"All right, enough of the cackling for now," Zephy said, barely suppressing his laughter, floating in the air with his wings flapping.
Aiden, on the other hand, was supporting himself with his hands on his knees. Glaring Zephy with his face tilted slightly upward, his torso bent, as he gasped with sweat forming and freezing down his face.
The wind gently nudged him to take one more step, cooling down his body temperature, but he needed a bit of rest.
However, in his pursuit of Zephy, he had figured out how to return to his normal vision.
It was as simple as not focusing on it, though he felt his brain a bit foggy after returning to normal.
"Anyhow, now that you can perceive Aether, the next step would be to try incorporating it into your Magic." Zephy perched atop a frosty bush, his tiny figure just above Aiden's line of vision and beyond his reach.
Almost intuitively, Aiden summoned the Death Scythe, hearing those words.
"However, calm your horses down." Zephy pointed towards the weapon in his hand with his feathers. "First, let's have the basics of Aether and Mana drilled into you."
He did want to get used to casting Magic using it as a medium as much as he could, but Zephy's words were a cold shower on his haste.
Even after promising himself he wouldn't let his emotions control him, he masked them, only for them to rush him subconsciously.
Aiden took a deep breath and, closing his eyes for a moment, unsummoned the Scythe while bracing himself once more.
His conscious decisions needed to triumph over his underlying, ever-eating worry, but he kept failing to accomplish that. Again and again.
Zephy nodded subtly, approving of Aiden's actions, being ignorant of his inner thoughts.
"I shall begin with Mana, then."
Aiden focused all of his attention, listening intently.
**********
"Mana is the inherent energy present and flowing alongside blood in all living beings, be it of any race. Though certain races require going through Awakening, which is absorbing Aether in dangerous quantities, to have Mana stored in their organs begin flowing."
"A Human like you has Mana, A Phoenix such as myself has Mana, those brainless worms that you killed? They had Mana. The Trees, Bushes, Insects, Demons, Vampires, Elves, Dwarves..." Zephy coughed lightly to shake off his uneasiness of getting stared at by someone with that focus on his words, "...well, you got my point."
He still didn't like teaching kids, especially when they have that kind of burning focus in their eyes.
He wasn't giving some life-solving wisdom, after all.
"Check your blood," Zephy commanded, throwing a feather which grazed Aiden's right Arm, drawing a line of blood.
Aiden was surprised for a flicker of not knowing the cause of his injury, but picking up the scarlet-stained feather fallen beside him, a sense of knowing on his face.
He looked at Zephy once before wiping the blood with his finger and noticing it up close.
"See that Iridescent glow in its scarlet shade? That's Mana."
As Aiden minutely examined his own blood, noticing the slight Iridescent glow in it, Zephy stabbed himself with a glacier, drawing his own blood.
A blood that held pure iridescent glimmer, without a trace of scarlet.
"And this is my blood. Notice the difference?" Zephy landed right in front of Aiden, showing him his blood, and as Aiden focused on it, Zephy healed both his and Aiden's Wounds without Aiden noticing.
"...That's blood?" Aiden uttered, clearly baffled.
"Yes, the more Mana one has flowing mixed with their blood, the higher and brighter its glow becomes. Beings existing since the beginning of the world born out of pure Mana, such as myself, have 'blood' like this."
Zephy transferred the droplet into Aiden's palms, allowing him to analyze it closely.
"However, it would be wrong to call it blood, cause it isn't that. It's Mana in its purest form."
Aiden looked at it with curiosity tinged with awe.
"So, the clearer the glow of Mana one's blood has, the stronger they are?" Aiden asked, his eyes fixed on Zephy's 'Mana' drop.
"Not certainly." Zephy said, "The clearer the glow of the Mana, the higher the inherent Mana of the individual. It varies from individual to individual; however, Some Races have genuine advantages when it comes to Inherent Mana capability, while some have disadvantages."
As Zephy continued, Aiden keenly focused on his words, trying to interpret them to the best of his ability.
He was glad, for once, for the Perfect Memory performing as he had thought it would, before it ended up being nothing more than a curse.
"But, having more Mana flowing inside you isn't guaranteed to make you stronger than someone who has less. If that'd been the case, this world would have long been ravaged by the Demons, Dragons, and Vampires."
