– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 209, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 5 –

“Alright, this is it,” announced Brynn.

Brynn, Samuel, and Terry were in the northern district of Arcania City and they were facing a large open gate.

“They live in the mountains?” asked Terry incredulously.

“Not quite. They work in the mountains and live next to them,” answered Samuel.

“The northern quarters are mostly run and inhabited by Guardians,” added Brynn. “They have their local headquarters and their training grounds there. The Guardians are also responsible for managing the mana crystal mine.”

Samuel led the way through the gate and knocked on a door to the left.

Some running and tumbling noises could be heard before the door was practically torn open.

“Auntie Brynn!” “Unca Samuel!”

Two little people came rushing at the two instructors.

“Calm down you two!” ordered a strict female voice.

“Let them come in first,” came a very deep voice further back.

Dwarves? Terry was surprised when the owners of the two voices came into view.

There stood a man with curly red hair and a very frizzy beard. His broad shoulders and visible muscles would have made him look extremely intimidating if it was not for his pastel yellow apron and, more importantly, his kind smile.

The woman next to him had dark brown hair put into a short ponytail accompanied by straight smooth sideburns. While her shoulders were not quite as broad, her muscles were just as visible and she was lacking an apron to soften the impression.

“You have not visited in over a fortnight,” said the man with the apron. “The twins really missed you. Come in, breakfast is almost ready.”

The two little ones clinging to the instructors let go and Terry could now see their faces. They looked similar to the two adults, which was not surprising. However, Terry was dumbstruck when he noticed that the two were sporting facial hair – a frizzy beard on the boy and smooth sideburns on the girl – similar to the two adults. The rest of their faces looked quite childish and the combination made for an unfamiliar picture. At first, Terry assumed that they were children, because they were quite short even compared to the adult dwarves. Now, however, he was not so certain anymore.

It was difficult enough to tell the age of mages or mana cultivators, because a large mana pool slowed down aging and increased longevity as long as you kept it filled with mana. Trying to tell the age of mana cultivators of a folk Terry had never had much contact with before was more of a challenge than he was prepared for. Terry subconsciously rubbed his chin when Brynn patted him on the back and motioned towards the open door.

“After you.”

Terry followed Samuel inside and then immediately felt awkward and out of place when everyone else greeted and hugged each other.

Whaka Isille is the adult woman. Nama Whaka Bjorln is the adult man. Terry took note of the names used in the greetings and repeated them silently to himself in order to better commit them to his memory.

“So, this is the kid we are supposed to teach?” asked Isille.

Terry stepped forward.

“Greetings. I am Terry. Thank you for your time, Instructor Whaka Isille.”

Everyone froze for a moment. The two twins started giggling.

Oh no. What did I do?

“That is very kind of you. However, I do not believe I have done anything yet that would warrant such an address,” said Isille with an amicable smile. Her strict expression had melted and the intimidating presence had vanished.

“Careful little charmer or I might get a little jealous,” teased Bjorln before chuckling. Isille rolled her eyes in response.

Terry was utterly confused and looked towards his Academy instructors for help.

Samuel cleared his throat. “You have essentially stated that you love her like family and that you would walk to death’s door with her.”

I stated what to whom when? WHAT!?

“Whaka is not part of a name, but a way of addressing a close comrade in arms,” continued Samuel.

Terry blushed profusely.

“Don’t worry about it,” interjected Brynn. “The first time I used the term without knowing what it meant, I nearly got myself engaged before figuring it out. Traditionalist dwarves should hand out pamphlets to avoid these confusions. I believe they enjoy seeing everyone else embarrassed.”

“Well, a good chuckle is worth a thousand coins,” said Bjorln before grinning and nodding at Terry. “Nice to meet you, Terry. I am called Bjorln.”

“This is our daughter, Florine. This is our son, Jorgen. The two are at your age and they also learn from us. They’ll be your fellow students.”

After Bjorln had finished, Isille spoke for herself. “You may call me Isille. No need for the ‘Instructor this, Instructor that’ they do at the Academy or during official Guardian lessons.”

