The sun's merciless rays fell upon Lieren's face like a beam of concentrated mana, slipping through the gaps of his eyelids, entering his pupils. It was morning once more.
"Good morning." Harita, preparing breakfast for the two of them, said plainly. Despite the event the night before, the lean man acted the same as he always does, whimsical and unpredictable. He wore and pink apron with a cute bear motif.
He almost looked cute. Almost.
Lieren stretched his arms and legs, and the two had breakfast.
◇◆◇◆◇
Harita held a branch in front of him like a fencing master holding a rapier, his back ramrod straight, which he relaxed a second alter. He spoke in a clear tone to better explain the lesson.
"Magic is split up into five categories; Augmentation, Transmutation, Manipulation, Detachment, and Materialization. All adorned are born into one of these categories, which directly correlate to their overall accuracy and power, as well as output and precision when it comes to casting spells of a given type." Harita drew a pentagon on the ground, with each affinity written at the five angles of the two-dimensional image.
Augmentation was at the top. Detachment and Manipulation was placed at the left-hand side, with the former at the top and the latter at the bottom. Transmutation and Materialization was written the same way, with the former at the bottom. He pointed his stick at the rightmost bottom angle.
"My inherent affinity, as you might have guessed, is Materialization. With this as my inherent affinity, my mana cost, power, accuracy, as well as spellcasting speed and precision, are enhanced significantly when it comes to the formation of matter through magic; using mana. It is often touted as the obsessive affinity."
Lieren tilted his head. That last part intrigued him.
"…Why?"
Harita raised his stick as into a fencing pose. He looked up and returned the boy's questioning gaze.
"Well, there are various reasons, both good and bad. But, to me specially; I believe that it has something to do with the nature of our magic."
He held out his hand and muttered a chant, summoning an ebony curved blade that seemed to contain the starless sky within it. It held a transient beauty that seemed to disappear the more one looks at it.
'Night Eater.' Lieren recognized the blade immediately, having etched its form in his mind during the bandit's assault on them.
"In order to properly conjure a weapon, or any object for that matter, a Creator—Materialization users—needs to be intimately familiar with the desired object, to the point where a Creator can easily recall the image at any given time with impeccable detail. This has resulted in various bad rumors."
Harita's expression turned grim.
"Some Creators, both foolish and prodigious, have even resulted to less… humane acts, in order to etch an object into their inner psyche, both to others and especially themselves. It is not uncommon for a Creator to show deep obsession with their chosen weapon, most often bleeding into their normal lives, as well."
His did not show any sign of tomfoolery like he always does.
Lieren chose his next words very carefully.
"A-and what about you?"
"…Me?"
Harita grinned madly, a dark glint evident in his feline green eyes.
"I'm the worst you're ever going to get."
With a mad smile, he leaped for Lieren like a cat, extending his arms.
Before the boy could even react, he was already caught in the man's grasp, his sides trapped within Harita's grip. With a smirk, he squeezed Lieren's sides gently but firmly.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The boy laughed madly, as if possessed.
"STOP! STOP! STOP!! It tickles. Please, s-s-s-stop. At this rate, I'll die! AHAHAHAHAHA!"
"..Heh." Grinning, Harita released the boy with a satisfied smile.
A look sadistic enjoyment was evident on his face. Lieren gasped for breath as he fell to the floor. It was like all the life has been suck out of him.
Harita picked up his stick again and sat on a rock adjacent of Lieren's. He turned his attention back to the pentagon.
"Going back to your question; yes, I did have a time where I obsessed over my own creations, and those similar both in nature and spirit to it. I don't know how it came about, really, I had never been like that prior to developing my ability. It was like this… instinct, some sort of divine guidance yelling at me to honor, grace, and respect anything and everything related to my very own creations."
"Then—" Harita raised a hand as Lieren was about to say something, signifying that his story was not yet done.
Lieren followed innocently. This was all new information to him, and is thus highly interested in what his Aegis had to say. If he had a notebook, he would certainly have been writing furiously in it right now. Not even his books told him about this, though that was mostly from the lack of variety there was in the orphanage's literary pieces.
Harita continued after noticing that Lieren's discipline and self-control was properly in order.
"It's gone now, though. I believe that that divine pressure that I felt was more of restriction than anything. You see, your mind can think up of restrictions, or turn a weakness into one, when creating a spell, whether you decide to or not. It's almost automatic, in a way—like your body and mind knows exactly what to do even if you—the Adorned—am not aware of it, like breathing and blinking."
Lieren looked down at his hands, taking notice of the power inside of him, waiting to come out like a tempestuous wind. He can feel it crawling under his skin and flesh, writhing within, lying just below, ready to jump out at a moment's notice. However, it could not, as there was another power fighting its fierce presence, containing it, keeping it hidden and undisturbed from the world.
Harita got up and dusted his pants, patting here and there. He offered a hand to Lieren, which he gratefully accepted, and moved further into the forest. He said in a tone almost like he was greeting an old friend.
"Now, let's see what this spell of yours can do."