Our journey started with an argument.

"You have a cat, and you never told me?" Amelia demanded, alternating between trying to approach the feline and glaring at me. She had noticed my new friend the moment I stepped outside the Academy and pounced on us like, well, a cat.

Cat hissed at the sudden approach, twisting out of my arms and leaving a few scratches on my skin before darting behind my legs. Apparently, he was fond of me only when I protected him from strangers.

The little terror now sat on the ground, staring at Amelia and ignoring the rest of our group. Amelia frowned but had not made any moves to get closer to the cat.

I glanced down at him, then sighed and looked back at Amelia before replying, "In my defense, you never asked."

Amelia's eyes narrowed, and I caught Leon and Simon both wince at my words. I realized my mistake and held up both hands before adding, "Besides, he is not really my pet. He is more of a..."

"Wild animal?" Simon offered.

"Adorable little creature," Amelia corrected, returning her eyes to Cat with a warm smile.

"Ungrateful beast," I finished, shaking my head at the two, "I saved his life and let him stay in my quarters, and you would think I was the guest."

Cat looked up at me, meowing as if he understood what I was saying. I glanced down again, feeling a somewhat familiar sense of affection, and sighed, shaking my head at the beast. Amelia did have a point, though I would never willingly use the word 'adorable.'

"What's his name?" Amelia asked after a few seconds.

"Cat."

"Yes, the cat. What's his name?"

"...Cat?"

"Wait," Leon said, the edges of his lips curling, "You named your cat...Cat?"

I coughed, "Well...yes. I was unsure if he would live, so a formal name seemed unnecessary."

"Sure, but what about now?"

"...I have not thought of one that sounded good," I replied. The others burst into laughter, and my face heated up as I added, "I know Cat is a silly name, but it was never meant to be permanent.

"I would hope not," a quiet voice said.

The four of us turned to look at Sophia, who stood a short distance away with her arms folded across her chest. The very edge of her mouth was curled upwards, but she quickly schooled her face into a blank mask before gesturing away from the school and towards the capital proper.

"Can we get going? I'd like to be on the road sometime today."

---

Ordinarily, a trip home would take a week if traveled without any unnecessary stops or diversions. We would leave Volaris and head along the southern roads, moving by day and resting at towns and villages by night. But that was entirely against the spirit of what Leon had proposed.

Instead, we departed Volaris on horseback and walked the Sunrise Way, the main road eastward from the capital. It was a massive, ancient causeway comprised of magically strengthened stones and built wide enough that five carts could ride side by side without touching one another.

The first planned stop was Colkirk, the famed "city without winters," which seemed an ironic destination during a sweltering Ferren summer. It was two days away as long as the weather remained fair, which gave us ample time to walk, talk, and, in my case, observe.

I first contented myself watching the other travelers and the sights. People of all manners walked along the road with us. Trade carts carrying goods came to and from Volaris, acting as the kingdom's lifeblood. Others walked on foot, wearing durable clothes and carrying weapons, though the odds of an attack by a man or beast were slim during the day.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Carefully cultivated farms and towns spread out around us for the first couple of hours, designed to support the capital and its outlying settlements. But those soon gave way to more sparsely populated lands, and other travelers broke off, diverting along sideroads to destinations unknown.

But ultimately, watching the sights and people was a brief diversion. After a time, I grew bored with it and turned my attention to a more important task.

Training.

Mana-gathering techniques generally fall into one of three categories. The first affected mana vessels, altering them in some way. This could involve stretching your core to let it hold more mana or expanding channels to put more magical strength into a spell, but it was always a more "physical" change.

The second affected the mana itself. Some stabilized it, granting improved control, while others granted increased potency, though I had little idea how they went about that. Rarely, a mage could even somehow fuse aspects of other elements into their own, creating a semi-unique blend of the two.

The last group was also the largest and the least interesting. They focused on mana gathering and nothing else, eschewing secondary benefits for simplicity and compatibility. Origin Breathing was the most famous, but not the only one, and according to my research, many mages would shift to a more elementally specific version.

Unfortunately, the Archives had little specifics about how to use any other gathering technique. That was annoying, sure, but I had four people to watch and analyze to get some ideas.

Amelia's mana was the most familiar of the four and the one I honed in on first. While her shrouds were decent, she required active focus to keep them up.

Her ice mana was...wide for want of a better term. It spread farther than I had expected when not controlled, but the center of her signature remained as strong as I would expect from a peak Vapor. Strangely, it felt like she could advance to Haze, so why had she not? Could it be an aspect of her technique, or was she simply nervous?

