Maiz didn’t mind hauling the water as much as he’d thought he would. Hugan had met him while he was waiting in line to grab the buckets, and mentioned that combat titles made it easier to gain attribute points than other types of titles. He said that, according to one of the other trainees, half of the Novice-level training was just using different methods to boost physical attributes as much as possible early on. Maiz supposed that explained most of the strange exercises they’d engaged in, even if some seemed downright cruel. After getting the water back to the barracks complex, where everyone was changing, getting ready to eat and sleep, Maiz opened his Name Sheet to check the truth of his statement.

Maiz-Spellsword (Rank 1)

Title Status-Hidden (Default)

Bonus Titles-

God-Chosen of Viselys (Hidden)

Title Options Available

Health-100/100

Mana-140/140 (+ 1.1 pts/second)

Stamina: 90/90 (+ 1 pt/seconds)

Attributes:

Age

16

Constitution

10

Intelligence

14

Wisdom

11

Strength

9

Dexterity

10

Agility

12

Charisma

9

Luck

8

Skills:

The Mask

Printing

Shield Stance

Fast Feet

Spells:

Flaming Strike

Suddenly Maiz didn’t really hate the training as much as he had. Well, it had still been a bit much, but those attribute gains were incredible! He’d gained a point each in Constitution, and Dexterity, and two in Strength, which almost put him at the average for a young man his age. Huh, kind of odd that my Agility didn’t increase, though. He’d certainly done plenty of running, and even used an Agility-based skill. Is it because my Agility is higher than the other attributes? If that was the case, Maiz wondered if it would simply take longer for his Agility to increase from the training, or if he would never be able to increase it more without ranking up. It seemed likely that the former was true, or else it wouldn’t make sense to have the Novices spend so much time working on their attributes.

Maiz joined the other young men in his barracks in changing into another set of training clothes, putting his sweat-soaked ones into a massive--and pungent--basket near the door. Apparently the magic-based Novices would wash them the next morning while they were training. After changing, Maiz followed the stream of people walking towards the largest building he’d seen in the entire training base.

Maiz hadn’t ever seen a place like the mess hall. There were several hundred people sitting at three long tables, each of which ad huge bowls of food placed at regular intervals. About eight people shared from each bowl, which at least bore some similarity to the regular dining style of most people in this area. Maiz and his father had always eaten from the same bowl or plate, though of course they had individual dining-ware to put the food in. Maiz looked around, seeing several empty spots, but then he thought about sitting and eating with half a dozen people he’d never met before, and began searching somewhat desperately for a familiar face. The first one he spotted was Jax, sitting with a set of other young men, none of whom seemed particularly friendly. Hells no. He continued searching, until he spotted Hugan’s large frame at another table. He was sitting with just one other person, though Maiz couldn’t see what they looked like from his vantage. Relieved, he made his way over to the section.

As he approached, Hugan looked over the shoulder of his friend and waved. “Hi there Maiz! Have you met Ziya?”

A young woman with a sharp face and dark, intelligent eyes turned around to face Maiz. Her hair was cut short, like Lila’s had been. Come to think of it, every girl in training that Maiz had seen had short hair, as did all of the boys. He wondered if that was a rule of the compound.

“Hello, I’m Ziya.” Her voice was surprisingly soft, considering her almost confrontational gaze. Maiz wondered if she simply had an aggressive face. Certainly, her high cheekbones, and sharply-defined jawline were striking, but Maiz thought it was mostly the way she watched him. She seemed to be examining every inch of him even as she spoke, and forming some inscrutable conclusion.

As she introduced herself, words appeared above her head. Ziya-Novice Cleric. That was a common polite practice, even if most of the people here didn’t seem inclined to showing off their titles. However, Maiz was surprised that the clerics, the healers of the compound, ate with the trainees. He was also surprised that this one was only a Novice. Were the Novice clerics the ones who’d been healing him this morning, after he'd vomited and gotten punched to oblivion? Had this girl, Ziya, been one of them? The thought was somewhat embarrassing.

As Maiz looked back from her title to her face, and saw that both she and Hugan had expectant looks on their faces. Oops. Maiz willed his own--false--name and title to appear as he said, “I’m Maiz.” No stuttering, at least. Maybe I’m learning.

