"Big Brother... I have something I want to talk about..." Merilin said so softly, I barely heard her.

Actually, now that I focused on her expression, I could see that she was extremely depressed... 

Umm... What do I do now? 

I've never been good with 'feelings', that's why I usually threw my emotions out the window.

The faster I could, the better.

So… how do I give good advice...?

"Let's go somewhere else first." I said while holding her hand in order to take her somewhere private. 

I really don't want anyone to think I'm bullying her! 

On the way, I tried comforting her by telling her about the various things that happened with Mark. 

With some omissions, it turned into a lighthearted joke, but her silence really made me quite worried...

What actually happened to her? 

Wasn't she with Anna just moments ago? 

I hope that damn stupid woman's thick-headedness didn't cause some misunderstanding.

Hmmm, Anna IS kinda dense in some areas…

It's possible she said something she shouldn't have by accident. Damn her! Can't she pay attention?! 

Merilin's usually very sensitive about stuff... 

No, actually... despite her immaturity, this sister of mine was sharp-witted when it came down to it.

"Did Anna say something?" I asked her first.

We entering our parent's room. There was no one there, which was a perfect place for a good talk.

It was even better if they came to help me out…!

My little sister lifted her head. She started to look into my eyes with a mix of anxiety and worry.

Was this about the familiarity of the room?

Didn't she find it comfortable?

It wasn't that our parent's weren't capable enough to get personal rooms for both of us. To be perfectly honest, they just wanted to have more rooms for other servants of the Household. 

That's why they decided it would be okay for Merilin to not have a room of her own for now.

I, of course, was considered different from her. 

I was responsible enough to keep a tidy room and didn't really need help with doing my chores. 

A little can go a long way when it comes to keeping everyone satisfied with my personality.

It felt like the worry in Merilin's heart wasn't unfounded just by looking at the seriousness in her youthful eyes. 

It's strange to see… 

She had always been a smart girl who could work her way past anything she put her mind to. 

Different from the me of my past life…

There was a chance I wouldn't be able to help even if I knew something was troubling her.

"Auntie Anna said... my affinity is weak... She said I'll be bullied if I became a Mage...!" Merilin cried. 

My mind suddenly went blank… 

I panicked inwardly after seeing her tears…

What am I supposed to do?! My thoughts started to race as I tried to comfort her with words... 

Damn it! This was so stressful!

"Don't cry, don't cry… I'll get sad too if you start to cry." I said in panicked tone. 

Wait... Weren't my words more like a threat? 

Calm the heck down!

Damn! I didn't want her to cry, but I had literally ZERO experience in taking care of children. 

What was I supposed to do when she cried?!

Her little shoulders trembled a little after hearing my words, then she wiped away the tears on her face. 

She held back the sadness in her heart...

"Big Brother, don't be sad...! I'm… Look! I'm f-fine, super-duper now." She said with a straight face.

I felt my heart soften after hearing her words. 

She was such an angel~! 

To think this girl was still caring about me even though SHE was the one crying. How adorable~!

"Come here and sit down. 

You know how smart and creative I am. Any problems for you are my problems as well. 

You should remember that you have C Rank Magical Talent. Even if your affinity's weak, you'll still decimate those ordinary Specialists of the E Rank. So please have more confidence in yourself! 

Honestly, this big brother of yours is even worse in the talent department... Someone with F Rank Magical Talent like myself only counts as less than an ordinary person... How sad~! So sad~ Waah~!

My tears are overflowing~!" I bumbled and fumbled while leading her to the seats near father's desk. 

My words seemed to have encouraged her.

She started snickering at me.

"Don't be so hard on yourself and tell me more about your affinity. 

Even if you can't become a fighter, you could still become a Healer, can't you? 

Isn't that the most special property of all Light Ether?" I found her prior sadness hard to relate to.

The way she acted now was as if she'd forgotten everything. This damn girl was still giggling uncontrollably after hearing my previous harsh self-criticisms. Well… at least she looked fine.

Hah... Finally, I could calm down...

Merilin was well-aware that I didn't care about my status as someone with low Magical Talent.

She already understood I was only saying such things about myself in order to cheer her up.

I was a lot more gifted than a 'regular' F Rank Magical Talent, after all. A rare Universal Specialist.

"Mom said I have a 'water affinity'… and that water affinity is really special! She said there were the best at healing injuries, and curing sickness, and fighting lots of bad people near the sea at the same time." Her expression was full of anticipation.

That momentary glint was gone before I knew it…

She still didn't seem too depressed now.

It seemed like she really trusted me when it came my ingenuity with magic...

Hah... An affinity to Water Ether, eh?

I really didn't know how to answer...

