Originally, Red Ponytail wanted to suggest Louise have a night’s rest before continuing to learn, but Louise insisted on proceeding. With no other choice, Red Ponytail led Louise out of the room to a secluded clearing behind the school. By now, Louise was eager to begin.

"So, how does one learn this Psionic?"

Louise was both excited and a bit uneasy; excited because she finally discovered the reason why she couldn’t release Magic, but uneasy because if SABER’s method didn’t work for her, what would she do next?

Thinking of this, Louise felt a bit anxious.

"Cough, calm down, Louise."

Seeing Louise so agitated, Red Ponytail directly called her name.

"We need to start with the basics first, and that’s the nature of Psionic... Hmm, firstly, don’t think of Psionic as something special, but rather imagine it as your instinct."

"...Instinct?"

"Exactly, your Magic learning involves imagining in your mind, then reciting Spell Text, and next releasing Magic, right?"

After observing for a day, Red Ponytail roughly understood the nature of Magic in this world, and Louise nodded.

"But Psionic is different. Using Psionic... hmm, rather than calling it Magic, it’s more like physical exercise."

"Physical... Exercise?"

"Yes, like running. To run fast, you need to practice. The more you practice, the faster you run. When you want to accelerate or decelerate, you just need to control your body... you understand this principle, right?"

"Hmm... I know this..."

Louise nodded.

"But isn’t Magic Power also innate?"

"I’m not saying your method of using Magic Power is wrong, because you can still cast Magic. But Psionic is not quite the same as ordinary Magic Power. Maybe you don’t understand with just this explanation..."

At this point, Red Ponytail’s eyes shifted.

"Right, Louise, walk a few steps?"

"A few steps?"

"Yes, walk from here to there, then back. It’s very simple, right?"

"...?"

Although Louise didn’t understand what Red Ponytail was saying, she still obediently followed her instructions, walking from Red Ponytail to a nearby tree and then back.

"Now walk again, but this time as you walk, say which foot you’re stepping with. If it’s your left foot, say left foot; if it’s your right foot, say right foot."

"Okay."

Without saying much, Louise nodded and turned to walk forward again.

"Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right... hey? No, left foot... not right? Hey? Hey?"

At first, Louise walked quite normally, but soon she was surprised to find herself getting confused. She clearly stepped with her right foot but ended up using her left, or sometimes ended up walking awkwardly. She tried to correct herself, but tripped and fell to the ground with a cry.

"How could this happen? I’m just walking!"

Sitting bewildered on the ground, Louise stared at herself, completely baffled about how something as simple as walking could become so complicated just because she had to say which foot she was using.

"Because you cared too much. Psionic is similar; it’s something you could use instinctively, but by caring too much, you lose control. The more seriously you try, the more mistakes you make."

"No wonder..."

Hearing this, Louise murmured to herself, nodding in agreement. Her experience with Magic felt exactly as Red Ponytail described — Magic Power was initially controllable, but then it began to slip out of control, just like her walking. The more she cared about aligning her words with her steps, the more chaotic her walking became, eventually leading to her falling...

"Next, do as I say: close your eyes, focus, and gather your Magic Power in your right hand... imagine you’re holding a snowball..."

"..."

Following Red Ponytail’s instructions, Louise stood up, closed her eyes, and began to act as directed.

"Good, now hold it tight, then imagine that idiot from earlier today in front of you. Throw the snowball in your hand toward him!"

"Die!!"

Under Red Ponytail’s guidance, Louise recalled Beiye’s stupid face from earlier in the day, getting so angry that she shouted and forcefully flung her right hand forward!

Then...

"Boom!!!"

"Hey? Did I fail again?"

Upon hearing the explosion, Louise quickly opened her eyes, but Red Ponytail shook her head.

"No, it worked."

"Hey?"

Upon hearing this, Louise fixed her gaze forward and was stunned.

In front of her, the ground had been blasted into a crater, and at the center of the crater, a small, spinning, strange black sphere was suspended, surrounded by shattered and floating stone fragments.

"This is neither Psionic nor Special Ability..."

Seeing this, Red Ponytail thought of the Mass Effect World’s Psionic system. Could Louise’s power be somewhere between Psionic and Special Ability? It’s understandable, considering her unique Physical Quality. After all, Red Ponytail knew Louise was the protagonist, and when she forged a contract with her, Red Ponytail received a Fragment of the Order Coordinates core, indicating her power is definitely unique.

"What’s this...?"

"This is the initial application mode of Psionic, hmm... once you master it, you can use other modes for attacks, like singularity, zero gravity, and distortion..."

Of course, the strongest is Soul Storm.

Currently, in Cursed Child, Natsuse uses Soul Storm the best, sufficient to cover a third of the Americas. In this world, a single Soul Storm from Natsuse could destroy a country.

"I did it..."

However, Louise didn’t care about Red Ponytail’s remarks, instead staring blankly at the spinning black sphere, murmuring to herself. Then she suddenly leaped forward, hugging Red Ponytail tightly.

"SABER! I did it! I did it!"