Maiz once again reflected on the fact that he’d once been almost insufferably talkative. It had just been years since he’d had anyone to talk to.

But Hugan simply laughed into the awkward silence, saying, “Take a seat Maiz, and get eating! The food here’s pretty good, and there’s a lot of it!”

Maiz did as he suggested, though he was curious about where all this food was coming from. The cart they’d arrived on hadn’t had enough to feed this many people for more than perhaps a day. There must be shipments from other cities and farms as well that come here. Caelos was the largest city so far south, but a little north of it there were plenty of communities built on the more fertile land.

“Anyways, Maiz, what did you think of training this morning?” Hugan’s mouth was full of rice as he asked the question, and little pieces spilled to the table as he spoke.

Maiz gave a grimace. He himself was chewing on a piece of unidentifiable meat, and he waited until he swallowed to answer. Hugan was right--the food was much better than anything he’d had in the service of the Sharir. “Uh, I can’t say it was much fun, but I got a bunch of attribute points so I… suppose it was good?”

Hugan laughed, though Maiz thought he didn’t deserve it. However Ziya turned her piercing gaze back to him. “I noticed that you were paired with Haddar for the Constitution exercise. I was impressed at how well you handled yourself.”

The compliment was delivered in the same soft, circumspect manner that she’d introduced herself in, but Maiz blinked.

“Um, thank you. I didn’t think I did well at all, though. He sent me flying.”

Ziya nodded. “He almost alway does that. The clerics always keep someone next to him to heal his partner. But I saw that you managed to stay on your feet for a few hits, which is more than most of his partners manage.”

Maiz felt a twinge of surprise, then one of unease. He hadn’t realized that staying on his feet would be unusual, but then he didn’t exactly look like he’d be able to take hits from a monster like that Haddar fellow. Had it seemed overly suspicious? Wait, this is an opportunity. He’d been worried about explaining how he was using skills that weren’t from his title. That girl, Lila, had already noticed him copying her Fast Feet skill, and thought he was making fun of her. Hugan was oblivious, but if Maiz kept using his Shield Stance, eventually he’d notice. So I’ll point it out to him first.

Maiz turned to Hugan, then said effusively, “That thing you were doing really helped with that!” Too much, tone it down. “It, uh, seemed pretty useful.”

Hugan looked startled. He opened a mouth now stuffed with the mystery meat. “Wha-”

“--speaking with your mouth full increases the risk of choking, you know. I haven’t gotten to learn Give Breath, so I would finish eating before you talk.” Ziya’s soft voice cut in.

Hugan shot her a slightly annoyed look, then chewed furiously before taking an absolutely enormous swallow. Maiz thought he could literally see the food travelling down his gullet. Then he asked, “What do you mean, Maiz?”

Maiz gave his best innocent smile. “You know, that special way of standing you were using? It made it a lot easier to stay on my feet!”

“My Shield Stance?” Hugan asked, frowning in confusion.

Maiz frowned right back at him. “Oh, was it a skill? I thought it was just a martial arts technique or something. Either way, it ended up helping a lot, even if I couldn’t use it as a skill.”

Maiz remembered what Lord Viselys--his Lord--had said. I wouldn’t let anyone know about your title if I were you. He would need to learn the skills and spells of the other people here, but he also needed to keep the truth of what he was doing a secret. If he could play his use of Hugan’s skill off as a way to keep his balance better it would make the deception much easier.

He also knew that Hugan was a soft target for this. Sure enough, his friendly smile returned to his face. “Oh! That’s great, I never thought about a non-Warden using my skills as combat techniques, but I’m glad it helped you!” He clapped Maiz on the back, making him feel rather bad about the deception.

But this was what he had to do.

Hugan quickly returned to his food, taking huge mouthfuls and eating almost constantly. It seemed like everyone else had found someplace else to sit, which was lucky, as between Hugan and Maiz, there probably wouldn’t have been enough for the full eight people the bowls were meant to serve. However, though Maiz had been hungry, it didn’t even compare to Hugan’s boundless appetite, and soon he and Ziya were just watching the other boy shovel food into his mouth. Maiz turned to Ziya again, deciding to try and get some insight into the role of clerics in this place.

“So, what exactly do you do here, besides heal us during training?”

