~ Jasper ~
Jasper woke up earlier than usual, ready to get back to training. The sun still hadn’t risen, marking the time quite early, but he was used to it by now. Plus, if he didn’t wake up fast enough, he knew Lingzhi was right around the corner to make his morning even tougher.
Over a month had passed since Jasper had washed up near Lingzhi’s hut, and in that time he had slowly acclimated to Lingzhi’s harsh training regimens. While Jasper was expecting more along the lines of drills and technique training, at least when he first proposed the training, what he had gotten was much more creative and freeform. It turned out hunting and dueling seemed predictable compared to some of the tasks Lingzhi had him doing during the day. Aside from the date hunt, which Jasper had only lucked into completing twice in that time, he was also competing with Lingzhi in chess, though his master didn’t recognize it by that name. In Natril, it was known as “Spicket”, owing to the supposed name of its creator.
Even though the rules were largely the same, Jasper only knew the absolute basics, and so he continued to lose game after game. Worse yet, just as he was beginning to get the hang of it, his master changed the scenario on him. While none of the turn-by-turn rules changed, Lingzhi arranged the pieces in disadvantageous ways for Jasper, challenging him to escape difficult scenarios. It seemed like a strange way of training swordplay, as blows were not even exchanged during the matches, but whenever he would ask, Lingzhi would come back with the same response.
“Without a strong mind, a strong body will fall apart at any challenge.”
It was an idiom that Jasper had never heard before. It seemed strange to him that Lingzhi was emphasizing intelligence over physical ability when training students for a largely physical endeavor. However, usually by the time he asked for elaboration, it was time for them to move on to more sparring or another bizarre activity.
Thankfully, while he wasn’t quite able to figure out some of the more philosophical points that Lingzhi would make, he was able to learn much more about Natril, and how it differed from the world he had grown up in. One major difference was magic, which Lingzhi explained could be broken down into five elements that, in his mind, corresponded to weather patterns and natural disasters, specifically tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and thunderstorms. Jasper’s basic knowledge of physics ruled out the possibility of it being any form of supernatural phenomena, but even he couldn’t figure out how to explain what Lingzhi was describing, or what his master showed him.
He had also learned more about the history of the Kingdom of Aurem, though the main points he picked up on were regarding the Kingdom’s current civil war. Apparently the Argentis Colony, named for a prior civilization that inhabited the eastern side of the Aurumian Peninsula, had become agitated with the longtime neglect by the Aurumian royal family compared to the western side, which contained Clove City, the capital, and Sage Port, the primary harbor and central trade city in the Kingdom. Due to this, nearly every major city east of the small town of Thyme declared independence and banded together to form the Colony. While the circumstances surrounding the civil war were interesting to Jasper, he couldn’t help but be more curious about the so-called ‘Golden War’ that Lingzhi himself had participated in. However, Lingzhi seemed reluctant to share any more details about the war beyond what he had already explained, as if there was some kind of memory that he was trying to suppress.
With these thoughts on his mind, he began to prepare for the day ahead. He still didn’t have a good approach for the morning search, but he was beginning to get an idea for how to solve the puzzle.
He knew that Lingzhi had carved the date into the trees, and not used any removable substance to mark them. He had already found two of them to confirm this. This meant that, within the fifty-meter radius of the cabin, there were a finite number of trees to be marked. He was confident, then, that Lingzhi would not use the same tree twice, and thus needed a pattern to go by so he could pick them quickly. While he wasn’t expecting to get lucky and find one today, he was planning to ask Lingzhi if he could see where the marking was for that day once the hunt was over. If so, he could potentially find the pattern to exploit. If his master refused to answer, he would just need to hunt it down himself, with more time and daylight.
Once he was ready to begin, Jasper noticed that Lingzhi still hadn’t come by to check on him. Normally, even when Jasper woke up early, Lingzhi would be there just as Jasper finished getting ready, to get him started on work for the day. However, he had already gotten ready, and he didn’t even hear the sound of his master moving around in the living space. At this point, it would probably be for the best if he went to check on Lingzhi himself this time.
However, to his surprise, when he entered the common space, Lingzhi was already there, waiting for him, a rather out-of-character action for a master who represented a drill sergeant in the early hours.
“Good morning master,” Jasper greeted, all traces of tiredness having vanished, “Is something going on this morning? You didn’t come and wake me up like usual.”
