Harlan had to argue more than he’d like, but he got the stone and brought in golems to cut them to size and sort it so he could later gate it to the places where it could be used to build the tunnels.
He had also had some new designs for the trains.
Inside of the veil the wildlife was generally more dangerous, even after over 1,500 years, the remnants of the fall of Reino and the monster waves that poured in never really went away.
Humanity beat back the beasts, forcing them deeper into the frontier, and as the frontier was conquered, they were pushed more and more.
Yet some remained hidden, and so many places were spread out from one another that something always got missed in the purges.
Here in the desert, Harlan had already had the situation explained to him, and without any really dangerous creatures such as the massive sandworms of the Great Desert, above ground trains would be viable even if made from mundane metals.
The downside was that they wouldn’t be the gravitational and magnetic levitation design that could move hundreds of miles per hour.
Still, so long as the tunnels were cleared now and then the trains should be safe enough and fast enough.
Now, he needed to train the Canis of the Sandsea in powerful magic.
He had avoided doing so like this in the territories because he’d be starting from scratch, since very few humans there knew magic, and fewer still could be trusted.
But here they had a base, many of these people had military experience either against revolts or the very rare monster wave.
Harlan did pause when he heard about attempts at overthrowing the royalty of the Sandsea, but even Ragne, which he found to be a bearable country, had to put down revolts which were often led by some noble or another as a power grab.
He overlooked the people who he would be teaching, in total it would be 10 people, high ranking military types, some more scholarly, and some of royal blood.
Jakel had two children, one older man, already in his 30s, and the other was a girl, though Harlan hadn’t met her. She had neither been at Carmilla’s party, nor was she here to learn.
“Before I begin, I must know, and I will say this bluntly, do you want me to teach you like I would my students, or do you want to be coddled?”
Tatton rose from his seat.
“Would your training entail any harm to us?”
Harlan looked up for a moment, trying to bring his thoughts together, no matter how hard he tried, no sleep had been truly restful in some time.
But to them, it looked like he was hesitating to speak.
“No, the only harm would possibly be to your pride. I’ve never laid a hand on any student of mine unless it was a friend and I absolutely thought a lesson needed to be taught with force.”
“Then we expect you to teach us properly.”
Harlan opened a gate and helped his golems push through a large stone block.
“How would each of you pierce the block? How would you do it quickly? Would you break it apart with overwhelming power? Or use concentration to pierce only a single part? There are no wrong answers.”
Tatton spoke first.
“I believe it best to use a series of sand blades, a mix of air and earth, the rapidly moving grains allow one to add grit and cutting power, with the deep cuts it creates points in which the stone is weakened, and a larger force would then cause it to shatter along these fracture lines.”
Jakel was of another mind.
“Void, it would eat away at the block and pierce it.”
“Can you use void safely? Get it to perfectly maintain its form? Solid void? Or a splash of liquid void?
You overestimate your power often, you overestimate your control.”
Harlan slammed his fist into the stone block, deeply cracking it.
“Tatton, if the enhancement has left you emotionally unstable, it would be best for you to return to these classes in another few days. Jakel, can you use void safely?”
Harlan accented his point by creating a blade of void and stabbing it into the stone before turning back towards them
“Can your void maintain cohesion when it gets away from you? Or…”
Harlan let the blade turn to liquid and drip down the stone, devouring it as it did so.
“Yes.”
“Then that is what matters.”
Harlan brought the stone back to its original shape and watched each of them destroy it in their own way, giving tips as needed.
For the swirling sands of the king, he didn’t make the weak points, instead he used concentric circles of wind with the sand inside, each circle spinned the opposite from the layer above it and bored a hole through the stone more quickly than if he had made the weak spots in the first place.
Yet they had a great deal of issue replicating Harlan’s technique.
“I don’t understand, shouldn’t you people have great mana control after so much time?
Tatton, you are over a century old, but I felt better control from that gate guard. His fireball was perfect, it was dense, hot, cohesive, it was pure, almost no energy was lost from it, I’m certain he could put a hole through any mundane armor with such a thing.”
“Then get him to explain it to us.”
It was an hour, and yet the best of them had only managed four circles of sand and wind, far from the over 30 which Harlan had managed.
“Fine, I will return with him.”
Let alone in one of the royal courtyards, they spoke to one another.
“The sheer arrogance of that child. Not 20 years of age yet he dares to speak down to the king.”
“General Shik, do mind that he is right. And Jakel, my apologies. Harlan has warned me that I may become overly passionate for a time, but I should not have reacted as I had. Your issues with control are minor, and you’ve made a good king without my handing over of the title.”
“But the general is right, the boy is arrogant, and more importantly dangerous. He has already taken over the United Territories, and now he floods our nation with dozens of his golems which he says are for construction, yet their claws cleave stone and their exoskeletons have survived being crushed by blocks of stones that weigh thousands of pounds.”
“The United Territories gave up their lands, he took nothing. But you are right, he is dangerous and hard to predict. At the party, he shot himself in the head and spit the bullet out, and here he arrives and fights his way through without harming any of our soldiers, showing that he could kill them far too easily.”
The master healer spoke up.
