– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 209, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 40 –

Terry was nearly out the door when he remembered to put on his cold wear. While the Academy had a mana-crafted system for temperature regulation, it would do little to warm him up on the trip to the family in the northern quarters. The Rising Moon had passed already and the Setting Moon’s wind could chill you to the bone.

Technically, Terry was still enrolled at the Academy, but by now he had been exempted from all classes. Everyone knew that he would be expelled at the end of the cycle, so no one really cared.

Of course, Instructor Samuel had some reservations, but Instructor Brynn and the dwarven family managed to persuade him of a compromise – Samuel and Brynn would spend two afternoons and evenings every week joining the family at their home and instructing the children there.

Terry was surprised to find that it took him more than a week to get the hang of internal mana cultivation. He discovered that it was a vastly different challenge to guide mana through something as squishy, bubbly, and flowing as your own body. Terry was still getting used to the different densities and mana absorption rates. For now, the goal of circulating mana when moving still seemed far away.

Nevertheless, the last season was a lot more fun for Terry than the previous double season of the Sun. For the first time in his life, it truly felt like he was learning together with others. Terry was not bored out of his mind, nor was he desperately struggling and beyond hope.

Of course, there were also Florine and Jorgen – Lori and Jorg as they told him to call them – and they were very different from his fellow students at the Academy, too. It seemed to Terry that they looked at him differently. There were no traces of envy or pity, only curiosity… and maybe a bit of amused mischief at times.

Terry had gotten the first real scolding in his life after the three had accidentally created a hole in Lori’s wall. The incident might have involved someone blowing mana at a mana crystal taken from the mines, but the twins had instructed Terry that this never happened. Instead, they were clearly training their mana sense while Lori was practicing her Polish Stone spell.

For some inexplicable reason, Isille did not find that story convincing. The twins believed that Terry’s face was too honest and easy to read. Terry on the other hand suspected that it may have something to do with the claim that Jorg was voluntarily practicing his mana sense. In any case, his dwarven co-conspirators emphasized that it was important to stick to the story – no matter how unconvincing it may seem.

Terry spent a lot of time with the twins – even outside their mana cultivation sessions. Following a suggestion by Instructor Samuel, Terry started to help the two with their external mana control training. Jorg, in particular, was very enthusiastic about the idea. Terry quickly discovered that it had something to do with him being easier to persuade to train with mana games.

Eventually, Samuel had even brought over his copy of the Path of a Mage so that Terry could do his reading at the family home. To Terry’s dismay, Isille and Bjorln were just as strict on the one chapter per fortnight limitation as Samuel and Brynn.

Every other week, they took turns reading one chapter to the other two. Afterwards, they excitedly discussed, reenacted, or plotted how to get around the one chapter limitation. There had to be some way to undo the Blank Pages spell applied by Samuel.

Jorgen suggested paying a mage from the Guild, but there were still too many unresolved problems for the plan to be “workable.” Terry stifled a snort-laugh when he remembered Jorg’s thinking face and how Lori had quickly mimicked him – only Lori did not really have a beard to stroke on her chin and instead used one hand to press her long sideburns together in front of her chin first.

After Terry was properly outfitted with his cold wear, he checked his bag again and also ensured that the Guardian card was in his pocket. Terry stopped his hands for a moment on the card. He circulated some mana into the card’s imprinted spell structure and sunk his consciousness into it. Terry felt the registered links one by one – Lori, Jorg, Isille, Bjorn. He skipped the link with the random stranger from Guardian management, though.

Sadly, Instructor Brynn and Instructor Samuel did not have Guardian cards, because they were only registered at the Guild. Apparently, even Brynn’s golem work went through the Guild with the Guardians as the client.

At first, Terry felt odd about having a card that tracked his location. However, Terry reminded himself that he already carried such a card from the Academy, which made the concern seem a bit pointless. Then again, the problem with the Academy’s card would sort itself out soon enough.

At least the Guardian card could be turned off. Nevertheless, Isille had made it very clear that if any of them ever carried out missions as Guardians and she discovered one of their card links turned off, they might prefer getting eaten before she found them.

