Before setting the basket of food on the southern cornerstone of the atrium, I peeked under the woven lid, then asked Aun, who was kindling the fireplace:
"Are you sure the prepared mussels won't spoil by morning? I have the semifinals tomorrow, and getting a stomach upset before the fight would be undesirable."
"Master," Aun replied, fanning the first flames and throwing more tinder onto the fire, "everything will be fine; I've brought home food from the 'Quiet Harbor' many times and never had a problem."
Of course, I know that Ain has its own ways of preserving food, different from earthly fridges and canning, but my question wasn't without reason. I was taken aback by the fact that the cook from 'Quiet Harbor,' from what I observed, was only on the Iron rank. This didn't hinder him from making delicious food, but he clearly couldn't possess the magic needed to preserve it. However, someone else in the tavern could handle this matter. So, most likely, I was worrying for no reason.
The food in the 'Quiet Harbor' was good. Unlike the beer and wine, it was truly delicious. That somewhat made up for the wasted evening. As soon as I thought about the wasted time, Dice's smiling face immediately appeared before my inner eye. And I corrected myself: "It wasn't wasted; it was for relaxation, which is also important." And that wasn't a self-consolation. Thanks to Dice, or rather the "memory of the future" about friendship with him, I knew how really important relaxation is. It was in his team that the "past me" progressed the fastest. Even faster than under the guidance of Katashi Atsushi, when all I did was work, train, and work again. During rest, your mind and body are also busy, assimilating what was done before. And while resting, this assimilation happens faster and more thoroughly than in the mode of endless training. For instance, if you have a choice between three consecutive training sessions and a regime of "training, rest, training," then the second option would be much more beneficial. I knew this even before Ain - my gymnastics coach told me the same thing - but Dice showed that not only the body but also the mind should rest between training sessions. That is, real rest is not about lying down and relaxing muscles, not taking a relaxing walk between loads, and even not a cold bath for recovery. Rest is something more. As Dice said: "To rest well is a true art!" And from my experience, I found that my progress increases if I sometimes allow myself to relax.
I "remember" that such an approach incredibly annoyed Katashi, who believed that the best rest is a change of activity. And after working in the forge, he rested by practicing with weapons, after which he returned to the blacksmith's hammer. But if the future god of Labor easily endured such a rhythm, the people who followed him often broke down, unable to withstand such a life for long. I, for instance, lasted a couple of months, after which I went on my first binge, from which I was pulled out by a future friend and a drinking buddy who had not yet realized his divinity. Those who followed Dice, on the other hand, trained, as we joked back then, "to rest from rest!" And what is surprising to many, the group of the future god of Rest in terms of progress did not lag behind Katashi's group at all. And Dice himself climbed the ranks of the Spiral faster than all the other Shards I knew.
Therefore, even though I didn't find out anything about the officer I was interested in during the evening spent at the "Quiet Harbor," it would be wrong to talk about "wasted time." Tasty food, quiet, pleasant music, plus the unhurried non-stressful chatter of two young men nearby. All of this somehow relaxed me. Even the internal rage, the desire to find and literally tear apart Cristo's killer with my bare hands, became less intense and no longer pushed me to take immediate action. It was worth it to go for dinner at a pretty good tavern and spend a couple of hours there for that alone.
Since I didn't want to show that I was actually interested not in Laore Tempai but in a completely different officer, I had no opportunity to ask direct questions. But I learned a lot about the probable opponent in the grand finale, down to his favorite dish. Which I was utterly uninterested in yet had to listen to. Aun's childhood friend turned out to be no less talkative than the merchant's son, but delicious food smoothed out the constant chatter of these two young men. The "Quiet Harbor" cooked seafood excellently - on par with good earth restaurants. Therefore, when Aun suggested taking a small basket of food from the tavern and having baked mussels and tender lobsters for breakfast the next day, I couldn't refuse.
Putting the basket with breakfast on a stone, I stretched as hard as I could. After a hearty and satisfying dinner, I didn't want to train at all. Despite the fact that it was far from midnight, I wanted to go up to the second floor and just fall into bed. I sat down in a wicker chair, closed my eyes for what seemed like a second, and immediately fell into a doze, from which I was awakened by Aun's voice:
"Master, will you watch my training?"
With great difficulty, I opened my eyes and nodded to the boy. After that, groaning, I got up and took a stance. I have the semifinals tomorrow, and no matter how much I wanted to give up on everything, I needed at least to do a warm-up this evening. I had to.
Unlike me, Aun looked much more lively. Was it because he hadn't had a chance to eat much that evening, being too busy endlessly chatting with an old friend? This version seemed very convincing to me. Especially when I saw the enthusiasm with which the young man began his training. For me, every movement was a struggle, constantly having to push myself, as my body literally demanded to sit in a chair and melt into it like jelly. To wake myself up, I chose the "Lightning Dragon" sequence as my exercise, which was entirely composed of sharp movements and jerky transitions from stance to stance. In addition, these katas helped train Lightning magic, which was also useful. For the first couple of minutes of this exercise, my stomach grumbled and protested, but then it seemed to give up and settle down. Small electric shocks running through my fingertips also helped to dispel some of the overall sleepiness.
