97: Grower Than A Shower

At the end of the day, the group gathered together to discuss what had happened today. Aidan and Haley were the first to tell them about what they witnessed, including the spirit they had found and the messy event that occurred with the Church of the One.

The comment about the Church actually got Van riled up, asking if they ever got close to Haley during all of that. Aidan made sure to calm Van down, eventually showing that nothing untoward happened. Outside of that, both Van and Nina weren’t all that surprised that the Church just willingly killed someone in cold blood in the middle of the day in front of everyone. Only Aidan was stunned, considering that he came from a place where such a thing would be talked about in the news media for days or weeks to come.

The spirit thing definitely caught Nina’s interest, with her asking about the specifics regarding what he was and where he came from. Aidan filled her in, using his own experience as a spirit himself, getting Nina to nod in agreement.

“I heard spirits often tend to do their own things, but I guess after knowing Aidan for so long, I grew a bit too used to him. The fact that a spirit came to a city at all is normally a rare thing, especially when he was selling things in his own stall in a market. And you’re saying you bought those boots from him?”

“Yep, and they’re still totally worth the overblown price tag,” Aidan said, not even sounding a bit hesitant to tell Nina about his recent big purchase.

Nina only shrugged in return. “It’s your money, so you’re allowed to do whatever you want with it. Though I am a little surprised that those boots are worth so much despite their rarity. Then again, I have never seen spiritually made equipment before, and I don’t know what effects they have for actual spirits to wear them. Perhaps it was a blessing that you met one and bought something decent since you might need it for the dungeon we’ll be planning on diving into soon.”

After explaining what they discussed in the meeting with Yanu and Miko, Aidan and Haley were both surprised.

“Another cursed relic?” Haley asked. Her face turned slightly pale at the memory of the demon attack. “We gotta get rid of it as soon as possible then!”

“I don’t think we should be in that much of a hurry,” Aidan said, surprising Haley.

“I take it because it’s not being used?” Nina asked, prompting Aidan to nod.

“If it’s hidden away like that, as long as nobody else can find it, I can just easily destroy it without getting any attention from the demonic realm. But it’s true that we’ll probably need to get rid of it soon. Do we have the time to make another dungeon dive?”

“I already finished most of my urgent business in Palestorm. We can just as easily pick up some quests from the guild and head to the dungeon to rack up some points with the guild and get you your next rank up. The higher your rank, the easier things would be for us when we expand further.”

“So you’re not going to take over Palestorm then?” Haley asked, somewhat jokingly.

“I will soon, but for now, I need to lay the groundwork and spread my influence. Suddenly demanding to take even partial control of the city wouldn’t be wise, and I at least need some influential figures from this city to be under my control in order for that to happen. It’s a slow and tedious process, something that might need a few months to do.”

“A… few months. Got it,” Haley said, her head lowered as if she just heard information she wasn’t mentally prepared to hear.

“That’s what you get for expecting anything else,” Van said in a deadpan tone, then turned to Aidan. “So are we going with just the four of us, or maybe three if Nina doesn’t join?”

“I’ll be joining,” Nina said, dispersing the notion. “I have a few ideas I want to try while I’m there.”

“Alright, so just us then? I thought perhaps we might need some more members or something like we did with the Wise Guys back then.”

“That’s only to spread what little influence we had. This time, we don’t need to do such a thing,” Nina answered. “We can just let loose and find ourselves some levels and rare items to plunder.”

“Sounds like my type of a good time,” Aidan grinned. “And what better way to practice magic against an unwilling enemy?”

“I’m so close to casting wind magic, I know it!” Haley said with gusto, looking eager to do as she promised.

The group kept talking about their plans for the dungeon run before they tucked themselves in for the night. As usual, Aidan went out of his way to use Soul Meditation to scout out the surroundings of the city, mostly to check on anything that would be of interest to him.

On the same note, he let out his swords to fly into the horizon to hunt for any monsters that he could spot. He did spot quite a few, landing some killing blows and taking their experience away for himself, but there was nothing else to add other than just gaining some experience points.

The following day, Nina actually went out to get some supplies for the run, and surprisingly asked Aidan to prep both Haley and Van a little before their dungeon. This time, rather than just piggy-backing off of Aidan, she wanted them to earnestly get some levels under their belts, probably knowing that they would be on her team long-term and would have more assurance if they were stronger.

Aidan was more than willing to do that, especially when he realized that one of them was closing in on her goal.

“Okay, go right ahead and start,” Aidan said, clapping both hands together in anticipation.

Haley nodded once, a look of nervous determination flashing on her face as she closed her eyes. Van watched with clear interest.

Rather than going outside of the city like they usually would, they instead went to one of the empty lots used for training. These lots were sometimes situated near knight barracks or adventurers’ lodgings around Palestorm, which often had many people practicing their skills and abilities for the safety of the city or for diving nearby dungeons, which was perfect for them.