Terry did not completely understand what Isille meant, but the look on the twin’s faces suggested that he should take Isille at her word. Normally, the two did not seem to worry too much about consequences or making their mother angry. When Terry asked them, they said that their mother could be normal angry, angry angry, crying angry, or svipa angry.

According to them, normal angry was when someone did not do their homework or had caused “minor” destruction in the house.

Angry angry was when someone was bleeding, a limb was pointing in the wrong direction, or you needed to invite a mage to fix the damage.

Crying angry was when you did something really stupid that put people in real danger – like having a dare contest involving icky insects with your sister and then discovering that the yellow slimy ones were more than a bit poisonous.

At this point, Terry grew suspicious that those were not just random examples. When Terry voiced his suspicion out loud, the twins only said that they would rather cuddle a pus weasel than to ever again face their mother when she was crying angry.

Afterwards, the twins explained that svipa angry was the worst. They emphasized to Terry that he never ever heard them say the word svipa and that as far as he was aware they had never heard it either.

Terry shook off the memories and made his way to the northern quarters…

***

“We have covered the basics of the first two steps for mana cultivation. While you are now familiar with the concepts, it will take time for you to truly master them,” lectured Isille.

Bjorln sat at a nearby table and watched from the side. The three children stood in front of Isille – Terry was in the middle and towered above Lori and Jorg.

“While you try to get the hang of it, there is more groundwork to be laid,” continued Isille. “You want to improve your mana enhanced physical performance alongside your close combat techniques. The techniques should feel familiar no matter how much mana you use for enhancement. This applies to bursts, but more importantly it also applies to times when you have run out of mana.

“Bjorln is going to incorporate unarmed combat into your physical exercises while I am going to focus on weapon techniques. I insist that all three of you carry at least one dagger and one knife as side weapons. We will make sure that you know how to use them. As for your main weapons… Any preferences?”

Terry had no idea, but the twins had an answer immediately.

“““Daggers!”””

“Yes, you are going to use a dagger as a side weapon,” said Isille calmly. “But what about your main weapon?”

“Daggers!” “I want to dual wield daggers!”

Isille was struck dumb. She forgot to blink and stood there open-mouthed. A snicker came from the nearby table.

“Hold out your arms, you two!” commanded Isille.

Lori and Jorg did as requested. Their faces displayed a mixture of puzzlement and wariness.

“See? Bit stubby aren’t they? You inherited the beautiful nose of your pa and the stubby arms of your ma. You need some reach!”

“But Pa does not even use a weapon!”

“Your pa has trained with a two-handed axe and used it extensively before he became an expert at aspected mana discharges.”

“But I wanna dual wield daggers!” “Me too!”

This time the snickering from the table was significantly louder. Bjorln looked incredibly bemused.

“What are you laughing at?!” Isille turned towards Bjorln.

“The two chipmunks have been nagging about weapons training since they were eight. We should have struck while the iron was hot.”

“And what would you know about blacksmithing? Your parents were druggists,” retorted Isille.

Terry grew concerned at the increasing irritation in Isille’s voice. Every second of the pause that followed felt extremely uncomfortable to him.

Bjorln looked at Isille, blinked twice, and smiled. “And a good thing they were or I would have never learnt enough about plants to cook my way into the heart of my beloved wife, my life, my Whaka Isille.” Bjorln’s voice was a bit louder than normal, but steady and calm.

Isille seemed as if she had forgotten what she wanted to say for a moment. Then, she quickly stepped over to the table. She bent down, shortly rubbed the tip of her nose against the nose of Bjorln, and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

“Nama, my life,” whispered Isille warmly and smiled.

“Awwwww,” came the exaggerated voice from Lori. Afterwards, she looked at Jorg.

“Ewwwww,” added Jorg. Then, both of the twins looked expectantly at Terry.

Before Terry figured out what exactly they were expecting from him, Isille was already back at her original spot. With one hand at her forehead, she closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

“Okay… Why daggers?”

“Because Kivis used them!” Lori reenacted how she imagined dual wielding to work.

