Cadence Lee (as Hewka) POV:

So it turns out that just as physics still kicks ass even in a world with a system and magic, biology also still applies. It is a bit bent out of shape compared to what I used to know, but it isn’t gone. Which is why, despite having the racial ability [Breathes through her Skin], I could still drown.

Admittedly, I didn’t drown easily. The ability did still work, but I think my current body needed more oxygen than the water around me could provide. Maybe if there was more oxygen in the water I wouldn’t need to breathe at all. Or maybe not, I could be just too large and energetic for that ability to fulfill my oxygen needs.

I probably would never know and I had more important things to focus on right now, like my magical battle against Ylma.

A half naked Ylma - who had taken off some of her clothes to avoid getting them wet and was just wearing a slightly longer tunic and a manic smile - was standing in the shallows of the lake we had hiked to. The issue for me, I thought as I sat under the water and glared at her, was how to use the water to block the firebolt she would throw at me as soon as I surfaced. As part of the plan to unlock the Greater Lake Wyvern Evolution, I needed to use water to fight - but I didn’t know how to use water magic yet.

Ylma had given me a brief lesson, but then said that it would be better for me to gain the Skill in combat instead of from a lecture. The lectures would come, but a combat unlock could help gain new future Evolutions and Classes. So here I was, mostly using [Aerokinesis] and Air Magic to blast the air out of my lungs hard enough to throw water at her. I had yet to block a firebolt doing that and even though she was holding back a ton, Ylma’s fire hurt.

Plus, I had learned that behind that snobbish noble exterior was a complicated young woman. And by a complicated young woman I mean to say that she is a pyromaniac and a sadist. Possibly even a sadomasochist given how much she was shouting at me to hit her.

Wait. I had agreed to this, am I a masochist!? No, no, I don’t actually enjoy this. I am just doing it because it needs to be done for my Evolution.

“Stop hiding and come out Hewka!” Ylma shouted with a wicked smile, “I promise I’ll tone this one down!”

Liar. My Perception might be relatively low, but I can see the crazy gleam in your eye, Ylma! You are just happy to have a punching bag to use your spells on!

Yet, I did have to surface. Not just because I did eventually need to breathe - although I could sit underwater for a very long time - but because this was the whole reason we were here. I needed to spend significant time underwater, fight underwater, fight with water, be hurt in water, rest and heal in water to unlock the Greater Lake Wyvern Evolution. That was why Ray and Tamlin were just sitting on a nearby rock and watching the torture session that Ylma called training instead of helping me - although Tamlin was wise enough to only be watching me and not Ylma. Smart kid.

Well, there was no use delaying any more…

I tensed my legs against the lake bottom and spread my wings sluggishly through the water, using them to shove the water down and throw me to the water’s surface. I tried to insert my mana into the water even as I opened my mouth to exhale the compressed air I was holding when I reached the optimal depth, causing a geyser of water to erupt in Ylma’s direction.

I burst out of the water just in time to see Ylma’s fire evaporate the water I sent her way and another firebolt pierce the steam and slam into my stomach.

[You have been burned! You have lost 10hp!]

Ow. Can’t she hold back more!? That will take hours to heal! She would have shot me again if I hadn’t dived back into the water. Firebolts landed on the surface of the lake behind me as I dived underwater. Swimming was difficult, but I managed. I had to manage because that was one of the Skills I was hoping to train today.

“Oh no, I’m not letting you run and make me wait this time!” Ylma shouted as she cackled, “You won’t Level if you don’t really put effort into this Hewka!”

The pressure from the explosion that followed buffeted me underwater; Ylma hadn’t held back with that one! Would her mana even be able to keep up with her expenditure? More importantly, is she trying to kill me!?

“Oh Podi, please don’t let me be sent back to you by a sadomasochistic pyromaniac who got too into training,” I prayed silently, yet fervently. “I promise I won’t call you a pervert anymore! ...well, I won’t for at least one life - but no more, because you know what you’ve done!”

[Dodge has Leveled up! Dodge is now Level 5!]

[Swimming has Leveled up! Swimming is now Level 6!]

Woohoo? That was the first time Dodge had Leveled up and the second time Swimming had Leveled up today. Yet somehow, it didn’t feel quite as good to gain a Level when I was hiding underwater from a one woman artillery barrage. Another wave of pressure shook the depths of the lake as Ylma continued to laugh. This time I was able to use the water around me to alleviate it slightly.

[You have learned the Skill: Water Magic! Water Magic is now Level 1!]

Hahaha! Now I shall have my revenge!

*15 Minutes Later*

“Thank you for healing me,” I whimpered to Chaurl, who was kneeling next to my smoking form, restoring it to some form of normality with the power of his God.

“She is thanking you,” Ray translated for me, looking far more amused than concerned. “I have to confess that feeling that sudden burst of confidence from her only to see her slapped down so quickly was kind of hilarious though.”