Everyone smiled and nodded at Terry, which made the boy feel a lot better.

“Aunt Brynn, can you show me the Liquify Earth spell again?” asked Florine.

“Certainly.”

Florine beamed at her.

“If you can demonstrate that you have practiced diligently,” said Brynn while exaggeratedly wagging her finger.

Meanwhile, the other adults started to set the table.

***

“So, how is your research going?” asked Bjorln.

“Some notable progress,” responded Samuel. “We managed to create a fire aspect variant of the Cure Minor Wounds spell by incorporating coldfire from the outer system and bloodfire from the lower system. It is not quite as efficient as the comparable variants from the life or light aspects, but it is getting close to the water aspect variant.”

“Bloodfire from the lower system?” Bjorln frowned.

“The systems are for classifying spells by aspect and structure. You can have a harmless spell placed right next to a corrupting one. The lower system is not inherently evil or corrupting, nor are the other systems inherently good or harmless.”

“Yeah, but haven’t most infamous evil mages relied on the lower system?”

“True. However, I can safely say that even more of them have relied on the core system. After all, practically every mage learns to throw a Fireball. If you were to drop Fireball from a normal education and start calling it evil, then those that are scared of the label would become more hesitant to learn the spell as well. The spell would not change, but people’s inclination towards learning or avoiding it definitely would.”

“Meh, I will take your word for it,” shrugged Bjorln. “Just remember that there are many people who would be troubled if you were to lose your mind and get all murdery and stuff.”

Samuel narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” said Bjorln in mock-exasperation. “It’s true. If you go mad, then I would have to hunt you down. Either you would win, which would leave me quite annoyed and possibly quite dead. Or I would win, and Olgorn’s ghost would come back to haunt me and put itching powder into my knickers.”

Samuel had to laugh in spite of himself. “Did he ever do that?”

“Hm?”

“Put itching powder into your underwear.”

“Once. Retaliation for me putting stinging nettle into his socks. We were a bit younger than the chipmunks are now. I had a date lined up, too. Olgorn, the little dung pellet, always had vicious timing in these things.” Bjorln started to chuckle.

Samuel smiled bitterly. “Nama.”

“Stop that! How many times do I have to tell you not to address me like that every time we meet?”

“As always at least one more time.” Samuel shrugged.

“You know what? No! I have had enough. There is no debt between us. If you are to blame, then what about me? You may have been too weak to save him, but I was not even there. If not for you, then Olgorn would have died countless times before. If anything then I owe you. Nama.”

“No, that is—” Samuel shook his head.

“That is the truth. I do not care how much you disagree. If you insist on addressing me like that, then I will as well.” Bjorln fixed his eyes on Samuel.

Samuel could not meet his gaze. Eventually, he nodded.

“Now, let us finish up the dishes and then return,” said Bjorln.

***

“Are you really a student at the Academy?” asked Jorgen.

“Yes,” responded Terry.

For now, at least.

“Woah, amazing. I heard that they have insane requirements there.”

“Can you show me an earth spell?” asked Florine.

“Uhm no, sorry.” Terry drew a breath, “Unfortunately, I am aspect impaired…”

“Oh? Like me and Pa!” exclaimed Florine.

“Huh? You are aspect impaired?”

“Mhmh. Pa is aspected towards fire and ice. I am aspected towards earth. What is your aspect?”

“Technically unaspected, but some condition called oscillating mana. I have not found any spell I can cast yet.”

“Heh, me neither,” interjected Jorgen and laughed.

“You are aspect impaired as well?”

“Uhh…”

“No, but he is having trouble with external mana control,” said Florine before Jorgen could answer. “And even more trouble with persuading himself to practice.”

External?

“Puh. I want to be a mana cultivator anyway. What is so great about flinging spells?” mumbled Jorgen. The words did not sound convincing.

“Well for one thing, it could save your life,” said Isille who had just entered the living room together with Brynn. “I would call that a definite plus. Samuel said that you should be able to learn spellwork eventually. It would be a waste for you not to, especially if you want to become a Guardian in the future.”

“I want to join the Guild!” announced Jorgen.

