“No, not like that! You can’t just, like, do the same thing harder. You have to do it differently, like feel the mana in the air and then take it in.” I spoke in mild frustration as the ever still-faced Tetsu in front of me nodded before turning away to go back to his strange ‘warrior’ stance.

I waited in silence as he closed his eyes to concentrate, seemingly tensing every vein in his forehead that protruded as he tightened his face. He slowly opened his mouth before I heard: “Phlooorh Phlrrhhhh”

“...” I watched in silent shock as I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at his stubborn attempts to simply keep breathing in more air than possible into his surely overinflated lungs.

“NO!” I yelled again. “You can’t just, ugh…” I held my head in irritation before willing back the familiar words that were soon projected in the air in front of me. “Every subject may take in mana in their own unique ways. The method does not matter as long as they are absorbing the energy into their own bodies…” I mumbled the words as I read them hovering in front of me, slowly trying to decipher their meaning in my mind.

“What are you saying?” The blockhead interrupted my thoughts as I looked up to see him looming over me with a face that might as well have had the word ‘durr’ plastered over it.

“Be quiet, please.” I said, continuing to go over the words as the blockhead spoke in the background.

“You do it a lot; talk to yourself. I’ve seen you do it on the field. And in the house, too. Are you okay…? Does Llana need to check you?” I ignored the babble coming out of the idiot’s mouth as I finally formed my own conclusion to the pressing question.

“I think the issue is that you don’t quite understand what you’re even trying to do!” I said with confidence as the giant stared holes into me, his face changed now into a slight frown.

“I wonder what drove you to that conclusion.” He stated flatly, the sarcasm coming through quite boldly as some of the confidence began to slip from my previously stark demeanor. ‘It really was quite obvious, wasn’t it?’ I thought.

“Well, regardless of how terrible I am at teaching you, I’m doing all this for the sake your tiny thing. So, I think you should be a bit more thankful.” I retorted, his mocking eyes immediately shifted away as I spoke and his cheeks flushed red. I smiled inwardly, content with his response, as I thought back to the night before.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Finally done with your potato?” I asked while twirling the fork around in my empty bowl. Tetsu’s mother’s cooking, while incomparable to the food I was used to, was decent enough to go through once a day without feeling sick afterwards.

“Huh!?” I grew shocked as I saw the two potatoes left in Tetsu’s bowl following another one of his beastial head-dives into his dinner. Peering up at me, I saw the shame in his face and quickly turned to see the slight deficiency of volume in his mother’s bowl as she looked back at me with an apologetic smile. ‘This bastard.’ I thought. ‘Even from his own mother…’

“Alright, enough!” I yelled, standing up and staring daggers into the gluttonous monster’s eyes. “Clearly, we’re not gonna be able to practice today.” I said, pointing outside at the ink-black sky through the window. “But, at least, I will have you show me what you can do.”

“Humph?” Tetsu answered with his mouth full while still staring back up at me. “Swallow, you bastard!” I said, slamming the table. Tetsu loudly gulped down his food at my swing and looked up eagerly towards me, awaiting instruction.

“Show me how strong your metal magic is.” I started again, authoritatively. At my words, Tetsu immediately stood up, donning a serious face. I unconsciously took half a step back as his titanic figure stood straight in front of me. “Ok.” He said, buckling his knees and entering a half-squatted stance while closing his eyes tightly. I grew concerned as he did so. ‘What is he releasing his full power or something? Here!?’ I thought.

Perhaps it was imaginary but I felt a slight shift in the air as he looked in my direction, but not at me. It was as if he was looking right through me, viewing something else through his eyes that I couldn’t see. It was a few moments later that he extended his arms forward, his fingers pointed upwards towards me and I started to panic. “H-h-hold on Tetsu, w-why are you pointing it right at me? I-I’m your teacher, you know? T-Tetsu!?” I scrambled to grab the bowl from the table in my panic and haphazardly used it to cover my chest, pulling up my right knee to my stomach as I did so in a cowardly defensive stance while closing my eyes.

I held that position a few seconds longer in anticipation, but nothing happened. It wasn’t until I opened my eyes to see what was in front of me that I understood.

“...” I looked in shock as I saw the large twin peaks of metal that jutted out threateningly from the metal floor underneath. Then I zoomed out a little. Then, a little more. Then, a whole lot until I was returned to the real world where the two ‘twin peaks’ were nothing but tiny thumbtacks protruding from Tetsu's fingertips. I held my silence for a few more seconds as I processed what was in front of me.

