POV Aron Brightcloud

The day slowly came to an end. It had been very fruitful. I had found a partial cure for my energy leakage and Bones had recovered. The next few days would be very busy.

Thanks to my inflated image, a door had opened into the marchioness Nightshield’s group. I needed also to talk with Torsk. Bones craved battle experience. New training dummies in form of recruits would help him evolve into a proper catastrophe. Naturally, I never planned to tell the man that. On the surface I was there to exercise, not having my familiar trash his recruits after having wrung them dry of all their knowledge.

I heard a sorrowful peep from the corner of my chamber. I looked over and recognized Olivia, she had caught a small animal. I couldn’t recognize it correctly, it was mostly wrapped up in her webs.

Wasn’t she a useful familiar? Not like Bones, who only knew how to eat my armor and money… I went to bed with the warm feeling of knowing I would never have to fear a rodent or insect infestation ever again.

_____

When I walked into the classroom the next morning, most of my classmates had already arrived. They had moved into a new seating arrangement. On the left side the group of Lady Nightshield clustered together and on the right side Stonewall’s circle of friends had seated themselves.

“The trash has arrived. Do you really think, simply because you have survived a failed dungeon-dive we would forget about your inborn cowardliness? Most-likely you were even the reason for Anna’s death. You don’t belong here, trash!”

I wanted to retort, but the young marchioness beat me to it. Her distant voice halted any plans I had formed so far.

“Stop your harassing, Mason. He has done very well in that dive and has even succeed in bringing Anna’s body back. That alone warrants some respect. He is one of mine now. I expect you to respect my choice, Mason Stonewall. Aron, seat yourself next to Jane. As a member of my team you will be protected of any further bullying, should he try so, inform me immediately.”

A part of me felt annoyed at her bossy nature, but I forced it down. For now this would allow me to resume my training and that was what I needed most. Looks like the unity they had showed in the past had been only a front. Pondering it in more detail, this made only sense. Their families must be competing. They had behaved friendly at the start, gouging each other. When I arrived in the picture, I inevitably presented myself as the solution to their problems, I was a far easier target to pick on.

“Thank you, Lady Nightshield.” Bowing my head lightly, I walked over to Jane. I nodded at her with a bit of nervousness and sadness. Exactly right to convoy the image my new table neighbor wanted to see. Having had experience with Anna before, it made it even easier to read Jane and manipulate her into accepting me.

Obviously, I didn’t plan to build an actual friendship. Although I would look out for her, I didn’t want Jane too close to me. I was goal-driven, not psychopathic. I mourned Anna’s death in my own way. More than being a distant friend would crumble my logical walls at some point. It would lead to Jane finding out about her Sister’s real death and that was something I couldn’t allow. Being responsible for another sister’s death would be unforgivable. I would prefer to slay ten Stonewalls before ever laying a hand on another Silverus son or daughter again.

Distracted by my own thoughts, I missed the entrance of teacher Monrose. Only his voice shook me out of my thoughts.

“Good Morning everyone. I am happy that you have recovered as well, Aron.”

Giving me a quick nod, he resumed his speech.

“Today, you will train further on your shield-spells. Most of you have achieved a partial creation. This is not bad, yet it is far from enough to protect you in an emergency. I can only recommend you to train this spell as much as you can. It will be one of the most important spells pertaining to your survivability. Numerous future geniuses found their end because they had underestimated the use of this spell. They invested too much time on other spells, thinking strong attack power would be enough to carry the day. Now train. If you have questions you can always come and ask.”

Finished, he moved back to his desk, giving us free rein over our practice. Having seated himself, he looked back up and focused his gaze on me.

“Aron, I have inquired about your specialized shield affinity lessons, they will start in a month or two. The responsible teacher of your element is absent. The lessons will probably start after your first excursion to the nearby city.”

