Soul of a Human

While Orth tried to get this thing with the crystal right, Clare scooted closer to Mor.

"Mor? I wanted to know something from Snow, but she said I needed to ask you yourself..." Clare began shyly.

Mor looked questioningly at Snow, who just shrugged and stayed silent. This was not her fight.

"What do you need, Clare?" he asked the bashful girl.

"I don't... How should I... You know..." she stumbled onward.

The human let out a whistle °Lucky guy! There's a confession incoming.°

°A confession?° Mor asked, confused.

°Yes! She wants to confess her love for you!° The human answered, and Mor was suddenly painfully aware of Clares'Clares' fidgeting and a nervous crack in her voice.

°What should I do?!° Mor asked slightly panicing.

°Well, do you want to accept it or deny it?° The human asked.

°I don´t know!° Mor answered.

°Oook, so neutral to positive. Then just to the following...° The human explained, and Mor followed their guidance.

Mor looked directly at Clare, grabbing her fidgeting hands, and said in his most soothing voice, "Calm down. Just tell me. What's the worst that could happen?"

Clare looked up, surprised. Orth stopped with his crystal attempts and instead listened in as subtly as possible. Snow just put a hand over her mouth, seemingly in shock. Finally, Clare took a deep breath and went on.

"Snow told me you know how to get a better body, and I wanted to know how!" Clare blurted out, and Orth's interest peaked.

If this was really a possibility, it was too interesting to ignore. Mor was stunned into a surprised silence, his mind processing Clare's words.

°Ups, guess I interpreted that wrong.° The human said.

°What's wrong with you? Do go off saying shit like that if you are not entirely sure!° Mor complained.

°Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I really thought I was right.° The human apologized.

°Why do you always try to get me to be nice to girls?° Mor asked further.

°Firstly, it costs nothing to be friendly and makes you seem likable. Secondly, it's not just girls. It's just that, apart from Orth, no other boy was nice to us, so no reason to be nice to them. Third, don't you want a partner in the future? Being nice now to good girls will make it easier later.° The human explained.

°You know, that's not possible anymore... I used my once-in-a-lifetime chance and got you for it.° Mor said.

°You don't know that you didn't try it again, and even IF. Maybe there is a way for me to go to the afterlife, be reborn, or whatever. When you don't need my help anymore, we can look for something like this, and maybe you can get a girl then!° The human went on.

°So you are just looking out for me?° Mor asked.

°Indeed. You never know what the future brings, so you better be prepared for anything.° The human said.

°Well, thank you, but please tone it down a bit.° Mor said.

°Got, it!° The human agreed.

Snapping out of his stupor, Mor looked at Clare.

"You want to get a "better" body?" Mor asked, and Clare nodded excitedly.

"How do you mean that?" Mor asked further.

"Well, I'm envious of Snow, and I thought we are all kin, so I somehow could get a body like hers..." Clare explained, and Mor understood.

°Help me explain how! You know the actual facts.° Mor pleaded to the human.

°Well, first ask her if she wants a "healthier" shape or more strength, with the former being easier for her to achieve,° the human said, and Mor repeated the question to Clare.

"If you say shape is the easier one... I would like to try that, but what's the difference?" Clare asked, and Mor got another short explanation from the human.

"Shape will do not much for our overall physical strength, but honing your muscles will do that. But trust me, this muscle training thing is very painful. Because we are not using most of them and just relying on magic." Mor explained, and this time, Orth spoke up.

"What do you mean painful?" He asked.

"You know the pain if you run too much to get somewhere faster? The pain that will appear in your legs the next day or the day after?" Mor asked, and Orth nodded.

"Yes, I hate that, but at least we can easily undo this. Clare helped me after Miss Amthyne had dragged you off last time." Orth said.

"Sorry, I originally wanted to help you with that, but with the whole "nobles lie" thing, it slipped my mind. But to get to the point, you can't use magic to "undo" the damage. You can lessen the pain with magic, but your body has to "repair" itself. Only then do your muscles become stronger." Mor explained, and both Clare and Orth whinced.

"No, thank you. I will stick with magic." Orth said.

"And for only the shape?" Clare asked hopefully.

"That's easy. Watch what you eat. Expessialy as soul-kin, we need to eat more. The Cocona-Nuts are very good, for example. Eating is not only for "not dying," but it can help your body build reserves. This means that even if you don't train hard, you get a bit stronger because your body has more fuel. Think of it like a fire. If you put in the perfect amount of material, it burns brightly. If it's not enough, it only simmers, and if you use too much, it might get smothered." Mor explained, getting a surprised look from the other students and an affirming nod from Snow.

