“If you weren’t a mage.”

Aesh looked at his teacher.

“If you weren’t a mage, I would tell you to meet up with that nutter.”

“Nutter?”

“Yeah, burned his own house right to the ground. You see, that was his thing. he used mana like a mage or an enchanter, but he was neither, see?”

“Then how did he-”

“But,” he cut Aesh off, “you are a mage, so instead I am going to teach you…”

He stops, thinking.

“To dance!”

Aesh looked at him in confusion.

The man tried to explain.

“If there’s one thing I learned in my years, it’s that nothing matters!”

“What?”

“That is, if you’re a swordsman, a mage, or a dancer, it doesn’t affect whether you cast spells, swing swords, or, yes, dance.”

“Of course it does!”

“A bit, yes. Look at it in terms of elements. Every element can be, let’s say, subdivided into every other element.”

Aesh looked at him blankly.

“Okay, so you’re manipulating air, but the air can have a secondary element, like fire or water, or even earth or air. You, uh, did know you can do that right?”

“No.”

The man muttered under his breath.

“Why did I have to get the stupid one?”

“Imagine that you’re a swordsman. You learn a technique to emit fire from your sword. As you get better at using it, you can shoot the fire in a blast, or create explosions. Then one day someone sees you fighting and says ‘not many fire mages learn swordplay’. Do you get what I’m saying?”

“I think so, but I don’t see why I have to learn dancing.”

Aesh did not want to learn dancing. He liked music that was loud and confusing for old people, not dancing music.

“Not just dancing. Everything.”

“Everything?”

“You are dense aren’t you? Remember my swordfighter example? What if he was a mage who learned swordplay, and mastered that same technique?”

“He would have wasted his time. Mages can already do that sort of thing.”

“No, he would have become better at his specialty. So will you. You will walk down numerous paths at once, and they will all meet at the same place. Then rather than being as one man in a hundred places, you will be as a hundred men in one.”

Aesh thought about this.

“Are you sure that that’s what would happen?”

“I’ve seen similar things. Like my second example. But you will be taking it farther than anyone else.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Perfect. The first thing is of course to learn a few skills. Sword, staff, and unarmed mastery, dancing, and your mage skills should be enough.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

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“I can’t help but think there was an easier way to get those.”

“Easier? Yes. Faster? No.”

“Whatever.”

“Next up, you need to generate a new stat. Ironically, I developed it myself.”

“That’s not ironic.”

“You’ll understand when you’re older. Stand in front of the dummy, and use whatever I tell you to.”

“Got it.”

“Dance!”

Aesh started to dance. It was the strangest dance ever seen, as he had been taught traditional dance moves, but the only music he knew to set them to was rock and metal, making his movements have more force and speed then they were supposed to.

“Sword!”

As fast as he could he grabbed his sword and began to stab and slash. He had been taught fencing for traditional one on one duels.

“Dance!”

He switched back to dance, but not even three seconds passed before the next shout.

“Staff!”

After they stopped for the day, Aesh looked at his teacher, and said panting, “what are we going to do after I generate the stat?”

The teacher looked at him surprised.

“Level it of course.”

Aesh paused to judge his teacher’s reaction.

“And after that?” he asked tentatively.

“I guess you go back to meet with your friends, prove that I’m the better trainer, you know?”

He smiled, pleased with the scenario he had devised.

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Flow

Allows the user to smoothly transition from one style or activity to another, even increasing their ability when they switch to a new technique.

“Whew. I don’t suppose I could have a break?”

“Sure you can.”

“Really?”

Aesh had not expected to be allowed to take a break so easily.

“Of course. I need to run some errands.”

“Errands?”

“Yeah, I’ll need someone to shout another style at you, so you can learn to fight two ways at once. Oh, and some people to shout nonsense, do weird things and throw stuff at you. Simulate real battle, you know?”

Aesh stared at him in shock.

His teacher sighed.

“How about you just forget I said that and take a break okay?”

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