It was a beautiful morning at the garrison. The slight overcast provided a comfortable amount of shade from the morning sun. A slight cool breeze blew throughout the area, carrying a few strands of Elianna's hair that fluttered on her face. Elianna's lips curved into a small, content smile as she closed her eyes and raised her head, enjoying the cool early morning temperature and the sounds of the birds chirping nearby.

A rattling knocked Elianna out of her thoughts, and she looked to the side toward the sound. She observed as her father was carrying three small silver disc-shaped targets tied to straps, dangling from his hand and hitting each other like chimes. Lucian approached one of the target dummies to the side of the headquarters building and started attaching the targets. He placed two targets on the dummy's torso, one on each side and another on its head.

Elianna tilted her head slightly, looking at the targets curiously, "What are those for?"

Lucian finished securing the last target before he turned and smiled at his daughter. "Accuracy training." He pointed to the small discs. "While you've been doing well with your ranged attacks, it is good to practice your accuracy. When you tend to practice on a smaller target, your accuracy increases; as you aim small, you miss small."

Elianna nodded, studying the three small discs, "So I just knock down all three from a distance?" She confidently smiled, "That's easy enough."

Lucian chuckled, "We'll see. You will also be dashing side to side as you release your magic. You do well moving, stopping, and then attacking from a distance. But, for this training, you will be attacking while on the move. As you will soon discover, it's a different concept than just standing still and throwing a ranged attack."

Elianna nodded, looking at the target, before she looked at her father curiously, "What about hitting a moving target?"

Lucian smiled, "That, we will save for after you master this training. Hitting a moving target is also a different concept, especially hitting a moving target as you're moving as well."

Elianna scratched her head, staring at the targets, "Sounds complicated."

Lucian let out a small laugh, "It's not as complicated as you might think, Munchkin. Now, go ahead and get stretched out. You will be moving a lot for this training."

Elianna nodded and began stretching her arms, extending them across her chest and over her head. Next, she worked on stretching her legs and her back, wanting to ensure she was nice and limber. She didn't listen to her father once about the importance of stretching and came to regret it, as she was sore for the next few days.

Lucian adjusted the targets, making sure they weren't too close to each other. Once he was finished, he looked at his daughter curiously, "Ready?"

"Almost," Elianna said as she leaned to her right, getting a deep stretch to her legs. She stood straight, rolling her neck, "I'm going to do a small warm-up run if that's okay."

Lucian smiled, "Of course that's okay. I'll wait here."

Elianna nodded, smiled, and quickly waved to her father, "I'll be back!"

Elianna turned and began to run off just as her father yelled he would be timing her. Elianna chuckled, knowing her father was aware of how competitive she was and how she was always trying to beat her run times. She ran her usual path, heading towards the first battalion building. Normally, she would run approximately two miles for her regular runs; however, for her warm-up runs, she would run about half a mile since she didn't want to tire herself out before training.

Noises of metal clashing against metal and explosions filled Elianna's ears as she began to run past the first battalion building. Looking toward the noise, she observed several knights and mages outside the building, either doing their morning physical exercise or training. Elianna smiled with admiration, watching the knights dash around, striking each other or their dummies as they trained.

Elianna watched as one female elven knight dashed toward a target while dual-wielding one-handed axes. The female knight jumped into the air and spun horizontally, coating her axes with fire magic. She descended toward the target before her, swung her axes down vertically, and struck the dummy down its torso.

Elianna eyed the female with praise before she continued to look around at the other soldiers. As she looked around, Elianna's running pace began to slow as her eyes fell on a familiar figure with blonde hair. It had been three days since she last saw Nicholas by the tree. The day after, she had her lesson with Justine, and then the next two days were the weekend, which she usually spent with her family.

Adorned in a short-sleeved brown and gold v-neck shirt, black pants, and boots, Nicholas seemed to be listening closely as the figure in front of him spoke. The figure standing before him was an astonishingly beautiful woman with a flawless porcelain complexion, red hair, and icy blue eyes, who looked to be in her early forties. She was wearing Tri-Union mage apparel, minus the white cloak. Standing beside Nicholas in similar apparel to him, also listening to the female mage, was another female who looked similar to the mage, with red hair and sapphire blue eyes, and who looked a few years older than Nicholas.