Isille’s eye twitched. Brynn suppressed a chuckle.

“The Guild is for people that already know what they are doing and have already found trusted companions,” said Isille. “If you want to join the Guild, then I expect you to first join and work in the Guardians.”

The boy looked dissatisfied.

“Alternatively,” started Bjorln. He and Samuel were returning from the kitchen.

Jorgen looked up with anticipatory eyes.

“You could prove your ability to us. You do not have to join the Guardians if you can defeat me and your ma.”

“And me,” added Samuel.

“I’ll join as well,” said Brynn while smiling mischievously. “And I will make sure to bring all my golems.”

Jorgen looked horrified at the prospect. “No no, not necessary.”

Florine giggled and even Terry joined in.

“Come on, let us do the tour. Mines first,” said Isille.

***

Terry looked around the cave. The walls had a light blue shimmer.

“Terry, you know how to increase your mana pool?” asked Isille.

“Either through internal pull by completely emptying it or through external push by absorbing more mana into a full pool. In the Academy, we mostly use internal pull, because that way we also increase our mana regeneration rate.”

“Correct. Jorgen, what is the danger when using an external push?”

“If you absorb too much foreign mana too quickly, then your own mana becomes corrupted.”

“Good. Florine, how do you avoid mana corruption?”

“Your mana pool size determines your resistance against foreign mana, so if you want to be able to absorb more foreign mana, you need to increase your mana pool size first.”

Isille nodded.

“Right. These mines are a place for Guardians to cultivate, but in order to do that, we need to keep the mana concentration at controlled levels. Does anyone know what determines the mana concentration?”

Huh. Never thought about that.

Terry looked around. Jorgen and Florine were not showing any signs of answering either. After a short moment, Bjorln grinned and raised his hand. Isille ignored him.

“Residual mana seeps into everything. All of Arcana Empire is surrounded by the barrier, which makes the residual mana concentration in Arcana comparatively high. The residual mana accumulates here until it forms crystals. Then we mine the crystals in order to decrease the mana concentration.”

“And we get to sell them,” added Florine happily.

“And we get to sell them,” acknowledged Isille “Whatever crystal you mine while you cultivate is yours.”

“Wait, don’t you have to pay a fee or something?” asked Terry.

“No. Keeping the mana concentration stable is a service to the Guardians as well.”

“And Arcana?”

“The government of Arcana does not need to take a fee. They have a monopoly on providing services related to magic or to license others to do so. The license fee can vary cycle by cycle. However, it is always a condition that services need to be paid for in the mana coin issued by Arcana. Everyone desires to use magic services, which means that everyone is trying to earn mana coins. If the Council wants people to do something, they just need to create some mana coins and pay them. They do not need to care about mana crystals.”

“In fact, the Council is even paying the Guardians to keep the mine stable,” said Samuel.

“How do they know if a mana coin is authentic?” asked Terry.

“Arcana’s mana coins are mana crafted. There are several functions inscribed. First of all it is incredibly difficult to inscribe or imprint a mana crystal. Second, it is nearly impossible to sense the spell structure or runes inside. The structure for at least one of the effects is absolutely secret and known only by the magic sovereigns.”

“What are the functions?” inquired Terry. Even though it was the currency of the empire in which he grew up in, he never had to use mana coins before.

“Here,” Brynn took a transparent bluish coin out of her pocket.

“First is Visualize Mana Concentration.” The coin displayed the number 20.

“Second is Split.” Brynn took the coin between the thumbs and index fingers of both hands. Then she folded it. After a slight angle, there was a quiet sound and suddenly there were two coins – one in each hand. Both coins displayed the number 10.

“Third is Merge.” Brynn laid both coins on top of each other and pressed them together. After another quiet sound, she was left with a single coin that displayed the number 20 again.

Terry looked impressed. The adults looked amused. The twins looked at Terry with disbelief.

“Never had to pay for anything, huh?” asked Bjorln.

“Uhm…”

“Terry is from the Greenhouse,” reminded Samuel.

“Oh… right.” said Bjorln with an apologetic look before coughing in embarrassment.