“Pft.” There was nothing I could do about it. “PFFFFFTTTHTHTHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH!” I began to laugh maniacally, losing control of my wits as I did so. “I-IT’S SO SMALL!” I started. “A-AND.. -HE WAS… GETTING INTO STANCE LIKE HE WAS… -LIKE HE WAS ABOUT TO UNLEASH AN ENERGY BALL OR SOMETHING!” I wheezed and snorted until I felt the pain in my stomach as my abdomen contracted during the laughter.

A mixture of confusion and embarrassment surfaced on Tetsu’s face as he watched me lose my mind over his little stunt. “I-ITS… -ITS LIKE A LITTLE PRICK ON YOUR FINGER!” I finally said as I fell back onto my chair, holding my stomach to try and limit the pain that grew in intensity. Tetsu’s mother looked on with a conflicted face as she witnessed the scene, her vision darting between me and Tetsu himself who sat sheepishly back down onto his dining room chair. She surely did not know what to feel at the scene she felt she didn’t belong in as the boy’s mother.

___________________________________________________________________

The red-faced Tetsu sat down on his knees in front of me as I began to explain the concept behind his training. “There are many different types of magic-users in the world.” I started, doing my best to interpret the information the system showed me, filling in the gaps with my own inferences as I did so. “What you are, Tetsu, is a… Warrior type.” I came up with my own classification as best I could for how the system showed me Tetsu was able to use magic. Tetsu nodded below me, his face lighting up a bit at having his magic be bestowed with the name ‘warrior’. I smiled inwardly as this was also a bit of the motivation behind naming it so.

“When warriors take mana into their body, they infuse it into their body’s cells. Depending on the quality and type of mana infused, the effect they will have on the cells will have different outcomes.” I continued. “To absorb a spec-” I was interrupted mid-sentence by the raised hand of the still sitting Tetsu who had a confused expression on his face for a few seconds now.

“Yes?” I asked at his respectful gesture. I had taught him and the other boys to raise their hands when they had a question during my lectures. It was only after the endless mid-sentence questions by Reltin and “This is stupid.” interruptions by Arton that I came to value the system of hand-raising.

“What is a cell?” The boy quizzed as I quickly realized my stupid mistake. “Right.” I started. “A cell is what makes up your body. You don’t have to know too much about them besides that. So, basically just think of them like little pieces that your body is made out of. Like how a cup of water is made out of a bunch of different drops of water.” I explained.

“Or a bowl of stew is made out of a bunch of drops of stew.” He suggested as I held my head in shame for being the teacher of this animal. “Sure.” I said.

“Anyways, when you drive specific mana into these cells, they change property. That is the gift that you have as a warrior magic-user. The cells your body is made up of are capable of taking in metal-attribute mana.”

“What other types of magic-users are there?” Tetsu asked from below me, without raising his hand. I gave him a quick stern look before his eyes slightly widened in response and he quickly put up his hand. I gestured for him to put his hand down before answering, I appreciated not receiving the “But, I’m the only one here.” retort that I expected. Tetsu was definitely a boy of discipline.

“Too many for you to know.” I said flatly, avoiding the question. The truth was, I didn’t really know. The system gave me very limited knowledge, and the knowledge it did give me was all related to the student in front of me right now. So what other types of magic-users there were or if they slept on the left or right side of the bed were things I had no idea about.

“There are many different types of mana out there.” I said, assuming so from the fact that a category of mana as specific as ‘metal mana’ existed. “So when you try to absorb mana, try to imagine the feeling of the mana when you released those two little pins out of your fingers. Everybody’s way of absorbing mana is different as well, of course. So, don’t worry about trying something new, if everybody’s way is different then most likely whatever ‘feels right’ to you will be the best.” I mused the last part as I told him with feigned confidence. There was really too little I knew about magic and this world that existed around it. ‘I should go ask Llana later.’ I thought.

Tetsu was already back to his squatted stance from before, but this time he held a familiar wooden pole that he pointed outwards in his usual position for training his sword skills. ‘Using the pole to return to a more familiar feeling, huh?’ I smiled at his ingenuity and initiative, thinking to myself that I had gotten quite the capable first disciple. ‘Well, temporary disciple.’ I corrected myself.

Tetsu tensed his muscles and face as usual before I thought of something and shouted out to him: “Tetsu! Don’t tighten your body, try to relax it.” I said, thinking that if mana could enter through any kind of hole, literal or figurative, it wouldn’t open by tensing your body or mind tighter together. At my words Tetsu’s figure relaxed, and he slowly breathed in, no longer trying to pull in an overly intense amount of air as usual. Seeing his form, I felt a strange exaggerated chill in the cold air around us as his hands began to tremble in stress.

