As she sat and looked at him, Emily couldn't stop thinking,

  'Why is Non being so kind to me…?'

  It was a question that g her insides, but she didn't dare ask it aloud.

  There was something about him, a kind of calm and security that made her feel protected, but at the same time, that very feeling made her doubt whether she deserved it.

  Despite everything, she decided to move forward and enjoy the opportunity that had been given to her.

  After they finished eating, Non stood up calmly, and she followed as he collected the empty ptes.

  Without wasting time, he began expining the basicepts of wind magic.

  The idea of maniputing the flow of air using mana wasn't easy to grasp at first, but Non had a surprising ability to expin it clearly and cisely.

  Emily was amazed at how easy it was to follow his words.

  "Wind is uable," Non said as he walked around the room, "but if you uand how it flows, you trol it. The important thing is to feel the mana flowing within you, as if it were aension of your body, and direct it to guide the air."

  Emily nodded as he spoke, abs every word as if it were vital.

  As the hours passed, she realized that not only did she uand what Non was saying, but she rocessing it at an astonishing speed.

  Instrus that would normally take days or weeks to grasp seemed simple to her, especially when Non introduced some mathematical calcutions to optimize mana usage.

  "Are you good at math?" Non asked, surprised by how quickly Emily solved some problems regarding the amount of mana needed for a basic spell.

  Emily, a bit embarrassed, replied modestly,

  "My grandfather always taught me to calcute quickly, so I wouldn't make mistakes when selling at the market…"

  Non nodded, impressed.

  "That will help you a lot in magic. Managing mana flow requires precision, and if you calcute the exact amounts, you'll be much more effit."

  The hours flew by without Emily notig.

  She was so focused on learning and abs the information that time seemed to disappear.

  Non, on his part, was surprised at how quickly they were progressing.

  He hadn't expected Emily to learn so well and so fast.

  Finally, after a long session of expnations and theoretical exercises, Non decided it was time for Emily to try using magic for the first time.

  "Alright," he said as he stood up aended a hand toward the ter of the room. "We've made a lot ress. Why don't you try using magiow?"

  Emily looked at him, swallowing audibly.

  "Do you really think I do it?" she asked, her nerves evident in every word. Despite how well she had done so far, the idea of perf magi front of Non terrified her.

  Non looked at her with a ess that reassured her.

  "Of course you . And if you fail, that's okay. It's part of the process. Yain until you get it right."

  Though his words were meant to be f, Emily felt her heart pounding wildly.

  She didn't want to disappoint him, not after everything he had done for her.

  So, taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and began to trate.

  As Non had taught her, she tried to feel the flow of air around her while carefully eling her mana.

  Everything was going well, or so she thought.

  She could feel the air around her beginning to move, faster and faster, f a small sphere in front of her.

  However, maintaining trol proved to be much more difficult than she had anticipated.

  Suddenly, the sphere began to tremble and, before she could do anything to stop it, it burst in a small but powerful shockwave.

  Both of them were pushed back. Emily fell onto her back with a soft thud, but as she felt the impact, her mind was focused on only ohing:

  Non.

  She quickly sat up, her heart ihroat.

  "Non! Are you okay?" she excimed, her voice trembling with worry.

  Non, who had also fallen to the floor, was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling.

  But to Emily's surprise, instead of pining, he began to ugh.

  It was a soft ugh, but genuine.

  He ughed with such siy that she didn't know how to react.

  Had he gone mad?

  Had he lost his mind?

  "Non?" she asked again, her voice waveriween and fusion.

  Still ughing, he slowly got up, dusting off his clothes.

  "I didn't expect teag magic to be this fun," he said with a broad smile, still chug.

  Emily, pletely bewildered, felt a wave of nervousness run through her body.

  "I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to… I didn't mean to mess up like that…" Emily began apologiziedly, almost without taking a breath betweeences, her hands visibly trembling.

  Non raised a hand, signalio calm down.

  "Rex, rex," he said, still ughing. "It's okay, Emily. Everyone fails on their first try. In fact, you did better than I expected!"

  Emily, frozen for a moment, looked at Non with a mixture of surprise and internal indignation.

  'Then why didn't you tell me before!?' Emily screamed internally, frustrated by the ck of warning.

  But at the same time, Non's ughter began to calm her nerves.

  His warm and carefree gaze made her feel that, despite the disaster that had just occurred, everything was fine.

  He wasn't judging her, he wasn't looking at her with disappoi.

  On the trary, he seemed genuinely eained and pleased with her progress.

  After a few seds, Emily finally sighed, trying to rex a little.

  Though she was still trembling, the fact that Non wasn't angry was f.

  "Well…" Non said, taking a seat again, "now that you've had your first experieh magic, we keep practig until you master it."

  Emily looked at him, still surprised by how rexed he was.

  "Do you really… pn to keep teag me?"

  "Of course," Non replied without hesitation, "you have talent, Emily. You just need more practice, that's all."

  And although Emily still felt a bit unsure, she couldn't help but smile.

  Maybe, after all, this day hadn't been as disastrous as she thought.