Michael

"Damn," Michael said under his breath as the carriage shook and his writing smeared, he was still trying to come up with incantations that worked for him the last three days of travel. He was together in the carriage with his mother, Lira, and Luciel. He had hoped to be able to have lessons while traveling but Solon and Sola had decided to stay back in Reen and take care of the renovation.

He remembered back to when he had asked them and Solon had stated that he didn't like the capital, so he preferred to stay away from it, too many people were xenophobes against non-humans. Sola had also declined, badly hiding some kind of sadness when she said that she would also like to stay away from that city, she hadn't given a reason, but Michael didn't press her on it.

So now he was stuck with self-study, which wasn't the worst, he needed the time for his magic, but it was sometimes hard to concentrate with his family around him talking or disrupting him.

He looked out of the window and took in the scenery of the forested hills and farms passing by the latter becoming more prevalent the farther they traveled north into the other parts of the Duchy of Praanen which Reen was part of. The whole duchy was at the frontier and in contrast to the other duchies quite underdeveloped, with spanning forests and smaller settlements.

He watched the sun close in on a hill and knew that they would stop at the next settlement to stay the night. Looking forward to some physical training after traveling the whole day he leaned out of the window to see how it was looking in front. He could only see the road and the backs of the knights.

"Michael come back in you will only become sick," his mother said while looking up from the embroidery she was working on. Michael let himself fall back into his seat and closed his eyes with a sigh.

The next time he opened them again they had reached a village that would be their quarter for the night. Michael stretched while he looked at the village, it wasn't too big maybe 40-60 people judging from the number of buildings he saw. A couple of meters away he could see his father talking to a man that appeared to be the village elder.

After a while, he turned around and came over to them. "There is no tavern or inn in this village, they don't get too many visitors it seems but the elder has offered that at least the children and women could sleep inside for the night."

His mother sighed, he knew that she liked it more high class, but she said nonetheless, "Better than sleeping outside. Come on kids let's see where they can get us situated for the night."

They walked over to the village elder and introduced themselves. "Thank you very much for your hospitality, elder," Lady Rowan said with a warm smile. He smiled back and gave her a little bow, "We have enough beds for your family in old Ignees's house, she has lived alone since the last of her boys decided to go become adventurers last year and would certainly appreciate the company. Her husband owned the biggest farm in the village so their house should be big enough."

Michael asked for directions to the house as he wanted to get some training in before going to bed. He found Geron and Eydis easily in the back of the caravan, currently getting off their horses and getting them ready for the night.

Michael greeted them and waited until they were done with their horses, they looked for a quiet place and started training. Michael had started fighting with Geron as training, of course, he was holding back, or this would be pointless, but he tried to give Michael a challenge that he could grow on. They fought for a while, with every time Michael got hit, he had to explain what he did wrong. After being disarmed again Eydis let out a chuckle.

She sat a couple meters away and looked at them with amusement. Geron turned to her and said, "It is bad manners to laugh at a student."

She shook her head and began to sign, Geron looked at Michael, he had started learning the sign language as he was training Michael with her, but he hadn't come very far yet. "It is not Michael I am laughing about; it is your training and fighting style I am laughing about," Michael translated, he was tempted to paraphrase what she said but decided that that would only bring more problems when the words and the mannerisms didn't match.

Geron frowned at her and raised his hands questionably, "What is the problem with my training and fighting style, Lord Michael is doing just fine with both."

"She says it is rigid and inflexible, and that a warrior needs to be quick on his feet and even quicker to adapt. This training of learning certain strikes and blocks will teach him to be locked into a mindset that will get him killed when things come around that don't fit into his moves."

Michael looked at Geron to see what he thought of it and could see that he didn't like what she was saying. "This is the fighting style of House Rowan, the same that Lord Rowan uses, I think he knows better than you."

Eydis shook her head and signed again, "I have never seen your lord fight, but I have seen his brother, and he nearly got his throat ripped out because he didn't adapt fast enough."

"And still he beat you," Geron said, his frown at her belittling his fighting style still on his face. "The kingdom's swordsmanship is centered on control and organization, while the tribes run and flail around like beasts, we stand our ground as a unit where it is required to be somewhat rigid to not disrupt formations. That is the way we knights fight."

"Yes, and it is predictable and vulnerable in one-on-one situations. Why not teach him something that people are not familiar with, if they are all this inflexible," Eydis said with a shrug not caring about the frustrated knight's expression.

"Listen, this fighting style might be inflexible in your eyes, but it has proven its worth a hundred times against barbarians, monsters, and knights," Geron sighed, calming himself.