How was I supposed to know that the sadomasochistic pyromaniac psycho would barbeque me if… I… Right, because she is a sadomasochistic pyromaniac psycho, of course.

“It did take you a while to notice that Ylma likes fire a bit too much Hewka,” Ray, who could feel the direction of my thoughts, said and started laughing. “I thought you had noticed during our last request or I would have given you a warning.”

“Are you still planning to continue this training, Hewka?” Chaurl asked mildly, “you don’t have to do this, you know.”

Well yeah, I don’t have to do any of this and it sure as hell isn’t pleasant. It hurts and it hurts a lot! However, I’ve felt a lot worse pain and I want what I get from this a lot more than I am worried about pain. I need to become stronger, I don’t want to die so easily this life! And when I do die I want to rake in those points; there is no way I’ll give up!

When I say as much - minus the part about Incarnation - to Chaurl, he grins and his magic flares.

“Well said,” he watches as my healing speeds up. “And it looks like Lord Jakkus approves of your ambition as well.”

I will take that as a good thing - so long as Chaurl doesn’t fall over screaming, anyway. I don’t really expect him to though. I don’t know much about the Gods, but Chaurl was more than happy to tell me about Jakkus when I asked through Ray, who promptly left me to his lecture and went off to do something else.

The short version of that lecture was that Jakkus didn’t particularly care about why someone was motivated towards their ambition. The God only cared about how motivated you were and how ambitious your goal was; he wasn’t about to check the details. Admittedly, that wasn’t exactly true based on what Chaurl said, but it was more or less accurate. Enough that I wasn’t worried about giving my healer a stroke.

A few minutes later, I was back on my feet, and my self-imposed torture began again.

*One Day Later*

I was exhausted. We were heading back to Evergold, having probably accomplished enough to unlock the Greater Lake Wyvern Evolution. I had thought that we would have to do more, but apparently I was wrong. In fairness, I can’t imagine many Wyverns that would sleep in a lake on purpose. Or that they would be able to breathe underwater long enough to take a nap and have allies to watch over them during that to make sure they didn’t drown.

However, unlike my days as a toad, I was not very comfortable sleeping in the water. I had gotten very little sleep last night and it was making the journey back home hellish. While some of it was spent in the air carrying Ray and scouting the land ahead, a good chunk of it was spent being forced to carry my tormenter - Ylma - who was lecturing me on basic magical theory.

She figured that as long as she was teaching me, she shouldn’t have to walk. Frankly, I didn’t disagree - although part of my agreement was out of fear. Regardless, her lecture was quite informative and also apparently a massive oversimplification.

“I am trying to explain one of the prime forces of existence,” Ylma said when I asked for the complete version. “Do you honestly think that it is so easy to explain?”

Well, yes actually. I mean, she had learned it, right? So clearly it could be taught - or so I thought.

“Most mages or [Mages] you meet won’t know more than the most basic bits of magical theory.” Ylma explained, “a lot of them are reliant on their Class abilities to do much beyond the most basic magic. Even someone like myself, who received a professional education, was only taught a small portion of the knowledge on the subject.”

That sounded… Incredibly stupid. Why would someone want to go to a magic school that didn’t teach magic!?

“Oh, but it does. What they teach takes decades for your average [Hedge Mage] to figure out,” Ylma revealed. “However, higher knowledge is reserved for higher Level individuals. Once you learn the basics you are required to leave and gain experience in the real world for a time.”

I was less than convinced of this system’s efficacy, but it wasn’t like I would be allowed into that magical academy so it wasn’t an issue really. Still, getting information second hand like this… Most of the information on how magic worked was either definitely unknown or restricted to higher tier mages than Ylma and she instead focused on what worked.

I did get to learn some mana theory, namely how it took on properties based on the area it was in. Fundamentally, one unit of mana was always one unit of mana, whether it was fire element or water element or something more esoteric like swamp element. In fact, calling them “elements” was something of a stretch because the properties were so affected by the location.

“While a mediocre and uneducated magic user might think that the existence of the Air Magic Skill means that air elemental mana is a thing and just one thing,” Ylma lecuted. “They are wrong. The air on our hike is different from the air in a city. The air in a cave is different from the air on a mountain peak. The air on the coast of the sea is different from the air on the coast of a lake. If you were to compare the mana you found at one lake to that of another, you find subtle differences between them because there are no elements. Merely mana, and the properties it takes.”

While I had almost no experience with magic in my last world, this seemed absolutely nothing like what I had experienced there and I suspected that magic was different from world to world. Similar enough that I could use it, but different enough that I would have to learn as well.

“So would the mana we carry in our own pool be attuned to our own properties?” I ask, suspecting the answer.

“Indeed it is! That is how we recover mana, by converting the properties of the mana around us into our own and absorbing it.”

