Noelle took a deep breath, doing her best to keep her mind calm as Brian had told her to. She closed her eyes and reached inward, feeling the enormous surge of mana churning and rolling inside her body.
For a member of the royal Silva family, her mana was like a vast, boundless ocean, but regrettably it was an ocean that was always on the verge of breaking into a storm. She had tried to control her mana before, but she had never once succeeded in doing so.
"Okay... I can do this..."
Telling herself that, Noelle began to release her mana. Immediately, a surge of pale blue pressure flared up and radiated out around her. Tiny droplets of water then formed in a chaotic mess, spraying out in every direction and flattening the grass and plants beneath her feet.
The mana wrapping around Noelle converted into water on its own without her direction, and the pale blue glow it produced gradually grew larger and larger, making it plain that she was unable to control her mana.
"Stay calm, Noelle."
Brian stood beside her, his steady voice serving as an anchor that helped ease some of her tension. "Don't try to force your mana into any shape at all. Just gently guide it to spread across the surface of your skin."
Noelle bit her lip and tried to narrow the range of her mana. Sweat began to bead across her forehead. Holding mana in a stable state was far more difficult than casting a spell written down in a Grimoire. It demanded a level of delicacy and extreme patience that she did not have enough of at this moment.
Whoosh!
A jet of water suddenly shot hard in Brian's direction, but he simply tilted his head to one side and let it pass, his eyes never leaving Noelle.
"I'm sorry, I..."
Realizing she had just accidentally attacked Brian, Noelle panicked and moved to stop.
"Don't stop!"
Brian raised his voice slightly. "Keep going. Don't worry about where the water is going. Pay attention to where the rest of your mana is sitting on your body right now. Feel the 'layer' covering your body."
Heeding Brian's words, Noelle squeezed her eyes shut again. Little by little she began to tune out the sounds around her, focusing only on the cool, tingling sensation that was wrapped around her arms and shoulders.
Gradually, the mana that had erupted outward moments before began to pull itself in smaller. It was still trembling violently, but it had started to form a thin, fragile layer around her body.
Less than a minute passed before Noelle let out a gasping breath, her mana dissipating as her knees buckled. She propped herself up with both hands on her knees, let out a long exhale, then sat down on the grass beneath her and said:
"That's so hard... It feels like trying to hold back a flood with my own body."
Brian smiled. He walked over to Noelle and gave her shoulder a light pat. "You did better than I expected. Being able to maintain a mana coat over your entire body for nearly a minute on your very first try, with a reserve of mana that enormous, is genuinely impressive."
Noelle looked up at Brian, her violet eyes shimmering with surprise. "Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"
"That's not a habit of mine."
Brian sat down on the grass beside her. "Your mana is very powerful, so controlling it is a bit like a child trying to steer a horse that's gone completely wild. But look at it this way — at least you didn't blow this whole place up like last time."
Brian leaned forward, picked up a small stone off the ground, and lightly tossed it back and forth in his hand. "Rest for five minutes, then we'll try again. This time, try to hold the mana coat over your body for longer than before. You have the experience from the first attempt now, so see if you can do better."
Looking at the encouraging expression on Brian's face, Noelle felt a warm current spread through her chest. From the day she was born, this was the very first time anyone had taught her with this kind of patience, without criticizing her or mocking her clumsiness.
"Okay! I'll do it!"
Noelle clenched her fist, her eyes showing clear resolve as she looked at Brian. She could feel a sense of excitement mixed with happiness with him here beside her right now.
She didn't understand why, but she didn't find him unpleasant in the least.
The five minutes of rest passed quickly in the peaceful quiet of the forest. Noelle sat there and stole glances at Brian's profile. He looked so composed, and his golden eyes seemed to carry an understanding that went far beyond his age.
For a girl who had always been regarded as the "shame of the royal family," Brian's presence felt like a lighthouse in the middle of a pitch-black sea.
Brian was well aware that the silver-haired girl was watching him. He stood up and lightly brushed the bits of grass and dirt from his clothes.
"Alright, break time is over. Are you ready, Noelle?"
His voice pulled Noelle back to the present. She quickly got to her feet and nodded firmly, covering up her embarrassment from a moment ago. "Of course I'm ready."
Noelle once again began the process of controlling her mana. This time, instead of letting her mana explode outward all at once on instinct, she tried to release it in small, measured waves.
