3 days passed by in a flash. Emmia lay immobile on the sofa, every muscle in her body throbbing with each movement.
"Argh," Emmia winced, trying not to move her neck. For the past three days, Emmia had pushed herself to the limit to grow.
The result?
'After these three days, my limit is just barely enough to cover my whole body,'
'And all those tests that I had to do...' Emmia shivered, not wanting to recollect the painful memories.
After this point, Melvin made Emmia conduct tests on how much stronger she was, how strong her defenses were, how long she could hold the transformation, and many other extremely painful ones.
'He did give me this gift though...' Emmia thought of the pendant hanging around her neck.
Pondering for a while, Emmia was brought back to the training room, lying on her back, panting from exhaustion.
She had just undergone a tempering process while being merged with a highly conductive mineral.
"Haah..haaah..., everything is blurry," Emmia murmured.
"Take a moment to relax," Mr. Melvin ordered Emmia as he deactivated his gift.
The forge around them turned bright for a second before returning to its normal look.
Emmia's eyes darted around the room, still unable to wrap her mind around the fact that a gift could be used how Mr. Melvin used it.
"No matter how many times I see it, it's still so cool," Emmia let out unconsciously. Mr. Melvin merely smiled in response.
When Emmia first found out about it, she had so many questions about his gift that Melvin was momentarily overwhelmed.
"Wow! How does your gift materialize like that in the real world?"
"How does it fit the room perfectly?"
"I always thought it only allowed you to control universal energy, but what else can it do?"
"How does it help in your forging?"
"Can you analyze things better when your gift is active?"
"Do you forge things in universal energy?"
"Can you control anything in your forge?"
"Can-"
Unable to take the barrage of questions, Mr. Melvin simply smiled as universal energy concentrated around Emmia and him causing the temperature to skyrocket. Catching the hint, Emmia shut up, as Mr. Melvin reprimanded her, "While I do encourage asking questions, you should know by now that asking about one's gift is not acceptable. One's gift is their lifeline. That's why even us teachers are not allowed to know anything except very basic details of the gifts of students."
"Sorry Mr. Melvin," Emmia apologized wholeheartedly. Mr. Melvin just nodded, satisfied that the girl had understood her folly.
Returning to the present, back to the training room, Emmia just stared at the ceiling unable to move an inch.
It was already Saturday evening, just two days away from the exams, and anxiety had started to creep in, causing Emmia to push herself harder and harder as the deadline drew closer.
Melvin had noticed the small shift, but chose to let Emmia continue, it was good to have motivation to work hard after all.
"Here, take this," Mr. Melvin announced to Emmia from his desk.
Shifting her head slightly, Emmia couldn't make out anything from her angle from the floor. Pausing for a moment in hopes that Mr. Melvin would take pity on her and hand her whatever he wanted to give her, Emmia soon realized it was all in vain.
A silence had fallen in the room, as Mr. Melvin waited patiently for Emmia to stand up and come to his desk.
"Arrghh," Emmia pulled herself up, her muscles screaming in protest. Limping her way across the room, Emmia reached the desk after a few seconds too long.
"That wasn't so hard was it?" Mr. Melvin gave a small smile as he pointed to the object.
To that, Emmia decided not to say anything.
'Not that I don't want to, I'm too tired to even open my mouth at this point.' Emmia thought to herself as she looked at what Mr. Melvin was pointing to.
Emmia's eyebrows shot upwards, braving the pain, showcasing her surprise.
"It's a gift," Mr. Melvin explained as Emmia picked up the pendant with trembling arms. "A gift to my student who survived my training regiment."
Emmia analyzed the gift, a habit she was forming after training under Melvin.
It was a simple pendant. The chain was a simple bronze color giving it an old vibe, with the centerpiece being two blue gems - sapphires, as Emmia could recognize them as the ones she had merged with first. The sapphires were cut in spherical shapes, one bigger than the other as they made an asymmetrical design with the bigger one in the middle and to its right was the smaller one. While it was asymmetrical in nature, its design oddly appealed to Emmia.
"Thank you," Emmia said softly, too tired and amazed to raise her voice.
Mr. Melvin raised an eyebrow and then said, "I thought I taught you better."
"Ah-" Emmia let out as she remembered Mr. Melvin's teachings. 'Always ask questions, some things are not what they seem.'
"How does it work?" Emmia asked the better question as she stared at Mr. Melvin with expectant eyes.
"Well, merge with it first," Mr. Melvin chuckled softly.
Wincing, Emmia did as told, not bothering to complain.
5 gruesome seconds later, the pendant still hung around her neck, but this time missing the bigger of the two blue gems in the centerpiece.
Emmia's eyes widened as she moved her body.
"I feel, great!" Emmia exclaimed with wonder as she did some rudimentary stretches.
"How does it work?" Emmia asked excitedly as she jumped up and down, no longer feeling like her body was filled with lead.
Mr. Melvin didn't respond for a moment. Emmia tilted her head in confusion before realizing that he was doing a check-up on her body with his gift.
"Good, everything is as it should be," Mr. Melvin gave his trademark smile as he crossed his arms.
"Tell me how it works!" Emmia exclaimed again, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.
"Well, it works on the property of the gemstone that you used, plus something called Universal Energy Encoding," Mr. Melvin explained with a smile.
"Universal energy encoding?" Emmia asked, zeroing in on the most interesting part of his statement.
"It's where you give instructions to the material or thing using universal energy as the medium. It creates special effects like this or enhances some existing effects of the objects," Mr. Melvin continued to explain.
