As Dawn tinued her practiiphru focused deeply oions of the air he was influeng. It seemed like the air went out of its way to be difficult to trol beyond the most basic ways. He could push it one way or another, but getting it to form shapes or move in an ordered mass seemed to be impossible.

  It might be a skill issue, he thought, but perhaps he was just going about it wrong. After thinking about it for a while, he spoke up, “Dawn, do you knoind magic seems like it doesn’t want to do anything plex?”

  “I’m not sure, it is like how fire seems to like me. Acc to the books, both are just forms of force magic, which we trol, so they should just do what we try and nothing more or less. Maybe you could ask the people downstairs, they seem to have read most of the books, after all,” replied Dawn.

  Nodding, Niphru relutly stood and began towards the stairs, leaving Dawn behind to tinue her own efforts.

  As usual, it was easy to spot the mages who focused on theory; they sat in a small group with stacks of books around them. After a quick cheake sure Lisryn aerrifying guard were not present, Niphru trotted over to the group. Sihere was a couple asking them about casting spells together, he patiently waited for them to leave before moving closer to ask his question.

  Immediately after he finished speaking, one of the academics began replying, “Oh, that is something that we get asked all the time! Apparently, the mind is posed of multiple parts, and we are only aware of one part. There is a deeper portion of the mind that trols your intuition by pig up details you don’t notibsp; Additionally, it helps with yic by taking over the more detailed aspects that you don’t focus on.”

  As he stopped to catch his breath, the woman beside him tinued, “I’m sure you’ve noticed that you focus more or less on the same spell when you repeat it, but it still works most of the time. This is what he meant: you leave certain amounts of effort to the hidden part of your mind, and it will take over. If you think something should ae way or another, your mind will try to make it act that way.”

  Niphru hen queried, “Is that also why some people seem more tale certain forms of magic than others?”

  After a moment of silence as they thought, another man replied, “I believe I have heard something along those lines before. I fet which book it was, but there was something about being able to train yourself to have more talent by w on your thoughts without even using magibsp; It is supposedly quite difficult and limited in what it do, but it may just have beehor’s personal view. It isly something you find only written about, after all.”

  Following these thoughts, Niphru asked, “So when it feels like air magic doesn’t want to cooperate, that is because part of me thinks it shouldn’t? Would that mean that if I don’t try to trol it as much, it will work better?”

  Speaking up again, the woman answered, “Yes, that should be why, and it should work that way. Try to go along with how it feels to you, and it should be much easier than if you go against it. Typically, I’ve heard wind mages say simir things. Their solution is typically to aim feneral result without specifi how to do it. However, this be dangerous without practig what you want to aplish and seeing how it occurs.”

  “I see, thank you for your help, everyone. I will have to try ygestions!” excimed Niphru.

  He got nods in response from the group before those he spoke with responded, “We are gd we could help, let us know if you find anything new, please.”

  With this in mind, Niphru quickly ran back up the stairs to return to Dawn, finding the seat she reviously at empty. After only a tiny moment of panic, he focused on their bond, feeling that she stairs for some reason. He hadn’t been up there before, this practice floor being as high as they had gone in the past.

  Making sure no one was going to stop him, he headed to the stairs and tinued following them upward to the floor.

  Unlike what he had expected, this one was mostly open, with numerous chairs and tables sitting on circur rugs spaced around the middle of the ring, with a number of doors on the wall blog off both the inner and outer parts of the ring. Upon closer iion, they looked almost identical to the o the entrao the room he and Dawn shared. They did, however, differ in that they had a smaller se at the bottom of the door that looked like it opened on its own.

  Ending his examination of the room itself, Niphru began to run along the open area of the floor, finding Dawn about a quarter of the way around, speaking with Viera. As he approached, he heard Dawion his name and called out to her.

  “Oh, you finished asking about yibsp; Viera here was showihe rooms we move to! I was just telling her I’d have to ask you which you wanted. There are rooms fag the inner courtyard and rooms fag the city. I was thinking I’d prefer the inner rooms, outside just seems so busy,” Dawn remarked.

  Niphru happily responded, “Yes, they were very helpful! I’ll have to tell you what they said ter. What are these new rooms like?”

  Dawn smiled before replying, “They are almost the same as the one we have already, but the bath is not uhe bed, instead being in another room, and the door be opened purely by maniputing the entment with mana, so you’ll be able to go in and out on your own!”

  “Let’s go with the inner ones, I think it is more peaceful, too. When should we move?” he queried.

  Viera spoke up , answering, “The two of you move any time you want. Most of the rooms up here are empty, but this se here is where roup is staying, if you want to join us. Otherwise, the majority of the ring is clear.”

  Boung a bit iement, Dawn excimed, “In that case, let’s start moving right away! I think being near you would be great. What do you think, Niphru?”

  Smiling at her excitement, he responded, “I don’t miher way, so whatever you want is fine.”

  Hearing this, Dawn rushed over to a nearby door and ope, then spun and headed for the stairs, leaving the door open behind her. Quickly following, Niphru actually found himself slower for once as Dawn practically bounced off the walls along the way down.

  Quickly arriving back at their old room, they took a quick look around, finding they had remarkably little to pabsp; Most of what they had could actually be carried in Dawn’s old robe if they used it like a sling. This allowed them to move their books and personal belongings in a sirip, leaving only food for the following trips.

  Upon finishing their move, Dawn unlocked their old door and removed her mana imprint from it before returning to the new room aing the g process.

  Meanwhile, Niphru decided to try experimenting with his wind magiow that he had a better idea of what to do. After moving to ay walkway in the middle of the ring, he tried pushing wind towards himself from behind in a generalized flow, leaving most of the details out, and began running. As he had hoped, this resulted in the wind shoving him forward at a faster pace, though he could feel the resistance pushing him backward from the terforce of his magic.

  Pushing even harder, he mao move so fast his ears went ft against his skull, and his lips whipped around in the air. Unaware of the force of the wind he had built up, he tried jumping, only to sail well past his intended nding spot, boung off a table nearly twenty feet away. After the ued enter with the table, he flipped over before smming into the ground back-first and sliding several feet.

  Fortunately, nothing was harmed except his pride, as he heard ughter from behind himself. Getting up and turning around, he saw Viera, Thomas, as well as both a man and woman he had not met yet. The man who was ughing the loudest shook his head before approag and croug down to be closer to his level.

  “You know, it works a lot better if you keep track of your speed and adjust the gale to flow backward to slow you down before you ge dire or jump. I am Richard, and I assume you are Niphru? It is o meet you, though it could have been a bit less dynamic!” the unknown man excimed.

  Shard