Ignoring Kedryn, Glade cast his mana manipulation spell. It was far easier to do than before, coming naturally to him as he silently processed his astral magic. Intrinsically, he knew that he could now hold this spell indefinitely thanks to his new specialization. But what really took his breath away were the vibrant mana streams floating haphazardly through the air.
Even though there wasn’t as much mana in the surrounding area as there had been near Storms’ Rest or while they were sailing along the coast, it was still beautiful to his eyes.
Turning slowly so he could get a good look with his magic while maintaining his pace, Glade assessed those around him. Kedryn’s normal lines of power now included a vibrant whitish-blue, a color that reminded him more of a bolt of lightning than air. There were at least one or two others in the caravan that showed muted colors, indicating they had closed channels to one attunement or another.
A week ago, Glade would have questioned why those with mana channels hadn’t taken the time to open them. Afterall, magic was not only a powerful resource, it could change your life’s circumstances permanently for the better.
Now, he knew better. The regents and necessary guidance to open a channel wasn’t only expensive, the process was potentially life threatening. Still, he wondered how many of the men and women within the caravan knew they even had the option?
As he turned his attention back to Kedryn, a flash of… something, caught his eye. Focusing on the image, he was surprised to see he was staring at Lun’Svet. More specifically, at the intertwining channels of light and shadow that made up the horse lord’s mana channels, which weren’t even the most interesting magical oddity. One end of what appeared to be a weakened strand of astral mana was tethered to the horse lord’s mana pool, the other end floating freely about like a broken fishing line in the water, its end frayed and torn.
Unconsciously, Glade slowed his pace so as to get a better look.
“I’m back!” CIrea roared, interrupting Glade’s inspection as she hoisted the now filled bag of rocks and dirt clods into the back of the wagon.
One glance at the body mage had Glade momentarily shielding his eyes. Cirea’s mana channels were filled with a vibrant green light. Not the same kind of green he was used to seeing inside of Kedryn. That light had always felt to him like it was a representation of life. While Cirea’s felt like that as well, her channels included an overwhelming sense of immutable strength.
“You ok?” Cirea asked, resuming her place next to Glade.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face. “Got something in my eyes.”
It wasn’t hard to guess that he was looking at Cirea’s Corporeal mana channels. But there was so much he didn’t understand about what body mages could do, let alone the incredible power she was projecting. A stray thought occurred to him as he continued to run. If he played his cards right, he could learn about Cirea’s particular brand of body magic while he simultaneously trained with Kedryn.
“Incoming!” Bragden yelled, interrupting Glade’s thoughts.
“But, It hasn’t been ten minutes yet!” Kedryn yelled back, struggling to get his hands up before two clods of dirt smacked into the Corporal’s sweat drenched chest.
“Less complaining and more magic!” Bragden called out, throwing two more dirt clods.
Glade glanced over at Kedryn in time to see him cast his gust spell. The Kid didn’t bother trying to dual cast as both clods of dirt flying toward him were close together.
There was a flash of light as mana was pulled from Kedryn’s mana pool, pulled through his mana channels in a dizzying array of patterns until it was released from his palm in one large burst.
Both balls of dirt were blasted to dust.
“That was cheating!” Bragden roared, sitting up so quickly from his seat that some of his mead sloshed onto the wagon bed.
“Watch what yer doin!” Gent cried, sounding more stricken from the loss of even a dribble of the alcoholic beverage than anything else he had suffered throughout the day.
Bragden ignored his fellow dwarf, instead focusing on Kedryn. “Yer supposed to be learnin how to use that dual cast skill o’ yers, not being all clever like!”
“What, and throwing the rocks earlier than I was ready for isn’t cheating either?” Kedryn snapped back.
“O’ course it was cheatin!” Bragden roared. “I’m the slagging instructor! I can cheat to me hearts content! That doesn’t mean you get to! Because of that little stunt you just pulled I’ll be replacing one o’ the bloody clods o’ dirt with a rock! And this time, I won’t be throwin them at just you any more!”
“Thanks a lot,” Gent grumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.
Glade ignored the argument, instead focusing on the magic he had just seen come from Kedryn’s hands. He knew from helping Kedryn gain his Tempest attunement that he couldn’t manipulate mana inside someone else’s body unless they gave him their express permission or he significantly outranked them in raw power. So, trying to interfere with Kedryn’s magic while the mana was still inside him wasn’t going to work. That meant he needed to do so once it left the Kid’s control.
The problem was, the moment where mana manifested from the body to when it converted into its actual spell form was faster than he could measure on his own.
Fortunately for him, he had a skill that could help with that particular problem.
