Sam knocked on the door to Dan’s office and entered after being given the invitation inside. Dan was sitting at his table, staring at the computer screen. “Ah Sam,” he said without looking up. “Please, take a sit. I’ll be with you momentarily. Just got to finish something here.”
“Not any more of the stuff that Farris dumped your way right?” Sam asked while taking his sit, grateful for the glass of water already prepared for him.
“No, just the usual assortment of paperwork, for good and bad.” Another minute passed before Dan was finished with his work. “And how has your day been since our parting?” he asked while carrying his familiar steaming hot cup of tea over from the desk and sitting across to Sam. “Did the general put your time together to good use?”
“Yeah, I should say so. We had a lot to talk about. He taught me gathering. A bunch of other stuff that I already managed to forget. A discussion about whether the genocide of the Epiraks could be morally justified… But I’ll admit to not having enough solid base of knowledge for most of the arguments I presented.”
“An interesting topic.” Dan took a sip of his drink. “One that is rarely discussed nowadays, particularly with the state of the war being what it is. Am I to assume that Farris argued for the Epiraks’ extinction?”
Sam nodded. “Why would you disagree?”
“Hardly. You’ll learn for yourself in that it’s much easier to face yourself in the mirror after killing an Epirak compared with what you’re probably expecting, having only our own bloody history of warfare to draw from. But if you won’t take others at their word and are rushing to make a decision on the matter. You could conduct some research concerning the causes of PTSD among our veterans. You’ll find that remorse for one’s enemy and actions against them are not to be found amongst those of us who are war-weary.”
“Nah, I’ll take your word for it. I’ll see it for myself in due time anyway, so it’s not like it matters much to me now. After all, it’s not like anyone’s giving me the codes for the nukes and asked me to decide their fate. Speaking of which, I also discovered that nukes are apparently still a thing.”
“In certain circumstances, yes. But Shallenet remains the only example of their usage. Even following the battle, after the ningani and Imperials changed their minds and asked for nuclear weapons to be sent to the west as well.”
“Man, I really got to read up on that battle.”
“And you will. During your second and third year here, and particularly your first year of deployment, during your Military Training. You have plenty of time dedicated to the grander aspects of a military life ahead of you.”
“Even if I don’t plan to be in command?”
“You might not plan for it, but is it really up to you? If you find yourself as the sole Ruler in a cutoff unit where the strongest person beside you is only level 8, will you let anyone else assume command? Do you think your fellow soldiers will let anyone else assume command?”
“Right, of course not. The whole ‘strongest lead’ aspect that you guys have got going on. Guess that will mean that I’ll have to evolve from an armchair strategist into… I don’t know, a regular one.”
“Well, if you end up finding that strategy is truly an anathema to your being, you’ll only be asked to give it in very dire situations, like the one I just described. But in the much greater likelihood that you and command won’t be such polar opposites, then yes; you will be required to take part in the decision making, and much more importantly, the decision implementing, process. After all, like the famous saying goes, you must be familiar with it: ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ Leadership is just another such burden of strength.”
“OK, I’m so taken aback that you’ve just used that quote that I’m not even going to question why you believe I’m going to be suitable for command. You realize that the ‘famous saying’ is from a fucking comic book, right? You know, a book with pictures. Children’s entertainment.”
“I did know that, yes. But what does that have to do with anything? Adages come to us from all sorts of sources and in many forms. This is just the most common Terran saying for a very widespread notion and as far as this one goes, it’s easy to remember. It carries its meaning loud and clear. What more could you want in a quote?”
“Fine. Just as long as you don’t quote anything from Alan Moore.”
“I have no idea who that is.”
“Just as well. I don’t really know anything about the guy besides him being famous for presumably being really good at his job. And you can’t make a joke about a guy based on just that… Where were we?”
“Taking about the burdens of command and how the next three years are meant to prepare you for it.”
“Right… Farris also mentioned how I have the habit of completely derailing a conversation.”
“I wouldn’t say completely, but I have noticed that pattern of behavior myself. But rest assured, if I felt that you were wasting our time by changing a topic, then I would redirect you straight away.”
“So that whole bit about comics books wasn’t a waste of our time? Or me asking this very question?”
“Just a natural expression of one’s personality, perfectly acceptable usage of our time together.”
“Wow. You managed to say that with a completely straight face. Nice.”
“That’s because I was completely serious. Believe me, you are far and away from being anything remotely close to a problem student. Especially since we haven’t even begun our lesson yet.”
Sam clapped his thighs. “Right, let’s get to it then.”
