– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 25 –
Terry finished his post-lunch exercise in his room. He had been trying – and failing – to create a small mana layer in front of his feet by relying on the divine hammer inscription.
The longer Terry worked with the inscription, the more amazed he was at what Sigille managed to pull out of it.
Terry sighed. “Practice makes perf—” Terry stopped himself when he remembered how Sigille had corrected him in his last instruction session with her and her personal disciples.
Terry shook his head slightly.
“Practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” Terry smiled to himself. “Always need to keep an eye out to correct mistakes as early as possible. That will take a while.”
Terry glanced at the clock on his desk and he realized he had to get ready for his next combat practice session.
“One step at a time.” Terry stood up and picked up the new inlays for his equipment. They were made of a thin web of threads that had been reinforced with the metal aspect. Septimum scales had been woven into the inlay at sparse locations.
Terry figured that even if it was only a stopgap measure, he would rather have the stopgap than nothing. The memory of the inscribed earth giant was still fresh in his mind. While the cloud badger leather provided acceptable protection against slashing or piercing weapons, blunt weapons were a completely different topic.
When Terry had thought over his dungeon experience, he concluded he had been incredibly lucky that he somehow managed to protect all his bones from the giant’s initial attack.
“Terry!” *Knock* “Terry!” *Knock* *Knock* “Terry! Are you ready yet?!”
Terry could not help but chuckle to himself. He opened the door to find a familiar pair of dwarves.
“See? I told you Terry would not forget!” grumbled Clayson. There were still traces of his lunch to be found in his beard, which Terry took as a sign that he had been pressured to finish it quickly.
“Just taking care of our Junior Brother,” said Thena without a shred of remorse. “And you would have been the first to grumble if the match had gotten canceled.”
“Yeah, because then Instructor Sigille would think of something else to do,” said Clayson. “After her last spontaneous training session, I could not catch my breath for weeks.”
Thena rolled her eyes and then smiled mischievously. “If you’re not careful, I may become stronger than you!” She continued in a teasing tone: “That would be rather awkward for my self-proclaimed guard, wouldn’t it?”
Clayson snorted. “As long as you’re tripping every five steps, I’m not worried.” He ignored Thena’s offended gasp. “And it’s not only self-proclaimed. My family has guarded your house for generations. Normally, the head of the House would be the first priority, but…”
Clayson scratched his temple. “I doubt I would be much help in whatever could threaten Jee.”
“Good to know I’m the second choice.” Thena pouted.
“Wh-what? N-no, that’s not what I…” Clayson stammered.
“…which also makes me the last choice, doesn’t it?” Sadness crept into Thena’s face, but she quickly chased it away. “Sorry, Clayson. I know you did not mean it like that.”
“Ready,” interjected Terry, who had finished preparing his equipment. He looked at Thena. “Jee is the head of a house? A house is like dwarven nobility, isn’t it?”
Thena shrugged. “A dead house. Only Jee and I are left.” She glanced to her side with a bashful smile. “And Clayson.”
Clayson blushed. “I’m not really of your house though…” His voice was barely audible.
“Yes, you are,” insisted Thena firmly.
“Junior Brother Terry…” Thena’s face displayed anxiety. “Are you sure that you do not want to know about your opponent’s abilities?”
“Yeah, kind of.” Terry furrowed his brow. “At least I can understand why Aunt Sigille told me not to investigate my opponents. I will know more in the second and third match, but the first is supposed to be closer to real combat, where you generally have no idea going in.”
***
Terry warily observed the slender woman with auburn hair in a side ponytail.
Even without purposely investigating her abilities, Terry was certain that this match would be more troublesome than all those before.
The first hint was that Sigille had imposed no restrictions on his battle.
The second hint was her separate condition for their ongoing challenge…
‘Keep fighting.’ Terry clicked his tongue. I refuse to believe that Aunt Sigille would say that without reason.
All hints aside, Terry recognized the woman. He had seen her practice with both Instructor Palmer, who was mostly instructing discharges and hand-to-hand combat, as well as with Instructor Rachel, who was focusing on spellwork and group combat.
Terry noted the woman’s equipment. Simple robes that looked suitable for moving around, but no armor or visible weapon.
