– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 1 –
Terry glanced at the mechanical clock on his desk.
Is it just me or are my nights getting shorter and shorter?
Terry shrugged unconcernedly and took a bite of his sandwich. It was still early in the morning, but Terry did not feel tired.
Terry swallowed his food down and checked his equipment. He was wearing his new leg straps and there were three throwing needles at each of his thighs: one octavum, one septimum, one aspected with oscillating mana.
Terry looked at his left hip, where the space was now free again. “Hm…”
Next, Terry tentatively channeled a bit of mana through his new inscribed gloves and the inscribed wraps around his calves.
“Hmph…” Terry sighed when his mana entered the divine hammer inscription. “I can’t believe that Aunt Sigille can use these things and make it look easy…”
Terry took his plate from the table and sat down on the floor. He retrieved his exercise equipment for practicing spellwork with his feet.
After everything had been set up, Terry retrieved one of his notebooks and brainstormed a shopping list while exercising. He did not have many savings in the Tiv currency and he had to stick to a budget until he fulfilled some missions and earn some more vals. Luckily, most of Terry’s immediate priorities had been covered by the generous gifts from his family.
“Hmm…” Terry thought over what he was missing.
The bolas appeared rather limited in real battle…
“As expected, the rope was a weakness…” Terry mumbled to himself. “Metal aspect-reinforced wire would be nice… Invisible wire would be great…” Terry tapped his pen on the notebook. “Not only for the bolas. Maybe…”
I’ll probably be sorely disappointed when seeing the Tiv price for such items, though.
Terry scribbled unperturbed.
What about the scale armor?
“On the one hand, I would like to try it at least once, but…” Terry frowned subconsciously. “On the other hand, I have a path forward now…”
Terry thought about the new books stored in his crafter’s pendant. If he invested the proper time, he should at least be able to learn quasi-periodic shielding.
Terry remembered his Aunt Sigille’s evaluation of the coil spring mechanism in his boots.
Stopgap at best…
“I’ll keep it on the list but further down…” Terry still felt hesitant to dismiss the idea completely.
Terry glanced at the clock and then at his left hip.
Maybe another dagger? Feels somewhat unbalanced now, with only one.
Terry pondered. A magical dagger would most likely blow up his budget. A well-crafted non-magic dagger should be fine if he provided the materials himself.
“Something that goes well with the Immovable Object spell…” Terry clicked his tongue and put off that topic for later.
What about the formal clothes for the Preacher’s reception?
Terry frowned. “There was that, yes… but…” He glanced at his left hip again…
***
“Terry!” *Knock* “Terry!” *Knock* *Knock* “Terry! Are you awake yet?!”
Terry snickered at the overly excited waking attempt. He hurriedly opened the door to discover a small bundle of energy and a tired-looking bundle of morning misery.
“Morning, Thena. Morning, Clayson.”
“Huam…” Clayson yawned with half-closed eyes and a head full of bed-hair. “See, Thena? He’s awake already. There was no need to wake me early, either.”
“Uh-huh.” Thena narrowed her small eyes at Clayson. “No need at all, huh? I think we tried that experiment before and you only appeared after lunch. That was very rude to Instructor Sigille. I won’t have it!”
Terry could not help but smile at the early morning routine. It was evident that the dwarven girl was very fond of Sigille and idolized the Divine Hammer exceedingly.
Ever since Sigille’s students had arrived, Thena was always next to Sigille and when that was not an option, she had started sticking close to Terry.
No matter where the short dwarf went, Clayson would accompany her.
“Good, good,” exclaimed Thena happily. “Then we don’t have to rush to class and will definitely be on time.”
“You meant to say that we could have slept some more and now we have to wait,” retorted Clayson grumpily.
Thena stuck out her tongue and then straightened her back with a solemn expression. “As Terry’s senior sister, I have to make sure that he finds his way to class.”
Thena marched ahead with proud eyes.
Terry smiled amusedly and followed.