“Gladly. I’ll just finish interrogating you on your time spent with Farris, if you don’t mind. While I won’t question his motives for showing interest in you, I would like to know how he showed that interest. Both in my capacity as your teacher and as a Terran officer.”
“Your loss then,” Sam said and started spilling the beans about the wonderful morning that he had shared with his new mentor, although he said no more about their last conversation, not wanting to get dragged into yet another discussion about what he thought of the future of the war. He mainly focused on what Farris taught him of gathering, and declaring himself a mentor to Sam. “Oh that reminds me,” Sam said once he was finished regaling Dan with his tale, “he flew. That’s a Ruler only thing, right?”
“Practically, yes. Us mere mortals have to consign ourself to technology in order to achieve the wonder that is flight.”
“Or we could have a Ruler carry us.”
“Or that. But let’s move on to gathering. Show me your process exactly as Farris taught you. Don’t worry about the first stage taking longer due to where you imagined your core to be. Ultimately, it’s best for beginners to focus sensing outwards from around their heads. That’s where most of our senses are, and it’s what comes most naturally to us when we want to perceive the outside world. I trust that your core is still full, yes?”
It should have been, but Sam checked down and inside of him just in case, nodding once he confirmed that. Then, he proceed to gather just like before. At first, finding it harder than the last time he tried, but slowly and surely getting more used to the process, seeing fewer failures and finishing the cycles faster. All that time, he was also growing used to the feeling of magic in his body and, more importantly, the magic in his core. It still felt like being drawn into a whirlwind of contrasting sensations when he looked at the magic swirling and/or keeping still inside of him, but he was finding it easier to maintain his focus instead of being completely drawn into the maelstrom.
After some time, which Sam was surprised to discover was more than an hour, once he checked the clock, Dan told him to open his eyes and asked, “How was it?”
“Pretty good. Hard, but not physically hard. Like if I had to, I could do this the whole day and I’ll probably get bored before I get tired. But fuck, I can’t actually believe that it’s been an hour. It seemed much shorter than that.”
“That’s the good thing about gathering. It demands constant attention and creates a relatively minor mental strain in return. And another good thing is that you seemed to be enjoying yourself while doing it. I know people who moan every time that they have to gather because they get bored so quickly.”
“Children, you mean.”
“And adults. I’m sure I could find you level 10s who are more happy about not having to cultivate anymore than about the prospect of becoming a Ruler. Not that gathering ever stops, but that’s a lesson that’s so far off in your future that you probably won’t learn it from me,” Dan said with a smile.
“You know, I really think that you guys are getting off on telling me stuff that ‘I’m not supposed to know quite yet’ and then not expanding on them.”
“Furthest thing from my mind. Just didn’t want you to develop any incorrect expectations regarding how gathering works in the higher levels. Now, what I want you to do is walk me through a gathering cycle while narrating out loud what you’re doing. We are going to try and do that a couple of times. It’s going to be hard going at first. You’re probably going to make a misstep because you find it hard to focus, but that’s alright. We’ll be training your concentration while at the same time analyzing your technique. Start when you’re ready.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Sam did, and his initial feelings of embarrassment were quickly replaced by annoyance at this repeated failures at the new task. Mainly because it went against the way Sam had been gathering up until now. Before, he was simply doing what felt right, going by Farris’s instructions and not giving too much thought to the process. Like lifting weights where you’ve already done the exercise a thousand times before. But now, he was forced to think about what he was doing while he was doing it, and the consequence was that a barrier had formed between what came naturally to Sam and what Sam ended up doing. That’s not to say that he was necessarily doing things wrong, but now, instead of devoting all of his attention to lifting the weights, he was forced to devote some of it to making sure he was lifting it correctly. Obviously, this was one of Dan’s intentions for the exercise, and the right thing to do in the long run. But it was just so fucking annoying.
Eventually, he managed to complete one cycle to silent applause and just the sound of his own clenched jaw. Without a new directive from Dan, he was forced to keep going and subjecting the older man to the grating qualities of Sam’s voice. Amazingly, another cycle shortly followed Sam’s first one, but the late arrival of the third one proved that was just a matter of luck. Luck or not, the fourth one came not too long after the third, at which point Dan finally relented and released Sam from his duty of narration. He had him do a couple more cycles in quiet. And Sam was happy to discover that by the time Dan had told him to open his eyes, Sam had not failed to complete even a single cycle. Things were looking up.
“Not bad,” Dan said with a reassuring smile. “Let’s break for lunch. I’ll explain to you what you did right and wrong once we’re back.”
“It’s fine. I’m not that hungry. Let’s keep going.”
