Chapter 81

I enjoyed the song of the world as it touched upon all my senses. The bubbling of the stream beside which I stood and the trill of birds in the trees above us tickling my ears; a whisper of wind caressing my arms, the scent of fallen leaves and hidden flowers. Together they combined into the sweetest melody.

The harmony to accompany that beautiful song was wrought of aether. The closest was Etta, her brown pants rolled up to her knees and her bare feet in the stream as she shaped a ball of water with her aether. Water Orb was more of a training spell, though it could be used for moving water around. Beyond that, it didn’t have a lot of applications, but it did teach control and aether manipulation. For Etta, it also taught her to separate out the tier one affinities that made up her Storm Affinity.

Normally, that should have meant that she would run out of aether far quicker, but her Greater Aether core was a game changer. Unlike Gramps, Etta didn’t suffer in the mountainous environment.

Speaking of Gramps, the old codger sat on a fallen log with a crackling fire in front of him. Being exiled to the mountains had been a punishment, and it was easy to see how. Fire involved creating heat and the mountains ranged from cool to freezing year round. Even with his Greater Aether core and an Attribute for efficiency with fire spells, everything cost him more. They had put him where it would hurt the most without killing him — by restricting his ability to progress his Advanced Class Path. I admit that I hated them — whoever they were — and my vindictive streak demanded vengeance. I was patient enough that, one day, I would visit retribution on whomever had crossed my beloved grandfather.

Around Gramps’ hands swirled a trail of small flames that he wove in figure eights then swirled up and down his arms. He put Etta’s control and my own to shame. While Etta’s aether was easy to sense, feeling like a buzzing ball above the stream, I only caught Gramps’ in occasional flickers. He was doing it on purpose, sitting just outside of my range to help me progress my Path of Aethersensitivity.

George was even farther away, the earth shifting around him as though some mole was digging a tunnel beneath his feet. From him, I could sense nothing, which was fair since he was providing the same training for Etta as Gramps was doing for me. Etta just had a greater effective range with aethersensing, once more owing to her larger core.

As per usual, I was fighting with my aether. I could reliably cast the nightvision spell by this point, though I lacked speed. Where my Skills could activate in the space of a breath, nightvision took anywhere from thirty seconds to a minute, depending on how much I was being distracted. The time it took grew even worse when I was trying to hide my aether usage.

Shadow was, by its nature, not particularly physical. My Shadow Path Manual explained that limitation in detail. It was possible to create corporeal shadows but that was only at a far higher level of spell than I was capable of. Even my Royal Cloak of Shadows Skill didn’t have a physical element to it. What Shadow did exceptionally well was obfuscate and conceal. In fact, it could be paired with spells from other Affinities to hide the aether usage. For someone as sneaky as me, it was perfect — if only I could get it to work reliably.

“I can still sense the spell forming,” Gramps called as flickering flames trailed down his arm and circled the small fire in front of him.

I bit down on my retort. Gramps was just trying to be helpful, and I didn’t want to take out my frustrations on him. To conceal my aether usage, I needed to pull a thin film of my aether over the top of the thread weaving the spell. Technically, they should’ve been the same, but I could feel the difference between them. Gramps called it Affinity resonance, and it was the same thing Etta was using to pull Water from Storm.

Unfortunately for me, it felt like juggling greasy balls. It took me almost fifteen minutes before the nightvision spell snapped into place. Beneath the canopy, it wasn’t too harsh on my eyes, but the pockets of sunlight were close to blinding, and I avoided looking at them.

“I couldn’t sense it,” Gramps offered, clearly recognising my blinking for success.

“Me neither,” Etta chimed in helpfully as she spun the ball of water like a top above her hand.

A little pride swelled in my chest before I clamped down on it. That same feeling was why I got into a fight with the older kids, and it would get me in trouble with my shadow magic too if I let it. Hiding my capabilities was in my best interest, for now. Sure, George knew something was up, but then we also knew about Etta. We would keep each other's secrets. I didn’t trust anyone else to do the same, and Mum had mentioned more than one commoner being tricked or coerced into a noble's retinue before. I did not want that to be me.

Instead, I contented myself with some steps in Aethersensitivity and one in Shadow Magic. Obscuring Shadow progressed far slower — the power of an Advanced Path not so easily seized, even with my Potent Shadow Affinity assisting.

The morning frittered away with each of us working on our own practice. When my aether dipped too low to continue, George rose from where he sat and picked up his wooden blade. Gramps stopped his own training, going to assist Etta with her Aethersensitivity. George and I played the part of happy distractions as we crossed swords, the clack of wood reverberating through the forest.

With a year-and-a-half under my belt, it was fair to say that I was excellent for my age with the sword. By this point, I had been training with George for almost three years and it showed. Once upon a time, he had been able to defeat me easily even while matching my strength and speed. Now, he had to work for it. I still lost most of the time, but most wasn’t all, and those few victories where the tip of my sword touched his body were another source of pride that I was trying to clamp down on.

