As the moon continues to eclipse, mana concentration rises rapidly. Mana floods into the cave Lamu’s squad and Ventus are resting, pouring into Ventus. A few groans are heard as some of Lamu’s squad start smoking. While they smack their bodies trying to disperse the smoke, Ventus falls deeper into a trance following the flow of mana pouring into her body.

This flow has increased several fold, and continues to rapidly increase. Not a trace of smoke on her.

Lamu wakes up because of the panic. Instantly noticing the increased mana concentration, he shouts, “Everyone return to the surface. Spend your mana as you go in case that’s the problem.”

Quickly packing up, his squad rushes out of the cavern, leaving Ventus behind. Lamu is the last to leave as he yells “Come on Ventus, you can’t stay here!”

Running towards her. He tries to grab her, only to pull back as his hand nearly ignites. His body is smoking due to the mana surrounding Ventus. “What is going on with you Ventus? You’d better not die.”

Ventus only vaguely hears Lamu as her mana continues to cycle, each refinement empowering her body and expanding her reserves of mana. A faint cracking can be felt in her mind before even more mana floods into her reserves as they seem to double.

Upon the crack happening in Ventus’ mind, the flow of her mana changed. In addition to the normal flow, there is a second with more looping cycles. Many of these have the same stagnant feeling as before, though that feeling quickly fades as the flood of mana continues.

Minutes pass, until the eclipse is full. The mana flood caused many unawoken researchers and personnel that are near the caverns around the world to awaken. 

However, Ventus is unaware of it all, as she fills with the mana flooding into her. She feels at peace, as if the most comfortable blanket in existence is covering her.

Time passes, the moon revealing itself once more. The flood slows, and then returns to normal. However, to anything capable of detecting mana density in the atmosphere, they would notice a large increase overall.

Ventus stirs, feeling well rested. She stands before stretching, many pops resounding from her spine and tails. “Ah, that was a wonderful rest.”

Looking down at herself, she can’t help but notice that her muscles are no longer sore, despite the amount of training she did with her echo. Finally, she looks around, blinking at the lack of Lamu’s squad. 

“I wonder where they went. Should I summon my echo now that I’m alert again? Hopefully she won’t mind the time, since she’s probably sleeping.”

Summoning her mana, she blinks at the torrent it is compared to the rapid flow before. Wondering what happened, she once more calls forth her clone, only to receive a note.

The note says: You’re on your own right now, dealing with some beasts that snuck too close. If you want to keep training, do laps around the cave you’re in until you collapse. On all fours, so you can familiarize yourself with the balance shifts. Once you’ve collapsed, eat and then go again. You don’t want to fall into mana hunger.”

Blinking, Ventus sighs and starts moving. She does thirty laps around the massive cave before her arms ache, forty until her legs start to burn, and fifty until she finally collapses. “Ow, that hurt.”

Taking food from her spatial pocket, she devours it. After eating she looks around and sits for a moment, meditating just long enough to feel the flow of her mana before a rock hits her from a spatial portal that appeared above her head. Blinking, she looks at the rock to see a note reading, “No resting. Run. This time every few feet you need to launch yourself forward, to the side, or backward.”

Ventus sighs, running her right hand along her head, scratching her own ears. Her tails thump the ground and then gets up, beginning to run. Humming as she runs, she jumps here and there, completing the first lap with some difficulty, before continuing on. She struggles with the second, and collapses from the third, muscles still sore from the initial run. 

Summoning her echo once again, she finally steps out. “Oh good, you did it. How many of each did you do Ori?

Panting, Ventus groans before answering. “Fifty laps, and then three laps jumping. Why did you make me run that far?”

Simple Ori, you’re going to need to run and fight no matter what happens. This is some preparation for that. Time to spar.”

Groaning, the original Ventus summons her gauntlets out and prepares to fight. “Alright, let’s do this Echo,” before lunching at Echo Ventus, who dodges before countering with one of her tails. It is covered in the fabric that Ventus normally sees. Ventus sees it from the corner of her eye. Jumping to the side, she narrowly avoids the tail. She gulps as she watches Echo’s tail slam into the floor, causing cracks to appear. 

Shaking her head, Ventus goes for another strike, flipping back after being dodged, letting her tails fly upwards, narrowly missing Echo’s jaw.