Clayson walked next to Thena and scratched his belly. “In what way are you his senior sister? We are both younger than Terry and we have joined the Guardians later than Terry. Also, you are way too short to be Terry’s senior sister.”
“Shush,” retorted Thena eloquently. “I’ve been Instructor Sigille’s student longer than Terry. And don’t call me short. You’re my junior brother, too, Clayson!” Thena smirked.
“We joined on the same day,” retorted Clayson. “You only introduced yourself first because you could not keep the words from falling out of your mouth like always when you’re in front of Instructor Sigille.” He glanced at Thena. “And you are short. Senior or not.”
“Instructor Sigille said I may still get a growth spurt!” insisted Thena.
“Huam… Don’t feel bad if you don’t,” retorted Clayson while yawning. “Maybe your compact size is why you have so much energy. You’re still energy efficient. If you grow taller, you may become as tired as I am. The compact edition may be a plus. I still need you to wake me up on time.”
Thena pouted, but her eyes displayed an appeased glint.
“Ah well, I’m a dwarf anyway,” said Thena. “We’re supposed to be short, right? There must be many dwarves shorter than me…” Thena looked at Terry hopefully. “How about Arcana? Dwarves must be really short there, right?”
“Uhh…” Terry searched his memory. “I have seen an adult dwarf that was about your height.”
“Really?” Thena kept her eyes on Terry while walking.
“Yeah, but that wasn’t in Arcana. That was Silver-Eyes Jee here in Tiv.”
Thena tripped and landed face-first on the floor. Afterwards, she remained quietly sprawled out without attempting to stand back up.
“That was an effective combination, Terry,” said Clayson and snorted. “A hint of hope to make the finishing blow that much more devastating.”
“Huh?” Terry blurted out in bemusement.
“Jee is Thena’s older brother,” explained Clayson.
***
“Welcome back, everyone.” Sigille greeted the group standing in front of her.
“““Greetings, Instructor!”””
A few among them chose to bow to Sigille. Terry recognized them to be Sigille’s personal disciples as well as Thena, who was determined to become Sigille’s disciple eventually.
“As usual, we will have our special class for the control-impaired as the first slot in the morning,” said Sigille. “General classes will be held afterwards. Personal instruction sessions for my disciples will start in the late afternoon.”
Sigille let her eyes wander over everyone. “If you encounter any particular problems in your cultivation, you can always feel free to seek me out. That is what this season is for. Control-impairments are difficult to overcome and compensate for. There is no shame in asking for help. Remember that.”
“Finally, let me repeat what is worth repeating: Any path worth taking is also worth taking your time for.” Sigille’s tone was stern. “It took me decades before I could use disruption discharges.”
Terry lowered his gaze and clenched his fists. He promised himself to never become complacent with his talents.
“A path does not need to feel forced,” continued Sigille. “I’m still not able to do aspected discharges…” Sigille shrugged with a grin. “But I get by.”
Chuckles welled up at the self-deprecating remarks of the famous Divine Hammer.
Many of the students became emotional when looking at their instructor. The struggling students took comfort in the fact that Sigille had shared their struggles and they took inspiration from her achievements.
“I am still trying to learn aspected discharges, mind you,” stressed Sigille. “I’ve never stopped.” She spoke with emphasis. “Having found a working alternative is not a reason to stop learning. You never know when you will push through and you never know what kind of inspiration you may find along the way.”
“This will be the second cycle in which I can offer the general class on aspected bursts,” said Sigille. “That was one such unexpected inspiration. A new tool for a mana cultivator.” A corner of her lips rose upwards. “Even for those that have trouble with external mana control.”
“The instructors will evaluate your abilities this week and then combat practice will begin the week after,” explained Sigille. “You can sign up for free practice. That means that the instructors will match suitable opponents to each other. You can also issue your own challenges and if both parties agree, you will be allocated a slot for a match. Of course, you can simply attend to learn through observing others.”
“Any questions?” asked Sigille.
Terry raised his hand.
“Terry?”
“Can’t I just ask people to spar? What’s different about combat practice?”
“Anyone?” Sigille looked around.
