Chapter 16: At the Water’s Edge

The two stopped their tour in the square in front of the admissions office.

“And that is the conclusion of this tour, Nara. If you have any further questions, please seek me at the admissions office. General questions about academy may be directed to the classes registration office.”

He wrapped up the tour, reiterating some important aspects of the academy, the location of facilities, and where to find information. Once finished, Lee Hu performed a polite goodbye greeting and departed onto his next order of business.

There was still some time until Nara was supposed to meet up with Amara and Chelsea. They had said they’d be able to find her no matter where she was, so she wasn’t too concerned, and she could easily return to the jungle compound herself. She was in a new magical city after all, and her curiosity overrode her general apprehension.

“Since I’m here for sparring, I may as well check it out.”

She traced back her path to the sparring fields. When she got lost, she’d ask students for directions, who were friendly and happy to help. Everyone she had met had been friendly, and it was easing her nerves over the mild soul-altering horror she first experienced. She was thankful this world hadn’t ended up as a biological or soul horror type. If that was the case, she would’ve noped out of life.

She settled into one of the tables at the edge of the training fields. This was the sparring field, where students sparred with each other. There were also target practice fields, where students could use abilities against a stationary inanimate target to practice. The targets automatically repair themselves, so students could evaluate their effects. There was even a field where students could use abilities to spar each other, but only those that trusted each other use that field. Trust that they had the skills themselves from hurting each other. Mirage Chambers were popular because they prevented mishaps entirely.

All Nara had was The Way of the Traveler burned into her mind like the ten commandments etched into stone. As she watched as students exchanged blows in a back and forth, she could relate their moves to the information the skill book provided for her. It was good practice, she told herself to assuage her jitters, a tutorial to the real thing.

The students used wooden weapons that inflicted no damage. Lee Hu had explained that they were enchanted to instead inflict a stun, which caused you to freeze in place momentarily. An attack that would have caused greater damage resulted in a longer stun. It looked like the duels ended when a student could not move for so long that a training weapon was held to a normally lethal part of the body, such as the heart, throat, or head.

“Are you just going to watch?” A strong voice called out to her from behind.

Nara turned around. She saw a young woman, similar to her in age if not a little younger. She had the same black hair and black eyes as the locals, but her skin was a fair bit tanner than Lee Hu’s. Her stride was strong and confident, like a female war general of ages past, or a stereotypical female wuxia protagonist who was the daughter of a military family.

“I haven’t sparred at all before. Just testing the waters,” Nara said. “I’m Nara. You are?”

“I’m Vallis. You’re a new student.”

“Doesn’t sound like you need any confirmation.”

Her eyes sparkled, like she had finally found the rumored transfer student, “You can hardly say you’re testing the waters waiting at the water’s edge. Jump in, have some fun.”

“Are you offering?”

“I’ll be gentle, I promise. What weapon do you use?”

“The sword. For a grand total of one day. I’m serious, I’m very new.”

Amara had been starting her off as fast as possible. She appreciated it, but Nara felt like she hadn’t the chance to catch a breath of air.

Vallis walked over to a cabinet where equipment was kept, and tossed her one.

“Do you have any strength enhancing passives?”

“No.”

“No need for the suppression collar today,” she said. “That may be too much for a weedwood sprout like you.”

“How considerate.”

“I did say I’d be gentle.”

By her insistence, Nara was dragged out to the field, like an introvert with an extroverted friend. Nara was Vallis’ introvert now.

“I really have next to no experience,” she hastily re-emphasized, “just a skill book.”

“A skill book ability? Aren’t you lucky? Take a stance, I’ll help you consolidate your little shortcut.”

The two exchanged easy practice blows. Vallis stopped often to explain something or correct Nara’s movement, stance, or technique selection.

Vallis was true to her word, slowly working through technique after technique.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“That move into the next doesn’t flow quite well,” Vallis explained, “You’ll have to adjust the first and second to transition more effectively. A skill book provides much, but you must adapt the movements to your own body and abilities. Try out this combination with your abilities later.”

“Okay.”

“Ah, I understand. That’s a very flowing style. You’ll want to watch your distancing. Too close, and you won’t have room to maneuver. In the future, you’ll have to practice that. You want to be able to transition between distances to slip past attacks. For now, focus on the basics.”

“Aha! And that’s a very lethal style—the beginnings of it anyway. Not very lethal until it actually works, but I like it. From flowing to lethal, it’ll catch your enemies off guard.”

“You could say…float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

“I haven’t heard that before! I’ll have to use that myself. I like to say…flow like water, strike like lightning. Add more aggression to those lethal moves. You want to strike before they realize it. Although…Can you demonstrate that again?”

Nara performed the move again according to the skill book. It told her body what to do, although the move was textbook. Like Vallis said, she’d need to work out its unnatural uniformity.

“There’s something you can think about. Completely hide the aggression, and the attack will be completely unexpected. You can further transform that style. Start with the aggressive then catch the opponent completely off guard when your next attack strikes with no warning. You have the basis for something nasty.”

“Couldn’t you use a better descriptor than nasty?”

“I thought a nasty fighting style was a compliment?”

“Is it?”

Vallis grinned, “I’m messing with you. The two style you are combining, flowing with lethal, embodies nature itself. It will be as if the world itself strikes them down. How’s that?”

