Thea looked down at her hands where the magic had vanished and gave an awkward laugh.
Now classified as a beginner apprentice, she clearly understood what had just happened and could feel what Ethan had done.
In the end, it was her own mistake.
"Uh... failing the first time casting a spell is pretty normal, right?"
Ethan didn't respond. He honestly didn't have the heart to tell her that none of the others he'd taught had failed on their first attempt.
Not to mention his official disciple, Leah. Though she followed the same path as Ethan—first focusing on refining her mental energy, then gradually developing her own unique magic power—her talent was truly exceptional. She had long since cultivated her own magic power and could also skillfully control external energy. Her spellcasting was very proficient, and her training had progressed smoothly without any bottlenecks so far.
After enrolling at Hogwarts, she significantly broadened her knowledge base. Though she couldn't yet cast powerful offensive spells, she was highly skilled with a variety of minor spells. Even if she were sent into dangerous worlds, Leah could easily handle various crises.
As for Tony, both a mentor and a student, there was even less to say. The guy was practically a walking cheat code. When Ethan taught him, he didn't even need to construct magic models like he did for Thea to help her intuitively understand. After receiving the foundational instruction, Tony only needed to be given the general direction and key taboos. From there, he knew exactly what to do.
Now, Tony was already a fully-fledged mage who had carved out his own path. He could even teach younger students and already had his own disciples.
Even the least talented, Sherry, due to her long and diligent foundation-building period, was now able to use magic that didn't strictly rely on magic power. Though her future achievements would likely fall short of those two, she would never make the kind of mistake Thea had made today.
Although Ethan said nothing, his silence spoke volumes.
The atmosphere in the training area became even more awkward. Thea realized her talent for magic wasn't very high. The bit of pride she'd recently started to develop quickly faded.
She had thought her progress was fast, and maybe that meant her talent was good enough for Ethan to want to teach her magic.
But now that thought was like a bucket of cold water, cruelly dousing her fantasy and forcing her to face reality.
"Know your limits, and don't try to cross boundaries so carelessly... Always remember one thing: magic is very, very dangerous."
Thea straightened her expression, nodded sincerely, then began to try again at Ethan's signal.
Failing the first time casting a spell wasn't the end of the world. Though this was the first time it had happened to one of Ethan's students, it was still just a failed spell cast.
As long as she could learn from the failure and not make the same mistake again, she could still succeed.
After all, she was going to be a candidate for Pegasus. How could she be afraid of failure?
As long as she didn't imitate that certain someone who never learned from his mistakes and got beat up badly every time before managing to unleash his strength, then it would be fine.
But if a delicate young girl like Thea ended up hooked on that kind of approach, wouldn't she become...
Ethan shook his head, almost awakening a strange tendency, and refocused his attention on Thea. This time, she didn't mess up. The energy in her hands gradually stabilized, forming a steady energy ball.
The next step was to launch the energy ball at the target. Thea's target was Ethan, who stood right in front of her.
No one thought this was inappropriate. Given Ethan's strength, there was no way he'd be harmed by a shockwave from a beginner-level apprentice.
He had countless ways to counter Thea's magic power shockwave. Even if he stood still and let it hit him, he wouldn't take any damage.
And that was exactly what happened. Forget injuring him, the shockwave felt more like a gentle tap when it hit him. It didn't even ruffle his clothes.
"Though you managed to release it, the power is too weak. It doesn't even meet the minimum threshold for a magic power shockwave."
In other words, the spell looked like a shockwave spell, but in essence, it was far from the real thing.
"Considering that you're completely new to this and have only just started learning magic, being able to do this much in such a short time is already pretty good."
When teaching students, constant criticism would only destroy their confidence and bring no benefit.
Proper encouragement was necessary too. And what Ethan said wasn't just to console her—it was true. Thea hadn't been learning magic for long, and her talent wasn't exceptional. Among ordinary people, she was outstanding, but she couldn't compare to those with extraordinary gifts.
Thea felt much better and prepared to try again. Just as she was about to gather energy from her surroundings once more, she suddenly felt lightheaded.
Seeing her sway slightly, Ethan immediately stopped her. He knew she had reached her mental limit.
"That's enough for today. Training magic isn't something that can be rushed. If you're too impatient, you'll only end up hurting yourself."
With Thea's current level, no matter what kind of damage she caused herself, Ethan could fix it.
But whether it was magic or anything else, training was ultimately a personal journey. Others could help temporarily, but not forever. Many things still had to be understood and mastered on your own.
Oliver walked over, helped his sister up, and also advised her not to rush: "Ethan's right. Sometimes the more eager you are for success, the further away it gets."
Thea nodded, stood still to rest for a while, then went to take a shower and change.
This secret base was well-equipped with various facilities, including multiple bathrooms. While Thea was in the shower, Oliver turned to Ethan.
"Is something wrong?"
Ethan had assumed Oliver was just hanging around because he was free and wanted to watch Thea train, maybe keep an eye on things. At first, he was worried about any romantic sparks flying during sparring, but after finding out it was always Ada sparring with Thea, he stopped worrying.
But now it looked like Oliver had something else to talk about and had been waiting for Ethan to finish teaching.
"My mother wants to invite you over to our house as a guest."
"Your mother?"
Ethan didn't understand why Oliver's mother would invite him. As far as he knew, they'd never met.
"It's not just you. Tony and Ada are also invited."
Ethan nodded.
"She knows about us being shareholders of Queen Consolidated. She also knows you've been coming here a lot lately."
"Right."
Oliver tilted his head, thinking about how to phrase things.
"But the main reason is that Thea's been coming here a lot recently, so..."
He reached out and patted Ethan's shoulder. The topic was clearly awkward for him.
"So my mother might... you know."
"..."
Ethan understood. He hadn't expected this situation to arise. It seemed Oliver's mother had misunderstood something.
"What should I say? That your son built a secret base here, dresses up like Robin Hood every day, and goes around using a bow to punish corrupt elites? And your daughter is learning mysterious magic from me, and has just barely managed to step into the field as an apprentice?"
"Absolutely not."
Diggle, who was standing nearby, started laughing halfway through Ethan's sentence. He thought Ethan's response was great and figured the situation would definitely be interesting. He began thinking of excuses to stay and watch it unfold.
Oliver, on the other hand, looked frustrated. He didn't want his mother knowing what he was up to. As for Thea learning magic, he didn't think it needed to be kept secret, but today wasn't just a simple family visit.
"Walter Steele will be there too."
Walter Steele was Oliver's mother's current husband and the current CEO of Queen Consolidated.
Oliver had never accepted Walter as a family member and kept his distance. Naturally, he didn't want to share such secrets with an "outsider."
"You don't want him to know?"
"Would you want your secrets exposed to an outsider?"
Ethan shrugged. He really didn't care whether Walter Steele knew or not.
Not to mention, Walter had a decent personality. He wasn't even as dangerous as Oliver's mother, Moira. Even if Amanda from A.R.G.U.S. found out, Ethan wouldn't care. If Amanda didn't cause trouble, fine. But if she did, he wouldn't mind teaching her a lesson. Ethan had never liked that woman.
"Hey, are you done talking?"
Thea, now showered and changed, called out to Oliver to go home together.
"Wait a minute. Mom asked me to invite Ethan and the others to visit."
"Oh?" Thea was momentarily surprised, but didn't see anything wrong with it. "Then let's go together. We can talk on the way."
Oliver nodded. Then, as Thea turned to look for Ada, he quietly leaned toward Ethan and asked for one more favor.
The result was a response that immediately gave him a headache:
"I'll see how it goes... as long as your mother doesn't start asking questions that give me a headache..."
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)