(Liana's thoughts) 'Today is finally the day!'
Princess Liana thought as she got up from her bed.
(Liana's thoughts) 'I wonder whether she's a good trainer, though?'
She continued to think as she went to change.
(Liana's thoughts) 'Today is the first day of my training with Lillian! I can't wait to train with her. Hopefully she'll be able to help me control my powers.'
Over the past few days, Lillian had demonstrated her powers for both her and Percival, both her weapons and her magic. The moment Percival saw one of her spells,
(Percival, in flashback) "She is more powerful than me any time, Princess. If she is willing, she would be of more help than I would."
Lillian had agreed to train Liana to control her powers, and they were going to start today.
*
(Liana) "You ready?"
Liana asked Lillian, poking her head into Lillian's room.
(Lillian) "Yeah, be there in a second."
Lillian said, then put down what she was holding and walked over to Liana.
(Liana) "Okay, let's go."
Liana said.
(Queen Adelia) "Hi, you two. Could you please eat breakfast before going to play with magic?"
Queen Adelia said as she walked past them.
(Liana) "Morning Mom. Do we really have to?"
Liana half whined.
(Lillian) "Good Morning, Queen Adelia."
Lillian said, greeting her with the traditional Adrenian greeting, then continued,
(Lillian) "Sure, we'll be there in a while."
(King Zander) "Girls, hurry up, would you? I'm starving."
King Zander said, seeming to come out of nowhere and shocking the two girls.
(Liana) "Dad!"
Liana exclaimed, then used the mind-link spell to talk with Lillian.
(Liana, through mind-link, to Lillian) "Hey, Sorry about my Dad, he, uh, likes to do that."
Upon hearing that, Lillian used the mind-link spell to talk to Liana.
(Lillian, through mind-link, to Liana) "It's alright, I was just a little surprised."
(Liana, through mind-link, to Lillian) "Good."
Aloud she said,
(Liana) "Let's go for breakfast now, then."
*
After they finished breakfast, Liana and Lillian headed to the training room.
(Liana) "Do you want to know the password for the training room?"
Liana asked Lillian.
(Liana) "Like, just in case you want to come in when I'm not around?"
(Lillian) "Sure."
Lillian replied after thinking for a while.
(Lillian's thoughts) 'I don't know what for though.'
(Lillian) "Though won't I be with you most of the time?"
(Liana) "Huh, good point. Anyway, the password is retrobte."
(Lillian) "Noted."
(Liana) "Okay, what would you like to do first?"
Liana asked Lillian after she had unlocked the door and walked in.
(Lillian) "Anything. As long as it is practicing your magic, as I promised to help you train and control it."
(Liana) "I knew you would say that. Well, anyway I'll tell you what I need help with. Percival said that I needed someone to help me control my powers because they are growing drastically each day."
(Lillian) "…I was expecting something like that. Do you know how much your powers go up each day?"
Lillian said after thinking for a while.
(Liana) "I'm not sure, but Percival told me it goes up faster than the average person."
(Lillian) "Well, he's not wrong. Your powers do go up faster than the average person, which is one seventh of a level each day, max, if they train for about half the day. How much do you train each day?"
Lillian asked after telling Liana the average speed of the magic levelling up.
(Liana) "… I'm actually not sure. I think about three to four hours a day?"
Liana replied, after thinking for a long while.
(Lillian) "THREE TO FOUR hours a day!!??"
Lillian exclaimed, surprised.
She paused.
(Lillian) "Wow. That means you're really gifted, more so than most."
(Liana) "What do you mean more gifted than most?"
Liana asked, surprised with Lillian's reaction.
(Lillian) "Oh. Sorry. It's not every day that you find someone who is similar to yourself, but on a whole different level."
Liana raised her eyebrows.
(Liana) "Similar to you? And why am I on a whole different level?"
Lillian gave her a smile, but Liana felt there was something off about it.
(Lillian) "You said you don't know how much you level up a day right? Well, I'm not going to tell you how I know this, but you level up a quarter of a level each day as long as you use magic, and if you train more, it can even go up to two-thirds of a level each day."
(Liana) "...Wow. Is that even possible?"
(Lillian) "Well, in your case, apparently it is. Now we just need to figure out how to help you to control your powers. There is no way to stop it from going up so fast, so we just need to help you control it."
Lillian said, then thought for a while.
(Lillian) "I got it!"
She exclaimed, then a faint blush came over her cheeks as she realised how loud she was being. She cleared her throat awkwardly and said,
(Lillian) "You just need to focus, then think how powerful you want it to be then cast it. What class one or two spells do you usually practice?"
(Liana) "The forcans spell, the forbes spell, flames and sometimes frost and other spells like that, why?"
(Lillian) "So that you can use a spell that you already know to perform or practice regularly. Okay, let's use the forbes spell for this. Try this. Start the spell, then focus, imagine it as a class three or four spell, then release it. You think you can do that?"
(Liana) "Sure! I'll give it a try."
