Cyril stayed silent, thinking about possible ways of raising her mana capacity.
Eventually he sighed and said in a calm tone, "It's already late today. Let's try training you some other time." He was sincere with his words.
Morpho flapped her wings with joy, flew back to her terrarium, and waved her antennae in understanding.
"This will be fun. Just imagine you with a spear and Morpho with her deadly butterfly magic taking on the world." Rhamn was already anticipating the future.
Sure, that would look unusual. He finally lay down on the bed.
All of the exhaustion from today caught up to him at once, and he fell asleep almost instantly. "Good night..."
...
The next day, early morning.
Cyril was on the training field with Morpho sitting on his shoulder.
Immediately upon waking up, this butterfly started pestering him to fulfill his promise. So he had no choice but to head over here to see what they could do.
Right now he, together with Rhamn, was thinking of ways to train Morpho up.
Eventually they settled on trying to explain the theory to her first before she tried any real spells, lest she follow Leo's footsteps.
So Rhamn started a special lecture with only one student. The way they communicated was silent, so Cyril could only look at Rhamn making all sorts of poses that she thought made her appear smarter and wait.
"Alright, we are done!" Soon Rhamn showed a peace sign to Cyril with joy.
What? That quickly? Before Cyril cast his spell, he had to study for quite a bit, but Morpho only studied for a half an hour, and she was done? He fully expected it to take months.
"Morpho doesn't want to wait that long before casting her first spell." Rhamn shrugged her shoulders in helplessness.
"Right now I taught her the bare minimum to successfully cast the flash spell. First we will see if she can do that at all." Rhamn walked to his side with a wry expression.
It made sense to Cyril. Before they invest so much time and effort into this, it is worth testing it first.
Morpho flew in place, focusing on feeling magic flowing through her.
After a moment, a miniature magic circle was created where her foreleg was; it looked like a child's drawing.
It existed for a few seconds before a dim dot of light appeared at the center that quickly fizzled out. It was a failure.
Morpho fell to the ground from exhaustion, scaring her caretakers greatly.
"Morpho!" Cyril and Myra ran over quickly, and he picked up the twitching butterfly—she was out of mana.
That's not good. If anyone wanted to become a mage, there were a few qualities one had to possess.
While Morpho was capable of casting it in theory, her natural mana reserve was too small to cast even the easiest of spells.
Increasing your talent was also a cumbersome affair; it required expensive potions like 'Dragon's Blood.'. Even if Cyril had the ridiculous amount of money required to buy several of them, he probably wouldn't be able to find enough of them for Morpho.
Their mood became a bit sad. Cyril could clearly feel the disappointment coming from Morpho. It was not a good feeling.
What about the Black Tulip? He racked his brain for any solutions and thought of that mysterious stone that increased his talent; maybe it could help?
"No, it won't help. Morpho tried it before in secret; she wasn't able to absorb its power." Rhamn also had a terrible expression on her face.
The feeling of despair coming through their connection was incredibly vivid. It felt like Cyril was going through this himself.
Our connection? Soon he had an unusual idea.
Rhamn read his thoughts. "No way... But maybe?" It was worth a try at least. They didn't want to let Morpho down.
Cyril had a wild guess. He wanted to use the obvious connection between them to see if he could help her.
Rhamn was able to change the structure of his body by using mana. Surely there is something they could do with Morpho.
While holding the confused butterfly in his hand, Cyril closed his eyes and tried to focus on the connection between them. Rhamn did the same.
They spend an unknown amount of time standing like this, meditating.
At some point, Morpho suddenly started feeling better. She was no longer exhausted and stood up on her insect limbs.
"This is really miraculous!" Seeing them succeed, Rhamn exclaimed in joy.
Cyril also breathed a sigh of relief, satisfied with this outcome. "This will work." His confident voice gave Morpho hope.
With difficulty, they were able to transfer their natural mana to Morpho.
For regular people, even if they somehow were able to give their mana to someone else, that person wouldn't be able to use it; maybe he will be even harmed by it instead.
But on the account of their unusual connection, Cyril guessed she would be able to use his magic with no issue, and he was right.
"Try casting it again." Once again with a confident voice, Cyril decided to strike while the iron is hot.
Remaining in the palm of his hand, Morpho raised her forelegs and tried to use magic. Cyril closed his eyes again and focused.