While I was invigorating myself with quick and impetuous jumps all over the atrium, Aun had already started his exercises for the second round. At this point, I had shown the boy two sequences. The first, the "All Elements" kata, was a standard, universal beginner exercise. The second, the "Dancing Blade" sequence, was intended to understand the weapon in your hands better. Performing it, the student should get used to the fact that the blade is an extension of his body. "Blade," like "All Elements," was part of the basic set of exercises. With each training, with each repetition, the boy got better and better at these katas. There was a long way to go to perfection, of course, but even I would have to work hard to perform these exercises flawlessly, so the boy's improvement was impressive. Aun was progressing at the pace of an earthling, and in terms of mastering basic exercises, in my opinion, he was between Miranda and Ilona. That is, he lagged a little behind the first but also slightly surpassed the second.
In principle, there was nothing extraordinary or impossible about this. All the locals who reached legendary ranks progressed much faster than average in their youth. Observing the young man whom fate had brought me together with, I was almost sure that if it wasn't for the future Invasion, and if Aun had about ten years to spare, he would have completed his Path and ascended to the third Spiral Coil. With one clarification, for this, he would have had to forget about a trader's career and follow in his grandfather's footsteps.
Soon I will leave Tries. And no matter how attached I've become to the boy these days, I won't take him with me. And he wouldn't go either. He is waiting for an upcoming wedding here and, as he thinks, a long and happy family life. A life that, if I don't change anything, will last a maximum of a year and a half.
When Aun began practicing the third circle exercises, I thought it would be good to give him some sort of routine that would develop not only his body and general energy but also lay an initial base for some specific kind of magic. Teachers usually add this element after their student has undergone the "Self-Knowledge" ritual. It becomes clear then what kind of magic to focus on. But in Aun's case, by the time the boy reaches Bronze and identifies his Talent Stars after the ritual, I definitely won't be in Tries. It's believed that practicing some specific magic without knowing one's true predisposition is a waste of time and can even be harmful. That's exactly what Ender told me when I asked him to teach me the "Discharge" spell. But in that case, despite my low rank, I knew my Talent Stars and insisted on my own way.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Aun's Talents are unknown to me. From observations, I can assume that he has four Talent Stars in short-bladed weapons, and I am most likely not mistaken. So confidently and without apparent flaws does the youth perform the "Dancing Blade" with a dagger in his hands, and that's only on the second day. All my experience literally screams about four Talent Stars in this young man. As for his predisposition to magic, I know nothing about it. It could well be that, as his father fervently worshiped Elai, and with what ease Aun received the blessing of this goddess, the boy may be inclined to Life magic. But I cannot say for sure, and the boy seems more like his grandfather than his father, so the likelihood of a mistake is high. Just as his grandfather had, he might have a predisposition to Lightning.
Locals believe that an inclination to one or another magic affects a person's character. Or conversely, character influences which magic a person will find easiest to learn. There's probably some truth in these beliefs. Take Miranda, for example - she is equally talented in all elements, and her character is as fickle and jittery. Or Ilona, whose tendency is Life magic. The girl is externally calm and judicious, but when it comes to fighting, she is able to continue the battle even with a broken leg. It is very likely that the "old me" embarked on the path of revenge under the influence of studying Shadow magic. As soon as this thought came to my head, I immediately realized that it was just an attempt at self-justification. Even if there was such an influence, it certainly was not decisive.
After completing the "Lightning Dragon" kata, I paused for a while in a static stretch. And while standing in this not-very-comfortable, taut position, my gaze fell on the boy. A moment, and I barely managed to suppress a laugh: if the theory of the relationship between character and preferred magic is true, then I know which element the boy is inclined towards. With his talkativeness and tongue as wide as a broom, there could be no other suitable option but Wind. And since I knew for sure that practicing "off-profile magic" does no harm, except for wasted time, when Aun finished another exercise, I stopped him.
Yes, in less than four days, I will leave Tries. Yes, most likely, Aun won't deviate from the trader's path, and all our efforts will be in vain. Yes, perhaps it's all true, but the boy has such high potential that I would feel somewhat guilty if I left without at least giving him the basics. What he does with these basics later is his own personal choice.
Ah! If only I had not a year and a half but five to seven years!
I would gather such talented boys and girls from all over Ain and organize something akin to a mix between Shaolin and a progressive education community. I would have invited Ronin to be one of the teachers... In my imagination, I immediately saw a picture of a legion of local polished talents standing against legions of demons. Yes, these talents probably wouldn't have coped with the Legates and Princes, but there are earthlings for those creatures, and these boys and girls could well have stood up against ordinary demons!
