as well. But these 4 are the only ones that I'm capable of using, and as such are the only ones that I'll be able to teach you how to use myself.” explained Anton “Hopefully you'll be able to develop the rest of your abilities on your own. But if not, then I suppose we'll just have to find you a tutor of some sort.”

“Oh yeah, cause I bet that'll be easy to find...” muttered Fiona “We'll just put out a personal ad!”

“What are the other abilities like? The one's that you know about but can't do?” asked Kianna.

“Well, they're... kind of a little difficult to describe...” said Anton as his face scrunched up and his eyes went distant in memory “You see, you don't actually see anything happen if you're the one that's just watching. But something is definitely happening. It almost seems like... a type of mind reading? Or maybe some kind of hypnosis? Like I said, it's difficult to describe. What I can tell you is that it does involve your auras, and whenever you use these abilities you'll kind of, connect? With people. Not enslave them, mind you. Or anything like that. But more like... you'll suddenly understand them. Very, very well. ...Does any of this sound like it makes sense to you two?”

“No!” snapped Fiona.

“So... we just know what people are thinking?” asked Kianna.

“No, well. ...I don't think so?” said Anton “Again, like I said, I'm not exactly sure what's happening. All I can really say is that some kind of connection is made. And once you've made this connection with someone... Well, you'll seemingly just understand that person. And when I say you'll understand that person, I mean you'll truly understand them at an intimate level. ...Possibly even better than they understand themselves. And I don't know how you do this. I'm not sure how that works, at all.”

“...It kinda sounds like this creeps you out.” muttered Fiona around a sneer.

Chuckling, Anton dropped his eyes to the floor as he folded his arms over his chest.

“It, can be unsettling...” he smiled as he looked back up at the dark elves “It is very impressive as well. And I'd love to have a better understanding of it.”

“You don't know how we do this one though?” asked Kianna as she cocked one of her ears in a curious manner “Not even how we start it?”

“No.” said Anton as he shook his head “I've never had the chance to actually see the process clearly. Only the aftermath.”

“Oh, okay...” mumbled Kianna as she scrunched up her face and became thoughtful.

Giving her a half smile, Anton turned back to the blackboard and reformed his pointer.

“Anyways, let's go ahead and get back to our lessons.” he said as he tapped on the next listed topic “Auramancy! The practice of manipulating auras. Dark elves may be far from the only species capable of this feat. But they are still considered one of, if not the true masters of the talent. And what they can do with just their auras is nothing short of remarkable. The things that can be done with aural manifestation alone is beyond impressive. There are very few abilities out there that can offer even half of the utility of just that single one.”

To illustrate his point Anton raised his pointer into the air and as the dark elves watched he shifted its shape into a series of different items.

“As you can see, this abilities usefulness is nearly endless.” he explained as he waved the pointer turned sword through the air and then shifted its shape again into a butterfly net “Its only drawbacks are that the shapes are limited to simple forms with few or no moving parts. And anything you create must remain in contact with you and your mana pool for it to stay solid.”

Anton showcased this by dropping what was now a pickax and letting it melt away as it fell from his hand.

“A less flashy but arguably more dangerous aspect of aura manipulation is that it allows one to use their own aura to mingle with and influence the auras of those around them. Dark elves use this to great effect by projecting mental stimulants into their auras and creating an emotional atmosphere around themselves. In other words, the dark elves can alter the emotional state of the people around them using just their auras, and it doesn't end there. With enough intensity, the effects of this generated atmosphere can be so overwhelming that it can even cause real, physical pain in anyone who can't resist its influence.” explained Anton “You two have already seen first hand how effective this can be.”

“Yeah, no shit we have.” mumbled Fiona as Kianna grimaced and nodded in agreement.

Chuckling, Anton turned back to the chalkboard and, with a flick of his wrist, reformed his pointer before tapping on the last item on the list.

“And finally, I'd like to just touch on this topic real quick, since I know it's something Kianna is dying to ask me about anyway.” said Anton as he smiled at the attentive dark elf “Spells!”

Biting her lower lip, Kianna's ears twitched in anticipation as she stared at the word written on the chalkboard.

“A spell. Is what we call an ability that has been broken down into a formula and can now be learned by a species that wouldn't naturally have that ability.” explained Anton “Although the vast majority of them have been, not every ability has yet to be broken down into a spell. At this point though, enough spells exist that you can usually create an effect similar enough to mimic any ability you wanted.”

