Jiran took a seat in the uncomfortable wooden chair at the diagram table. Placing a fresh parchment in front of himself, he considered what the perfect weapon for Mayalyn would be.

A spear would be the safest approach. There's a reason almost every soldier in history wielded a spear.

Whether it's reach, penetrating power, speed, defense, maneuverability, or ease of use, the spear is superior.

When I first saw her fight, she had two daggers but her stance was abysmal. I doubt she's ever had any real training with them.

Considering her above-normal speed, strength, and flexibility, a spear would certainly be optimal.

A loud rumbling distracted them. Mayalyn looked down at Jiran’s stomach, grinned and nodded in agreement.

"Eat now, hungry me, also."

"Agreed, I'm starving. Let's go get some dinner then."

Jiran and Mayalyn left before he could draw a single line. It was already dark out.

"I guess we lost track of time," Jiran said with a smile, not minding one bit since he was having so much fun.

Mayalyn opened the door for him and together they entered the busy common room of the Shaper's Rest.

The twins' mom, Alatha, led them to an empty table with a big smile. Before Jiran could sit down, she wrapped him up in a quick hug.

"Thank you so much for the dresses, they're wonderful. Dinner is on the house tonight, so eat until you pop!" She winked at them as she scurried off to another table.

"What say, mother?"

"We can eat all the food, it's free tonight, no money needed." Mayalyn immediately understood his simple sentence.

The two warriors shared a look brimming with killing intent.

All their foods are belong to us!

That night they waged war upon the helpless citizens of the kitchen kingdom.

When at last they could eat no more, Jiran groggily rose to his feet while a groaning Mayalyn’s face lay on a plate, her cheek squished into a half-eaten pile of mashed potatoes.

He draped her arm over his shoulder and led her outside. They soon arrived at the wall separating the industrial district from the abandoned manor.

He flew them both over the wall into the backyard where he had once trained.

"Let's move a little bit to digest some of that feast."

She looked up at him with a scowl that he understood all too well.

"Nothing too crazy, we can just work on mana control."

"What mana control?"

Jiran demonstrated by forming several shapings of meter-tall ice sculptures in the form of little warriors. They had cute chibi faces and leather armor covered in icy spikes.

The statues sprang to life amid the sounds of creaking ice as they waged a mini-battle in front of Mayalyn.

A victor eventually emerged and gave Jiran a soldier's salute before turning to Mayalyn and bowing. Then it crumbled to sparkling icy dust and was blown away by the chilly night’s wind.

"Your turn."

She looked at him with a mixture of disgust and confusion like he was some kind of bizarre, freaky alien.

"I no do that," she said while shaking her head.

"That's fine, I've been working on that for a long time, just do what you can."

She stared at him for almost a full minute before repeating herself.

"I no do that."

"Do whatever you can, then."

She scrunched up her pretty face making her little whiskers dance hypnotically. With a look of sudden inspiration, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

When she opened them again she looked at him with confidence.

"Okay, done mana control."

"What do you mean, done? What did you do exactly?"

She puffed her cheeks with raised eyebrows and rounded eyes. Then blew out air in exasperation.

"Okay, I've got an idea," Jiran moved behind her as he spoke.

"Try to relax, this might feel a little strange."

As he spoke Jiran placed his hand on her neck and then tried to send delicate intrusions of mana into her skin.

She jerked in response to his hand directly touching her skin before relaxing. Only to jerk a second time, even harder, when she felt his mana attempting to burrow into her through the touch.

After a deep breath, she calmed and allowed his mana to extend through her torso.

"Okay, mana control, again," He whispered.

Jiran’s jaw fell open as a torrential river of mana flowed through her body. He collected himself and spread his mana further through her to map the raging energies.

Between her stomach and lungs was a miniature sun of incredibly dense mana. From that source, mana flooded out through veins much like his mana channels.

Those lanes created an intricate race track through her entire body that circled all the way back to the little sun of mana at her core.

Amazing! Her mana system is completely different from a human's. She really is a different species, nothing like me.

Jiran's heart started beating rapidly in his chest at the thought. He hadn't realized his grip on her neck had tightened until Mayalyn let out a tiny squeak.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He softened his hold and calmed himself.

"Sorry! I got a little excited there. Please, keep going."

Snapping back into focus, he traced the channels of her mana system as thoroughly as he could.

There is no place for mana to exit her body in large quantities. It's a closed-loop system. That means she couldn't form a shaping no matter how hard she tried.

But in exchange, her skin, muscles, skeleton, and veins can absorb a significant amount of additional mana to boost her physical attributes.

The most advanced form of external mana manipulation she seems capable of is creating effects directly in her skin.

Fascinating!

"Can you change the mana to a different element?" Jiran demonstrated by creating a small ball of electricity that rolled across his free hand.

"Yes, hard. Can do small only," she said while turning to face him, breaking his hand's contact with the back of her neck. Her face was so bright red, not even the early-night darkness could hide her flushed cheeks.

"Break now? Erala belashana aki lu tiparaha nostahlprshla.”

She spoke breathlessly, while waving her hand in front of her face.

Jiran recognized two of the words, as she used them often. He thought one of them meant aura but the other he had yet to figure out.

“Yeah, sure. It’s been a long day.”

Before Jiran could lift her with his aura, she easily jumped over the wall back toward the inn. He jumped over as well and then ran past her flashing a smirk of victory. Just as he intended, she rose to the challenge and raced after him.

