After breakfast, Jon, Hector and Mallory joined Thalia and Milo in the orange room. Milo and Thalia were waiting for them, talking to each other in the center of the room.

“There you are, mage!” Milo began. “I’ve been talking about how little you could probably teach me about-”

“Call me ‘mage’ like that one more time,” Mallory said, pointing at Milo, “and we about to have a problem!”

The change in tone shook Milo.

“I mean… just whatever.” Milo looked away in feigned apathy.

Mallory turned his attention to Hector.

“You should take Thalia with you,” Mallory said. “Train her up. Go on. Figure something out.”

Hector met eyes with Thalia, then looked back at Mallory.

“I already said I didn’t know what I could provide for her skillset,” Hector complained.

“Do it!” Mallory said. “Come on. Stop avoiding her like she’s your dad. You’ll figure it out”

“That’s harsh,” Hector said. “Really?”

“Really, Hector,” Mallory said. “Who’d you rather be around. Come on.”

Hector looked at Thalia again. “Come on, I guess.”

“Okay!” Thalia followed Hector outside.

“She could have stayed,” Milo started, “I’m not ashamed of learning-”

“Okay then!” Mallory clapped, starling Milo. “Show me what you got with mana constructs!”

“What do you want me to do?” Milo asked. “I can do anything.”

“Can you make a flat circle?” Mallory replied.

“Hmph.” Milo summoned a flat dark blue circle out of his mana.

“Cool,” Mallory said. “Can you make a box?”

The figure in front of Milo molded and expanded into a box.

“Okay, now can you make-”

“I can make anything!” Milo repeated. He raised his arms.

Shapes started rising from the ground around them. When they finished formalizing, Jon recognized the main street of the town outside of the library, sans people. The entire model stopped around their chests.

Jon walked up to a building and looked down at its roof, which came to his elbow. He could see it was a bit more transparent.

“Can you make a cat?” Mallory suggested.

“A cat?” Milo said. “Why would I ever make a cat?”

“Can you?” Mallory repeated.

Milo whipped his hand. A shape appeared in front of Jon. It was a cat, sleeping.

“How about an awake cat?” Mallory asked.

“I can do that!” Milo strained.

The cat’s head swirled into nonexistence in front of Jon, leaving only it’s body. Jon shivered at the image.

“Start from scratch-”

“Shut up!” Milo said, interrupting Mallory. Still, Milo seemed to heed Mallory’s advice, wiping his arm and clearing away the small district.

Milo looked to the ground in front of his feet. His eyebrows started to wrinkle, and he started groaning.

Small cat legs materialized on the floor. Milo then stopped his groaning. The legs were the only things he made.

“Why is this so hard?” Milo asked. “I can make full structures!”

Milo gestured upwards with his hand, and a full-figured soldier materialized into existence. It reminded Jon of one of the men who stood guard outside near the Apartha Townsend. Jon wondered if he could take that guy in a fight now.

“Can you make him move?” Mallory asked.

Milo groaned. The figure didn’t budge.

“Why not?” Milo moaned into the air.

“I bet you tried to copy that cat whenever it was sleeping,” Mallory answered.

“I…” Milo turned red in the face. “So, what! I figured it out myself.”

“That’s good,” Mallory said. “It’s honestly very impressive. But you don’t have a basic understanding of human anatomy, do you?”

“I do!” Milo replied. “I have a basic understanding. Why does it matter?”

“You have a good understanding of imagining basic shapes,” Mallory explained. “You also have a good set of memorized patterns in your head. However, I bet you struggle with imagining newer or even living objects. You-

“I can make tentacles!” Milo cried.

“Everyone can make tentacles,” Mallory replied. “That’s not special.”

Milo crossed his arms. “It counts,” he muttered under his breath.

Jon wondered if he could make tentacles. It could probably come useful one day. He also thought about Mallory’s assessment. Milo did do good job of replicating the street, so much so that even Jon had recognized it even after just a few days of being there, but there had also been no people who would have been moving if Milo was observing the town.

“Okay,” Mallory said. “Try imagining the cat again. Just with basic shapes.”

“Basic… hmm…” Milo put his finger to his mouth and looked down at a spot on the floor.

“Cylinders, squares, and the like,” Mallory said. “Can you do-”

“Shush, yeah,” Milo replied. He groaned again.

Instead of four complete legs, cylinders took their place.

Milo groaned again.

A blob drew itself, sitting on top of the small cylinders.

More groans.

Another cylinder stretched out from the body. Then an ovular sphere. Then two triangles, forming the ears. It looked like a rudimentary understanding of a cat.

“Great!” Mallory said. “Now move it around.”

Preceded by the usual groaning, the simplified cat figure started floating forward, hovering over the floor. The shapes that made the legs started swinging back and forth frantically, not at all matching the slow pace it moved across the floor.

“Well done,” Mallory said. He clapped. “Usually, I have to-”

“I understand basic shapes!” Milo replied. “I don’t understand why it works.”

