"Annnndddddd.... THEY'RE OFF!!!"

"Horses are moving through the first bend, [Rider]'s using their skills to increase their speed."

"Lucky Clover is in the lead, racing ahead of the pack."

"They're approaching the second bend and the horse Cerberus is catching up."

"Lucky Clover is still leading the front, good showing today from the horse and [rider]."

"They're approaching the final stretch... and it looks like... YES! CERBERUS HAS JUST TAKEN THE LEAD!!! HE'S GOING!!! GOING!!! CERBERUS WINS THE RACE!!!"

"A definite dark horse, snatching the win. I was not expecting that one."

"I agree Mitch, it looks like they're presenting the blessed silver trophy now."

"Is that... smoke?"

...

"CERBERUS IS ON FIRE!!! IT'S A POLYMORPHED HELLHOUND!!! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"

--Commentator Record, Lenorian Derby. From: "Racing Guidelines FAQ: Why Mandatory Status Checks Are Now Required." AC 1438.

"Now privates.... let's go for a little run."

Drill Sergeant Lee then turns and leaves through the door to enter the hallway. We all follow him through, clanking in our unfamiliar armor. We pass the rec room, and other unlabeled doors before exiting at the far end. As we exit, I see a long circular track in front of me, made out of some sort of black bouncy material. Drill Sergeant Lee says,

"Privates! You are only as strong or as fast as your weakest link! And in this case, that means..." He spins and points a claw, "YOU!!! PRIVATE LUNA!!! FRONT OF THE LINE!!"

I see her jump at the claw being pointed at her and she squeaks with a high tone of voice, "Ye...YES DRILL SERGEANT!!!" She hurries and arrives in front. He then quickly rearranges us to form a single file line. In order, it's Luna, Bill and Billy, me, then Wilhelm. With a quick estimation I realize he's ordered us from slowest to fastest.

"PRIVATES!!! START JOGGING!!!"

The lobster begins jogging ahead, and we hurry to catch up. Well, Luna hurries. This speed isn't fast at all. In fact... it's pretty easy. Maybe this training thing won't be so bad?

Just as that thought crosses my mind, the lobster turns and is now running backwards in front of the line. Without missing a step he moves to my left so that he's perpedicular to us. He looks at Wilhelm and I and says,

"Oh! I forgot about you two! Don't worry! This will be EXACTLY as hard for you as it is for them."

I'm confused for a split second before a ripple of mana emerges from him once more. My next step digs into the track as the weight of the armor suddenly increases by a third. Ah... yep... there it is.... definitely feeling it now....

I struggle but manage to get into a rhythm... just... just have to put one leg in front of the other... you got this Crabby. Two laps in, the lobster turns to us and says with a cheerful tone.

"You know what Privates? This is a beautiful morning isn't it?"

I don't know if he intends for us to respond or if it's a rhetorical question, so I just concentrate on passing enough water through my gills so I can breathe.

"ISN'T IT?"

Ah, nope, not a rhetorical question then.

"Yes... Drill... Sergeant..."

We're all panting at this point, trying to keep up with the pace he's setting. He turns around and continues on with that sickeningly happy voice. I think that tone makes me angrier than the yelling. He says,

"Well, I think we could do with some singing then. Yeah, repeat each line after me..."

When I get to heaven,

Charisma's gonna say,

How'd you earn your living crab?

How'd you earn your pay?

I reply with a whole lot of anger,

Earned my living as an Oceanic Ranger.

When I get to hell,

Corruption's gonna say,

How'd you earn your living fish?

How'd you earn your pay?

And I replied with a bolter to it's face,

Earned my livin' laying souls to waste!

Our weak and tired voices call out into the water. I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling here. As we continue on with more songs, I slowly realize that the music all has a certain rhythm to it. I look at the lobster and see that he's moving his legs along with the same cadence as the song. I imitate him and it gets just a little bit easier. Now I'm singing and running and I'm not all out of step.

I see the other's haven't gotten it yet. So, on the next beat, I slam my legs down to catch their attention. Most sneak glances at me with their eyes or [Mana Sense] and they quickly catch on. Soon, we're all running or swimming with the same motion. Another lap goes by and the Drill Sergeant calls for a halt.

We collapse as we all try to recover our stamina.

"FANTASTIC!! YOU MOVED AS A SINGLE UNIT!! THAT ONLY TOOK PRIVATE CRABBY HERE THREE LAPS TO FIGURE OUT!!! PRIVATE CRABBY!!"

"Yes....Drill....Sergeant...?"

"You're now squad leader, congratulations!"

I manage to pant, "Thank... you... Drill... Sergeant...?"

My speech ends in a questioning tone. I have no idea what a squad leader is.

"You're welcome Private Crabby! Now, whenever anyone else gets in trouble, you get in trouble with them!! YAY!!!" He waves his claws above his head, in exaggerated excitement.

...

......

I take a second to let my tired brain figure out what he just said and come to one conclusion....

This is going to suck.

When we manage to catch our breath's, the drill sergeant speaks again,

"NOW! FOR THE NEXT EXERCISE!!"

Oh gods, there's more?!?!?!?

"LESSON ONE!!! THIS IS CALLED A MANA-UP!!" After the brief yell, he adopts a normal tone. I idly notice that he doesn't yell when he's trying to teach us something. He holds his two claws side by side. In them, I can detect a single point of mana. It's tiny, barely a flicker of light dancing in the water. He lifts one claw and brings it to the other, he then says.

