Mushoku Tensei - A Second Chance

The next week passed by without any major drama. The day of Sylphiette's birthday, it was my job to keep her occupied while the rest of the family prepared for the party. The two of us have recently been training to use our battle aura with Ghislaine, so you might think that that's what we did today. However, many of Sylphy's classmates were planning to throw her a special party at the school.

As the two of us began our morning walk to the university, it was plain to see that Sylphy was keenly aware that we were planning her party. I felt no urgency to keep up the act and pretend to be unaware it was her birthday.

"It sure is beautiful out today", Sylphy said while looking up to the bright blue sky.

"There's no way it could be gloomy out on your birthday. I simply wouldn't allow it."

"Haha! I'd imagine you wouldn't", she answered with a blush and then looked away.

"Anyway... You sure have been making good progress the last couple days on your battle aura."

"You and Ghislaine keep telling me that, but I feel no different at all. I'll just have to take your word for it."

"It's a long process. That's for sure."

I laughed internally at that last comment of hers. It took her only a week before she had mastered her battle aura. Well, maybe 'mastered' isn't the right word; it's not like she's on the level of Ghislaine and Eris. Still, she's mastered it to the point that she can use it practically to enhance her physical capabilities. Reaching Sylphy's level would be more than enough for me as it should allow me to regain control of my magic.

Once we reached the University's gates, we parted ways. I'm going to train with Ghislaine while Sylphy is spending the first half of the day in the courtyard outside the library.

At first my mind wasn't there during training. Ghislaine surprisingly let it slide. After a couple hours though, Ghislaine let me know that I had reached my previous best amount of mana compression.

"Keep at it Rudeus! See how far you can go!"

I tightened my focus and continued my mental imagery. I focused on the stiffness I felt before releasing the Hydra's scales and I imagined a cloak of mana being compressed tight against my skin.

"Amazing Rudeus! Your mana is compressed to about the width of a sword. Try and maintain it!"

'The width of a sword? That's what... four or five centimeters, right? I wonder if that's close enough for me to cast a spell...'

I maintained my intense focus while slowly raising my hand to the right of me (Ghislaine was directly in front of me and I didn't want to accidently strike her with a spell).

"Err... Rudues? What are you doing?"

I was too focused to answer her question. In my mental imagery, I imagined mana passing through my body and forming into a ball just outside my cloak of mana. That was the image I Intended to form. Instead, the cloak of mana distorted the mana as it came from my finger, even in my mental imagery. Instead of forming into one neat sphere like I intended, the water ball was split apart as it passed through the cloak into many wavering, oddly-shaped pools of water.

"Rudeus!?"

'I was so close! If I just push a little harder, maybe I can push the mana that would form into the water ball through the cloak cleanly.'

Continuing my mental imagery, I pushed the mana out harder, attempting to bypass the cloak of mana surrounding me. Unfortunately, my focus snapped as I felt my entire body suddenly soaking wet as though I'd been thrown into a lake.

I opened my eyes. To my shock, the entire training hall was filled to the brink with water. Ghislaine was floating in place, still directly in front of me. Her eyes were wide open in shock.

 I felt myself getting pulled backwards as the distance between the two of us started increasing. Ghislaine regained her composure and began swimming towards me.

Looking backwards to see what was pulling me, I noticed the doors to the training hall had been blown off their hinges and the water was rushing out of the training hall, the current pulling us along with it. The magic resistant brick managed to hold up against the weight of the water. All of the water was draining from only the two doors on each side of the training hall.

Trying to swim against the current was futile. Perhaps Ghislaine could have done it, but instead she swam next to me and grabbed me tight. She squeezed me and put her back to the door we were being pulled towards.

*Bonk*

A distorted thud-like sound resonated through the water as we were swept out the door. Ghislaine had smacked the back of her head on the bricks above while we passed through.

The current swept us across the pathway and struck us against the building on the opposite side. The water continued horizontally, following the pathway in both directions as more and more water continued gushing out from the training hall.

Ghislaine continued to hold me tight and managed to grab ahold of a small, decorative statue in the pathway to keep us from being swept away any further.

After a couple minutes, the current slowed enough that we were able to stand our ground. Water was still draining from the doorway of the training hall, but now at a much slower rate. The pathway between the buildings was flooded with water up to my knees and the same could be said the entire length of the pathway, following its curves on both ends.

*Smack*

"What the hell was that!?". Ghislaine yelled at me.

"I don't know... It was an accident, I'm sorry!"

"An accident!? You flooded the school!", she yelled once again.

"I only meant to create a small ball of water..."

"You said yourself that you're not in control of your magic", Ghislaine said with a sigh. She rubbed the back of her head where she had smacked it against the brick earlier.

"I know... but with all the progress with my battle aura... I thought I could do it."

"Oh, you certainly did it", Ghislaine said as she surveyed our surroundings.

The water level was starting to recede as only very little was continuing to trickle out from the training hall at this point. Still, it was plain to see that the flooding had damaged the pathway. All the small flower beds decorating the pathway had been destroyed and the grass alongside the pathway was a muddy mess. The inside of the training hall was sure to have suffered the worst of it. Worse still was the crying and moaning that we could hear around us.

Several students who happened to be walking by got swept up by the current as well. There was a boy about my age sitting up and nursing what looked like a broken arm. Another girl further down was lying on the ground unconscious. She was covered in scrapes and bruises.

Ghislaine rushed over to the girl to make sure she was breathing. Thankfully she seemed to be alright. At this point many other students were coming out from the adjacent buildings wondering what the heck was going on. Some professors had come out to check on the injured students while others tried keeping the other students indoors.

The situation was a disaster.

Once things finally settled down, I found myself in Principal Goerg's office. Jenius stood behind the seated Goerg while I sat on a chair on the opposite side of Georg's desk.

Boy do I have some explaining to do.