As more time went by, Mor grew comfortable with his morning exercises and even enjoyed them. Part of this was he could now see changes to his body, what was scrawny became lean and limber. In addition, his scholar robes are now not only fluttering around him, but starting to sit rather comfortably, still hiding all his progress, but the human told him if they keep this up and go on to the next stage, he might need new ones soon.

The lessons also went well, because the human was paying as much attention as Mor himself, or still tried to use his magic when they got bored, without any kind of advance mind you. It would not work, no matter what they tried. About a quarter into the year, the headmaster revealed this year's half-year aptitude test. It would be a duel, as the rise in monstrosities raised the need for more combat-oriented mages, or at least mages able to protect themselves.

It will be done tournament style, with each school year having its own bracket. The pairings will be dependent on your grades, both in magic theory and applied magic. Mor glanced at Ranbor for a second, and they met eyes. Ranbors chance had come, he would crush Mor for every insolence he perceived from him, and the look both shared, made clear that neither would back off now.

°Seems like now the fun part will start. Ready for a war meeting? We need a strategy to press that looser into the dirt.° The human edged Mor on, who replied.

°We know he specializes in Fire magic and as a high noble his magic reserves are probably a good level higher and I´m sure he knows at least one village-grade firespell.°

°But we can´t just concentrate on a hard counter for the big idiot, this is tournament style, and we don´t want to be forced to drop out before meeting him. In addition we are at a disadvantage, we have no friends, while he has his flunkies. If we meet them, they will fight with everything they got to tire us out, if they meet him they will probably just forfeit, so he can save his energy.° The human theorized and Mor had to agree.

°Yeah, too bad we can´t raise our reserves or at least replenish them fast. So we need to win as efficiently as possible.° Mor said.

°Well, we have the most efficient spell possible.° The human snickered.

°That would be?° Mor asked.

°We. Can. Cast. FIST and the higher level spell Break Nose!° Which led both to chuckle and Mor to promptly get reprimanded for interrupting the lesson.

After class the human invited Mor to walk outside while they talked, just moving the body to move the mind.

°Now to get to the matter, we need to specialize in something, while not giving up our greatest advantage. We are generalists and can fall back to any attribute. Any Ideas?° The human asked

°Well we have the following advantages, firstly we can use any attribute spell, secondly, we don´t have to stand still while casting continuous spells, because you can move us. Our disadvantages are our comparatively small energy reservoir, and we are limited to group-class spells.° Mor offered.

°Yes seems about right, think we are ready for body enhancement magic? Then we could enhance our mobility advantage, which is never a bad tactic.° The human said, but Mor shook his head.

°We would run out of energy too quickly, it is just a too complicated spell.°

°Too bad, but if you think so. We should probably at least try it, for the option to get a surprise attack in. Depending on our movement advantage would still be a good tactic, coupled with ranged attacks would be hard to deal with, if your peers have to stay stationary for the truly problematic stuff. The rest we can dodge or defend against.° The human put forward, and Mor agreed.

°Ranged magic and we probably don´t want to go with fire, because Ranbor will just shut that down with his more powerful fire control, wind is also out because it is bad against fire in its base form. We would need to get deeper into wind affinity magics and with that, our energy needs would rise and we would be back to the efficiency problem.° Mor explained.

°Why not try Earth? You are fond of that affinity right? And well we could bring some stones to where the duel is taking place. Meaning we could use single-class magic to "throw" stones and as a trump card get some stronger earth spells as well as the other attributes.° The human suggested, and Mor got thoughtfull.

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°But this spell is incredibly weak. Look.° Mor picked up a Stone and let his energy flow, it cost almost nothing of his power, but it was lack luster the stone flew for about 3 meters and flopped to the ground.

°What the heck? Ok, look humans are stone-throwing experts, and we learned in class that magic has a lot to do with imagination, right?° The human asked and Mor nodded.

°So this spell is probably based on your usual throwing strength, which, for your kin, is probably none. Now I´m sure you could throw it further than that, but let´s get some string and a little bag or something, and I will show you how you really "throw" a stone.° The human said and Mor procured the requested material.

°Just like, that and fixing this to here.... and done!° The human seemed happy with their construction.

°What would that be?° Mor asked.

°A sling of course!° Came the reply.