The butterfly could feel a strange but familiar feeling giving her strength.
The same dim light appeared, but this time it didn't disappear, instead becoming brighter for a second.
It was akin to someone making a spark with a lighter, not powerful, almost unnoticeable in daylight, but it was undoubtedly a success.
Morpho sat there in disbelief at her own success; if before the spell went with difficulty like trying to move while knee-deep in mud, then this time it felt as simple as flying.
At that moment she was using Cyril's mana to cast the spell. She doesn't have to worry about the quality or quantity of mana this way.
She flew up and did a little dance in the air out of happiness, and Rhamn clapped in celebration.
Looking at this scene brought comfort and joy to Cyril; his mouth even curved in a slight smile.
"Alright. Since we now know you can be a mage, we can begin your studies." His calm words brought Morpho to a stop.
"Yeah, Morpho, you can't become a good mage without studying! Don't worry, under my supervision you'll work hard~" Rhamn nodded and did an ominous laugh.
While this butterfly wanted to become stronger, she really didn't like the idea of reading books and spending hours on something so boring.
Morpho sat on Cyril's shoulders in resignation; the area around her almost became visibly darker, but she didn't complain. It was her decision after all.
Still, Cyril could feel that she was happy right now, so he let them play this dramatic scene and started walking back towards the dorm.
There was still some time left before he was supposed to meet with Myra. They could spend this time teaching Morpho.
Back home they've placed a book on the table and let Morpho land right in front of it.
The next two hours they all spend helping Morpho understand the basics of spell making.
Rhamn had a good grasp of the theory, and Cyril had some experience in combat. Together they made quite a good teacher.
Cyril also discovered that he had fun during this; it was satisfying to see someone get better with your assistance, especially someone close to you.
Unfortunately, soon it was time to leave.
He glanced at the clock that was almost approaching 9 and sighed, "We will end this here."
At his words, Morpho showed relief and joy. She wasn't the type to enjoy getting more knowledgeable.
The progress with her is slow but gradual. With their teaching, it won't be long before she is going to be casting spells left and right.
Morpho landed on Cyril's shoulder, and they left the dorm. She much preferred this type of activity more.
When they reached the park, Myra was already waiting there.
She was wearing shorts and a casual shirt. Her face looked much brighter than yesterday already.
When she noticed Cyril, she waved her hand in greeting and ran over.
"I was late, sorry," Cyril said with the same expression as always.
He was wearing the academy's training uniform. Rhamn kept asking for him to find some other clothes to wear, but he didn't relent for now.
"I just got here myself; it's perfect," Myra said in a good mood.
"I wonder if that's true. Maybe she was here for an hour already, nervously waiting for your attention." Rhamn snickered at her answer.
Why are you always so pessimistic with people?"Someone has to be."
He quickly shook off any strange thoughts and returned his attention to Myra. She was brushing her hair behind her back.
"I am glad to see you are feeling better," said Cyril with a nod.
At his words, Myra's face reddened a bit. "I was just tired yesterday; I told you!" Her voice was very defensive.
"Anyways, what did you want to do today?" She quickly tried to switch topics.
Cyril didn't mind this and answered with a calm voice, "Can you take me to that ruin you mentioned back then?"
Now that there was no doubt about her prophetic abilities, Cyril got curious about its source. That place must be interesting. It will also serve as a pleasant distraction from the everyday life.
Hearing his words, Myra's face stiffened. She awkwardly replied, "Are you sure? There is nothing special left there; there is no point in going there."
But Cyril wasn't deterred. "Think of this as a simple trip to relax. We must keep a stable state of mind to get stronger."
"The journey will take a long time; that was outside the city, near the village I am from. Didn't your father tell you to come home in a few days?" She said it with conviction.
Cyril shook his head. "I am not his servant. Besides, helping a friend is more important."
Since he wouldn't relent no matter what, Myra had to agree, "Alright then... I'll go and prepare a bit. Let's meet in a few hours here again."
"Sure," Cyril nodded with satisfaction.
With this, they've built their plans for the foreseeable future. Because of the incident at the Tower, the lessons have been postponed for a few days. They had plenty of time for their trip.
They've said goodbye to each other and left to prepare.
Before leaving on this trip, Cyril wanted to talk to one more person.
Edmund was also acting a bit weird when he saw him. Plus, there was that thing Regina told him.
There was no harm in checking in on him.