“Thank you for the information teacher Monrose.” I bowed my head in response. Not exactly the message I had wanted to hear, I had hoped for an earlier start. Shield-magic would be my trademark sign for the foreseeable future. It would have been great to have a believable excuse for my improvement. I stopped myself from feeling pressured, it was still better than nothing. I focused back on the other students.

In a way my absence had come at an opportune moment. My mastery still above my classmates, it allowed me to seamlessly reconnect without having to catch up on the subject.

I called my magic, letting it flow through my roots with ease. As before, a shield formed itself instantly. It hung in front of me in the air. Using my Intent, I moved it from chest-height to above my head in an angle, protecting me from an imaginary overhead swing. Happy with the outcome, I directed it behind me, down to my knees and up to my right arm. Letting the shield connect itself by a tether to it. So when I would move, the shield followed, staying in place next to my arm.

My affinities massively simplified the spell forming process and control of it. Naturally I didn’t use the manipulation affinity fully, but I allowed for it to give me an additional edge, impressing on the covertly watching Luana Nightshield, that her choice had indeed been the correct one.

Jane had more problems. She forced too much energy into her spell-matrix. From outside it looked completely fine, but my affinity for shields let me feel the sup-bar structure and elemental particles she lost control of. This made the spell unstable, letting it break after half of the forming process.

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“Jane, relax and give the spell more time to build. At least for now. Slowly grow it with full control over the energy you wield. Later you can quicken the process”

She didn’t comment on my advice, yet I could feel the improvement immediately as far less energy escaped the spell-matrix, letting it grow in an orderly manner. Jane seemed to feel the improvement as well and trained with renewed vigor. She didn’t thank me, but I could feel Jane’s happiness through her less strict facial expression.

I focused back on myself, playing with my shield, not yet further improving the spell but practicing with it, getting familiar with its use and feel. In a battle situation I couldn’t waste time and focus on controlling it correctly. It had to follow my mind like a part of my body.

At the end of the lesson Luana ordered our group to convene around her.

“In a few days we will have our next dungeon-dive. As the dangers have risen, it is of utmost importance that we act as a team and support our teammates. For that, we will conduct additional training lessons in the arena. We will fight each other in teams of two and three. Our group-dynamics will change slightly as we have Aron with us from now on. His shield spells will provide us with additional defensive options, improving our survivability significantly.

We will use the free afternoon lessons to do that. The rest of the morning you will have to yourselves. Exercise, take care of the tasks you still have to accomplish and prepare for the afternoon. Group dismissed.”

In response we nodded. I said farewell to my new comrades. Jane had at first planned to invite me to her study-group but I told her I had to take care of some stuff.

Now free, I made my way in the direction of the barracks. Bones needed his training dummies. Arriving at the checkpoint I was greeted by my old “friends”.

“Oh, who do we have here? It’s the melee wizard! How are you doing?” The two guards of last time greeted me cordially. At ease with me as I had positively responded to their last banter.

“Good morning, Mr. Lazy guardians, I hope you have enjoyed your very exciting day so far.” Grinning lightly I shot back.

“Ha ha…” the left one’s smile turned predatory. “I think the lad here looks suspicious, don’t you think so too, Tate? Maybe we should do a full body search?”

Tate laughed in response.”He does indeed look suspicious in his new armor. Maybe we should truly search him?”

I grinned at their jokes and played along.

“No, please. I hadn’t meant it seriously! Please no search!” Miming a scared mage, I tried to sneak my way through the passage.

They laughed even harder in response.

“Have a nice day, Lad.” They winked me through, happy with how I behaved around them.

Now I had only to find Torsk. I followed the instruction he had given me during our last interaction, moving down the street towards the recruit part of the soldier quarters.

“Train harder you scrubs! Are you warriors or little babies?!”

Hearing the familiar voice, I grinned slightly. My past special-ops training resurfaces in my mind. Half envious and half gleeful for the beating the recruits had to be going through, I closed in on Torsk’s voice.

Turning around the corner, my view fell on a training area filled with recruits. They were fighting each other under the watchful eyes of my acquaintance.