“Well, I didn’t feel the need to,” Lingzhi explained, “After all, you were already up. Besides, we’re doing something a little different today.”
“We are?” Jasper replied, his voice reflecting confusion.
“Yes,” Lingzhi affirmed, “Today and tomorrow we will be going on an overnight camping trip.”
“That’s it?” Jasper asked, “Sounds a little easy.”
Lingzhi shook his head, a smirk finding its way onto his face.
“Don’t underestimate this. This is the first time I’m going to have you use the skills I’ve been teaching you in a more unrestrained setting. Consider this the application of the theory you’ve been learning.”
Jasper nodded in understanding, but he was still having trouble taking this seriously. He had been camping once with his family before, when he was very young, and he managed to do just fine. What could possibly happen here that couldn’t have happened there?
Lingzhi stood up and moved to start preparing. Jasper followed him to the shed, wondering what he was planning to pack. However, when he returned, he only had several things in his hands.
“Are we only bringing tools?” Jasper asked, “What about a tent?”
“We don’t need one,” was Lingzhi’s reply.
Now done with the preparations, Lingzhi set off, with Jasper right behind him.
The next six to eight hours were filled with constant walking through the nearby forest, with Lingzhi occasionally stopping to fend off wild animals that attacked them. These stops were rather rare at first, happening only once an hour or so, but Jasper noticed that as they got closer to their destination, Lingzhi was fighting off more and more hostile beasts, and they seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.
“Hey Lingzhi,” Jasper asked after one encounter, “Is it just me, or are we fighting more as we go?”
Lingzhi looked back at Jasper and smiled.
“Glad to see you caught on,” he explained, “I didn’t exactly pick any random place to go camping. We’re camping in the Srebro Forest, one of the most dangerous areas on the peninsula.”
Lingzhi explained that the forest was located in the eastern area of Argentis, and due to a historic lack of human inhabitance, it had developed as a sort of ‘safe territory’ for various wild beasts. This included both timid, nonhostile types like Antlas, which Jasper compared to horned deer, and largely hostile races, like the hive-minded Goblin race.
“If anything, the Srebro Forest may be home to the most concentrated population of goblins on the entirety of Natril, let alone the Kingdom or Colony. Stay vigilant, as they like to swarm unsuspecting travelers.”
Jasper nodded. The two of them had already run into goblins earlier, and Jasper was not looking forward to fighting more. It wasn’t that they were particularly smart or nasty to fight, as Jasper noted how stupid they seemed to be on their own. Goblins, in Jasper’s eyes, looked like shorter, malformed orcs, and after his experience with those, he had no desire to fight any more of their ilk.
After what felt like an eternity, Lingzhi finally stopped walking, and sat down.
“We’re now in the depths of the Srebro Forest,” he declared, “Let’s take a short break, then look for a good place to set up camp.”
“Set up camp?” Jasper asked, “We don’t have a tent, though.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Well, a tent would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?” Lingzhi responded in snark fashion, “We’re building our own shelter.”
All of a sudden, Jasper began to realize why Lingzhi said not to underestimate this trip. The entire way there, they had been fighting off hostile beasts and forest monsters, and according to Lingzhi, things would only get worse now that they were in the heart of one of the most dangerous places on this side of the continent. In addition, they hadn’t packed any food, and their shelter was up to them to create. Jasper hadn’t taken any of this into account when they set out, and he was feeling quite foolish now. This, combined with his hurting legs from a half-dozen hours of continuous walking, led him to take Lingzhi up on his offer for a short break.
Unfortunately, the break lasted barely fifteen minutes, as Lingzhi wanted to accelerate the process of searching for a suitable location and materials for shelter, as well as search for a meal, as it was mid-afternoon and neither had eaten since breakfast. Luckily, they didn’t need to go far to find a small clearing with enough flat ground to set up a protective barrier. Jasper wanted to object to sleeping on the ground, but Lingzhi explained that the nearby tree sap could cause rashes, so sleeping in the trees was out of the question.
Afterward, Lingzhi decided it was time to catch some game, and instructed Jasper to find an Antla nearby. Thankfully, it seemed like luck was on his side, as he found one around a hundred yards into the forest and didn’t run into any goblins on the way. Jasper was able to use his newfound skills to kill the animal and bring it back to Lingzhi.