"How about I just learn both and then I can use either one when it is more suitable or even mix them," Michael interjected into the conversation. Geron scratched his head and said, "The problem is not learning different fighting styles the problem is that you might have problems adapting to them at the same time, when I tell you that you need to stand firmer and a minute later Eydis tells you that you need to be lighter on his feet. I can get frustrating for you." He looked at Michael sympathetic, knowing fully well that Michael would throw himself at the challenge and he did.

"Let's do it, we can split training time into three parts and both of you get your own time where you can do what you want without the other interfering, and then there is mana training that you have either agree on or do it together," Michael said with a broad grin on his face.

Geron shook his head with a slight smile and said with theatrical pain in his voice, "I knew you would say that. I guess Eydis and I can also show you stuff against each other" Eydis mirrored Michael's smile and signed, "You better not be too tired when I get my turn, there won't be much of this lazy standing around and bashing at each other on my watch."

After they finished their training Michael's whole body hurt. Eydis was true to her word, she didn't start by showing him stances or strikes but jumped right into live-action combat and she was not fighting fair like Geron. She kicked, grabbed his sword, and once even threw dirt at him with the words, "You think your enemies are gonna fight fair? Honor will not save you when a beastman comes barreling in with a battleaxe." After he had survived the training, he made his way to the house of the woman named Ignees.

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The moment he arrived, the woman ushered him inside and towards the table where his family was already waiting. She was making them dinner and giving them sweets and tea. It was a great atmosphere after the days of travel and Michael relished in the homeliness of the old woman's care. Even the twins were grinning and having fun, despite Michael on the table.

A couple of hours later Michael was lying awake in his bed, it was less comfortable than the one he had at home but that was to be expected, what really kept him awake though was the loud snoring of Oska, two beds over to his left. He sounded like a boar searching for mushrooms, and Michael was wondering how Harlov and his father could sleep with this noise pollution.

He turned in his bed and tried to put his pillow over his ears, but it didn't help much. After an hour of turning, he finally got up and dressed. It wouldn't be the first night with minimal to no sleep and he could rest in the carriage tomorrow, but his exhaustion from the training would be difficult. He sneaked through the house trying to not wake anyone and closed the front door behind him.

It was a cool spring night, and he took a deep breath while dragging his coat closer to his body.

He began to wander the village, dodging the night patrols of their guards, he was not in the mood to explain what he was doing outside. He had the advantage that they were moving with torches and were visible from far away, so it wasn't too hard to evade them.

After five minutes of walking, he finally found a quiet spot where the patrols wouldn't find him. He made himself comfortable on the ground next to a small building, it had no windows on his side so he was confident that he could go about his business in peace. He nestled into a corner where the building had a little extrusion.

Taking deep breaths he closed his eyes, barely able to keep them open, and let his warm mana flow through his body, the cold of night vanishing in an instant and the tiredness followed behind. He raised his hand and spoke quietly, "Orb of light, follow above me. Following Light!"

Nothing happened. He sighed and opened his eyes; he could feel a small amount of mana leaking out of his hand from his failed spell. He tried again and failed again. He next held out his hand and tried, "Orb of light." He wanted to at least make the basis of his spell work, but it didn't.

He let his head fall back against the wall and sighed. Am I not able to use magic? Maybe I should just focus on augmenting and try to become an aura-level knight like Father, he thought. He knew fully well that he wouldn't do that, but he was frustrated, and these kinds of thoughts gave him something to let off some steam. He sat there for a moment until he started uttering his incantations again trying to make the magic work.

A couple of minutes later he was startled out of his work when someone addressed him from the side. "What are you doing out here at this time of the night, boy?"

His head jerked around to the side and saw an old man standing in the dark, looking at him with narrow eyes. He hadn’t heard the man approach at all even with his mana-infused senses.

Michael scrambled to his feet and wiped the dirt from his pants before he spoke, "I am sorry, I was just getting a little alone time, being surrounded by people the whole day is exhausting." He smiled innocently even though he wasn't sure if the man could even see his face in the darkness. Michael could see rather well with mana in his eyes and the faint shine of the moon overhead.

The man moved closer and inspected him - he could seemingly see just fine - as he did Michael smelt a whiff of humid air, he frowned but didn't think about it too much. The man scoffed and finally said, "Didn't someone teach you that lying is bad? You were practicing magic!"

Michael stared at the man in disbelief, had he heard him, or was he standing there longer than he thought? He thought about what he wanted to say when the man spoke up again, "Alright, it is cold, so come in and you can practice there if you don't want anyone to see." He turned around and began to move away smoother than would be expected from someone of his age. Michael stood there confused for a moment but quickly decided to follow the man, he wanted to know how he figured out what he was doing and see what he wanted.

