Chapter 98: An anomaly!
"I had implanted an equipment that allowed me know if you ever came here. You know I said I would roam the planet in search of my kind, I wouldn't want to wander around and you came back looking for me. So I did that to notify me whenever you stepped foot on the planet." Randin replied.
"That's pretty helpful." Grey mumbled and they ate their foods quietly and in a few minutes, they were done. "Now that we are done, let's finally find a use for your magic Elara and with Randin's help, it will be easier."
"Actually, allow me to train her." Grey heard a voice say in his head.
"What?!" Grey almost choked on the air.
"What happened?" Randin and Elara asked at once as they suddenly looked worried while they rushed towards Grey's side.
"Noir! You want to help train her?" Grey asked out loud in shock.
"Noir? Who's Noir?" Elara asked.
"Did I stutter? I said I want to train her, any problem?" Noir asked.
"But when I had asked for your help in a sparring session, you refused and you want to help Elara?" Grey said.
"Your case is different. You have a knack for solving your problems yourself without help but she is really in need of the help. And mind you," Noir said as a black mist appeared from Grey's hand taking the shape of a wolf.
"I wasn't asking for your permission, I was telling you." Noir completed his words.
"Woah! A cute wolf just appeared." Elara said and then she walked towards Noir ruffing his red fur.
"Cute?!" Grey shouted almost choking on the air the second time. 'She just called him cute but he didn't do anything… wait, can I even call Noir a he or a she?'
"Elf lady." Noir said opening a mind link with her which startled Elara slightly. "I just told that grumpy human there that I will be the one training you and since you said you use illusion magic too, I will help you in that aspect too."
"You… you also acknowledge that he is grumpy?!" Elara laughed out loud while Grey glared at her.
"Let's not lose track of the conversation here." Noir said.
"Right! I really don't know what you are, but if you are with him, it means you are helpful and strong. So I will gladly accept your help." Elara said bowing down slightly.
"See the difference between you both?" Noir asked while Grey scoffed.
"So when do we start?" Elara asked.
"Now." Noir said and then he walked forward to the edge of the cave. "Let's go." He ordered and he along with Elara left Randin's cave house.
"Well that leaves the two of us. Any idea what we can do?" Randin asked.
"Actually, I plan on hunting. And not just any beasts, but I need strong ones." Grey replied.
"Like how strong are we talking about?" Randin asked.
"About level 4 or 5." Grey replied.
"That means we will have to venture into the forbidden realm." Randin said rubbing his beard.
"Forbidden realm?!" Grey asked.
"It is a forest filled with more dangerous beasts than the ones we encountered in the outskirts. This forest is at the other side of all these caves and mountains. And the deeper you go into the forest, the stronger the beasts." Randin replied.
"Good! That will have to do." Grey replied.
'I just hope to see some elemental beasts there and maybe I can get their cores and absorb it to gain more points in my affinities. I would have absorbed that level 8 beast's core, but it's stronger than me and might mess with my core so level 5 beasts will have to do.' he thought.
"Alright, let me go and get my equipment." Randin said while Grey relaxed back in his seat waiting for him to be ready.
Meanwhile, Elara and Noir were seen in a clearing in the middle of forest where no beast would disturb them. They were seen standing opposite each other while Noir walked around examining Elara.
"Hmm. As expected of an elf, you have immense amount of mana. Well not as much as that old man Jankis or Licht but it is still impressive." Noir commented.
"So how do we start?" Elara commented.
"Be patient girly." Noir replied and then he stood directly opposite to her. "Okay! Do you know how to cast spells and use mana?"
"Yes! I can cast little plant spells like summoning a thick vine or countless of them that can only last up to three seconds before disappearing again." Elara replied.
"So you know the basics of using mana and moving it around to create spells." Noir commented. "This should be easy depending on your level of assimilation."
"Let's do this!" Elara smiled. "So what are we training first? Plant magic or illusion magic? Oh I have an idea, let's do plant magic first."
"Now I know why that kid calls you a parrot." Noir sighed while Elara immediately shut up. "We are training your illusion magic first since it's the most complicated to do."
"So how do we start?" Elara asked.
"By first of all keeping quiet and sitting down in a meditative pose while shutting your eyes." Noir said.
"Sitting down and shutting my eyes?" Elara asked.
"Will you stop asking too much question and do as I say?!" Noir shouted and Elara quickly shut her eyes after sitting down cross legged while awaiting further instructions.
"Now that your eyes are shut, I want you to use your other senses. Since you have an affinity to plant magic, I want you to see the forest not with your eyes, but with your other senses." Noir said.
"How can I do that?" Elara asked.