Thankfully anyone who was at least associated with any of the knights or the adventurer’s guild were allowed passage, though some people can still enter if they pay a fee for the usage of the lot. This way, nobody would just suddenly thrust themselves out there with barely any experience holding a sword against a monster for the first time. Aidan was certainly glad to see that, especially as the lodges also tended to have mages practicing magic, which was what Haley was doing now.

Van also got some practice in, but unlike his sister, he was still having a difficult time even gaining Magic Sense. Aidan never gave up on him though, but decided to focus on Haley for now as she was quite frankly reaching the fever pitch of her training.

Hopefully, if his intuition was right, this could be a better way for Van to learn than just finding it himself. He lifted his hand and crafted the air around him, making it blow across their vicinity and closely around Haley. It looked like a super miniaturized twister was forming around her, Haley sitting cross legged and being completely in tune with herself.

This time, he made the air completely different. With Arcane Control, he actually felt the air that he was crafting be infused partially with mana, becoming magical itself. Earlier, he had a difficult time showing his students how to use magic by example with elements, only to be met with just the physical element and not the magical aspect.

That issue is gone now. Though he still had a hard time figuring out whether controlling the elements with his Craft spell wouldn’t have made it magical in the first place, or that they were entirely different from how one normally cast spells. But at that point, he was just arguing semantics in his head.

Because in the end, that didn’t matter. What mattered was whether Haley could truly understand how wind magic was at play there. He sensed her soul tumultuously grinding away at itself, trying to find the answer buried deep within the magical streams flowing along her skin and hair.

She breathed calmly and coolly, but her soul was razor-focused. She was reaching the epitome of understanding, almost as if she was having an epiphany. Then, something finally changed.

The wind around her shifted slightly. It was only a smidgen, but Aidan was observing as tightly as Haley was, so he definitely noticed. The wind blew against itself for just a fraction of a second. Then, it happened again, and then once more. It kept repeating, becoming longer with each passing iteration.

To make it more presentable, Aidan slowly dissipated his own wind, but the wind surrounding Haley still continued. His lips split into a huge grin as his crafted wind finally disappeared. The reason for that was simple.

Because the wind around Haley still continued, slowly and with less control than he did, but it was finally there.

“Congratulations,” Aidan said, genuinely joyful. “You learned how to use magic.”

Haley’s eyes popped wide open, only to see the wind coiling around her for herself. For a moment, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, completely silent in her admiration of the wind forming around her.

“I-I did it!” Haley shouted, then the wind picked up as it became a small torrent flowing upwards, then forward, hitting Aidan and Van. “I really did it! Hah! I even got a notification saying I learned the spell ‘Breeze’!”

Van just let out short chuckles of pure joy as he watched his sister jump up and down, even spinning around while the wind picked up even more. She thrust her hand forward at Aidan, then a small gust of wind pushed against him. Though it was barely effective enough to be called an attack, especially since the name Breeze certainly didn’t sound like a combat-oriented spell.

But the fact that she actually learned a spell all on her own was good enough for her, as that would become the foundation for the many wind-based spells she could make.

“That’s awesome, Haley,” Van said, clapping for his sister. “Nice job.”

“This is so cool!” Haley said, beaming a wide happy smile. “Hold on, let me see if I can do something else with it.”

Haley continued casting her spell, probably already trying to find ways to modify it according to Yin’s instructions from before. As she kept making the wind gush out from her hands and around her, Aidan turned to Van who watched Haley with that look in his eyes that reminded him of a father looking proudly at his child succeeding in a difficult task.

“Did that help you with anything?” Aidan asked, prompting Van to switch to him.

“I… I tried to pay attention, but I was also a little nervous,” Van said with a hint of embarrassment. “I really wanted to see if Haley could pull it off.”

“I get it, but we’re not going to stop here,” Aidan said resolutely. “You’re next when it comes to casting magic.”

“I-I don’t know about that. I can’t even get Magic Sense,” Van said, showing that hesitant side of him again.

“I don’t believe that,” Aidan said, denying his mentality completely. “I felt something in you. I know you can use magic. You just gotta keep trying and picking away at it.”

“You say that, but how come I don’t feel anything?” Van asked. He shook his head, giving it up immediately. “Maybe it’s better if I just stick with a sword.”

Aidan rolled his eyes. “Listen, if I got your sister to learn how to use magic, I can get you to learn magic too. You think it was easy teaching her?”

Aidan said, mostly joking about while pointing at his sister with his thumb. Then fate decided to work with him as they both heard a loud shriek from her, making them turn to her in a panic.

They saw Haley on the ground, groaning loudly and hissing at herself while picking herself up. She rubbed her back as she let out another groan.

“Fuck… I messed up there.”

“The fuck did you just do?” Van asked.

“I-I tried to gather up the wind around my feet to see if I could fly… I lost my balance.”

Both men rolled their eyes at her, with Aidan shaking his head profusely at the wincing Haley.

“Haley, I told you flying is off limits even after you learned how to use wind magic. You think I just went around flying the very first moment I picked up on how to use the wind?”