"That's it?" Clare asked. "Really? You are not lying to me?"

"That's it," Mor confirmed. "For the beginning, just eat as you are used to, and add two or three of the Cocona-Nuts. Eating too much of them will upset your stomach, and trust me, you don't want that." The boy shuddered at the suppressed memory.

"If you are used to this, you should slowly raise your overall intake of everything a bit more, and I mean slowly. We are talking about months here until you are satisfied with your looks. If you think you are too heavy, reduce the intake again or move your body, but then we are getting into the muscle training thing again.

"They are connected?" Orth asked, and Mor nodded.

"Your muscles use this "fuel", meaning they don't need magic energy for more power. No need for a body enhancement spell for simple things." Mor explained.

"That's how you can move like that while hurling other spells!" Orth exclaimed.

"Everyone thought you used two spells at once and wondered how!" Clare added.

°Would be nice, if we could...° The human huffed.

Mor just grinned, giving a wink to both his friends.

"Puts everything in perspective, right? I just need a bit of enhancement magic for some moves, like my high jumps, but that's just the moment when you jump upwards. After that, I can go right back to normal spells." Mor explained proudly.

"You are awesome!" Orth smiled. "Maybe I should try this, regardless of my earlier statement. Would you help me?" he asked, and Mor nodded.

"Sure! But it will be hard and painful." Mor said.

"I get that, but think about the possibilities! You and me, we could do anything. With your help, I could even become the next heir to my family, and then I can help you get better treatment for commoners!" Orth had already begun brainstorming, and Snow smiled at this youthful enthusiasm.

"You want to help the commoners?" Mor asked, and Orth nodded.

"Me and Clare both, because we are friends with one." He said, smiling.

"Thank you both," Mor said touched, and got a grin from both of his friends in return.

After all this, Orth tried a few more times to get this crystal thing right but soon gave up in frustration.

"I just don't have any talent in healing magic." He complained, and Clare chuckled.

"That's the problem with you, high nobles. You just choose your wives according to your preferred element, and therefore, your offspring are only good in that specific magic. Well, good, might be a bit of an understatement, almost unbeatable may be the right word, but suck in everything else!" Clare laughed.

"Aren't you a noble too?" Mor teased her.

"Yeah, but not one like Orth. I'm branch family, and my magic bloodline is not as "pure" as the high born. But because of that, I have an affinity for healing and a good grasp on earth magic." Clare explained.

"Well, for everything else you have your staff." Orth mumbled grumpily. "I don't need to be good at everything, if I just can ask someone else to do it for me. Organizing and gathering talent is our main function as high nobles."

Soon, Orth and Clare waved Mor goodbye and got back to their own tasks, Orth promising to accompany Mor on his "morning runs" in the future.

°He will hate those and probably give up pretty soon. After all, you soul-kin are wimps.° The human half teased.

°Yes, probably, but I want to give him the support, he is a true friend to us.° Mor answered.

After the rowdy bunch had all left, Snow sat opposite to Mor again.

"Want to continue with your training?" She asked, and Mor nodded.

"Yes, I need to get this "energy from around me"-technique down." He said, and they began to try again.

Mor was concentrating very hard and tried to follow Snow's descriptions, and finally, after a few hours of trying, he did it. A small trickle of magic was flowing from around him into the crystal, but he couldn't make it glow anymore. Just getting it to a slight hum was very difficult.

"You did it very well." Snow congratulated him.

"But it doesn't glow anymore, like before?" Mor asked, disappointed.

"Indeed, I didn't want to say anything about it, but I saw the glowing for the first time. You probably got to the maximum capacity of the crystals. After that, I don't know what might happen." Snow explained.

°They propbably just explode, releasing all the energy at once.° Joked the human.

°Really? How do you know?° Mor asked, startled.

°It was a joke! How should I know!° The human sighed.

"So I got the technique down?" Mor asked, and Snow nodded.

"Much faster than I expected. It was worth sticking around for that. Now you just have to practice it so you can do this in a combat situation." Snow said.

"Don't you need to gather more information, you were here just over a week?" Asked Mor, and Snow shook her head.

"I had a good picture of your kin around the second day, but you were the unexpected outlier, so I had to stick with you." Snow confessed.

"So when are you leaving?" Mor asked her.

"That depends on you. Do you want to learn anything else, do you still have questions?" she asked right back.

°Yes. I do.° The human said and Mor nodded.

"Yes Snow, I still have some things. But it´s getting late today, so maybe tomorrow?" Mor offered and Snow agreed.