“What is the Greenhouse?” Florine wanted to know.

“Nevermind that for now. I think we are getting a bit off track here,” interjected Isille.

“Anyway,” continued Brynn. “Mana coins from Arcana contain a shielding mechanism. Forgeries may look the same and the good forgeries may even perform merge and split. However, if you carry the fakes around inside the barrier, they will eventually dissipate and get absorbed. In contrast, an authentic mana coin from Arcana will never disperse while inside the barrier.”

“If you ever plan to go for a trip outside, though, you should leave your coin in Arcana,” said Bjorln.

“No one is going anywhere,” growled Isille with narrowed eyes. “Especially not outside the barrier.”

“Uhh, mana cultivation Whaka Isille.” Bjorln smiled sheepishly.

“Anyway, on some days, we will train and work here. These areas are marked with testing signs. You can place your hand there and if you can keep your hand on the sign for thirty seconds without feeling a sting, then it is safe for you to continue into the next area.

“Terry’s mana pool is much larger than Florine’s and Jorgen’s. Nevertheless, it would be better for you to stick together when we are here. Moving between areas represents a sharp jump in mana concentration. Group cultivation can help bridge the gap safely.”

“Group cultivation?” Terry had never heard the term before.

Isille was astonished and raised an eyebrow at Samuel.

“The Academy is not really keen on fostering companionship among the students.”

Isille frowned. “Then, how do they practice?”

“Each student gets a tool for depositing mana. They can empty their mana pool by pushing it inside and afterwards reabsorb their mana again.”

“Sounds fancy and wasteful given their current level.”

“Not my idea.” Samuel shrugged.

“They probably don’t want their future government officials to form factions before even having entered the government,” grumbled Bjorln with annoyance. “Mana containers are quite useful though.”

“Nevermind,” started Isille, “Group cultivation is like that tool – only that you are training with other people instead. One person empties their pool and then other people help fill it again, adding all their mana regeneration together. Or you let the others push you over your current pool size. Group cultivation also helps with training your mana control. While spell flingers mostly rely on external mana control, a mana cultivator needs to master internal mana control.”

“What does that mean?” inquired Terry.

“The task is different. You are not shaping mana outside of your body, but instead circulating it inside your body. Instead of having to master spell structures, you will have to master moving mana through the different parts of your body. It is closer to mana crafting than to spellwork.”

***

Terry did not know where to look first and kept spinning his head around. There were countless people sparring against each other or against an army of specialized golems and other constructs.

In one part of the area, people trained with various mana-crafted items. There was equipment that could change its weight, equipment that could throw things at you with an adjustable frequency, equipment that would disable or impair one of your limbs and many other contraptions.

Terry felt almost dizzy when he saw a special room made from transparent material. In the room, two people were sparring against each other, but what really caught his eye was the room itself. Every few seconds, there was something new to throw off the trainees. During the time Terry was staring, the room had already spit fire, thrown icicles, liquified the earth, frozen over some parts of the ground, blew dense smoke, and created a blinding light. Next, the earth in the room started to move and Terry was amazed that he could neither hear anything nor feel any vibrations in the ground.

“This is the training ground. The beginner area is back there on the left,” explained Isille. “Over there you have the orientation instructors. If you need anything in particular, they can point you to the right area or advisor.

“Every trainee or prospective Guardian gets a card issued from the Guardians. The first use of this card is to track contribution points. In the Guardians, you can technically learn for free. However, everything you learn has a price in contribution points. You can earn contribution points by performing tasks for the Guardians – doing missions, teaching others, or helping out in the mines.

“While you are not expected to pay anything upfront when learning here, you are expected to pay this kindness forward. If Guardian management gets the impression that you are just racking up debt without an honest effort to contribute, then you will be warned and may eventually be barred from further services.

“The card will track what you have learned and what you have contributed. This also serves as a mission record and record of ability. These are used for determining which missions or tasks might be suitable for you and Guardian management keeps a separate copy.

“The second function is for locating and signaling. You can register other cards, which will establish a bidirectional link that can act like a compass. Each link can be set to a number of four different states: Off. Under control. Send help. Stay away.

