Jake’s POV

“Suma, could you wrap me in mana and carry me? I think I’m about to collapse.” I asked Suma. My legs burned, my lungs too. Every square inch of my body ached despite having already been healed.

“I am sorry Jake, but the rules strictly forbid that, and I do not think I could anyway; you are quite heavy.” I sighed and trudged onward. Eventually, we made it to the gate, and I collapsed as soon as I crossed it.

“Finally,” I said relieved and lying motionless on the ground. All I wanted to do was sleep, to me, in that moment, nothing else mattered.

“Good job recruits,” said a voice from behind us. I ignored it, and I barely heard anything else it said. I think I passed out if I’m being honest. I woke up later on the floor of my kitchen, freezing cold and with a throbbing headache from hunger. I groaned and moaned as I forced myself up and grabbed a sleeve of crisps, crackers, and bottled vitamin-water from my pantry. While this was the first time I had used those healing runes, it wasn’t the first time I had experienced this post healing “hangover”. I looked at my kitchen timer and did some quick mental math; twelve hours had passed since Suma summoned me. I figured I spent about four hours doing the course, so I had probably gotten about eight hours of sleep after she sent me home.

“Huh, that’s a lot shorter than normal.” I said to myself after downing the entire bottle of water in less than fifteen seconds. “That’s like… half the normal time or something.” Then I found myself wondering something… “Suma?” I asked.

“Oh, hello Jake, how are you feeling?”

“I’m okay, so… did we pass?”

“Yes, we did, but only barely.” She sounded... disappointed… frustrated?

“I see, well what happened to that snake familiar?”

“Nothing, since it did not technically do anything but follow you, it did not break any rules. I confronted Lauric, but I had no proof he had any ill intentions, so nothing can be done yet.” She explained. “Jake, there is one more thing...”

“Bad news?” I asked.

“…That… depends on you.”

“What do you mean?”

“The instructor has ordered that you start attending the attack mages training sessions to improve your magic. It starts in two hours...”

“Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense, but did she give a reason?” I asked confused. “I mean, you’re a healing mage and I’m your familiar, so I just assumed…”

“I said the same thing, but she wants you to lean into your strengths and cover your weaknesses. She believes this is the best way to do that.”

“Well, I’m not opposed to the idea or anything, I guess it could be interesting. What kinds of training do they do?” Suma didn’t know the answer, but it didn’t matter, because I found out the hard way two hours later, on their training ground.

“SENTINEL! KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN AND MOVE!” The instructor yelled as the group I was assigned to raced across a simulated battlefield. Explosions went off around us as Fire Magic spells crash-landed nearby. With me were seven Neame, three of which had names, all riding their own familiars. “EVEN YOU CAN’T TAKE A HIT FROM ONE OF THOSE SPELLS, NOW GO, GO, GO!”

“Move faster familiar!” One of the named Neame who was stuck in the position behind me chirped. There were eight including me, fifteen if you include their own familiars, and I was in the fourth position from the front. The point of this training was to learn how to not be bothered by the sound of explosions going off around us by moving along the field out in the open. Our path was clearly marked, and we knew we weren’t going to be hit, but we still needed to walk as if we were in the low trenches that the Neame need to fly through while transporting supplies on real battlefields. We performed that training for two more hours, and my ears were ringing the whole time. After we finished, we went to the healer’s section to take care of any accidental injuries and fix our hearing. I thought we were done… until the instructor ordered us all to get ready for attack drills at field one. Normally, they would all fly there as a group… but I can’t fly, and the instructor made us walk there. Well, I walked, they rode on their familiars.

Once we finally arrived for the drill, the instructor explained how it would work. “There are three rules: always aim your spells at the field, never at your squad; you will shoot at the target until you hit it three consecutive times; finally, if you run out of mana, you do high-dives while the rest of your squadron eats lunch.” We went two at a time, first was a Neame called Aldo and another nameless Neame. Aldo and the other left their perches and landed on two a few meters away from the group. The first to finish was the nameless Neame, but Aldo wasn’t too far behind him. As soon as one finished the task, another took his place regardless of whether the other one had finished. I figured this was a way to let people study each other’s techniques, or maybe as a safety precaution, but I didn’t really know. Each Neame’s attack spells were different, the first used a flame attack similar to the attack Suma used against the wyvern to save me. The second used icicles to impale, and the third had a lightning attack. The fourth attacked by lifting rocks and dirt then crushing the target. The fifth, and sixth were named Neame called Tomu and Lekep, who used water and wind respectively. Then finally it was number seven and me.

As I stepped up next to the perch the others were using, the instructor said, “I was told you have tactical scale magic Sentinel. Is that true?”

“Yes sir, but I’m still a bit unfamiliar with the way spells are ranked, I was told that one of my spells was tactical grade.”

“Show us,” he ordered.

“I thought I wasn’t allowed to use magic that powerful in training?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“That’s for healers, this is attack magic. If you have the ability, then do it. If not, then do your next best attack spell.”

“Yes sir,” I said and reached into my backpack to pull out a steel ball-bearing. Just like last time, I started by envisioning the target becoming magnetized, and drawing the ball bearings closer as they approached, then I created a magical rail system along the path I wanted the ball to follow. The ball would be pulled along by electro-magnetism through the air and suspended with my mana. While the spell was pulling the balls along with magnetism, it would also be generating a reversed polarity behind the ball, driving it forwards. “RAILGUN!” I activated the spell and a thunderous crack roared through the air, reducing the target to debris. The whole process felt like it went by faster than the last time, probably because I had done it before.

“THAT’S...” the instructor yelled but then stopped and began speaking normally again, “ah... that’s an impressive spell Sentinel, but it’s too slow for normal combat. Do you have anything faster?”

