TF Chapter 37 Lesson

The struggles of man were something I was coming to hate these past few days of trying to influence the atoms of the metallic sphere.

Even though my spiritual powers could permeate the damn ball, I failed to even move one single particle! The clock was ticking, with three days having already passed. I was even starting to develop some resentment towards our dear changed tutor. Why hadn't the great and bubbly Celeste remained the same?

A sigh escaped my lips for the umpteenth time. I laid the sphere in between my legs and gazed up at the ceiling of the stone house.

I had thought the woman was going to simply take a few hours to come back, but a whole three days had elapsed without us catching even a hint of her shadow. Was she really going to only avail herself on the last day? What prevented me from outright panicking was the fact that even the knowledgeable Bora and the mysterious Danny hadn't managed to move past this huddle.

How was I going to breach this?

This was a question I had mulled over these past few days. Was I doing something wrong? I couldn't feel even a tiny vibration from the metallic atoms. I know that they were bonded with those next to them, and for some reason, my spirit couldn't find a way to break or weaken the bond. Putting it near the molten stream and weakening said bonds would be cheating, no doubt about that.

"This is impossible. Celeste must have tricked us. There is no way we can do this at our level." Bora hurled the ball towards the corner, her entire being radiating the fact that she had given up on the task.

She was probably right as we had even tried after combining our spirits once again, but as the norm in our daily lives, it had failed!

She was right. There was nothing we were doing wrong, and had already explored every avenue we could think of, yet...everything had failed.

Now, that begged the question. Why had Celeste dropped this on us? Had we done something to displease her? Or could it be that she was taking whatever was on her, out on us?

-----

Time crawled on as we fell into our previous routine, having discovered the futility of following Celeste's task.

If time was something tangible, I would have most definitely beaten the snot out of it. Why couldn't it move faster?

Anyway, today was the deadline, the day we were about to once again meet out tutor. Even though she hadn't appeared in the previous six days, instinctively, I could feel that today was the day.

Would she have went back to being the bubbly version of herself? Would we be booted out of this city?

These and many more questions were going to be answered today.

"Are you nervous?" Danny's question pulled me from my daze.

"I can't deny the possibility. This has been my dream since I was young. If I get booted out of here without advancing as a forger, it would probably crush my spirit. What about you, Bora?"

"All I can say is that all my future plans hinge upon me advancing to the level of a forger. If I can't...death would be the only other path."

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Now don't go being all gloomy on us! Surely you must be joking..." Danny's words died down upon being glared at.

"But you were the first to give up. If the situation for you is that dire, how could you have given up on Celeste's task that simply?" I asked, skeptical.

"There is a thin line between foolishness and common sense. If you two couldn't discover that the task itself was impossible after all that time, you would have been foolish."

I frowned at that unintentional insult. But, she was right. If we had kept at that, maybe something would have happened, something bad.

"Now, when is she coming? Waiting here like this is boring..." Danny complained, even as he piled up the little metallic spheres at his feet, trying to construct a pyramid. He was failing at that, since the balls weren't agreeing with the arrangement.

Yes, it was getting boring. Everything here was starting to get on my nerves. That academy at the center surely wouldn't be boring, right?

"So...I am back." Celeste's voice caused me to feel as if my heart was going to jump out of my chest. And I even hurriedly stood up because of the edge in her tone. Was that anger, or rage?

"Did you succeed?"

The edge remained in her voice and her spiritual pressure crashed into us, causing me to feel as if I was trapped beneath water, starting to suffocate.

"It...we...failed." Bora spoke, her face flushed, though with me only being to catch a glimpse through the corner of my eyes because my body was failing to follow my commands, as if it had been petrified.

"Of course you were meant to fail..."

Before she could even continue, I could feel my eyes widening. What did she mean by that?! Was she playing us?!

"Don't look at me like that. It was simply me trying to teach you a lesson. Can any of you tell me what that is."

She asked while withdrawing the pressure, causing my surpressed spirit to gush out as if it was a drowning man that had been resuscitated. If it hadn't been for the efficiency of the nano suit, sweat would have been pushed out of my skin. 

"Patience...?" There was uncertainity within Danny's voice. That was most definitely not the answer.

I decided to try and ponder upon it and see whether I could come up with one. The good thing was that she decided to simply stand there and leave us to our mullings, her gaze no longer dark, as if she had been toying with us.

"The futility of something...?"

(Clap!)

Bora's uncertain answer earned her a clap from Celeste.

"Yes, but the lesson wasn't that simple. I was testing your minds, wanting to see what happens when you discover that you couldn't accomplish the task I had set, not to mention what would happen once the deadline elapsed."