“Kon~?” Confused by what happened I let out a sound.

 

I was sitting on Yuri’s lap, I looked one more time. This time though, I focused on my body. I had slender fur-less limbs, white milky skin, and an even bushier tail. Long golden hair covered my face, my snout had disappeared altogether and I could feel how my jaw had changed. My sense of smell remained the same, although I needed to breath manually now.

 

A feeling of dread washed over me, I got slightly panicked

 

“There there. I think I forgot to tell you. But once a spirit is given a name they evolve into a superior form.” She explained, while also getting out pieces of cloth from one of the drawers.

 

“Here. Try putting these clothes on.”

 

“What are these? How do I put them on?”

 

She gave me a smug grin, and helped me with putting some of these ‘clothes’ on.

 

“Well. Clothes are very much like your fur. They protect your body from cold and wind. And also serve as a way to express yourself.”

 

After I put the clothes on, Yuri came in for a hug from behind putting her arms in front of me and leaning on me.

 

“What do you mean with superior form?” I gave her a questioning look. What did she mean with me ‘evolving into a superior form’.

 

“Normally, lesser spirits such as you, don’t get to have a human form unless they get a name. But since I gave you a name you evolved, simple.”

 

So she is saying that when I got a name I evolved… Yuri gave out an exhausted sigh, before leaning into me even more.

 

“Well. I think you should get used to your body first. I’ll just take a nap…”

 

She let out a loud yawn before falling asleep, on my back. Her soft breathing calmed my mind a little, but I was stuck now.

 

I’m stuck

 

I frowned, being stuck like this was not the best thing. But instead of mulling on that I decided to explore my body. So my head had changed quite a bit, though my all ears were still there, and my limbs had grown, as I had said earlier. 

 

But there was also another change that I hadn’t noticed until now. A golden substance was flowing, circulating within my body. I could almost grasp it with my hands. By using trial and error I managed to make it try and go outside my body,

 

A little bit more

 

When the golden substance did break out of my body a loud noise reached my ears, and I felt a massive force push on me. If it were not for me sitting inside Yuri’s lap then I would have been flung a good few feet. Yuri was awakened by me being pushed into her and the sound of the explosion.

 

“Huh?! Did something happen?” She asked, in a confused but alarmed state.

 

“Umm… I was testing…” I shyly answered back, not wanting to be scolded.

 

My ears were pressed against my head while my tail tucked between my legs. I expected a scolding, but I got something else.

 

“Sigh. Well. You managed to summon your divine energy.”

 

Divine energy? What’s that?

 

“W-what’s divine energy?” I gave her a questioning look, tilting my head to the side.

 

“Firstly. If you could just get off me then that would be great.”

 

“O-oh right.” I got off her lap and sat in front of her.

 

“So. Divine energy. It’s kind of like the magic that I used but more potent. Like. If I can cast a minor healing spell using magic then using divine magic would make it even better at healing.”

 

“Mhm.”

 

“And only spirits who have received a name or evolved once can manipulate it. Even if they’ve had it before. That means that once a spirit evolves or receives a name they can use divine energy along with magic.”

 

“Alright. So because I have a name I can use divine energy?”

 

“Correct!”

 

I smiled at the thought, being able to summon magic and divine energy sounded fun.

 

“But to learn how to use divine energy effectively you need to learn how to use magic.”

 

“Oh.”

 

I got a bit disappointed, but that wasn’t enough for me to just give up. Instead then, let’s start learning magic! But before that, I wanted to ask about the shrine, it’s as if it was abandoned or something similar.

 

“Um. I want to ask about the shrine, it looks so old.”

 

“About that… The old god abandoned the shrine. For unknown reasons.”

 

“Do you know how to use divine magic?”

 

“No, since I don’t have divine magic in me I can’t use it.”

 

“Ooh. Then how will I learn it?”

 

“As far as I know it’s the same as normal magic!”

 

“Alright, and how do I learn magic then?”

