Where the hell did Astrinar find this one? Whether it was luck, skill, or innate talent it didn't change Jace's masked shock and approval at the rate of growth from Agni. They were on the road for only a couple of hours and already she was consistently cutting down mana consumption while infusing her body, something Jace typically waited days to get down. Though, given the circumstances... He looked around at the forest surrounding them. Perhaps it's very well that we don't have to wait... No comfy walls out here.
"Well now, it seems you've already got the swing of things, so how about we move on to the next step?" Jace twisted his head to face Agni as they walked. She perked up at those words, ceasing her infusion and vigorously nodding her assent. "Alright, here." Jace handed a long triangular dagger to the girl, who gingerly accepted and examined it.
"Okay... I have a weapon, now what? Are we doing weapons training?"
"Not exactly, as I'm sure those two can vouch, this will be one of the more difficult segments, you'll need to know how to imprint. How to store your equipment and such." Agni mouthed an Ooh and waited for Jace to continue. Nell and Alkir nodded in some capacity at their mention, lost in their mini-worlds, Nell in his book and Alkir in his gear. "Alright, ready for a boring ramble?"
"Yup, go for it."
Jace took a deep breath and launched into his overview of the subject. "Imprinting is placing your mana, the stuff that you've been using to enhance your body the last few hours, semi-permanently onto an object, wiring it deep within the object's inner workings, and making it an extension of yourself. Got it so far?" She nodded. "Good, once that mark is placed so to speak, you can then absorb the item into your Aether pocket, where it will be stored until you call it forth"
"Excuse me!" Agni sarcastically raised her hand. "What exactly is the Aether anyways?"
Jace mulled her question over for a moment, thinking of how to put it. "Well... hm... Think about it like this, there is a plane of existence, another dimension outside our perception, right, and that plane is known as the Aether. It is a place of pure energy by our standards, the home of the gods, and the source of mana. Some creatures, like humans and monsters, possess connections to personal bubbles within that overarching space, which leeches energy from its surroundings to supply a slowly replenishing source of mana. These connections are your conduits, with the epicenter being your gate, otherwise referred to as the soul." Jace decided to stop there, he figured that all she would ever really need to know right now would be there somewhere, the rest could come later. "Envision your mana bonding with that dagger, and imagine it becoming like another limb, an extension."
Consternation crossed Agni's face as she walked and focus on the dagger, blocking out all distractions slowed her pace slightly, and Jace quickly ran through some basic estimates. We should still be fine. Here's to hoping. And so they continued, to Jace's slight gratitude Agni didn't seem to grow frustrated at her inability to imprint, rather taking each push in stride and trying again. Sorry, Alkir, but even I have my limits for teenage complaining. He thought back to the week of Alkir's training fondly, and lost in memory he nearly bumped into a halted Nell.
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"We've got a problem."
"It's Winnow Root, bad stuff, this part of the path might not be the best or easiest, it's everywhere..." The boy sounded completely sure, but even so, even with the times he had called out signs of other beasts and dangers, Jace found it difficult to take his words at face value. The hundred years he placed into this profession made him predisposed to assume others were wrong, perhaps. Or at least, that's what Jace figured.
"Where?" Luckily, Alkir seemed to be a bit harsher, or perhaps the better term is transparent and upfront.
"The tree, four feet ahead of us, direct right edge of the trail, the roots around its base go up too far, about eye level, plus there are other trees with false branches tracing down to the base of their respective hosts." Nell didn't take offense, despite Alkir's rigid question, both on the Winnow Root and on Nell's ability itself.
Right, again... Well, I'll be, maybe this is why Ava suggested him? Ah, who knows, impressive nonetheless. He's right, that shit, ugh. Winnow Root was relatively rare in Rueka's area, a wood-like vine growing along trees, close to the ground, mimicking low branches or roots and lashing at anything that got too close, that's how they caught their prey. "Well, we can't afford a setback that size right now, so how would you proceed?"
Nell thought for a minute, then faced Jace with slight bemusement. "Well, if I had to go through, hm... Have any of you ever played limbo?"
Limbo isn't fun. I knew that before, but oh god am I relearning. Their pace was cut drastically, they were ducking beneath and hopping over those wretched vines after all, and thus their trip through this patch of woods was slow going, without knowing how far the vines had spread trying to go around could cost them days, so this was the only reasonable option. it was about an hour into the perilous false roots when It happened.
A bright flash, a crack resounding in the air, and Agni shouting. Ah hell! As Jace whipped his head around he didn't see any danger, or any concern at all really, what met his gaze was Agni, standing there holding out her arm, her hands were empty, but most importantly, the vines stayed motionless.
"Hey! What's going on!" Nell called out to them from a bit further ahead, not having a good view of the situation.
Jace turned back to holler over his shoulder. "It's all fine! Let's keep moving!" He looked over and gave Agni a slight smile and nod of acknowledgment, returning to the ducking and weaving through the pseudo-branches.
Agni kept practicing manifesting and storing the dagger right up until Nell lead them out of the maze of false roots, taking his spot in the middle of the pack once more, and relinquishing his lead to Jace. It was astonishing how quickly she was growing accustomed to the presence of the Aether, and how easily she took to utilizing mana. So while Jace was grateful that Agni learned quicker than most, if not all of his prior pupils, he couldn't help but wonder, what makes her so much more receptive to the Aether? What makes her different?
"Alrighty then, Agni, for the rest of today, how about you focus on improving efficiency, once you cut down on the expelled mana during your item transference you'll be able to utilize it much more effectively in combat." Yeah, that was quite a bit lost during the imprint, I also wondered if we were under attack. When Agni first imprinted that dagger the wave of residual mana forced a miniature explosion to occur, nonlethal, yes, but loud and bright without a doubt.
She nodded and began infusing mana, again nearly effortlessly releasing and coordinating mana through her body. Fascinating... Jace focused back on the path, sending slight glances to check on the rest of his party every few minutes. That setback may cost us a bit, but in the end, it should be fine. I'm trusting you with that as well, don't forget. As each member became lost in their own worlds, Jace softly hummed a strange, melancholy tune to himself, as they slowly but surely carved their way through the endless forest.