Tyr gulped. Jura was becoming more and more intense with his attempts to bed him. He wasn't immune to the feeling of lust, but he'd always considered himself rich in terms of raw determination, always obeying his fathers few rules. Unfortunately, she didn't make it easy. She was tight in all the right areas, forward and blunt. He liked that, and he 'liked' her. The problem was the awful misunderstanding between them. Jura saw his gifting of her a weapon as a proper betrothal, hence her shock, and brief period of bashful awe. It wasn't out of some need to reciprocate, but rather the fact that a gifting of something, especially a weapon made by his own hands, was a proposal of marriage. At first, she'd been meek, stuttering an acceptance he didn't understand at a time before following him like a hound.
Every night, she would cuddle close to him, rubbing in places that she shouldn't. Telling him things that she shouldn't. He felt a great deal of attraction to her despite her exotic features, but not love. Love was necessary. For what it was worth, he loved Sigi, Astrid, and Alex – in his way. Jura, on the other hand, was new, a stranger. They'd known each other a month, and while there was a bond there – it was platonic. Or at least it had been, mostly.
All of a sudden, the rough woman had become... Affectionate.
In a very uncharacteristic way. Regardless, she was still overly bold and shameless. Yet, it never stopped her from doing her duty. One minute, she would be forcing him to the ground and growling wordlessly at him, the next she would be slaying monsters and treating him as if he barely existed. An incredibly confusing woman. Yana seemed to find this as some kind of competition, though fortunately, she was far more contained and moderate in her behavior. Hinting instead of physically assaulting or even abusing him.
They were slaves. They did not know better. Both women had been raised since they were young girls in a contained environment, never assaulted by a man. Left to wonder, and apparently their life wasn't spent in a dirty cage. Their master treated them well, as long as they did as they were told, either adventuring or serving as 'art pieces' to hang on his arm. It left them with startling gaps in their emotional maturity, and they saw him in a way that made him uncomfortable. Like he was their hero, and while Tyr was not the shining example of propriety, he didn't want to abuse that. It felt wrong.
Not that he believed them to be... Vulnerable? Nobody could resist the pull of an aspect, if it had managed to influence them. They were just stunted emotionally, as far as killing monsters went they were likely some of the best adventurers he'd ever met. Even at such a young age, they'd be a famous team under better circumstances.
Now was one of those times. One of those times when Jura ignored him. It certainly didn't hurt his feelings, coming as a bit of relief. He did not like being touched, and she was the complete and utter opposite.
Deeper in the highlands, the land became wild and untamed. They had kept completing various tasks given to them. Checking over the monitoring stations, one of which was little more than a steel box coated from floor to ceiling in the mulched remains of its occupants. Three more that seemed alright. Adventurers and attendant staff sent into the astral space to monitor fluctuations and attempt to divine when it would disappear. Thereby saving the lives of anyone stuck inside. Hopefully...
Otherwise, Tyr kept looting, and gave near every artifact come of the strange phenomena to the others. In exchange – they taught him magic in a far more easily digested form than the academy. No theory, only display and various explanations of spells. He didn't require rewards, but they did what they were able to. With Abe even trying to massage the younger mans back until the aforementioned had angrily slapped his hand away and let a very insistent Jura do it instead. Apparently, in his homeland of Teluria, it was common practice for males to bathe one another. All platonic, of course, scrubbing their backs and hard to reach places, but Tyr... Not a chance he was going to allow that to happen.
It make him consider Daito's words. If he was the primus of love... And Iscari the primus of hope... Awakened, he should be able to enforce hope and determination on others. Tyr was not awakened, he was sure of it, but he'd seen stranger things. If. And only if, it might be a subversion of will. His own subconscious forcing itself on others. And that was not good. He hated the idea of that, bending other peoples emotions to his will. That was not something he wanted to be a part of. What if he was brainwashing people just by being around them? It terrified him, what if he'd been doing it his whole life and could never trust anyone ever again...?