At this point, evening had fallen, and Lingzhi had finished setting up a basic shelter for the two of them.
“Since you’ve never built one, I went ahead and built one as an example. Just know, you’ll need to improvise in the future depending on where you are, so don’t use this as a template, but simply a guideline.”
The small clearing had a variety of sticks sticking up out of the ground, surrounding a small area that couldn’t have been larger than 10 square meters. The sticks were far enough apart that Jasper could squeeze through by going in sideways, but close enough together that it would ward away various curious animals. In addition, a slight trench had been dug around the stick barrier, as a further means of protection.
“This seems vulnerable,” Jasper noted.
“The biggest concern is making sure either nothing attacks you, or anything that does causes enough noise to wake you up,” Lingzhi explained, “I went for the latter approach due to the antagonistic nearby trees limiting the amount of material I had to work with.”
“This place is terrifying,” Jasper muttered.
With their shelter complete, Lingzhi decided it was time to sleep. While Jasper offered to keep lookout, Lingzhi turned him down.
“This is practice,” he explained, “If you’re on your own, lookouts are useless.”
Jasper didn’t have a response for that and decided instead to try and get comfortable. Lingzhi had laid something akin to a tarp out on the ground to keep them separated from the hard ground. When Jasper asked about it, he was told that it wasn’t too unreasonable to carry a tarp when exploring. With no other thoughts on his mind, Jasper drifted off to sleep.
When he woke up, he didn’t know what was going on. His arms and legs felt unusually heavy, and his vision was surprisingly blurry. What’s more, in his vision seemed to be a completely random assortment of colors. He only had one idea of what could be going on here.
Am I in a dream?
Sure enough, from the colors emerged a dark figure. It was a person.
Who is that?
The person in question didn’t seem to pay attention to Jasper, but instead turned to face someone seemingly behind him. Jasper turned around, afraid of what he might see. The image he saw, however, caused him to wince.
Amber and Ruby? What are they doing here?
Jasper’s first instinct was to run up and hug them, to tell them everything was okay, but he reminded himself that this was, in all likelihood, a dream. But why would he be dreaming about them now, of all times?
Ah, I see. My guilt is coming back to haunt me, huh?
His spirits began to fall, as his dreaming mind began to vaguely remember the events that separated the trio to begin with. If he had been stronger, he would have never lost them. If he hadn’t made the mistake, he would have at least been able to stay with them.
Wait, what is he doing?
The dark figure pulled a sword out of nothing and began to walk toward Jasper. The boy in question put his hands up, hoping to deter his attacker, but he quickly noticed his mistake.
He’s going for the twins!
Dream Jasper gritted his teeth. He wasn’t going to fail them again, even here in a dream. He wasn’t sure if they wanted him back, but he had taken it upon himself to protect them, and he wasn’t going to back down, no matter what they thought.
I need a weapon. A sword, like I’ve been practicing with.
Jasper focused his mind and attempted to summon a sword into his right hand. He thought about all the training swords he had been using. While they were useful for their intended purpose, none were battle-ready.
I need to make it sharper!
If this was his dream, then he could manipulate this world. He focused on the image of a sharpened practice sword and tried to summon it. Sure enough, he began to feel the cold weight of a sword’s handle in his right hand.
All right! Now it’s my turn!
Feeling lighter than ever, Jasper ran toward the dark figure, ready to strike him with his new sword-
And the dream ended. Jasper’s eyes shot open to the rising sun.
He was lying in a pool of sweat, and he was breathing heavily. While the dream seemed like it had barely lasted an instant, his body felt more like he had just run a marathon, followed by a sparring match with Lingzhi.
He looked to see if Lingzhi was still asleep, but the man had already gotten up, it seemed. He was nowhere to be found inside of the shelter. However, before he could ponder the old man’s whereabouts, his question was answered.
“Oh, you’re awake,” Lingzhi’s voice echoed.
Jasper looked to his left to see Lingzhi already standing, holding what appeared to be a rabbit.
“It seemed like you were having a nightmare, and I don’t think it’s a great idea to interrupt those,” Lingzhi explained, “Are you okay now?”
Jasper gulped.
“I should be okay in a bit,” he explained, “Just a little exhausted.”
“I can imagine,” Lingzhi commented, “I do have one question, though.”
“What?”