Jiran restrained his speed so they could have a fair race as he charged after her. They sped down the street neck to neck. Just before reaching the door, she lunged at him with her shoulder pushing him to the side so she could claim the victory.

With a laugh, Jiran rotated his torso away from her shoulder at the last second. With a hand planted on her overextended arm, he pulled just enough to fly past her and reach the door.

“Nice try! Maybe next time,” He gloated good-naturedly.

“You cheat!” she roared with a smile on her lips.

With a laugh, Jiran waved goodnight to her and then went to his room where he lay down to think.

Something with my aura really set her off back there. I should be more careful.

She’s far too reliant on my support right now. The empire would eat her alive and she knows it. That kind of threat looming over anyone’s head would wreak havoc with their psychology.

The best thing I can do for her right now is to keep empowering her.

This would be a lot easier if she wasn’t so damn pretty.

Stupid teenage hormones.

With a sigh, Jiran firmed his resolve and forced his thoughts to the weapon he wanted to make.

Mana can’t escape her skin naturally, which throws a wrench in all my plans. Those channels inside her are just as resilient as my modified ones, and she’s a lower tier than me.

If I can figure out how to tap into them and draw that mana out, she would be terrifying.

Jiran fell asleep as ideas circulated through his tired brain.

The following day, they fell into their new routine. They ran out of the city, this time picking up a massive sled at the gate which Mayalyn dragged to their valley. After their workout, Jiran found more beasts for her to fight. He was unable to locate anything above Tier three.

Without a bounty to collect or higher tier corpses, the day’s income was only a meager ten gold. Enough for a normal person to survive for two moons. Her money was gone in a flash. This time she bought several rolls of fabrics and dried beast pelts.

She sighed longingly at the fine dresses as she entered the lower class boutique where she picked out several cheaper outfits suitable for their hunts. They returned to the inn with grumbling bellies, eager for lunch.

“Oh, Jiran!. A letter was left for you earlier this morning,” Miila said, handing him a finely decorated envelope. He recognized the seal of the academy.

“Thank you, Miila.”

Opening the letter, Jiran scanned its contents quickly before tucking it into his pocket.

“Jiran of Feylon. You are hereby formally accepted into the Imperial Academy Va’liance. You are required to present yourself for initiation no later than two days prior to semester commencement.

"Set to begin on the forty-third day of calm in this, the one thousand nine hundred and ninety-second year of the Finlest Empire.”

How did they know where I’m staying? They must have been monitoring me somehow. What else do they know?

Might as well go right now and get this over with. I imagine the closer it gets to the deadline, the busier it will be.

"Mayalyn, I have to go somewhere for a while. Meet you at the forge later?"

"Forge, yes!" Her eyes glowed with excitement.

"Miila, give her my lunch today," Jiran said without looking back.

With a backhanded wave, he exited the inn. On the street once more, the clamor of banging hammers and shouting filled the air. The sounds were a welcome background din that was already beginning to feel like home.

Jiran used a pinch of mana to fill his belly with tasteless nutrients and then jumped into the fast lane toward the academy.

If this is the crowd only hours after the letters went out, I'm glad I didn't waste any time. What a mess.

"Hey watch it, pal!"

“You must be tired of living!”

"Don't push me, you fool!"

Jiran forced his way through the throng of a thousand smelly students to get close to the front of the massive pyramid academy.

Nearly at the entrance, a wave of mana swept through the air high above the horde of initiates.

Elegant cursive letters formed in rapid succession from the perfectly controlled mana. They flashed between yellow, brown, green, and purple making them impossible to miss.

The shouting and shoving of the crowd instantly stilled as all eyes turned to the heavens.

"Attention new students, please form lines at each entrance to begin your initiation.

Find your name in the following lists to determine your designated class and entrance."

The letters then morphed into four massive headlines:

Class A - north entrance

Class B - east entrance

Class C - south entrance

Class D - west entrance

Jiran started scanning for his name when a fifth list appeared above the others. It vibrated rapidly between gold and black, creating an obnoxious eyesore that demanded attention.

Master Class - platform forty-two east

Oliviala La'Cruex

Jiran of Feylon

Sabdir Ap'Friall

A collective gasp went through the crowd as the names appeared on the fifth list. Whispers and shouts broke out instantly as the inevitable rumor mill churned.

"A commoner made it into the master class?! That's impossible!"

"Has that ever happened before?"

"The princess is the top student, figures. I guess I never stood a chance."

"I heard about someone destroying an entire testing room, was that this Jiran guy?

"How am I supposed to get closer to my goddess now?!"

"You actually want to subject yourself to the mercies of the Nutcracker? Are you insane?"

Even with his aura retracted, the peanut gallery was impossible to ignore in the press of the crowd.

So annoying! Where is this platform forty-two? Does that mean the forty-second floor?

He looked up to see numbers near each of the external patio decks leading into the academy. Near the middle of the structure, he found the platform he had been directed to.

Did they do this just to make us stand out? I guess I shouldn't complain about getting to skip the lines.

After gathering sufficient mana in his legs, Jiran leapt into the air and out of the crowd. He used pressure from his aura to propel himself toward the designated entrance.

When he was nearly there, a stubborn, nagging thought, accompanied by a phantom earache, displaced his focus.

Oliviala, Oliviala. Could that be Olive? Nah, no way she would be attending the academy. Why would a princess need to attend a military academy? She would have learned anything they could teach here seasons ago.

Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?