"I actually know of several other younger blood mages, who had sworn off a life of violence and sought after more peaceful means of living. They had lacked the mental strength to cope with the pain they received constantly, and developed a fear of it. This naturally rendered them useless as soldiers, and we had let them go as a result. One of them is still around in Knallgant, and makes the best rye bread around." - Aelfried Stahlfaust, the Undying, Graf von Meergant.

After the unexpected talk and revelations, Cal went through the winter normally, mostly relaxing around with her family, though she had a bit of a harder time keeping the secret since her family happened to be staying in the inn run by Aideen's family.

Her students came over from Levain the next week, however, which brought her mind out of the contemplation and to their training instead. She had promised them that if they were willing, this year she would teach them the more advanced things, and they had come to collect on her promise.

She had borrowed a room at a local clinic for the training, as it would likely end up bloody, and the clinic had floors enchanted to clean itself well off blood and the likes.

Besides Ying Xiao, Ognar, Giselle, and Willa, Leila, Fheeri, and Fyodor also came to watch, and so did Elaina and Sidonie. Aideen and Shi-Huang was present as well, to help take care of the aftermath of the training itself.

"Before we begin, I must emphasize that what we will be practicing will involve a lot of pain," Cal said in a serious tone to her three students. Ying Xiao was excluded from the speech, because she was already too well acquainted with what she wanted to teach the rest. "I will not look down upon you should you decide to call it quits, so keep that in mind."

Her three students looked at her, then to each other with some visible nervousness, before they turned to face her again and gave her a firm nod, signaling their willingness to participate.

"What I will teach now, I hope you would never need to use in a real situation," added Cal, still without any playfulness in her voice. "But if you do fall into a situation where you need to use it, it would likely be what stands between life and death."

Once again, the students nodded their heads. They had come wearing only a simple, cheap tunic, as had Ying Xiao, as they were instructed to do so. From that alone they had bad premonitions already, as being told not to wear their armors likely meant they would be training directly with their bodies instead.

"Ying Xiao," said Cal as she turned to the young girl. "Please demonstrate for them."

Ying Xiao nodded, then pulled her large blade out from her pendant. She had some difficulty positioning the blade properly as it was longer than her arm, but soon she had it pointed straight at her own chest. The other students watched what she was doing with some obvious trepidation.

Without even a flinch or any hint of hesitation, Ying Xiao plunged the blade through her own chest, right through her heart, and out her back, all without even showing a hint of pain on her face, as most everyone watching - other than Aideen and Shi-Huang - recoiled from the sight.

"What this training will be about," explained Cal in a detached voice from the side, completely unbothered by the sight of Ying Xiao impaling herself on her blade. "Is to train yourself to keep your body going, and thus keep yourself functioning, despite injuries that would have been fatal to most others."

"For reasons I refuse to delve into, Ying Xiao is already very well versed at this. Her blade is enchanted with anti magic enchantment, so she is circumventing her injury despite that handicap," Cal went on even as her students gulped as they realized just what the training would entail exactly. They gulped again when Cal deposited a small pile of weapons before them. "Since you three have not experienced the same, I prepared some more mundane weapons for you to train with first. Start with smaller injuries, then slowly ramp it up. We will be supervising, and Aideen is here to heal you should you fuck up, so you can put your mind at ease."

"Make no mistake however, this training will be very painful. You will either walk out from this considering pain as an old friend, or you would be so traumatized you'd swear off violence forevermore and find a more peaceful living instead," added Cal as her students started to experiment tentatively on themselves. Giselle was the most timid, while Willa just started off by stabbing herself through the lung, and seemed to do well in shrugging it off. "Once you start getting used to these, we'll escalate and have you train with weapons enchanted with anti magic. And then practice this in live combat conditions."

The "practice" that followed was better described as a gruesome scene of self mutilation that made some of the onlookers turn green at the gills. Fheeri had asked Cal whether such brutal practice was really needed, though her tone was entirely a curious one.

"Better they get used to this in a controlled, safe environment than learning it the hard way, in battles of life and death," replied Cal to Fheeri's query. "I learned these skills the hard way myself, and on several occasions only barely made it out of the field alive long enough for some healers to get to my aid."

Fheeri seemed to be satisfied by the answer, though she gave a questioning look to Ying Xiao, who was excluded from the training because of how familiar she already was with what the others are doing. Questions raced across the Therian girl's mind on how a girl of fifteen would be so familiar with that, but she wisely decided to leave those questions unasked.

For her part, Cal had no intention of ever telling anyone of Ying Xiao's horrible past, as it was a secret kept only amongst Xain, Layla, Samira, Hu-Lao, some members of the royal guards, and herself. Should the girl decide to share it with someone else one day though, that would be entirely her call to make.