I moved closer and stopped around six feet from Torsk, giving him space. I waited for him to acknowledge me as he was obviously occupied at the moment.

Finished with the next verbal lashing, he turned to me. “Ah, here you are. I had been wondering If you gotten cold feet?”

Shaking my head, I replied. “I am sorry. The dungeon-dive went wrong. I lay in the medical-wing during the last days. Only today I resumed my practice. You can talk with the medical stuff if you want to know more. I hoped our agreement still stands. I would love to practice with your recruits.”

He scrutinized me for a moment, as if to verify the validity of my claim. After a moment, he nodded. “Yes, later we will do technical practice, means the boys won’t be allowed to use all their strength but will focus on their technique instead. You can join then.”

“Thank you. I am looking forward to it.” I planted myself next to him and observed the recruits. Their strength and speed was obviously a notch above mine.

A few minutes later their practice ended.

“Very well. Now move on to technique practice! This young mage will join you in doing so. One person will have a break as the numbers are uneven.”

Sensing a chance, I quickly raised my hand. After Torsk’s nod, I spoke up “Drill-instructor, I do have a familiar. He could train as well, evening out the numbers and give your recruits more variety in their training.”

Innately I had planned to introduce him later, but the opportunity felt too good to pass up.

Torsk contemplated my proposal before he nodded. “Okay, call your familiar.”

‘Bones, get into your exoskeleton. It is time to train’

‘Aye Boss! At last! I want to test out my improved strength!’

Although happy about his motivation and interested to see his change as well, I still had to doze his fired up spirit.

‘Play it slow at the beginning. It is a technique lesson. Don’t use more strength than your sparring partner and behave more like a dumb skeleton. And for god’s sake don’t talk, okay?’

Subdued by my strict reply, he agreed to my request.

My mini terminator materialized out of thin air and landed with a thud next to me. He straightened and scanned the surroundings.

“Form teams of two. Tomas, you will be Aron’s first partner. Andris, you will partner up with the skeleton.”

Each team found their space and moved into a fighting stance.

“Remember, this is purely technical. Begin!”

I carefully moved towards my opponent. Tomas towered above me by at least a head. His wide shoulders giving him additional reach. Suddenly he engaged. I played it defensively, letting him the initiative. My subroutines spun up as I collected data and planned possible counters.

His technique definitely above the one Bones had shown during our spars. This would be a great place to hone my little brother’s capabilities. I covertly observed my buddy while I defended against Tomas.

Bones had obviously more problems. He didn’t posses my experience and skills. My subroutines read my opponent's entire body, giving me a thorough understanding of what was going to happen.

Bones’s opponent repeatedly found ways through his defense. There my little brother’s sturdy body showed. The improved bones allowed him and his partner to intensify the training, not caring about slashes or stabs. They improved their performance step by step. I already knew this from my own bout with my little brother, Bones behaved like a sponge, absorbing all and everything, enhancing his abilities markedly every time he trained.

Reassured of my bonding-partner's abilities, I focused back on my own match. It was time to give Tomas some challenges. My subroutines had analyzed his fighting-style and I planned to reveal a few of his weaknesses. With a step I moved towards his left side, focusing my attacks on his left leg. His before natural swings suddenly lost their lightness and fluidity. My attacks had forced him out of his rhythm. Naturally he tried to get the initiative back, but I didn’t let him, steering him more and more into a fighting style he couldn’t cope with.

Instead of disengaging and centering himself, he stayed and tried to endure. Wrong decision on his part. Soon I had my sword’s tip held against his chest, signaling my victory.

I bowed lightly. “Thank you for the spar.” I could have tried to tell him about his errors, but that would have been too soon. He had first to get used to being beaten by a mage. I imagined he felt quite embarrassed about now.

“Good, switch to your next partners!” Torsk’s voice spared me an awkward talk. I bowed again to my beaten opponent and moved to my next sparring-partner.