Right after Echo dodges the original Ventus’ tails, she lunges slightly to the right and forward before launching an attack with a gauntleted hand, hitting due to the original still being in the air. 

“Flips are fine and all, but when you are facing a fast opponent, you should remember not to use them while you can’t launch yourself away. We go again.”

Several excruciating hours later, Ventus flops to the ground, unable to move. “Echo, I don’t think I can go further.”

“It’s fine Ori, you still lasted longer than expected. Did something happen last night?”

“Not that I know of Echo. My mana is flowing more, but that’s all I can think of.”

Blinking, echo Ventus is clearly surprised, before asking “Do you remember any kind of cracking in your mind?”
Ventus nods before saying “Yeah I do. And mana was flooding into me, I don’t know why. Felt really refreshing though.”

Echo facepalms “So an alignment happened. That would certainly explain things. In the future, don’t be in the caverns  during an alignment. It won’t be good for any allies, though we’d be fine due to how we became awoken.”

Ventus grins, “So you’re saying come in here alone whenever an alignment arrives?” I hope Lamu’s squad is okay.”

Echo sighs before swatting Ventus’ ears “No silly, I mean don’t come in here in general. You’re lucky that no beasts found you given how we draw the flow into us.”

Ventus yelps, hands rushing to her ears. “Why Echo? That hurt a lot.”

Echo chuckles “Because it will make you pay attention Ori. Promise me that you will do your best to avoid the caverns during an alignment. I’m serious.”

Hands still on her ears, tails curled loosely against her legs, she nods. “I promise I won’t deliberately head into the caverns during an alignment. If it occurs by mistake though, then that’s a different matter Echo.”

Sighing, Echo debates for a few moments before nodding, a look of disappointment on her face. “I suppose that's what I asked for. Take the rest of the day off. Make it to the surface and report to Lamu. He needs to know you’re okay.”

“Okay Echo, you can go. I’ll be up there, hopefully Avery will have recovered somewhat.”

“I doubt that, but good luck. Maybe pack some clothes so you don’t get stuck with an ill-fitting uniform. Also, you need to pack water next time, you’re dehydrated. Anyway, good luck Ori.”

As the connection closes, sending Echo back to where she came from, Ventus stumbles to her feet before stumbling along, leaving the crack filled cave behind. Each step bringing excruciating pain as though she was dipped in fire.

As she walks, mana flows into her. Each portion of mana repairs some of the damage to her muscles, to the point that by the time she arrives at the surface, her muscles are mostly recovered. This leaves her with a deep hunger, but also stronger than she was before her training.

Walking into the dorm, Ventus approaches the second floor, waving at Todd as she goes by.

Todd nods to her before pressing a button on his communicator. The golden door opens, revealing Lamu. 

“Hello Ventus, glad to see you still with us. Anything to report? Such as why the lent uniform is tattered, scratches everywhere.”

Tilting her head, Ventus looks down before chuckling. “Well uhh, I sparred with my echo again. I can’t be cut by her gauntlets, but that protection apparently doesn’t extend beyond my skin. Sorry for destroying gear Lamu.”

Shaking his head, Lamu responds “Nothing to be sorry for about that. They’re meant to protect somewhat during combat, but against awoken or beasts, it makes sense for them to be damaged.” Turning stern he then says “However, taking all of the food in the mess hall does need a punishment. No going back into the caverns, and you’re to report to researcher Senta for examination. You didn’t seem to notice, but mana was flooding into you. I need to know what changed. I’d send you to Avery, but she had a breakdown, and is effectively in solitary confinement for several more days.”

Ventus lets out a sigh she didn’t know she was holding. “Well that’s something at least, I won’t have to worry about Avery ambushing me. Did my door get fixed, or is that still on hold?”

“It’s been repaired, yes. Try not to piss off Vincent again. Also, you need to be measured for your proper gear again. I was told you’re potentially going to grow, so every few weeks we’ll need to make sure your gear doesn’t become a problem.”

Nodding, Ventus turns to leave, tails twirling behind her. “I won’t, but I don’t control what my echo does. I’ll head to the lab after I clean up, so let this Senta person know I’ll be there soon.”

azorath1234

Sorry for the short chapter. Found it hard to focus today. Hopefully you'll all get a longer chapter tomorrow, but we shall see.