14.1. I Need to Train My Magic - Part 1

"Don't blame yourself, Ryuu," Erik is comforting me. "It would be out sooner or later."

"But later would be so much better!" I oppose, devastated.

"What are the reactions?" Ingri asks.

"As expected—enthusiastic from Draconians, fearful from humans," Fefnir says.

"But it's just a rumour, right? A hear-say," Erik is hopeful.

"I'm afraid not," Fefnir shakes his head, pissed. "Someone recorded Aefener when he was demonstrating it."

"Kurva," Erik swears in Czech. "Another fucking leaker."

"It just proves we have to establish some kind of inner circle that would consist of people we can really trust," Deminas says.

"You basically mean high-levels only," Twyla points out. "What about the majority of Draconians?"

"So we're sticking to this name?" Ingri ponders. "Draconians?"

"We have to name ourselves somehow," Fefnir shrugs. "It has a nice ring to it and people have already adopted it."

"Wait a sec," I realise. "Is every player of Draconia transforming? Even those who didn't play much or started the game just a few days ago?"

"A good question," Erik agrees. "People whose immersion level was very low should be weeks behind high-levels so we'll have to wait to know the answer, right?"

"Anyway, we have to start organising ourselves immediately," Deminas continues with the topic. "Unfortunately, I don't know how else to avoid leakers unless we invite only high-levels we know personally and are in our leading guilds."

"It seems so...," I'm searching for the right word, "snobbish."

"Just for the time being," Twyla says diplomatically. "We can have proper elections later."

I stay doubtful but my friends are eager to pull this plan through.

*****

"Ryuuto, for Christ's sake!" Erik shouts in horror.

"W-what?" I get startled.

"You're spilling it!"

I look at my soup to find out that it's spiralling wildly and leaking over the edge. I've been checking my phone during lunch and haven't touched my meal for a minute or so. And in that minute I was distracted, the soup started doing weird shit.

"I... I wasn't doing it on purpose," I defend myself.

"Aefener, you have to start training right away," Liana widens her eyes. "Your powers are getting out of control. Next time you might start heating the air and hurt someone."

"Shouldn't spells require some kind of preparation even here?" I feel overwhelmed. "Like chanting, transfiguration symbols... I don't know."

"It's probably just a usage of your spontaneous telekinesis," Erik says.

"Li, did you try magic?" I ask.

"Of course," she nods. "Nothing happened. I mean... I feel my mana. At least I think I do. But I haven't managed to actually move anything just with my mind yet."

"What about now?" Fefnir throws a tray at her without any warning.

Liana shrieks, twitches and... the tray flies into a different direction.

"You can do it!" he grins victoriously.

"Du Trottel! You stupid prick!" Liana is furious. "Don't go scaring me like that!"

"I knew it would work. It worked for Aefener before," he shrugs.

"Yeah, with a soft pillow!" she berates him. "You threw a tray at me, dumbass."

"Let's train together," I propose. "We're the first Celestials to fully transform so we're ahead and can teach others what we discover. That way we can hopefully prevent magical accidents."

Liana agrees and, after an hour rest because she still needs to take is easy, we start our very first magic training session. Just to be safe, Hana took anything sharp away from the room and gave us a plastic table-cloth in case we spill something on the bed.

"I can document it now that the secret is out, right?" Dr Stein asks.

"Yes, but don't film it," Liana states a condition. "We'll probably take a long time anyway and I want to make a nicely cut video later with proper explanation when we get the hang of it."

Dr Stein nods and readies her laptop so that she can at least take notes. Erik, Fefnir and Ingri sit and watch us intently which only makes Liana nervous.

"Don't stare like that!" she complains. "I can't focus."

Fefnir shrugs and takes out his tablet. Ingri goes to take care of my social media again and Erik helps her. They still look up from time to time to check our progress but it's not unnerving anymore.

"Magic requires focus but in case of our spontaneous telekinesis, the key is not to overthink it," I try to explain because Liana seems lost. "You're already able to do it in your defence so just trust yourself that you can do it whenever."

I let a few objects levitate around us. Liana stares at them in envy.

"Do I need to activate my mana somehow?" she asks.

"I guess," I shrug. "But I don't feel my mana being depleted by simple telekinesis so it's probably just a tiny fragment of it. Just as you'd lift your arm and it takes some calories."