“Alright, so...” Tyr was trying to understand the information shared with him by Girshan. The beastkin was an impressive battlemage, as was Yana, but he dealt more with infusion. Personal spells, which suited Tyr just fine. Rare among beastkin, it was strange to see two magic capable beings of such a race in one team. Though he supposed that it made sense. Ajax was capable of using magic and occupied an important position. Naturally, a slave master would seek to purchase the best possible product for any given job. Beastkin were more commonly adepts, not the type of mage to throw spells around but to use it in a way that made them even better at what they were already good for. “Earth magic in the heels, air magic in the calves and thighs, and water magic in the waist?” He asked.
It wasn't so easy as memorizing incantations or the control array of a magic circle, it was more akin to learning how to swim. Tyr knew how to swim, but... Metaphor and simile was hard sometimes, okay? He was trying the best he could. In any event, it took longer, but Girshan was teaching him how to more appropriately use his affinity with elemental magic to fuse them together and emulate more complex magic. Rather than 'fire make me strong', 'earth make me though', 'wind make me fast!'.
“Well, to be honest, you should use earth magic throughout your body. It might be easier to refine it after that, considering we're different races. But, yes. That's roughly nor it works. Add fire if you need to, for extra... Oomph...” Before Girshan had finished saying 'extra', Tyr had already shouted 'blur' and was gone. A movement spell, a pretty simple one too, 'run faster'. Typically, a span of fifty meters would be impressive, 'blurring forward' through the space. Except.... They were in a clearing double that size. A rare flat parcel of land in the jungle, and Tyr was gone. Literally gone. Girshan could no longer sense, smell, or see him. “Uh....”
A few seconds later, and Tyr was in front of him, panting and pale. “Holy hells...” Tyr vomited on the ground, a long string of mucus stretching from his mouth to the earth. Causing most of the others to turn away in disgust. “What was that...”
“You know what it was.” Girshan chuckled, he had a similar reaction the first time he'd attempted complex body infusions like that. “Takes control. Control your mana, ensure too much isn't put into the spell. Looks like you exhausted nearly all of yours in one go. Don't do that. Obviously.”
“Yes sir.” Tyr replied, walking off to get some rest. Perhaps food. He'd traveled through the jungle at an impossible speed, taking in all the stimuli. Too much for him to handle. “Blur!” He had no need to speak the spell aloud, really, but it helped focus on the reaction. Like human magic, he could use bits and pieces of it to make understanding his own and make it easier.
“Not bad.” Girshan had all sorts of minor techniques like this. Little things that his rather unremarkable mana was capable of. Blur was, as the name might imply, a spell that increased the foot speed of a person. Abe would usual combine this with a perception enchantment so that Girshan could 'see faster' as well, or process more information through his ocular nerves. Unfortunately most enchantments would blatantly ignore Tyr upon casting, and dissipate. Leaving Abe furiously scribbling into his grimoire, no answers for it.
The abilities fell within two sets. As far as things humans were capable of emulating. Techniques and spells. Spells were obvious, Tyr had dealt with them before, but it gave him a better baseline, observing dozens of spells that they were all capable of. In Abe's case, they were spells to enhance and to heal. A dash of transmutation and divination in between. He was no battle mage, telurian magic didn't work like that, he was referred to as a 'druid' by his people. Even for them, it was a rare vocation, 'nature magic'. Telurian's excelled at metamagic and it was, by Abe's claim, their affinity for it that helped human mages define their own.
Jura knew a handful of affliction spells, darkness based evocation that she could attach to focus objects by touch. Not curses, although their effects were similar. Anywhere else, such a thing would be forbidden, but Tyr supposed orcish magic like all magic was different enough to be ignored by mankind despite it having a touch of anima. She could also enchant her projectiles with wind magic to become faster or stronger, but it all required touch. Beyond that, she was a 'war priest'. In orcish terms, it meant she could conjure a familiar. A summoned monster, though she wasn't allowed to use conjuration class magic as per er master.
