Four hours.

That’s how long it took me to finish Armsmaster’s hellscape of a course.

I’ve lost count of how many times I had to reset. It all started to blur together halfway through. Part of me wants to just end the night here, take the opportunity to get some proper sleep for once. I don’t actually need it. I don't tire when I’m projecting into the Armoury, but it would be nice to just shut myself off for a while.

The other part of me, one I will never admit to until my dying day, feels weirdly invigorated.

Something about the speed I was moving at, the way it all flowed together at the end, had an almost addictive feel to it. It wasn’t adrenaline. Adrenaline is a purely physical thing, I don’t have the necessary bits when I’m like this. But when it clicked, in that visceral, satisfying way, I somehow felt more alive. Like everything was exactly where it was supposed to be.

The moment I reached the end, I flopped down on the ground and just luxuriated in the feeling of not moving.

Shortly after, I could hear Armsmaster’s footsteps approaching, and I shifted my head to glower at her.

“You. You are an evil, evil person.”

She grins knowingly. “And why’s that?”

“Because only the most sick, twisted, depraved minds would ever conceive of that monstrosity. Therefore, you are all of those things.”

“Maybe so, maybe so. You can’t deny it worked though.”

I just grumble incoherently.

“Alright, come on. Enough laying about. Let’s review your control, after the day you’ve had, you're bound to have had some insights into improving it.”

I sigh and sit up into a meditative position. There’s nothing special about the pose, it just helps to think calmly.

The past 24 hours have been… a lot. I was pushed pretty hard in my duel with Sophie, and Armsmaster’s course was grueling in its own way. My mental muscles have been strained hard in order to get through the both of them.

The entire time I was fighting Sophie, it felt like she was only putting in the bare minimum to keep ahead. She didn’t need to actually beat me, as either way she would have won, but it was pretty clear she’s my superior in skill. It’s entirely likely the only reason I won was because of my greater speed and her overreliance on her Aspect, which she’s already begun work on fixing. She will take me a lot more seriously next time, and I get the feeling it will happen.

The obstacle course, on the other hand, pushed me in other ways. No matter how fast I got, Armsmaster had it set up that the only way to reach the end was if I got more efficient in my mana use, which was a tall order. Once things started blurring together, I felt myself drift into a kind of autopilot, and instead focused more on how I was using my mana. The threads I was pulling through myself felt frayed, in a way, and as they flowed the loose ends split off from the rest, which seems to be my biggest drain so far. So, I did my best to smooth out the pull, hoping it would keep the loose bits of mana together. It’s not the best fix. Eventually I’ll need to prevent the fraying to begin with, but for now, it’s the best I can do.

To my surprise, that actually had a major impact on my efficiency. My time spent enhanced more than doubled, from four minutes, to ten.

I start running through my control exercises, and I find that the new technique has made things a lot easier here as well. I hadn’t noticed before, but the fraying kept getting caught on the rest of the mana, making it harder to keep together in tighter knots. Smoothing out the pull meant that fewer loose ends caught on, meaning I lost much less mana throughout. I think my next goal will be to prevent that fraying to begin with, though I’m not yet at the point where I can manage that.

Armsmaster gives an encouraging smile, “That’s good work. A big improvement over before.”

“You didn’t notice my time went up? I thought you would’ve paid attention to that kind of thing.”

She looks uncomfortable for a bit. “I was… preoccupied. I made sure you were handling the course fine, but I got lost in thought. Old memories.”

I do my best to keep the curiosity off my face. If she wanted to share, she already would have.

There is something that occurred to me whilst I was running the course.

“Hey, so you know how you said Relics turn Feral because of the negative emotions in the waste mana they absorb, and how monsters can live off and grow by absorbing that same mana? Can monsters go Feral too?”

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Her face turns dark. “Nightmares. When they take in too much before their bodies can filter it out, they become Nightmares. They seek to cause more of the pain, fear, and hate that turned them, and they have no concerns about waste mana, so they grow quickly once they start. The younger they are the easier it is to happen to them, though older monsters take longer to filter waste mana, so they have to be more careful. Base Nightmares can be extremely hard to put down, as with every kill they get that little bit stronger, and whole villages can sometimes disappear before they’re found, so we’re very, very fortunate that I can count the number of Primal Nightmares I know of on one hand.”

Armsmaster turns introspective for a minute, then snaps out of it. “Anyway, enough doom and gloom. Your fights are unlikely to last ten minutes at this stage in your growth, so I think it’s time to introduce you to the first set of abilities for your Relics. Or just the sword, rather. We’ll bring in the others once you start using them.”

My face lights up. I’ve been looking forward to seeing just what was so special about my sword for a while. I mean, it’s super durable and can cut most things with ease, but that doesn’t exactly scream ‘extremely powerful weapon’.

“Really?”

“Sure. Let’s head to the training room first, though, it’s better suited for it.”

We both get up and make our way to the training room. It doesn’t take very long for us to arrive, the Armoury seems in a helpful mood today.

Once we get there, I find myself standing before Armsmaster with my sword drawn.