A tall canan that was among Sigille’s personal disciples raised her hand. Her head resembled a brushwood dog with white and reddish fur.
“Tara, please,” prompted Sigille.
“In combat practice, we will receive protective items and instructors will observe the match and are ready to intervene, so that we can go all out,” explained Tara. “In free matches, instructors may also recommend or enforce restrictions to facilitate the best learning experience and create a proper challenge. Combat practice slots will be scheduled to not conflict with classes of interested parties.”
“Thank you, Tara. Any other questions?” Sigille waited and when no one else raised their hand, she continued. “Terry and Tara, please take your practice weapons and step onto the free field behind me.”
Tara did so without a moment of hesitation. Terry furrowed his brow and followed shortly afterwards. They had both grabbed two spears. However, while Terry grabbed his usual two short spears, Tara had grabbed two spears that were a size longer and more fitting for her taller stature.
“I like to start off the Setting Moon with an exhibition that demonstrates why we teach certain things,” said Sigille. “I would like you two to have a spar that only relies on consuming mana – balanced or plain bursts. No magic items.” She glanced at Terry. “No spellwork.” She glanced at Tara. “No aspected bursts.”
“Understood, Instructor.” Tara bowed to Sigille and then turned to Terry. “Thank you for accompanying me in my learning.”
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“Uhh, yes.” Terry smiled. “Thank you, too.”
“Ready?” Sigille paused. “Go.”
Tara dashed forward and struck with her left spear.
Terry crossed his own short spears, stepped to the right, and used the cross to block and deflect Tara’s attack.
Afterwards, two things happened at once. Tara struck her right spear below her left arm to aim for Terry’s stomach. Simultaneously, Terry kept his right spear in place, spun his body and changed his left spear to reverse grip and attacked Tara’s back under the cover of his own spear and Tara’s left arm.
Shortly before Terry’s spear arrived, Terry saw Tara’s mana circulation speed up, and she unexpectedly smashed her left arm forward to completely throw Terry out of balance.
Terry jumped backwards to create some distance, and Tara did not follow him.
They both eyed each other warily…
Terry charged forwards and feinted with his left while preparing to burst his mana and hoping for Tara to lead with her left spear again.
When Tara did as he had anticipated, Terry rapidly burst his mana and smacked her spear away with his right, and tried to follow up with his left.
However, before Terry could follow up, Terry saw a flash of Tara’s mana bursting, and her next attack spoiled Terry’s plan.
After several minutes, Sigille stopped their match.
“What have you learned about yourself and your opponent?” asked Sigille.
“My patterns are still too easy to see through,” said Tara contemplatively. “I need to improve my ambidextrous wielding.”
“Without mana, I would be defeated near instantly,” said Terry while moving his eyes over the fur-covered muscles on the canan woman.
“Terry has the advantage in mana foundation,” said Tara. “I can’t keep up in my balanced state.”
“And yet, I never got ahead.” Terry tilted his head. “I can tell that my mana regeneration is higher, but even now, it seems as if we are at a similar level of exhaustion – as if all my additional mana had gone to waste.”
“That’s only because your bursts are wasteful,” said Tara. “Bursting is most efficient if you use it to disrupt your opponent’s rhythm and make your own less predictable.”
Terry wrinkled his brow curiously.
“There we go,” interjected Sigille. “There are two lessons here: First, a good mana foundation can help you overcome a physical disadvantage. Second, proper bursting techniques can help you overcome a disadvantage in mana foundation.”
“Thanks, you two.” Sigille approached them and added in a lower voice: “I would recommend you two continue sparring with each other with the same rules. You should be able to push each other further in the right direction.”
***
Terry was disappointed when he checked the available classes and courses. In contrast to Arcana, the range of topics offered outside the basics was very limited.
Terry finally grasped the full implications of Sigille’s earlier explanation of the instruction rotation. If someone wanted to learn something else, they would have to wait for a different season or move to a different outpost.
To make it worse, some advanced topics came with additional restrictions.
