Alen Miro gently pressed the button on his controller.
Hmm-WHOOM!
The air thrummed with a deep, oppressive groan! The entire training room space seemed to crumple and twist as if squeezed by an invisible giant hand. Walls, floor, ceiling—all warped violently in their vision, light shattering into dazzling ribbons.
The terrifying distortion vanished as abruptly as it appeared, leaving the room perfectly normal, the chaos a mere phantom.
But the spatial anomaly was instantly replaced by roaring flame! Crimson tongues of fire erupted from the floor with a thunderous BOOM!, instantly forming a perfect, searing ring that trapped Ellis, Sil, and Professor Miro at its center. Waves of heat slammed into them like a physical wall.
The air turned scorchingly thin; sweat beaded instantly on their brows, tracing cool paths down their temples only to vanish in the furnace-like heat. They stood trapped in the heart of a forge, surrounded by a roaring, blinding crimson inferno.
"Fire magic," Sil's voice cut through the flame's roar, calm and steady as if the hellscape were mere wallpaper, "is guided by the heart, fueled by the will. Don't just see this fire with your eyes."
Ellis's heart hammered against her ribs—fast at first, then growing heavier, stronger with each wave of heat and each lungful of scorching air. It pounded against her chest wall with a dull, oppressive thud.
The heat licked at her face, tightening her skin into painful prickles. She sucked in a burning gasp, the searing air scouring her throat and making her heart clench violently before pounding even harder. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Darkness.
With sight gone, her other senses flared. The roar of the fire resolved into layers: the sharp crackle and hiss nearby, the low, rumbling growl further out, crashing against her eardrums. Her skin screamed with sharp pain; sweat evaporated the moment it formed, leaving salt and deeper burning. She forced down the churning panic and frustration, pushing her awareness down, down into the quiet depths beneath the noise.
Strangely, the raging fire became a beacon. She felt like a heavy stone sinking through icy, dead silence to the ocean's depths, or adrift at the edge of a strange, hazy dream. External sounds blurred, faded, vanished.
Only the slow, heavy thud of her own heart remained: Thump… Thump… Thump… Like a solitary war drum on some ancient plain, echoing stubbornly in the pure darkness of her mind.
How long passed? A moment? An eternity?
Just as the heartbeat became her entire existence—
She snagged it!
An indescribable heat, not external, burst from the very core of her chest! A burning, fiercely intense, yet strangely ordered flame! This scalding, vital torrent surged upwards with immense force, roaring down the channels of her arm, converging violently in her right limb. Her entire arm instantly became scalding iron; heat pulsed beneath the skin, muscles tensed, filled with pent-up power so immense it threatened to overwhelm her.
But—
The force slammed into her fingertips, barred by an invisible wall! Trapped like a raging beast in the cage of her arm, it battered against its confines, the burning and tearing intensifying. Power surged, a flood against a dam—immense pressure with no outlet! Ellis gritted her teeth, veins standing out on her forehead.
She could feel the force uselessly condensing, compressing at her fingertips and palm—hotter, heavier, suffocating—yet utterly unable to release! Like clutching a thousand-pound stone with no target, straining uselessly at the breaking point.
At that critical moment—Sil's palm tapped her back!
A precisely measured jolt of force ran through her, making Ellis convulse. She coughed involuntarily, a wisp of faint grey smoke escaping her lips.
"While I am your combat instructor—" Sil's lips curved, his voice low and laced with dark amusement, "—if you can't even light this fire, I might as well switch careers and become your therapist."
"What's happening…" Ellis murmured, confusion threading her quiet voice. "I feel it… so clearly… But why… why can't I release it?" Her gaze flickered to the silent Professor Miro beside her, a shadow of disappointment passing through her eyes.
Professor Miro cleared his throat awkwardly, offering an apologetic, slightly helpless smile as he leaned closer, lowering his voice. "Ahem… Well, Ellis… When we analyzed your data… we did, uh, discuss this particular… challenge."
"Just say it," Ellis replied evenly. "It wouldn't crack my top three most embarrassing moments."
He chose his words carefully, wary of causing more discouragement. "Your mana… its nature is profoundly unique. Its density, its viscosity, far exceeds anything in our standard understanding. Think of it, perhaps clumsily…"
"Go on," Ellis prompted.