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Xavier was also an adept. Someone who could only use magic internally, but could not project it. His spells were mostly based around transmutation. Allomancy, in particular. Very complex spells, though they were extremely specific and purpose oriented. All revolving around augmenting his body and giving it the properties of the specific metal that he'd ingested. By ingesting copper manatite, he could conduct and project spells, but they weren't strong enough to warrant turning his body into such a malleable substance. Something softer than his natural skin and bones. Typically he would use a variant of manasteel or more common natural elements.
Finally, Yana. Yana was, out of all of them, the closest thing to a mage. Being a quarter human herself, her magic was easily understood by Tyr. She was capable of using illusions to draw the eye of most living things away from her pendulum to attack their blind spots. Tyr suffered no such infirmity, capable of seeing through the illusions with no effort, something that caused her no end of grief. Otherwise, she could use wind and darkness magic specifically. Her grasp of the other elements was there, but tenuous at best due to her beastkin blood. Humans could wield all elements freely should they take the time to, but the same could not be said for many other races.
Telurian's were similar. They were a people that would ink their skin with temporary tattoos, allowing them to cast spells. His body, beneath his voluminous robes, was covered with the things. Prepared long before combat and raising his normal magic to new heights. He'd tried carving some of them into Tyr's flesh. Either by magic ink or scarring, but Tyr's body would heal and reject them. Spitting the ink out in drops of blue liquid, answering the question as to why his mages mark disappeared. His body rejected foreign substances. He thought about this for a moment before attempting to implant a focus item there. Rings of spell casting. Things that held stored spells for use later. But after an hour or so, his skin would melt like wax and spit those out too. Presumably, actual implants – those of which were not so uncommon, would never stay in place long enough for him to use it.
It added to the list of reasons why Tyr was more useful in the back. Girshan would engage, typically, acting as the brawn and defensive controller. Telurian tattoos on his flesh to facilitate magic shields while he held the enemy in place. Yana would harass and corral the enemy with greater speed as Jura attacked from the rear. Abe's position was simple. The healer and enchanter. While Xavier would stalk the edges of the battle and intercept any additional monsters coming their way. What they needed was a proper caster, and Tyr would only get underfoot in the range of motion Girshan required to be most effective. His spells lacked the control of a real mage, sometimes coming precariously close to hitting the others.
More often than not, he was left supplementing either Abe or Xavier, but over time they had begun to trust him more. Most of the time, that meant serving as a walking flamethrower, since Girshan was steady with the water and earth elements and well capable of defending against the heat.
The most important part was the experience. Human magic had always looked so simple, but it was anything but. It was complex and too personalized to observe without the aid of an artifact. Observing the structure and resonance of the mana, that is. Tyr found their magic to be much more simple in comparison. Less effort given to generating a phenomena, more literal and less of a structure to it.
Important because it gave him glimpses of how wrong he had been about magic. He could use spells, but they were half things when he tried adapting to the spell casting someone like Alex was capable of. Not worth the energy when he could simply punch something to death, and heal after every battle. Instead, he mimicked their spells with his own magic. Gradually refining the process. This too was rather inefficient. After all, blur was traditionally a single cast spell. A simple one, and Tyr was quinta casting in order to mimic it. Granted, he'd started at 'deca casting,' so there was some progression at least.
It was perfect, and definitely inefficient, but it wasn't a problem for Tyr. He could easily handle a spell process of roughly sixteen individual castings without pressuring his mind overmuch. Adopting their spells was easy, and he gradually increased his competency with them.
Techniques, on the other hand, were something far more difficult to understand. For him, specifically, a technique could only be mimicked by actively shaping his spira. Guided motions without the consistency of a proper spell. Except, the people who had developed them had no idea that it was spira they were using at all. In one instance...
