NOVEL NEXT Chapter 089 – Water ball!
Sophia took Ellie to her domain again to officially start the magic training of the little princess. As demanded by Kira, the blonde first began by explaining the possible dangers of it and what could happen if one was recklessly using it. Even though Sophia had basically no experience with being reckless and never encountered any danger when using magic, she did her best to convey it to the little tiger to make sure she was safe. Something like that would probably be written down in her memoirs if she ever decided to write them.
“Okay, Ellie learned a lot! Can we do action now?!" The little princes had gotten impatient after all the theoretical teaching Sophia had done so far.
“Ahaha~.” The blonde let out a small chuckle. “I can’t promise action right away, but how about some practical lessons to switch things up a little?”
“Ellie accepts!” It was a compromise she could live with. “Let’s go!”
“Should we train more with the ball of water? It’s quite easy to explain and you seemed to like playing with it, too.”
“Waterball!” It seemed like she liked the idea.
“Alright, then make one~.”
“E-Eh?” The princess tilted her head. “Ellie should?”
“Of course.” She smiled at her. "You're the one who wants to learn it, right?"
“But…?”
“We just went over the three most important parts of magic, right?”
“Yes!” The princess nodded. “Ellie has the imaginanation and details, but no idea how to use powers!”
“Well, why don't you try a few things?” She encouraged her. “If you have the vision and the details, messing up with that step a few times won't cause too many issues, especially if we’re talking about low amounts of water.”
"A little tip!”
“Just imagine you really, really, really want to have some water. So much that you put some force into your thoughts when thinking about it."
“Like when Ellie wants cake?”
“…” Sophia paused for a moment. “Yes. Yes, that works a lot.” She thought that was a much better analogy. “Take your feelings for cake and use it on the water you want to create!"
“Okay!”
“Any other questions?”
“Can we get cake when we’re done training?” Now that she had thought about it, it was too late for the princess.
“My dear, your birthday was yesterday. Didn’t you have a ton of cake? I’m sure you had.”
“So?” The little tiger tilted her head.
“Fair enough.” She could follow her reasoning. “Sure, let’s get some cake when we’re done here.”
“Yay!”
“Only if you manage to successfully use your magic to create the ball of water, though." The blonde had to use the opportunity.
“So…phia knows how to motivate someone!” She sounded the most determined yet.
“I sure do~.”
“Let’s go!”
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Having a rough idea of how to do it, thinking about cake, and pretending it's about water, Ellie got to work and started concentrating on the task at hand. Watching her the entire time, the blonde eventually decided to get comfortable under a tree next to her while Blu sat down on her shoulder, as well.
“How is it going?” After around five minutes of silence, Sophia tried to find out how she was doing.
“Not good!” The princess shook her head. “Ellie still remembers the tingly feeling from So…phia’s magic from yesterday, but no idea how to make it!”
“Yeah, it’s hard to explain.” She just nodded. “It doesn’t help that I don’t exactly remember how Fennyfenny taught me, either…" It's been a year, after all, and she's very forgetful. “I just remember eventually feeling it.”
“Mhmm.” The little tiger couldn’t do much with that.
“Blu, can you help her?” The blonde looked at the expert on her shoulder. In response to that, the parakeet nodded once before flying over to the princess. It landed on top of her palm, which she had been holding up ever since trying to activate her magic for the ball of water.
“Oh?” The little tiger tilted her head while looking at the bird on top of her hand. “Ellie’s hand is starting to feel warm. A little tingly, too!” Immediately after, Blu relocated to her shoulder.
“How about you try it again now?” Sophia smiled at her. “Focus on the feeling in your hand and try to turn it into water.”
“Okay!” Nodding, the princess closed her eyes for a moment and did exactly that. “Let’s go!” A few seconds later, she opened them again and stared at her hand. Then, a wobbly mass of water roughly ten by ten centimeters big appeared out of nowhere. “Ohh!” The instant her eyes started sparkling, the water collapsed, drenching her hand and the ground beneath. "A-Ah…” The princess noticed that she lost concentration the moment she succeeded.
"Yep, that happens." Sophia scratched her cheek while Blu, on Ellie's shoulder, nodded a few times. “It worked, though! Congratulations on using magic on your own for the first time!” She started applauding and the parakeet also flapped its wings alongside her.
“But Blu helped Ellie…” The little tiger wasn’t convinced about her success.
