"Good day Warrior Kiria, Good day, Miss Sereena. I heard you educated this city’s new guards some lessons?” Captain Kart greeted the wandering warrior and her disciple with a light joke, laughing wholeheartedly.
Felix stirred from his saddle, aiming to dismount from the horse and show a proper respect. But he was quickly stopped by the captain’s silent palm gesture. The shapeshifter obliged willingly. “Good morning Captain Kart,” Felix greeted back, while her master riding in front him nodded at the troop leader. “Actually, it was them who educated me instead,” he added with a strained smile,.
“But it is true you achieved a victory in your first match, am I not right?”
“Yes… It was just one victory, though,” Felix replied, subtly prompting his new mount to catch up with his master.
“No, it was the first victory. It means there will be a second, and more,” the Captain gently corrected the young apprentice, lifting his head upward as if referring to great heights the wandering warrior’s disciple could reach.
The shapeshifter didn’t pursue the matter further, letting his thoughts adrift to the way the troop leader directed.
Felix and his master had exited the Radiant Turtle Inn no more than an hour ago, and the duo had recently joined back to the escort troop’s ranks. It was morning time; the sun had just begun brightening up the deep winter sky. The day was starting with janitors’ hard work on streets and the pleasantly warm smells of bakeries from the workshops near the mouth of the Atten city.
Felix stole a glance at the warrior woman riding alongside him. Her expression was neutral as usual. In spite of the twin swords strapped on her back over the shoulder, and a couple of daggers on her hips, her balance on the saddle was as stable as always. The collar of her crimson wool-blend coat was hardly reaching her strong jawline.
He had been seeing her appearance and every movement up close for the past three days. The spars for training were spent for him most of the time trying to scratch or land a hit on the warrior’s battle-hardened skin. All had ended in pathetic failures and beaten ups.
And despite all of that happening, the Captain of the escort troop was praising him for a triumph over a single trainee, who was a little unlucky on her mana pool, or just weaker than her peers.
The previous day’s sparring matches had begun with his victory, and ended with consecutive defeats. He had given up of winning over the second contestant half a minute after the match began. The calm looking young man didn’t show a gentleman’s behavior once the mock battle started. He was not stronger or faster than Felix was, though clearly better than the first opponent the shapeshifter had faced. His skill at predicting moves were considerably more refined as well, leaving no choice to Felix but to yield.
The third and the fourth matches were even worse. They were both women at around twenty years of age or above, and they didn’t show any mercy either.
Those spars were an eye-opener, in fact. They made Felix desire and dream about his arrival into this world as an inner mana user.
Why wasn’t he granted the ability to control over nature? He must have been brought here by a crazy scientist’s failed experiment or some god’s ill-timed prank. Clearly, he wasn’t some kind of savior.
The inspection at the main gates of the city was not thorough this time, maybe because they were now exiting the enormous fortress instead of coming in, and besides, no merchants had decided to tag along to reach Chindon under the protection of imperial soldiers. The news of the bloody incident must have already spread out. Now, no one was willing to follow, cutting off the additional income of the soldiers.
The journey proceeded smoothly from this point on. Muddy roads caused by the suddenly warm days hindered the carts of food and the carriages of prisoners, making horses suffer the most. It was most likely a brief kindness of weather before a storm.
On this trip, Felix had to learn how to look after his own mount. Extremely swampy parts of the road made the shapeshifter worry for his own safety than the horse. It was a dark gray colored stallion, which he had selected over the black one that was currently carrying his master.
He sometimes wanted to get off the mount and walk on his feet instead, since it felt like any moment the horse was about to slip up. It was he who would be crashed under the animal if that were to happen. Therefore, Felix kept exercising his mana extraction throughout the journey in any case.
In evenings and at afternoon times, Felix and his master practiced some light training. Kiria began teaching her disciple how to handle a sword. She had stated it was still too early for him to learn bladed weapons before properly mastering the hand-to-hand combat. However, under the insistence of her disciple and the encouraging soldiers, who occasionally watched and even accompanied in helping Felix to train, the wandering warrior eventually started to give some hints of her knowledge.
