Fisher stopped the carriage and, after untying the horses that pulled it, tethered them elsewhere where they could graze. Upon confirming there was no one nearby, he let Moli down from the cart.
They then walked a distance into the mountains, setting up camp near a mountain stream. The location offered a wide view, and standing at the edge of a cliff, they could just see the course of the Klein River below.
However, observing the Klein River wasn’t their primary concern; the most important thing was to fully stabilize Moli, the unstable element.
Up until now, Moli’s training had been purely theoretical. Fisher had always been skeptical about her ability to maintain balance. However, considering her mother was a naturally gifted competitor, her daughter should also not be too bad, or so he hoped.
Fisher walked back to the clearing in the forest, clutching his Handcane, and started speaking to Moli in front of him,
"Now, let’s test your stability..."
Moli nodded, focusing intently on Fisher. However, after responding to him subconsciously, she tilted her head in confusion and asked,
"Huh? Testing stability, how..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Fisher’s Handcane suddenly lit up, and strands of ethereal threads along with buzzing Light Halos appeared by his side.
Without a word, he waved his Handcane toward Moli. The Spinner, like a whip, spread along the ground, slapping towards her with a crackling sound.
Moli’s pupils contracted. She instinctively hugged her head and crouched in defense, then just stayed in the same spot, resigned to her fate.
Fisher’s gaze turned cold and dead-fish like, and his Handcane pulled magic away from her. However, the Bee Dance and Spinner still brushed past her body, and she trembled even more from the magical friction and noise.
Seeing Moli’s pitiful, weak, and helpless demeanor, Fisher showed no mercy, and said,
"What do you mean by not moving at all, waiting for me to slice off your head with magic?"
"But...but, if it comes to fighting, I won’t be able to control myself...then the curse will..."
Already understanding the operating status of the Whale-man Species’ Blessing and curse, Fisher looked at the cowering Moli and mercilessly debunked her excuse,
"You are conscious when you enter that state; essentially, you aren’t out of control but fear the enemy. You always try to escape subconsciously. You’ve said it yourself that when the curse’s power is too strong, your Companion Sea Beast suffers and leads you towards a deadly end. You still want to escape. When will you face it on your own?"
"You can escape from humans, from those monsters, from capture. How will you find your aunt? Is it by relying on that uncontrollable curse or by hoping I’ll help you?"
Fisher’s cold reprimand made Moli purse her lips nervously, but this time she didn’t respond. She wiped the corners of her eyes and stood up, taking a fighting stance as if signaling Fisher to redo the test.
Fisher’s enlightening words came to a conclusion. This time, the glow on the Handcane reignited, and the same magic burst forth, striking towards her again.
Fisher’s reminder had an effect, this time she didn’t naively crouch and cover her head but struggled to run and dodge to the side.
Watching her flee, her fishtail causing her steps to falter, Fisher knew she wasn’t using her full strength.
Back in Pink Hall’s Space Magic curse, just with her Physical Strength, she could shatter the walls of the building, not to mention her swimming-like fast steps.
Her progress was slow, something Fisher had anticipated. He hadn’t expected a few words to fully unleash her potential; otherwise, his training would be pointless.
Fisher decided to intensify the pressure. His fingers tugged the ethereal threads, accelerating them towards Moli. One slow move and the threads caught her whale tail. She turned and grabbed the ethereal threads, pulling with much greater force than usual, but still not reaching the peak.
Fisher’s gaze flicked subtly, countless threads stretched again, spreading out from all directions and enveloping Moli like a giant net.
She let out a pleading, cute sound, but Fisher was relentless. Numerous high-speed spinning Bee Dances, like saws cutting through trees and water, moved to slice towards her.
Seeing the encroaching Bee Dance, Moli felt utterly terrified, and all notions of guidance and balance were thrown out of her mind. In panic, she closed her eyes, and in the next second, ink-like brilliance spilled from her eyes, although not as much as that night—the curse was still within normal bounds since Fisher didn’t have the terrifying Human Worms of the Healing Room.
But Moli failed to suppress her instinct to escape, led by the curse. The next second, her hair turned black, and her typically soft and familiar body shrank, reopening her eyes with eyes like ink, full of greedy aggression towards Fisher, clearly intending to pounce on the human before her and drag him back to the sea.