“The less detail to the shape,” Mallory explained, "the easier it is to manipulate to do what you want.

Jon imagined the blue soldier that Liz had created in her fight with Mercy. It had armor and weapons, and yet no face. It moved across the arena swiftly, even with its simplified movements.

Thinking even further back to the farm, the sorcerer there was repeatedly summing black creatures with fully undeformed bodies. Because they had less details, it must have enabled the man to create as many as he wanted.

Jon shivered. He did not want to fight Liz any time soon. Her level of strength almost scared him at this point.

“Well, fine,” Milo crossed his arms and the cat disappeared. “That’s somewhat entertaining. But that’s not what I’m focusing on. You know what I’m capable of?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Mallory started mumbling the answer. “Double elemental casting-”

“Double elemental casting!” Milo screeched. He raised his hand.

A long bodied dragon made of fire rose from the ground, hovering above Milo’s head.

Milo snapped, and yellow lightning mana crackled from its body.

“Yeah, yea, I get it.” Mallory was covering his eyes from the blinding yellow light. “But like-”

“But?” Milo snapped his fingers again and the dragon disappeared. “But what? How is that not good enough for you!”

“I didn’t say that,” Mallory said. “It’s very impressive, but-”

“But?” Milo yelled again.

“But you’re using a dragon spell,” Mallory said. “And that’s cheating.”

“I’m not…” Milo crossed his arms and huffed. “I meant to reverse engineer it.”

“I could-”

“It’s not cheating,” Milo repeated.

“So, you understand how a dragon spell works?” Mallory said.

“I… I get it,” MIlo said. “I…”

“How did you learn it?” Mallory asked.

“Someone front the hundred hands clan…” Milo’s voice went low, and he started speaking sheepishly. “They stopped by on their way… and I learned it from them.”

“Did you ask?”

“I copied…” Milo admitted, “and then when they learned I could do it, they were impressed, so…”

“Let me explain the dragon spell,” Mallory said.

Milo opened his mouth to argue, then shut it, glaring at Jon.

He must really want to come to my fight, Jon thought.

“As you know, the hundred hands clan focus on a mana charged melee style,” Mallory explained. “Except, they curated techniques that draw on the bodies’ natural mana movements, which saves them from having to learn mana manipulation.

Milo groaned in discontent.

“The dragon spell is one of the spells that the hundred hands clan learned that lets them cast mana in a similar direction,” Mallory continued.

“Why a dragon?” Milo asked. “I mean, dragons are cool, but-”

“The hundred hands can imagine themselves as dragons,” Mallory said. “It’s a cultural understanding that everyone shares and identifies with… and so it’s easier to integrate the spell with their personal mana flow. But if you look closely, all of the dragons have different facial features, if you pay attention.”

“I… didn’t know that,” Milo admitted.

“Of course. Who’s trying to look at a face of a dragon while it’s-”

“So, are you saying that the dragon can look like anything?” Milo asked.

“The dragon’s just a concentrated ball of body mana trapping world mana,” Mallory explained. “So, yes. You can pump as much world mana into that shell as possible, and create your spell, but it’s really taxing. So, less thought for more exhaustion. Give me a target.”

“I… hmph.” Milo waved his hand.

Several feet away, the familiar figure of the soldier with his arms crossed conjured out of the ground.

Mallory suddenly started rising from the ground. Milo moved back in surprise when he saw the giant mana caiman also rising from underneath Mallory.

Mallory sat on its back cross legged. He patted the back of caiman.

It opened its jaw, yellow lighting energy gathering from inside its large jaws.

The caiman shot a quick beam of yellow light from its mouth. The beam struck the mana figure and engulfed it in a giant explosion of light.

Once the energy cleared, only the figure’s legs remained.

“What…” Milo flew up to Mallory, then observed the creature. “What the hell was that? What is this?”

Milo still was able to show indignance, besides the presence of such a magnificent creature. Jon wondered if even the full sized real thing would have scared Milo.

Also, his friend Mallory was starting to become just as scary as the other mages.

“Oh, this is Mikey.” Mallory patted the back of his creature again. “I’m glad it only took an ancient familiar that’s nonexistent in our modern world to impress you.”

The creature shrunk into the ground until it was gone, leaving Mallory to stand by himself. Jon then watched Mallory try to wipe the sweat of his brow without revealing his fatigue.

Jon grimaced and stayed quiet. Milo didn’t seem to take notice.

“That… what the hell! Teach me that!” Milo cried. “How’d you do that?”

“I can’t,” Mallory said. “That’s… that’s just storied experience. However, it’s good to take a trip outside of the library and learn about the world around you.”

“I go outside,” Milo replied, “and there’s nothing out there for me!”

“You’re not gonna learn anything floating over the people,” Mallory explained. “You have to get on the ground. Get involved. Take risks. For instance, one thing I’ve learned about the Ninja and Hundred-Hands clans is that they both share traditions of forceful mana manipulation through habit exercise rather than studying structure. They learn rituals that force mana into power.