Then as if guided by fate itself, Aidan turned to Van who had his palm rubbing against his face, pointing at Haley again.

“See what I mean?”

“...Yeah, I get what you mean,” Van said, this time showing a wry smile.

“Hey, I feel like I’m being dissed here!” Haley instantly noticed, frowning at the two.

“You just helped me prove my point,” Aidan said, turning right back at her with his own frown. “You’re grounded until you get some more ranks in your Breeze, or maybe pick up around two or three more spells.”

“Are you crazy!?” Haley let out. “That would take forever!”

“So what? Better than seeing you drop to your death.”

Haley kept complaining, stating that she was getting really close if she didn't slip up, but Aidan immediately turned down any notion of training flight. It was way too advanced and risky to try for someone who only just learned their first spell. He also knew from personal experience from all the times he himself fell over from his own flight training.

Afterwards, Haley was kept on time out, mostly kept on experimenting with Breeze to see if she could upgrade it. During this, Aidan kept insisting Van to keep trying to learn how to use magic.

He knew he had it in him to learn. But in his Vibration Sense, unlike with Haley and the Wise Guys, Van strangely had some kind of blockage that he couldn’t describe. No matter how many times Van focused on the internal energy of his body, what should have been his mana refused to budge. It was strange too, considering that he used enchanted equipment easily by using mana, though it was a direct command provided by said equipment. Either way, it was a weird concept Aidan had a hard time deciphering.

That was on top of trying to support Van's continuous self-admonishment, believing that he just didn’t have the talent. Aidan didn't want to say out loud that it was blocked, or else Van would have it stuck in his head that he really was untalented. If there was something he was absolutely confident about when it came to magic, it was that willpower was everything. If Vam had it in his head that talent is necessary to even try, his willpower won't come to fruition.

Still, he couldn’t blame the guy for being discouraged now that his sister managed to learn how to use magic.

Soon enough he picked up Nina coming their way, eventually seeing her come in. As one would expect, all the people that were already around them using the lot stopped what they were doing and stared at her in amazement and awe.

It wasn't surprising, but it was a reminder that Nina was a beauty that surpassed the Charisma stat haze. For the men and women who were used to seeing the usual common appearance of people, they got stunned when they saw Nina's hard earned sculpture of appearance meant to entice even the most powerful of people.

It was something deliberate, something that Nina knew deep in her bones that first impressions were everything. The reason why he felt so focused on her looks was that the guys and gals around them were so damn obvious about staring at her that he couldn't help but comment on it in his head.

“I feel like there are some improvements,” Nina said, smiling lightly. “Or am I wrong?”

“Nina! I learned how to use magic!” Haley shouted, waving her arm like crazy.

Nina's eyes widened slightly. “That was faster than I expected. Normally that would take months even after learning how to use Magic Sense. Aidan, did you do something?”

“I managed to make it easy, but she's just naturally good at it,” Aidan addressed, not wishing to pull the wind out of her sails. It really did take tons of effort on her part even with such highly advanced reference materials.

Nina nodded in satisfaction. “If you keep doing this, it's possible I might be able to have a small army of mages, something that any military force would salivate for. Van, what about you?”

“Not so good on my end,” Van said honestly. “But I’ll keep trying, nonetheless.”

“Mmh…” Nina hummed for a moment, staring hard at Van as if she was peeling off the layers little by little. That made Van a bit uncomfortable before she turned her gaze to Aidan. “And you’re sure you can feel some kind of mana from him?”

“Positive,” Aidan said, not saying anything else due to his own thoughts earlier.

“Then it’s possible that Van might be more of a grower than a shower.”

Aidan couldn’t help but choke nothing but air. Strangely enough, the two siblings looked puzzled at her with Haley responding first.

“What’s a grower?”

Aidan had to hold himself back, putting his hand over his mouth to stop himself from bursting out in tears. Van just looked at him strangely, wondering if he had lost his mind.

“It’s a term that’s used loosely for some people,” Nina explained without showing a hint of shame or hesitance. “Some people, like yourself, Haley, often show prowess with magical abilities, while others often don't make any progress at all and are deemed unable to use magic. This is, of course, without picking the Mage Class as your starting class. But there are some people who display no sign of using magic, but once they reach a Class Upgrade, it’s as if a dam bursts and all of their magical potential comes to light. That is usually decided upon picking the Class Upgrade once you reach 50.”

“So you’re saying Van can use magic if he upgrades his Class?” Haley asked with hope in her eyes.

“That’s probable. I’m willing to bet on Aidan’s word that Van has a talent in magic, no matter how much it hides. For now, Van, trust in Aidan and keep working hard at it. It would be very wonderful if I have retainers capable of casting magic regardless of magical classes.”

“I will,” Van nodded, then he pointed his thumb at Aidan. “But can you tell me what’s up with him?”

“I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t want to know. Something tells me it’s absurdly stupid.”

Aidan was still trying to keep his giggles to himself, unsure whether to tell everyone exactly what terms they were using. Then again, perhaps such a thing doesn’t exist in this world.