The next day, after a night of celebrating Line's return, everyone from the Loki Familia went back to their new training program, practicing Magic and Ki. However, not everyone was in it as some of them had to take care of the daily needs of their Familia.
Supposedly, Line should also be within this group who were rotating to take care of the chores, but all of them insisted that she should rest. Without anything to do, Line went towards the backyard, where everyone who was free, practicing and training.
Once she reached her destination, Line immediately noticed two divided areas. One area was for Magic practice while the other side was for Ki training. Surprisingly enough, Riveria and Lefiya were not practicing their magic. Instead, they were with the rest of the executives to train their Ki.
After Line thought about it carefully, this was also a good choice. Training Ki is a lot more effective if you're doing it with others, while Magic could be learned in the convenience of your own room.
"Yo! Line!", Tiona approached and called out to her with a large smile, "Came here to join?"
"Yes. I've got nothing to do and figured I should take a look at how everyone was doing."
Ais approached them while wiping her sweat and asked, "Shouldn't you be resting more?"
Line immediately shook her head and said, "I've already rested enough." She then looked towards the ongoing training and first saw Bete and Tione intensely sparring while Riveria, Finn, Gareth and Lefiya were silently practicing circulating their Ki off to the side.
Seeing her line of sight, Tiona explained, "They're waiting for their turn. Finn told us that we can't spar without anyone looking due to the danger of letting their Ki go out of control."
Ais nodded at her words, "Tiona and I just finished ours."
"I see... Without a dedicated healer, Elixirs are just too expensive for any injuries.", muttered Line.
Tiona and Ais looked at each other. They had a feeling that something was wrong with her words just now, but couldn't tell what it was. Deciding to ignore it, Tiona changed the topic, "Anyway, since you have nothing to do, what would you like to practice first? Ki or Magic?"
Line thought for a bit before deciding, "Hmm... My research on Magic was cut short, so maybe I'll continue that."
Tiona tilted her head in confusion, "Research? Didn't that guy teach you Magic? Even Ais here really wanted to learn more but the only thing she got from him was a book. So why do you need to do research?"
Ais nodded along with her question with a serious expression. She doesn't know if Kisuke forgot about his promise or just giving her the book was really the end of it.
"Ah, Kisuke-san taught me the basic things, but beyond that, I've had to progress with minimal help. He told me it's to cultivate a creative mind, after all, complex Magic is just cleverly combined simple Magics. He said that if I can experience this combining process myself, it'd be a lot easier to create more complex Magic in the future.", explained Line happily. However, she didn't tell them that Kisuke only allowed her to do so because she was special in the way that she could effectively heal herself and also practice while she's at it. Line believed that she wasn't that 'special', so she didn't mention it.
Ais and Tiona were shocked at her words when Riveria's voice came from behind them, "If it was me from before, I would have called those claims nonsense. However, I wholeheartedly agree with him after learning some simple spells."
Bete and Tione were done with their sparring and it was now Finn and Gareth's turn. While the former two decided to lay down and rest, Riveria and Lefiya approached the three, "Line-san, are you sure you should be moving around too much?", asked Lefiya with a worried expression.
Happy with her concern, Line nodded, "I'm fine. Thank you for worrying." She then pointed to a certain free spot and said, "By the way, can I use this spot to practice my Magic?"
"Sure. Go ahead. I'm also interested in how Kisuke taught you to practice.", replied Riveria.
The others also followed Line, being curious. After reaching the spot she wanted, Line took out four stainless steel plaques the size of a book. On each of its surfaces a Magic Circle was inscribed. "So he also gave you a 'bag'. By the way, what are those for?", asked Riveria curiously.
Line laid down these plaques two meters away from each other, creating a square with her in the middle. After that, she took out four, specially processed Magic Crystals, and put them in the middle of the Magic Circles, "Kisuke-san gave me this simple barrier so that I wouldn't disturb anyone when I practice magic."
While the other three nodded in understanding, Riveria frowned in confusion. But before she could ask why she would need a barrier to practice magic, Line activated the Magic Circles and a translucent pyramid-shaped boundary was erected between her and the outside.
