"Milady!"

"Mhhh…"

"Milady! Please wake up. The fairy Friedhilde contacted me and asked whether you are alright."

"I'm fine! I'm fine! But where am I?"

"You are at the Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test and fell asleep on a bed of nails."

Flora felt under her. "Ouch! Yes, nails, definitely nails." Flora shook her head to clear the cobwebs. "How long have I slept?"

"One hour, Milady. By the way, you passed the challenge."

*beheheheep*

Flora joined Aito's chuckling. "Oh, well, having high defense is awesome."

Because two minutes were left on the timer for the physical defense portion of the test, Flora let the turret shoot at her. It didn't even sting.

Physical Perception Exercises

The world grew clear. Colors intensified, Flora heard her own heartbeat, and she could even smell the mint of the drink on a nearby table. Enticed, she sipped at it.

"Identify the components of the beverage by taste." The info sign read.

"Mint, lemon, kale, banana, and maybe pepper?"

The hooting sound signaled her failure.

Flora tried a few more combinations, but couldn't get it right.

Next, Flora ported to a tower and reported enemy movements. Then she appeared in a dark cave and had to listen for footsteps and estimate how many people approached.

Both tasks went well.

Magical Attribute Attunement

May I access your skills to customize the challenges for you?

"Would I get to learn new skills if I don't show you?" Flora asked, grinning, but then remembered her resolution to go easy on acquiring new skills. "Nevermind, you may access them."

You are missing a beam type of spell for the Magical Power Exercise.

Would you like to do the Magical Macro-Control Exercise first to learn the spell?

"Sure! Beam sounds great!" Flora exclaimed. "And Aidan, you heard her, I'm innocent. I totally didn't go for more skills!"

"Yes, Milady?" Aidan sounded confused.

Magical Macro-Control Exercises

A console with a hologram of a skill diagram and a target butt appeared.

Flora closed in on the hologram like hawk on a mouse.

"Learn the Spell Acid Jet. Target time: 2 minutes." The sign demanded.

"Pretty! Definitely water and look how much room for filling it with mana there is! It's definitely a channeled spell. It's a bit more sophisticated than my other spells."

"The elemental beams are tier 2 spells, Milady."

!

A jet of water gushed out of Flora's hand.

You gained a new skill: Acid Jet.

Description: (channeled) A beam of water to soak your enemies.

Cooldown: None

Range: 5 meter

Tier: 2

!

"I love it!"

You gained a new skill: Lightning Arc.

Description: (channeled) A beam of lightning to shock your enemies.

Cooldown: None

Range: 5 meter

Tier: 2

You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

"Aidan, remind me to get the other elements as well."

Flora went to the next challenge.

"Cast 15 elemental bolt spells. Target time: 10 seconds."

"Burned toast and stale jam! Is that even possible?"

"Yes, Milady. With your current stats you could reach 9 seconds."

Flora has trained speedy Acid Balls for her duel with Robby's fiancée, so she used them.

Acid splashed on the target as Flora pretended to be the world fastest water balloon launcher.

"13.8 seconds."

"Again!"

"12.4 seconds."

"Let me try something." This time Flora charged the diagram with the absolute minimum. On the fourth bolt, she messed up and the spell fizzled out in the air.

"Again!"

"11.4 seconds."

"I'm too careful. Maybe if I charge it in bursts?" Flora pelted the target, but her mana ran out after only six Acid Balls.

"It looked promising, Milady."

A blue potion appeared next to Flora, labeled "Mana". Flora sniffed on the flask. When she recognized the smell, she downed the potion. Her mana bar shot up and Flora felt a bubbling warmth in her stomach.

"Good stuff, again!"

"9.8 seconds."

Magical Power Exercises

"What about the third challenge?" Flora asked as her surroundings changed.

The third challenge was modifying a spell. You completed it when you changed the element of the beam.

Shrugging, Flora looked around. However, the things happening in her gut distracted her. Flora didn't have any words to describe the feeling−Maybe like her imaginary friend who lived in her bowls curling up and condensing? It wasn't painful, at least.

"Oh dear. My magic is totally messed up! Or my perception of it." Flora was intrigued. The lightning crackled stronger than ever before, but the magic formed sluggishly. "It's the shift from Macro-Control to Power. Going through the magical attributes will be as annoying as the physical alterations. On the other hand, the changes are helping me to understand each stat and its impact better."

Flora walked to the first challenge and watched the kin-route. Then, she turned to the nearby flamethrower and cast Acid Jet. The machine sprang to life and returned fire. The thick jet of water and the spurting flame met in a cloud of steam. The fire was winning and approached Flora.

Flora packed more mana into the spell.

The grating hoot sounded, and the fire stopped.

"What?"

You used macro-control to strengthen the spell and not power.

"Oops. Deja vu…" Flora thought about what to do, but her mind always wandered back to the spell diagram. "Am I right in the assumption that every manipulation of the diagram counts as macro-control?"

"I'm unsure, Milady."

Aito beeped the "it's complicated" rhythm.

"If the diagram is the toaster and the mana is the toast, I stuffed extra toast into the slots and on top of it. Maybe I should pack the toasts tighter by slicing them but still fit them orderly into the slots."