She replied without taking her eyes off of Hugan’s display of eating prowess. “We train like any of the combat titled Novices and Journeymen. We practice healing on the melee combatants, mostly, but we learn with the magic-users, and with our own teachers. Because our schedules are so full, we don’t have to do regular chores like the other trainees.”

Maiz nodded. Her explanation made sense. Clerics and some other religious-titled people were the only type of healers known to exist. They undoubtedly needed training, and this compound clearly needed a large amount of healers, so the arrangement was mutually profitable.

After a moment, Ziya’s soft voice hesitantly continued, “If you don’t mind me asking, your title looked like a magic-type to me. Why are you training with the melee combatants?”

The question might have caught him off guard, but Maiz had prepared for a multitude of questions about his title and situation in between the vomiting and blackouts that morning. “Oh, Mister Rin said that I have to fight up close to use my spells, so it makes sense to put me with the melee fighters.“

Now Ziya’s probing eyes were on him again. “And what about learning to use magic?”

Maiz flushed, though he wasn’t sure why. “Oh, he said I had to train with the mages too, so I guess I don’t do chores either.”

“Then I can show you where you need to go after we eat.” Ziya’s face was still unsmiling, but Maiz though he detected a sort of awkward friendliness from her. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, gods knew that Hugan’s initial friendliness had been a boon. Perhaps he should try and do the same for Ziya.

He gave her a genuine smile, saying, “Thank you!”

After Hugan had finally managed to demolish more than half of the food on the table by himself, he said goodbye to the two of them, and Ziya led Maiz outside to a building on the other side of the compound from the Novice melee field.

This building was also made of grey stone, with open, curtained doorways like the registration buildings’. Several other young people were also walking towards the building, all of them looking distinctly less muscular and graceful than the melee combatants had. Maiz and Ziya entered together, but then Ziya told him to go to the front and introduce himself to the head instructor. The interior was strange, a spacious hall covered in padded mats layed out in neat rows. Some students were already sitting on those mats, though others were finding a spot. At the far end of the room was the only chair, a comfortable-looking thing of wood and cushioning. Next to the chair stood an older man in red robes, who looked like he was half asleep.

Hesitantly, Maiz approached the man, careful not to step on any of the mats. When he was perhaps two meters away, the man’s eyes snapped wide open, and he looked alertly at Maiz.

“Yes, child?” The man’s voice had the quaver of age, but no sign of confusion or slowness of thought.

Maiz opened his mouth, throat suddenly dry, but as he was about to speak the man cut him off.

“You are new, yes? What is your name?”

Hastily, Maiz willed his name and title to appear briefly as he said, “Maiz, sir.” Somehow this man seemed to demand more respect than the training officer on the field, though he was certainly far less overtly threatening.

The man’s eyes flickered to the space above Mai’s head, but he showed no sign of surprise or interest at his title. He simply said “Well met, Maiz. My name is Instructor Hakim. In this part of our daily training, we go over exercises for clearing one’s mind, and for manipulating one’s mana. Do not worry if you don’t know what that is, it isn’t difficult to understand. Now then, in the Novice group we repeat the same seven exercises each week, before we split into smaller groups for individual practice. I will explain the basics of manipulating mana in the session, so you may find a place to sit.”

The Instructor had said the words smoothly, without allowing time for any interruptions from Maiz. Not that he would have spoken, but he still found the speech impressive. He thanked the man and looked for a place to sit. Spotting an open mat next to where Ziya sat in the back, he made his way there. He sat next to her, but she didn’t seem like she wanted to be bothered: her eyes were closed, her legs crossed, and she was taking deep breaths through her nose. Huh. I wonder if that’s one of those exercises for clearing the mind.

Sure enough, when the session began a few minutes later, Instructor Hakim told them all to sit in the same position, their legs folded into one another, backs straight. After giving everyone some time to settle into the pose, he began speaking in a slightly softer, soothing tone.

“Now, please close your eyes, everyone. We will breath to my count, in through your nose. For now, I want you to focus on the breathing, and nothing else.”

He began counting, giving three counts for the inhale and three for the exhale. Maiz wondered exactly what the point of the exercise was, but he tried his best to focus on his breathing like the old man had directed. Hakim continued for what seemed like ages, occasionally changing the counts, but offering no other instruction. Maiz felt tense, working his hardest to think of nothing but his breath, despite his curiosity about the coming mana exercises, and his general state of excitement over the massive change in scenery he’d experienced of late.