The female mage raised her hands, and Elianna watched as a bright white light the size of a chicken egg formed above her hands. Nicholas' eyes widened with amazement, while the younger female seemed to laugh lightheartedly and smile at him. The female mage dispersed the white light, gestured to Nicholas, and said something.

Elianna's eyes settled on Nicholas, watching him intently as he raised his hands. She began wondering what he was doing and if he was going to make a white light of his own. She felt intrigued, wanting to watch Nicholas perform magic. Nicholas stared at his hands, seeming to concentrate, when all of a sudden, his eyes flicked toward Elianna, meeting her gaze. Elianna flinched, suddenly realizing she had stopped running and was standing there, staring directly at Nicholas.

Nicholas smiled wide and waved at Elianna, "Hey! Lia!"

Elianna raised a brow as she vividly remembered telling Nicholas she didn't care for the name Lia. The two red-haired females looked surprised before following Nicholas' gaze, eyeing Elianna curiously. Elianna started slightly as the two females suddenly looked at her, but she quickly composed herself as she smiled and gave a small wave to Nicholas.

Elianna turned and was about to continue her run, not wanting to interrupt Nicholas' training, when Nicholas motioned at her, "Come here!"

Elianna froze, surprised by the sudden invitation. She contemplated for a second, knowing she had training with her father. However, she still felt a little intrigued about wanting to see Nicholas perform magic. Deciding that a slight detour wouldn't hurt, she began to walk toward Nicholas and the other two.

Nicholas smiled at Elianna as she approached, "Hey, Lia! Good to see you again!" He gestured to the female mage, "This is my aunt that I told you about." He then gestured to the younger female beside him, "And this is my cousin, Celine."

Celine gave Elianna a friendly smile and waved, "Hello."

Elianna returned Celine's smile, "Hi."

The female mage gave Elianna a warm smile, "Lia, is it? I'm Freya; it's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's Elianna, actually," Elianna said sheepishly, not wanting to correct someone she just met. "I usually go by Elle for short. I don't really care for the name Lia."

Freya raised a brow, her eyes darting to Nicholas, who just shrugged. Freya looked back at Elianna with a curious expression, "Elianna?" Her eyes soon widened with realization, recognizing the name, and she smiled, "Ah, so you must be Commander Vail's daughter."

Elianna smiled and nodded, "Yes, Ma'am."

Freya chuckled, "You don't need to call me ma'am. Freya is fine, and it's a pleasure to meet you."

Elianna smiled and nodded, relaxing a little, seeing Freya was kind, "Nice to meet you too."

"Nick told us about you a few days ago," Celine began, giving Nicholas a teasing smile. Nicholas' smile faded, and his cheeks reddened with embarrassment as he looked at the ground. "He said you liked his drawings."

Elianna's eyes flicked to Nicholas, seeing him standing there with reddened cheeks. She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, they were really good."

Nicholas' eyes shot up, looking at Elianna, and he smiled brightly at her compliment. This didn't go unnoticed by Freya, whose lips curved slightly.

With a smile, Freya looked at Elianna curiously, "So, what brings you around the first battalion?"

"I was on my warm-up run, preparing for training with my dad," Elianna responded. "But I spotted Nick, and then I got distracted by the magic, the white light you made."

"Ah," Freya began and raised her hand. "You mean mana bolt."

Elianna's and Nicholas' eyes widened with wonder as Freya conjured a small ball of pure mana in her hand that was the size of a chicken egg. Freya and Celine both chuckled, seeing Nicholas' and Elianna's similar reactions.

"As I was telling Nicholas, this is a combat spell," Freya began. "It's a simple spell that has a low cast time and doesn't use much mana."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Elianna looked at Freya, confused, "Cast time?"