“So then if we found mana that was similar in property to our own mana,” I focused my limited Acuity and Willpower to keep my train of thought until the end. “Would we be able to use that environmental mana as our own?”

Ylma started laughing and it took her a while to calm down, taking deep gasping breaths of air as she bent over.

“I’m sorry,” she said, still giggling. “I’m not laughing at you so much as laughing at myself. I asked the exact same question and was told by my teacher that someone always does ask it every year.”

“The short answer is: yes. The slightly longer answer is, it will never occur so why think about it? The best anyone can do is find mana that has properties close to their own because that will increase the rate at which they recover.”

Yeah, this was nothing like my last world at all. But it had to be, at least slightly, because I had been able to learn magic before I had met Ylma, right? Why was I able to pick up Manasense, Mana Manipulation, and Air Magic using the knowledge I had before if magic here is plainly so different?

Or is this like asking why biology still seems to function for animals and Sapients here when every monster relies on the system for growth?

Maybe… Maybe there are some basic rules that always apply to every world, or perhaps there are rules that would apply to every world but something - the various systems, perhaps - bends them out of shape to make new rules so that every world is different. I haven’t the expertise or the knowledge to know for sure, as far as I know Podi rolls a dice every time I am born and randomizes all the possibilities on the spot.

It is something to keep an eye on for the future.

*Back in Evergold*

[Dancing has Leveled up! Dancing is now Level 4!]

[Singing has Leveled up! Singing is now Level 3!]

So I might have drawn a bit of a crowd with my performance. It was kind of embarrassing, but how am I supposed to raise my Skills without practice!? Knowing Podi that there are two points in the bag right there and I can’t imagine it would be hard to Level them, just time consuming.

Wait… Can I Level my Acting Skill if I perform in front of an audience? I guess I’ll find out! Now playing, “The Life of Princess Hemere,” with me, Hewka the Wyvern, as the lead actress!

Is it silly to pretend like that? Yes, it feels stupid and idiotic, but that is part of the point. If I am trying to portray two roles at once, and one of which is a silly and very not dangerous wyvern that absolutely no one should worry about, acting like a fool is kind of useful. Plus, no one can understand me anyway, so they don’t know what I am Acting as or even that I am.

It is still incredibly humiliating, but it kills multiple birds with one stone so I will let it pass.

*Later That Night*

Before I go to sleep, I decide to check my Stats. Over the past five days I have been trained and lectured in magic, Writing, and Reading by Ylma; Tracking, Sprinting, and Stealth by Ray; and learned about Teamwork from Rauvin. Even Chaurl, Karlin, and Tamlin had helped out and taught me the basics of several random Skills.

Name: Hewka Species: Young Gale Wyvern Level: 2/10 Experience: 195/320

Class: [Hunter] Class Level: 27 Health: 454/454 Mana: 54/54 Stamina: 100/100

Statistics:

Str: 148 End: 172 Vit: 141 Agi: 197 Dex: 111

Per: 168 Acy: 111 Wil: 118 Cha: 107 Mgc: 108

Lck: 163

Abilities:

[Prey Sense](class) [Hunter’s Rest](class)

[Breathes through her Skin](racial) [Poison Spice](class)

[Blood Trail](class) [Endless Hunt](racial)

[Toxic Skin](racial) [Toxin Control: Minor](racial)

[Regeneration: Minor](lesser)(racial) [Scale Armor: Minor](racial)

[Envenomed Bite: Hatchling Komadus Lizard](racial) [Infravision](racial)

[Salutivore](racial) [Strong Stomach](racial)

[Aerokinesis](racial) [Gale Wyvern Hide](racial)

[Lesser Wyvern Hide](racial) [Poison Resistance: Major](racial)

[Disease Resistance: Minor](racial) [Better First Impression]

[Healthy Thoughts] [First Words]

[Killing Blow]

Skills:

Acrobatics: 1 Acting: 3 Air Magic: 4

Ambush: 4 Analysis: 3 Cartography: 2

Charge: 5 Cleaning: 4 Climbing: 3

Composing: 2 Construction: 3 Cooking: 4

Charm: 3 Crafting: 5 Dancing: 6

Dagger: 1 Digging: 7 Dodge: 7

Drawing: 2 Earth Magic: 1 Etiquette: 3

Fire Magic: 1 Flight: 3 Gardening: 1

Intimidate: 2 Jumping: 6 Leatherworking: 2

Mana Manipulation: 7 Manasense: 10 Meditation: 9

Poetry: 1 Pottery: 2 Reading: 4

Singing: 6 Spear: 3 Sprinting: 6

Swimming: 6 Stealth: 7 Taunt: 1

Teamwork: 3 Throwing: 4 Tracking: 5

Trap Making: 7 Unarmed Combat: 1 Water Magic: 2

Weaving: 2 Writing: 8