“Please continue with the breathing rhythm I’ve given you, and continue alone. I would like you to let your mind drift as much as possible. Focus yourselves inwards.” Instructor Hakim’s voice rang out in the hall, startling Maiz a bit. He kept his breathing in the same rhythm, a count in for two, hold for on, and out for two. As he did so, he considered what exactly he was supposed to be thinking about. What was the point of this exercise, anyways? Although he had to admit that it was far gentler than his morning had been, this ‘thought exercise’ didn’t seem to be nearly as practical.

In the end, Maiz spent most of the remaining time trying not to fall asleep as his breathing continued in the steady rhythm. When the instructor called a halt to the exercise, Maiz distinctly heard several yawns, so he assumed that he was not alone in his boredom. However, he was extremely excited for the next part of the class.

“Very well then, we should begin with our mana manipulation exercise today. To remind you all, we must remember that mana is the resource, the force, which allows people to interact with the world around them without physical contact. There are many theories of what exactly defines that force, and of how it accomplishes this interaction, however none but the gods know for sure. For our purposes, all you must remember is that mana exists within you, and it is possible to form physical constructs and phenomena by directing it outside of your body.”

That’s a very… conservative definition. Maiz had no doubt that everything the Instructor said was true, but it was also unsatisfying. He was immediately curious about the why of it, of the exact nature of mana and magic, but he could see that it probably didn’t make too much sense to discuss that with a group of Novice military trainees. For the moment, he had to bottle his questions and listen.

“This exercise is particularly important to improve the speed at which you cast a spell. I would like you all to close your eyes and focus on the point at the base of your skulls. You should feel something there: either a tingling or a pressure is the most common effect.”

Remembering the “blind” mana exercise that Riala had taught him, Maiz applied the same focus to the base of his skull as he had when casting the Minor Icebolt spell. Sure enough, he felt a strong a chill at the spot, and as he focused on it, he felt noticeably colder throughout his body. Interesting. I suppose this is my version of the tinglng most people feel.

Maiz held his focus on the base of his skull as Instructor Hakim continued. “Now then, when you have found the center of your mana, I would like you to will it to move. Simply imagine the feeling at the base of your skull spread down, past your shoulders, to your fingertips and toes.”

Easy enough. Maiz simply imagined the chill flowing down, much as he had when Riala had taught him the exercise. The power felt similar enough to water that he found the process quite simple. He shivered as his body became enveloped in the cool feeling of the mana.

“Once you feel the mana cover your entire body, I would like you to retract it back to your skull. Do not release it, but force it to travel the same path up your body that it did on the way down.”

Maiz found this part more difficult. The first time he tried to pull the mana upwards, nothing happened. He became more and more frustrated as his mana refused to move anywhere, and began shivering more noticeably as the cold grew stronger. Eventually he was forced to release the mana and try again.

In the end, he found the trick was changing his idea of what the mana was. He’d been treating it like water, as per Riala’s instructions, but water did not flow upwards, and one couldn’t really control where it went. Instead, Maiz focused only on the chill enveloping him, and imagined warmth creeping up his body, from his toes and fingertips, up and up until finally everything but his skull was once again devoid of mana.

He felt a little jealous of the people whose mana only felt like a tingling or a pressure. Having the cold feeling envelop his body was distinctly uncomfortable, in a way somehow disconnected from the world around him. It felt as though his mind, his perception of himself, grew chill as the mana suffused his body.

Instructor Hakim had taken much longer before continuing on to the next part. By Maiz’s estimation, he waited almost a half hour before continuing to the next part of the exercise. Still, Maiz had barely managed to accomplish the technique before he moved on, so perhaps it was for the best.

“I now want you to vary the speed at which the mana flows down your body and back up. I would like you to start by attempting to move the mana as quickly as possible. Test how fast you can suffuse it throughout your body and bring it back to your skull. Please begin.”

Interesting. Maiz let the chill flow down, back tensing slightly as the mana moved through it, and then, as soon as the mana reached his toes, he imagined it receding through his body as warmth crept up. The entire process took perhaps half a minute Not bad. But was there a way to go faster? The instructor had suggested that he push himself to move the mana as quickly as possible. So far, he had only been ‘letting’ the mana flow down and up his body. Could he perhaps push to make it faster?