Simon's signature was almost as familiar and far easier to read. He was either still using Origin Breathing or had changed to a similar, water-specific variant. His mana felt no stronger, no vaster, and no deeper than I would expect. There was an almost placid sense to it, like a lake at night, but I suspected that was a combination of his relative weakness and fantastic control.

Next, I focused on Leon, whose mana was only marginally stronger than the water mage's. If Simon's signature was a quiet lake, then Leon's was akin to a tornado, fast and whirling but with a sort of structure to it. I could not grasp why it moved that way, but there had to be a reason.

Lastly, Sophia. I did not have as much experience with her mana as the others, but she was also the least skilled at hiding it. That, or she did not care to hide it, which seemed equally plausible.

Lightning mana crackled around her body, palpable even with my passive senses and more potent than a normal Haze. I could tell she was doing something to strengthen it, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Every other part of her signature was ordinary, though I did find that we were equally close to reaching Mist.

In theory, the others would have to use their techniques at some point, which would give me a chance for closer observations...but I had learned enough to get some ideas.

I would need to discard Origin Breathing, for starters. It had reached its limits, and there was a reason nobles moved on to something else the moment they could.

But what to do?

Altering my mana was the best option at first glance. If I could find a way to stabilize my core faster than the painstaking process I was using, I could exploit the Aether water for all it was worth. I could eliminate its main flaw and progress at breakneck speed.

I could also see the potential in replicating Sophia's technique. More power was always valuable, especially when my Aether could already hit harder than anyone else at my stage. But there were also detriments, not the least of which was increased strain on my body and channels.

By contrast, trying to improve my vessels themselves held far less appeal. While my stamina was a problem and growing my core might help, it was not the root cause. My magic was half-finished, unrefined, and poorly controlled, ruining any efficiency I might hope to achieve. As my skills grew, those flaws should lessen or vanish entirely.

As I considered it, I realized that one aspect of my vessels would always prove an issue.

Although I had tempered my core and channels enough for the foreseeable future, it was, at best, a delaying tactic. There would come a point where my Aether became too dense, and I would once more struggle to cast more than a handful of spells. I needed a solution, and one came to mind in seconds.

Was it possible to merge tempering and gathering? Combining the two into a single, unified process could save untold hours worth of training. I would not need to set aside time for both and could instead focus on other goals.

And that was not even considering the other possibilities. If I could master such a technique, Sophia's method of enhancing her mana suddenly became far more reasonable. And there might be other tricks, other means of making my spells more powerful that would open up with such iron-clad channels.

I turned the problem over in my head for a long time, tuning out my surroundings as I examined my core. Ultimately, I set aside the decision for later. It was not a problem I would solve in one day, and Origin Breathing would work until I found a path forward.

When I returned my attention outward, I found a surprise waiting. I had expected to see Amelia or Simon walking beside me. Even Leon was possible, though the nobleman seemed to prefer staying at the front of our little group.

Instead, Sophia sat astride her mount, staring forward in near-complete silence save the clip-clop of hoofbeats on stone. She did not speak for a long time, and I decided not to pry, knowing that if she felt the need to say something, she would.

Finally, Sophia turned to me, "We never had our duel."

I blinked, then chuckled, "No, I suppose we did not. Next year, maybe?"

It was a casual, carefree remark made without much thought. I fully intended to blow off Sophia's challenge for as long as possible, mostly because it gained me nothing save the slim chance of learning a little about her magic. If a battle earned nothing, what was the point in having it?

But as I said it, I realized it was a lie. Or a misleading statement, at least. I would not be there next year, and the others would. A knot formed in my stomach at the idea, and I had to swallow the lump in my throat.

Sophia nodded, heedless of my reaction, and we fell silent for another few minutes. Then, she continued, "I read your notes on the Titan-Bane."

"Oh?" I cleared my throat, "I hope they were helpful. I tried to include as much information as possible, but I am not a lightning mage, so I was unsure what was needed and what was not."

"They were. Thank you," Sophia gave me another nod, "I doubt I will have much other competition next year.:"

I chuckled, "I would rather you not tell any other apprentices that. They already hate me more than I would like."

"So?" Sophia asked bluntly, "They hate you because you're better than them. Maybe if they trained more, you wouldn't be."

"I suspect they would find something new to take issue with," I said with a shrug.

Her words smacked of naivete. It was endearing and also irritating. In my experience, people did not magically change with a few minutes of self-reflection.

Sophia glanced up at the sun, then looked back at me, "When we stop for the evening, I want your help with something."

Then, before I could reply, she nudged her horse and moved up towards Leon's position. Amelia glanced back at me, mouthing a question, and I shrugged in response. Sophia was many things, but predictable was not always one of them.