"Telekinesis... simple," Dr Stein mumbles and shakes her head in disbelief.

Liana ignores her and focuses on a book in front of her.

"Just wish it move," I give hints. "Imagine in your mind that it floats up."

The books twitches and flops over. It doesn't exactly fly up but it's something.

"I made it move!" Liana is overjoyed.

"Just like that," I smile.

We spent an hour practicing until Liana gets exhausted. She was able to make the book float for a while in the end but it wasn't as smooth as I expected. Still, Dr Stein is more than happy and shows Liana her notes for confirmation she can publish it.

"It's so damn hard!" Liana is furious. "How come you seem to do it so effortlessly?"

"I'm a few days ahead of you," I remind her.

"Nah, you could do it almost immediately after your transformation and you had no teacher," she sighs. "Once the best caster, always the best caster."

"I doubt our original levels will mean anything here," I shrug.

"What if they will?" Fefnir, who was silent until now, speaks up. "The top player of each race automatically became its ruler."

"Ingame, not here," I say.

"It makes even more sense here," Fefnir insists. "Especially if our mentality is changing as well. We respect only skill when it comes to our leaders. In case of Celestials, magic ability."

"Plus, Aefener looks like the Emperor," Ingri agrees.

"Ridiculous," I roll my eyes and look at Erik for support.

"I don't know how it worked in your game," he scratches his chin. "But considering how good you obviously are with magic, your appearance and popularity... well... Ryuu, I'm afraid you should start preparing for that eventuality."

"Me?" I point to my nose. "Becoming the Celestial Emperor in the real world? You nuts? Everyone can see Liana would be much better choice. I'm just a student. Apart from being a streamer, nobody really. I can maybe represent us as a kind of spokesperson but that's it."

"And that's where you're wrong, Aefener," Liana yawns tiredly. "You're far better suited to lead our race than me."

"B-but... you're the Laura Richter," I shake my head violently. "You have the influence, the riches, you know politics and business."

"Which makes me perfect as your viceroy," she says. "In the Emperor, we look for something entirely else. We need the best magic caster and flier among us and an idealist. You fit those criteria perfectly, Aefener."

"It's still quite far in the future," Erik holds my hand because he can tell I'm starting to feel anxious about the whole thing. "Calm down, Ryuu, you're doing stuff again."

"Right, mind stopping that?" Fefnir points towards two pillows that keep bouncing against the wall.

I take a deep breath and levitate them back onto Liana's bed.

"It seems emotion management will be crucial for Celestials," Ingri comments.

"For the Dragonkin as well. Don't forget about that broken chair," Liana says.

"I assure you I'm in control of my... oh shit," Fefnir doesn't finish his sentence and whines instead.

"W-what?" we get startled. Especially me because I can feel he's hurting.

"S-suppressing p-pain... not always s-smart," he starts panting and collapses on his knees.

We notice Fefnir's pants are getting bloody. Erik and Dr Stein jump in, drag him on Liana's bed and the doctor pulls his trousers down without any hesitation.

"His tail is coming out," she states the obvious and gulps.

We call Hana and she hurries with water, clean bandages and disinfectant. Fefnir is panting and swearing but he doesn't seem to be in total agony like Liana or me. I want to blunt his pain but I can't connect to Fefnir without him finding out, his mind is too awake.

He'll be fine just as Deminas was, Erik assures me.

B-but... I want to help him.

He doesn't need it. Besides, other Draconians won't have a telepathic friend.

Everything is going too fast. One second Dr Stein is disinfecting her hands, the other Fefnir's tail is already cutting through the skin. Inhuman... it's totally inhuman. Strangely, it doesn't feel that alien, though. For some reason I feel that it's okay—how it should be. Did my perception of things change without me noticing?

Fefnir is cursing and I find out that I had no idea how many swear words exist in Czech. Fortunately, it takes Dr Stein only a few seconds to pull his tail out. It's so much quicker and safer than a Celestial transformation.

Plus, Fefnir doesn't faint afterwards. He half-closes his eyes and is whining while the doctor is stopping his bleeding but he's managing surprisingly fine. I can feel his pain and it is excruciating but the way his body and brain handle it... that's Dragonkin resilience.