The hot sun beat down on my back, doing little to counter the chill in the air, or the ice seeped into my body, the ever-present side effects of my herbal treatments. I ignored both, something second-nature now, and took a slow step forward onto the grass, rocking forward from my heel to toe.

As I moved, I kept my weight balanced and a strict hold on my mana. The long and short of it was that mana leaked from our bodies, and we had to learn to pull this energy back inside, a trick that required constant focus and willpower. Over time, it would become unconscious, like walking, but it was a continuous balancing act until then.

One that I nearly lost as my opponent turned, half-facing towards me, forcing me to stop and double down on my efforts. A blindfold covered her eyes, and balled wax molded into her ears muffled her hearing, but neither was the purpose of this exercise. It was a children's applied to magical training, where I tried to reach her before she could find me using just her senses.

Her head remained in that position for a moment, and I kept unmoving, waiting until she relaxed to begin moving again. I got to fifteen feet, then ten, but as I was nearly within arm's reach, she tensed, turning and pointing a single finger at my torso.

"Got you," Amelia said, a smile on her face as she pulled off the blindfold.

I sighed, shaking my head, and said, "Yes, you did. Again."

My mana took the lapse in control to surge back out, and I swore, debating on reaching for it again before shaking my head. It was not physically demanding, but constantly tensing a mental 'muscle' was exhausting in its way.

Amelia caught my swear as she removed her earplugs, a sympathetic look on her face as she said, "You're getting a lot better. Almost managed it that time."

"Close does not mean much in the grand scheme of things." I responded, "And I am not improving nearly fast enough."

"Your mana is the problem. Aether is too strong, and it makes you stand out. Even if you were twice as good as the rest of us, it'd feel about the same." Amelia countered, and I sighed, yielding the point.

Aether was a hammer, and there was little to do with it. But it was critical that I improved my stealth abilities and fast.

Hiding forever, or even long-term, was impossible. Masters would be able to estimate my abilities, if not sense them outright, and besides that, there were competitions held in some classes to encourage development. They might provide me enough of an edge to grow faster, something I had to take if possible.

Having a few tricks in reserve or appearing weaker than I was might give me an edge over the other apprentices. It would not fool the masters, but another first-year might fall for it. This strategy would not gain me many friends, but it would earn me prizes, which was more important at the end of the day.

I sat hard on the grass, stretching my legs and feeling sore muscles relax. Beside me, Amelia plopped down, laying down and staring up at the sky.

"Short break, and try again? Or move onto combat training?"

"One more go with sensory practice," I responded before yawning loudly. I was on the fourth day without sleeping, and alchemy could only delay that need for so long.

"Any ideas how Barlow is going to set up her little competition?" Amelia asked, turning towards me.

The dueling master had announced a few weeks earlier a mid-semester competition, offering prizes to the top four students. The entire class was sent into a fervor, eager for whatever she had to offer. Several other masters had done similar things, but Barlow seemed the type to give something more tangible than the books or scrolls the other teachers favored.

I had earned another of those prizes, a tome on gathering arrays in Enchanting, which currently sat on my bookshelf. The book was beneficial, describing various orientations of runes and enchantments to increase mana density and speed development, but a second prize sounded quite appealing.

Half the reason I was pushing myself to improve these abilities, in particular, was for the competition. Win or lose, if I could observe the other apprentice's magic in action with my sensory skills, it might give me a few ideas.

My fumbling attempts to learn more about Leon and Sophia's gathering methods had not yielded much success. I had decided to offer my assistance, both as a genuine offer to help two nobles that I would rather remain allied with and get an idea of their techniques for my own use.

Leon had dismissed my help, commenting that he would take up my offer if, and when, he needed it but did not yet. Sophia was the more promising of the two, nodding and responding that she would get back to me with some ideas, something she had not done yet. But I knew that the sooner I could improve Origin Breathing, the better.

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"Alright, enough sitting around! Your turn to sit and wait," Amelia shouted, shoving herself to her feet and walking away.

I followed suit, pushing the earplugs in and grabbing my blindfold. Immediately, the world turned dark and muffled as two of my five senses vanished. But my sixth sense stretched out, feeling the course and reverberations of mana under my feet. It was an incredible sensation, and I could understand why deep meditation was often recommended for gathering more energy. Rarely had I felt so connected to it while employing my own method.

At the very edge of my senses, which now reached close to twenty feet, there was a brief feeling of something cold, like a gust of winter's wind. Amelia's mana felt, to use her description, icy. It was frigid, brutal, and unforgiving, something at odds with her personality but still profoundly unsettling. The primal part of my brain knew that there was nothing but death waiting out in the snow and ice.