Due to that unusual scene, almost everyone from the Loki Familia looked in her direction. However, Line had already started focusing and took out several notes from her bag and a pen to review where she's at. Thanks to the habit that she'd developed with Kisuke and maybe the side-effect of the 'refreshing' candies she was having, most of the information outside started going through her senses without her processing it very much. If she was not in any immediate danger or an emergency situation didn't arise, she won't exit her 'concentration mode'.
Riveria and the girls talked to her and asked her several questions but she was already unresponsive. "W-when did she develop such an intense concentration?", muttered Riveria in amazement. She knew for sure that their voices were reaching her as the wind would go through her barrier.
Riveria then asked the others not to talk to her anymore and let her concentrate. The others agreed and decided to watch what she's doing closely. They wanted to know what she'd learnt in her time of absence.
A minute later, Line stopped reading her notes and raised her left arm. While looking at it, a purple Magic Circle suddenly manifested on the top of her hand without her muttering anything.
'She's already at this point!?' Riveria exclaimed internally as she couldn't even materialize a Magic Circle as fast as her, not to mention, it was much more complicated than what she'd ever tried to do.
All of sudden, crackling sounds started popping out as electricity started dancing around her Magic Circle. It was the rarest type of Elemental Magic, Lightning Magic.
But before others could react, the electricity started getting stronger until it suddenly exploded on her left arm, "Kyaa!"
With her small scream and her Magic failing, Line's Magic Circle instantly disintegrated and her arm was lacerated numerous times. As a large amount of blood started dripping on the ground, Riveria shouted in panic, "Lefiya! Take out the strongest Elixir! Now!"
"Y-yes!", answered Lefiya as she scrambled to grab her Elixir and give it to Riveria. But as Riveria stepped forward with the Elixir in her hand, she realized that the barrier was still up and blocking her way. "Line! Open the barrier!", she yelled as she knocked on it.
But to her and everyone else's shock, Line still ignored Riveria's calls and grabbed her pen instead, "So Lightning Magic isn't just about controlling the Magic Power, but also controlling the charges. According to Kisuke-san's book about 'Physics'. I wasn't able to understand most of it but it says that 'Electric current moves from 'positive' to 'negative'. In other words, I have to create a set of instructions in my current Magic Circle to create this 'positive' and 'negative' to guide the Lightning. It seems that I have to review that book again and figure out how to do that.", she started muttering with her right hand right on her notes while her left arm left hanging in the air, healing with her already mastered Healing Magic.
Everyone was speechless. For the first time since the Loki Familia started training the mysterious method, the Twilight Manor's backyard became silent. It was so silent that everyone could hear Line's muttering and the sound of people's activity from outside.
The silence and shock continued as they didn't want to disturb Line who was apparently healing her wounds. If that magic were to fail too, it would be their fault.
A quarter of an hour without movement, Line finally finished healing her arm back to its original state and she was also done with her review and revision. "Yosh! Let's try it again!", she cheerfully shouted.
"STOP!!!" Riveria's intense shout finally interrupted Line's line of thought.
Line was startled and hurriedly answered, "Y-yes!? Riveria-sama? What is it?"
Riveria and the others were stunned yet again with her clueless expression. "Have you... Is this how you always do your 'research'?", asked Riveria with a twitching mouth.
Not knowing what she was angry about, Line answered honestly, "...Yes. It's a really good training method as I can also practice my Healing Magic. Kisuke-san also agreed. Though he prohibited me from doing any experiments with large scale and complex Magic without his supervision."
Riveria put her hand on her forehead as a large headache attacked it, "...Ais... Call Loki and drag her here."
Ais nodded and ran towards the interior of the Twilight Manor.
After seeing her off, Riveria then glared at Line, "Let's wait for Loki and discuss what just happened now."
Of course, she wasn't angry at Line, but at the irresponsible guy who'd taught her this way.
Without much choice, Line had to nod and answer, "...Yes."
.
.
.
"And that's what happened this morning.", Loki finished her story, "I was really shocked at the expression they were making when I arrived, you know? Especially Bete's. That's the first time I've ever seen his jaw drop that much."
After hearing her story, Hestia, Artemis, Sona and Medusa could only make a deadpan expression.
Seeing this, Loki added, "What? Say something."
As she requested, Sona indeed said something, but it wasn't the response that she expected, "Give it up."