Gwen feels like she's buzzing. She shifts her weight slightly and leans slightly onto Kevin's desk with her hips.

They were waiting for Max to tell them some news about finding Gwen a master mana user. She was in equal parts nervous and excited at the idea.

Her nerves don't explain the dull pain of a headache she has though, one that almost hasn't gone away for a few days. She moves her hand to add pressure to her temple and massages it slightly.

Kevin turns his head slightly to look at her, if he notices he doesn't say anything.

"I've finally found someone who can teach you Gwen." Max says to her with a smile.

Her demeanor changes quickly. She stands up straight now, paying full attention. She's so excited she can't stand it. The second she walked through the door and saw Max's face she knew he had good news.

"Really? Who is it?" Ben asks his grandfather.

Gwen's too busy bouncing on the balls of her feet to really care. She can finally practice with someone who is skilled and trained. Someone who can do the things she can.

"She's someone I used to know very well. She's an Annodite. She's essentially made up of mana, she's lived much longer than me and knows what she's talking about." Max replies.

"How'd you get her to come? I thought Annodites like to keep to their own planet." Kevin responds from his desk.

"She owes me a favor from a long time ago. She hasn't been to visit Earth in a few decades give or take anyway." He responds casually, shrugging his shoulders.

"She's made of mana. Like she can't just control it, she is just a pure energy being?" Gwen asks excitedly, talking with her hands to emphasize.

She's fidgeting still. Shuffling her weight from foot to foot.

"Pretty much. I meet her in my youth, she's the only Annodite I've ever met, and you can feel her presence in a room." Max responds.

Gwen's face is starting to hurt from smiling so much.

She's finally going to learn more about magic than from her small spell book she bought of Mr. Baumann years ago.

She's finally going to learn and progress beyond what she's taught herself. To be fair, she has made it farther than she ever would have at home. She's taught herself a new spell almost every week. Her weekly training with Kevin has helped a lot too.

She's been manifesting her mana into more solid forms. When she's practicing with Kevin, she can really experiment with what she can do. She hasn't been able to knock him across the field like she did a couple weeks ago. She's been trying to, but she keeps coming up short.

There's also the fact that she's been getting exhausted easier as of late too. She hasn't lasted longer than she did that first day. Kevin's noticed it too. She doesn't know why that is. She's been practicing every day like she had during that first week. She's learning new spells, but her energy is draining faster, not enduring like she thought it would.

This information baffles her the most because none of the spells she's learning are anywhere near as intense as that one explosion spell.

The new spells she's learned aren't really for attacking either. More everyday use. Most of the spells in her spell book were for the everyday magic user. When she bought it, she didn't think she would be applying magic for the use of battle. She just wanted to experiment with her book. She always felt this numb tingling in her hands that felt like static electricity. It just never went away.

Until she tried a spell. It felt like all this energy that was inside had an outlet, it had somewhere to go, physically. She could produce and manifest something real and tangible.

Maybe she'll ask about it when her teacher comes. Surely, she must know.

Max's voice interrupts her train of thought, "She won't be here for another week is the only thing. She's coming from her home planet so it will take a while."

"That is still fantastic news." Rook responds.

"Yeah, Gwen needs to learn some more damaging spells. I can't feel any of her attacks when we spar. " Kevin says nonchalantly.

The room goes quiet, and Gwen sends a fierce glare at him.

"What?" he shrugs.

"Real smooth Kev." Ben says rolling his eyes at Kevin.

"What? What did I say?" a small look of panic crosses Kevin's face, "I mean, her mana manipulation is improving significantly but it's just not as powerful as I expected." he says to them.

Gwen feels her face heating in embarrassment.

She steps closer to Kevin, "Sorry I was self-taught in a human village! I didn't think I'd be demanded to be a mage for an activity I was treating as a hobby." Gwen huffs out in irritation. She places her hands on her hips and leans over his desk with a look of irritation.

"I don't see why you're so upset," Kevin mimics her by standing and invading her space, "I'm just pointing out that you could be better!" Kevin growls out defensively at Gwen.

"Okay let's settle down." Max says stepping between Gwen and Kevin's desk, having to push her back a little.

"She's being too sensitive!" Kevin mumbles under his breath heated.

Gwen turns on him quickly, "Sensitive? You are so thick headed; do you know that? That's not the point!"

Kevin scrunches his face, about to say even more, when Rook interrupts.

"Kevin, I think Gwen is trying to say that is amazing she can do as much as she can. She is human after all. When was the last time you saw any human being do what she can do with mana?"

Gwen throws one of her hands out, pointing to Rook.

"Thank you!" she says exasperated.

"Yeah, give her a little credit man. She's pushed hard on her own." Ben says.

Kevin groans in response, "I don't need all of you ganging up on me. I know Gwen's powerful! What I'm saying is she hasn't made as much improvement as she should be. I mean she almost fainted last week when we sparred!"

"I did not!" She shrieks at him.

"Oh really?" Kevin's face curls into a sick looking smile, "What would you call the last five minutes when you stumbled over your own feet and you said, 'Sorry I got really dizzy out of nowhere.' and then you proceeded to fall over." he said smugly.

Gwen rolled her eyes, "So what if I got a little dizzy! I'm fine." She crossed her arms defensively.

"Wait, you've been getting dizzy?" Max asks her, looking over her as if she's about to fall now.

Gwen gives Kevin a passing look of anger before responding, "Only recently. I'm fine really. I'm sure it'll pass." she says reassuringly.

Max didn't look convinced, "Why don't you take a break from sparring until my friend comes. She can look you over."

Gwen and Kevin now share a groan of frustration. Gwen turns to him irritated.

"I don't see why you're upset! You're the reason I can't fight." Gwen sharply says to him.

"It's fine it's only a week." Kevin says, matching her tone.

Gwen moves to exit the room and mumbles to herself about Kevin being unfair. Ben moves to follow her out.

"Smooth dude, you really know how to talk to women." Ben shakes his head in disapproval at Kevin.

"Oh, and you do?" Rook says laughing at Ben.

Ben's face goes red, "Shut up Rook." he says before leaving to go with Gwen.

Ben follows Gwen out and leads them to do a few inspections in the weapons armory.

Gwen has her arms crossed across her body, shrinking in on herself, as she basically stomps alongside Ben.

"You know, in a weird Kevin way, he was giving you a compliment."

Gwen rolls her eyes, "Yeah well he should really learn how to talk to people if that was a compliment." she says in a displeased tone.

Ben shrugs his shoulders at that. He bumps his shoulder with Gwen's to get her to look at him.

"I'm serious. In Kevin's weird, Kevin way, he likes you. He wouldn't say he wants you to be better if he didn't believe in you." Ben smiles warmly at Gwen in reassurance.

Gwen gives him a small smile in return and relaxes her posture.

Gwen knows she's being childish right now. She just wanted at least a little bit of credit for her improvement. She thought Kevin was seeing it too. Maybe he was, she couldn't tell. He was still so hard for her to read.

She wonders if she will ever be able to know what he's thinking.