"Whooaa," Emmia stopped moving from the shock of the information that she received.
"Of course, it's a lot more complicated than whatever I can tell you without any prior prerequisites, but for any encoding, you would require a special material that can be given an encoding," Mr. Melvin gave a small smile.
"So the gemstone was a special material?" Emmia asked with wide eyes.
"No," Mr. Melvin's smile widened. "Your gift is truly fascinating. When you unmerged with the gemstone, it somehow altered the stone so that it could receive an encoding. Normally, we would have to go mine for one, which would be incredibly rare to find."
'So I can make minerals able to receive the encoding?' Emmia thought to herself as the weight of her powers set in.
'Wait, if it's a really rare thing...then all the minerals I've been merging with and de-merging with....so I've been producing all these rocks with properties that make them able to be encoded?' Emmia's thoughts halted as she finally realized something. Staring at Mr. Melvin, Emmia felt a mixed bag of emotions floods through her.
"So all the rocks showed the same effect? Of being able to be encoded?" Emmia asked Mr. Melvin in a slightly sour tone.
"That's correct," Mr. Melvin agreed with the same smile.
"So-" Emmia started to say but stopped herself. "no- nothing. I hope they can be of use to you."
Emmia was smart enough to understand, that while she had been exploited slightly for producing the rocks with special properties, the help that Mr. Melvin provided far outweighed any price that Emmia could afford.
Mr. Melvin didn't say anything in response, only nodding with that same unreadable smile.
"Why can't we just do a universal energy encoding on anything?" Emmia asked after a short pause, her curiosity returning.
"Well, this is a relatively new field of study. People are experimenting with new things daily, but we still don't know the exact reason about what makes a material able to receive universal energy encoding," Mr. Melvin explained patiently. "Although, some people theorize that it has something to do with the way the material is formed in nature plays a big role. Unfortunately, the people who can perform this universal energy encoding are still limited as there just aren't enough materials in the market to reliably train people. Of course, there is one exception to this rule," Mr. Melvin added ruefully.
"Who?" Emmia asked immediately.
"Well," Mr. Melvin gave a short laugh. "The creator of universal energy encoding, the headmaster of Nova Academy, Morin Esten. He has no restrictions on what he can apply universal energy encoding to and can freely use it at will."
Emmia found herself nodding in admiration. 'Amazing...all the things you could build and make with that power... ' she thought to herself as her mind started to wander.
'Wait....I still need to ask-'
"Mr. Melvin, what does the second gemstone do?" Emmia asked with anticipation. After seeing the effects of the first one, Emmia was dying to know what the second one could do.
"Finally you ask," Mr. Melvin commented with a smile.
"If you merge with the second gemstone, it should alert me that you are in danger."
Emmia fell silent as her hand went up to the gemstone.
"It should also enhance your defenses and prevent you from dying until I can reach you," Mr. Melvin continued, his smile softening. Opening his mouth, he paused and shook his head slightly. Instead, he relaxed on his chair and asked, "How do you like the gift?"
"...thank you....so much," Emmia lowered her head, unable to make eye contact with Mr. Melvin. Her voice wavered with unspoken emotions, but reaching Mr. Melvin all the same.
"Remember, you are only to use the second gemstone if you are truly in danger," Mr. Melvin warned, his tone leaving no room for jokes.
"..Yes, I understand," Emmia nodded.
"I think you've already realized that something is happening in the city," Mr. Melvin's smile disappeared as the mood in the room darkened.
Emmia felt goosebumps erupt across her arms as she nodded.
Closing his eyes, Melvin felt like he had a hundred other things to say to his student, yet all that came out was a long sigh. Finally opening them, a smile adorned his face once again as he said, "Take the day off tomorrow. You'll need the rest."
"Yes!" Emmia nodded as she hesitated for a moment.
Mr. Melvin just cocked an eyebrow, waiting for Emmia to ask her question.
"When I unmerge, will the gemstone fall out?" Emmia asked after a pause.
"No, it will return to the centerpiece," Mr. Melvin assured with a smile.
"Okay!" Emmia grinned and unmerged with the rock. The gemstone reappeared in its holder completing the pendant once more.
As for Emmia? Well, she collapsed on the floor as the wave of exhaustion and soreness hit her once more.
"...w..hat?" Emmia croaked.
"Ah," Mr. Melvin gave a soft chuckle. "Looks like I forgot to mention that the effects of the gemstone only last when you are merged with it."
"Arghghghg," Emmia let out a groan and tried her best to glare at Mr. Melvin from the ground where she was rag-dolled.
In the end, Emmia decided to just merge with the gemstone again, almost passing out doing the same, and then made her way back home, where she collapsed onto the couch, becoming one with the piece of furniture.
'Ahhh...it just hurts....everywhere,' Emmia groaned internally, shifting ever so slightly to change positions.
Mr. Melvin's training had taken its toll on her, leading her to wonder if she could actually recover within a day at all.
'But at least....Seril is finally-'
"Mia, how are you feeling now?" A voice interrupted Emmia's sluggish thoughts as a face bent over from over the sofa. Emmia stared into Seril's crimson eyes while she responded with, "Mmmmm."
Seril cocked an eyebrow, "I'll take that as a no. I'll go make some dinner."
Emmia blinked rapidly to show her acknowledgment as Seril headed into the kitchen.
'It's good that Seril is better now....' Emmia closed her eyes as she just listened to the soft sounds emanating from the kitchen.