“Um, well sir, normally I would use my weapons, but at this distance I don’t know...” I tried to say but was cut off.

“You can’t rely solely on a single ranged attack spell, especially one that needs external components like those metal balls. I want you to try another attack, one that only uses your own magic.”

“Um, yes sir.” I said and decided to do a fire spell; one similar to what Suma uses. I had done more research on fire after what happened in that cave, as a way to improve my spell, so I had been looking for an excuse to use one anyway. In just a moment, I had formed a large fireball and launched it at the second target. This one wasn’t destroyed like the first, but it did burn even after the spell faded.

“Your spells are incredibly strong, but your manifestation of them is far too slow. You need to increase the speed of your casting, or you will die as soon as you step into the war.”

“Yes sir, I understand.” I said. He was right, compared to Suma, Vindicta, or even Von‑Pac, my casting was at a snail’s pace, even if I was stronger than them. “How would I do that sir? Get faster I mean.”

“The only real way is training, hard and often. But you could also try to find ways of quickening your image when building a spell. We call it association training. You have to force a connection between what you want and how it happens. Tell me, what do you do to create fire?” He asked.

“I guess I start by imagining a flame, then picturing what causes the flame to burn and why.” I said.

“So, you create more powerful spells as a result of this image, but you are already strong; you could forgo the precision of the image and still manage to form a formidable spell.”

“Then I shouldn’t be worried about spell strength?” I asked.

“I’m not saying that. I’m saying that you shouldn’t worry about spell precision. You’re plenty strong as you are, and having a more precise spell will increase that power, but for you that may not be an issue you should worry about.”

“Okay… I think I understand.” I said.

“Good, then take your last attempt and we will restart from the beginning.” I turned back to the targets and did another fire attack. This time however, I focused on speed instead of perfection or power.

“FIREBALL!” I shouted. In less than a second, I conjured and launched an attack. It hit the target dead center… but there was something different this time. Instead of doing what I would normally do and pull in heat and energy from the environment to create the flames, I just used my pure mana, which had an unusual result. For starters, it wasn’t as large, maybe only two thirds my normal sized, but it was also hotter, and a different color.

“Purple flames?” One of the recruits behind me said stunned.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suma’s POV

“So, Jake is training with the attack mages then?” Vindicta asked. We were practicing our healing spells on damaged fruits.

“Yes, he left to join them a while ago for evasion and shock training.” I told her as I cast a spell on my target. A cut, which had been gaping and letting the juice leak out, began to seal.

“How do you think he will do?”

“Fine I believe, but I do not know. I suppose it depends on how hard the instructor makes them train.” Vindicta nodded her head in agreement and the Neame in charge of our final healing qualifications exam landed on the perch next to us.

“I see your faring well as always Lady Suma.” She said.

“Indeed ma’am,” I replied.

“Lady Vindicta, you’re doing quite well also.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Um, can I ask how Von-Pac is doing?” Vindicta asked. The instructor seemed to find her question funny.

“I’m afraid I am not allowed to give specifics about other candidates, but I can tell you he is doing fine.” Vindicta seemed pleased, her head feathers raised slightly and her besmears glowed just a bit brighter. “Anyway, be prepared, a group of combat cadets is coming from their training sessions, and they need to be healed I’m sure. We are expecting them soon.”

“Is it the squadron my familiar was assigned to?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know which one your speaking of, but it is squad three.” She answered.

“Oh, he was assigned to squad five.” I said disappointed that I was not going to be able to see him.

“If you’re worried, why not just talk to him through the private channel you told me about?” Vindicta said after the instructor flew away.

“I considered it, but I do not want to distract him from his training.” I explained. With that, Vindicta and I refocused on our final qualification exams. It was hard to believe that we were so close to the end of our tenure at this camp and were almost fully fledged healing mages for the army.

“Suma… I have a question.” Vindicta said softly.

“You are as good a healer as I am Vindicta, if you do not know something it is unlikely I know it either.”

“No... not that. Have you and Jake made your decisions about the Drakes yet?”

“…Yes.”

“Will you...?”

“We will,” I said.

“Please be safe,” she sounded as if she were about to start singing, but did not.

“I will try.”

“Thank you.” After our conversation, however brief it was, we did not talk for the rest of the training; neither one of us could without fear of singing. Hours passed, and eventually Jake made contact and said that he was done with his attack training for the day. I summoned him to me, and we spent some time resting before we needed to go to familiar training together. While we waited, we talked.

“How was training?” I asked.

“I think it went pretty good. I learned a lot I think, but that shock training sure was loud.” He said smiling.

“What did you learn?” I wondered. He was already extraordinarily strong, so I honestly did not believe there would be much for him to gain from the training.

“I learned how to cast my spells faster, and a new way to picture my spells.”

“That will be good to know,” I said.

“Oh, can I ask you a weird question?”

“Is it about Vindicta and Von-Pac?” I said jokingly.

“No, everyone already knows about them. I wanted to ask if having purple flames was unusual?”

“…Why?” I asked cautiously.

“Well, when my flames turned purplish blue during training, everyone seemed kinda freaked out by it.” He explained.

I held my feelings in for a moment and asked another question, “Jake, when you say purple, was it a bright purple or a dark purple?”

“It was more of a mix of dark blue and purple. Like a northwest purple, not an eminence purple.”

“I do not know what that means...”

“More of a dark blue with purple mixed in.”

“Okay, and why did you make your flames that color?” I asked trying not to panic for his sake.

“Suma, you are starting to kinda freak me out now; what’s up?”

“It has nothing to do with you, but I can certainly understand why your squamates would have become uncomfortable.”

“Which is why?”

“Purple flames were common for the Vikings...”

“Oh… ooohhh!”