“Surely you must be mistaken.”
“Of which part?”
“Shooting himself and spitting out the bullet.”
“I saw it myself, Colton picked up the bullet and checked, there is no illusions, the boy is either a monster in human skin, or a human in monster skin.”
“That just… no that doesn’t make sense…”
“Colton has also informed me of Harlan destroying much of a city north of Kingdom, he devoured men without regard and grew in size until he was over 30 feet in length and half as tall, his fur turned to iron and his breath like that of a dragon. Scything buildings and men down like wheat, covered in dozens of hands and mouths.”
Tatton’s eyes dropped, he was deep in thought about what his son implied.
“Father, we have the Godtouched Saber, I am simply saying, once he has taught us magic, perhaps-”
Harlan returned through a gate with the guard in tow along with a bundle of candles.
Harlan cut the stone with whips of void and made a table for each of them, while the guard stood by his side.
“What magic lets you lift the stones like that? I see no movement of stone mana, nor wind.”
“Right now I am hoarding that magic, it provides a unique advantage to my people.”
“Perhaps we could-”
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“I will say no more on the subject.”
Harlan snapped his fingers and sent sparks that lit each candle.
“Explain.”
The guard looked confused, but Harlan patted his shoulder as a gesture of safety.
“Explain to them how you gained your control.”
“Ah, I, well, I-”
“Calm yourself, there is no insult in your knowing more, this is for the betterment of your entire nation. Please, tell them what you told me about your personal training.”
The Canis exhaled, blowing out his candle, but Harlan just snapped his fingers again.
He moved his hands, forming shapes in the flame, splitting and joining it, even changing the colors by changing the heat of it.
“It’s just a game, something I would do as a child. The goal is to keep making these shapes and colors without burning up the wax or the wick too quickly. If you just increase the heat, then the candle melts, but if you condense the flame inward, like wrapping a skin around it, then the heat doesn’t read the wax below or the wick inside, it's just heating up the outside layers while the inside is normal fire.”
“And how long have you been playing this game?”
“I’ll be 25 this coming summer, so I suppose 9 years?”
“Very good. Now, try this trick.”
Harlan explained the concentric circles of sandy wind and told him to make a hole in the table, which the man did with relative ease, controlling nine circles on his tenth attempt.
“Thank you for your help with this, you may return to your work.”
“You are welcome, King Fomoria.”
With the guard gone, Harlan returned to facing his class.
“It is simple, you are all mages, and each of you have neglected a fundamental part of magic, control.
I don’t know the exact differences in education systems in our respective nations, but to me it is clear as day, and I’m baffled somewhat that such an issue is even possible.”
“We can control our magic just fine.”
“All of you, throw fireballs at me, and I will show the difference in control between us.”
“I don’t know what game you are playing, but-”
Harlan tossed his own fireball, melting the corner of the general’s table and making him jump.
He pretended that he meant to do it, but Harlan felt his control over his emotions faltering even if his mana control was still well.
“Notice that? No splashing molten stone, no explosion, my fireball is heat, flames are a byproduct of that heat leaking and igniting the air. I was the top of my class for warmagic, and the things which are emphasized so strongly in that class are control, efficiency. How many fireballs can any of you throw before you get tired? 50? 100?”
The general had a smug look on his face.
“147 is my best record of continuous fireball drills.”
“Any third year student can throw 200, fireballs are so heavily used because they are cheap, easy to master, if you can’t even beat a third year whose soul hasn’t even reached the peak in mana increases, then wipe that look off of your face. Do you know warmagic?”
“Of course. I can use a giant fireball that would glass 100 feet around in an instant.”
“And how many of these novas can you cast back to back? What is your cast time?”
“Eight, and three minutes each.”
“So you’ve the same issue I had in most of my schooling, you’ve taken your first step and then decided to start running. Once each of you masters the candle trick at the same level as that lowly guard who I saw you dismiss with your eyes, then I will teach you a much better means of learning control.”
“Why not start with that then?”
“Because the other spell requires living subjects, and I’d rather you all not kill hundreds of small animals and make fools out of yourselves, then we will move to another test using fire, and then we can move on to the multi-elemental training. Finally I’ll teach you some proper warmagic, since I’m doubting any of you can use splitter or spiral magic.”
Nobody even asked, since none of them knew what Harlan meant with the terms.
After several hours and two extra meals, each of them were at a level Harlan found acceptable, so he allowed them to continue, and brought in decks of cards.
“Now, I’m not certain about the differences between our cultures, but where I am from, each card has four possible shapes, spade, club, heart, and diamond. We use them for many different games, but here I want you to burn out these, without singing the edges of the shapes, I want clean cuts, this will require much control, and is a test I reserved for third years who struggled with control as their magical power increased and they failed to keep up in their training. Each deck is 52 cards, and each card as four of these symbols on each corner. If you fail to make a clean cut, the entire deck is worthless, you should burn the rest of the shapes just for practice, but I won’t consider this done until you can burn the entire deck without a single mistake.”
“And how many years were you at this place of learning? What year were you?”
“Well, I was a third year, had I not come here, I would’ve completed that and my fourth year, then I would have graduated.”