It turned out the house that Michael was leaning against was the house of the old man, maybe he had heard him from inside. When he entered his home he took a quick look around, there wasn't much noteworthy here, just a small square village house with a single bed, a table, a fire, and some other furniture, but a shelf in the corner garnered his attention for a reason he couldn't explain.

"Come on sit down, I will make some tea," the old man said while pointing at the table. Michael did that while watching the man, now with the light of the fire he could get a better look at him. He had long white hair, and a short, well-maintained beard. His clothes matched the simple linen that he had seen on the other villagers.

"So, what does a little light mage do behind my house? Are you hiding your gift from your lord?"

Michael blinked and looked down, he had a simple cloak and shirt on, the old man was probably thinking he was some kind of retainer of the carriage train. He met the man's gaze and said, "How do you know I am a light mage?"

The man sat down in front of him and said plainly, "Caught your incantations."

Michael nodded, "Makes sense and no I am not hiding it from anyone, I just wanted a quiet place to train. "

"Which was going poorly, I assume."

He frowned frustrated at the truth and said, "What do you know about magic, maybe it was going perfectly?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "I was an adventurer in my time, I retired around ten years ago and moved here but I saw and traveled with some mages, and I can tell that whatever you were doing wasn't working."

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have lashed out, I am just tired and frustrated. I can't get any incantation to work, instinctual magic is alright but once I add any phrase it falls apart." Michael rubbed his eyes while talking, trying to get rid of the exhaustion that had sneaked up on him again.

They sat in silence for a moment until the man finally spoke. "You have a variation of a typical problem that elemental mages tend to have, in the cases I have seen it only weakens their magic and prevents them from becoming as strong as they could be, but you might be too young to understand."

Michael looked at the man with a stern expression and said, "Please explain it to me and treat me like an adult, everyone else does it."

At this moment the water began to boil, and the old man stood up to pour it. He returned with a teapot and gave Michael a cup made from clay.

"Alright, what is the difference between the elemental and arcane paths?" He asked, looking at Michael with a raised eyebrow, Michael could hear the doubt in his voice.

"The elemental paths require the user to be awakened with a mana affinity for the element and are used to manipulate one of the basic elements of the world. The arcane paths require the user to have a high understanding of the concept of the path and are used to manipulate one of the basic concepts of the world," Michael recited what he had learned.

"Very good, you are a knowledgeable kid," the man said a little surprised and Michael smiled at the praise.

"Now the problem many elemental mages have is that they think that their affinity is everything they need. This is wrong, the affinity does give you a base understanding of the element you are gifted with, which in all cases I have seen is enough to grant you the ability to cast but having a great understanding of your element is still required to be strong in it, the same as in the arcane magic. That is why most of these order of purity doofuses are so damned weak, they just think of their magic as a gift of god and don't try to understand it."

Michael raised an eyebrow at the mention of Sola's order but didn't say anything about it. "So, you are saying I don't understand enough about light to cast with it?"

The man sipped at his tea and said, "Well no, here comes the variation part. You do have enough understanding to do magic, you can do instinctual magic after all, but your mind is fighting you while you do it. I have seen it before but never in someone as young as you. I will explain it anyway even if I have no idea how it does apply to you. You have a great understanding of your element, but you don't know that it applies to your magic, if that makes any sense?"

Michael frowned, not understanding what he meant. The man's fingers drumming on the table he leaned back scratching his beard.

"Think of it like this, you know how a sword functions, pointy end for stabbing, sharp end for cutting, made out of metal, etc. but when a person gives you one you just take it at the blade and pummel someone with the hilt. You do know how a sword functions, but you don't apply it to sword fighting because you think the two things are not related, rather you try to come up with your own way. You can fight like that but the moment you are distracted you will cut yourself and lose concentration completely."

Michael looked at the man with a smile and said, "That is an actual tactic to hit someone with the guard while grabbing on the blade."

The man met his gaze and shook his head annoyed, "You get what I mean."

Michael nodded, "I think so, but I don't really know much about light and how it works."

"That is what I thought, light and darkness mages have it very hard because their elements are difficult to understand or even learn about at all, but it is the only explanation I can think of. I never heard of an elemental mage that had too little understanding to cast, only either he couldn't apply his understanding or too little mana and that is not your problem."

Michael's head began to hurt as he tried to wrap around the concept of getting his brain to connect knowledge about light with the practice of light magic.