The plan was for each of them to think and try to create their own detection technique, they would practice on their own so that they could each think of something different. Afterwards they could see what the others had thought of and perhaps incorporate that into their own idea. Jace already had an idea, there had been many fictions back home with similar ideas, getting it to work however would be a lot more difficult. He had chosen to sit in a park that wasn’t to far from the inn. It had a path that ran through it that saw a decent amount of traffic, it would let him know if it was working or not.
Jace let the mana seep out of his body and created a bubble of sorts, nothing solid but just a thin wall of mana particles that would be disturbed and pushed out of the way if someone or something moved through it. The mana expenditure was too high, he wouldn’t be able to sustain it for long like this. He dropped it and thought a little longer, he had a decent sized mana pool and good regeneration. He had a hundred and eighty stats in both intelligence and wisdom after all. He thought for a while longer and instead of creating a solid wall of particles, he set the particles one centimeter apart from him, drasticly reducing the draw on his mana.
He nodded to himself, he could hold this for half an hour and still be able to use his skills in combat. He looked around at the bubble thinking of ways to improve it, he started making sectors from the particles, so he could tell what the enemy was doing even if it was within his bubble. The draw increased a good bit, once more becoming an unrealistic option in combat. He tapped his chin and continue to think it through, now he was basically controlling each particle to stay in place, that took most of his mana to keep up. What if he tied them relatively to his position. Jace created an nearly invisibly thin thread that he tied between the particles. he made them solid, they would hold the particles in position and that was all they did.
He watched as people walked through his three dimensional net, the particles dispersed upon contact but it worked. With the threads taking control of the particles the draw on his mana was negligible he could keep it up near indefinitely. His mana recovery was higher than the cost of the spell, Jace decided to keep working on it, he spent the next hour making sure the particles were recreated after dispersion. He made sure the threads could do the same and could move together with him keeping the net around him at all times. Next he tested to see if it could in fact move as he did. It failed, he spent the rest of the day making sure it could keep up with him.
The week was spent refining his creation, eventually he got it to move along with him, it was practically self regenerating and he could use his other mana based abilities without disrupting the net. He nodded to himself, he told the others that he was done with his idea, the others were still working on theirs. While they kept practicing Jace took the opportunity to spend time with Aziva and Sarai, they had gotten Aziva into a decent local school. It would still be another few weeks before the school year started however.
Jace set next to Sarai on the park bench as he watched Aziva playing with a bunch of other children. He smiled, she looked a lot better than she did before he had taken her in. She had put on a little weight, although she was still skinny it had done wonders for her skin and hair. Her previous knotted hair was now smooth and fell over her shoulders as she danced around. She was cute, a good looking kid by all means. Jace glanced at Sarai and saw her smiling softly as she watched her daughter bounce around. Jace put his arm around her shoulder and drew her a little closer, she let him and snuggled up to him.
She looked up at him, through her thick dark lashes. “Don’t you think it’s about time you actually moved in with us?”
Jace blinked, he scratched his beard. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be okay with that, I mean I did kinda jump all of it on you, even it was to your own benefit.”
She smiled at him and put a hand on his thigh slowly moving it up a bit, “In case you haven’t noticed I quite enjoy having you in my bed.”
Jace blushed and straightened, “I did notice that.” He relaxed a little and kissed her on her forehead. “If you’d have me, I’d love to move in with you.”
She kissed him on the lips settling back into a snuggle, “It’s settled then.” They sat there for a while, snuggled up against each other watching their daughter play. It was now his daughter, for all intent and purpose. She had gotten a few friends of her own age, local kids who were energetic and bouncy. While Aziva remained slightly reserved she was growing more and more at ease around other children.
Jace looked back at Sarai, “You know I’ve been thinking.”
She kept looking over Aziva as she answered, “About?”
“Training you.”
Sarai stiffened a bit then looked up at him with wide eyes, “Why would I need training?”