Louise was incredibly excited. She’d often caused explosions before, but those were just ordinary explosions. This time was different; although it was still an explosion, it resulted from her own conscious action! For the first time in so many years, Louise successfully used Magic!!

Well, strictly speaking, this wasn’t Magic, but Superpower...

"SABER, let’s continue!"

"No, go back and sleep."

"Oh———!! Why!!"

"Your spiritual power must be insufficient. Psionic demands a lot from spiritual power, and you’ve already released Magic multiple times today. Although you haven’t succeeded, the depletion of spiritual power is undeniable. Continuing will only lead to failure. Since you’ve already found the feeling, what’s next is training. For now, go back and rest."

"Uh... alright."

Listening to Red Ponytail’s words, Louise was somewhat unwilling but could only nod. In fact, she also felt somewhat tired and dizzy after releasing her magic power earlier. Although she wanted to continue, since she was told to rest, Louise had to take a break.

"Okay, that’s it for today. Special training starts tomorrow!"

Having said this, Red Ponytail led Louise back towards the room.

Before leaving, Red Ponytail turned her head to glance at the distant city wall. Then she withdrew her gaze and followed Louise away without speaking.

In the following days, Louise didn’t appear in the classroom.

"Hey, do you know what Louise has been up to?"

During a break from classes, the fiery red-haired woman poked the blue-haired girl next to her. Her name was Kuruk, considered Louise’s "nemesis," a passionate and vibrant girl. The slender, quiet short-haired girl beside her was Tabasa, Kuruk’s best friend.

To speak of their friendship, one is extroverted and fiery while the other is cold and silent. It’s unclear why these two became such good friends.

"Louise hasn’t attended classes for a week, right? I heard she took sick leave, but she’s not in the dormitory."

"She’s in special training."

"Special training? Louise?"

Kuruk was a bit incredulous. Although her family and Louise’s family were long-standing foes, making their relationship not great, precisely because of this, Kuruk knew Louise well. Despite Louise’s failure rate in casting Magic being consistently zero, she was indeed very serious in class. Simply put—her attitude was impeccable; just no results.

But now, she doesn’t attend classes at all?

"She’s training in the back mountains with that girl. The girl seems to have found a way to let Louise cast Magic."

Tabasa answered calmly while looking at her book, causing Kuruk to become interested. She stood up and grabbed Tabasa next to her.

"What’s up?"

"You know where, right? Take me! I want to see what Louise is up to!"

Saying this, Kuruk eagerly dragged Tabasa out of the classroom, while Tabasa continued reading, seemingly unaffected.

"Which way?"

"To the right."

Although Tabasa never lifted her head throughout, she always gave definite answers when Kuruk asked for directions. Under Tabasa’s guidance, Kuruk soon arrived at the grove not far behind the dormitory building.

"I never thought it’d be here..."

Looking at the grove ahead, Kuruk was slightly surprised. This grove had always been a place for students to secretly flirt under the eyes of teachers. Kuruk had gone here with others before but had never thought Louise would one day come here.

Of course, her reason for coming had nothing to do with flirting.

"That’s why I said she’s just a kid who doesn’t grow up."

After grumbling, Kuruk stepped into the grove.

Then...

"Boom!!"

"Uwa!!"

The sudden explosion scared Kuruk silly, and she was caught off guard, hit by the debris spraying all over her.

"Cough, cough, cough!!"

While hurriedly dusting off, Kuruk angrily rushed over the hillside, coming to the other side.

"Louise the Zero!!"

"What is it?"

Louise was standing at the back of the hillside. Seeing Kuruk arrive, her expression instantly sank.

"Shouldn’t I be asking what you’re doing here?"

Looking at the scene before her, Kuruk was momentarily speechless. As far as the eye could see, Louise was surrounded by pits and potholes left behind by explosions, resembling the aftermath of a hundred Fireball Technique bombardments.

"What happened? Have you given up and decided to turn your explosive talent into Magic?"

Looking at Louise, Kuruk mocked. From experience, mentioning "zero" or "explosion" would make Louise jump. However, this time, Louise didn’t react as Kuruk expected but crossed her arms and looked at her proudly.

"Yeah, so what? Are you not satisfied?"

"Why would I be unsatisfied? I just... by the way, are you really okay?"

Seeing Louise’s indifferent expression, Kuruk felt uneasy. How could such a big change happen in just a week? Instead of getting angry when others mentioned her explosions, she now seemed proud? Might her brain be fried?

"Why would anything be wrong with me?"

"Maybe I should report to the teacher so you can have a proper checkup..."

"My brain is perfectly fine!"

Hearing this, Louise jumped up angrily, finally making Kuruk relax.

That’s more like the Louise she knew.

"So what are you actually doing?"

"Heh heh..."

Upon Kuruk’s inquiry, Louise glanced at Red Ponytail beside her, who nodded before speaking.

"I’m practicing a whole new Magic!"

"A new Magic? But haven’t you tried all types of Magic? None work for you."

"That’s why I said a whole new Magic!"

With this, Louise generously gestured.

"I’m currently learning Void Ethereal Magic!"

"... What is that?"