Freya nodded, "It's what we call the amount of time it takes to create a spell. You see, we mages project our mana into the atmosphere and control the ambient nature and elemental mana. We gather the mana together with our willpower and intent to create a desired effect, known as spells. The larger or stronger the spell, the more mana it needs and the longer it takes to form. That's why sometimes you will see mages use smaller spells in combat instead of larger ones."

Elianna nodded, listening intently, "So bigger and stronger spells take more time and mana to make?"

Freya chuckled, "Precisely. However, there are also mana-based spells like this one," Freya motioned to the mana bolt hovering in her hand, "which have low cast times since it's made purely of our own mana, and we don't need to focus on gathering ambient mana."

Elianna nodded and looked at the mana bolt with intrigue, "So, what does this spell do?"

Freya smiled and looked at the target a few feet away from her, "This."

Freya flicked her wrist, releasing the mana bolt. The mana bolt flew toward the target at an alarming speed and struck it in its torso, leaving a small hole.

"Woah," Elianna expressed.

"Cool, right?!" Nicholas chirped.

Elianna looked at him and excitedly nodded, "Very!"

Freya and Celine smiled and shared a quick glance. Freya looked at Nicholas, "Alright, Nicholas. Now it is your turn."

Nicholas nodded and raised his right hand. Elianna watched Nicholas with interest as he stared intently at his hand. Nicholas pushed mana out from his core and through his arm, projecting it into the atmosphere. Pure white mana began to glow and swirl above Nicholas' hand and through his intent and willpower, he began to form it together. Elianna's eyes widened in awe, and Freya and Celine smiled proudly as the mana came together, forming into a ball as Nicholas successfully conjured a mana bolt.

"Nice job!" Elianna expressed, looking at the spell in awe.

Nicholas looked at Elianna and smiled contently, "Thank you!"

"Now," Freya began and looked at the training dummy. "Release the spell at the dummy."

Nicholas nodded and moved just like his aunt did a few moments ago. He flicked his wrist, releasing the mana bolt, which went flying and struck the dummy in the chest, leaving a small hole.

"Very good, Nicholas," Freya complimented proudly. "Now, try it with the wand I gave you and see the difference."

Nicholas nodded, and Elianna watched with interest as he pulled a small black wooden wand out of his spatial ring in a flash of green light. She noticed that at the handle of the wand was a small mana gem embedded into it.

Nicholas raised his wand and focused. The mana gem at the base of the wand began to glow white with mana as he projected his mana into the atmosphere. Nicholas' eyes widened in surprise as the mana bolt quickly formed at the tip of his wand.

Freya smiled, seeing Nicholas' reaction, "What did you notice?"

"I-It formed faster," Nicholas said, astonished, and looked at his aunt. "And I used less mana to form the spell."

Elianna chuckled, "I had that same reaction when I first used the mana gem on my sword."

"Mana gem?" Nicholas asked, looking at Elianna with confusion.

Celine pointed to Nicholas' wand, "It's the small gem on the handle of your wand."

Nicholas curiously looked at the handle of his wand, eying the glowing mana gem. He thought it was for decoration before, not knowing it had an actual purpose.

Freya looked at Elianna and smiled, "Seeing that you know about it, would you like to explain about the mana gem?"

Elianna looked surprised at the offer before she excitedly nodded, "Sure! The mana gem is used to amplify the output of one's mana. It's designed so the augmentor or mage doesn't need to use as much mana during their attacks, but also to make their attacks and spells stronger."

Freya smiled and nodded, impressed by her accurate explanation, "Correct. It also lowers the cast time for mages. Now," Freya looked at the dummy, "hit the dummy with your spell, Nicholas."

Nicholas nodded and waved his wand. He released the mana bolt, which went flying and struck the dummy in the torso again, leaving a slightly bigger hole this time.

"Nicely done," Freya complimented.

"Nice job, cousin," Celine chirped, pulling her white wooden wand out of her spacial ring. "Soon, you'll be able to do this."