Jace sighed and scratched the back of his neck, “The way things are going, I’m set to live long after you are dead. I already have a vitality nearing the two hundred. If I continue on my path I will live to be a thousand, perhaps even longer. I’d lose you before I’d even lived a tenth of that. Plus if I did train you and helped you on your way you’d be able to defend yourself when I go off to do things. I’m not one to stay in place for a long time, I don’t doubt that I’ll be moving around occasionally.”
Sarai stared at him and looked back at Aziva. She was quiet for a moment, then she looked at him and bit her lip. She hesitated for a bit and then shook herself before looking up at him, eyes determined. “I never did tell you what my class is did I?”
Jace blinked and looked down at her, “You haven’t I assumed you didn’t want to talk about it.”
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Sarai sighed, “Well you weren’t wrong.” She straightened up and pushed herself off from him and turned to face him. “My class is… Imperial Concubine.”
Jace blinked, “So you, were a concubine to a foreign leader?”
Sarai nodded and rubbed her hands on her knees, “To the emperor of Isralial, one of fourty-eight royal concubines. When Aziva was born, I was young. A mere fourteen years of age, the royal family did not want a daughter born of a concubine. Especially a daughter. The Isralial people are not like the people here, men and women are not even close to equal. Women are treated as objects and men as the owners. Let alone having women in a leading position, they didn’t even let them leave the house.”
Jace pulled her closer to her, he wouldn’t let her past change anything. The past was the past after all. He held her as she continued her story. “I refused to let them kill Aziva, I was young, reckless. I ran, I was caught by a slaver. A man of my former homeland and the one who lived with me until just before I met you. Instead of selling me to others he decided to keep me for his own… amusement. I was lucky that he did not have the slightest interest in Aziva, as long as I did what he wanted he left her alone. So I worked and did what my class does best. I pleased him any way I could.”
Jace chuckled, “Well that explains why you’re so good in bed”
She punched him in the shoulder and attempted to glare at him before she smiled slightly, “Well that’s true I suppose, but this is a serious story so stop joking around.” She waited until Jace raised his hands in surrender and then continued. “Eventually I had had enough of the man, he was abusive, filthy and an all around hateful individual. So one time when he was sleeping i decided to… dispose of him.”
Jace’s eyes widened slightly but he kept his hold on her. She hesitated and looked up at him for a moment, seeing no hatred or judgement in his eyes she gathered her courage and continued. “I used a knife, hid the body in an alleyway and made it look like a robbery gone wrong. I was evicted from the house and had to find a new place. The shack you found me in was the best I could do at the moment, the blood stains and broken furniture where from some of the more violent customers. I was making due but I was in a dark place, I had no one to look out for me so it happened more than once that the customers would decide not to pay.”
She shuddered. “One of them even tried to lay hands on Aziva, that’s where the blood came from. I fought him with everything I had and told her to run. The little one is smart, she knows where to hide in the streets. That day.. It was bad. She came back home and I was battered, broken. She somehow managed to get her hands on a healing potion. Maybe she stole it somewhere, I don’t know.”
Sarai looked at Aziva and a determined smile appeared on her face, she turned to him. Shoulder set and back straight. “If you wish to train me so that I can look after my daughter and live as long as I can to make sure she lives her life happily. She is my light, the very reason I’ve pulled through and have survived till today. I will take you up on that offer.”
Jace smiled and held her close, “I’m glad you will, we’re gonna have to figure what weapon you’re gonna use though.”
She grinned, “I don’t suppose my feminine charm can be weaponized?”
Jace laughed, “I wouldn’t want to put the country at risk, so we probably shouldn’t.”
She chuckled and lay against his chest. “You are a strange man Jace. You pick up a battered prostitute from the streets and adopt her daughter. Then take care of her and treat her as any other.”
“All in a day’s work.” She smiled and lay there against him quietly. They watched Aziva till the sky darkened. Jace picked the little one up and put her on his shoulders. “Lets go home!”