"Then...? I take that there's something else in play as well." Aiden asked innocently, while rubbing Zephy's blood in between his fingers. His hand was right in between the space of his eyes and Zephy.
His crimson jewels carried a slight shimmer, inspecting the blood with his newfound vision.
Though it didn't look any different, it was still worth a try.
"You do have brains, heh." Zephy chuckled awkwardly, seeing the kid 'playing' around with his blood. It was slightly unsettling, even for him.
"That's where the Elements come in." Zephy swung his left wing outwardly, and with a swoosh, the Mana — His blood — that Aiden was rubbing vanished.
"...Why?" Aiden whispered.
It saddened him, but Zephy had no other choice but to do it.
The sight of a kid, younger than some of his naps, rubbing his blood between his fingertips was creepy and unsettling. And he didn't want that feeling one bit more.
He flew up again and perched on top of the Bush yet again to maintain eye contact with Aiden.
"'Cause I ain't gonna repeat it all if you missed, Kiddo, so pay attention." Zephy lied through his beak, unaware of the incredible perception Aiden possessed.
"Elements are the categories your Magic can result in. One's soul has a certain elemental access etched onto it, and you can only cast Magic of those elements."
Zephy walked side to side on his little claws, covering barely any distance in a single step.
"And that's where having less Mana, and more blood can be beneficial."
"How? You said magic depends on Mana, and Aether, not blood, right?" Aiden said, confused yet curious.
His mind was working at its limit to put together any kind of hypothesis, but nothing. He needed more knowledge, and luckily for him, Zephy wasn't uncomfortable with his questions as well.
"Yes, Magic does depend on Mana and Aether, however... Its shape, form, and everything are limited to the Elements etched into one's soul. But how does that element etched into the soul flow around in the body?" Zephy smirked, raising one brow as the implication of his statement dawned on Aiden.
It was Blood.
Blood was the reason his Mana knew what element his soul was capable of.
But something still didn't add up. Even if Blood did matter in Magic, its only work was to flow elements around the body, wasn't it?
Then a little blood to get the etched elements around, and else Mana wouldn't be the best?
"I can read the questions on your face, Brat." Zephy bluffed. But bluffed right.
His first student... She also had the same face at that statement.
"The More Blood one has, the higher the chances of having more than one element flowing around in your body. If the Soul has multiple etched elements but not enough blood to flow them all around, it's useless. The Stronger Element would overwhelm others, and you would only be able to use Magic related to that element."
Zephy said, gesturing with his wings as he spoke.
"Not to say, the more blood one has, the higher the chances of having more soul-etched elements."
A lot of swirling doubts vanished from Aiden's head with those words.
The Being with the most blood or most mana wouldn't be the strongest. The potential of the strongest would be the one with the right balance of both.
If one has more blood and more etched elements, but little to no Mana, it's borderline useless.
And if one has more Mana but little to no Blood, they weren't as hopeless as the other case, but still not near the pinnacle.
Though he doubted his More-Mana-Less-Blood hypothesis a little, seeing the incarnation of it in Zephy.
But one thing the understanding certainly boosted was his respect for the Witch of the Doom.
"Stronger Elements? Based on the powers of the Sovereigns who have authority over them, right?"
Aiden recalled how, in his naming ceremony, the Bluish Glow of the Water overshadowed the fact that he was blessed with the Blessing of Wind as well.
He had studied the sovereigns a bit, intrigued by that, and their powers by asking Ms. Fahweinylia, his history teacher, in subtle ways.
Though her name was really a mouthful to say. Ms. Faah-Weh-Nee-Lia.
"Yes, according to them. Know it?" Zephy raised one brow, clearly surprised.
"Indeed, I do. There are six Sovereigns, and the ranking goes—"
"Not Six."
Zephy abruptly cut Aiden's words, not even letting him start the ranking.
"...Not Six?" Aiden said, bewildered.
He was sure there were six sovereigns. He can still recall the entire conversation where he learnt that, and even the book pages from which Ms. Fahweinylia read it.
His memory was Clear. Perfectly Clear.
"...Let's talk about that when you need it, which I doubt you would ever." With a sigh, Zephy waved his left feather side to side dismissively.
**********