*beep beep*

Flora filled all the lines of her mental diagram tightly with mana and released the spell. As soon as the water left her hand, the hoot and message reappeared.

"If I would compare it to the physical stats, it would be impossible to divide the strength and agility aspect of a punch. If I include ability or technique into the equitation, it would be even more complicated. Or maybe it's easy if you think about it in physics terms. Power is Force multiplied with distance per time. And Force is Mass multiplied by Acceleration. Can I compare Acceleration to Agility and Mass to Physical Power? The comparison falls short with physical stats, but my mana feels denser with the raised power stat…"

*beep*

"On the other hand, Magical Macro-Control concerns the diagram and not something with speed. Okay, that's wrong. Speed casting was part of the Macro-Control test. Now, I've returned to the assumption that Macro-Control is the speed−and maybe the finesse−of charging the diagram and magical power the mass. Burned Toast."

*farting beep* Aito displayed a light blue sphere. It sucked in particles in a vortex but also emitted them. As the vortex grew more substantial, the sphere's color darkened.

"Of course! I don't have to add more toast, but better quality toast! The change in density in my magical core is not because the mana is tighter, but it's higher quality! The volume of the mana pool didn't change, but the mass of a single mana particle increased!"

*beep*

"Thank you, Aito. But wouldn't that mean that my spells are stronger without me doing anything?" Flora cast an Acid Ball. It was much thicker than regularly. "Okay, so the power is higher, even with me doing nothing special. I just have to figure out how to apply extra oomph. Are we back at the start? No, now I know what to change, I just haven't figured out how to do it."

*farting beep*

Do you want extra time?

"Yes, please." Flora looked around. "We'll try the other challenges first; maybe something will come to me."

Close to the flamethrower, a circle with a conical field with distance measurements, like in shot put, was located. Instead of balls, three rocks laid next to it. One the size of Flora's head and one of her belly when she was pregnant with Robby and one in between.

The kin-route showed Flora that she had to throw them with Telekinesis. The target distance was 50 meters, with all three results added.

Flora lifted the smallest and moved it to the back of the circle.

"Hoot."

Flora rolled her eyes as the rock reappeared in front of her. This time she moved it in the air backward and then hurled it into the field at a 45° angle.

It sailed in a perfect trajectory to the end of the area, then vanished.

Flora blinked. She had a clear view of the whole field but couldn't spot the rock. The changing display drew her gaze, now 30 meters showed on her side of the layout.

"Oh dear! Is this strange game mechanic at work where bullets vanish after 30 meters? It limits throws as well?"

"Yes, Milady."

"What would happen if I let a rock fall from a 35-meter high cliff? As a next test, I would throw it down. Would I die if I fall off a 35-meter cliff, but if I throw myself down, would I vanish as well? Aidan, remind me to test it when we encounter a cliff. Tricky Beach contains high enough steep faces."

Flora lifted the beachball sized boulder telekinetically and repeated the throw. It passed the 20-meter mark before it hit the ground.

"Ha! I've already passed the test! Nonetheless, we haven't progressed on the mana mass problem." Flora stared at the last boulder. It was much bigger than she initially thought, not the size of her actual pregnant belly, more like her belly felt at that time.

As Flora picked up the rock, her magic fought against its mass. She didn't dare to move it back to gather momentum, so she pushed it with all her magical might at a 45° angle into the air. After just a few meters, she lost control. Momentum carried the rock a bit father up before it sank. 10.2 meters.

"Interesting! I might have a guess what holds or increases the magical mass. Willpower! That's one of the colloquial names for Magical Power, isn't it? I use telekinesis intuitively, but most of the other skills via diagrams, so it's easy to add emotions to it. I want to test whether I can mix the two casting styles up. Why not start with adding willpower to the beam spell?"

Flora hyped herself up, walking to the flamethrower. "I'm determined! I'm ready! I splash!"

"Acid Jet" She yelled.

A torrent of water streamed out of her hand. The flamethrower held against it with surging fire, but this time the water was winning.

"Expunge! Purge! Douse! Other synonyms for killing fire! Aidan, help!"

"Quench, Extinguish, Erase, Milady."

"Thank you! Did you listen, Flamethrower?" Flora screamed.

Apparently, the machine did hear them and spluttered out when the water reached it.

Flora cleared her throat. "Puh, that was arduous. I'm not the screaming type. We have to look into a different method. Oh, I know a specialist! Eddie told me about expressing emotions once. He participated in an acting workshop about this topic."

>>>

Hi Eddie,

I'm looking for ways to express willpower or intelligence for utilizing magical power that doesn't involve yelling. Any ideas?

Hugs and kisses, Flo

"Maybe I could add a 'sharp' feeling to the spells? There is the saying about a 'sharp minds'… " Flora mused. "We'll test it in the next challenge."

The next test demanded to one-shot green blobs with fireballs.

Flora cooed when the green slimes appeared. "Aren't they the cutest? Robby was wrong, I would totally do Jiu-Jitsu with them!"

Flora glanced at the timer, only a few seconds were left, and her mana was low anyway. "Here I come!" She dashed to the first slime and squeezed it.