One example were the mana crafting classes that required more than just contribution points. Students also had to sign several agreements with Tiv that required you to fulfill certain quotas of mana-crafted items to be provided to the Tiv Empire – without compensation.
Spellwork classes apparently had to be aligned with specific learning and service schedules that had been issued by the ministerial representative. Before being allowed to officially join a class, you had to prove that the Tiv Empire approved of your chosen path and that your service was deemed sufficient to progress further.
Advanced spellwork classes even required students to enlist as a soldier in Tiv’s military.
Not like I would have picked these classes anyway, right?
Terry frowned when remembering the restrictions. He recalled the stories from his aunt Brynn. He remembered Poppy having to hide her mana crafting. He thought of the Captain, who had to enlist in the military and all the pain it had brought her.
Terry also thought of Lizzy, whose status was special due to her being a descendant of Castellan – one of the companions and important commanders of the Founding King Tivius.
Apparently, nobles did not have to follow the same restrictions in their mana use. While Lizzy only seriously started training after she had met Megumi, Lizzy had been free to choose whatever path she liked without having to serve in the army or anything like that.
I still don’t get this nobility thing…
Terry pondered with an absentminded expression.
“Terry?” A short dwarf poked Terry’s thigh. “Terry?”
Clayson, Thena, and Terry had listened in on the introduction class on aspected bursts, even though none of the three intended to actually join the class.
For Clayson and Thena, the mana manipulation for aspected bursts was still too advanced. For Terry, on the other hand, there seemed to be no point in such an internal refractor, because Terry naturally circulated only a single aspect. Terry did not have to separate aspects from each other, because there was nothing to separate.
Each one of them was curious for their own reasons. Terry, for his part, wanted to at least familiarize with a technique that others might use against him.
“Terry?”
“Uhh…” Terry jolted from his daze. “Sorry, what?”
“Can you show me your discharge refractor again?” Thena asked with sparkly eyes.
Next to Thena, Clayson also looked at Terry with anticipation.
“Sure.” Terry created a refractor in front of his knuckles.
Thena’s eyelid twitched while Clayson’s expression froze.
“Uhm… Could you slow it down some… maybe?” Thena asked with trembling eyes.
Right.
“Oh, my bad,” mumbled Terry in embarrassment. “Sorry about that.”
Terry slowed down the creation of the refractor as much as he could, while Thena and Clayson observed with curious eyes.
A moment later, Thena stared at her own knuckles and held her breath… before exhaling in frustration.
“I think I understand the idea, but…” Thena sighed sadly. “I want to know why it’s not working.”
“Oh well, even Instructor Sigille took a while, right?” A hint of frustration also entered Clayson’s eyes, but he quickly regained his normal expression. “We’ll get it eventually.”
“Still…” Thena looked at her feet. “I’m a failure.”
Clayson patted Thena’s drooping shoulder.
“No, you’re not,” objected Terry sternly. “I am just a bad instructor for you. I can speak from experience. My first spellwork classes were an unmitigated disaster. Most of the instructors just kept repeating what I already knew does not work for myself. I am lucky that some were different.”
Terry patted Thena’s shoulder. “And you have Instructor Sigille. Or do you think that the Divine Hammer will fail at instructing you?” Terry intentionally goaded Thena by questioning Sigille.
“No way!” Thena objected instantly and displayed an offended pout. “The Divine Hammer never fails!”
Clayson snickered quietly.
“Oh, look!” An unfamiliar voice reached the group from behind. “It’s the midgets from the brain-impaired class!”
Clayson’s expression darkened.
“Who are you calling a midget, you pus for brains?!” Thena glared at the human man that had spoken.
He was wearing dark green combat robes and seemed to be the same age as Terry.
“Oh? No disagreement on the brain-impaired part? It’s good that you’re becoming more self-aware.” The man jeered with a self-satisfied expression.
Clayson’s face flushed with anger.
Terry tilted his head. He quickly glanced at the man and then at Thena and Clayson.
