Jien took all three suggestions he was given very seriously. After the first attempt at using the plant guard that he had simply taken to referring to as Vine Guard, he had fallen back into his usual training routine, but with some time added to train in all three suggestions. He spent two days a week working on each of the three methods and then on the seventh he worked at incorporating what he had learned into practical attempts with sparring matches between himself and his mentors.

On the days that he spent trying to grasp a deeper understanding of wind spells he continuously sparred with Emily. His intention in doing so was to firmly incorporate the consistent and constant use of wind based spells into his combat style.

It could be said that his combat style already had incorporated quite a bit of wind magic to begin with. It was used to accelerate and decelerate quickly, move both body and blade more smoothly and at times assist in defense when needed. However, in these spars he was consistently channeling wind spells and even using his free hand to draw various wind based sigils that he had learned from both Mark and Emily to be able to dual cast.

Technically one could potentially tri cast spells if they also spoke the meanings of the spells, and for the mythical fairytale characters that could cast with feelings alone it wasn't impossible to theoretically quad cast spells. The issue with this was the mana drain when multicasting spells extensive, almost multiplicative rather than additive. This most of the time made their sparring matches relatively short. Nobody wanted to see Jien become mana void. The danger that would pose was great so everyone was very cognizant of his mana use. this being said his control over mana had become almost extraordinary for someone of his age. of course this was because the method that Emily and Mark used to train this field would be considered medieval to most.

His progress in learning to use consistent wind spells over all improved his prowess in the sparring matches. Though they were short in terms of length both Mark and Emily found themselves having to put a bit more effort in than they had used to. This made them feel proud from the bottom of their hearts as it showed the results of their training to be paying off. To force two veterans that had both been through the academy and the Eternal Battlefield to be even slightly serious while only nine years old was definitely cheer worthy.

the days that he trained in the training method that Mark had suggested were more about theory. During these days his sparring matches were shorter not because he was casting many spells but because he required more time with Mark in his mana control training. Taming was a method that most could use definitely but not many did. The reason for this was simple really. Even if you managed to tame a small army of beasts, even magic beasts, they would always be relatively weak compared to anyone relatively trained in combat. Since everyone would have to go through the academy at some point in their lives most people could defeat hordes of beasts even if this led to some injuries.

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Of course there were exceptions like with all things. There were tamers among the elves and halflings who used exotic creatures with specific features to their advantage rather than just 'powerful' creatures. That being said that was mostly due to the unique environments that these races inhabited. The human domain had less of these unique creatures so the practice of taming was less useful.

This being said the humans had a fairly decent knowledge of taming from past generations and Mark had spent a bit of his time at the academy learning a bit about it. He happily passed this knowledge on to Jien and tried to assist him in adapting it to plant life.

The attempt was harder than it would seem since the binding process in taming beasts, magical or not was to bind via a magic contract sealed with blood. Of course plants didn't have blood so the binding process couldn't be used as it was originally written. As such these lessons were spent with Mark and Jien brainstorming, picking apart the different components of the taming process and trying to find the appropriate way to change the target to a plant.

Last but certainly not least were the lessons and training in the art of puppeteering. These were taught by Runa, who was more than happy to help Jien in any way she could. Mark and Emily knew a little bit about it but they were far from the level of proficiency that Runa had. Runa's fingers were as nimble as a pianist, moving like that of a conductor, the hand sized puppet she controlled performing an extravagant dance.

The puppets they were using were just simple dolls made of carved and painted wood. Runa controlled one that looked and was dressed as an elegant woman in frilly purple dress. Jien was in charge of controlling a male puppet who wore a black suit with white shirt and black bowtie.

The lesson from the very start was simple in explanation and difficult in execution. One would need to create thin strings of mana and attach them to the target, then using a combination of hand movements and mana control would have to control the movements of the target.

The uses of this method were more practical and devilish than just putting on shows for children. If one could overpower a persons control over their own body you could use others as the puppets. In the case of artificial creatures such as golems it was even simpler if you were decent. On top of all of that the method of using mana strings could be used to bind an opponent if used correctly. Even if they could force their way through it, one moment of being stuck in a life or death fight could mean defeat.

For now however Jien was struggling to get the hang of the fine tuned control over the mana strings that Runa was able to show casually. Not only was she controlling the movements with her fingers like any usual puppeteer, she consistently would shorten and lengthen the mana strings to make her need for movement drastically decrease to a minimum. While her fingers would start with large movements and then grow to only be minute in nature, Jien's own hand movements were jerky and rough. The first assignment Runa had given was that their puppets would need to be able to dance together, a simple slow dance, but Jien even struggled with keeping his puppets movements in rhythm.

Like this time seemed to fly and before long Jien's tenth birthday was about to arrive.