Liana replies, then does what Lillian told her to do, first starting the spell, focusing it, imagining it as a class four spell, then releasing it.
Instantly, the spell shot out as powerful as a class 4 spell, hitting the dummy and instantly blowing it to bits.
(Liana) "Wow! It worked!"
Liana exclaimed surprised that it worked.
(Lillian) "We can't be too sure about that just yet. It worked this way around, but we still need to check whether it works the other way around. Do you know any class three or four spells?"
Lillian said, reminding Liana that they still had to fully test it.
(Liana) "Sure! How about the forderms spell? I know that one too. Would that work?"
(Lillian) "That should work."
She remembered that Liana had mentioned the FORS set earlier as well but didn't mention it.
(Liana) "So, I do the exact same thing as just now, except imagine it to be a class one spell?"
(Lillian) "Yeah that's pretty much it."
Lillian said, confirming Liana's guess. Liana nodded, then did the same thing as she did before, but this time, imagining the spell as a class one.
Instantly, the spell shot out, but as weak as a class one spell, hitting the dummy, pushing it back a little, but not blowing it up.
(Liana) "It works!"
Liana exclaimed, happy that she finally was able to control her powers. But then she thought of something.
(Liana) "Do I have to do that every time I do a spell? Won't it take longer to do the spells if I have to keep doing that?"
Liana asked Lillian.
(Lillian) "No, you don't have to concentrate as much as long as you remember to focus. Since you already know how to do it, all you need to do whenever you do a spell is remember what range you want it to be in, then focus and release. If you practice, the time between starting and releasing will be less than a split second."
Lillian explained.
(Liana) "Wow, that's good. How do you even know so much of this anyway?"
Liana asked, wondering what she knew this stuff for.
(Lillian) "... It's… a long story. And I practiced often… so it's natural that I'd know this."
Lillian replied, clearly not wanting to talk about it.
(Liana) "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, but if you do, just know, I'll always be there to listen if you need me."
Liana told Lillian, hoping that she didn't make Lillian uncomfortable. She noticed something strange about the way Lillian talked about her magic, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it.
They practiced for the next four hours, until King Zander decided to see how they were getting along.
(King Zander) "Hi, you kids, how's it going?"
He asked, popping his head through the doorway.
(Liana) "Oh, hey, dad, it's been going great! Lillian taught me how to control my powers!"
Liana said, showing her dad a spell.
(King Zander) "That's nice. Thanks Lillian. My daughter seems to like you."
King Zander thanked Lillian, then joked around with her.
Lillian looked up from a spell she was doing, did the Traditional Adrenian greeting and replied,
(Lillian) "It's my pleasure, my King."
Zander thought for a while, then looked at the time, then said,
(King Zander) "Well, I'd better be going, or the people I'm meeting with will be tapping their feet impatiently and wondering why their king is so tardy."
He left the room, leaving Lillian and Liana in an awkward silence.
(Lillian) "... You're right. That was awkward. Is your dad always like that at home? I'm certain he's not like that when he's acting as King."
Lillian asked Liana, breaking the silence.
(Liana) "… I don't think so. Or not that I'm aware of…"
They continued practicing for about one and a half more hours', until someone else popped her head in.
(Queen Adelia) "Can you two take a break and come eat lunch? King Zander will be out soon."
Queen Adelia asked them.
(Liana) "Sure, be out in a minute!"
Liana replied, finishing the spell she was working on while Lillian watched her.
(Lillian) "Wait, before we go, I need to tell you something else about the mind-link spell."
Lillian cut in just before Liana walked out the door.
(Liana) "Sure! What is it?"
(Lillian) "This spell only works if both people know each other, but it works no matter where each person is, no matter how far away they are, as long as they both remember each other. So, if you want to contact me at any time, and I'm not there, just use the spell."
(Liana) "Okay, that's good to know. Now come on, I'm starving! All that training really works up an appetite!"
(Lillian) "And your magic level too, apparently"
Lillian mumbled, glancing at the info on Liana that her spell gave her.
(Liana) "Did you say something?"
(Lillian) "Nope! Let's go! I'm famished as well."
Lillian said, running to the dining room.
(Liana's thoughts) 'Hmm… I wonder whether she's hiding something. But then, she isn't very open either, it's not surprising if she's hiding something.'
Liana thought before running after Lillian.
*
About halfway through their meal, King Zander addressed Lillian.
(King Zander) "Lillian, after you're done, can you meet me in my office?"
(Lillian) "Uh…Sure, I'll be there."
Lillian replied hesitantly, appearing surprised.
(King Zander) "Good."
King Zander said before excusing himself from the table.
(Liana) "What do you think he wants to see you about?"
Liana asked Lillian after making sure her father couldn't hear her.
(Lillian) "I may have an idea what it's about, but I'm not sure."
(Liana) "Mom, do you know?"
Liana asked her mom since Lillian wasn't sure.
(Queen Adelia) "No, dear, this time he didn't tell me anything. Not even that he was going to ask Lillian to meet with him."
Queen Adelia replied, after thinking for a while.