Spellwork then? But what is the connection to Instructor Palmer?
Terry bit his lips.
Instructor Rachel gave the signal for the match to start.
Terry hung back and continued to observe his opponent.
The woman smiled good-naturedly and strolled forward. “Sorry about that.”
About what?
Terry narrowed his eyes, and he gripped his barrier spears tightly.
In his mana sight, Terry could see the flicker of a dual-casting.
The next thing Terry sensed was pain like he had never felt before. It felt as if all the nerves in his teeth became exposed to someone tearing at them.
He could not think.
He could not move.
He collapsed on the ground and screamed.
Before Terry realized what had happened, he blacked out from the pain.
***
Terry came to himself after the first match had been called. He held his mouth and stood back up. He could see the woman wearing an apologetic expression.
Keep fighting? Crap…
Terry started to appreciate the meaning behind that order. He felt very tempted to call the match off when he remembered the pain from a few moments ago.
“Curses…” Terry controlled his breathing. If this was a real battle, then I would be dead.
How? Wait, Instructor Palmer! Terry groaned.
Instructor Palmer trained mostly as a mana cultivator. He was multi-aspected but was best known as an expert in the sonic aspect, which he incorporated into his unarmed combat.
It was one ability that made Palmer well-suited to face demons. Most of the time, the elementals were not completely prepared for the weaknesses that come from the physical bodies they had possessed.
Sonic aspect! Annoying to deal with. If only humans had ear-lids like they have eyelids…
Terry’s mind raced to recall a spell that would explain what had happened. After a few moments, he thought he had figured it out.
Resonance. She targeted my teeth. That’s why it felt as if someone was twisting them around. Which would mean…
The signal for the start of the match resounded.
Terry instantly summoned a tertium slab with handles. He burst his mana and bent the slab in the middle until it was sufficiently curved.
When Terry’s mana sense picked up activity, Terry protected his head with the curved slab and activated the Immovable Object spell.
Terry heaved a sigh of relief when no pain arrived. The transfixed slab prevented whatever sonic manipulation his opponent was using.
Terry had once verified that his immovable cube dampened most sound from the outside, and he surmised that sound didn't travel through an immovable object. He counted his blessings that this turned out to be correct.
Terry exhaled sharply.
His mana sense told him that there were many casting centers in the air around him. His opponent did not target him directly with the Resonance spell. Instead, she created sound waves at different locations and the overlaid result was what targeted him.
That’s how I missed it the first time.
Terry frowned. If he tried to disrupt all of those casting centers, even he would run out of mana sooner rather than later.
Okay, now what?
Terry retrieved a second slab and transfixed it behind him when he suspected the pattern of casting centers was aiming at him from that direction.
Just wait like this until everyone grows tired of the match?
Terry grit his teeth.
Keep fighting.
Terry retrieved one of his tertium cubes and hurriedly bent it into shape until only a single side remained open.
This will look ridiculous…
Terry pulled his newly created tertium box over himself and closed his eyes to focus entirely on his mana sense. He returned his barrier spears to his storage bracelets.
Then, the tertium box with legs dashed forward.
Fortunately for Terry, the tertium impeded the sound enough to throw off the woman’s targeting.
Unfortunately for Terry, the woman knew more than a single spell and from more than a single aspect. While Terry had been focusing on his mana sense and was distracted by the multitude of casting centers, his opponent had placed an earthen wall into which he crashed blindly at full speed.
Like all earthen walls, it did not require mana to maintain, and after the initial casting, there was no mana for Terry to sense and evade.
“Ugh…” Terry groaned and instinctively transfixed the box as protection while he regained his bearings.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Now what? Take her off guard with the mana sublimator? That would be such a waste of a good mana core, though. In the end, this is still just practice…
A moment later, Terry scowled, because the woman’s mana signature had disappeared entirely.
Just great.
Terry heard a slight ruffling sound to his left. He peeked through the perforated edge of the box and saw the woman coming closer.
Terry retrieved a barrier spear from his storage bracelet and observed the woman.
When he judged the distance close enough, Terry rapidly threw off the tertium box. He burst his mana and charged at the woman.