“So you were teaching other students in your own year? How talented.”
The general’s tone was mocking.
“If you plan to call me a liar then do so, but don’t pretend that talent got me here.
Harlan morphed his body, showing the many scars he had hidden and healed, his body more damaged flesh than healthy, acid, fire, frost, deep scars from cuts.
Harlan gripped his table so hard that cracks were forming in the stone.
“I have fought tooth and nail for every scrap of power that I have, because every single day I lived in fear of what being weak would do, and it is that power that lets me walk into this city and avoid a casualty as I casually strolled to this palace, and it is that power that lets me speak to you like I am because I know there is not a single godsdamned thing you can do about it even if each of you tried your damndest to harm me.”
Before Shik could respond, the king raised his voice.
“I believe that we have had enough training for today. Thank you for your time, King Fomoria.”
Harlan exhaled and returned his body to normal, his armor creeping back up and over his chest.
“I am glad you have graced these lessons with your presence today, King Tatton.”
Harlan bowed to him.
“I shall join you for dinner shortly, there is something else which I must take care of before then.”
“Very well.”
Harlan left through a gate, returning to a lab, though not the one which was under his home, rather a new one set up for Murk.
“You wanted something?”
“I need test subjects.”
“What about the ones you had before?”
“I’ve run out, this is expensive work.”
“So before, that prison was like a revolving door of new subjects. Is that why they weren’t just being executed? Because I found it a bit incongruous with what I know of old path culture.”
“The prisons were set up by the old king who was new path, but yes, I convinced Thrash to maintain the prison system so they could be transferred to me as subjects. That man covets magic, it is the one thing he hasn’t been able to conquer with his might. He has wealth, power, women, a nation to rule, and yet it isn’t enough.”
“What part of your research is killing your subjects?”
“Let me show you.”
She cut into her last subject and tried to manipulate the aura which came out.
Though to her, she had no idea what it was other than some form of energy that wasn’t mana.
She didn’t know this, since no Goliath had ever sensed mana before, any power they had was based on Fae magic which required no understanding and gave no understanding, it simply was.
To Harlan, it was clear what she was trying to do, but she had no real idea, and was fumbling around in the dark.
“Oh, so your research is to manipulate the aura which is internal and thus not affected by the magical resistance of your species.”
“What?”
Harlan went over the research with her, making sure he understood what it was actually saying.
“Had I known what you research really was, I would’ve solved it immediately. I’m sorry to have wasted your time, I’ve been too busy to look over what you are actually doing. Would you like me to unlock your aura?”
“Is this magic?”
“Telekinesis is rather simple manipulation of the physical alone. You can’t shoot fireballs or lightning, but you can impart force onto things without needing to physically make contact, so it is something.”
“Do it then, I can’t wait to feel magic.”
Harlan raised his hand and in an instant it was done, once one knew how it was done, unlocking an aura was simple.
Murk fell to the ground and Harlan rushed to her aid.
“I don’t… I don’t feel well.”
He could feel her aura going wild as her eyes rolled back into her head, but like a muscle, it needed to be exercised, and it was weak due to never having been used before, so she simply knocked some light instruments off of the counter.
She began convulsing, and Harlan had an idea of what to do.
There was nothing directly wrong with her body, nor her soul, the aura was an oddity that wasn’t fully understood even by the beastkin who had used and researched it their entire lives.
Not requiring any understanding, and imparting any understanding, once activated, it simply was.
“You need to control your aura, it’s like another limb, lift, push, pull, control it, don’t let it control you.”
Murk tried her best, but it was for naught, the body of a Goliath didn’t cycle mana passively as other species did, this natural process tempered the body, and allowed it to better accept magic, in all forms.
A people who were not designed with the natural magical systems of the world were naturally incapable of controlling magic, in all forms.
“I don’t understand… I… I…”
Harlan went with his final resort, an attempt at breaking her aura.
In theory he could do it, that book of aura techniques mentioned that one could temporarily cripple the aura of another.
But he barely remembered the exact wording of the technique, it wasn’t important to him and he hadn’t even picked the book up in years, leaving it in his library.
So this was a test of skill and memory.
Harlan sat there in the lab, covered in Murk.
His failure led to a build up, which is what he was afraid of in the first place, with all of the energy cycling inside of her eventually…
He considered it an unfortunate accident, but nobody could’ve seen it coming, her research and understanding of what was happening was wrong, and he had been operating on the assumption that as a scientist of sorts, the woman had been right.
He took the largest pieces of her he could find and gathered them for a proper burial.
Regardless of his own thoughts on killing her to avoid anyone finding out he had taken her and because of her seeming to lack loyalty for anything but her research, she was someone who worked for him and was a citizen, her body would not go to the flesh pits.
He vowed that he would have a good night's sleep, no matter how much he had to force himself or what magic he needed to us.
Would it have changed the results?
Would he have saved her if he was well rested and thinking more clearly?
Harlan felt the need to blame himself, and was quite good at finding ways to do that.
Every if in his life haunted him.
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Deep below that prison tower, the man pulled on his chains, annoyed at losing his chance to escape.
His jailer mocked him for becoming so weak that he couldn’t even control one human.