Unfortunately, I clearly understood about why this world's magical society viewed Water Specialists as the weakest type of Mages and Swordsmen on land… They thought of things way too rigidly.

Being able to control Water Ether using Mana meant being able to control the natural element of water itself. 

Near the sea is where one would be in their most powerful state due to the excess amount of water that's surrounding them, but anywhere else: A Water Specialist wouldn't be able to do much.

A Water Specialist would be able to manipulate water into blades or freeze them into icicles.

They could also manipulate frost the same way. 

Water Specialists could be considered to be the most flexible type of fighters on both land and water to some extent...

However, such advantages were limited compared to Earth Specialists. 

Those rock-heads could even fight near oceans..

Adding to that was Wind Specialists: 

Those carefree maniacs could use their abilities to their full potential anywhere above ground level. 

Even Fire Specialists had a greater advantage than Water Specialists. At the very least, they could enlarge even the smallest spark of ember into a raging flames using Fire Mana or Ether.

"Can you show me your current control over Water Ether is like?" There was no reason not to ask.

Besides the Swordwick Duke, I didn't really know many people who had an affinity for water.

Merilin smiled and pointed her finger at a glass of water that was left on the table. 

A beam of blue light shot out of her finger and entered the cup, it's contents being connected to her mind in the process of imbuing it with her own body's Mana. Then, the water within it lifted up and levitated before us. The H2O was defying gravity.

[Spell Conjuring- Water Manipulation!]

She gestured her hand in various motions.

With every movement of her finger, it changed its form to look like a different pattern or shape. 

The small body of water responded to her will almost like it was some kind of living entity.

Seeing how her Water Manipulation had reached such a level really astounded me. 

A regular person would barely be able to shape water manipulated through this method.

The intricate control of Ether and strong inner visualisation needed to control External Energy (Ether) were very difficult for beginners to fully grasp. That's why kids trained for many years.

You could even say that most Elemental Specialists with fighting capabilities (like non-Mage Swordsmen) were actually 'Martial Artists' who're unable to control Ether. They used tools instead.

Her easily being able to shape objects through Water Manipulation at such a young age really spoke wonders about her natural talent! Though even with that talent, she needs a better strategy against opponents fighting on land. 

There was no fighter who would ever give another person enough time to manipulate Ether anyway.

Now that I thought of it... Why not try adding my limited knowledge of science to her magic? 

Her strength would definitely increase as long as she's able to visualise my thoughts correctly. 

It looked like some experimentation was in order~

"Can you turn them into little particles of ice?" I asked her meaningfully. A curious light appeared in my eyes as I mentioned knowledge from Earth, but it was suddenly overwhelmed by her inquiries.

"What are these 'particles' thingies…?" She seemed hesitant while asking back in return. 

There weren't any scientists on Gaia, so it was natural that some words I know of don't exist yet. 

This could perhaps be considered the difference in language that stemmed from the lack of research.

They hadn't really invented that words yet…

"Forget it. First make extremely tiny balls of icicles, then start to hit them together while imagining that each ice ball is gathering electrical charge. You need to send your will into the water properly." 

This explanation wasn't really helpful. Merilin was likely confused about what I had spoken about... 

…and it's only natural for her to think this way. 

After all, the people of this world believed that all lightning belonged to the 'Lightning God'. 

They believed that electricity couldn't be produced without imitating electricity itself using Mana.

A storm cloud was the only place one could find Lightning Ether on Gaia.

It wasn't that the knowledge of Gaia's residents was wrong on this point. It was actually true…

According to what I'd been taught from a young age, the Lightning God was the one who gifted humanity and the Beast Race the ability to manipulate an imitated form of lightning in return for neutrality. Just like the other 'Elemental Gods'.

In fact, one of the biggest reasons those residing in the Blood Nation were cursed as Barbarians was due to how their 'Blood God' didn't exchange anything for land. He just took it all by force.

What a savage brute…

All they did was invade the lands of Gaia and killed others ruthlessly. I didn't care if it was hypocritical to say, but killing is wrong. If they had just NOT started a war, then things would worked smoothly.

It looked like Merilin studying with Anna  paid off.

Imagining 'particles' from a vague description alone wasn't a talent anyone could replicate. 

There needed to be diligent heart underneath great talent if anyone wanted to initiate creative forms of Spell Conjurings.

Even if she hadn't understood what I meant by  'charge', she DID know what 'electricity' was. 

However, a look of puzzlement appeared on her face once again soon after. She was unable to understand how smashing together a few tiny icicles could generate 'electrical charge'...

"I don't now if that will work." She said, but followed my instructions anyway. Merilin might not have believed this would work, but she trusted that I wouldn't dare joke around with her feelings.