“You might not be hungry, but your body surely is. And don’t forget that you have a diet that you need to stick with. Besides, don’t I get a say in the matter? I had to forgo breakfast, after all.”
“Oh right, of course.”
Dan stood up, finishing the rest of his cup (was it third or fourth?) in one gulp. “Let’s go then.”
“Wait, you’re coming with?” Sam got up as well.
“Are you too embarrassed to be seen with anyone who isn’t a Ruler, now that your mentor is one?”
“Nah, I just thought that we were going to eat separately or something.” Sam followed Dan out of the office as they began to make their way downstairs. “Because if we’re eating lunch together, then why can’t you go over my gathering during it? That is, if it’s alright with you, of course.”
Dan shook his head with the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “It’s not alright with me. Breaks are an important part in education, a requirement for someone to be able and maintain their focus in the short run and motivation in the long run.”
Sam wanted to keep arguing, saying that he was more than used to long hours of studying and that a half hour of lunch being used to go over some stuff wasn’t going to do him any harm. The words got stuck in his throat however, as it dawned on him that if he started disagreeing with his instructors’ lesson plans for him because he thought that they were taking it too easy on him, then that would open the door for disagreeing if he felt that they were going too hard. So the most cautious method of behavior in this case was to acquiesce to all the tasks and time tables planned for him, and only deviate from them if Web-Web said so.
That meant that lunch passed in relative calm and leisure. And it seemed that Sam’s fifteen minutes of fame had passed completely because he didn’t feel even a single pair of eyes judging him, other than his own, of course. Hopefully that was that was indeed what happened rather than him just getting used to the attention. Being so quick to acclimate to fame can’t be a good thing. However, the lunch mostly consisted of Dan asking Sam some more questions about what he talked about with Farris, so Sam wasn’t sure if he was really getting a break.
Thankfully, before too long, they were back from lunch and seated once again in Dan’s office. Dan then started going over about the things Sam did right and those that he did wrong when gathering before. Sam was happy to discover that the right greatly outnumbered the wrong, but his glee was short-lived once Dan told him that this was to be excepted. There wasn’t much wrong that a person could do while gathering at this stage, before you even got to the fundamental techniques. Still, Dan corrected Sam for his few wrongs, and had him practice gathering some more, until satisfied with Sam’s proficiency for the time being.
“We’ll come back to this tomorrow,” Dan said. “And I think that soon enough we can move on from primitive gathering. But for now, whenever you have free time and are disinclined to use it for study, feel free to spend it gathering, as long as your core is full, of course. It would be a waste to have you practice only half of the process for now.”
“Got it. What about gathering while doing something else? Like working out?”
“Leave it for now. The body is more than capable of supplying all the magic that it needs for nourishment under level 1, so there’s no need to worry about it. You could try gathering while doing some other, more basic mechanical actions, like showering or eating, if you wish. But you probably won’t manage to complete a cycle like that anytime soon. Still, up to you.”
Sam nodded. “How much time should I be spending cultivating from now on then?”
“That depends. For now, do it whenever you’re free and willing. I’ll finish making you a permanent, or as close as possible to permanent, schedule for the trimester soon, and that will include time dedicated to cultivating. Although it would still be quite a while until I deem you proficient enough to take up a consistent burden of cultivating. So until then, feel free to see that time as free time. Which again, if you want to use it for training purposes, you can use it for either studying or cultivating. But you don’t have to either, up to you.”
“Just remember that I need to make it to level 1 as soon as possible.”
“I remember, don’t worry. My hope is that you’ll reach level 1 around the time when the next school year begins. Especially if you are still planning to start at year two…”
“Let’s shoot for the moon. Even if it’s a fake piece of shit.”
“As you wish. But don’t forget that it will still be up to my discretion to decide which year to enroll you at. And that it’s completely fine if you do end up needing to start at the beginning.”
“Just give me a plan that should make me ready for year two as long as I give it my all. That’s all I’m asking.”
“And that’s what you shall get. Anything else about the topic, or gathering, that you wanted to ask?” Sam shook his head. “Good. So let’s move on to tracing. We’ll keep patterns on the back burner for now, until you master the basics, so we’ll probably go back to them through magical theory first, then through practical study like we did yesterday. Still, I’ve yet to decide, so I’ll keep you updated. Maybe I’ll give you some homework to study by yourself.”
“Great,” Sam lied. He wasn’t keen on studying the difficult subject without the aid of someone more knowledgeable than him. And he wasn’t going to ask his friends for help with just a little bit of homework. Hopefully, the internet would provide if he ends up finding himself at deadlock. Ideally, he’ll be able to push through and solve the problem by himself, but you’ve got to be realistic about these things.