Refocusing, Maiz mentally pushed the mana down from his skull and through his body. But to his dismay, the chill suddenly vanished and he felt a twinge of pain in his head. What?

To his startlement, a voice in his ear answered the question. “Be certain to control and contain the mana, even as you force it to move faster. Mana is a part of your body, and it wants to move at a certain pace. If you change that speed, it will go out of control easily.”

Shocked, Maiz turned his head and opened his eyes, but he only caught a flourish of red cloth as the Instructor moved to another Novice. Did he see what happened to me? Maiz supposed that powerful mages probably had some way to sense mana that was not their own. Or maybe the Instructor had been expecting Maiz to make the mistake he had. Either way, the man had given him useful advice.

Control and contain. This time when Maiz performed the technique, he only gave a slight push on the mana. Sure enough, he felt it trying to escape even as it moved down his body. However, Maiz was able to keep it within himself simply by focusing on the direction he wanted it to go in. On the way up, he did the same, and manage to return all of his mana to the base of his skull without incident. He repeated the exercise a few times, slightly increasing the pressure he was able to put on his mana, and by extension its speed. However when he performed it again, increasing the speed further, the mana escaped him, and he felt another pang of pain in his head. Damn.

Maiz didn’t end up making much progress, but he thought he had a grasp of the general idea of the exercise when Hakim gave the final instruction.

“Finally, I would like you all to try and move the mana as slowly as possible. Be sure to keep control of it, now.”

Huh. Seems like that would be easier than moving it faster. Maiz began the exercise, forcibly slowing down the speed of the mana past the point of comfort, feeling the mana creep down his back and arms. It seemed easy enough, but boring. However when the mana had only made it to about his elbow, he felt it slipping. There was a new sense of pressure and then the mana simply… blew out of him, leaving him feeling empty once again. Hells!

Maiz kept trying, but he was completely unable to get the mana past his belly button without allowing it to move at a normal speed. Finally, Instructor Hakim called a halt.

“Very well, that’s enough for today. Remember, you can practice our mental exercises at any time, and I recommend you spend some time on everything I teach you here each night before you sleep. Now then, please exit to the spell-testing field and find your Journeyman instructor.”

Confused, Maiz stood, shooting a questioning glance at Ziya as he stretched his muscles. She didn’t appear to understand his expression, so he spoke as quietly as he could over the noise of Novices making their ways out of the hall. “What did he mean by ‘Journeyman instructor?’”

Ziya opened her mouth to speak, but then a voice once again spoke into his ear. “I meant that there are several Journeyman mages of various types in this compound, and every one of them is assigned a group of Novices and a group of Apprentices. We generally try to match the students to a mage of the appropriate type.”

Maiz whirled in startelement, scrambling back at the same time. He felt certain that, were it not for his recent gains in Dexterity, he would have fallen flat on his face. As it was, he thought he only looked slightly foolish as he stared, wild-eyed, at Instructor Hakim.

“Sir!”

The old man looked completely emotionless as he nodded to Maiz. “I received Mister Rin’s letter about your title. Based on his description, your magic is rather unique. I do not believe any of my Journeymen could help you much in learning and practicing new spells. Speaking of which, we do not have any spells for the Spellsword title here, so Mister Rin has sent a letter north to Ceria requesting materials.”

Maiz’s eyebrows rose at the Instructor’s words. He was interested to hear about the new spells he might be receiving--from Ceria, no less--but he was more concerned about the first part of the speech.

“Sir, what--”

“--in any case, you may go to the spell-testing field today, I have already sent a runner to get you weapons to practice your spell on. I will let you work out the particulars of your magic on your own for now, though if you have any important questions, I urge you to ask them.”

Maiz waited a moment, but it seemed the man was finished. He looked at Maiz, wrinkled skin giving the impression of age, and dark gaze screaming of sharp intelligence. “Sir, who should I ask questions of? You said that none of the--”

“--you may ask me, child,” he cut in, to Maiz’s horror. Then for the first time, Maiz caught an emotion on his aged face. Sternness. “But you had better make sure they are important questions.”

Maiz thanked the Instructor meekly, bowing deeply as he took his leave. Outside, Ziya was waiting to lead him to the spell-testing field.