Lilianna did as he said, letting go of her vice-like grip on the mana in her pool and instead just directing it into the form she wanted. Nothing appeared to happen, so she pushed ever so gently. She wasn’t forcing it, just giving the spell all the resources it would need, like putting more candles under that piece of paper.

What she was feeling floored her. She could feel the mana’s... nature? Character? What would one call it?

Water was constantly in motion, always wanting to take up as much space as it could, flowing around anything it couldn’t move on its own. It moved ever onward, never stopping. One could even say a stagnant pond was moving as it slipped and slid through its container with an easy but certain grace.

Wind was very similar, but it was more rambunctious, almost playful. Nothing could stop the wind. Nothing could grab it and tie it down. It was freedom personified, and would resist any attempt to control it. It called to her, asking her to let go and just fly with the wind.

Even as Lilianna reached these epiphanies about her elements, she somehow knew that she was only scratching the surface. Watching the two elements dance together in her mind’s eye, Lilianna was overwhelmed by the sensation of it. It was elation, anticipation, and joy all wrapped into one bundle of complex emotions in her heart.

Murmurs and gasps coming from the rest of the class interrupted her thoughts. Opening her eyes, Lilianna briefly panicked when she realized she couldn’t see. Everywhere she looked, there was a thick blanket of fog obstructing her view. She couldn’t even see the professor, who should have been right next to her.

“Alright, that’s enough. You’re going to freeze us all to death,” Professor Aldric called from somewhere in front of her. Lilianna suddenly realized that she had been passively feeding mana to a spell the entire time. As soon as she realized that, she felt the feed abruptly cut off as she lost her concentration. The fog slowly cleared, revealing the open-mouthed stares of her classmates.

Lilianna reflexively began to apologize for the scene, but the world started spinning around her, and her stomach felt like it had dropped out from under her.

“Whoops,” the professor said, catching her before she could topple over onto the floor. “Yeah, it’s a little tricky at first. Try not to put so much into it next time, alright? Control is going to be a big focus for you. That massive mana pool has spoiled you somewhat.”

Lilianna could only nod in a daze as the professor placed her in a nearby chair. At last thinking to look inward at her mana pool, she realized it was almost half empty after less than a minute. She couldn’t even recall when that had last happened to her.