A few hours later...

The girls were lying on the ground with bruises all over their hands and legs. That was only because Muku made sure to hold back otherwise they would all have black eyes and bruises everywhere on their bodies.

Out of them Jade was the most bruised because of her stubbornness. Even when she knew she was completely beaten, she insisted on continuing, so, Muku had to teach her a lesson.

Anyway, other than that. Everything else was working out fine.

With how they were progressing, he'd introduce something new in a few days. After all, it couldn't all be piled on at once since that would likely overwhelm them.

But of course, that was only if what he added affected the physical body. As for mental?...

"Okay, everyone. That's enough rest for now. It's time to teach you all how to manipulate your mindscape.... As for Freya. You can continue resting and maybe help the others if you can" Muku addressed the girls who had barely rested for twenty minutes.

They wanted to complain, but that was hard to do after Hope healed them and restored their peak physical and mental states... Hope actually hated her abilities at the time.

After all, they were working against her and the others. If only she didn't love her brother so much. Then maybe she would have refused him when he told her to heal everyone...

But oh well, such was life.

They could only suck it up and do as they were told while giving Freya an envious gaze.

Out of everyone present, only Elsa and Jade were excited. The reason for Elsa's excitement was pretty obvious...

And that was finally being able to interact with her Water Fairy.

Sure, the little fairy would come out and help her during battle. But it was also very shy, so in normal times, it wouldn't appear when she summoned it.

It only appears when she's alone... But as someone who's rarely away from her sister since the near-death experience from before, her alone time was very limited.

So yeah, she was more than excited to learn how to manipulate her mindscape. That way she could interact with the fairy without going away from Emily.

One might wonder why she can't just interact with the fairy behind closed doors when Emily is in another room... Well, she tried but Freya happened to glance by throw her ability during that time which the fairy sensed and it immediately retreated.

Elsa wasn't fed up with its timid nature though. After all, Iris assured her that all infant fairies start out that way. It's part of their inborn self-preservation abilities.

They actually have to gain a certain level of understanding of the world as well as a certain level of strength before they lose their timidity.

This usually happens after a few decades but that's only when they are alone. When they are bonded to people then the time can be shortened to a few years.

Now with Elsa's help after she can access her mindscape, maybe in a few months the fairy will be ready to confidently interact with the world...

Anyway, everyone understood Elsa's excitement, but few understood Jade's.

Sure, gaining the ability to manipulate one's mindscape was great, but it didn't seem like something Jade would be so excited about.

And that really wasn't the reason. She was excited because after gaining the ability she'll finally be able to learn the full story behind her "dreamy visions"

She noticed the confusion in the eyes of her teammates but said nothing. She decided to wait until she had the full picture before telling them about it.

It wasn't because she feared being rejected like before. After speaking with Muku and Emily, especially Emily who had no link to her whatsoever on the matter... She decided that it was okay to tell everyone about her supposed origins.

However, it had to be confirmed first before she said anything. After all, it was quite mystical and scary.

Anyway, Muku didn't delay as he instructed the girls to get into the iconic meditation pose.

After that...

"Okay, ladies. You are all familiar with the mana pathways in your bodies right? Well, of course you are, you have been interacting with them since the first time you cast a spell. Anyway, you should have also noticed that you can actually "see" the pathways right? And the way you look at them is practically the same way you look at the world with your mana sense. The only difference is that you're looking inside yourselves instead of out. The process is so easy that you learned it without trying and could do it before being able to project your mana sense into the surrounding world. Anyway, what I'm about to tell you right now is the next stage in "seeing" within one's self..." Muku began speaking to the girls who had their eyes closed while paying close attention...

"What I want you to do is to completely ignore your mana pathways as well as your mana cores. Instead, try looking up... I know it's not as easy as I make it seem since it basically goes against what you know. You all just go along with the ride when looking at your mana pathways right? Well, let me tell you about a trick that makes everything easier. As you know, mana pathways also go up into your heads right? Well, that's also where your mindscape is located... Obviously. Anyway, this time, I want you to follow the path from the starting point which is the core and go along until the pathways get to the head. Then I want you to stop your inner sense... Yes, let's call it inner sense. I want you to stop it from following the pathway like it normally would. It's okay to mess up the first time around. Hell, you can mess up a hundred times. It doesn't matter. Just try to pause it slow it down a bit.... Oh, I almost forgot, the inner sense is separated into four when it leaves the core, so wait until it intersects then slow it down... Which conveniently happens in the head. Let's forget about the next step for now, let's focus on that first and we'll continue once you can do it. I'll give you four hours of practice for now to familiarise yourselves with the process..." Muku gave the orders as clearly as he could.

The girls did as they were told. And like he said, it wasn't as easy as he made it out to be.

This was because, a person's inner sense splits into four when it starts from the mana core. This is because the core is in the lower belly area.

And mana pathways are in both the lower and upper regions of the body. And the only way to cover everything at once is to separate.

This is something people don't consciously do as it was just made that way like breathing.

However, this process won't start on its own. It's something people consciously start then it runs on automatic.

And now, after years of letting it work like that. Muku was telling them to grab control... So of course it would be hard.

"Umm... My inner sense starts from my head..." Freya who participated in the exercise even when she didn't have to suddenly spoke.

"And that's what we're trying to get the others to do. That's actually the first part in gaining control of one's inner sense. I can't help but envy you. I had a difficult time learning how to do it and you just woke up one day and could do it. And that was before mana too. Is this the difference between geniuses and average people?" Muku replied with a little smile on his face.

Freya blushed and covered her face due to his comment. She didn't know what to say. After all, she knew nothing about how she got to where she was.

Anyway, the duo didn't continue speaking as they were afraid of disturbing the others.

.....

Two hours later...

The girls were still doing their best to gain control, but weren't there yet.

However, from their different expressions, it was obvious that some were having more success than others.

At that point, Jade who was probably having the worst experience had an annoyed look on her face.

Muku didn't dare say anything to her or laugh lest she explode on him. And it kinda felt weird to bully her ruthlessly after what they did.

Especially when he remembered why they did whenever he looked at her. He found himself checking her out more times than he would care to admit.

Fortunately, everyone had their eyes closed or wasn't paying attention to him.

Raya was off somewhere. Probably at the lake again... And Tracy was napping beside Layla. So he was safe for now...

Opposite of Jade, Layla had the calmest expression and radiated a calm confidence like everything was going according to plan.

This made Muku wonder if a person's disposition affected the process... Then again, impatient people like Jade would definitely have a hard time with things that required concentration.

Bang!

"Argh!" Jade screamed out of nowhere after a bang sound.

This of course startled everyone and they looked at her immediately.

"Haha! I'm so smart!" Jade exclaimed loudly in confidence. She completely ignored the people looking at her...