While he waited for Bragden to throw another round of projectiles, he decided it was time to learn some more about Cirea’s magic.
“So, if I heard the caravan guard correctly, you follow the path of Titan’s Strength?” He asked, trying to start up a conversation.
“That’s right,” Cirea said, no strain or hint of exhaustion in her voice even though they had been running all morning.
“What can you tell me about it?” he asked, deciding on the straightforward approach. Cirea didn’t seem like a person who enjoyed overly complicated discussions.
“Ha!” she barked a laugh, a smile plain on her face. “That's what I like about you, Glade! You’re not afraid to come out and ask a straightforward question!”
“I take it my question was something of a social blunder around here?” he asked, not feeling embarrassed in the least. He knew there was a risk in asking such a question, but quite frankly, he didn’t care.
“You might say that,” Cirea laughed, “But I don’t mind. I’ve never really cared much for what others might consider polite. What do you want to know?”
“Well, to be honest, I don't know all that much about Corporeal magic,” he said with a shrug. “I was wondering how your path tied into your choice of attunement.”
“What an oddly worded question,” Cirea said, giving him a discerning look. “If I was more of a thinker than a hitter I would be asking you a few questions myself.”
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Glade was about to ask exactly what he had asked that had piqued her interest when she interrupted him again.
“But, we're answering your questions,” Glade felt there was a ‘for now’ statement left out of that sentence, but Cirea drove on. “Let’s start with the basics of body magic and then I’ll tell you more about my family’s particular path. Does that work?”
Glade nodded and saw out of the corner of his eye that Kedryn was also paying attention to the conversation.
“It's common knowledge that there are eight basic attunements; Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Light, Shadow, Astral, and Corporeal. Of those, you can break them down further into two categories - elemental and abstract attunements.”
“It be one o’ the many conflicting theories out there,” Bragden interjected loudly from his perch on the wagon. “Most dwarvish scholars believe that Light and Shadow attunements are elements unto themselves. It's the Astral and Corporeal that don’t fit right. Oh, and incoming!”
He threw a rock at Kedryn and dirt clod toward Gent.
Glade triggered his time dilation skill, slowing down the movement of everything around him so he could watch Kedryn cast.
There was a momentary flash of brilliance as Kedryn began using his magic, but as Glade watched, the magic inside faltered as the Kid tried to split his magic in two.
Slightly disappointed, Glade let go of his own skill as he watched first Gent, then Kedryn slap the projectiles out of the air.
“Sorry!” Kedryn called, looking at Gent.
Gent just grumbled, focusing his ire at Bragden who was laughing at the two’s plight.
“I knew there were some differing theories about attunements, but I’ll continue with how my mum taught me,” Cirea said with a shrug. “Water, Earth, Air, and Fire are part of the elemental attunements and Light, Shadow, Astral, and Corporeal are part of the abstract attunements. Now, in order to be a mage, someone needs to first have mana channels to begin with. The problem is, less than one in a thousand are born with mana channels in the first place. Then, they have to have the wealth and access to trainers to even open those channels. That’s why there are so few mages in the world and why every house measures its strength by the mages it controls.”
“So, that's why house Fellu and the others forced Holo out of business with Helmund,” Glade replied, thinking back to their earlier discussions. “He was starting to gather mages to his house with the money he was earning. I can only imagine that felt like a serious threat to the current balance of powers.”
“Nailed it in one go!” Cirea grinned, slapping Glade so hard on the back that he stumbled forward. “Glad to know that you have more than just a pretty face!”
“How is it that you came into Holo’s employ?” Kedryn interjected. “If I understand correctly, you are an incredibly powerful body mage. How does he even afford your services now that his cash cow is gone?”
“Incoming!” Bragden called. Two more projectiles shot forward, one at him and the other at Kedryn, who failed for a second time to successfully dual cast.
Glade caught the rock out of the air and tossed it back to Bragden instead of tossing it to the side of the road.
“My older sister is friends with Helmund. Holo hired me through them and gave the rest of my family a home. There are some other things that happened that I won’t go into, but suffice it to say, I’ve never looked back since. Besides, the Aldorn’s aren’t the only family that has a long standing feud with the Fellu’s.”
Glade saw a darkened look cross Cirea’s face as she explained. There was definitely more to the story, but even he could tell it would be better to change topics for the moment.
“But enough about that,” Cirea said. “Going back to the subject at hand, finding those with attunements is rare. But, what isn’t common knowledge, is that you can grow your Corporeal mana channels.”
Both Glade and Kedryn stumbled.
“What?” he said at the same time as Kedryn said, “How?”