"Mana can occupy a given space. It doesn't have to, but it CAN. Now, when two equal points of mana touch, they then occupy twice the amount of space right?"

He moves his claws closer and I then see the light merge into a single source. It's twice as big as the individual pieces. Makes sense so far. He then throws me for a loop,

"Wrong!"

He clenches his claws closer in exaggerated fashion, and I can almost feel... something... bearing down on the mana in front of him. The double source of light distorts, and then compresses, becoming the same size as the initial one. The only difference I can discern is that it's slightly brighter.

He says, "This is a Mana-up! Eventually, the goal is to be able to do this..."

From his other claw erupts a giant amorphous blob of roiling mana. He grabs the other end with his claw and compresses it down... it's now half the size it was before. He does it again, and again, and again, until that enormous amount of mana from before is now a single point once more. Except... it doesn't appear to be light at all. In fact, when I look at it, it seems as if it's actually solid. The crab says,

"This is what's known as a mana crystal. It's the primary source of power for our weaponry and technology. You may be unable to do this anytime soon, or even within the training time alloted for basic training... but you will be expected to accomplish this within your first year of service."

As I stare at the shining crystal held by the lobster, I start to slowly grow excited. To be honest, this whole experience has been generally terrible so far... but this? This is actually pretty cool. It gets even better as the lobster turns and chucks it down the field. It zooms through the water, flying with an insane speed from his hurl. As it reaches the crest of it's arc, it begins to slow down before slowly falling towards the ground. Before it impacts the lobster says,

"Now, check this out...."

A flicker of mana and he's holding a rock in his claw. He winds up and throws it once more, in a perfect trajectory to intercept the tumbling crystal. I watch as the rock speeds ahead and when the two impact....

*BOOM!!*

A giant explosion rocks the track and we're all thrown to our feet.

"LESSON TWO!! Strong impacts make mana crystals explode. Explosions are bad for your health. UNDERSTOOD??"

As we climb to our feet, dazed from the shock, we all mumble and mutter, "Yes, Drill Sergeant..."

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!! Privates, repeat after me! Explosions are bad for my health!!"

I scream at the top of my gills,

"EXPLOSIONS ARE BAD FOR MY HEALTH!!"

"Good, good, it looks like you guys aren't as dense as I feared. Now, go ahead and take seats and work on your Mana-up's as much as you can. We won't be going into reps until you get proper form down. There's a bit of a trick to it and it may take you all a couple days to get it right. I will be moving around the group, monitoring and assisting as needed."

I take a seat, and bring a single point of mana into each claw. I but my claws together and they merge into a single brighter light. As I do, I can sense an invisible boundary separating the two point sources. It's a light, yet there is still division within. I think about it, calming my mind and trying to figure out the next step. I've been using [Mana Manipulation] this entire time and I continue on with that route, pressing my claws together and trying to use the manipulation skill to breach the wall separating the points. I struggle, but the barrier seems to laugh at my feeble ability. I stop, mentally panting from the struggle and look around. Everyone else seems to be in the same situation and I go back to looking at the glowing light in my hand. When the Sergeant Lee compressed it, I felt... something. I don't know what it was, exactly... but maybe I can reproduce that feeling?

I fall into my mental space and the mana source is floating within my mind as well. I try to return to that moment in the past, just floating in my memory of the moment. It felt a lot like... like my [Eyes of Intent]... except, maybe it felt different because it wasn't coming from me? Because it was coming from another source?

I return to the awareness around me and decide to try it out. I engage [Mana Manipulation] to drive the two point sources together and then as I struggle against the force separating them, I activate [Eyes of Intent]... willing them to become one. I almost collapse in shock, as the barrier just disappears and they smoothly merge into a single light. As I do, Sergeant Lee sprints over to me, and his sudden movement causes me to recoil. Oh no! What did I do wrong? He has a new tone of voice I hadn't heard before. And I think this one scares me the most. It seems both angry and happy... AT THE SAME TIME!!!

"WHY DID YOU PUT THAT MANA TOGETHER SO QUICKLY CRABBY?"

This new demeanor puts me off guard and I say the first thing that comes to mind...

"Because you... told me to, Drill Sergeant?"

He begins rambling,

"SWEET BABY WISDOM!! This is a new company record! If it wouldn't be such a bloody waste of an enlisted crab I'd recommend you to Officer Candidate School! You are gonna be a general someday Crabby! Now disassemble your mana and continue!"

I look around to the others and see Luna giving me a stealthy arms up. Mina seems to be smiling and the two brothers are whispering quietly, trying to figure out what I just did. Wilhelm is glaring at me, but to be honest, he seems to be glaring at most everything half the time so I can't really tell if he's actually upset or not. I absorb the single source of mana and go for round two.

I manage to get several rounds of practice in before my mind begins to grow tired from the strain. Constantly exercising my will like this is akin to stretching muscles I never knew I had. Just as it was getting really difficult the Drill Sergeant told us to stop. We got to our feet and I looked at the others. The all seem more tired and strung out from the mana-up that I am. The Drill Sergeant says,

"Well! Now that we've completed the second exercise and recovered our stamina, we should warm up a little!!"

Oh no.... no, no, no, no, no....

"How about we go for a nice jog?"

We're not going to do this all day are we?