But I don't have five, let alone seven years.
No one in all of Ain has that time.
And the attractive picture that emerged in my imagination is just a mental unfulfillable illusion.
"Stop. Put the dagger down. Come here." I commanded.
Of course, I won't be able to teach the boy a specific spell, but I can teach a preparatory complex that will develop his energetics in a certain way. Even though I didn't train Wind magic in the Last Cycle and didn't plan to train it in this one either, since I was limited in time, the basic exercises and complexes for this type of magic were known to me. Choosing one of these complexes, poetically called "Morning Breeze," I first repeated it three times myself, then, watching Aun perform it, made a few adjustments. In this exercise, the main thing was not the external performance but to monitor how mana and prana flow in your body, how they mix, twist, and interact. Therefore, explaining what and, most importantly, how to do it took me much longer than with previous exercises. Nevertheless, Aun caught on quite quickly and, after the fifth repetition, performed something resembling what was needed.
But exercises for controlling internal energies are more complicated than regular complexes, and the correctness of their execution is difficult to evaluate from the outside, as their essence is hidden deep within a person's energetics. More precisely, a master who is five, or even ten steps above a student, can easily track this, but there was not such a large difference in ranks between me and Aun.
Making sure that the boy was relatively correctly performing the external part of the task, I returned to my own training. While doing the exercises, I did not forget to glance at how Aun was performing the new complex. And if, at first, his face reflected concentration and perseverance, after an hour, these emotions were replaced by others. Specifically, something more like disappointment and decline.
"Having trouble?" I asked.
"Master, I just can't seem to feel that wind, that breeze, that should be blowing inside me." The boy sighed heavily. "Even what you told me, to focus on my breath and imagine it spreading through my veins... At first, I thought I got it. But then... I can't. It slips away."
"Ha!" A slight grin of annoyance formed on my face. "Do you think you can master such a complex exercise on your very first night?"
"But..."
"Many train for months before they get a hint of the right sensations. And even for talented individuals, it can take days or weeks."
"So everything is normal?"
"If you don't give up and continue practicing, then yes."
My words reassured the young man, who returned to his training with renewed enthusiasm. I watched him and saw a reflection of my younger self. I had tackled the martial arts of Ain with the same drive and determination. Only back then, I was spurred on by questers, whereas the boy is drawn to it of his own accord. He would have made a good student if I were looking for one, and if he wasn't so talkative!
The thought of the boy's excessive chatter sparked an idea in me, and, pausing the training, I suggested:
"Instead of imagining your breath spreading throughout your body, try to imagine that you are speaking with each exhale. And it's not the wind caused by your breath that's flowing through your body, but the imaginary wind of your words and phrases. Pretend you're telling me something about the city or telling Alaya how unique and beautiful she is."
As soon as I said this, I realized how awkward it sounded and, most likely, it would not be correctly understood, but Aun immediately dispelled my doubts with a shout:
"I've got it! I'll try!"
"Good," I nodded at his outburst, like a seasoned sage-teacher, "then get back to the task."
"Yes, Master!"
We ended the session just after midnight, and throughout that time, the boy's face never once showed signs of despair or failure. Of course, there was no visible progress immediately, but his attitude showed me that he believed he was progressing. And that's good, and perhaps I was not mistaken to start teaching him the Wind.
Most likely, when I leave the city, Aun will return to his trading business and then get married. Perhaps he'll even have children before the whole world is scorched under the foot of the demonic legions. And my training won't help him in life. Probably, that's how it will be. But for that to happen, for him to have these one and a half years of life, the boy first has to deal with the assassination attempts, to preserve his life. And that's where every little thing could help him a lot. Moreover, training is far from being a "minor thing" and could genuinely save him in a critical situation. With this thought in mind, having completed my tour around the house, I went to bed.
The night passed peacefully. My mood would have been good if it weren't for the dream that haunted me all night. A vision where I was falling into an endless abyss all the time while someone's hand, seeming familiar in the dream, kept reaching out to me in hopes of saving me, but no matter how hard it tried, it could not reach. An endless fall. Terrifying. I even woke up in a sweat and greeted my awakening with tremendous relief.
"Master! And I have been up for a while now!" Exclaimed Aun, spotting my open eyes, and held out his palm.
Instead of accepting this symbolic aid to get up from the bed, I stared at his outstretched hand for almost a minute. Only after shaking off the trance did I jerk my head, driving away the remnants of the dream, and got up myself.
"I checked the breakfast basket!" The boy continued to chatter unabashedly. "As I told you, the baked mussels have not spoiled!"
"First wash, then training, and only then breakfast," I set him straight.
Descending downstairs, I filled a bucket with cold water from the atrium fountain and passed it to Aun, asking him to pour it over my head. The stream of icy, bone-chilling water washed away not only the night sweat but also the very memories of a rather unpleasant dream.