He looked at her sitting cross-legged and in a meditative position. Hina slowly took a breath and let it out. Every time she inhaled, she could feel the grass around her shuffle in her direction. Tiny blue sparks began to piece together inside her. She could feel the mana circulating within her body. But this was just the basics. Dio had a lot more he could teach her.
"Mana isn't just entering your body. It has a purpose, a direction. In order to be one with it, you must first observe it. Carefully," he closed his eyes and took a breath in. Tiny fragments were collecting together; they moved toward a single location, almost as if it was intended. "Where is the mana going? Follow it, stalk it, know everything there is to it," he instructed.
Hina, on the other hand, carefully followed his instructions for most of it. Somewhere along the way, there was a slight distraction caused by her sneaking a peek at Dio meditating.
They were in the same place they usually met. The breeze and general weather were perfect for sitting down calmly. Moreover, the fields were expansive enough for a lot of students to hang out there. There was an additional benefit to this. With more people came more stimuli, which initially may seem counterproductive, but they acted as added weight to the meditation. Making it harder to concentrate and focus on oneself.
'...' She stared at him, talking for a second; part of her felt it was rude and disrespectful to not listen to Dio while he taught her. But the rest of her, almost like a child basking in the rich sunlight, felt curious about this warmth and gentleness.
Strands of gray gracefully rested over his eyes, his skin was spotless and lustered with life. Contrary to his difficult-to-understand personality, Dio looked like a young, kind noble. To be fair, he did speak like one from time to time.
She stared deeply at everything he did or said. His chest moving rhythmically with every word that came out of his mouth. At that moment, all she could think of was how passionate and interested Dio sounded when he spoke about magic. It was almost cute.
'Flying too close….don't wanna burn,' she widened her eyes as she realized what she was doing. Hoping that he wouldn't catch her actions, she quickly closed her eyes and continued visualizing. But it was hard, how could she just resume or pick up where ever she left off? If it were that easy, then she wouldn't really need help.
"In the beginning, when you begin to visualize your internal state. We are met with an endless darkness, the excruciatingly loud sound of silence and the heavy burden of nothingness on our eyes. These feel contradictory, but does that mean it's not real? Doesn't the existence of such a thing within you prove to you that it is real?"
"In this desperation we seek light, we yearn and search for it while constantly struggling with the circumstances around us. In such a moment, you realize that the light never existed because you didn't want it to,"
"And as soon as you accept this state, you see fragments of magicules fluttering about in the endless void, moving towards something or someone. Acting as a guide or perhaps a messenger. To convey to us that it exists within all of us. That it is only after we accept the darkness that we begin to see the light,"
The rate at which Dio had absorbed mana was always faster than the others. Nearly twice as fast, however, he always pegged this as a result of his training and careful observations.
Hina's body was brimming with light as her entire figure slightly shimmered. What she just experienced was a commonly occurring phenomenon known as breakthrough. She was now a level higher than she previously was. Each circle or tier was generally divided into three, a low, mid and a high level. This represented specific progress within each circle as the difference eventually would amount up to a lot.
"....I just became a tier two mage….." She looked at her hands, her entire body was covered in sweat and grime that was flushed out of her body. She accepted the impurities within her and then expunged them.
"Congratulations," Dio had a smile on his face as he looked at the astonished and rather stunned Hina. "You stink by the way, so here," he waved his hand and the next second a barrage of water balls dropped on her head.
"...…."
"...….."
"..."
There were times when even the strongest of warriors showed fear. For example, when their mothers are enraged or in an alternative scenario, when the women in their lives finally snap. This instilled a fear so primordial and instinctive within him that the next second, Dio jumped up, turned around and ran for it.
"..." she wiped her face and removed the droplets covering her eyes, as she stood up quietly. It seemed as if mother nature was in agreement with her temper and stood as witness to her rage. "Where are you going?" she looked at his figure slowly getting further away with a smile and lifeless eyes.
'What the fuck. I knew I shouldn't have turned around!' Dio yelped internally as he saw her horrifying look. Every time he took a peek behind, Hina grew closer and closer. It was almost like a horror movie.
In the distance, a group of students who seemed to be engaged in their practice glanced over in their direction from time to time. Every single one of them wore the robe of Oro, moreover, they looked like they were trying to act natural.
"Target identified. Send confirmation back," one of them whispered as they disguised it with a cough.
Had Dio seen them looking he would immediately recognize them. They were the same bunch of individuals he found suspicious and out of place. Their usage of runes was simply too erratic, almost forced even.
"Requesting orders to execute operation,"
"Stand by. We take our time and strike at the right moment. We won't lose the target this time," a sinister smile appeared on the individuals face.