"I don't like this Sally," Andrea's voice was shaking.
She was standing at the edge of a cliff as high as five hundred meters.
After she had evolved into a commoner, Andrea told Sally that wasn't the end for her. She asked Sally what she should do if she was to become a True Mage and she said, "You have to discover your elemental affinity first," and here they were.
Rina had suggested that fear was the most suitable way to get one's magic out. Old Man Zen was also against the idea initially but had no other method and had to convince Andrea to follow Sally's advice. She was regretting it now.
"Haha," Sally laughed heartily. "If you don't have the guts, I'll help you." She winked at Andrea.
"No! No!" Andrea outrightly refused. The pool incident had scared the hell out of her and she didn't want to know how Sally planned to help.
"Do it then," Sally taunted. "We don't have all day to waste you know.."
Taking a deep breathe, Andrea moved even closer to the edge.
She could see the ragged cliff side below her and the snaking river far below looking like a white ribbon.
"Sigh, what a beautiful scenery this would be if there was no wall of fire behind us," Rina commented.
"Yeah.." Andrea shrugged but sudden stiffened. "What the.."
WOOOOSSH!
Before she completely turned around, her body had already jumped over the cliff and she only caught a glimpse of a wall of fire before the wind ruffled her hair into her eyes.
Realizing where she was headed, she opened her mouth to scream but only added to her predicament. A large amount of her own hair was shoved into her mouth by the wind causing her a fit of coughs.
She moved her hand to remove her stray hairs but she suddenly flipped and her robes covered her face. She was now in total mercy of the wind.
'Shit! Shit! I'm going to die!' she screamed in her head.
"Come on Andrea," Rina shouted. "You can do better than this," she said in assurance.
Andrea had just panicked. For as long as Rina could remember, Andrea was always afraid of heights. She didn't like even the simulators of extreme sky diving, heck! She couldn't even handle a joyride in the park. Rina thought this would be a good was for her friend to face her fears.
Andrea heard Rina and immediately forced herself to calm down. She was still falling fast, however, and now she was less than two hundred meters from the winding river.
Hoping to arouse the energy within her, she turned her body and dives even faster going headfirst towards the ground.
The robe moved out of her face and she saw the river approach like hell's gates. She wanted to scream but swallowed it up, confident she could do something to change the situation.
Back atop the cliff, old man Zen stood with Sally beside him. They both could see when Andrea suddenly stopped flailing her arms and took the dive. It came as a shock to the two since this was also how they got their magic to emerge.
The difference was that they fell into the river almost ten times before they mustered the courage to face it. In this situation, however, the surprises weren't over. As soon as Andrea neared the water, the water took the shape of a hand and literally picked her out of the air.
It went ahead to place her on the river bank. Amazed at her immediate proficiency with water, old Man Zen felt like rubbing his eyes.
"Take us down there," he asked Sally.
She nodded and immediately teleported the two a distance away from the shocked girl, no need to shock her anymore.
As Old Man Zen approached Andrea, he noticed she was totally dry. He was now really amazed.
'Such fine skills.. might as well be a grandmage..' he thought to himself.
As soon as Old Man Zen neared Andrea, he asked, "How did you do that?"
Andrea simply shrugged and said, "I don't know either," she paused a little then chuckled. "I thought that was the aim if the whole thing."
Old Man Zen gave an awry smile and said, "I guess it was all on instinct, right?"
Sally walked up to the old man and pinched his waist playfully.
"Ouch!" Old Zen shrieked. "What was that for, huh?!" He frowned and tried to fake a painful expression.
Sally obviously didn't fall for his tricks. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Andrea.
"Are you okay?" She asked seriously.
Andrea nodded and looked up the tall cliff before saying, "Aside from the fact that my bones are rattling.."
Sally smiled apologetically then said, "Sorry for the scare but you should get used to it.. there are more scary things out there."
"It's still early enough to try getting you a Beast Martial Soul," Old Zen suggested. He walked over to the two girls, his black cloak waving in the air despite there being no wind.
He noticed Andrea's gaze on his cloak and smiled, "You'll have to defeat a King Class Shadow wolf to get one.. with your current strength even a Primitive creature might kill you."
Andrea felt more curious after hearing it was from some powerful creature and si she asked, "What does the cloak do? It seems quite normal, not considering the weird floating."
"Wanna see?" Old Zen asked mysteriously.
Before he could start his show off, he was pulled away by Sally.
Andrea laughed at the old man as he grumbled while being pulled back home.
When the three arrived home, Sally took Andrea to her room and they say on the bed she laid on earlier. She was surprised to see it clean since she saw no one else around.
"I need you to focus," Sally broke her daze. "I'm going to teach you two skills to help you get Martial Souls," she spoke with a serious tone.
Andrea didn't reply but nodded while looking at the other girl in the eye.
"The first skill is easier.."