"Let your mana seep out a little at a time, then treat it like a thin, delicate current of energy and wrap it around your body. Let it move across your whole body slowly and carefully."
Brian guided Noelle in a softer voice with more detail than before. "Imagine your mana is a barrel of water. Turn the tap slowly and steadily to let the water inside flow out. Once the water has flowed out, control how it moves and let it coat your body."
Following Brian's instructions, Noelle gradually let the mana inside her body seep outward. She visualized it and followed exactly what he had described, and it actually worked in some way.
"Better. Keep that rhythm going."
Brian remarked, and began to circle around her, watching every movement of the pale blue current that was enveloping the silver-haired girl.
Her mana was now a little more stable than it had been before, but theory was always easier than practice.
After only a few seconds of stability, Noelle's enormous reserve of mana began to "resist" again. Tiny droplets of water started to appear, spinning at high speed and forming a wildly shaking protective layer around her body.
Noelle gritted her teeth and her whole body tensed up. The feeling of turning the tap slowly from before was gradually slipping out of her hands. Water began pouring out of the barrel in a way she could no longer contain.
She tried to close the tap, but it had no effect whatsoever. The mana inside her body began to surge even more violently than before.
"Don't use force to suppress it, Noelle."
Brian's voice sharpened as he reminded her. "Use your will. Your mana is a part of you. It's not an enemy or a servant that you can control through brute strength. Relax your body and calm yourself. Your mana will gradually become gentle enough for you to guide it."
Noelle closed her eyes and tried to let her body go limp despite the immense pressure bearing down on her. She tried to do as Brian said. Instead of tensing up to hold back the mana that was pouring out, she relaxed her mind and allowed the mana circulating freely inside her body to flow outward in a way that she could somehow hold in check.
Brian watched Noelle with close attention. The pale blue pressure surrounding her body was slowly becoming more docile, no longer behaving as aggressively as before. It was clear that the silver-haired girl was close to getting her mana under control.
One minute... two minutes...
Sweat streamed down Noelle's cheeks and soaked through her silver-white robe. But miraculously, the layer of mana around her was no longer spraying outward. It had become denser, wrapping around her like a cocoon of transparent water.
Brian said nothing. He simply stood there and watched to see how long Noelle could hold this state.
As time passed and Noelle felt her strength give out and drew her mana back in, she no longer buckled to her knees the way she had the first time. She was breathing hard, but her eyes burned bright with joy.
"So...?"
Noelle asked Brian with an expression of hopeful anticipation that she made no attempt to hide in her violet eyes.
"About two and a half minutes..."
Brian answered Noelle's question in a gentle tone. "You improved more than double after just one try. That's a very good result. You really do have a natural gift for this. Keep training like this and your mana control will..."
"I... I actually did it!"
Noelle cried out the moment she heard Brian's answer, completely forgetting the cool and composed front she normally put up. She unconsciously grabbed his hand and bounced on her heels. "Brian, did you see? I held it!"
Brian looked at the silver-haired girl jumping up and down with pure delight in front of him and let a smile spread across his face. This was the first time he had ever seen her this happy.
Noelle held Brian's hand gleefully, but then she also realized that what she was doing right now was a little too familiar. She stopped herself immediately, and her face flushed red as a ripe tomato.
Noelle quickly let go of Brian's hand, turned her face away, and stammered out: "H-Hmph! This is simply because I have royal blood flowing through my veins. Something like this is only natural!"
Brian couldn't help it and burst out laughing. This tsundere side of Noelle was genuinely amusing.
Tsundere might be a slightly old-fashioned trait, but it wasn't a problem at all for him when the one showing it was Noelle.
Noelle was charming, and she was also very pretty. Brian didn't find this silver-haired girl bothersome in the slightest, not when it was her.
Brian didn't call her out on it. He simply nodded. "Right, right. Lady Noelle is the best."
Noelle's face had still not cooled down. She turned her gaze elsewhere, avoiding looking at Brian's cheerfully laughing face.
"Shall we rest a little and then keep going? You can still continue practicing, can't you?"
"Y-Yes, I still can."
Throughout the entire morning, Noelle kept at it relentlessly, working to bring her mana under control and hold it as a coat over her body. Under Brian's careful guidance and watchful eye, she had managed to get at least some degree of grip over her mana.
The free time the two of them had following the mission at Sosshi Village still stretched out ahead of them. They could keep training for several more days before the next mission came in.