°Now just watch, I will show you.° The human took over the movements and showed Mor after a few tries what was possible even if the flung stones, did not have any semblance of accuracy.

But it also was just a quickly made sling. The main purpose was fulfilled and after Mor tried the stone-throwing spell again, the stone had good speed, even if it was a little bit more energy expensive, but still a lot less, than any other of the group-class spells.

°That is nice! Let´s go with that one!° He excitedly told the human, who agreed.

°Then, we will add enhanced magic training to our daily regime and gather up some useful stones.° The human added.

°Wait, add? We will do more training?! But what about learning? We can´t let our grades drop.° Mor whined.

°Easy, you will learn, while I do the physical training. Your grades won´t drop and I get a better feeling for moving, which will in turn help with our duells. But with that done, time to go back. The Homework does not do itself.° The human told Mor, who in turn looked up surprised, he hadn´t paid attention to his surroundings and just walked while they talked. Shocked he recognized how far they had come and without him being tired.

°Told you, those exercises would help.° The human proudly declared, as a bright smile grew on Mor´s face.

°Don´t you think, if we can train our body, there must be a way to train our magic reserve?° He asked and the human had to agree.

°If we find that, we will be unstoppable, but where to look, or who to ask?° The human asked and Mor shrugged.

°That I don´t know, we will probably have to experiment on our own. Nobody will tell us something, because...°

Leading both to exclaim the same °That´s not how this works!° and laugh.

°Then, my friend, we have a plan. Let´s do this!° The human excitedly exclaimed as Mor returned to his room. And while he finished his homework, the human did some leg raises below the desk, using a footrest as additional weight.

With their strategy firmly in place, the training took off, and the other students often saw Mor wandering the school grounds, a book in hand and reading, while at the same time expertly evading any obstacle. And while the boys tried to trip Mor, while he was occupied he seemed to effortlessly move around their pranks, without really noticing them, some girls took second glances, for something on that boy was different.

At times Mor would even be seen running, which led to even more bewilderment, because what would he run from? Most just accredited this to some strange commoner thing, and ignored it. Ranbor snickered every time he saw Mor because to him it was clear, the peasant wanted to run away and that´s why he was running around like a coward.

°It gets really boring, why are those idiots even trying anymore? Don´t they learn, they can´t trip me? I mean, I can see them sticking out their foot and all.° The human complained.

°How would they know? All they see is a distracted outcast, wandering about not caring for his surroundings, and them always failing only makes this a challenge.° Mor answered, while they dodged the next poor attempt.

°Still annoying.° Poutet the human.

°Other topic! Any progress in our "Raise the energy reservoir" project?° They asked and Mor shook his head.

°Nothing until now, all books, I can get ahold of tell that it is impossible, as impossible as training your body. Slowly I believe you are right, and they are all stupid.° Mor sighed.

°I have an idea, but it could be dangerous, so we shouldn´t do that without someone to observe it. Meaning we need someone we can trust with this.° The human stated and Mor´s interest was clear.

°What idea? We just about tried anything, using magic every day just as moving our body, but it did not work at all.° Mor asked.

°Well we empty our reservoir completely and dip just a bit into our "life energy", maybe if we do this often enough we get our reservoir to "think" it must grow to supply the new demand.° The human explained, and Mor nodded.

°Sounds risky, too risky for just experimenting with it. But the only one I might trust would be the old Adept, she seemed inclined to listen to arguments, if we explain what we want to do right.° Mor said

°Good thinking, Mor! Let´s put that on the list for after the turnier, for now, we have to work, with what we have, we don´t want to drop out because we did some experiment that might fail.° The human told Mor.

°Yes we only have two more weeks, at least our training is going well.° Mor agreed.

°That´s why we will do intensive training for next week, and rest up the week after to be in top form.° The human said.

°I don´t like the sound of intensive training.° Mor carefully offered.

°Nothing bad, we will just do 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 squads, and 10 km of running each day, every day. Doesn´t sound too bad right?° The human said.

°I only understood some numbers and running in this sentence, I don´t like this.° Mor complained.

°Don´t worry I will do those exercises for us.° The human calmed Mor, but Mor´s bad feelings were not so easily quelled. Still, he had no choice if he fought the human in those exercises, it would just be more exhausting.