He couldn’t help but yawn after hours of training with Asum. Man, that guy just doesn’t let up, does he? My entire body’s going to be unusable at this rate.
“It’s time to wake up and focus,” Lorek said.
Kiran stretched his arms and legs to try to get the blood flowing in his limbs. At least the chillier air outside in the courtyard helped provide enough discomfort to assist him in staying awake.
Every day he trained with Asum for hours with a sword and then he’d train with Lorek for another few hours on trying to develop his various arcane techniques.
The coalition was eager to get him combat ready so they devoted a lot of attention towards him in particular. That meant however that much of his day was purely devoted to working his body and working it hard. Some days he really felt like he could use a few extra hours or maybe, just maybe, a few extra minutes of sleep. They weren’t having it, however.
Lorek sent a tiny flame flying out towards him. It hit his chest causing his eyes to go wide in shock. Once the flame died the instant it hit him—doing no actual damage he might add—he quickly calmed down and sighed.
“Sleep deprivation will do you no good Kiran.”
“I know I know, alright? I’m doing my best.”
“In all of my days of mastering the arcane arts, I have noticed that my performance is negatively impacted by a lack of sleep. I have also learned that it affects one’s ability to correctly cast magic which makes it hard to gauge your optimal state. Admittedly, your ability has maintained a certain—shall we say—resilience despite being sleep deprived, but that is no excuse!”
I’ll try to nod off a little earlier tonight, alright old man? Lorek wasn’t actually all that old being just in their thirties but he had an older person’s temperament often making him forget that fact.
The arcane trainer stroked their beard and then tapped their hand to a nearby outside table that had a sword on it. “Since we’ve determined that you have an affinity towards projection magic, today we’re going to begin devoting more of our efforts towards it and more specifically, projecting a sword such as this one on this very table. Go ahead and pick it up.”
Kiran picked up the sword and held the hilt with one hand and kept the broadside of it beneath his other hand.
“Now I want you to get a good sense of the weight of it. Keep a strong mental note of that characteristic. When it comes to projecting a physically based weapon such as a sword, you must have a good mental note of all of the object’s physical characteristics. Those things include its weight, shape, feel, and so on.”
He tried to make a mental note of the sword’s appearance burning it into his mind. He focused on the hilt and how it had a thin black leather material wrapped around it to give it a firm texture that helped a hand grip it. When he closed his eyes, he felt his fingers sense the bit of roughness the handle had and how it did not easily slide.
A moment later he gripped it more tightly with his one hand and ran his fingers along the steel blade. It was both cold and smooth. His fingers glided along the shaft helping assist in creating a better mental image and manifestation of this sword’s characteristics feeling wise.
“Now then,” Lorek said crossing their arms, “put the sword down and let us begin an exercise.” He sat the sword back down on the table. “Close your eyes. Begin projecting that sword in your mind. Focus on the blade first going from the top and going down. See how it reflects the light of its surroundings and warps the mirrored images that reflect off of it. See the hilt and imagine yourself gripping it with your hand. Sense the weight. Sense the feel. Begin to send your mana flowing as you perfectly understand all of the physical characteristics of this sword.”
Mana began to flow. Tiny sharp tingles hit up against his palm. He kept a strong mental image in his mind but for whatever reason, the sword would not project into reality. Come on, I can do this. A warm aura pulsed around the space of his palm that was positioned as if he was gripping a sword already.
The image broke away in his mind and he felt a bit more drained of energy after having tried to project it.
“That was a good first try. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t succeed on your first attempt. I haven’t known a single projector who managed such a feat instantly. It could take you a few weeks of really getting a good feel of that sword and trying to project an imitation.”
A few weeks, huh? How about I accomplish it before the week’s over.
For most of the day, he worked on trying to project that sword. And he could never manage it. He went to sleep earlier that night and after training with Asum for a few hours the following day, he found that sword once again and began projecting it in his mind.
After a few days of failure only managing to get a better grasp of the process, he thought after five days, he was going to for sure project it.
Lorek stood there watchful and eager to see whether he would manage such a feat.
He began to project it in his mind with perfect mental clarity. He spent a good portion of time making every bit of detail on the surfaces of that sword appear as it was in reality, within his mind. The texture, the tiny imperfections, and even the sharpness of the edges of the steel came into focus. A few days ago he had even cut himself specifically to get a good feel for the sharpness that the sword possessed.
And he got an infection.
But he was feeling better now.
He regained his focus and focused on the weight. The physical appearance was an important component of the sword but getting the weight right was also of immense import. Having just one or the other was not sufficient enough to project the object.
With an outstretched arm and palm in a sword-gripping pose, he began to feel the aura pulsing against his palm. Tiny prickling sensations hit up against his skin until something solid began to form. The texture of the hilt manifested in reality. The steel of the sword ran from the hilt and went way on up until forming the exact sharp point on top.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Lorek nodded his head and appeared more than pleased by his efforts. “Well, well. You’ve proved me wrong. I see you’ve mastered what normally takes someone weeks or months in just a few days. Now then, do it again.”
In the evening, he pulled the entirety of a waterskin above his head and dumped all of its contents into his mouth. He swallowed it in such a way that he did not have to relinquish the contents from entering his mouth at a continuous rate.
When he found all of the water emptied from the waterskin, he realized that Lar was giving him a perplexed look.
“What?” Kiran said putting the cork back in.
“Thirsty are ya?”
“After projecting dozens of swords all day, yeah. I’m really thirsty after the fact.”