“You two look like I’ve just peeled back the sky and showed you a peek at heaven itself!’ CIrea laughed. “I reacted the same way when me mum told me. It’s harder to do than drop kicking an ox, I’ll tell you that fro free. But, it is doable. That's why there are more body mages out there than any other type of mage.”
“Can any of the other abstract attunements do the same thing?” Kedryn asked excitedly.
For the briefest of moments, Glade thought Bragden was going to throw another round of rocks, but to his surprise he found the surly dwarf listening intently.
“Don’t know,” Cirea said with a shrug. “But I can tell you straight that Body mages can. I wasn’t born with any mana channels myself. Had to grow my own.”
“How?” Glade asked.
“Can’t tell you unless you join my family,” Cirea said with a wink. “I swore an oath and signed one of those magical contracts before my own mum began training me. That's how serious we take protecting our secrets.”
“Incoming!” Bragden called. This time, Kedryn successfully dual cast the spell. He missed the dirt clod aimed at him, but successfully blasted the rock headed toward Gent’s face. But even more importantly, Glade captured the image of twisting mana streams exiting one Kedryn’s palms right before it converted into a chaotic gust of wind. He wanted to observe the spell a few more times, but instinctually, he knew he could manipulate Kedryn’s spell.
“Is your path also a secret?” Glade asked, turning his attention back to Cirea.
“Yes and no. What I can tell you is that my family’s path emulates a Titan’s strength and fortitude. Anything more and you would have to join our family.”
“Do you have to use specialized Corporeal mana shards or cores?” Kedryn asked, his attention fully on Cirea.
“Resources help, but all they do is help us grow our attunement. They aren’t how body mages specialize. That comes when we transition from one attunement rank to another.”
Their looks of confusion must have been evident seeing as Bragden joined in the conversation.
“Body mages choose how to direct the energies of their body at every attunement rank,” the dwarf explained. “The adjudicators allow them to choose which attribute they want their attunement to align to. Some go for strength, like the Bailiff here, while the Gnoll Alpha had a blend of strength and speed. From there, a body mage can then tailor their spells to fit their chosen body.”
“Like what?” Glade asked, intrigued. This actually sounded like something he might be interested in. Honing and conditioning one's body was something he strived for every day. Any advantage he could gain in that area would be incredibly helpful.
“Well, most of those are secrets,” Bragden began. “But like Cirea here, they are mostly open secrets. With every attunement rank she either aligns her body to either strength or endurance. In turn, she can learn spells that specialize in that kind of focus, such as power strike, cleave, or giant leap.”
“All of which I can do,” Cirea smiled. “But here’s where it gets tricky. Some spells you can’t learn if you don’t align your body correctly. Like haste. I can learn a form of it, but only a dexterity aligned body mage can really take advantage of a hastened body.”
“Are their spells that allow you to caste haste or slow on others?” Kedryn asked.
“Yes…” Cirea said hesitantly. “But those type of support body mages are rare, and dangerous. If your stats can’t handle the spell, then you could end up tearing yourself apart.”
“That actually makes sense,” Kedryn replied before asking another question. “Can body mages only align their attunement to their respective attributes or can they align them to something else?”
“Now that,” Cirea said, looking at Kedryn as if she was looking at him for the first time, “is a very intriguing question.”
There was a moment of silence as the group continued to jog.
“Are you going to answer my question?” Kedryn asked.
“Nope,” Cirea said with an enigmatic smile. “I think I’ve answered enough questions about me for today.”
“Incoming!” Bragden yelled. Glade triggered his time dilation skill and watched as Kedryn once again successfully dual cast the spell. But instead of just watching the spell activate, Glade decided to gamble. He reached out with his senses and pulled the largest mana thread the Corporal was controlling in his left hand.
He half expected that it wouldn’t work, and was pleasantly surprised when it did. There was a brief drain on his own mana pool, but in the end he successfully pulled the thread of power away from the rest of the spell.
Instead of the blast of wind like Kedryn had been expecting would protect Gent, there was a slight puff of air.
Glade released his time dilation skill in time to see the ball of dirt explode into a cloud of gray dust, engulfing Gent’s head.
“Ack!” the dwarf gagged loudly, before he pulled over to the side of the road where he began retching and coughing, his face covered in a fine gray powder. “Bragden, you bloody son of an abyssal whore! Me mouth was open and everything!”
Everyone else began roaring with laughter. All, that is, except for Kedryn.
“But… I don’t understand,” he stammered. “I cast the spell. I know I did. What happened?”
Bragden gave Glade a questioning look. He gave their instructor the barest of nods. He couldn’t tell himself, but from what he could tell was that the dwarf’s grin was only surpassed by his own.
“Incoming!” Bragden yelled again.