Today was no different as we walked back and forth beside the stream, using the trees, shrubs, and stones to our advantage. My Stats had grown steadily, and though I was still a child, they allowed me to do things that the fragmented memories of my previous life told me should be impossible.

George took a quick step towards me, lunging with his sword out. His footwork was perfect, maintaining a distance that with my shorter reach meant a dodge to the side and counter attack would see me cut as he reversed his swing. The normal choices were to give ground or try and parry. I chose neither.

Dropping towards the ground, I caught myself by planting my left hand on a stone in a one handed push up. My legs shot out behind me to complete the tripod as I swiped my sword at his ankles. A thin wall of earth rose to block me, my sword vibrating in my hand as it rebounded.

I shoved myself to the side as the earth tried to shift beneath my hands and rolled backwards to my feet, resetting my stance.

“That’s cheating,” I accused.

“You’ll face worse at Songleaf or Clawcrest,” George replied as if that was a good enough excuse.

My face scrunched up in annoyance because it kind of was.

George walked forward, pressuring me as he tried to corner me — a task made all the harder because I was very quick and a small target.

“Will you send Etta to an Academy?” I asked, trying to buy a moment’s respite as I searched for a way to get the man to overextend or make a mistake.

“Not Clawcrest. Songleaf… perhaps. That depends on what she wants. But Cornelius has shared your plans to attend with me, and I know what those Academies are like.”

I slapped his sword away and spun around a tree. Then I turned on Muffled Aura and Royal Cloak of Shadow before ducking back the way I came, silent and concealed. George was too smart to fall for that trick though. When I rounded the thick Horndale pine, he had backed away, waiting to see which way I went rather than committing to one side or the other. I dropped the Skills, shadows flaking off me as George smiled appreciatively at my attempt.

“And what are they like?” I asked as we resumed.

“Depends on you a little. You’ll be good enough to draw attention, if you want. There are factions within factions. The children of nobility will divide down lines of alliance and affiliation, but even those are just what is visible on the surface. They may have orders from their parents to try and harm the other prospects or make new alliances. Most of the time, they won’t care about those not directly affiliated with noble houses.”

Another exchange forced me closer to the stream, and I tried not to let George’s words distract me from the fight. Unfortunately, I was losing that battle too. Damn my curiosity!

“The strongest and wealthiest Guilds also send their best prospects, but most nobles are smart enough to recognise the danger of offending such powerful organisations. During my time at Clawcrest, the Guilders mostly kept to themselves. They were a very competitive lot, heavily skewed towards survival and combat related subjects.”

George smiled, and I guessed he was remembering something. That gave me the second I needed to get away from the stream before he backed me into the water.

“During my time, they even kept their own ranking list that was just for Guild members. I suppose they didn’t like not taking some of the top spots — those almost always went to the high nobility.”

“Finally, there are the children of merchants. They are the ones you most need to avoid.”

I frowned, made a quick thrust with my sword then flexed my right leg and jumped up onto a rock to gain the high ground. “Merchants are what I should be worried about?”

The idea seemed preposterous. How were they more dangerous than nobles and guild members?

“The nobility won’t care about you unless you give them a reason. The Guilders won’t care about you at all unless you’re one of them. The merchants, however, are always looking for an angle to increase their standing and wealth — selling you out to the nobles is exactly the kind of thing they would do. Besides, you’re neither noble nor a Guilder — the Adventurer’s Society doesn’t count — so you’ll be roomed with the merchants.”

“Etta would too,” I pointed out.

“You think they let boys and girls room together?” George said, his tone amused as he swung at my feet.

I didn’t respond with words. Taking a risk, I leapt over his sword and down towards him. Without moving his feet, he slid to the side on a wave of earth. I tried to recover and roll away as I landed. Instead, I felt the pressure of wood carve a line down my back.

“You need to learn patience,” George said in a tone that was neither scolding nor flattering. “Your Stats are abnormally high for your age. You should be able to outlast most opponents in a one on one. Bide your time and strike when they’re tired or make a mistake.”

“I know,” I grumbled in annoyance.

Even if I knew what I needed to do, actually doing it was the hard part. A truth for everyone, I suspected.

“You’re getting better, though. Once you can reliably use some more shadow spells, and incorporate them into your swordplay, you’ll be an absolute menace. It’s hard to defend against things you can’t see or sense. Again?”

I raised my sword in answer. Training continued till a little after lunch before we began our march back to the outpost. Crossing into the no man's land behind the outpost, I could see a very distinct merchant's wagon hitched up outside the Hornpeak Mining Co. fort. A grin spread on my face, and I broke into a run. Nazim was passing through again!