By the time Jacob left the guest residences the sun had fallen to the horizon and shades of indigo rippled across the sky. Brother Bondar had been oddly eager to help and had quizzed Jacob on the symbols he was looking for and where he was most likely to find evidence.

Jacob had allowed him to flip through Magical Absorption and Transferral. When he asked if the Brother could take pictures of it, the man had replied that he had no phone, and didn't need one. It had taken the man about a half hour to scan the chapter, which admittedly was pretty quick. Jacob passed the time sitting in the chair near the door. He'd have lain down on the bed and gone to sleep, but he wasn't that comfortable around the Enforcer.

Standing outside the guest residences, a crippling fatigue hit him like an anaesthetic. Christ, what a day. The comfort of his skinny dorm bed beckoned to him, and suddenly nothing else mattered but sleep. Not the killer, not the book he held in the crook his arm, not anything.

Beep!

His phone's alarm went off. He pulled it out of his pocket and stared at it dumbly.

"Ah, shit."

His scheduled training window with Camilla was in five minutes. He groaned and cursed his earlier self. He was too tired. It was that simple. There was no way he could get anything out of a training session right now.

Jacob threw himself down on a nearby bench and sagged against it, letting his head loll back.

Thinking of the training made him think of the tournament, and then of Archie. He'd probably trained the whole day.

He sat there in silence, doing nothing but working himself up in frustration. Grumbling, he got up and strode aggressively across the campus to the training rooms. Somewhere along the way, the reality that no one had forced him to pursue the killer hit him. Camilla had been hesitant about the whole thing several times and every time he'd just rolled right over her.

But he'd had no choice. It had been the right thing to do. Right? How could he have ignored it? He wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

So? What? Just give up on the tournament because he was doing the right thing? Because he was annoyed he didn't have enough time?

No. He couldn't. He just couldn't do it. If he did, Tanaka would be right about him being soft and he'd hate himself for it.

Jacob clenched his fists. Just that thought infuriated him. He wasn't soft. He wasn't. Handling school and chasing the killer and the tournament was just too much.

Too much? Christ, he was complaining. And there wasn't even anyone around him to complain to. Why? Why was he like this?

It didn't matter. He still had energy left. He'd make it work.

Jacob strode into the training rooms, showed the receptionist his booking, told her he was expecting Camilla, and went up to the training room.

He started through some stretches but his muscles were going to cramp if he did anything more strenuous than walking. He could decide to 'work hard' but if his muscles were gassed, there wasn't a whole lot he was going to get out of a training session.

A knock came at the door, and then Camilla walked in. She wore black yoga pants, which seemed a favourite of hers, and a sleeveless red shirt. Her hair was tied up in a neat little bun and she smelled like she'd had a shower.

"How did it go with Bondar?" She asked.

"Fine. He's a weird guy, but he seemed enthusiastic."

Camilla scoffed. "Well yeah, he's probably been sitting on his ass this whole time."

Silence.

"So..." Camilla offered. "Archie next round, huh?"

Jacob grinned. "Yeah."

"What do you think you should do?"

"I don't know. I'm worried that I'm screwed because I've been spending so much time on the Ritual Magic and Archie's probably been training the whole time. He skipped class this morning to go train."

Camilla rolled her eyes. "Ugh. He takes it so seriously."

"What do you think I should do?" Jacob asked.

Camilla crossed her arms and shifted on her feet. "You need to expand your spell repertoire."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"Jacob, is it okay if I am honest with you?"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Jacob frowned. "I'd hope you're being honest with me normally."

The moment the words were out of his mouth a lightning bolt of realization struck him: He still hadn't told Camilla he'd betrayed her abilities to Tanaka. Here he was taking advantage of her help, expecting her to be honest, and he was anything but.

Before he could muster up the courage to say anything, Camilla spoke.

"Well, if I'm being frank, you're a one trick pony."

"What?"

"A one trick pony. It means someone who can only do one thing."

"Yeah, I know that."

"Well, you are one, so," Camilla walked aimlessly around the room. "The perception and strength is a good tactic, and you're pretty strong at it, but it's still just one trick. You got away with it against that little Wilkins girl because of how strongly you could cast the spells, but even she was ready for it. She almost had you."

"She did."

"Archie will have, like, a hundred counter strategies. You know how he is. So, if you want to beat him, you need a bunch of options, not just one."

Jacob ran a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have just trained strength and perception. That was stupid."

"No it wasn't, moron," Camilla said. "Look, when you came here, you were probably in the bottom twenty students in terms of functional ability. Now? I mean, you're in the Round of 16, and I would say, if everyone played everyone, did a round robin or something like that, you'd be in the top 20, no question."

"Really?" Jacob looked up at her. She stood there, looking at him, and suddenly he found himself on the edge of his seat, waiting to know if she was sincere or if she was pulling his leg.