Before Clayson or Thena could lose their temper, weird noises arrived from Terry, who had stuck out his tongue at the man with a deadpan expression and then blew air to let his lips vibrate loudly.
Not an argument… Come to think of it, Devon would have gotten along well with Lori and Jorg.
“What is wrong with—?”
“Blblblb.” Terry interrupted the man with another fart mimicry.
Thena turned with a wrinkled forehead and looked perplexedly at Terry.
“You—”
“Blblblb.” Terry held the man’s gaze with a deadpan expression.
Clayson snorted.
“Ah, I see you’re brain-impaired, too.” The man looked at Terry haughtily.
“Blblb. Blblb. Blblb.”
“Right, I saw you train with a barrier spear earlier. How about you and I have a match? You can bet the spear.”
Terry raised his eyebrows and wondered if he had misheard.
“Ha! You haven’t seen Terry’s training earlier this—” Thena was stopped by Clayson, who had put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head with a meaningful glance.
“So? How about it?” asked the man tauntingly. “I can bet an item of my own. Or are you scared?”
“Are you an idiot?” Terry blurted out.
“What?!” The man glared at Terry.
“Why in the Wastes would I bet my item?” Terry’s expression contorted as if he was looking at a crazy person. “I don’t know you. I don’t want to know you. I want nothing from you. Go away.”
“You—”
“Not to mention that betting magic items is forbidden in so many ways.” A new voice belonging to a woman reached them. Terry recognized an instructor that Sigille had introduced as Rachel.
“Greetings, Instructor,” exclaimed the man that had picked a fight. “I was just…”
“Save it. I don’t need to hear it. I only came over, because I have business with you two, anyway.” Rachel’s eyes moved to Terry. “I’ve spoken to Instructor Sigille and it would be great if we could schedule some matches this week already. How about it, Terry?”
Terry nodded. “Sure.” Sigille had already told him that she expected Terry to join combat practice.
“Splendid!” Rachel beamed at Terry. Afterwards, she turned to the man. “You can resolve your differences in the first match, but betting will have to be limited to money or non-magic items. Now, weren’t you supposed to join the second course on earth magic?”
“Yes, Instructor. I’ll be on my way.” The man bolted away from the group before someone would get the idea of punishing his attempted violation of magic restrictions.
“Thanks, Terry!” Rachel grinned. “I’m looking forward to your performance.”
“So am I.” Sigille had walked up to them. She looked at Terry with exaggerated exasperation. “Why didn’t you accept? That would have been a free item.”
Rachel sulkingly stared at Sigille. “You know, I feel somewhat obligated to point out that you are not supposed to say things like that.” A moment later, she giggled. “And don’t forget that there is no contract enforcement for illegal activities. We would leave a poor impression on your nephew if he got scammed in the first week.”
“All part of the learning experience,” said Sigille with a grin.
Afterwards, Sigille turned to Terry. “Anyway, the only class I expect you to join is the introduction class for burst techniques. I hope you can get the hang of it quickly, so that we can focus on more practical experience. We still have personal instruction in the late afternoon to adjust the details.”
“I told you that there may be another challenge, right?” reminded Sigille with a familiar glint in her eyes. “Here is the first part: There are many opponents I will nominate for you in general combat practice. I will dictate the restrictions that apply for you and in some matches, I will pick a specific winning condition as far as the challenge is concerned.”
***
Terry was waiting for his first combat practice match.
“Did Instructor Sigille really say that?” Thena had a sour expression.
“Yup,” replied Terry unconcernedly. “I’m not supposed to use my weapons or my gloves. Aunt Sigille also told me to refrain from researching my opponents in advance, or she would have to think of harsher restrictions.”
“And you need to win all three rounds?” asked Clayson. “That pest beetle has some troublesome spells though. He has challenged students from our class before and—”
“I hoped you would stomp him, so he finally shuts up.” Thena was sulking.
“Why do you care so much about the pest beetle?” asked Terry.
Thena stared at Terry. “Because he is not only insulting us. He’s insulting Instructor Sigille!”
Terry was reminded of a past conversation within his family.