 

“Simple. I’m pretty sure you can feel this ‘energy’ floating around. Right?”

 

“Mhm. It almost feels as if I can manipulate it.”

 

“That’s the whole point of magic. Thankfully the shrine itself has more magic than the outside. Making practicing easier.”

 

“Okay… When can I start?”

 

“How about today?”

 

“Yay!” I threw my arms up and hugged Yuri, I was happy that I would get to learn magic!

 

My stomach growled at the worst time, telling me that I was hungry.

 

“But first. I’ll need to make dinner. Then we can start on magic.”

 

“Aww… Can I help?”

 

“Sure!” 

 

I tried to get up, only to fall down again. I gave Yuri an awkward smile.

 

“I think I’ll need to get used to walking…”

 

Yuri giggled. The day was mostly spent on trying to teach me to walk. I had quite a few ups and downs, but in the end I got it down good enough to be able to run without much problem.

 

Onto the dinner.

 

Getting used to these ‘chopsticks’ was hard, but after some good tutoring by Yuri I found myself relatively good at using them. And compared to how I did it before, I can say with full confidence that this was a much more intuitive and smart solution to eating food.

 

Yuri made chicken broth soup, a very tasty dinner. Much tastier than anything I’ve had before. After enthusiastically eating up dinner, I got comfy in Yuri’s lap and prepared myself for my first lesson in magic.

 

We moved to the backyard to practice.

 

“Firstly I’ll demonstrate a simple trick with magic.” Right after she said that she held her arm up and created an orb of water.

 

“This is a pretty simple thing to do. Magic is based on your mind so being able to imagine things is key.” She explained, while making the water orb flow around above her hand.

 

“But to be able to summon water like this you need to be able to summon magic first. The principle is also pretty easy. You just need to imagine the ‘magic’ gathering at the place where you want to use it.”

 

“S-so I need to be able to feel and imagine the magic?”

 

“Correct!”

 

“Alright…” I tried what Yuri had told me. First I needed to be able to manipulate the magic around me. I concentrated on making it gathering above my hand, which I had raised and held in front of me. I could see the magic flowing and gathering into a small orb.

 

“You’re doing great Naomi! Now to turn it into water.”

 

I shifted my concentration from gathering magic to turning it into water, and closed my eyes. I imagined it as this glowing orb, turning into water.

 

“You did it!” yuri exclaimed happily.

 

I opened my eyes, still keeping as much concentration as possible on keeping the water in an orb.

 

“Woah.”

 

As soon as I said that though, the orb of water lost its shape and fell down onto the ground. I got a bit wet from the splash, but it didn’t matter as I had successfully used magic!

 

My tail happily wagged back and forth as I got all giddy imagining what I could do with my newfound power.

 

“Calm down Naomi. That’s a really simple magic spell. I’ll teach you more when you get older.”

 

“Unfair! I want to learn more!”

 

“You need to master controlling mana in your body first.”

 

“Okay…”

 

My ears drooped a little and my tail stopped wagging after I realised that the reason for my quick success was because the area around me was filled with mana. Making it easy for me to manipulate it.

 

I continued with learning to manipulate magic, with Yuri next to me supporting my progress.

 

Satisfied with my progress in magic Yuri began teaching me the ways that humans communicate, and how they used their limbs to do different things.

 

I stood two heads shorter than her, making me the subject of pets and cuddles most of the time.

 

After a long but fun session in learning and training, it was time for us to sleep.

 

‘You’re a smart fox, I’ll give you that.’ Those words echoed in my mind while I was laying on the futon. Yuri’s eyes were focused on mine, as we both fell asleep. She moved me closer to her chest, and stroked my hair until she fell asleep. Her hand moved elegantly and put me in a drowsy state, I gave out a yawn before falling asleep in her embrace.

 

The night got blurry after that, though I remember waking up to Yuri using my fluffy tail as a pillow.

 

-o-