The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 38 - The Weight of a Gift Depends on the Person

Chapter 38: Chapter 38 - The Weight of a Gift Depends on the Person

Qatrand er Yecine hopped out of her seat at the table. If they were actually going to practice she might need something else!

"Wait for a moment."

The illusory teacher shrugged and sat down in the middle of the air, fiddling with her thumbs. The one walking away stopped and blinked at it.

’Wouldn’t just disappearing and reappearing when I return have made more sense?’

The mechanics behind the tool were a mystery to the swordwoman, in but she assumed it must be wasting some some sort of energy the longer an illusion was displayed.

"Are you literally waiting... like that, because I told you to?"

/ Didn’t you literally tell me to wait? Why are you complaining about it~ /

As much as her talking back reminded her of the other girl, not being able to lightly punish her skull was a BIG demerit. While exhaling and letting go of her empty clenched fist, Qat began to go back to retrieving her gifted blade. She wanted to meditate with it on her lap while listening to the next parts.

After pulling the illusion tool down to the floor as well, the teenager spoke another ’command’.

"Tell me what you can about helping me use my Element."

The sitting representation gestured her acknowledgement before the scene broke apart and a new one took its place. It again showed the display of the bright field around the illusion’s body.

/ As a fledgling user of essence, as well as someone with a more body-locked spirit than normal, your field will be the primary way you will learn to make use of the energy for a while to come. That doesn’t make it useless at all, though. It just narrows your beginning possibilities - which is actually beneficial for your early training. The most pure and simple example is that objects which your field is in contact with can be made lighter by reducing natural gravity’s effect on them, or heavier by increasing it. /

The serious teaching voice suddenly chuckled.

/ Do you understand? As a heavy weapon user, this is going to be a very, very effective combination. Imagine if you will, your opponent never being able to get a proper read on how quickly you will swing a massive blade because you keep changing up the weight of the sword and making each one unpredictable. Well, that actually sounds a little more like the tricky way I would use it... /

She had once tried to describe this very method to a ’friend’, but the hammer-headed man could only ever understand ’light when I swing, heavy before it hits’. While the Goltbred considered her ’fortress’ to be smarter than that particular cultivator, getting that basic technique down first didn’t hurt things.

/ Okay, something better for *you*! Just before the moment of impact you can increase the sword’s weight. Certainly less complicated, less scheming, and more wonderfully straightforward. Can you picture the difference between a five pound sword swinging at your normal speed versus a ten pound one traveling at the same rate? /

The Yecine nodded at her little teacher, momentarily forgetting *again* that the person wasn’t really there. The Yecine style of swordsmanship used heavier blades for the very reason that the effective impact was greater. Their fighters were usually not blocked in duels, unless the opponent wanted to numb their arms.

"I can picture it."

/ I call this Weighted Strikes, and is the first of four ’simpler’ techniques I feel you can make use of and refine in the short term. Any time you are ready, I can try and talk you through it if you need. Though... if you’ve listened to all the prior explanations without skipping ahead to here, then I hope and believe you can get it on your own. /

The blonde rubbed her knuckles. She wanted to try, but had been warned already.

"It seems a little early to try and move without getting a feel for manipulating the essence of the object. I should find a rock for this first."

/ Of course. I wouldn’t recommend that either. Practice with the essence manipulation first before trying to spar with it. /

It quickly swapped recordings, because it was responding to two different parts of the Yecine’s previous sentence.

/ You should start with just infusing your Element into the weapon I gave you, as it’s what you’ll be using this technique on. /

"Uh... you told me that I could destroy things I do this to if I don’t control it right. I like this sword and I don’t want to ruin your gift."

/ I’m just going to first say that I’m sorry if my recorded reactions are creeping you out. Second, I really love that part of you, Qat. So honest with me. Your sword will be perfectly fine! /

An illusory copy of the blade appeared and settled in the mini-El’s arms.

/ Do you really think after experiencing this training tool that the weapon I entrusted your well being with is such a simple thing? I made sure it can handle any Gravity manipulation you could likely apply to it for now. /

"Wait. You only told me the name of my Element on the very same meeting that you gave me this?"

Again, the illusion smiled smugly!

/ I did say that I had a strong suspicion what it would be once you unlocked it. So, I bet on myself for your sake. I did something like what I do to the jewelry, darling. /

The blade in her arms faded and left a web of symbols and geometry in the same shape.

/ There are sigils painstakingly hidden in the metal. If I was wrong, it still would have been a nice weapon - the rest of what I did just would have been a waste. /

The Yecine looked down at the sword that had already been of practical and strong sentimental value. This new information potentially made it a treasure no less than the heirloom it was styled after. The blonde was a little overwhelmed and prayed that she could return some of these favors in the future.

"Thank you."

/ Keep in mind that I’m not really here, so your voiced appreciation would be better told to the real me when she returns. Please do not fall in love with this tiny copy. /

Pigeon-blue eyes closed halfway as the one warned smirked.

"But you look so much like her, how could I not also love you?"

Spurned by another specific combination of words voiced by the trainee, the miniature Elua became full size and lost all signs of her facade once more.

/ I swear, Qatrand er Yecine, if you are only playing with me right now because I’m an illusion, then don’t ever tell me those three words in person - or else I can’t be blamed for what happens. I know you care, but if the real me knows you love her, she will be so much more insufferable. /

The blonde teenager let her jaw fall a little when hearing that there was ’so much more’ *insufferableness* possible!

’Does she really consider herself an eyesore... or someone unwanted? Is that where all her nervousness and fear to tell me about herself comes from?’

The older bodied girl made a note to herself that she would try and reassure her that it was not the case that she was suffering through - or because of - the heiress’s presence. If anything, the lack of it these days was the real problem... which had been temporarily relieved by the date. Qat also supposed the illusion that was talking to her helped just a little.

/ I’m serious. She will stop keeping physical distance. She will pull you away from any influence on you that she disapproves of. She is extremely overbearing and all her current attempts to hold back won’t amount to much if she thinks you will tolerate it ’out of love’. Then when you *don’t* tolerate her like might be logical, she will be distraught, because... she has never learned how to move herself away from a partner she is so infatuated with. /

An unfamiliar prick of emotion akin to jealousy poked at the girl upon hearing the last few words. It was another line voiced that she would not have thought so much of, if she hadn’t been told about the girl’s past. Thousands of years was a long time... didn’t that mean there had been the chance of other people she shared her life with back then?

/ And yes, I am very aware that talking about myself in the third person while I’m making this recording is weird. /

"I’m going to practice for a while now, so you can just shut yourself off."

The small version of her fiancee appeared and curtsied before fading away. The one left alone sighed and stroked the metal on her lap. Her spirit was a bit unsettled, but she thought that knowing the reason immediately for once was a good thing. The *issue* of the person she loves having loved other people even felt illogical to her, so that meant that the emotion could be suppressed and convinced over time with new information.

’I’m glad I left her before I started thinking too much about things, so that she didn’t worry about what I was feeling.’

Once it was calmed, the usual tendrils of spirit energy wrapped around her weapon to help watch the changes in the actual attempts to use essence. She tried for many minutes until, in the way only her Element could, she found success. A very gradual sense of drain to her energy paired with a slight impression of the weight on her lap increasing. It felt a lot more intuitive than she expected.

’Maybe I have a talent for this?’

It wasn’t anywhere near ’double’ the weight, but to already be doing this much seemed very impressive to the teenager who grew up in the middle of regions dominated by physical cultivators. Elua would later accidentally burst this bubble by telling her of ancient geniuses she heard of that started controlling their Element the moment they gained the Aspect.