The dark elves both nodded to indicate that they were listening.

“Now, there are several ways that one can learn different spells. The vast majority of them however are learned through enchantments, and this is something we'll go into further detail on later.” explained Anton “When a spell is first learned it will require either an incantation or some kind of physical trigger in order to be activated. Since spells are in essence artificial abilities, it is possible to develop a sort of “muscle memory” with them that will allow you to activate them using only mental triggers in the same manner as you would with natural abilities. This can take quite a while to master though, especially with very complex spells or one's that you may not fully understand the mechanics of.”

Kianna quickly raised her hand as a signal that she had something to say.

“Yes?” said Anton as he pointed two fingers at her.

“So like your Quantum Break spell then!?” exclaimed the dark elf “You don't know how it works, so you have to snap your fingers to make it go!”

“Exactly!” smiled Anton “Because I don't understand the mechanics behind the spell, I have to keep its activation linked to a physical trigger. The other spells that I know and do understand, I've mastered to the point that I no longer need to do this. I can simply activate or deactivate them at will.”

To illustrate his claim, Anton deactivated the binding ring that currently held Fiona entrapped.

The incensed dark elf immediately folded her arms over her chest as the ring vanished from around her.

“Since elves as a rule are naturally proficient with magic, and dark elves are no exception. I don't expect you two to have much difficulty with learning spells.” stated Anton “We'll have to save that for another day though, as we have more important things to focus on. Namely, mastering your natural abilities.”

Anton surprised the dark elves by suddenly bending down behind his desk. Craning their necks upwards in an effort to follow what he was doing, both Fiona and Kianna blinked in uncertainty when he rose back up with a riding crop style whip in each hand.

“Now that we've got a bit of the basics out of the way. I think it's time that we get started with the practical course.” smiled Anton as he tossed a whip to each of the dark elves.

“Practical course?” mumbled Fiona as she flicked her whip back and forth “...And what are we supposed to do with these?”

“Simple.” said Anton as he folded his arms over his chest “You're going to use those whips as a guide, while I show you how to create your own, mana built versions.”

“Seriously!? Okay, now you're talking!” cried Fiona as she held out her whip “Finally, we get to the good stuff!”

“Right, I figured you'd be happy about this. Now...” smiled Anton as he bent back down and picked up another whip from behind his desk “I want you to take your whips in your non-dominate hands.”

Both of the dark elves held their whips out in their left hands.

“Good, now, very slowly I want you to let your auras surround the whips.” said Anton as he let his aura come back into view and flow out from his hand as it covered the whip he held “You need to concentrate them, as if you were trying to create a thick shell around the whips. But do this softly and gently. Your goal is to examine the whips with your auras. So you need to let your auras really feel the whips, let them take in every detail as they seep into all the little nooks and crannies that make up the whips designs.”

Biting their lower lips and narrowing their eyes, the dark elves both went silent as they concentrated their efforts on bringing their auras into focus around the whips. After nearly twenty minutes of trying, Fiona suddenly took in a quick breath as the green glow of her aura shifted into reality and surrounded her whip.

“Very good!” nodded Anton as he watched the flame-like wisps of living aura swirl around Fiona's whip “Now, just relax, and let your aura flow on its own. Let it feel the whip in your hand, feel its shape, how it's built, its weight, its strength and give. How it bends and moves. You want your aura to know exactly what it is that you're holding, how it works and what it can do...”

Focused as she was, Fiona kept her eyes trained to her whip as her ears twitched to the sound of her sister crying out in triumph.

“Very nice, Kianna!” said Anton as he let his eyes shift to her newly formed pink-colored flames “Now just relax, there's no rush, you have all the time in the world.”

As the dark elves both became fixated with their tasks, Anton sat back down in his seat and rested his elbows on his desk as he settled in to watch them.

Some time later Kianna turned to him with a joyous smile spread across her face.

“We're doing it right, right!?” she asked as she indicated her flame covered whip “Cause I think I am! I can feel everything about this whip. Like really feel it! ...It's crazy!”

Chuckling, Anton nodded in understanding.

“What you're doing is basically building a blueprint of the whip.” he explained as he looked back and forth between the dark elves “When you're done, your auras will remember this blueprint and you'll be able to recreate your own version of the whip based off of it.”