“The first three are pretty self-explanatory. The last one is normally used to either indicate that some place is a trap or that it is too dangerous for the registered Guardian. Additionally, you have a flash option for the three on-states. A flash changes the intensity of a link for an hour. You can think of it as a proof of life option.

“By default each card gets registered to a manager at the Guardian office that has issued the card. If you have concerns about that, you can talk to the orientation instructor and have this link removed.”

“The Guild and the Academy are using similar cards,” remarked Samuel.

“The Guild’s card does not keep track of missions though, only of rank and account balance,” interjected Brynn. “If you fail a mission, you will have to pay a penalty and may be demoted. It also does not contain signaling or locating functions. You have to purchase such a device separately.”

“That fits the Guild alright,” scoffed Isille.

Brynn shrugged. “Not everyone needs the functionality. Some work alone. Others, like me, do contract work instead of missions. Your average crafter has little opportunity to get lost.”

“Hmph.”

“What about the Academy’s card?” asked Terry.

“Ehh…” Brynn hesitated.

“If we tell you and you tell the other students, then Brynn and I would get into trouble at the Academy,” stated Samuel.

“I won’t tell anyone!”

Not as if any of the other students are talking to me anyway.

Brynn and Samuel shared a glance. Then, Samuel shrugged and explained. “The Academy card keeps track of your class progress and includes a unidirectional link that allows the Academy to locate students. Students are not supposed to know that.“

But… Terry looked a bit disconcerted.

“Many children related to members of the Council are among the students. The Academy wants to avoid problems,” elaborated Brynn.

“Like their students mingling with the wrong crowds?” sneered Bjorln.

“Among other scenarios, probably yes,” replied Samuel. “Not our idea.”

“Anyway, we’ll get your cards later,” announced Isille. “The main goal for today is for you to understand what this place is promising you. While you can learn pretty much anything here – even mana crafting or spellwork – we want you to first focus on mana cultivation. We will give you a little demonstration of where this road can take you.”

Mana cultivation. Terry sighed.

***

“Woah!”

“Go Pa! Go Ma!”

Brynn and Samuel could not help but smile at the excited children. The awed look on Terry’s face was particularly satisfying.

Isille and Bjorln performed a mock battle against some other instructors and a number of golems. A crowd had gathered and the two dwarves left a particular impression.

“Did you see that?”

“Wow, that was an aspected discharge!”

“Her timing for the shields is amazing!”

“How can she keep up a burst for so long?”

“Ouch, that poor golem,” exclaimed Brynn.

Bjorln had landed one fist that froze the golem and then followed up with another fist that sparked fire and blew the golem into smithereens.

Next to him, Isille was wielding two mana-crafted short spears. She gave off a light glow while she darted around with incredible speed. One second, Isille lightly tapped one of the golems so that it would lose its balance. In the next second, she inconceivably switched direction by relying on one of her spears.

Afterwards, Isille jumped and activated the spell imprint in one of her spears. This caused a translucent dark blue tower shield to appear where her hand gripped the spear. The barrier appeared orthogonal to the spear’s shaft and it looked as if someone had poked a spear through a tower shield. The shield blocked an incoming fireball aimed for Bjorln. Simultaneously, the attached spear tip was penetrating the head of a large golem. Immediately after the flames were extinguished, the dark blue barrier was gone as well.

“Wooh!” Florine cheered from the side. Jorgen grinned widely and clenched his fists. Their eyes were sparkling.

Isille had managed to free up a narrow line through the golems leading towards the mages at the back. As soon as the line was opened, Bjorln suddenly stomped his foot. A loud bang followed and a small fire explosion propelled the dwarf forward. Bjorln’s speed even surpassed Isille’s from before.

“Wait, you can do an aspected discharge from your feet?” asked a slightly chubby teenager before looking skeptically at his own feet.

Their opponents noticed the charging dwarf and one of them threw a small lightning bolt.

Isille was still in front and immediately rushed forward to block the bolt again with her barrier. While blocking, Isille used the spear in her other hand to push downwards. Even though the spear did not meet the ground, there seemed to be a force involved that smashed the ground and moved Isille further up and out of the way of the charging Bjorln.