“You fight like a blade master. I was not aware that there were any of the discipline in Haran.” Girshan observed. Tyr remained about the edge of the picket line their team had formed, weaving under the sweeping arm of a scarlet red gorilla, tearing its throat out with a clawed hand. Unfortunately, he'd not had the good luck to acquire a weapon as powerful as the one he'd given to Jura just yet. There were a few others, but they were all uncommon things in the 'iron' or 'steel' ranks, which must coincide with the rank of an adventurer. Some kind of comparison to their relative power, he didn't really understand it but didn't care much either. He could make better if he had the resources. “We had a blade master in Sinea, can't remember his name though. Some old human who fought with the lilac's. He was a 'first fang' though, so I knew he was important.”
“Blade singer.”
“What's that, a sub-school?” Girshan asked.
“Sort of. A blade master is just someone who trains for a long time in the use of their preferred weapon.” Tyr explained. “All three are techniques, but there are differences. A blade dancer is one who surrenders the subconscious part of their mind. They spend all of their time and energy seeking ways to focus and adjust to the future. Their creed is that reliance on instinct is a weakness, so they train for years to increase their focus instead. Blade singers are the complete opposite. I'm not sure who names these things, but whereas dancers focus wholly on the conscious – singers are purely concerned with instinct. The subconscious mind. Surrendering to the song and shedding the self to become one with the 'world song'. My master described it like that, but I don't know how better to explain it. It's a technique, though. All three of the disciplines are, not quite so literal as your 'triple strike' though.”
“Seems like a lot of words just to say 'we trained real hard'.” Jura laughed, mocking his form. Tyr would drop his guard regularly and simply stand around with his arms limp, but the result of his fights were evidence. It certainly wasn't worthless. He'd made the fairly agile mist gorillas look like bumbling children, weaving through their attacks and killing them bare handed. Well... 'Bare handed', with the spellbreakers being his weapon. More often than not, he preferred to forego the use of active magic, they'd asked him about this but he'd never answered. Until now.
Tyr shrugged. “It's more of a state of mind rather than something so blunt and literal as swinging three times, faster than normal. More simple than it sounds, but it's hard. It can do a lot more than this, but I am nervous to try anything around others. That's why I rarely use magic.”
“Really?” Yana asked. “Why?”
“Because I could hurt you. I can heal, but it would be difficult if I fumbled a spell and ended up blowing your arms or legs off. Especially in the middle of a fight. In the academy they had shields and wards to prevent that. I was kicked out of two workshops because I could not control my output. And it's not like some kind of super-talent, I sometimes blow myself up, too. I have blown fingers off more times than I can count.”
That was why he tended to lean towards internal infusion mage. Enchantments like blur were an easy addition to his toolkit, although he doubted he'd use it very much. Fire came easy, he could freely throw as much of it as he wanted and remain in control, but only in small quantities. If he pushed it, it would go wild and burn both him and his target.
“Alright.” Girshan said. He and Abe both sought to train Tyr how they could. The boy called himself a fool, and an idiot, unabashedly. But there was an immense amount of talent beneath all of his constant whining. A young man who was both proud and scornful of the self at the same time. A walking contradiction. He wasn't the wrong student, he'd had the wrong teachers. Forcing their own system of magic into a machine that didn't operate that way. It was like trying to teach a dwarf human magic, something many would find difficult. “Show us what you've got. No more games, you're on your own. Unless your master was nothing more than a charlatan, teaching you some pale mockery of the orcish blade masters.” He smirked, throwing a disc into that Yana filled with mana, causing them to disappear from the spot. An illusion array.
“You can do i--!” She tried to say, before her words were swallowed by the artifact. Another they'd picked up from the looting of monsters. A charge based illusion object worth dozens of gold, at least. Following Tyr around as he began to loot all of their kills and agreeing to identify all of it for them and give them an event split. He found it unnecessarily tedious. He didn't need a magical item to tell him that a spear was a spear, or a shield emitter was a shield emitter. All of the words they'd come up with for these things were almost always common sense...
Tyr shook his head, spitting onto the ground in annoyance. The alpha gorilla seemed to have finally took notice of their fight and was making itself known just beyond the edge of the glade, roaring its challenge.