Aziva laughed and pointed him forward.
They ate dinner together, a foreign meal cooked by Sarai, it tasted good if a little too spicy for his tastes. The next day Jace went to one of many training yards, payed the fee all three of them and took Sarai and Aziva to the armory. Aziva’s eyes widened as she saw the wide variety of weapons. She ran from one to the next and excitedly asked what I was and what it did. She saw a huge scarred bald man holding a Maul almost as tall as he was and she ran over. She pointed at it excitedly and stared up at the man. “How big are the nails you hit with that hammer!”
The man looked down at her with wide eyes and then burst out into laughter. “Depends little one, some nails are bigger than even me.”
Aziva’s mouth went round. The man chuckled and looked over at Jace, who nodded slightly to the man. The man smiled and nodded back, Sarai glanced over at him. “You know him?”
“Nope never met the guy before.”
Sarai frowned, “Then what’s with that nod of recognition.”
Jace grinned, “A show of respect from warrior to warrior. You can generally tell the experts apart from the rest. That guy is strong, he knows how to wield that maul of his. He probably sensed a similar level of competency in me. It happens pretty often, it’s a tradition of sorts around the adventurers guild and training halls.”
“Hhhmmm, I see. How strong are you actually, your team seems rather young.”
Jace nodded. “They are, especially Plip and Qyra are still very young. So young in fact that I would not have agreed with letting them be adventurers yet if I was their parents. But they are competent and patient. They listen, I figured they had more of a chance if they had someone with experience leading them.”
“So you just took them in?”
Jace nodded, “Figured why not, could use the company. Anyways let's get you a weapon, we should try a few and see what fits you.”
Aziva ran on over with wide eyes. “I want one too!”
Jace frowned and looked at Sarai. He scratched his beard while he thought it over. “What do you think? It would be fine to her started early, although I will keep the muscular exercise to a minimum. She can build up some expertise and experience.”
Sarai frowned and looked down at Aziva who looked at her with pleading eyes. She opened her mouth but was interrupted. “Please mom! I don’t want to be useless. I can learn, I’ll try my hardest!” She tugged on the edge of her dress as tears formed in her eyes. “I don’t want to see mom that hurt again.” She whispered. Sarai froze and picked her up and held her close, “Fine we can let you practice a little, but you listen to what your father tells you got it!”
She nodded excitedly and started tugging on Jace’s hand to drag him around the armoury.
Jace shook his head. He did not expect to be teaching children how to use a weapon. But in this world it made sense, it wasn’t even an oddity. Aziva wasn’t even the only child here, others were being trained by their parents as well. He let them try various weapons, seeing Aziva try to pick up a claymore brought a smile to his face. Eventually she found a really thin pointed rapier that she liked. It was small, elegant. She almost glowed as she pointed at it. “I want to learn how to use that.”
Jace smiled and patted her on the head, “That right there is a rapier, a duelers weapon. It’s all about the thrust and parry. It’s a difficult weapon to master are you sure it’s the one you want.” Aziva nodded enthusiastically and reached out to the weapon. Jace wasn’t worried, all the weapons here were blunted. It was a training hall after all.
Sarai walked past the wall of weapons and trailed her fingers over a few of them, eventually she lingered on a polearm. She picked it up and spinned it a little. She nodded to herself and looked at him. “I think I shall settle on this, I would like to learn how to use a knife as well however.”
“A glaive huh, interesting choice. Weira can probably instruct you better on how to use it than I can, she uses a halberd herself after all. Their way of use is somewhat similar. As for a knife I can teach you about that, I’m better with one than Weira is.”
Jace nodded to them, “Well let’s go to one of the fields, and I’ll get the two of you started on the basics.”
The two followed him as they walked, their weapons cradled in their hands. The rapier a size to large for Aziva which made her look slightly comical.