Oh oh, thought Terry.

“Who is Kivis?”

“A badass hero,” replied Lori.

“The Slayer of the Deep.” Jorgen was clenching and pumping his little fists. “She’s awesome.”

“…”

Terry noticed that these explanations were a bit lacking, but he had to struggle with himself to decide if he should clear up the confusion.

Okay, my fault. Waste it.

“Kivis was a dwarven member of the Curseguard and one of the Veilbinder’s companions during the aftermath of the First Great Crisis. When the Wall Fortress was under siege and a second force was coming to attack the nearby city, she was the only companion to accompany the Veilbinder and rush to the city’s defense. Not only did they succeed, but immediately afterwards they followed the tracks of the stragglers into the Deep and managed to destroy the local hive of the mana cursed.”

Isille was still trying to understand what she had just heard when a laughing roar arrived from the table.

“OH RIGHT, I remember her,” exclaimed Bjorln. “My little brother spent months agonizing over which of the dwarven ladies he should fall in love with. Olgorn even got into a small fist fight over it with one of his friends.” Bjorln laughed heartily.

“…of course he did.” Isille rolled her eyes, and a chuckle escaped her.

“I believe Kivis even made it to the finals, but in the end she lost out against the one that became the first dwarven mage – Dalia or something.”

Isille was happy at Bjorln reliving some fond memories. She sighed and turned back to her trainees.

“Ok then. I guess there could be worse role models, but I will have to check the story myself. Anyway, Terry?”

“Y-yes?”

“If we are talking about the Veilbinder’s time, then that means most dwarves were still stone dwellers. That true for Kivis?”

“Yes, she was from a dwarven city in the Deep.”

Isille gave a serious look to her two children.

“Fighting in narrow quarters is very different from fighting with available space. Narrow quarters may not allow you to use long weapons. In narrow quarters with suitable hiding spots for ambushes you may be able to make good use of daggers.

“Nevertheless, even in narrow quarters you still want to have as much reach as possible. The traditional stone dweller equipment was a short spear and a tower shield. The most common alternative was a two handed axe with a customized handle for thrusts. More importantly, we are not in the Deep. Your fights will be different.”

“But dungeons have narrow quarters, too!” objected Jorgen.

“It will be a long time before any of you set foot into a dungeon,” snarled Isille.

“But—”

“No buts,” came the stern voice of Bjorln. “Dungeons are unpredictable death traps. Some are considered safe for decades and then suddenly transform into literal gates to hell.”

“Aunt Sigille is working dungeons,” mumbled Jorgen unhappily.

“Your aunt Sigille has trained practically every day of her life,” retorted Isille. ”In all of the Tiv Empire there are at most a handful of Guardians that could match my sister in combat and even fewer that could match her in experience. Sigille did not start out with dungeon work, either.”

Jorgen still looked as if he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Your aunt Sigille could take on me, your ma, and at least another dozen Guardians like us without worry,” added Bjorln. “If you ever become that strong, then dungeon work is less of a dance with death. First, however, you need to live long enough to become that strong. That is all we ask. There are plenty of jobs outside of dungeons. You can worry about dungeon work later.”

Isille took another breath while looking at her children and sighed again.

“Well… alright. My pa also used to say that the best technique is whichever one you keep training with…”

Florine’s eyes opened wide with anticipation.

“I do insist that you familiarize yourself with a weapon that provides some reach. If you have no preference, then I would suggest short spears because that is what I am most qualified to teach.”

Florine looked slightly disappointed. Jorgen was still sulking.

“Nevertheless, I guess we can find some time to do your dual dagger training. You are supposed to learn dagger and knife techniques anyway.”

Both of the twins were grinning widely.

“However, this means that I will have absolutely no patience for you slacking off. If you insist on making risky choices, then I demand that you make up for your lack of sense with effort. Clear?”

Some reluctant nodding followed.

“Alright… Terry, what about you?”

“Short spears sound good,” said Terry with a nervous smile.

“Hold out your arms.”

Okay? Terry did as instructed.