Mallory casually began to form shapes with his hands, showing what he had adapted from Mercy. When he stopped, Milo looked up at him with ire.

“How did you… hey! That’s secret!” Milo hovered around Mallory. “How do you know so much dumb stuff! And how can I learn?”

“I’ll show you,” Mallory said, “if you can follow my exercise properly.”

“Fine! Finish your explanation of the dragon spell.” Milo crossed his arms.

“You were able to combine spells by pumping them into your dragon,” Malloy said. “But now, can you cast a double spell without the lighting?”

“Um, kind of,” Milo said. “I can do water mana-”

“Water mana doesn’t count.” Mallory said. “We can talk about it later. First, just make a fire.”

“Where?” Milo asked. What type?”

“Just something sustaining,” Mallory explained. “Like a ring around your feet.

A small ring of fire drew itself around Milo’s feet.

“Now, try to shoot lightning,” Mallory said, “without moving or losing the fire ring.”

Milo folded his fingers so that his index and middle fingers were the only ones pointing.

The fire wavered and disappeared.

“Damn,” Milo said. He tried again.

The fire appeared around his feet. Milo closed his eyes, straining, the fire disappeared.

“Damn it!” Milo pointed his finger at the wall. It fired a string of lighting, cackled through the air.

“We can leave him here for a while,” Mallory said. “He’s also probably having trouble without his control stick.”

Control stick? Jon figured Mallory was mentioning Milo’s stick which he often carried around with him. Milo was without his stick, and was performing spells with just his hands. Jon wondered if this was to practice not relying on his tools, like Hector did.

Jon followed Mallory outside of the training room. They stumbled upon Hector and Thalia engaged on a grapple on the floor. Hector’s back was ont he floor, with Thalia’s legs wrapped around his neck and one of his arms trapped between two of hers.

“Remember to keep your body pressed behind his,” Hector was saying, “this way, you can use that leverage. And make sure they don’t grab their arm here.”

Hector pulled his arm from Thalia’s grasp, then hooked his elbow with his other arm. “If this happens, you could just reach over and grab their other arm in a hold but-”

“Every second within the enemy’s reach is closer to death.” Thalia said the mantra-like statement in response to Hector.

“Exactly!” Hector exclaimed. “Now let's try-”

“What are you doing, Hector?” Mallory asked.

“I'm showing her holds,” Hector explained. “She’s smaller, but even if they’re ineffective against someone who’s too strong-”

“I shouldn’t estimate my own strength among a sea of strengths,” Thalia finished.

“Exactly!” Hector nodded. “Okay. From a mount.”

Thalia turned over so that she was sitting on Hector’s chest, with his back still on the floor. Suddenly, Hector swiped up at her. Without leaving his chest she moved back, catching his arm and sliding back into the same grapple she held onto him before.

“Perfect!” Hector said, excited. “Switch mounts!”

They switched previous positions, Thalia laying on the floor while Hector was perched on top of her.

He swung at her head with a hook. She covered the sides of her face with her arms, his attack sliding off her guard. She then snapped her arms up and caught Hector from the back of his head. Her legs followed, hooking around his body as well. Jon thought that Hector looked trapped.

However, Hector leaned in and began to lift up. Thalia’s head stayed to the floor while the rest of her body lifted with his.

Hector managed to slip his arm from her grasp. Undeterred, she switched her legs so that they wrapped around his other arm. She used her weight to toss Hector upside down again, burying his head into the floor. By then, Hector’s arm was stuck in a new lock again.

“Perfect!” Hector tapped her with his free arm and she released him. They were both breathing heavily when they stood.

“Yeah, that was great!” Hector nodded. “Just remember, try not to let their arm slip out. If they can get to that, you might as well put some serious harm on them immediately and give yourself a chance.”

“Okay.” Thalia nodded furious.

“Guard up!” Hector and Thalia crouched and ducked behind their arms.

Again, he swiped at her. She ducked, most of the attacks going after her head.

Hector tried to run and tackle her. She zipped to the side incredibly quickly.

He continued after her, swiping again and again.

“Go ahead!” he told her.

She finally hit back at him. Her attack slipped off of his guard.

“Harder!” She struck a few more times.

They both stopped then bowed to each other.

“Keep working on throwing your weight behind your punch.” Hector replied. “You may not put someone down, but better to have something to resort to. You’ll never know when you need it. I’ll put in word to make sure Callach gives you some anatomy books.”

“Milo needs some as well!” Mallory called out. “He should definitely learn some structural anatomy!”

“How convenient.” Hector nodded. “I’ll do that.”

“Thank you,” Thalia said. She turned to Jon with her face bright and rosy.

“Hi, Jon. Oh.” She covered her face in embarrassment and ran to the other room with Milo.

“Okay, then,” Mallory said. “I think we’re done here. Are you ready to leave?”

“Depends on Jon,” Hector said.

“Yeah.” Jon nodded. He was too noxious to wait for lunch.

“Aw, fuck!” Milo screamed really loudly from the room over. “Almost had it!”