I focused on this feeling, but a second later, it vanished, and I pulled back, casting my senses out again. There was another brief hint of mana but on the other side of me. How did she get there so fast? And she was closer than before, already nearly within five feet. It should be impossible, and without mana, it was, and more than that, I knew Amelia.

As I faced where the second surge of mana came from, I felt the briefest flicker of something at my back, the slightest hint of cold, and turned, pointing out with a single finger. Even with my earplugs, I heard a colorful swear, and when I pulled off my blindfold, Amelia was frowning, arms folded over her chest.

"I could've sworn I fooled you with that trick."

"Almost did. But you do know this is for training sensory and shrouding, not misdirection, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. How did you find out?"

"You moved too fast. Placed the burst too far away, and I knew you could not move that quickly."

Amelia sighed, nodding a few times before her face cleared.

"Alright, combat practice, then dinner, and then studying."

"Actually," I started, cutting her off, "I have something to take care of in a few hours. Can we postpone dinner and studying until tomorrow evening, after classes?"

She looked surprised, and after a second, nodded, saying, "Okay. Sure, we can, but what are you doing? You usually are free at night."

"A few errands, but nothing interesting. Now, are you ready?" I asked, changing the topic and dropping into my stance. The staff in my hand felt familiar, a testament to hard work and constant training, but Amelia remained far superior.

But as we fought, moving back and forth, I realized that for the first time, the strikes did not feel quite as overwhelmingly strong as usual. Her moves looked lightning-fast, but I could follow them and even occasionally dodge, countering with my own crisp, snapping attacks.

I suspected she was holding back, using the opportunity to polish the basics, but still, it was a step closer to catching up. And someday soon, hopefully, we would be able to fight as equals.

----------------------------------------

Simon answered his door, blinking sleep from his eyes. I thought I looked tired, but his pale skin and the bags under his eyes spoke of several long nights in a row.

"Evening, Simon."

"Hi, Vayne," Simon replied, stepping to one side and letting me into his room. It looked not unlike mine, but with several banners with a family crest on the wall. His bookshelf had dozens of alchemy and enchanting books, most with unfamiliar titles. On his table, I spotted smaller versions of the tools we used in class.

"So, I did my best with what you asked. It was hard. Harder than I thought, and..." Simon trailed off, and I smiled, motioning to continue, "I only managed to make one of the four possible with your provided supplies. I'm sorry. I-"

"I am sure you did your best, Simon. Thank you," I responded, digging into my bag and pulling out a sack of gold. It represented the remainders of the bear and the third bounty for a duo of coyotes I had undertaken, a small fortune in my eyes.

Simon took the pouch, weighing it and giving me a nod before pulling out a clear vial from his pocket. The glass glowed with a strange, crimson red light the same shade as blood, and I took it, holding it up to the light and examining it.

"It's strong, but you'll need to use it fast. Within a few days, or it'll lose potency."

"And how long will it last?"

"Everyone is a little different, but no longer than an hour and a half."

I nodded, turning to face the other apprentice, and smiling, placing my free hand on his shoulder and saying, "I owe you a favor for this one, Simon. Thank you."

Simon flushed, turning towards the ground and muttering, "Not a problem, Vayne. But can I ask where you got that formula from? I've never seen one quite like it before."

I paused, before responding, "It is from a book on my element, with a few tricks designed to aid Aether mages. 'Study on Aether' if you would like to make a copy for yourself from the Archives."

"Really? Is it an old book? The formula was kind of archaic, which was part of the issue. A few techniques it used I had never even done before, but I was able to figure it out. I might be able to streamline it and make more of those if you'd like."

"Really? Well, if you could, that would be excellent. But please, do not make it much of a priority. I understand you have your own studying and training to do and do not wish to take up too much of your time and energy. I suspect I have done enough of that already." I finished, earning a chuckle from the other apprentice.

I had meant it as a calculated show of kindness, a deliberate attempt to engender friendship with Simon, but strangely, it felt...honest? There was a twinge of sympathy for his apparent exhaustion, and something unpleasant clenched in my gut as I realized I was taking advantage of his kind, helpful demeanor.

I heard Simon thank me, and we said our goodbyes as I made my way back to my room, grabbing the rest of my prepared supplies from the bedroom.

I wanted to win Master Barlow's competition and earn whatever prize she offered, but that sounded a tall task. Sophia was a prodigy, Theo was decently talented, and there were at least a half-dozen other apprentices at least as skilled as me. With only another week to prepare, getting strong enough to compete sounded a tall task. But, if things went at least half as well as planned, it just might be possible.

And all it required was that things went as I hoped. Was it tempting fate to wish as much?