“See? You have reach. What you lack is balance. Your legs are too long and your center of gravity is way too high.”

“Uhh…” Terry looked down at himself.

“Honestly, I am not overly familiar with human spear arts – too much twirling and not enough thrusting for my taste.”

“Still, I…”

Isille waited for Terry to finish his thought.

“I would like to train together with Lori and Jorg.”

The twins beamed and Lori wielded imaginary daggers at Terry again.

***

“That was fun, wasn't it?” asked Bjorln with a teasing smile.

LIKE THE WASTES IT WAS! Terry screamed in his head. Unfortunately, he did not even have the energy to mumble a response.

Terry’s only solace was that Lori and Jorg looked just as bad as he himself felt. As energetic as the twins were, they were no match for their first physical exercise lesson with Bjorln.

The three were spread out on the earth of the training grounds – panting and huffing and sometimes groaning in pain.

Jorg was the first to recover enough to vent his feelings. “Hellish… Wastes… someone… avenge me… tell Ma… loved her…”

Lori was second. “I… not… sure… if… want to… cultivator… anymore.”

“Open… bakery… instead?”

Finally, Terry was able to cough out a few words. “How… often… this?”

“Oh don’t worry,” replied Bjorln.

Three faces displayed signs of relief.

“Only about three times a week.”

Relief turned to horror.

“For now. Once your mana regeneration has increased a bit and your muscles recover faster, we can ramp up the frequency.”

The horror intensified.

Oh my mana, here I thought Isille’s lessons were harsh.

“Now that you are in such a perfect state for listening properly, I can lecture on a bit,” stated Bjorln.

“The mana flowing through your body serves you in several ways. Even if you never properly cultivate, you would still get some enhanced physical performance and recovery as well as, of course, a slowdown in aging.

“Longevity aside, the enhancements depend on how quickly you can consume and regenerate mana. We have mana regeneration covered by your group cultivation sessions. That leaves us with mana throughput, which means your safe rate of consuming mana – emphasis on the safe. Everyone can burn their mana as quickly as they desire, but it would damage their body heavily. Even when bursting, you should be very careful to stay within your bodily limits.

“You have two paths for increasing your limits. First, increase your internal mana control so that you can more effectively guide the mana. Second, improve your physique, which means good old-fashioned exercise.”

Another chorus of pained groans reverberated as the children were trying to move into a sitting position.

“Unfortunately for you, that exercise works most efficiently with an empty mana pool, which none of you are used to. Normally, it is a benefit to have your mana protect your body from damage, but it is a bit of a hindrance when trying to train your body.

“Your body needs to be stressed in order to become resilient and strong. Your mana gets in the way of that. Therefore, I will pay close attention that you constantly drain your mana pool during our sessions. After we are done, you are free to accumulate mana again so that it can speed up your recovery.”

“Is that not… unhealthy? Empty mana pool?” questioned Terry.

“You will age a bit quicker during that time, true. However, you kids have barely started your fourteenth cycle. A bit of normal aging will do you good.

“Most spell flingers do not train their body and ramble on about the impact on longevity. Honestly, I believe they just don’t want to exercise.”

Good call. Frankly, I can’t blame them.

“Nevertheless, all of them would probably grow a lot older if they had properly trained their bodies. First, there is the obvious reason that you become stronger and are more likely to survive into old age.

“Then, there is the fact that consuming mana beyond your bodily rate will do a lot more damage than this kind of training session. If they do missions, then there is a good chance for them to run into danger. You can either prepare for it or damage your body when trying to deal with it unprepared.

“I guess some of them may not shirk from exercise so much and it’s more that they want to preserve their youthful appearance. A lot of forest elf folk are like that – impressive mana pools and smooth faces, but pathetic regeneration and throughput – almost as if they have never in their lives emptied their mana pool before.

“While the likes of these can be strong, they will never be as strong as they could be and will forever remain limited by their own volition. It’s the wrinkly ones you really need to watch out for. If you ever face off against a wrinkly forest elf with prominent muscle definition, I suggest you make friends or be quick on your legs.”

***