“Now then, I’ve told you before that your Relics are different from the norm. Let me explain that fully. Whilst they won’t have the extra mana storage that other Relics possess, your deeper connection to them means the use of their powers is much, much more efficient. Standard Relics hemorrhage mana in their use, they just have a lot to spare. You’ll also find later on that yours will possess more kick to them as well. So with all that in mind, the first thing I’ll show you is how to make your sword safer to hit people with.”

Aw.

Seeing my disappointment, she says, “Don’t give me that. The process is the easiest by far, and understanding of it will act as a foundation for learning it’s other powers. Here’s what you’ll do. Pull a tiny bit of your mana, as small as you can make it, you don’t need much, through your connection to the sword. Then run it along the edge of the blade whilst projecting the thought of a barrier around the blade.”

I do as she said, dragging a single thread along the line connecting to my sword. Once it passes through, it feels like it’s running along a channel, like something apart from myself is guiding it. Once it starts to reach the blade I do my best to imagine a protective field around the edge. Imprinting concepts into mana is something Armsmaster and Mom have both been working with me on, which is where a solid portion of my progress went. It’s surprisingly difficult to get right.

Instantly, the mana clicks into place, and a soft silver light gathers around the edge of my sword. Testing it, it feels warm and kind of ticklish, but also resists my touch. The light is pliable at first, but gets slowly harder the more I push. It’s like my sword has turned into a foam replica.

“Very good. Now, let’s make sure you got it right. I want you to hit me wi-”

The moment she says ‘hit me’, I enhance myself and lash out at her face as hard as I could, which is pretty hard with the extra strength.

I might not be fully over how tough that obstacle course was.

The strike feels no different from any other time I swung my sword. There’s no change in how it weighs or the balance, which is nice, and the barrier presumably let’s air pass through normally as there isn’t any extra wind resistance.

I suspect Armsmaster was fully prepared for the hit even with my interruption, as she doesn’t even flinch. She does turn her head to protect her eyes, but it’s a calculated move. When the blow lands, the sword bounces back, and I see Armsmaster is completely unharmed.

Seeing this, I grin and attack again.

And again.

Okay, I’m definitely not over the obstacle course.

Armsmaster just stands there patiently, seemingly content to wait me out. Eventually I decide I’ve had enough and step back, fighting back a grin from coming to my face.

She raises an eyebrow. “Had enough?”

My valiant defence against my own expression fails, and the grin blooms. “I wanted to make sure it covered the whole thing. Don’t want to risk hurting someone after all.”

She clearly doesn’t believe me. “Right. Anyway, all your Relics share this ability, so you can use that as well with the others once you start learning how to use them. The other power the sword possesses is functionally the opposite. It cuts through mundane materials with little effort, but magically reinforced materials will require this next ability to manage properly. Because of how they work, the two are incompatible, so first cut off the flow of mana powering the barrier.”

Once I do so, she continues, “Alright, now do the same process as the first one, but this time focus on the idea of the mana… oscillating, for lack of a better word. Shifting back and forth at great speed.”

“What, like a chainsaw?”

Armsmaster frowns. She sounds the word out silently for a bit, then comprehension dawns. “Huh. That’s a new idea. Try it, I guess, but use two flows, going opposite ways. It might actually work better.”

I focus myself for a bit. Then I draw two threads of starlight through my sword, and once they start being guided by the Relic, which seems strangely receptive given this is apparently completely untested, I do my best to imbue the mana with the idea of ripping and tearing away at whatever it touches.

A faint, but angry hum fills the air.

The edge of my sword is now glowing with a much harsher silver light than the barrier, rippling away from both flows. It somehow feels dangerous, like even the faintest brush against it could prove fatal.

Armsmaster and I stare at the sword.

“Is it… meant to do that?”

She keeps staring for a bit longer.

“I’m going to be completely honest with you here, Valerie. I have never seen it act like that once in my entire life.” She laughs weakly, “Millions of years, and I’m still finding things to surprise me. I love my job.”

She turns around, and walks over to where she keeps some of the equipment. When she returns, she’s holding a basket filled with balls made of a bright white material I don’t recognise.

“I presume you can guess what I’ll have you do?”

She’s referring to one of our previous training sessions. Similar to when we did ‘battlefield awareness’, she threw a series of balls at me, though instead of dodging them, my goal was to block and deflect each one. She still teleported around, though.

“Sure. But no teleporting this time. Something tells me an accident while it’s like this would be… bad.”

She nods seriously. “Agreed. These balls are made of the most magically reinforced material the Armoury has access to. Previous iterations of that technique struggle to penetrate, but I think this time will be different.”

I cautiously enter a defensive stance, and signal my readiness.

Without a word, Armsmaster tosses one of the balls underhanded, and I take a swing as it nears.

My sword screams.

That’s the only way I can describe the sound that’s produced as my weapon tears through the ball without resistance. What’s more, the silver light attached to the blade latches on to the ball, and proceeds to eat through it.

Within seconds, both halves are erased from existence before they hit the floor.

I yelp, and instinctively dismiss my sword.

“What the actual fuck?! What the hell was that?!”

Armsmaster’s gaze switches between where the halves of the ball should have landed and my hands.

“I have no idea.” She says faintly. “I have absolutely no idea at all.”