Felix was currently performing a kata taught by his master. It was mainly defensive based movements. Kiria had instructed him to perform the fighting pattern as many times as he could until she said stop. It was tiring, boring…, and even more boring.
“Keep it up! You are not fighting the imaginary enemy. Why?” his master’s scolding voice sounded from inside a tent she was occupying.
“Sorry, master!”
Felix intensified his swings with his wooden sword. It was extra loaded with heavy metal wires. His arms had long started protesting from the feel of throbbing pain in muscles and bones, which made him rethink of his zealous attitude to learning the blade use. Maybe his master was punishing him for his stubborn insistence by forcing him to perform this harshly continuous kata form.
It hadn’t even been a week since they left the city of Atten. Though the urge for bathing was escalating again as he resumed the practices of initial swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat.
“By the way, I was meaning to ask about that… that garrison we went to train.” Less than five minutes after the scold, he found a way to take a short breather.
“What about it?” his master asked, her voice indicating she was calm and motionless, probably meditating.
“The magicians inside the garrison, some of them were lifting pieces of earth, and some of them were making up the stuff. Are they divided into two types like us?”
“No, they are divided into five by their affinities, the most basic elements: air, fire, water, earth and lightning. But… yes, some of them specialize by their mastery of control and creation.”
“Five basic types? Then there are other types of… affinities of magicians?” Felix’s body perked up, his curiosity piqued by the knowledge he had been searching to acquire.
“There are. Ice mages, magma users, and there is the type with gravity controlling abilities.”
Felix kept quiet, waiting for the rest of the list. But it seemed his master was done, being silent. “That’s it?”
“I’m not really knowledgeable at magic,” Kiria responded. “Though there are people who know much more than me. If you want, I’ll introduce you to them.”
“Yes of course, thank you, master.” Those people must have some clues about space-time magic, Felix hoped.
“You said control and creation, master?” The shapeshifter tried to lengthen the conversation, along with his resting time.
Kiria didn’t say anything for a few seconds before giving a respond. “I don’t know much myself. In a combat, magicians rely on mana to create elemental attacks. That way, their charges are quick and powerful. But some of them use the environment around them. For example, using earth at their surroundings. It conserves mana by quite a lot, though it won’t be as destructive and fast as the ones made up with mana.”
I see, it must be pretty convenient. Felix had to admit, he felt jealous.
Here was him, exerting his delicate feminine form without the use of mana, sweating profusely while practicing sword art outside in the coldest season in order to have a greater chance at survival. And those magicians were just able to jerk their bodies and do some mental work in order to defeat their opponents from a safe distance. That felt so unfair.
“I didn’t see any lighting or air users, master,” Felix commented, distracting himself from the irreversible misfortune.
“The military divisions pick them up very early once they appear. They undergo a special kind of training.”
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These were interesting news. The magicians with lightning affinities must be professionals at stopping any intruder attacks with their electroshocking punches, or charging tiny thunderbolts to paralyze, or even making their enemies crisps with electricity. The question was, could they be move extremely fast like in movies?
Those abilities must be quite handy at subduing any rising threats. But what about the air elementalists?
“What is special about them?” Felix directly asked the seasoned warrior, releasing himself from the excessive pondering.
“Wind magicians are excellent fighters, lighting users are the best guards there are.”
“Can lighting users move fast like… like lighting?”
“…No,” her voice rang clearer; she must have looked at her disciple’s direction in the tent. “Their attacks are instantaneous. That makes them impossible to dodge. But they can’t move that fast. Usually, magicians with lighting affinities are paired up with wind mages, rarely with other types of element users, or magic warriors.”
That explains it. Paralyzing before easily disposing stunned enemy should be quite an effective method of fighting.
Guarding nobles or such higher-up individuals must have been assigned to that type of outer mana users. Even the weakest lighting user could be a game changer in the fast-paced battles this world’s combatants practiced, supposing that magician was capable of silent casting at least a single lighting spell.
“Now, continue your training,” Kiria spoke up with commanding tone of a master, dragging out the shapeshifter from his musing and the brief break. “The road of a warrior is consisted of constant and repetitive practices. Don’t mull over things too much. Bear in your mind of only, and only practice. Nothing else matters.”