“That’s not true.” The blonde shook her head while the parakeet did the same. “Blu just released a tiny bit of magic on your hand to let you feel it. It was already gone when you created the water. It was all your own magic.”
“How does So…phia know?”
“Ah, I haven’t told you yet, huh? I can actually see the magic around me. That’s how I can tell what happened.”
“Ellie wants to see magic, too!” She immediately got excited about that part.
"Ahh, unfortunately, that's not something I can teach you." Sophia got a little awkward. “It’s not something you can learn. You either can see it or you can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Really? Too bad!” The princess took it relatively well.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to worry!” The blonde smiled at her. “You can use magic even without seeing it perfectly well. Your sister, Ari, Maya, and the wolves can’t see it, either, but they’re all super good at magic!”
“Okay!”
“All you need is to be able to feel it to use it perfectly well.” She gave her a thumbs up. “Right now, it’s tingly and warm to you, but you’ll be able to feel it in detail very soon!”
“Let’s go!”
“That’s the spirit!” Sophia was happy her motivation wasn’t broken. “Alright, back to your magic! It was a great first try, but you need to work on your concentration so that you can keep it going rather than it immediately collapsing."
“Ellie will try!” She raised her fist high in the air.
“Okay, try another ball of water while the feeling is strong!" The blonde gave her a thumbs-up in return. "Focus on the tingly and give it a go! However, this time, try to stay concentrated all the way through."
“Yes!” Nodding once, the princess proceeded to stare at her hand for a while. “Oh! Ellie can feel the tingly again!”
“Great!” The taller tiger smiled at her. “That’s really good! It means that your connection with magic is growing already. Now, focus on what you want to do and give it a go~.”
“Yay!” Doing exactly that, Ellie concentrated for a little while longer, and soon enough, another wavy ball of water of the same size as before appeared floating on top of her palm. “Ohh!” Her eyes started sparkling again, but this time, the water continued to float. It wavered quite a bit, but it never collapsed.
“Nicely done!” Seeing that she managed to keep her concentration, Sophia lightly clapped her hands while having a proud expression.
"Ehehe-, Ah!” Unfortunately, the praise was enough for the princess to lose concentration, after all. The ball of water immediately lost its shape and drenched her hand, as well as the ground below her once gravity rose back to power.
“Uhh, sorry about that.” The blonde felt slightly responsible for that. “I think I vaguely remember being in the same position when Fenny taught me. The moment I got some praise, my concentration also slipped.”
“Ellie likes praise, so it can’t be helped.” She had no intentions of changing that behavior anytime soon.
“Fair enough.” Sophia couldn’t blame her. She, too, lives for praise, after all. “Alright, just keep going! Eventually, using magic becomes as natural as breathing. Soon, small distractions like that won’t matter anymore~.”
“More tries!” The princess liked the idea and immediately returned to training her water ball skills. “Ellie’s going to perfect her skills today!”
“Ambitious! I like it!”
Continuing to hone her water-making skills, the princess trained for around an hour while Sophia tried to distract her every now and then as she was relaxing under a nearby tree to increase the girl’s ability to keep her attention and focus on the task.
“Ellie thinks she gets it now!” Sounding incredibly proud, the little tiger presented the perfectly round ball of floating water to Sophia. “Time of distraction is over!”
“Should I put more effort into my distractions?" The blonde got a little cheeky. “I’m at five percent of my power right now.”
“Nuh-uh!” She shook her head.
“Ahaha~.” Sophia had to chuckle at her cute pout. “Well, even after that, the water is still going strong. That’s an amazing accomplishment and shall be honored.”
"Yay!" She got happier again. "Also, Ellie has gotten very tired!" Saying so, the ball of water in front of her finally dropped to the ground. “Magic is hard!”
"You've barely used any of yours, though. Rather, it’s concentrating that’s hard.”
“Same difference!” The princess didn’t care about minor details.
"A good counter.” The blonde could follow her logic. “Should we take a break?”
“Yes!” She reacted with a hearty nod. “Ellie wants cake! Cake was promised!”
“Sounds like a plan to me~.” Sophia agreed with her plan. “You managed to use magic and create a ball of water all on your own, so there shall be cake!”
“YAY!”
Having decided on their course of action, the blonde opened one of her portals, and the two quickly stepped through it to have their well-earned break accompanied by lots of cake to celebrate the little tiger's success.
