Late Start

As the sun's rays peaked through the tree canopy and the birds sang their choruses all throughout the fairy glades, the spirit folk were all busy going about their daily responsibilities. Among them was a young girl named Reina. On this particular day, she happened to be running late to her morning classes, leading to her sprinting through the gaps between pedestrians, her short teal bob messily bouncing as she did.

"Boo!~~"

Hearing the sudden exclamation near her ears, Reina jumped in shock, almost losing her balance.

"Alba! you nearly made me fall! can you stop doing that every time you see me!" she shouted through her pout. Before even seeing the person who was behind her, Reina had a hunch that it was her long time friend, Alba.

"Hehee~~ you're just so easy to tease" replied Alba teasingly, as she walked alongside Reina. Despite both being born in the same season, Alba was two heads taller than Reina, with her short baby blue hair and thin, blade-like eyes giving her a slightly delinquent appearance. This contrasted quite significantly with Reina, who's petite figure and large doe eyes gave her the image of a helpless animal.

"We're so late! the elder is definitely going to punish us this time!" fretted Reina, as she tried her best to ignore Alba's comments.

"Relax, we're already late so it doesn't matter whether it's by a few moments or half a day~" commented Alba as non-nonchalantly as ever.

"Oh you we're away from class yesterday right? you missed something pretty amazing you know"

"Hmm? Wasn't it just a history class? what's so amazing about that?" questioned Reina.

"You don't understand! Madam Constance came to the hall yesterday and with her came someone very interesting,

Strangely enough, no one in our class recognized them, although the elders seemed to have some idea. Even stranger, they hadn't even formed their core yet!

The scene of their core formation was like nothing we'd ever seen! there was so much mana, maybe even 10 times our cores, and it was so black! it was like looking at a starless night sky!" Alba retold all that she had witnessed the day before, only occasionally embellishing as she did. Hearing this, Reina's immediate response was apprehension.

Although she knew her friend wasn't one to lie, that did not mean she trusted Alba not to heavily stretch the truth at times for her own enjoyment.

"You're messing with me again, right? last time I listened to your nonsense I ended up blowing myself up in seals class! I'm not sure what you're trying this time but no way I'll fall for it!" exclaimed Reina as she harrumphed and attempted to storm forwards, although her short strides meant that Alba could keep her pace quite easily.

"Come now Rei, how can you distrust your friend like this, you're breaking my heart~~" said Alba in faux-emotional distress. Ignoring her usual antics, Reina was still thinking about what she had just heard from Alba.

Although she was not prepared to fully believe Alba's story, Reina could not deny that she was slightly intrigued by the prospect of such a wild card appearing in their colony. Contrary to her sweet exterior, Reina was in fact a thrill seeker who would often leave the confine of the colony to instead battle spirit beasts in the surrounding forests.

Since the time she had first learnt to fight, Reina had always been searching for stronger foes to face and stretch her abilities against. Although she did her best to hide it, hearing that a powerful new force had appeared had filled her with great excitement as she thought to herself,

"If there really is such a powerful fairy, I've got to fight her!"

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It had been another late start for Adeline. Although she tended to prefer waking up at an early hour, the events of the previous day had sufficiently drained her of any energy and as she arose from her bed, she could see the sun at it's zenith from her window.

Surprisingly, she felt completely refreshed and her body was overflowing with energy. More so than even her normal self, Adeline felt as if she could run multiple marathons at a moment's notice. Not wanting to waste any of this energy, as well as more of her day, Adeline planned to immediately head to Constance's office. However, just as she opened her door, she was met by a tall, tightly built woman.

She had seen this woman often, following behind Constance. However, in all the time they had been in the same room as each other, they had not once shared any words. Feeling confused that this seemingly mute lady was awaiting outside her room, Adeline decided to ask,

"Is something wrong?"

"Miss Adeline, the Matriarch requested that I tell you that she will be otherwise occupied today, and possibly for the foreseeable future, and so she will be unable to accompany you in your training. I hope you're fine with me taking her place"

Although the lady gave off an intimidating aura of power, her kind tenor softened Adeline's view of her. Rather than the cold gladiator Adeline had seen her as, she seemed more like a serious older sister.

"What's your name?" Asked Adeline, feeling slightly embarrassed at not knowing.

"I'm Hela, an ice fairy who usually acts as the Matriarch's assistant and guard. I will also be in charge of your education for now"

"Nice to meet you! when do we start?" said Adeline excitedly. Although she was slightly tense as it was her first time away from Constance since her reincarnation, Hela's presence gave her enough security.

"You appear energetic, so we can start immediately," replied Hela before signaling to Adeline as she began making her way through the corridor. Hesitating for only a moment, Adeline scurried forwards to catch up before following Hela all the way to an external courtyard.

Various racks were attached to the walls, each carrying a wide variety of weapons. The ground appeared to be a hardened mud that appeared to have been leveled to act as a flat flooring. A large circle appeared to embossed onto the floor that encompassed the wide empty central section, that seemed to mark a sparring area.

"You'll be beginning weapon studies with me. Although fairies are extremely proficient in magic, weapons can provide a useful modem through which we can channel magic, and also allow us to tackle situations where magic is not possible or useful" explained Hela.

Hearing that magic was not all powerful was a slight shock to Adeline, who's perception was entirely based on her previous world's logic. However, as she thought about it, she could understand that for a world that appeared to be so directly managed by its god's, it would be preposterous for one power to be allowed to reign supreme.

"Now is your chance to choose a weapon that's appropriate to you. This is a very important decision, a weapon is a partner who will live with you through life and death, so don't make the decision arbitrarily. You can try out some options before deciding" instructed Hela.

"Are there any criteria I should keep in mind?"

"You can consider what weapon fits best with your build, your temperament or has the most chemistry with your element. However, the most important criteria should be which weapon calls to you." Although Hela's advice sounded abstract, her tone gave the depth of an enlightened master, almost forcing Adeline to focus on her words,

"What weapon calls to me..."