“On to tracing. What I want you to do for today is quite simple. I’ll say a body part and you just need to trace magic to that part. Ready? Let’s start with your hand just like we did before.” Sam complied and before too long, magic was gathering at what he felt was the exact center of the palm of his hand. “Don’t try to control the flow of the magic, just do what comes naturally. Now, I want you to trace to your elbow.” Sam moved the focus of his thoughts from his palm to his elbow and in the next moment, magic started gathering at the joint from both sides of his arm. The magic that he had traced onto his palm, however, was still lingering, none of it trying to make the journey towards his elbow.
“I’m doing it, but the magic in my hand doesn’t seem to move.”
“That’s because you are only drawing from your core, letting the magic’s natural inclination and your uncontrolled instincts guide the tracing process. But don’t worry about that. For now, I just want you to focus on initiating tracing. That’s the proper term for drawing like you’re doing. Now trace to your left eye. Strictly speaking, tracing is the process of moving magic through a medium, and since the core isn’t one, what you’re doing right now doesn’t count as tracing. Your right eye. But no one but pedants mark a difference between the actions. And soon enough, you’ll be ‘truly’ tracing with no difficulty.”
Soon enough only came at the last part of their lesson of the day. Until that point, Dan had Sam trace to pretty much every part of the human body that could be easily named by the average person. Making sure to refill Sam’s core whenever it ran out, which was plenty. They finished the lesson shortly after Dan showed him how to ‘really’ trace. Which left only a few minutes for Sam to practice it. He had finally managed to move all the magic gathered at one point to another when Dan called an end for the day, but not before refilling his core one last time. Once again, making an appointment for tomorrow after breakfast, Dan saw him all the way out of the building.
All in all, Sam felt much better after today’s lesson than yesterday’s, which probably meant that something horrible was going to happen at tomorrow’s lesson. There had to be a balance in all things, after all. He made his way to the mess hall and once inside, picked up his food in record time, and went to join the company of his newly minted friends. “So how was everyone’s day?” he asked while sitting down.
“It was a bit of a letdown after spending the first part of it in the company of a Ruler,” Felix answered.
“And I’m guessing it’s the exact opposite for Yvessa, who had a grand old time once released from suffering Farris’s presence.”
“It was pretty great. I’m not going to lie,” Yvessa said truthfully. “So, did he end up telling you who is going to be teaching you?”
“No, I forgot to ask.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Erianna puts pressure on him to tell her and once she tells me, I’ll tell you. That way, we can make sure that he made the right choice.”
“Or,” said Felix, “you can put your trust in the ability of one of the strongest people in the Web to choose the right teacher for Sam.”
“I would, only I know Farris better than that. And once he gets an idea into his head, he will rarely let it go.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Sarah said. “Just means that he will take mentoring Sam seriously.”
“Sure. But what about if he thinks that some unqualified weirdo would make for a really funny choice to be Sam’s teacher and that he wants to see it happen?”
“He wouldn’t do that… Right?”
“Probably not. But it pays to be cautious.”
“I don’t know…” Sam said. “How funny are we talking about? Cause I am willing to make some concessions on the quality of my education if it’s for a greater purpose, like comedy.”
“No you’re not,” Sarah said.
“It turns out that I’m not.”
“So what did you end up studying with Dan? Just gathering?”
“Aren’t you guys getting tired of just listening me to talk all the time? Shouldn’t we also go over what the other people at the table did during the day?”
“That isn’t necessary.”
“She will punish us if we don’t show interest in you,” Felix whispered. “She hits us when you’re not looking, you know?”
“I also can hit you when he is looking. How about that?”
“So how was your day, Sam?”
Sam was forced to regale them with the riveting tale of his lessons with Dan. Thankfully, he managed to pivot the topic rather quickly, and the conversation turned to small talk between the four of them. At one point, Felix tried to bring up something that he and Yvessa studied today, but was stopped after getting glares from Sarah following a confused expression from Sam.
The rest of the evening passed with only the slightest hint of lung damage from the workout that Sarah forced Sam to endure. And he didn’t even have music to match up with his bpm with BPM. Still, exercise felt good, or as close as good as was possible for Sam. And it certainly helped that he had three people cheering him on. Well, two people. Yvessa didn’t cheer as much as goad him by saying that he could do better. After the workout, the four of them parted, each going to their own dorm. Sarah bid Sam goodbye at the entrance to him, making sure to give him yet another hug and getting reminding him yet again about meeting tomorrow morning. Sam spent the rest of the night reading about the elven history he was supposed to go over during the morning. And found sleep easy to come by when he finally laid his head to rest.