OOOOH

Stepping into the cavern, I was immediately disappointed. It was a little too small- although still twice my height and more than an ample perimeter, simply just not a massive space to do as I pleased. More than that, the wide openings of which I entered had a slope down into a somewhat level floor- this configuration meant lots of light could flow in and illuminated my makeshift training hall- but so could a draft.

Freezing as no cutie like I should, I decided that dense mana balls, that destroy what it interacts with, is perhaps a bad idea. Instead, I'm going to experiment with uncompressed mana waves. 

The basic theory is that the mana wave forces things away and repels. With enough momentum behind the wave- it will cut or repel two halves of the same thing away from the other.

Essentially I could have a super cool wave knife. However, it has a small fault- if it lacks the required momentum it will rebound away from the intended attack and act more as a mini-shockwave and blast before dispersing. But that won't happen- I'm far too cute to fail. 

Focusing, I let my entire mind calm and push aside any emotions or thoughts that could be blocking my ability. Then, I assumed my somewhat awkward stance- my right arm was outstretched with my palm facing my target and my left arm was reaching up to reinforce my right. My stance was wide and stable, my feet placed on the cavern stone floor slightly wider than my shoulders.

Exhale- and then I focus on the feeling of drawing mana from my body and the area around me, then driving it up and into my right arm focusing it gently within my palm and wrist. So far- this wasn't too different from the mana balls.

I now picture the shape I desired, a wave with a mild curve, like a bendy branch being held at one end but not the other.

One integral difference that was showing itself- is that shaping the mana blade was much harder than the balls. Firstly the balls just followed pumping a circle with mana, where here it was like trying to stretch and shape a bubble. To my and this book's understanding, a less condensed shape is better- so if I make this hollow and use mana as the exterior it should be pretty good. 

As I focused on pulling the shape together, I was unsuccessful as I couldn't even maintain the shape- that's step one of… two?

My first instinct was to run and check a mirror- my cuteness has never failed me before. But I suppressed this urge, and decided maybe I was thinking about the shape all wrong.

Although it's mana, it still follows the rules of physics- so either I condense it further, making a functional but subpar and smaller spell, or I can try and support the mana. My theory is this, if I reinforce the mana structure through a set of thin mana frills organised in the thinest way possible, the mana wave won't pop and will hold its formation.

I breathed out once more and tried to focus again- although it was broken after I realised how cold it had actually become. I assumed my stance and pushed away thoughts of the cold.

Began picturing the shape and sculpting, rearranging the shape until it remained solid. I was left with a springy and stable wave the shape of an orange segment- although it won't cut anything if it's too thick. So I pictured squishing it to be almost as thin as a regular blade.

Opening my eyes, I was rather pleased with what I saw, a perfect little mana wave. It was so cute I could've named it, maybe something like Steve or Ethel. 

Now for step two- the cool part. I poured a portion of my remaining mana into a basic wind spell and tethered it to the tail end of the blade. 

Of course the separate wind spell for propulsion isn't required- it significantly improves the chance of success. Propelling this blade at the required speed to prevent a rebound or shockwave takes an enormous amount of skill and effort- and as much as I'm sure I could do it I won't risk it for my first attempt.

I released my hold on the blade, now it relies solely on the internal frills to maintain its shape, it remains stable. Now, only one thing left to do… fire it. I activated my wind spell, it rushed forward with the mana blade now propelled from it. Due to the combination of the two techniques it gave the appearance of some sort of translucent blue fire- rather menacing. Although I'm sure my cute self will never have to face one of these.

It crashed into the cavern wall as if it held a grudge at the very stone itself- the initial cut made by the front of the blade seemed to be about 13 inches deep 2 inches tall but 20~ wide- or as best as I can guess. It was abnormally clean as a cut, for about two seconds. The rest of the mana blade seemed to force itself into the gash of stone and push apart the stone all around until it dissipated. 

Now that the spell was finished, I could get a good look. The original cut was smooth- but as the blade forced itself in, the surrounding stone cracked and crumbled into long thin but frequent pressure faults.

Awesome!!!

I knew I could do it- even Rose or Edwina can't keep up with this! Elliot will also be impressed, or scared- I haven't figured out yet.

Well- I gotta do that again!

I breathed out- took my stance, blah, blah, blah. Whatever- anyway making the shape was quicker this time as I could just picture what I had last time. So, preparing to fire again- but realising all my efforts earlier had drained most of my mana- I decided not to utilise a wind spell and just fire it using my own mana control.

And- things went well… until it reached the target. At which point it pounced back towards me, and I don't know but I don't like to be cut in half that often. (Yes my waist is that small, hehe.)

So I obviously disbanded the spell- which resulted in a shockwave of the mana held in the blade. Usually if you disband a spell it's not this bad- but it's a pure mana spell and I was in something of a rush.

A big shock wave heading towards me- it smacked my chest, winding me and knocking me over. This didn't matter too much as my clash with the ground- promptly knocked me out. Woo hoo- ten points for trial and error I guess?