That is some nice, shortly said inspiring words! Felix inwardly applauded the warrior, getting back to his kata.
He understood very well the logic behind the brief encouragement. After all, it was a well familiar and favorite method of his. Doing something while not thinking of consequences or not pondering over the stuff he had no control of was a good way of blanking his mind from excessive thoughts. Though it was being quite a challenge at the moment.
His strained limbs didn’t let him go clear-headed, urging him to have some rest. The knowledge he had attained over the last few days just added on the issue and kept rotating in his mind. This all made him want to stop and ruminate over everything he now knew of.
The power disparity between him and the top tier individuals was much greater than he had estimated. He had been struggling to even make Kiria sweat to no avail for days now. That was true he could defend himself much better if he were to encounter a stray thug from earth. Though in this magical world, it was just a pipe dream. If he wasn’t prepared beforehand, like channeling his mana, he was a vulnerable outworlder.
The things he had heard about this world’s dangers for the past days from his master was quite an alarm. Kiria had given him some warnings in the military base. Highly skilled fire mages were able to turn a weak mana user into ash with one spell. And there were earth users, who could rise a spike from earth with a lift their hand, then the next second their enemy would be a skewer.
But most importantly, the existence of the Great Pillars was the key point for him to come to such a firm conviction. According to the wandering warrior, she was as helpless against those Pillars as it was with him right now.
Once in a decade or so, most powerful and talented youngsters would be selected as candidates for being symbols of greatest strength in the Empire. And almost only magicians would make it to be chosen of those Pillar. There were only four of them; each for the four primary sides of the world.
Very few inner mana users had been selected as a Pillar candidate throughout the history of Dawn, none of them actually becoming one. A Great Pillar would remain in the position until the time their power started fading, or until death. However, a death of the Pinnacles of power were an extremely rare case in the Empire. It had only happened once in the past of this mighty country; to defend a retreating army, an earth element user magician, titled as the Bane of Troops after his death, had stopped an army of five thousand to make time for his subordinates to escape.
Comparing that power to the strength of his master, it felt hopeless for Felix to fantasize of reaching to that level. He was only able to defeat his opponents so far because of his large mana pool, and maybe some quick wittedness.
He didn’t dream of being a formidable warrior like them. But still, imagining the existence of superhuman forces in this magical realm, it was making him feel rather weak and insecure of his future.
No, this just a waste of time. I have to train, and then train again a little more. Felix inhaled deeply several times before diving back into the activity he had to perform. There was no use in hollow pondering.
The patterns of sword swings were a first step for him being self-reliant. The shapeshifter leaped away from his imaginary opponent, careful not to step wrongly. He again executed defensive retreat two more times, ending up in proper stances that could give him a chance of an instant counterattack in case the enemy made a mistake.
His wooden sword made chopping motions in paths that wouldn’t leave easy openings. His body moved accordingly, every pose he took would pave a convenient way to his next attack, or for a brief fall back in danger.
Footwork was a crucial part of any attacking pattern; Kiria had poured her knowledge on the topic. Increasing the pressure of strikes or reducing the chance of catching a hit heavily depended on these two essential body parts. Moving his feet correspondingly to your offensive or defensive purposes relied on the mastery of placing the feet on right places, on right moments.
Felix had asked his master of all the details of the stances, of each purpose they carried behind. The warrior had patiently explained her diligent student all things there was for him to know.
Now Felix kept moving, executing the attack and defending patterns one after another, not giving a thought to the condition of the body he was currently borrowing. Every ache, every bruise, every mild damage he was inflicted by a wrong movement or by any accidental action could be healed up with a single body change. Felix had talked to the warrior on the matter; she would stay alert for him while he transformed. So he had no worries.
Felix swung his wooden weapon again and again, made defensive poses repetitively, not stopping for a breather. He had to learn how to fight, how to defend himself properly, how to get out of dire situations with the power he was granted.
Being a capable fighter was the most favorable choice among the other three viable options he could come up with. His ability to effortlessly change into many other life forms made him a unique species of humans in this world. It was both a great gift, as well as a huge source trouble.
From what he gathered up, any high power would want him in their palms if they knew his existence. His first option was being a pawn, a plaything in the hands of a random high authority that discovered him first.