The ball of water above her hands turned into a plethora of small icicles that rapidly collided together at high speed. With her outstanding control over water, not even one part of the icicles ricocheted into our faces.

The process was became somewhat tiring over time…

…until Merilin finally saw a spark within the artificial cloud-like battery she created.

"It's lightning! Wow, look~! I can make lightning now!" Her face was flushed red immediately.

She bopped up and down…

Various ideas popped into her head after seeing my experiment actually succeeded. 

This discovery opened a new world of endless possibilities for her…

The only reason Humans of Gaia were able to gain an affinity to the five elements of nature such as Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Lightning, was due to their interaction with those five elements at a young age. 

It was only natural that every child would gain a deeper understanding to the elements they had spent time with throughout their lives with, rather than things they had never actually seen before.

Even if they were born with an affinity for lightning at birth, they still wouldn't have the ability to conjure lightning bolts without the knowledge of how itself lightning came into existence. It was like having a strong tool, but not knowing how to use it.

Unless a child was born in a place where they'd constantly be electrocuted by lightning, the chances of a Lightning Specialist appearing was practically nonexistent. Even WITH the talent…

From what I could tell by looking at Merilin's new Spell: She could only produce a 'Blue Lightning'.

A bolt that wasn't in any way similar to the mystical purple lightning created by the Lightning Attribute. 

This must be because 'Blue Lightning' was the product of a Water Spell. It was therefore a 'natural occurrence' instead of a 'magical phenomenon' created through the intervention of a God.

Whoa! I think my brain just fried from over-thinking. 

It would be better try to experiment myself when I had the time. This was actually interesting…!

"Calm down. 

You can try to slowly experiment by yourself now that you've found out how to generate lightning. 

No one would be able to bully you once you've got the hang of it. Just try to remember one thing: You can't control the lightning itself. The only method to control it would be to find a way to control where the Blue Lightning will strike." 

I walked out without even letting her ask any questions after explaining to her exactly what she needed to know. There's no way I'd be able to explain where I got my knowledge from…

…so I'd rather let her figure it out herself.

Perhaps she wouldn't understand even if I explained everything to her anyway, and even if she did, she wouldn't know how to properly apply the knowledge I'd shared with her to create her own personalised Spells. Hah… What a bother…

The most effective way to help her would be to show a new direction to grow her abilities.

This would allow her to slowly figure things out by herself. Although lightning was incredible, the dangers of being unable to control it have turned into stories. They were usually told to scare kids. 

I'm sure her inner fear of it will allow her to gain better understanding regarding how to manipulate it as safely as she can. Even if there are some accidents, I'm entirely sure she isn't stupid enough to generate enough lightning that could hurt her.

This wasn't just my inner philosophy of 'You only live once' talking. I didn't want to be too clingy.

If I always answered her questions and protected her, she'd continue without any self-dependence.

It would gradually make her unable to grow up…

From what I remembered of my little sister of my past life, it was this mistake I'd regretted a lot.

Things were better this way…

I looked at my hand after entering my room and unleashed my own personal Burst Manipulation at full power. This allowed a diamond-like glow to surround me like a supernatural flame of energy.

This extremely pure Light Mana created by my Sun Attribute was amazing many different ways. 

The first of them being how it allowed me to manipulate a sort of 'Sun Ether' around my body.

The faint golden glow fused into it symbollised that I was one of those who had extremely deep comprehension and intrinsic control over Light Ether. If I had more Mana, then I'd probably be able to test just what I could do with this blessing.

Hah... Well, it isn't something a person at my level of Magical Talent could master for now. 

My motive for releasing Mana Clad was different.

I tried using my strong Sun Mana to imitate Water Ether, causing its luminous gold-like glow to turn blue like a sapphire. This Water Mana created from my 'Sun' Mana allowed me to improve the dexterity of all my bodily movements by tenfold!

I was not done yet as my mind fully retained memory of the phenomenon caused by Merilin's Spell. My hand turned the water into countless icicles. It collided together to form electricity. 

Merilin herself was probably unable to understand much about her 'Blue Lightning' right now.

However. just by seeing that that extremely brief demonstration, I'd found myself enlightenment! 

The sapphire glow on my hand slowly turned a shade of amethyst purple. I clenched my fist. 

A small amount of lightning generated around my hand. It fully abided by will and was under control.

For now, I could just barely control my own personal Lightning Affinity, but what would it turn into once thoroughly mastered? This will be my trump card for any enemies in the future! 

A thing to help comfort the paranoia that's always haunting me... and it seemed to be getting worse…

Almost like my 'wounds' were opening up…