Quest of Automata King

To Be Reluctant, Make One Go Astray

Mui look around in confussion when he sees the majority of his classmates are able to perform magic naturally. Some of them are standing with eyes closed and hand stretched, they seems on the verge of their concentration, and control their breath slowfully.

Mana appears around them like some sort of blueish smoke. They are started to swirling, and gathering around the user hand, with bit more of their focus the users begin to imagine what those manas are going to manifest.

Some of them are starting to turn into fire spark, and for another, water are started to appear from the air around their hands. Depend in their training and natural talent, each person have one type of magic that has become their specialities.

Mui on the other hand have never knew how to control his mana. He even just know recently that to be able to use magic, one have to know how to control mana, just like Otto teach.

He looked to the left side, looking for Karas and Raul with hope that he could learn or two tips so he will able to pass this assignment.

Karas is standing in front of one of the stone, with his face facing to it. He spread his legs further to one another, while stretching his hand and touch the stone with his palm. Karas then closed his eyes, and concentrating to control the mana from his body.

“Humph!” grunt Karas, as breath escape from his nose and his muscles tightening up, the boulder that he face started to tremble.

Mui impressed at his demonstration. Karas still concentrating hard to move his boulder even until he forget to breath that would end in his failure. That beastmen lost his concentration, and fall butt first to the ground, he panting hard with mouth opened.

Changing his attention from Karas, Mui looking for Raul this time. He found him a little bit further, at the place where they are fewer stones, and more ground.

“Raul!” Mui shout as he running toward him. Raul answer it with a quick glance behind and then back to the distance of the meadow.

“Raul! Have you done the mana channeling practice that teacher told?” asked Mui, he look at Raul that act laid back compared to their classmates. Maybe he have finished it and able to help Mui practice.

Raul smirk as he answers. “Of course! Who do you think I am? I have trained magic since little, knowing that those are crucial for the legacy of Xionide company!” said Raul proudly. He moved his feet a little bit, and showing a small wild bushes that stick out of the ground.

Among those weeds are three daisy flowers with different color; white, yellow, and red.

“Uh... What do you want to show me?” asked Mui. Instantly, Raul’s face turn sour.

“How impolite! This is the fruit of my hardworking magic since I was a little! A plant-element type magic!” he shout angrily.

Sweat drop down of Mui’s forehead as he stepped back. “Sorry! Maybe you can show me how to do that again? I really need someone to give me an example!” plead Mui.

Raul glancing at him. “Fine, just because you apologized. Pay attention!” he said.

Raul pull his left feet back, and stretch out his right arm. Meanwhile his left hand is holding the wrist of the right hand tightly.

Raul closes his eyes, and started concentrating. He feels the energy oozing up from his back, crawling toward his entire body, and end up to his right palm that now are facing toward the bush.

“Hmmph!” Raul grunting as he concentrating hard toward his target. Those blue aura is indeed coming out of his palm, but it started to dissipates because of the distance of his hand and the flower.

“Come oooon!!! Reaccchhhh!!!” grunt Raul so hard, his hand is trembling and rain of sweat coming out of his head.

“Um... Raul?” Mui initiating to interrupt, but Raul have deep too much to his focus.

“Bloooom!!! Bloooom!!!” shout Raul.

Eventually one flower started to sprout from those bushes. It slowly grow into the height of other flowers, and blossom with beautiful pink colour.

Mui looking at the flower, impressed.

“Whoa! You really did it, Raul!” shout Mui, but when he turned back, Raul is lying on the ground, panting twitching.

“Y-you okay?” asked Mui. Slowly, that elf is waking up, he have to holding his knee to stand in the same position previously.

“H-how about that? Impressive isn’t it?” Raul wipe off his sweat, and brushed his light-coloured hair backward. He tried to act confident while controling his breath that racing fast.

“Yeah! That is... Impressive...” comment Mui, he don’t really know how to actually response, expecially to how hard Raul is casting his magic and his effort to keep up his posture.

Raul notice the confusion look on his roomate’s face. “What about you? Have you finished the task of that Otto person?” he asked.

“No... I haven’t...” Said Mui fidgeting. “In fact, this is the first time I perform magic other than small incantations for fever and cattles. In fact, terms like ‘mana’ and ‘elements’, this is the first time I heard about them.”

