Swimming within those watery depths for so long, you could imagine that I might have lost air by now, but I hadn't. The magical energies surrounding me—these wisps of blue vapors floating in the warm water—were more than enough to keep me alive. With each breath I took, the well's magic flooded into me and supercharged my senses so that I could feel every bit of that jolt of lightning rushing through my veins as if I was burning from the inside out.
'Control it… don't let it control me,' reason whispered into my mind. It was a voice that sounded ridiculously similar to Divah's confident tones too. 'Breathe... breathe... Feel the water... Feel that wetness on my face... Feel the magic, the power, crackling through my veins and traveling into every cell of my body like a shock, reminding me that I'm not just a speck of dust in an indifferent realmsverse but part of something greater.'
Yep, imagining the stars and space around me was very trippy, but this visualization of something bigger than myself helped me acclimate to the feeling of power flowing into my veins.
'Here and now, I am one with magic that exists throughout time, space, and in all things and everything in between.'
It was amazing what one could do with the power of belief. How just such a simple feeling of determination could help one tame even the most primordial forces of the realmsverse and make it my own. See, that was exactly what I achieved. I let the abundance of magical energy in and it didn't consume me or drive me mad. It made me more powerful. I could sense it. And, as my head broke through the water, I heard the chime of a notification that proved my belief.
[You have leveled up!]
"Nice." I grinned at the glowing blue bar I'd left on top of my clothes. "I can level up this way once every month... and—"
I pulled myself out of the water and picked up the smartphone-like tool so I could check my status. A quick inspection showed me that most of my attributes had risen by one while Intelligence had grown by a whopping two points.
"I'm leaning a little too much into 'magical me', huh…" A moment of contemplation ended with a shrug. "I'll figure out a way to raise my other stats more proficiently later…" I got even more contemplative before adding, "Maybe I'll spam Divah's 'Spartan Training Menu Number Two' this Sunday. That might do the trick."
Still, getting all my stats up all at once was quite an accomplishment as I assumed it wasn't something that could be done normally. From Dwalinn's explanation, it seemed like each stat needed to be worked on individually for them to grow, meaning this trip to the fairy well had been a resounding success.
"If even Dwalinn didn't know about the well's tricks then Divah's journal really is the best guide to adventuring," I chuckled appreciatively.
I glanced over at the fairy well.
"Wonder how strong she'll be after this…"
I'd been out of the water a full minute before I realized that I didn't exactly explain the method of absorbing the fairy well's magic to Liara. I wasn't overly worried about it though. Dwalinn had claimed she was a wunderkind, and I believed it to be a truthful assessment of Liara's talent. It was enough that I used Divah's patented 'valknut array' to refine the fairy well for her. She would figure out the rest.
Still, I was admittedly relieved when Liara came up for air twenty minutes later. Her pale gray eyes shone with the tell-tale signs of magic while her face glowed like she'd just finished a facial treatment at a spa. The chime of a notification coming from somewhere within her pile of clothes broke the silence of the garden, and I knew she'd achieved similar results as me.
"Congrats on breaking through that wall that had you stumped," I said as I offered her my hand. "How did it feel?"
Liara took my hand—our fingers intertwining—and replied with a single word. "Epic."
As I helped her out of the water, I noticed that she rose from the fairy well while glistening with drops of glowing blue water still clinging to her like she was a supermodel showing off her well-toned body on the cover of Sports n' Adventure Illustrated. I quickly turned away so she didn't think I was a perv ogling a girl in her underwear. Although the hot-blooded male in me—one that's never had a chance to hang with a female around my age before—couldn't help but take a peek at Liara while she got dressed.
"I knew it would be difficult when I decided to switch from a single training program to one with multiple studies, but I didn't want it easy. I was willing to take up the challenge…" Liara's pretty face was filled with emotion while she explained her recent struggles with me. "I studied hard and trained harder, but because I divided my focus between mastering a warrior's skills and learning spellcraft, my development as a novice slowed down to the point where I couldn't see any growth at all. I became stagnant water…"
Her gaze drifted toward the fairy well, and the sadness in her expression melted away to be replaced by a wide-eyed look of wonder.
"I thought it would take me at least six months to earn enough experience to raise my level again"—She turned to face me, a warm smile playing on her lips that carried none of the hostility she'd exuded when we first met—"but you helped me make a breakthrough in one day… thanks."
That last bit was barely a whisper, which made me realize that we were more alike than I cared to admit. I too found it difficult to thank those who've given me aid.
My reply got stuck in my throat because my brain had frozen suddenly. Yes, I will admit to being so entranced by Liara's otherworldly beauty that I'd lost sense. It only lasted a moment though because my wits were quick on the reboot.
"Um, yeah, sure…" I cleared my throat and looked away again. Then I brushed my hair back with my hand—no clue why I did that—before turning to face her once more. "So, I guess you had a great first lesson."
"First lesson…" One of her eyebrows arched slightly. "There are other lessons?"
I picked up my journal from my stack of things and flipped it back to the page that detailed the steps to harness the magic of a fairy well without going mad or dying in the attempt.
"There's one more thing we need to do here…" I reread Divah's notes to make sure I got her instructions correctly. "…then we can go uncover more secrets around campus."
That's right. This 'fairy well' hack I'd shown Liara was just the beginning of an adventure that would take us all over the Academy's storied campus. It was going to be epic!