"I ask that you all are kind to your new fellow classmate, Potion Mortal, and we will immediately begin class today," Zeus told everybody with his thundering voice.
It bothered me I couldn't learn one-on-one with Zeus, and I even had to deal with embarrassment from others since there were so many.
"We're going to start today by using [Dispersion] to make a tiny ball of air in the palm of your hand. If you would please begin this now." Zeus said. Ball of air?! How the hell was I supposed to do that?!
Everybody else seemed to be doing it perfectly. Come on Anima... think... Zeus admitted that [Dispersion] worked to rid the air in your hand, rather than gaining the ability to manipulate it. It makes sense, I needed to get rid of the air in my hand and leave a ball, but how would I do that?
I imagined it like making a circle with my thumb and index finger. All I had to do was use [Dispersion], and get rid of the air, but it was easier said than done.
[Dispersion] was an invisible skill to my eyes, and I couldn't perceive where it was at. Usually, with [Bullet], I used the staff as a catalyst for the skill and could fire it off with the top of the staff by the dome. Now, I only had my hands to use. I got my staff back a while ago, but nobody was using any weapons, just their hands. Using an air affinity must be different than skills...
Maybe that's it! Maybe the air affinity is a part of me now, considering I had to consume the stone in some way,
I visualized the circle of air in my hand and finally did as Zeus asked. The air swirled around in the ball that circulated in the palm of my hand.
"Hey... this kind of looks like a Rase-" I started to speak, but Zeus stopped me.
"Potion Mortal! Good job! I didn't even explain it to you!" Zeus said. So wait, then he knew I was supposed to fail? This guy...
"Great, now that we all have used [Dispersion], why don't you throw it at me?" Zeus said with a smile, crossing his arms. Everybody easily threw their air balls at Zeus, but whenever I tried, it disappeared. Even when I tried my previous ideas, the air ball vanished before I could do anything. I looked to Zeus for an explanation, but he wasn't even paying attention to me.
I was definitely getting the short end of the stick here. He wasn't paying attention to me and I had trouble in this session he hosted, meaning I was learning nothing and just embarrassing myself in front of everybody.
I couldn't even attempt anything, I just held the air ball in my hand and kept it there. As long as I could sustain this, maybe it would pay off.
[Dispersion] used all of my mana pretty fast. I recovered it at a good rate, but not enough to hold it for the entirety of class. I wouldn't learn anything at this rate!
"Hey! Zeus! I need help here, I'm not at the same level as these other guys." I told him. Everybody looked at me with weird stares, but Zeus didn't seem to react in the same way.
"The first time is fine, but you don't address me with that name here. When in session, you address me as Patriarch Zeus. So, what's the problem?" Zeus asked me.
"I can't throw it. Do you know another skill or something? It just disappears when it leaves my hand." I said to him.
And Patriarch Zeus... what was with that pretentious name? I shouldn't refer to him like that just to spite him. Well, it would do no good to start conflict now, so I just decided to play along with him.
"Patriarch Zeus, what skill are they using, and do you have it?" I asked him. He shook his head with an annoying smile.
"It's still the same skill. Can you figure it out?" He asked me.
Could I figure it out? If it was the same skill, I probably could, but what was the technique?
Let's see... I could visualize it in my hand, but not leaving my hand. Maybe it takes time? What was the trick here...
"Hey, try using [Dispersion] constantly while it floats, not just in your hand." Axe Mortal told me. His name... I wish I knew the real version, but apparently, none of them had real names? I wondered what was up with that as well.
I did what Axe Mortal told me to and imagined using [Dispersion] constantly, as the airball moved. It only moved three feet out of my hand before it completely vanished.
I could see that with enough practice, I would be able to throw it, but as of right now, it was useless to even try it. I wanted to learn more about how [Dispersion] worked, but nobody would explain it to me. Was that on purpose or something?
"Hey, Axe Mortal, why don't you guys have names? Don't you remember what your parents called you when you were a kid?