“Really!?” exclaimed Fiona “...So that's how you do it!”

Mm hm.” nodded Anton “Whenever you two think you're ready, we can move on to the next step. You do want to be sure though, so take your time. There's no rush.”

Nodding absently the two dark elves continued to remain focused on their whips. After some time, Fiona turned back to Anton.

“Okay.” she breathed while nodding her head “I think I got it now!”

Nodding, Anton looked to Kianna.

“What about you, Kianna?” he asked her “Do you feel like you're ready yet?”

“...Yeah. I think so!” nodded the dark elf “I know so much about this whip now. ...I think I could even make one!”

“Well, that is actually the plan!” smiled Anton “Okay, what you need to do next is focus another chunk of your auras into your free hand. Try to focus them into something like a ball. ...Let me know when you're ready with this.”

Nodding silently, the dark elves both pointed their ears straight back as they concentrated on their open hands. When they felt they had completed their task, they each looked to Anton.

“...Okay, now this next part is a little tricky.” warned Anton as he raised his own hand and focused a ball of his own aura into existence “Take the blueprint you've just created and put it front and center in your minds. Try to visualize it. ...Now, as you're focusing on this blueprint, I want you to add a drop of mana, and I mean just a drop! To the aura you have concentrated in your hands. Let the mana ignite your aura, and as it burns, will it to take the shape of the whip in your minds.”

Fiona gasped as the aura in her hand erupted into a flash of light and burned away completely.

“That's alright! It happens!” exclaimed Anton “Just refocus another ball of your aura and try to go a little slower with the mana...”

Grimacing, Fiona narrowed her eyes as she quickly reformed another ball with her aura.

“Just relax, and take it slow...” soothed Anton as he let his own mana ignite the aura concentrated in his hand “You don't need very much... Just enough for it to take form...”

Breathing in and out through her nose, Kianna's eyes went wide as floating in the air above her hand, right within the center of her concentrated aura, the semitransparent handle of a pink-colored whip began to take shape.

“Let it fully form before you do anything...” said Anton as he smiled at the excited dark elf “It's almost there...”

Kianna couldn't help but to make a tiny sound of triumph as the pale image of her whip finally took on its full shape above her hand. Across from her, Fiona's ears began to quiver in excitement as the handle of her own whip suddenly shifted into existence.

“Alright now, Kianna. Very slowly, I want you to take hold of your whip...” encouraged Anton in a soft tone “Once you're holding it, let it link with your mana pool. This will let it become solid...”

Moving slowly and tentatively, as if afraid she might break it, Kianna closed her hand around the handle of the whip. The moment she did this she could feel her mana begin to flow directly into the body of the whip and completely fill in its entire shape. She gasped as from one instant to the next, the whip became solid in her hand.

“Holy crap!” gasped Kianna as she stretched out her arm and held the whip out in front of herself “...I did it! ...It's real now! ...I made it real!”

“Yes, you did...” nodded Anton.

Kianna went silent as she marveled at the glowing whip she now held in her hand.

Shifting his eyes to Fiona, Anton watched with a smile still on his face as the second dark elf quickly followed suit and gave her own whip a solid form.

“I did it!” breathed Fiona as she, like her sister, held her whip out in front of herself and stared at it with eyes wide in wonder “...I did it! ...I did it!”

Nodding silently, Anton shifted his gaze to Kianna. As he locked eyes with her the dark elf laughed gleefully through her smiling teeth as she playfully waved her whip back and forth.

Chuckling, Anton turned back to Fiona and stopped short as he registered the thick tear lines running down her cheeks.

Blinking the moisture from her eyes, Fiona remained silent as she raised and lowered her whip a few times. Leaning back in her seat, she brought the whip down against her desk and lightly slapped it against the wooden surface. Her eyes widened to their fullest and her ears twitched as the whip made a sharp sound the moment it struck the desk.

“It's real!” she marveled as a new set of tears welled in her eyes “It's really real!”

“Yes it is...” whispered Anton as he nodded slowly “Congratulations, Fiona. You did it.”

Fiona raised her eyes and stared at him for a moment before looking back down at her whip.

“Thank you!” chirped Kianna as she stared at her sister's whip and fought to keep tears from forming in her own eyes “Thank you so much!”

Fiona stayed silent as she kept her eyes on her whip and nodded in agreement.