Celine pointed her wand toward the dummy, and the mana gem on her wand handle began to glow. Ruby mana swirled around the tip of her wand, congregating together to form a chicken egg-sized ball of fire. Celine flicked her wrist, releasing the ball of fire and striking the dummy on the torso, which left a small burned hole.

"Show off," Nicholas grumbled, looking at his cousin with a playful, narrowed gaze.

Celine looked at him, lowered her wand, and smiled as she warmly ruffled his hair.

"That was so cool!" Elianna chirped, wide-eyed with wonder at Celine's display of magic.

Elianna looked at Nicholas curiously and excitedly, "Can you use fire magic like that?!"

Nicholas shook his head, "No, I'm only first circle."

Elianna looked at Nicholas, confused, "I don't understand."

"You're an augmentor, right?" Freya asked, looking at Elianna.

Elianna nodded, "Yep, I have two radiant stars."

Freya and Celine looked at Elianna, surprised. Celine and Freya thought that being at the second level at her age was remarkable in itself, but the fact that she was near the third level had them checking her mana core themselves for confirmation, as they were stricken with disbelief.

"And, you're Nicholas' age?" Freya confirmed.

Elianna nodded, her eyes flicking to Nicholas before looking at Freya again.

"Wow," Celine began, looking at Elianna, awestruck. "I didn't even get my second circle until I was eleven."

Elianna looked at Celine curiously, "How old are you?"

Celine smiled, "Fourteen."

"Well," Freya said, composing herself. "With your mana core level, you know that augmenters unlock their elemental cores at the second star, as that's when their mana cores and channels become strong enough to handle it." Elianna nodded, and Freya continued. "Well, it's similar for us mages. You see, the more circles we have, the stronger we become. It takes a certain amount of strength to control the ambient elemental and nature mana. At the first circle, we aren't strong enough to do so and can only project our mana to create mana-based spells. Once we reach the second circle, we can manipulate the elemental mana. We can also manipulate nature mana at the second circle, but only to a certain degree. At the third circle, we can utilize the ambient mana even more."

"And I'm almost third circle," Celine said proudly.

"So," Elianna looked at Nicholas, "you can only use mana-based spells right now?"

Nicholas gave a small smile and shrugged, "Yeah."

"That's still really cool," Elianna expressed, and Nicholas' smile grew.

Freya smiled contently, seeing Nicholas' expression, and looked at Elianna curiously, "Would you like to see more magic?"

Elianna nodded excitedly, "Sure!"

"Okay, watch closely," Freya began and raised her wand. White mana flashed before her wand, forming a large white rectangular barrier in front of her.

"Woah," Elianna and Nicholas said simultaneously, eyes wide with excitement.

Freya chuckled, "This is called a ward. It acts as a magic shield. It's used to block enemy spells and attacks."

Elianna looked at Freya curiously, "Can it block a sword?"

Freya grinned at Elianna, "Would you like to strike it and find out?"

Elianna's eyes widened, and she nodded energetically, thinking this was an exciting opportunity.

Freya looked at Nicholas and Celine, "Please step back a bit, a safe distance." Nicholas and Celine nodded, taking a few steps back.

Elianna smiled wide as she took her hair band out of her spatial ring. She pulled her hair back, as she usually does before sword training, and tied it back into a ponytail. As she did this, her eyes flicked to Nicholas, seeing his brows were slightly raised and his cheeks were a little red. His eyes met hers, and he quickly looked away, the red color of his cheeks deepening. For a moment, she wondered if he was okay before she looked at Freya.

Elianna pulled her sword out of her spatial ring and got into an attack stance, "Ready?"

Freya smiled, "I'm ready."

Elianna pushed mana through her body and burst toward Freya at tremendous speeds. She coated her sword in water magic as she closed in on Freya and thrust her sword forward. Elianna's sword struck the ward, her water magic bursting apart in a watery explosion.