His second option was to find a remote village or a faraway wilderness to detach himself from any human society. The curiosity that burned inside him since he was born wouldn’t leave him be from causing some trouble. He would expose himself eventually, which would make him search for new shelters, putting him in a state of constant runaway.
Or, he could choose to stay, do want he wanted, achieve his desires by this heavenly ability of becoming anyone, and anything, while satiating his every possible interests. All he had to do was being strong enough to defend himself, or find a person in his choosing who could do the favor.
“That’s enough practice, get in.” Kiria was standing outside of the tent, without him noticing.
“…Yes, master.”
Felix went in quickly with no protest, being welcomed by the much warmer atmosphere inside the artificial shelter. He placed himself around the campfire that had gathered a circle of bright red ambers around it, and let some warmness embrace his feminine body.
“You have any wounds?” his master inquired. She was not implying to any actual wounds. It carried a meaning he could perform a transformation.
Felix shook his head, though he still shapeshifted into one of the merchant traveller’s form he had observed during the journey. It was a man around Kiria’s age, thin cover of beard was making him look like he was above thirty. With average appearance and height, and dark short hair, it was a much preferable appearance the shapeshifter could find.
He felt whole and lacking at the same time. The woman’s body was becoming more and more like his own. In seconds, the pain in his bones and joints from the relentless practice had become nonexistent, only the exhaustion remained.
“Do you know his name, living place, and the names of his close acquaintances?” the warrior suddenly gave a question upon seeing his new form.
Felix looked at her quizzically. “I… I heard his name.”
“You should have at least minimal information before choosing them. Or things will get complicated.”
Felix nodded, and changed back into his feminine form. The loose sashes inside the clothes he was wearing made known their state, notifying Felix to change quickly. But before he could take off his martial arts garments, Kiria handed him a dry and warm towel.
“Thanks, master.” He took the towel.
Felix took his time to wipe his Sereena form’s body. The size of his torso was smaller than his master’s. The skin was so smooth and soft that squeezing it with a slight excessive force would result in it leaving reddish trace of fingers. Caressing it even made the shapeshifter admire the body more.
Sometimes, fighting in this form felt wrong. There were multiple different reasons; exerting a woman figure while he was actually a man, the inconvenience in fully getting used to balance, and the slight fear of damaging the delicate and beautiful form in his repertoire.
The woman’s body demanded care, and the obligation of fulfilling those demands influenced his mind all the time. It was the side effect of transformations. Felix wouldn’t mind this influence though, since it was a natural activity for anyone with such an attractive appearance.
Felix caught his master’s gaze by the corner of his eye. The warrior averted her eyes, and he sensed he was making a smile.
“You should change,” Kiria reminded him, turning to prepare the thick bedsheet that weighed several kilos.
“Good night, master,” he voiced toward the warrior’s back, receiving a nod.
The journey resumed its slow pace without any noteworthy incidents on the road. The coldest season soon opted to display its downsides. A snowstorm began after days, and the pathways turned into a test for the mounts’ stamina and the rocky landscapes became white roadblocks.
The envoy leader sometimes chose frozen lakes and rivers to cross, in order to even out the days they had spent sheltered from blizzards. Though the travellers had to walk on the icy surfaces, pulling the mounts on their sides since the animals were not particularly fit on the slippery road.
The fortunate news was, as the length of the route toward Chindon got shorter and shorter, the individual residences and villages had kept multiplying in number. Stationary merchants and small lodges were a relief to the most. Lying on the damp ground of winter was a literal backbreaking issue, especially for Felix who didn’t have much familiarity over extended trips in a difficult weather condition.
After days of the taxing journey, the envoy finally arrived to the intended destination. The proximity of one of the biggest cities in the Dawn Empire was littered with many scattered houses; their location wasn’t even that close to the city, which was apparent since the envoy didn’t catch a glimpse of the huge fortress. Nevertheless, the owners of these dwellings didn’t seem to be poor denizens of the country.
Only when the whole envoy crossed a number of canals and widespread crop fields, did they get to see the view of the prominent city. At last, they had arrived at the city of Chindon.