The dwarves nearly collided. Terry could swear he saw them smiling at each other.

A few steps after Bjorln had passed Isille and reached the last third of the area, he moved his arms to the back, leaned his upper body slightly backwards, and then punched out with both arms to the front. In the next moment, a light blue wave flowed from his hands to rapidly cover the whole area in front of him.

“Activate your mana sense,” said Samuel from behind Terry.

Terry did so and he saw a dense net of lines sizzling through the wave. It looked like a vast spell structure, only that the shaped mana strands were not smooth or connected with each other to form a complex loop. Instead it looked rough, more like thick lightning carved from mana than anything he had ever seen in spellwork.

When the wave reached the mages in the back, their active spells collapsed and their harvested mana dispersed. They were surrounded by the wave of lightning-like mana and this somehow interfered with their mana harvesting and shaping attempts.

Isille chased after the bluish wave. However, before she could point her spears, one of the opponents raised their right hand to signal the end of the match.

A bystander gave a short whistle.

“You called them Ma and Pa, right?” asked the chubby youth from before.

“Mhmh.” “Yup.”

“Do they give lessons?”

***

“Each path of mana cultivation is unique, but this is mostly a difference of style and emphasis,” said Isille.

“The common path for mana cultivators is usually separated into approximately four stages that each consist of several steps. The core of all steps is to train combat techniques while enhancing your physical performance by channeling and consuming mana.

“First is balance, which is the most important part of the early steps. Balance means to maintain your mana level while consuming it. The balance refers to getting a feel for your mana regeneration rate so that you consume it exactly at the regeneration rate.

“In the second stage, a cultivator incorporates mana-crafted items. You want to be able to use mana-crafted items without losing your balance. I can assure you that this sounds a lot easier than it is. The consumption of mana-crafted items is very different from the consumption of your own body.

“Next are bursts. A burst is a temporary deviation from balance for the sake of higher performance. You increase your mana consumption to a level that cannot be maintained for long. Bursting can be dangerous, but it can also save your lives. You need to know and understand your own mana throughput. You need to know your own limits.”

“Bursting is similar to a mage’s quickening and empowering of spells,” whispered Samuel to Terry.

“The fourth common stage focuses on mana discharges. A disruption discharge allows a mana cultivator a chance to close in on a mage. For an aspected discharge, you create a mana refractor and discharge your mana through the refractor in order to amplify a particular aspect.”

“Similar to creating a mana primer,” whispered Samuel to Terry.

“A discharge shares limitations with spellwork. With aspected mana you will only be able to create an aspected discharge that matches your mana. You cannot create an aspect that your mana does not allow. Nevertheless, even if you have aspected mana, you can still use it for a magic disruption discharge because this effect is more about volume than aspect.”

***

Later in the afternoon, Terry was sitting together with Florine to watch Brynn perform the Liquify Earth spell.

Terry tried casting it, but it came as no surprise that he did not succeed. Eventually, Terry decided to join Samuel and Jorgen instead. Samuel was guiding Jorgen in mana control and mana sense.

“Pheww, you are really good at this,” exclaimed Jorgen. “I wish I had your mana control.”

“I wish I had your unaspected mana,” retorted Terry.

“Well, I for one wish you would both pay more attention,” came the annoyed voice from Samuel.

“Oh don’t be such a grumpy wart,” said Bjorln.

Grumpy wart? Terry panicked and did not know where to look. He had never heard anyone speak to Instructor Samuel like that before.

Isille stood next to Bjorln. She seemed conflicted over whose side to take.

“Oh come on, Whaka Samuel. We have not seen each other in a while and the kids have just met. Let the kids have some fun and let us have a chat.” Bjorln blinked. “Rhyme was not intended.”

Isille chuckled and apparently made up her mind. “Whaka Brynn, you wanted to tell me about the new training golems.”

Samuel still seemed hesitant when Brynn touched his shoulder. “It does not hurt if they practice with mana games for a while, right?”

***