"Imagine and feel the forest around you. The soft breeze ruffling through your hair, the sound of the leaves hitting against each other and the sound of the entire forest. It shouldn't be hard for you as your practically lived close a forest." Noir said and then Elara took in a deep breath while trying to visualize the forest in her mind.
"Firstly think of a small pebble. Imagine that you are holding a small pebble in your hands." Noir said and he heard Elara breathing in and out while trying to visualize the small pebble.
'I think she has gone into the meditation state. That was quick, usually it takes others around a few days before they could get into the meditation state. The only person I have seen do this so quick was Grey.' Noir thought.
Elara was slowly visualizing a small pebble in her mind and it was forming fully in her mind when all of a sudden, an image of a much younger Licht appeared in her mind.
"You are just wasting your time, you can't do it. You are just the weakling we all know so stop wasting the wolf's time and give up." She heard the image say while her hands began to naturally clench while the image changed again to that of her other brother.
"Tch! Pathetic. How weak can you be that you can't perform a simple task asked of you?" Then the image switched again to that of her older sister.
"What did we expect from a disgrace to the family. Hahaha!" Her sister laughed while tears began dropping from Elara's eyes as she saw her siblings all laughing at her and the laughter grew much louder which made her snap her eyes open as she quickly stood up while wiping the tears off her face.
"I can't do it, it's pointless trying." Elara said as she prepared to walk away when Noir stopped her.
"What is wrong? You saw your siblings mocking you?" Noir asked and Elara turned around with tears falling down her eyes.
"I… no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to shut their faces off my mind. It… they keep haunting me, telling me that I can't do it and it's… it's." Elara struggled to say as she was seen on the floor crying her eyes out.
"You know, assuming I had hands for paws, I would have really given you a tight slap." Noir said and Elara continued sobbing. "So because their faces keeping coming in front of you, it means you are going to give up? I understand, you have been taunted by them for so long leaving a scar on your mind but why allow it deter you?"
"It… it is heart breaking to me because all I ever wanted was to be acknowledged by them, I also want to feel loved but I didn't get that." Elara replied.
"Haven't you been acknowledged? Haven't you been loved?" Noir asked. "Who was the first person to acknowledge you and make you feel good? Didn't some people made you feel loved?"
"Acknowledge?!" Elara asked and then the image of Grey talking to her in the forest back at the elf town appeared in her mind and then him acknowledging back at the forest.
"You have pretty good magic. Because you don't know how to release this full potential yet doesn't make you useless. You yourself have to find a use for your useless magic and turn it into something great that no other person can replicate." she remembered Grey saying.
Then the image switched back to the one week she spent at Grey's house and how welcoming the family were. How Clara always made sure she fed her and specially took care of her. Then she saw Jesse always calling her a demon with a smile while also forcing her to play dress up and play different childish games.
"It's true… I… I was acknowledged and loved not by my family, but by Grey's and it really made me feel good." Elara said as she began wiping the tears off her face.
"Good! I'm sure all those times you spent with them brought a smile to your face, so instead of trying to show your siblings that you can achieve great things, do it for the people you really care about. Once the people that care about you and you care about them acknowledges you, others will follow." Noir said.
"So what are you going to do now? Are you still going to give up or get back up and fight hard?" He asked and Elara stood up wiping her face completely dry of tears.
"I will fight back and grow strong enough to protect Jesse and her mum. I'm sure that grumpy human can take care of himself." Elara smiled.
"Good! So get back to imagining a pebble for me." Noir said.
"Yes sir!" Elara replied and then she sat back down cross legged and closed her eyes with a smile on her face while her mind was on full concentration.
'I will make sure to make Grey and his family proud.' she thought and then she swiftly visualized a pebble which was shining bright in her mind.
"Can you see the pebble clearly?" Noir asked and he saw her nod. "Good! Now I want you to swirl your mana around and concentrate on that pebble hard, make sure the mana are concentrated on the pebble."
Elara could feel her vast mana moving around her body and willing it, she managed to direct it to the pebble in front of her while in reality, a bright light was beginning to form in her hand and slowly, as the light dimmed, a small pebble appeared in it.
Opening her eyes, Elara was surprised and at the same time ecstatic as she quickly shot up and jumped up and down while holding onto the pebble like an egg.
"I… I did it! I created an illusion!" She shouted in excitement while turning around to look at Noir who had a strange look on his furry face. "What's wrong?"
"That's weird." Noir said as he eyed her up. "Or is that an anomaly that shouldn't occur?"
"What anomaly?!" Elara shouted feeling fear grip her heart that her first success was about to be discredited.