When his spear connected with the wide-eyed woman, Terry felt no resistance whatsoever…
An insanely loud sound attacked Terry and destroyed his sense of balance.
Before Terry could catch himself, a familiar pain drowned out everything else in his mind.
Terry clenched his teeth hard and tried to transfix his bracers, but the tormenting pain caused him to fumble.
A few seconds later, Terry blacked out again.
***
Keep fighting.
Terry controlled his breathing while dread was welling up in him as he thought of the third match ahead.
At least it’s the final one…
“That’s not the spirit.” Terry muttered with a dark expression. “Keep fighting.” He sighed and went over what he knew.
Sonic. Earth. Either illusion or light. Probably light and then paired with sonic to combine fake images with sound. Mana cloaking… Wasted assassin types again.
Terry recalled the notes he had made in his notebook when pondering how to deal with those.
Oh well, why the Wastes not? Careful and cautious has failed two times already. Time to try something else.
Terry ordered his thoughts for an alternative approach and resolved himself. His stance was set when he heard the signal from Rachel.
In the blink of an eye, Terry dashed forward with bursting mana. He instantly unleashed an intense disruption discharge at the woman.
Terry darted from side to side instead of moving directly towards the woman in order to avoid her complex targeting.
While running, Terry occasionally jumped and hurled item after item in all directions.
The throwing needles and practice balls made of different metals transfixed themselves into the air to further impede the woman’s sonic targeting.
Terry was rapidly burning through his mana reserves, and he could feel his mana channels strain under the continuous burst.
Last fight. Terry grit his teeth. Not going to be long either way.
Terry could sense the woman’s mana signature shift slightly and he unleashed another disruption discharge.
The woman’s silhouette vanished, and Terry could neither sense nor see her anywhere.
Terry jumped and leaned back. He sprawled his limbs out in the air and four disruption discharges flowed in four different directions.
When Terry landed on his feet, he started emitting low-intensity spherical mana pulses and focused on sensing his naturalized mana while continuing to dart around rapidly.
At least the vampire bat ring was good for some inspiration…
THERE!
Terry increased his bursting rate further and charged towards a specific location. There, he could sense his own naturalized mana being obstructed, even though it should not be according to what his sight was telling him.
Terry recognized a casting center for raising an earth wall and knew that he was on the right track.
Don’t let her get away!
Terry hurled out discharge after discharge without stopping his own bursting charge.
He retrieved his barrier spears and channeled mana into them. These new spears enabled him to move the barrier along the axis of the spear and even further out.
Terry moved the barriers further away from the spear, and when the barrier was behind the target position, Terry moved the spears to cut off two possible escape directions.
Something collided with the barrier, and Terry now detected translucent traces of his opponent.
Terry activated the Immovable Object imprints in his spear attachments and then continued forward with primed spells ready in hand.
Terry tackled the woman into the barrier. He quickly scanned her equipment and transfixed her belt buckle to prevent her from escaping. He pulled the inscribed dagger and…
Terry stopped his action when he saw the raised hands and terrified eyes of the woman.
Next, he heard the signal to end the match.
“I’m r-really so-sorry,” stammered the woman and gulped.
Ahh… Realization dawned on Terry.
Pure spell flinger then… Unlikely to be a personal disciple of Instructor Palmer…
***
No weapons…
Wait, I’ve seen these gauntlet-thingies before on Palmer’s disciples… Caestus?
Then those are his weapons. Separate mana signatures from the knuckle plate and the piece that is protecting the wrist area. The belt seems to be a magic item as well.
Terry observed the bald, muscular man that was standing at the other side of the arena.
His mana pool is unexpectedly small. Is that why they restricted me to not use bursts? But wouldn’t my mana foundation still give me an advantage?
I’m missing something. There must be a reason why Aunt Sigille’s condition was only to draw or win at least one match.
The starting signal resounded through the arena.
Terry and his opponent charged at each other and collided in the central area.
The bald man redirected Terry’s spear while Terry used a transfixed bracer to block the incoming gauntlet.
Terry could sense mana movement from the blocked knuckle plate.
Multiple imprints. Seems to contain a basic shielding with periodic tiles.
Terry deactivated his bracer and jumped back while preparing to unleash a discharge in case the opponent’s imprint caused a ranged attack.
