Samantha looked approvingly at the boy, and nodding, she said. - That's not the only reason, but for your case that's enough... - Samantha paused as she pondered the best way to explain to Arthur, only after several seconds did, she continue. - "Let's compare you to an apprentice knight, shall we?
- Uh-huh." Arthur nodded in approval.
- Ignoring most of the training, rules etc. The apprentice will start with a wooden sword to avoid injuring himself, to avoid injuring others by accident, and he usually doesn't have the strength to handle the sword... But in your case, it's different, you have the strength to handle the sword freely, but you don't have the technique... It's equivalent to a child who has just started practicing as an apprentice possessing the body of a trained knight who was in the middle of combat, he won't have any problems with the weight, and the force he moves the sword with will be the same, but what he can do is definitely worse. - Samantha paused for a moment, and saw Arthur's grumpy face, and with a smile she said. - Of course, it's not all bad, apart from the difficult start, it will be easier for you once you get the hang of it, but at first, it's going to be problematic anyway...
- Difficult... - Arthur frowned and looked at Samantha, staring into her eyes Arthur decided to put his complaints aside, so facing her he asked. - How difficult?
Samantha paused for a moment to reflect, then she looked at Arthur pondering something and spoke. - Before, my plan was for you to create spells in a year, but now, with this speed, there's no need to rush with spell creation, so for the next two years you're going to practice controlling your soul, and until you can use it a little, you can only use the spells… - Samantha stopped talking and looked at Arthur as if she had remembered something, then her smile became more evident and she spoke. - For two years you can only use teleportation, and the special spell of the next mark.
Arthur was silent, he didn't really understand the explanation until now, he needed some time to think about it, but right now he at least understood that he will be strong and weak during that time, it put him in a very complicated mood, he was annoyed at being repressed, and happy not to be pressed for time.
- For two years, I'm just going to practice using teleportation? – Arthur asked, his face a little sullen.
- No, you need to study from now on, plus you need to exercise to keep up with the accelerated fusion too... - Samantha looked at Arthur and smiled provocatively before continuing. - You won't need to create spells now, but the amount of work you'll have to do... Well, work hard, Arthur! - Samantha said with a playful smile.
- Make an effort? - Arthur was stunned for a few seconds, he didn't know what to say, and before he could say anything Samantha's voice sounded again.
- Arthur, your schedule is going to be tight from now on, but you can handle it yourself, right? The only important thing is to exercise a lot in the morning while keeping your mark active, then how to study you can get help from that cousin of yours, the rest we'll go over in the evening.
- Cousin... - Arthur looked at Samantha without understanding, but after a few seconds he remembered the woman, he had met in the ambulance that afternoon. - By cousin, you mean Katarina?
- Yes, her teacher knows a bit about what wizards need. - Samantha said.
- Teacher? Does she have a teacher too? - Arthur asked excitedly, so excited that he pushed back the blanket of blue flames and sat cross-legged staring at Samantha, while holding his own ankles and rocking back and forth slightly.
- Yes, she has a teacher too. - Samantha replied as she struggled to suppress the urge to laugh at Arthur's rapid change in demeanor.
After listening to Samanta Arthur was pleased and looked thoughtful; Samantha watched Arthur's expression for a few moments and couldn't stop an obvious smile from appearing on her face, but she still managed to suppress the sound of laughter as she waited for Arthur to ask her other questions.
- How do you know she has a teacher too? - Arthur asked with a puzzled expression, but his movement never ceased; he continued to sway slightly while facing Samantha as she asked.
- Well, it's easy to see really... Besides, I recognize the souls of the other nine. - Samantha said as she looked at Arthur with a sad smile on her face.
Arthur, hearing what Samantha said, became curious, but looking at her sad smile he thought it best not to ask about the other nine, and asked another question. - So... How is her teacher going to help her? - Arthur asked.
- We all spend a lot of time together; he'll know what you need to study to form the basis of each brand. - Samantha said as she changed her expression to a relaxed one with the same smile that always hung on her face.
Arthur, who had decided not to ask about this subject, ignored it again, but even though he ignored it, Arthur still felt strange about something and couldn't help but ask. - Samantha, why don't you tell me what to study?
- Very tiring. - Samantha said this while arching her shoulders and sighing.
Arthur didn't react when he heard this, he just stared at her without knowing what to think about it, and after several seconds of thinking, he asked. - But... You're my teacher, right?
- Yes, so I'm going to help you get strong. - Samantha replied with a puzzled look on her face. When Arthur saw the look on her face, he was stunned. From her expression, it seemed that his question made no sense whatsoever.
While Arthur was thinking of other things he wanted to ask, the flame space suddenly shook, and under his gaze countless heaps of colored flames appeared from what he thought was the ground, these heaps transformed into several different images, there were some birds in the skies formed of flames, and on the ground, there were some animals that were also formed by Samantha's flames. Arthur was so surprised that his eyes widened, but in the next instant his eyes widened even more, just as there were animals formed of colored flames, a heap of orange flames coming out of his own body began to form the same number of animals, but for each species there was only one orange flame animal, while for the colored flames there were dozens per species.
Arthur was looking at these flame-formed animals with obvious curiosity in his eyes, at this moment something else caught his eye, an orange stick that appeared over his crossed legs, this stick resembled magma, it seemed to be in a semi-fused state, but it didn't burn so Arthur held it in his hand and stared at it with a curious and expectant look.
- That should do it. - Samantha said as she clapped her hands and stood up. After standing up, she stretched and looked at Arthur. Arthur, who was staring at the staff, was attracted by Samantha's movements, and stared at her. Arthur was still curious about what was going on, but from Samantha's words he realized that it was all because of her, so he asked. - Why did you do all this?
- For you to practice. - Samantha looked at him with a confused look again; Arthur seeing that look felt as if his question was meaningless again, it made him a little angry and embarrassed, but he managed to put it aside and asked again.
- How am I going to practice with this? - He held the staff in his hand as he spoke, then pointed it at a cluster of animals and asked again. - What about them? Are they all for practicing too? - Arthur asked with a puzzled look, and looking at so many animals, he couldn't help a trace of fear appearing in his eyes when he asked Samantha.
- Yes, this staff is only an aid to your practice, but until you have the second mark it is of no use outside of this space... - Samantha stopped talking and thought about something, and after a few seconds a conglomeration of colored flames appeared in her right hand, then she raised her hand and these flames split in several directions and hit the heads of all the colored animals, and as soon as they were hit this space became noisy, sounds from several different animals began to resonate making everything chaotic.
"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."