“That shouldn’t have tired you out one bit.” Lar summoned a fauchard in a split second later wrapping one hand around the long shaft. “This stuff’s easy. How’d it take you almost a week to figure it out?”
“Keep on bragging,” he said with a wipe along his mouth. “But don’t worry. I’ll soon catch up to you and surpass you.”
“I’d like that. You can do all the heavy lifting at that point and I’ll just sit on back and watch.”
“You’ve already done a lot of that.”
“I have not.”
“Sure you have or did you forget about not helping me against that giant that one time?”
“That was just one time.”
Lar was correct of course. She might’ve stayed out of a fight once but she had saved his hide plenty of times outside of that singular moment.
She released her grip from her summoned fauchard and it began to fade away as she no longer needed it.
As the days and weeks went by, Kiran had become more than competent when it came to projecting swords. He couldn’t do anything crazy like send them flying out like arrows but he could project one into his hands and use it proficiently with the aid of his training sessions with Asum. He had also worked on projecting barriers and strengthening them as well.
“You’ve improved a lot,” Lorek said. “For one who lost their memories, it appears whatever experience your past life possessed did not fully leave you if I were to make a guess.”
The two of them were outside in warmer clothes. Winter had officially arrived and while it hadn’t yet snowed, the air was more than capable of freezing water and ensuring most stayed indoors most of the day.
“Is there a limit to what I can summon in regards to weapons?” Kiran asked after they had been training for several hours.
“Many experienced and wise sorcerers would say yes, there are limitations. Take a particularly uniquely made sword for example that possesses numerous enchantments and arcane elements imbued onto the shaft or the blade itself. Being able to project something like that would require possibly years of effort. A more simple and straightforward weapon is an easy task but for a weapon, as I just described before, that is a whole struggle in and of itself. So while I would not say it is impossible, it might as well be.”
Lorek summoned two swords and tossed them into the air. As they began to fall back down, they disappeared. “The benefit of projection magic is the simplicity of it. With enough experience, you should be able to keep summoning them rapidly and do so in a quick manner. However, the more complex an object is, the harder to summon which will put a major damper on the advantages projection magic has. So while you could project an immensely powerful and undoubtedly useful object, the cost of doing so could be your life as an opponent is given the opening they need to strike you down.”
“So keep it simple and straightforward.”
“That is how I operate, but I have known others who think differently. If you could theoretically project a more complex sword let’s say, and do so as quickly as a more simple one, then perhaps. But another problem is that combining projection magic with an enchantment incantation, it almost always negates the purpose of summoning a specially imbued object. It’s far more useful to simply project a simple and straightforward designed weapon, enchant it, and then you have not only saved time but also effort.”
“A different manner of reaching the same objective with a tenth of the effort potentially.”
“Precisely.”
It was good that magic was not something that required a single road to walk down upon. There were numerous paths people could take to reach the same goal which enabled people who were good in one area and bad in another, to achieve similar ends without necessarily taking the same route.
Someone began to approach from behind.
“Kiran.” Hoghdar kept their hands clasped behind their back. “Come with me if you will.”
They met inside one of the nicer rooms of the abandoned state building. Both Lar and Juna were already there sitting down.
Juna looked over her shoulder and waved towards him. “Heya there.”
Hoghdar went around their desk and sat down. Kiran chose to keep standing between the two seated women. “I’ve been glad to see your progress lately Kiran. Both Asum and Lorek have said that you are more than combat-ready for serious engagements. I have decided that you are going to be taking part in an especially important task that will need to be carried out soon.”
“Oh, an important one?” Lar said. “I take it this one will be a bit more difficult than those tiny ones you’ve been having us do every now and then?”
“That is indeed the case. There’s going to be a ball hosted soon by a notable nobleman. It’s a yearly held event and you three will be participating under aliases that we’ve managed to construct. Your responsibility will be to try to locate a familiar by the name of Laphy. There might be another familiar in captivity at the nobleman’s residence as well but your primary goal will be to retrieve Laphy and get out as quietly as possible.”
“Quietly? That’s no fun,” Lar said.
Hoghdar grinned a little. “If you can’t locate them and break them out quietly, that’s not a deal breaker, but for everyone’s safety including many of the innocent lives who are at the ball, it’s preferable to try to do this quietly. The public’s opinion of the coalition is a rocky one. Many do not share the same resentment towards familiars like the queen does, but if they found out a bunch of innocents got killed by us, our perception will be dramatically hit by that.”
Kiran didn’t want any innocents harmed so he definitely was willing to operate quietly to his best ability. “Who exactly is this Laphy person that we’re trying to find and break out?”
“They’re a familiar affiliated with our coalition who went missing a while ago. We weren’t sure where they were or whether they were still alive, but we’ve received information informing us that they’re being held by a particular troublesome nobleman known by the name of Marthus Einfeld.”
“You can count on us to break him out for sure,” Juna said with a slap on her knee.
“You sure she should participate with us?” Lar asked.
“Hey!”
Hoghdar kept a plain face. “Of course. Juna is quite skilled at what she does. And you’ll be needing her to potentially break wards.”
So we’re to find a familiar, free them, and get on out quietly? Sounds simple enough. Whether it ended up being simple or not, time would tell. He had been training quite hard for the months leading up to this opportunity. He needed to prove himself so he could gain access to more resources that the coalition had. If they could succeed in this endeavor, he thought he might get his hands on knowledge that could potentially help him in gaining insight into his predicament revolving around his past life.