BREAKTHROUGH ; b-rank exam

Gazing into the mirror over her basin, Valeria scrunched up her face in thought. Honestly it looked like she was disgusted by her own face but that was not the case. She actually did this when she was thinking hard, which was what she was doing now. After going with Sara for the job involving vampires and vampire hunters, she realised she needed a lot of training before she could move up higher and take more difficult jobs. She saw how her teammate’s spell couldn’t even land a scratch on the vampire. If they were tasked to kill him by their client, they were probably the ones who would end up dead instead of their target. The thought caused goosebumps to break out all over her skin and an uneasy groan escaped her lips. It was time to train. She needed to get better with her magic, first thing. Valeria sighed. Before anything she needed a shower. It was so hot the whole night because she turned off the air conditioner in her sleep, so now she felt sticky and disgusting. How could someone be so stupid, right? Yeah, that’s pretty much what Val thought to herself after doing something incredibly retarded. So the first thing she did was, she brushed her teeth, and then hopped into the shower.

Swinging her shower curtains open, Val stepped out in a white towel, feeling like a whole new person. She had thought about giving herself a different name for after she had showered, because that’s how new of a person she felt like. Giggling to herself at the thought of such a silly thing to do, she twirled around her room, stark naked now that she had removed the towel. There was nothing new with her outfit most of the day. She wore the same sophisticated type of clothes she wore everyday and slapped on some foundation to look at least presentable. Yes, she had planned to train today, but who said she could not look pretty while doing that? Humming an upbeat tune, she finished doing her hair and tidied up her room before leaving. She didn’t know a better place to train her magic than the Hargeon Beach. There was usually no one there because of the rumors that anyone who swam near the shore got sucked away by the sea. Basically, they died. Though Val wasn’t sure if that was because of their own carelessness or if there was actually a raging spirit causing these deaths like the villagers claimed.

Whatever it was, Val thought that this was actually a good chance for her to train since she would be alone at the beach. As long as she did not go into the water, there was nothing to worry about, anyways. So she traveled to Hargeon Beach, thinking of how she would spend her time there efficiently to get better at her magic. She had a whole day to do this, seeing how it was still only seven in the morning. Yes, she had woken up a bit too early just for this. Pulling the straps of her backpack forward, she looked past the port at the sparkling surface of the sea. It was nice to be near the sea once in a while. The other reason she chose to train here was because of her love for beaches. She loved how the sun made her skin glow and how the saltwater made her hair stiff and voluminous. Maybe if she had time she would take a dip since she didn’t believe in raging spirits and things like that. Walking down to a more secluded area near the beach, she dropped her backpack and took off the wrap dress that she wore over her usual outfit. Since her everyday attire was made for ease in every situation, she could wear it during training as well. As complicated as it looked, it didn’t bother her at all.

Taking a deep breath, she looked around to see if anyone was there. She didn’t want any distractions while she was training, or just people watching her. Val tied up her hair into one hightail and did some warm up exercises so that her muscles were not so tense. Afterwards she began by turning her whole left hand into light particles. This was one of the tricks she already knew how to do pretty well. Focusing, she turned her entire body as well, to warm herself up to try out more mana consuming ideas. After all, if she didn’t test her limits, she would never know what she was capable of. She had a few ideas that came to her mind when she was reading the book on her type of magic. Some were her own original ones, while some others were those of previous Heavenly Body magic users. She was glad that they kept records of the magic and their way of using it, so that future generations could learn about it. She thought that was a pretty nice thing to do, and she would do the same as well. Val liked to keep record of most things she did. She had a journal to record special events like her first day at the guild and such. Returning back to her human form, Valeria took a deep breath. Now to try some new shit!

Since there was no one around, the idea she had could not be tested on anyone...but herself. She thought about it for a while. ‘Nah, too dangerous,’ she thought to herself and skipped to the next one. For the next concept, she needed to focus on a constellation to channel its power and use it. The first constellation she could think of using was Sagittarius, the archer. According to what she had read in the records, Heavenly Body mages should be able to channel the different star signs and use their different, unique powers. But the only person who tried it out only left records of him coming up with the concept, so Val wanted to test it out for herself to see if it was possible. Of course this was no easy feat, considering how very little she knew of her own magic. She still had a long way to go. But she was determined to make it happen. ‘Nothing is impossible,’ she thought, and shut her eyes with her head raised. She focused on the stars, and then on Sagittarius. The first few times were unsuccessful, but after several determined tries over the entire afternoon, she started to feel a tingling sensation, as if the stars were responding to her call. Although it took some time and effort, she was finally able to channel Sagittarius, wielding a bow and quiver of arrows made out of celestial light. It seemed the master archery came with it, because not a single shot was missed when she tried out her newly attained weapon.

While she was only able to make a single discovery after a whole day, this sole discovery opened the door to a million possibilities. She could channel Sagittarius now and with that came master archery. Who knows what powers the other star signs will grant her?