“Hm, of course.” grinned Anton “You've both done very well. Very, very well! ...So well in fact, that I think we should go ahead and try to move on to the next ability. Then once we have that one out of the way. You two can focus on just practicing, perfecting and fully understanding your abilities, while all the while developing and growing your mana pools as well.”

“Wait, just one more!?” exclaimed Fiona “But that's just 3 abilities! You said you could show us how to do 4 of them!?”

“Well, technically I did say that... And I can show you how to use 4...” admitted Anton “Unfortunately though, “dark mode” kind of requires a target to use correctly. And although you could utilize each other... I'd rather not go that route if possible.”

“Why not?” asked Kianna.

“Because of how intense that ability can be.” stated Anton “Now that you two are more capable, I don't want you to try to use that ability against each other and accidentally trigger a legitimate conflict. You have to remember that you can hurt each other now. So there's no point in pushing things too far.”

“So what are we gonna do then!?” exclaimed Fiona “We have to do it at least once to make sure we can even do it! And how else are we gonna learn it if we don't use each other!?”

“...Wait? Make sure you can do it? What are you talking about?” questioned Anton as he furrowed his brow in confusion “You know you can do it. You've done it once already.”

“...We did?” questioned Kianna.

“What? No we haven't!” exclaimed Fiona “We never done that before!”

“...Yes you did? Both of you did!” stated Anton as he cocked an eyebrow “It was the very first thing you did once you gained control of your auras. ...Do you not remember it?”

“...Oh, shit! That's right!” exclaimed Kianna as she turned to her sister “That's when everything went white! ...Well, everything, except...”

“...Except?” asked Anton as he tilted his head in question.

“...Except, for you...” mumbled Kianna as she lowered her eyes and ears “You were, red...”

“Oh. I see.” chuckled Anton as he nodded in understanding “Well! Well there you go then. Now I definitely don't think it's a good idea for you two to be trying to practice that on each other!”

“I doubt it'll be the same.” muttered Fiona “It's not like we hate each other like we hate you!”

“Now you don't honestly think that Kianna hates me?” questioned Anton “Do you?”

Fiona blinked before looking down at her desk with a grimace.

“No! I don't!” declared Kianna as she narrowed her eyes at her sister “And you know I don't hate him!”

“You still lost control of yourself though. And that's what I mean when I say it's not worth the risk.” said Anton “It's far too easy to lose control of your judgment whenever using that ability. It should never be used against someone you care about. At least not without being absolutely sure that you can stay in control of yourself.”

Kianna's expression became miserable looking as she turned to Anton and went to speak.

“No need to dwell on things!” said Anton as he held up his hand and shook his head “Especially when it's something you've already apologized for!”

“Still! I'm sorry...” mumbled Kianna as she lowered her ears in a sorrowful manner “Seriously...”

“I know you are. And it's okay. It's in the past, behind us!” said Anton “And now it's time to move forward. You can both go ahead and drop those whips now.”

Fiona and Kianna both hesitated as they looked from their whips to each other.

“...You don't have to worry about losing them. You'll be able to reform them whenever you want now.” explained Anton “Now that you know what you're doing you should be able to go through that whole process with new items much quicker as well. And with practice you'll eventually be able to form any known items instantly.”

The dark elves both continued to hesitate as they gazed at the whips they had created.

“...If you want proof that you can reform them then just drop the real ones and make second ones in your other hands.” said Anton as he settled back into his chair “We've got time, so go ahead and give it a try.”

Relaxed in his seat, Anton watched as the dark elves each formed a second whip and then, now convinced that they could create them indefinitely, dropped their whips to melt away before reforming them again.

“Well, now that we got that settled...” said Anton as he rose from his seat and made his way around the desk “Let's go ahead and get started with the next lesson.”

Fiona and Kianna both had their ears pointed straight upwards as they watched Anton step out of the classroom and walk to the center of a large open space in the middle of the dungeon.

“...Come on now!” beckoned Anton as he turned back to them “We're going to need a little room for this one.”

Sliding out of their seats, the dark elves quickly started towards him but stopped when Anton raised his hand.

“Right there is fine.” he said when the dark elves were about four meters away “Okay, so who wants to go first?”

“...Wha, what are we doing?” asked Kianna.

“We're going to learn how to use your binding ring ability.” explained Anton “This is another ability that requires a target to work properly. So for today. I'm going to go ahead and volunteer, to be that target.”