Another month passed.
Should I say that I'm disappointed? Frustrated? The situation is simple. I can't improve my magic. It was as if the progress has been freezes and no change could be made.
It was hard to practice something repeatedly for a long time without any results. I thought about giving up and choose a different path but seeing other using their magic make me dissatisfied. Why can't I do it too?
"Ken, spare with me!"
A child stood before me, his body was as big as a teenager. His yellow eye stare down at me as if looking at an obstacle to overcome at all cost. The boy was Hubris, someone I didn't have a good relationship with.
It was annoying. He has been like this for sometime, constantly bugging me. It's because he knew, he understands that there's no way for him to lose to me.
"No, I still need to learn proper magic before that."
Hubris clicked his tongue unsatisfied. Looking at such childish behavior, my blood boils even more. Annoying.
My anger which was on the verge of exploding quickly calm down and my head was cleared. Not good.
My mental state is unstable. It's a problem I have been aware of a long time ago but I couldn't figure out a solution.
I look at the leaving Hubris and sighed tiredly. In such a short time many problems have already piled up, even if I'm grateful to be able to line again isn't this a bit unreasonable.
However as I couldn't complain to anyone, I decided to think of a solution instead.
There's a total of 3 problems that I need to solve urgently. The first one is my mental state. There's no way I, who is a adult, could get angry over such childish provocation. Even if I lack life experiences, patience is something I have plenty of.
The second problem is much less urgent. It's my magic progression. I can still use magic like before but there's no improvement. My magic isn't proper magic yet.
What is proper magic? It's simple, proper magic is magic that is useful. The only thing I can do with my magic right now is summon a small dust ball. Or I could do a suicide attack. Both are incredibly bad and isn't helpful at all.
The third problem is troublesome. The relationship with other kids. As an outsider, I could easily ignore them and live separately when I grew up. But I didn't. I didn't want to. I considered them as family. It's what I wanted...
Out of all 3, the one the have the clearest answer was the issue with my relationships. It'll take some time to fix but I've got plenty.
Boom!
The sound of firecrackers interrupted my thoughts. The source of the sound is Hubris, who deliberately practiced nearby to show off. I can't stand him yet.
Haaah...
Letting out a long sigh I lamented my inactivity for the last month. Perhaps if I tried talking with him earlier then it wouldn't be like this. As for why I didn't do anything? I was quite angry at them as well...
I jumped down the ground and move to my destination, the place where Tok was practicing at. Tok is the most reasonable and is easy to talk to, he should be a good start.
~•~•~•~
At a nearby tree, a young boy could be seen hanging at a branch. His deep blue eyes were focus on the ground, his breathing was rougher than usual. He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. Eventually, he released the hand holding tightly on the branch, letting his small body fall down.
A small blue platform appeared underneath his feet, stopping his fall. The boy jumped down and another platform appeared. The boy repeated this action until he was near the ground.
However a platform broke about a meter above ground, unable to hold the boy. After recovering from the fall, the boy felt his butt aching. It was better than falling face first.
Tok sighed disappointingly.
"Another failure."
He has thought long and hard about the use of his small barrier. Although Nasha said it'll be stronger in the future, he couldn't just let it be without a use. Thus he came up with this idea. To use it as a platform for mobility.
He thought it was a good idea however the platform was still too unstable.
Soon a figure came into his view. The young boy wave his arm and increased his pace. Tok recognizes him immediately.
"Ken?"
The boy, who is now catching his breath, smiles at him awkwardly.
Truthfully, Tok didn't want to interact with Ken. The boy felt too different from them making it harder for Tok as he didn't know how to act in front of Ken. Tok know it was just him running away from his responsibilities but he wasn't ready yet.
However Ken seemed to think differently. With a tired voice, he asked.
"Huff.. hard... hah at work... hah as usual."
"Rest first."
Nodding, Ken sat down on a nearby tree casually. Tok also sat down, his eye never leave Ken.
After a good minute of silence, Ken spoke up again.
"Why did you go so far?"
"I didn't want to interrupt you guys playing."
Silence again. The two really haven't talked much so they knew practically nothing about each other. At least that's what Tok think.
"I'm sorry." Ken said.
"For what?"
"For what happened back then."
"Ken, it wasn't your fault. I... no one should be blamed for that."
Ken shook his head, his expression apologetic.
"That too but I want to say sorry for refusing to talk with you before, rejecting everyone kindness. I just... wasn't in my right mind."
Tok felt sadden by the boy words. It was true that he was a little frustrated at being rejected all the time but hearing Ken words, his small anger turned into pity.
"It's fine. Everyone here has their own story. Just know that you aren't alone anymore, is that ok to you?" Tok said, reminiscing a far away past.
"Ok."
The boy seemed to have finished what he wanted to say. Dusting his pants, Ken stood up. Pointing at a nearby blue thread, he asked.
"I'm going to go back first? You want to join?"
"I'm going to stay here a bit more."
"Well, cya."
"Cya."
After the boy leave, the forest was quite again. Tok was smiling. He was glad to be able to help Ken even if it's just listening.
"I need to be better. Only then would I be able to help them more."
Tok climbed up the tree again, he was ready to practice more.