Raul looked at Mui while scratching his head. “To be honest, I think it’s rather diffcult to perform magic without prior knowledge. I believe that majority of students here think so too, they already learn the fundamental since six years old,” said Raul.

That words making Mui’s confidence shrink. If people that have learnt since the very basic finds it difficult, what about the fresh beginner like him?

“I don’t know if my demonstration could help you, but I remember my previous teacher... Saying something like imagination,” continue Raul.

“Imagination?”

“Yes, he said some nonsense about cosmic shape or something, I forget, but he ended with saying that the stronger your imagination, the stronger you’ll be able to perform magic.”

An understanding flying across Mui’s mind. Imagination, that’s it! By concentrating your mind toward some action that you wanted to be done, the mana around his body will make it come true!

Or at least that’s what Mui is thinking.

Mui distancing few step away from Raul. He looked to the horizon and feel the wind across his head, shoulder, and body.

Just like Karas, he split his stance one foot from another, and strecht his hand forward. Mui imagine mana is flowing around his body, just like what happened when the wind is sweeping down his hair.

He imagine fire, a big hot fiery flame that swallowing darkness, and change the air around him into hot tornado. Mui doesn’t care if he is going to fail or not, as long as he able to conjure that magic.

And finally...

“HEEEAAAAAAHHH!!!!”

...

Nothing happened.

Everyone surprised because of that scream. It was so loud and surprising that it broke the concentration of all other students. It makes the magic that hey cast suddenly dissapear because of it.

“What the hell?” shouted one of the female student, the water ball that she created splashed all over her uniform.

So does with other male student that have their fire extinguished by surprised.

“HEAH! HYAH! HEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!”

Still with his eyes closed, Mui swing his hands left and right. In his mind, each time he swings, it threw out ball of flames and other deathly attacks that burning out the grass.

“It’s fine! The teacher will handle the extinguished fire!” thought Mui, still swinging his fist.

That barrage of swings and shouts eventually ended at one big yell. In his mind, Mui can feel the heat of fire, smell of burning grass, and taste of victory.

But when he opened his eyes...

Nothing.

The grass in front of him is still green as ever, while the heat is probably coming from moving his hand back and forth. The smell on the other hand, is totaly come from his imagination.

“Now noisy,”

“Does that sound really come from him? He doesn’t even do anything!”

“Jeez now I have to start it all over again.”

“What a troublemaker!”

Mui’s face heating up, his body is trembling and his eyes are a little bit teared up. Mui slowly turn his head toward Raul, intending to ask for help. But that man is nowhere to be seen.

Shame and embarrasment is filling up his chest. At that point, Mui is not able to turn back and facing his classmates.

“That is one of the most energetic shout that I ever heard.”

Suddenly, voice coming from his side, making Mui surprised. It goes even more baffling that the person who said that is none other than Emmellia Novreyi.

“Emme... I mean... Your Highness...” said Mui awkwardly.

Hearing that, Emmellia just put on a slight smile. “I see, finally you have realized,” she said.

“Oh! I beg your pardon about what happened yesterday at the station... I should thank you more for your kindness,” again, Mui is sweating. Since the beginning, he knew that Emmellia is special, but until recently that he understand, the girl is front of him is destined to be a queen one day.

“Don’t apologize. Beside, if i didn’t interfere at that moment, Challender will doing something even worse than making your eyes swell. He is someone that his bad side you don’t want to see,” explain Emmellia.

For a moment her eyes is looking at the distance, making she looks sad for some reason.

“Anyway! We almost missed the entire point of this class! How is your mana training going?” Emmellia quickly avert her sadness gaze, and return to Mui.

“Right! I have observed how other students doing it, even asked directly to my roommate, but none of the explanation seems to help me out,” said Mui.

Emmellia looked closely at Mui’s posture, in her eyes, she just seen another person who happen to have difference of their body parts. To be honest, she is not understand about all the hate that have always been given to the Devil races.

“I heard this is the first time you do magic right?” ask Emmellia.

“Well, at my home, I learnt one and two about the spell used on cattle and diseases. But to actually used them to manifest something... I still don’t understand.”

Emmellia nod, she may have found the way to make Mui more understand about the fundamental of magic.