“Do you respect the pest beetle in any way?” asked Terry.
“What? No, of course not,” replied Thena with an exasperated look.
“Then why do you care about his opinions? It’s his problem if he’s wrong. Not yours.” Terry scratched his cheek. “At least that’s what Pa Bjorln once told me and my siblings.”
“Still…” Thena pouted. “At least try to stomp him a little.”
“A little more would also be fine,” added Clayson with a grin. “Come Thena, time for us to go.”
The two dwarves left for the spectator seats.
Terry took a deep breath and waited for the signal.
Is it bad that I don’t feel nervous? It’s kind of hard to feel pressured when comparing this match to the dungeon, the Bulwark, or to the battle over Syn City.
I don’t want Aunt Sigille to think that I am not taking this seriously though…
I’ll just give it my all…
***
Instructor Rachel gave the signal for the match to start.
Terry shortly burst his mana and dashed at the green-robed man. In his mana sight, Terry could see the man dual-casting spells.
When Terry recognized the spell structures, he could not suppress an amused snort.
The earth in front of Terry liquified…
Terry used his imprinted boots to continue his dash unimpeded.
The eyes of the green-robed man widened, and he hurriedly followed up by raising a stone wall in Terry’s path.
Terry did not slow down. From the corner of his eyes, he could see two casting centers for Rock Spear spells – one to the left and one to the right.
Terry jumped with a brief burst of mana and continued jumping in the air with his imprinted boots to leap over the stone wall while the two rock spears harmlessly flew by behind him.
The green-robed man aimed several quickened rock spears at Terry…
Terry continued his dash unfazed, and he disrupted the casting centers before the spells had a chance to materialize.
The green-robed man had trouble harvesting mana for new spells due to the flood of Terry’s mana that was now surrounding him. He hesitatingly pulled the sword from his hip to slash at Terry.
Terry received the sword with his immovable left bracer and threw a quick jab into the man’s face.
Before the man could jerk backwards, Terry grabbed the man’s sword arm near the shoulder with his right hand. Simultaneously, Terry deactivated his immovable bracer and grabbed the man’s wrist with his left hand.
In one fluid motion, Terry jumped while pulling the man’s wrist down, and the two bodies rotated in the air. Terry threw the green-robed man to the ground and landed with his own weight on top of him.
While the green-robed man lost his sword, Terry applied a grappling hold that Bjorln used to call a muscle crusher.
The green-robed man howled in pain until the referee announced the end of the match.
In the spectator seats, people’s expression ranged from shock and exasperation to gloating and schadenfreude.
“Ouch,” exclaimed Clayson. “I almost feel pity for the pest beetle.”
Even Thena, who had cheered her lungs out when Terry’s fist first connected with the man’s face, paled when she heard the following screams.
“Wait, it’s over already?” Thena jolted out of her daze. “That was…”
“Barely a few seconds.” Clayson continued her thought.
In a different location, Rachel looked at Sigille. “That was… quick. You may have to add some more restrictions or the other students will be afraid of embarrassing themselves.”
Sigille shrugged. “Short of forbidding mana use, the outcome would have been the same. You were the one that wanted to scare some sense into the complacent spell flingers. I don’t want Terry to keep facing the likes of that one. Better to make this one memorable.”
“Do you think the second match will last longer?” asked Rachel. “Now that they have gauged each other's abilities.”
“No chance,” interjected Palmer from the other side.
“Agreed,” replied Sigille. “Look at them. Terry has completely won the mental battle. I would not be surprised if his opponent failed his spellwork in the following rounds.”
“What did Terry use to block the sword?” asked Palmer. “It looked as if he did not receive any impact at all.”
“An imprint that Terry created of a spell called Immovable Object,” explained Sigille. “Effect is as the name suggests.”
“Terry can cast that spell?” Palmer’s interest had been piqued. “How quickly?”
“Last I saw, barely a second for a regular casting,” replied Sigille. “If we pick the restrictions right, Terry would make a good sparring partner for your unarmed combat class.”
***