“Feels a little much, now, don’t you think?”

“Well aren’t you hard to satisfy? I happen to look forward to the day I experience your wrath of nature.”

“Now your expectations are higher than these stone mountains. It’s going to pierce the sky.”

“If you’re not looking up, why bother looking at all?” Vallis said. “Bit by bit, you’ll make it there.”

*****

“Nara,” Amara called out to her. “I’m time to return.” She strode forward, separating from Chelsea who waited further behind with crossed arms.

Nara looked up, surprised. Time felt like it had passed so quickly. Vallis was a good teacher, combining both descriptive words for feeling, accurate words for technical work, and demonstrations with body movement.

Amara crossed her arms, sporting her usual energizing smile, “The academy will be good for your training.”

“Lady Amara,” Vallis greeted. “Do you know Nara?”

“She’s in our care,” Amara said.

“You’re famous?” Nara asked.

“Lady Amara is a well-known adventurer inventor,” Vallis explained. “However, she may not be well known outside of adventurer circles. So new you didn’t know this?”

It was an ‘in the same business’ sort of thing, Nara thought. Vallis was a newer essence user, iron rank. Nara didn’t know Amara’s rank, but worked up the confidence to broach the subject.

“What is your rank, Amara?”

“I’m gold rank. So are the others.”

“I guess it was a pointless question,” Nara admitted. “I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean to me.”

“Gold rank is uncommon in this city,” Amara said. “Other than in passing, like the four of us. The magic is too low here.”

“Too low?”

“The ambient mana is too low quality, and our magic bodies starve.”

Nara was horrified. “Are you guys alright?”

Amara chuckled. “No need to fret. It will not occur so quickly. All we need to supplement ourselves with gold rank food or gold rank spirit coins.” She patted her muscled bicep, indicating she was sound of body.

Vallis’ expression was one of thought, but she didn’t voice anything nor interrupt the conversation between Nara and Amara.

“Thanks for all the tips, Vallis,” Nara said. “I’ll see you around.”

“By the grace of six, Nara,” Vallis said. “I take my leave, Lady Amara.” She performed the formal Sanshi greeting, then took her leave.

“Is there any reason she calls you Lady?” Nara asked. “I was kind of curious.”

“High rankers gold and above are referred to by Lord or Lady, regardless of actual nobility. In lower magic provincial cities, silver rankers receive the same treatment.”

“Should I call you lady?”

“It’s far too late for that, isn’t it,” Chelsea said, “And if you keep doing it, I’m going to get exhausted hearing you say that to all four of us. So don’t.”

Based on Amara’s grin, she had just found a shiny new button to push with Chelsea’s name on it.

*****

The evening was dedicated to mental and aura training. Mental training was Chelsea’s responsibility, and Laius would handle her aura training.

“Mental training is not so important at iron rank, where you maintain ‘human’ capabilities.” Chelsea explained as she removed various supplies from her dimensional inventory, “But at later rank, your mental capabilities will expand beyond normal limits. Without training, you’ll fail to take advantage of these benefits.”

The training resembled the mind exercises, brain teasers, and puzzles from Earth. It was more fun than hard work. Nara had in the past attempted to study for the LSAT. The puzzles then would have been fun too if not for the infuriating time limit. Nothing came of it, and she settled in the tech industry as an ordinary office worker.

She had been focused on her training for a few hours, yet something bothered her mind, like a song she just could not place, or an itch she could not scratch.

“What’s the matter with you?”

Nara struggled to find the words, “It’s just…I don’t think I was ever this focused back on Earth. I didn’t struggle with focusing, some do. But I was never very motivated and didn’t apply myself beyond an acceptable standard.”

Nara kneaded her temples in growing confusion, “I was never this passionate about martial arts nor studying. It’s like…I switch into focus very easily, and stay in focus for a long time, beyond what I’ve normally been able to do.”

“And that’s strange for you.”

“Not exactly. Magic is amazing, almost too amazing. But would I have been so passionate even about that?”

“You’re overthinking this,” Chelsea said. “You’re an outworlder with an uncertain future. Every single skill you master and knowledge you acquire increases your chances of returning to your world. You feel that pressing need within yourself, even if you’re not consciously acting on it.”

“Is that really it?” Nara wondered out loud. It made some sense—even if the four were offering her shelter and education, she didn’t know what lied ahead. Would this protection last indefinitely? Amara wasn’t even responsible for her current situation, she was; she had hijacked her ritual, and slipped into reality with the connection it offered. They had no real obligation to her. Nara offered her experience of the astral and of her world as incentive to preserve their current arrangement, even if the others insisted that she wasn’t a burden, and that they had the free time. She didn’t want to be the ungrateful freeloader.

She didn’t doubt Amara’s sincerity. Nara was an honest type, she easily made friends, but not close friends. She be friends with Amara and the others, but she knew that others were rarely willing to extend their help beyond moderate inconvenience. True, sacrificial friendship was rare and untested, and unnecessary back on Earth.

Was it necessary here?

“If you have worries,” Chelsea said with a reluctance Nara couldn’t understand, “I would explain your feelings to Redell. He’s a healer, and more experience with unusual situations and the effects on the mental state.”

“Okay,” Nara said, “I think I’ll ask him.”