Camilla looked away, embarrassed. "Well, yeah, I mean, just by the amount of power you can put into strength and perception alone you're better than most of the class. But Archie, and everyone else left, they all have arsenals. Most of the class have one spell, one strength, maybe two options. Like you, they've been focusing on learning spells just to have spells they can cast. But everyone left? Archie? They have the spells already, so they're focusing on their strategy. You're like the king of the one trick ponies, but you're still a one trick pony."

"So, you think I need to start thinking about strategy more than just learning spells for the sake of it?"

"If you can, yes, and I think you can. You learn magic pretty quickly, Jacob Caibo."

Jacob smiled. That made him feel a little more energetic. Still... "So, I need to learn some projectile magic."

"Even more general than that," Camilla said. "Do you want to branch into Production or Decomp?"

Jacob mused. "Okay, I think I want to focus on Production, since I find it easier than Decomp, and..." You can help me with it. "...Yeah. But I don't know how much running around and casting I can do. I'm exhausted."

Camilla smiled. "That's okay. I have something in mind already."

"What?"

"I'm gonna help you with your visualization. All of Production centres around visualization and imagination, which you need to train directly if you want to be a good Production mage. You can't just skip to the spells, otherwise you'll hit roadblocks down the road."

Camilla went over and sat down on the stone floor in the middle of the training dungeon. She crossed her legs beneath her and gestured. "Sit there."

Jacob went over and sat across from her, crossing his legs. The rough stone floor dug into his thighs, and he shifted uncomfortably. Camilla seemed to not be bothered by it, but then again she had more padding down there than he did.

Camilla closed her eyes. "Close your eyes."

Jacob did.

"Have you ever meditated before?"

"No. Does it help with visualization?"

"Of course. The potency of your Production spell is strictly tied to how well you can visualize it. My father says that theoretically anything can be created with Production magic, but it is always limited by the human mind's ability to visualize and imagine things. I don't know if he's right, but practicing your visualization definitely helps. If you can clear your mind of everything, all your thoughts and all your clutter, you can focus all your mental power on visualizing the one thing you need to create, and hold that image or concept in your head for as long as you need to.

"Now, let us begin. Take a deep breath."

Jacob did.

"In through your nose, out through your mouth. Again. Now, I want you to imagine someone is shining a light on your feet. Pour all your sensation into feeling them, feeling what they feel, your socks, your shoes, little pains or discomforts."

Camilla fell silent.

Jacob tried to focus on his feet. He kept wondering if what they were doing was helpful, and that if someone were watching them they'd look stupid.

"Now move that light up to your shins, your calves. Once again, pour all your sensation into them. Are they sore? What can you sense?"

They continued like this for some time, working all the way up to their heads and back down again. Slowly Jacob's consciousness was absorbed deeper and deeper by each part of his body they were focusing on. He felt them more strongly, for longer periods of time. The stream of errant thoughts and angsts inside his head became a creek, then a trickle. Camilla's sweet, soothing voice flowed in his ears.

"Now picture a flame, surrounded by nothing. Picture it flickering, wavering, flaring. Picture the colours, the sound it makes as it burns, how it would feel to run your finger through it. Engage your magic. Shift it as red as you can imagine and push it into the palm of your hand. Hold it there. Picture the flame again. Don't cast anything yet. Focus on the flame. Watch it flickering. Watch it blazing. Open your palm. Now open your eyes."

Jacob did, blinking at the sudden light, momentarily surprised they were still sitting on the stone floor.

Camilla was watching him. She looked at her own open palm. Jacob did the same.

"Picture the same flame now in your palm. Create it with your magic. Visualize it there. Feel it there. Hear it crackling."

It took Jacob a moment to conjure up the image of the flame with his eyes open. He engaged the magic already in his palm. He saw the flame there; he felt it; he heard it.

A tiny flame the size of a coin flickered into existence in his palm. It was a dull red, and flickered weakly. He felt the heat against his palm, heard the little hiss of it flickering.

His eyes widened and he grinned, tensing. The flame dissipated instantly. "Aw! You saw that, right?" He asked Camilla.

Camilla was nodding, smiling. "I did. Good job, you got it on your first try."

"Wasn't much of a fire, though."

"But you didn't picture much of a fire, nor did you put much magic into it."

That was true. It had only taken a whisper of magic. Every time he'd practiced Production spells in class, it took a chunk of his magic out of him and exhausted him.

"Well, that's the lesson. What do you want to do now?"

Jacob thought for a moment. He didn't have the juice to throw fireballs around, and maybe he should try that meditation by himself, but... "Could you walk me through the meditation again?"

Camilla smiled. "Of course!"

Jacob closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and listened to the sound of her voice.