Freya flinched as her ward vibrated harshly from the clash, and glowing spider cracks of mana formed on her spell. Her eyes widened as she did not expect Elianna to be that fast or strong, and she had only put in enough mana to put the ward's strength at third level. She projected more mana into her spell, making it stronger, and watched as the spider cracks disappeared, with the spell integrity returning. Freya looked at Elianna curiously, wondering how she could be that strong for someone so young and thin. She knew augmenters became stronger whenever they pushed mana through their bodies, but to show this type of strength at ten years old was peculiar.

Elianna stopped her attack, dispersing the water magic, and stood straight with a smile, "So it does block it!"

Freya smiled, composing herself, and nodded, "Y-Yep." She canceled her spell and lowered her wand. "It does."

"That was so cool!" Nicholas chirped and ran up to Elianna.

Elianna looked at him, initially surprised by his excitement, before she smiled and stored her sword back in her spatial ring. "Thanks."

"You were, like, so fast!" Nicholas expressed and mimicked her stabbing with the sword.

Elianna giggled, feeling gleeful at Nicholas' admiration, "Yeah, I've done a lot of training."

"Ah, there you are."

Elianna, Nicholas, Freya, and Celine looked toward the voice, seeing Lucian approaching.

Lucian smiled warmly at his daughter, "I was getting a little concerned when you didn't return."

Elianna returned her father's smile, "Sorry, Dad! I was hanging out with Nicholas, Freya, and Celine."

Lucian nodded and looked at Nicholas, "We meet again, young man."

Nicholas respectfully nodded to Lucian, "Hello, Sir."

Lucian chuckled, "I told you you don't need to call me sir." He looked at Celine, "Good morning."

Celine smiled in return, "Good morning, Mr. Vail."

Lucian looked at Freya, "Good to see you again, Freya."

Freya smiled and saluted Lucian, "You as well, Commander."

Lucian quickly returned her salute, and they dropped their hands. He looked at Elianna curiously, "So, what were you up to?"

"Freya was showing me a ward!" Elianna chirped. "It was so cool! It blocked my sword!"

"Oh, did it?" Lucian chuckled, smiling warmly from seeing his daughter's excitement.

"She moved so fast, too! And she used water magic!" Nicholas chimed in. "She looked amazing!"

Feeling flattered, Elianna blushed a little and looked at Nicholas with a smile, "T-Thanks."

"You're welcome!" Nicholas said, returning her smile. "What else can you do with water magic?"

Elianna's smile widened, and she raised her hand, coating it in water magic. Nicholas' eyes widened in awe, watching her manipulate the water, forming different shapes. Celine walked over, also watching Elianna with interest.

"I see they're getting along well," Freya chuckled, coming to stand beside Lucian.

Lucian smiled, loving the sight before him, seeing the warm, happy smile on Elianna's lips as she spoke with Nicholas and Celine.

"I'm glad," Lucian said genuinely. "Elianna was always treated horribly by her friends for awakening early. It's been a long time since I've seen her smile with anyone her age."

Freya watched Elianna curiously as she made different shapes with her water magic, "She is definitely interesting." She looked at Nicholas, seeing his jovial expression, and she smiled. "I'm glad Nicholas is happy as well. He didn't have many friends growing up."

Lucian nodded, his eyes falling curiously on Nicholas, "When I first met him, he said his aunt was training him." He looked at Freya, "I assume that's you?" Freya looked at Lucian and nodded. Lucian looked at Freya inquisitively, "Is he your nephew on your side, or Mathew's?"

Freya sighed, "Mine."

Lucian nodded in understanding, "So. That means he's-"

"Please," Freya pleaded, pressing her lips into a thin line. "Don't treat him differently. He had enough of that back home."

"Never," Lucian reassured with conviction. "I will never treat him differently." He looked at Nicholas, seeing him and Elianna laughing cheerfully together as she burst her water magic into the air, while Celine jestfully avoided the water with a ward.

"Thank you," Freya said, looking at Nicholas and Elianna with a warm smile. "And Elianna is always welcome to spend time with us."

"And thank you," Lucian said, watching his daughter and how she blissfully laughed and spoke with Nicholas and Celine. "I'm sure she will take you up on that offer."