“Tetsu, I thought I said-” I stopped myself short as a small black mass pooled in from where his finger met his palm, slowly spreading outwards to cover the entire base. I looked back up at him to see that he wore a relaxed and stress-free expression, only his fingers trembling in drastic contrast to the rest of his body as I watched in fascination. The black mass glistened where it grew and shone with a metallic hue that was unnatural for its color. I watched as it slowly upwards, reaching the tip of his finger before slowing it’s spread and eventually coming to a stop just at his finger’s end. The end of the black mass fluctuated slightly, lowering and rising up as it continued to tremble in the same area of his finger.

“Tetsu, just a little more. Push it, just a little more.” I spoke softly, and the giant’s face tensed up at my words. Contrary to what I believed, however, the black mass very slowly but surely started to creep up to the top of his finger.

“Nice! Keep going, just a bit more.” I said in excitement as I watched the black mass continue to rise and stop at his fingers tip, slowly going up and down again as it reached it. “Just a bit more Tetsu! Come on, push!” I shouted now and the giant’s face contorted even harder as his whole body now trembled. At his urgence, the black mass did something almost entirely unexpected by me, instead of going down towards the rest of his hand after covering his finger, it went upwards still. A small bit of metal began to cover the wooden pole as I watched in shock and Tetsu continued to tremble heavily, his face now blood red as he refused to stop.

“Enough!” I shouted, my curiosity for the strange occurrence outweighed by my worry for my student. Tetsu immediately let go of his body, the black mass quickly absorbing back into the base of his finger before disappearing completely as he himself fell backwards, using the edge of the porch floor to prop himself up while breathing heavily.

“Good Job!” I shouted enthusiastically, holding out my hand below me for a high five while I now stood over the boy. He pushed his hand forward and it fell on mine before slipping down and landing in his lap, clearly exhausted after his stunt. ‘So, relax to let mana in. And push to use it outwards.’ I took a mental note as I was still beaming with a smile. The excitement of magic permeated throughout me as I looked down at the new hovering words over Tetsu’s bobbing head.

[Endurance : { Level 3 → Level 4 } 100/100%]

[Strength: { Level 7 → Level 8 } 57/100%]

[Agility: { Level 5 → Level 6 } 49/100%]

[Sword Master: {Level 4 → Level 5 } 67/100%]

[Elemental Magic: Metal { Level 0 → Level 1 } 33/100%]

(Magic Control: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 49/100%)

(Magic Power: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 15/100%)

(Magic Capacity: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 15/100%)

His magic control had gone up an entire 34% from just that single session! I was ecstatic with the progress. ‘But, does it matter if I still don’t know how to make them level up?’ I continued to ponder while Tetsu’s head still bobbed up and down from his tired breathing. This had been a problem since Tetsu first reached 100% in Endurance a couple days prior. I tried everything, having him continue the same training obviously didn’t work so I tried making it more intense then I tried giving him a single test to run 25 miles at once so he could ‘break through’ to the next level but nothing I did had any effect.

Wondering as I did over the giant’s head I spotted a strange white glint that stuck out in the forest of hair on his head. I reached my hand down to grab it but soon felt a magnetic type of pull on my palm that fell directly over the white glint. *Pat* The sound reverberated softly as he grunted at my touch and I observed a strangely vivid feeling of something leaving my body through my arm that was placed on his head. The feeling only intensified as I winced although I felt no pain. The simple pull that I felt was strong enough to give me the illusion of pain as I felt the strange energy move down my arm but still felt as though I had no less inside of me. A familiar rose gold light emerged from my palm and the world around me was dyed in its light. Soon enough, it was the only thing I could see.

Tetsu on the other hand made no sounds as he sat almost unnaturally still underneath my touch until the ever increasing pull on my palms eventually subsided. Looking down at the boy after the light was gone, I saw his updated status once again.

[Endurance : { Level 4 → Level 5 } 0/100%]

[Strength: { Level 7 → Level 8 } 57/100%]

[Agility: { Level 5 → Level 6 } 49/100%]

[Sword Master: {Level 4 → Level 5 } 67/100%]

[Elemental Magic: Metal { Level 0 → Level 1 } 33/100%]

(Magic Control: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 49/100%)

(Magic Power: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 15/100%)

(Magic Capacity: { Level 0 → Level 1 } 15/100%)

I stared in short-lived shock before coming to a quick understanding while the boy below me simply looked up with life having returned to his, just moments before, tired eyes.

“Did you heal me?” He asked. “I… I feel better than ever.” Looking around at his own body in both confusion and invigoration, the boy smiled for the first time in a while.