Before Terry could gain much distance, he saw mana movement in the wrist protector, and shortly after, he recognized the imprint. He could already feel the familiar tug of Kinetic Pull.
Terry transfixed the mid-wrist pearl in his bracer and jumped to use the pulling attraction and place a kick into the man’s face without losing an anchor for regaining distance if required.
The bald man swayed to the side and unleashed a palm strike that was accompanied by a lightning discharge towards Terry’s calf.
Terry dodged by air-jumping away.
The man followed Terry and unleashed a barrage of palm strikes. Some strikes were accompanied by close-range elemental spells – lightning, fire, and ice.
Discharge won’t help much at this distance…
Terry focused on dodging while wondering what the man’s plan was. Terry could see the man’s small mana pool emptying at a noticeable rate.
Terry narrowed his eyes when he sensed a spell structure forming near the man’s hand.
Crap, that’s Haste!
Terry reflexively unleashed a discharge, but the man’s spell control was too fast for Terry’s discharge to reach him in time.
The man sped up and put pressure on Terry, whose balanced state was suddenly not enough to keep up.
Damn it! I can’t disrupt a spell structure shielded by his own body and mana flow.
Terry clenched his teeth. When he realized he could not dodge a kick towards his kidney, Terry rapidly activated the Immovable Object imprint in one of the mana-shielded armor scales hidden underneath the cloud badger leather.
Terry could see the man’s face contort in pain after his shin collided with an immovable object at full swing. This time, it was Terry’s opponent that took some distance.
“Wasted CRAP-WEASEL! That hurt!” The man jumped twice on his other leg. His expression changed into a grin. “Serves me right. Won’t happen again.”
Terry snorted amusedly and got close while his opponent was still somewhat off-balance. He was still wondering how his opponent planned to manage his small mana pool.
The bald man swung at Terry, but quickly had to interrupt his hammer-arm attack when Terry transfixed the mana-free elbow protector on the man’s arm.
For a time, the match looked like an odd game of whack-a-mole in which Terry transfixed a piece of equipment and followed-up with an attack while the bald man quickly tried to disrupt the transfixed equipment to dodge or finish his own attack.
Is it just me or is his grin getting wider and wider?
Terry could not help but grin as well. The match was fun. Just the right amount of pressure and a combat-style that challenged and engaged his own.
The bald man could not disrupt a transfixed item in time and instead had to quickly counter with a palm that was accompanied by a fiery discharge.
Terry clicked his tongue.
Maybe…
Terry eyed the simple periodic shielding that was plainly visible to his mana sight from up close.
Terry picked his targets for immobilization to force the man to bring his arms closer to his face…
Terry grabbed the man’s gauntlet with his free hand and guided his own mana to pick the shielding and reach the imprint. Simultaneously, Terry pressed with his spear and elbow to have the man’s palm point towards the man’s face.
The bald man barely averted his face from the fire in time.
“Oww!” The bald back of the man’s head was burned.
Terry could see mana flow at the man’s belt, and in the next moment, Terry was repelled by the man.
Some kind of variant of the Repulsion Field spell. Force-based or arcane, probably.
The man carefully tapped his burned head while grimacing in pain. “You’re lucky I don’t have hair or I would stink up the whole arena.” His expression twisted into a grin again. “Alright, next round.”
Terry could see the smallest flicker of a spell structure that was ignited too fast for Terry to identify…
Terry felt his stomach fall and an indescribable sense of uncomfortableness.
Wait, his mana pool is filling up… Oy! That’s my mana!
Terry retreated from the man.
Drain Mana variant?
“Thanks for your valuable assistance!” The man followed and grinned even wider than before. “Your generous donation has been noted and is much appreciated.”
Terry scowled. Now, I get it.
***
“Good fights.” After the three matches, the bald man approached Terry and held out his hand. “I’m Derek.”
“Terry.” Terry shook Derek’s hand. “I don’t remember ever having such an exhausting battle before.”
Three of them, really.
Derek snorted. “With a mana pool like yours, I can imagine. You get used to it. I was honestly surprised that you held your own even without mana. Trained on an empty pool before?”
Terry nodded with a haunted look in his eyes. “Yes, and that was exhausting, too.”
