Chapter 24.

It was amazing. Rose's skin felt warmer by the second and, even more impressive : it glowed lightly. Like a human-shaped candle, Rose's skin emitted a faint light when she circulated her energy through her body, and she could also feel some of her wounds healing a bit faster too, her energy making her conscious of what was happening inside her. "So the Sunray School can create sunlight, it is logical, but heal wounds too ? That's weird. I don't see the link between those two …", thought the girl, confused. "I guess it is not called 'Mystic Arts' for no reason".

The girl took a look at Enora's condition, cleaned the bloody forearm and changed bandages. It was a real mess, but she did all that could be done considering the situation. Then she went back to experimenting, trying to create the light outside of herself or to manipulate it into other effects. She did not manage it though.

Nick had left an hour earlier to hunt, oddly hiding a smile from creeping on his face. It was weird. Why would he be happy about risking his life ? For disgusting food nonetheless … "Whatever, what can I do now ?". she wanted to train more into the Sunray School but felt like she should read further into the booklet first. There were not many pages left anyway.

' The Cultivation process is over. You know of pretty much everything about the five steps : Detection to feel the Magical Flow, Attraction to move its elements, Absorption to get it inside one's body, Purification to make it safe and Rest to let the body get accustomed to the new energy. Be careful and steady when carrying them out, and you will minimize the risks. There is one more thing that is good to know : how to make one's body capable of holding more energy ? A few ways exist, most of which are only theoretical and dangerous, but the commonly known one is by having a healthier body. It appears that those elements are linked in some way, as it has been noted that, between multiple mages of the same age and rank, the one with the most athletic physique will have a noticeably greater quantity of magic. So, you should begin training magic and body together. Apart from that, here are a few basic ways to use light energy. I will not give you everything about this school though : mages should try to learn a lot by themselves, to force more thinking. First, you probably already released the energy inside your body, which was a terrible idea. It is fine for the Sunray School as it is harmless inside the user, but there are many other energies that are very dangerous even to the mage if propagated recklessly. Anyway, the most obvious effect is not very useful, but shows at least a bit about your mastery : the better you are with light energy, the more blinding you will look. More importantly, doing this will heal your wounds slightly faster. Not by a lot, as the power is spread, but it can help. Next is the part about healing others. That is a difficult one because here, contrary to the first use, the energy will not act automatically. You will first need to understand the patient's body, what the injury really is, what caused it and only after all that should you use this knowledge to infuse your will into the energy. Understanding is as important as doing. Finally, a good offensive way for the Sunray School, a burst of concentrated sunlight. It is extremely demanding in energy, as you are effectively compressing many light elements into a single point and releasing them in a straight line. It will heat things very quickly, burn wood and maybe scorch stone, but it is mainly powerful against beings. The Sunlight Beam destroys flesh. You can even cook people in their armour if they do not have countermeasures. '

"I can heal Enora ?!". That was a surprising turn of event, but a welcomed one. At least that is what Rose thought. She went to kneel next to the tall woman's side, observed the uncovered injury and was about to try her luck when she remembered : she needed to understand. Did she ? No. "How did it happen ? What wounded her like that ? Cultivation ? If it is then I don't know where to start … I have no idea what might occur if I inject light energy into a magic-related wound !". On the other hand, she did not know if Enora had the luxury of time. "Let's wait for Nick to come back : he will know what to do …".

At some point in their journey together, Nick became important to Rose, little by little. She was the first surprised, as she had quickly developed mistrust towards others, even more since her fall out with Enora. But Nick was easy-going, he had a concerned attitude towards the girl's well-being while not getting too close as not to spook her. It made her feel a bit safe. Not to the point of calling him 'friend' of course, they did not know each other really, but they were getting there. And Rose knew that, for all Enora's mistrustful gazes, she too was beginning to have favourable feelings towards him. "Funny how things turned out : a stranger is becoming someone to me while Enora, the saviour of my life, turned into … something else.". She felt a bit depressed as she sat back on her bed.

So, she began working on her Sunlight Beam. And it was hard, as even though magic was not totally material, its elements still did not like being combined and almost crushed into a tight space. In fact, at every attempt, the girl was forced to release the energy she accumulated in her hands earlier than supposed to, because the more she forced, the less control she had over it. It felt like some sort of race : the moment she began the process, she had a set amount of time before it should be used. However, those tests were not total failures, as the burn marks on a big stone nearby could witness. More work was definitely necessary to achieve the power described in the book.