He paused, searching for the right metaphor. "An ordinary mage's mana is like a mountain stream. Clear, fluid. A thought, and it flows out easily for casting." He sighed, gesturing towards some training equipment piled in the corner. "But yours…"
"…Is more like… well… deep-earth crude oil sludge? Or… thick, heavy mud?"
(Great. That sounds… poetic,) Ellis thought wryly.
Unaware of her internal commentary, Professor Miro pressed on, "Its potential energy is immense, truly," he conceded, then pivoted, "But the problem is channeling it! Getting something that viscous to flow smoothly for spellwork…"
"Requires immense pressure!"
"Plus sustained, high-frequency impact!"
"So," Professor Miro's tone was understanding, yet tinged with resignation, "your path… it demands effort far beyond the norm."
A faint, wry smile touched Ellis's lips. "Fine. A smooth path wouldn't really be my style anyway."
Professor Miro quickly added, his voice firm, "But it's not about talent! Not at all! It's purely… your mana foundation. It's too… dense. Too… heavy."
"Alright," Ellis took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "Then we try again." She pushed down the impatience, forcing herself back into stillness. The roar of the flames seemed pushed back a layer; her breathing steadied, her tense muscles loosened slightly.
Darkness enveloped her. She focused her entire mind, repeatedly visualizing, feeling the shape and heat of that small flame she needed to conjure.
Then—a familiar warmth blossomed in her chest. That slumbering heat stirred again, more tangible, more eager than before! Ellis's heart skipped. She focused intently, holding her breath, and guided the searing sensation down her right arm like coaxing a trickle, letting it gather strength.
Now! She snapped her eyes open and, riding the surge, flung her right arm forward towards the empty air!
Pffft— A faint, damp sound, almost like a leaky pipe, accompanied the gesture.
A tiny, pitiful spark, smaller and dimmer than a candle flame, sputtered from her fingertip. It wobbled listlessly in the superheated air, managed to drift perhaps half a meter, then fizzled out completely. Not even a wisp of smoke remained.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Unrestrained laughter exploded. Sil, who had been leaning back with arms crossed and a detached expression, now doubled over, one hand slapping Professor Miro's shoulder repeatedly. "You call that a once-in-a-century prodigy?! That spark couldn't light kindling!"
"Seriously, are you even trying to teach?" Ellis stared at him, utterly exasperated.
Professor Miro jumped in, trying to soothe. "Don't be discouraged! Think of your mana like an iceberg! Melt it with persistent passion, and it will become your strength!"
Ellis paused, then ventured, "Maybe… try water magic?"
Professor Miro hit the controller again. The flames vanished, replaced by the gentle murmur of a flowing stream. Ellis centered herself, reaching out with her senses, trying to feel the water's presence, to guide an imagined flow.
"Hopeless," Sil scoffed, utterly unimpressed. "At least you had a little red flicker before. Now? Not even a splash."
Professor Miro stared blankly. "Then… Earth magic?" The scene shifted once more. Solid, packed earth lay beneath their feet. Ellis crouched, pressing her palm flat against the gritty soil, straining to feel the rough texture, to sense the pulse of the land.
"Come on!" she growled, sweeping her arm up from the ground in a powerful arc!
Plink. A pebble the size of her fingernail tumbled out, rolled twice, and stopped.
"I… I'm actually getting discouraged," Ellis mumbled, looking at the pathetic pebble.
"Don't give up, Ellis!" Professor Miro urged. "If you just keep that fiery passion—"
"Perhaps I should provide the fire," Sil interjected flatly. A ripple of shimmering blue energy suddenly cascaded over his form.
"Hey! Sil! What are you—?!" Professor Miro yelped, startled by the abrupt, clearly hostile move. He instinctively lurched forward to block Ellis, his movement clumsy, like a startled penguin.
"Combat is the fastest path to awakening," Sil stated coolly, casually rolling his neck. "At this glacial pace you're teaching, the girl wouldn't stand a chance against a stray cat by graduation."
"That might be true!" Professor Miro's voice was thick with alarm. "But don't you dare actually hurt her!"
[Fighting the continent's strongest Dimensionalist on her second day?!]