“Anyway, I wanted to thank you,” said Derek.
Terry raised an eyebrow.
“For scaring some sense into Rosheen,” explained Derek.
Terry maintained a blank expression.
“The teeth-rattler,” said Derek with a grin.
“Ahh…” Terry finally realized whom Derek was talking about.
“She is an excellent mage, but a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to physical pain, which also makes her not overly fond of physical exercise and led her to her preferred tactics,” explained Derek.
Derek smiled warmly. “We tend to work together a lot and I have tried to convince her to pick up some mana cultivation besides her spellwork, but failed, because her chosen spells allowed her to get away with it so far.”
“No wonder,” interjected Terry with a grim expression. “That sonic spell is an absolute nightmare. If that had been real combat, I would have been dead.”
Derek snorted. “A fitting description, but I’ll have you know that there are similar opinions circling about you as well.”
“Huh?” Terry blurted out.
Derek broke out into laughter. “The spell flingers think you are a nightmare because of your disruption discharges and your abnormal mana foundation. Most cultivators cannot create or aim discharges at that level, nor can they afford to dish them out with such frequency. Combined with your speed, you seem pretty scary to those that are not used to close combat.”
Derek crossed his arms in front of his chest. “The mana cultivators think you are a nightmare because of that spell of yours that essentially throws your own power right back at you if you are not careful.” He snorted and then shrugged. “And, of course, there is your abnormal mana foundation again. Not everyone is used to being that outmatched when it comes to available mana.”
Terry became pensive. He had spent little time with the local Guardians aside from Sigille’s students. He had been busy and had never taken the time. There was also the fact that Terry knew he was going to leave Tiv eventually. As a result, Terry was not aware of his own reputation in the Libra Outpost.
“I figure after today, your habit of picking your opponent’s imprinted items will inspire some additional dread.” Derek smiled wryly. “That really took me off-guard and I appreciate that you refrained from damaging the imprints. Acquiring new magic items is a pain.”
Terry blinked. I did not even think of that…
True, I could probably have caused the imprints to collapse if I had wanted to.
“I guess I will need to find someone to improve the shielding eventually.” Derek grimaced when imagining the costs and hassle that would entail, before he shrugged again. “Fortunately, most with that level of external mana control are primarily spell flingers, and that type avoids engaging in close combat. So it should be fine for now.”
Derek turned his gaze back to Terry. “One win, one loss, one draw – feels kind of inconclusive, don’t you think? How about we continue sparring from now on? That spell of yours helps me hone my reaction time. I figure that is why Instructor Palmer picked you as my opponent.”
Derek broke out in a familiar grin. “And with you as my mana charger, I can train longer. That is a nice bonus.”
Terry snorted. “Not sure how I feel about that bonus, but I’m game for the spars.”
I need to find a way to deal with that Drain Mana spell, anyway.
Terry paused when he recalled something else. “Uhh, I wanted to take on some missions to eliminate aspect beings.”
“Looking for a group?” asked Derek.
Terry nodded.
“Suits me fine,” said Derek. “Instructor Palmer often accompanies the demon trips, and I try to stay close and not lose the opportunity for personal instruction. However…”
Terry watched Derek grimace.
“Well, you kind of scared away my usual healer,” said Derek. “As far as I know, Rosheen intends to skip this mission round to focus on training.”
“Skip?” Terry tilted his head. “I thought we have to fulfill mission quotas in Tiv.”
“Yeah, we do, but depending on the spell flinger, there are a bunch of other conditions.” Derek shrugged. “Anyone capable of healing spells will have to make trips to heal the populace. Anyone capable of earth magic will have to make trips to help with construction work and so forth. Depending on the chosen lectures, the ‘missions’ and quotas are different as well.”
Terry scrunched up his face in thought. “Didn’t you use Haste in our matches?”
“Ah, yes, but I never learned any healing spells – life-aspected or otherwise,” explained Derek. “I got injured when I was younger, which led to a rather disappointing mana pool development. I had to pick my spells carefully.”
Derek frowned. “There is also the problem of the required healing trips. With my mana pool, those would have taken up practically all of my time. Actually, I doubt I would have been able to fulfill the quota in the beginning.”
***