“What’s that you’re holding in your hand?”
Jasper was initially confused. He wasn’t holding anything, of course. He just woke up. But when he turned to look in his right hand…
“What on Earth?”
His right hand was indeed gripping something very tightly, but it was what was being held that surprised Jasper.
It was a wooden sword, not that different from the ones he and Lingzhi practiced with on a daily basis. However, there was one major difference: while the practice swords were dull and somewhat rounded, this one had a sharp edge and a sharp point.
“It’s the same one,” Jasper murmured.
“The same one?”
“You were right, I had a nightmare last night,” Jasper explained, “My sisters were being attacked by some dark figure, and I used what I thought were my dream powers to summon this exact weapon.”
“You…summoned it?” Lingzhi asked cautiously.
Jasper nodded.
“I’ve never seen this sword before. I just tried to combine the practice swords with sharpness, so I could do damage. It was all in my mind, so why is it right here, no different than what I came up with?”
Lingzhi stayed silent at this. He seemed completely blown away by this course of events, and the grim expression on his face seemed to imply it wasn’t in the way he would have liked.
“This is something I thought I’d never see,” he murmured, “Is it really what happened?”
Jasper nodded, not sure if Lingzhi was talking to him.
“I didn’t bring this with me, and you didn’t either. It just showed up as I was sleeping.”
Lingzhi sighed, then gave a hard look to Jasper.
“This conversation stays between us, okay?”
Jasper nodded again, simultaneously eager to hear what Lingzhi was thinking and terrified of the ramifications of such a secret.
“I believe we’ve just discovered your magical affinity.”
Jasper’s eyes widened.
“You mean that I created this sword with magic?” he asked, “But I thought you said there were only five elements!”
Lingzhi sat down, his expression unchanging.
“Before I explain what this is, I need to continue my explanation from before.”
“Is there more?” Jasper asked.
Lingzhi nodded.
“It is true that there are five elemental magic affinities: fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning. These are the types of magic available to the people of Natril. However, there are legends that speak of other forms of magic. These are known as extra-elemental affinities.”
“Extra-elemental?” Jasper repeated.
“It is unclear why they existed, or what the limits were. Since no one is around who can use any form of extra-elemental magic, people often think that it’s simply not real. But there is reliable literature that backs up its existence, and as a result I have always believed that it was lost to history.”
“But-“
“Let me continue, please,” Lingzhi asked, “Most people only know of the general legends, but some scholars have managed to find evidence of specific forms of extra-elemental magic. During my time living in Clove City for the war, I read about this, and I think I can identify yours based on that information. You can use Formation magic.”
“Formation magic? That’s what I’m using?”
“I can’t think of any other viable alternative. The legends of Formation magic speak of its users’ ability to form objects from their minds. Effectively, bring about the creation of an object without relying on any materials or crafting.”
“Hold on a second,” Jasper interrupted, “It makes sense that you jumped to that conclusion after seeing the sword that came out of nowhere. But I thought you said that Formation magic was extinct?”
“I did, and that’s still true,” Lingzhi sighed, “But you’re a special case.”
“What do you mean?”
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? You aren’t from Natril.”
Jasper immediately realized what Lingzhi was saying. While the extra-elemental bloodlines had disappeared, making the form of magic effectively dormant on Natril, there was no guarantee that his bloodline followed those rules. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Magical eugenics could not have happened in his world, due to magic being nonexistent, meaning any attempts to remove affinities that had happened here would have been pointless where he came from.
It was all coming together. Before, it seemed impossible for Jasper to use any form of magic, no matter how hard he tried. While he didn’t have much time to practice, and it was possible that he was just doing it wrong, he had always found it strange that none of the five elements worked for him. Combined with the fact that he was one of only three people that supposedly qualified for extra-elemental magic on the continent right now, it made a lot of sense that his style of magic would be something like this.
“Can you explain more about Formation magic?” Jasper asked, “If this is what I’m capable of, I want to make full use of it.”
“There’s not much more to it,” Lingzhi denied, shaking his head, “The literature was vague, and there isn’t anyone left around to test it out. If anything, you’re going to be pioneering the method of use yourself.”
Resigned to this, Jasper nodded. However, despite the momentary disappointment, his mind was racing with the possibilities. He had just found the well of his potential, and more than ever, he was determined to see how deep it ran.