– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 82 –

Terry had been traveling with Sigille’s group for nearly a season. Most of the time, he would stay back with one person and then train. Occasionally, he would be allowed to join a mission while the others held themselves back.

“So? I hope you have both behaved yourselves.” Sigille walked up to Matteo. She and Cadence had returned from their mission.

“They seem to have left a few blemishes on the environment,” remarked Cadence drily. Her eyes wandered over the location they had picked as their camp on the previous day. The grass was burned. The trees were broken. The earth had been reshaped completely.

Matteo cleared his throat. “I take the blame for that.”

“Not like you could hide that.” Sigille chuckled. “The damage does not match Little Terry’s skill set. Although, I suppose you could have tried to blame some random elementals passing by.”

Matteo glanced over the area. “Of different factions? Not sure that story would hold up to scrutiny.”

“Therefore ‘tried’,” said Sigille. “So what’s your cousin up to?”

“Engrossed in his evening routine,” replied Matteo. “He is continuing with his mana crafting exercises while scribbling furiously.”

Cadence looked over and searched for Terry’s figure in the evening sunlight.

“Is he still rambling the whole time?” asked Sigille with an amused grin.

“He has progressed to cursing.” Matteo chuckled. “Something about the best ideas not working without an enchantment to enlarge space.”

“Heh,” uttered Sigille. “I’m looking forward to what he will do once he is back in Arcana.”

“Is he stuck then?” asked Cadence.

Sigille snorted. “I doubt it. When we do our all-out spars, there is definite progress in the shielding of the items he throws at me. It gets harder and harder to overpower the shields to disrupt the imprints.”

“From what he told me, he has also succeeded with the directional lines,” said Matteo. “He is now mostly experimenting with chaining imprints.”

“Sounds like reasons to cheer,” said Cadence with furrowed brows. “Not to curse.”

Sigille shrugged. “Let the kid be. I remember how annoying it was for others to keep telling me how proud I should be of my little successes during my early days of cultivation. Even if they had a point, it always tasted bitter. I think it’s fine as long as he does not put himself down, as long as he takes the way forward as a motivation instead.”

“I believe he is also missing the outpost,” said Matteo and grinned.

“You mean the smith, don’t you?” asked Sigille.

“Yup,” said Matteo. “Apparently, Terry had placed a lot of orders for prototypes.”

“Don’t tell me any details,” insisted Sigille. “I would rather keep the suspense until our first all-out spar after we have returned to Libra City.”

“Crafting aside, how was your spar with him?” asked Sigille.

“He’s making progress,” said Matteo. “His instincts are getting sharper. His reflexes are getting better. His overall evasive ability has vastly improved.”

“But?” prompted Sigille.

“But as soon as the battle becomes heated, the burst techniques are getting neglected and he is back to relying on his high mana regeneration to get by,” said Matteo with a serious tone.

“I mean it’s not that long since he started learning them, right?” remarked Cadence.

“Beside the point,” said Sigille. “With Terry, it’s not that he failed to grasp them and more that he forgets to use them. His problem is that he generally isn’t forced to use them. In most situations, he can get by with his mana foundation. I had hoped that his continued spars with Derek would sort that out.”

“Like I said, it mostly happens when things become more intense”, said Matteo.

“Hm…” Sigille became pensive. She eyed Matteo. “Can you increase the pressure to force him? Keep it up until he is forced to fight properly?”

“I can try, but honestly…” Matteo frowned.

“Yeah, I get it,” said Sigille. “Your strength is mana throughput, not endurance.”

“At least not without risking something that I’m not willing to risk for a spar,” said Matteo with a hint of bitterness.

“Mhmh, we’ll figure something out,” said Sigille. “What about our side lesson? Has he picked up on it yet?”

“Not at all,” said Matteo. “And I keep pelting him with rock projectiles. I believe he is too focused on his detection field or whatever he calls it. It may be that he has simply stopped thinking about the projectiles once he found a solution. Or perhaps it’s just that he is so used to using his gloves to move around that he has not considered using them for other purposes.”

“Not completely,” interjected Sigille. “He told me about using the gloves to change the trajectories of items when they took care of the demon fortress. So he is at least somehow aware. Oh well, we’ll give him a few more days and if he does not figure out that he can use the gloves for a similar means of attack to your rock projectiles, we’ll tip him off.”

“Why don’t you just tell him from the beginning?” asked Cadence curiously.

Sigille shrugged. “I’ve found that some lessons are remembered better when the student is part of the discovery process instead of just memorizing the pointers you gave them. It may also cause them to look at other things in a different way and to draw unexpected connections. Good ideas may lurk behind the unexpected.”

***

“How does it look?” asked Sigille.

“Your guess was right,” replied Matteo. “The colony is still there. And it has grown since we last saw it.”

“Yeah, you can make a mission perpetual if you want, but if no one is there to accept it, it won’t do you any good.” Sigille’s tone became grumbling near the end. “Anyway, while that’s bad news for the region as a whole, it’s good news for us.”

Uh-oh.

Terry noticed a familiar glint in Sigille’s eyes and felt a bad premonition. His spine tingled when Sigille’s gaze moved onto him.

“This will be your mission,” said Sigille with a wide grin on her face.

“Just Terry?” asked Cadence with a raised eyebrow. “That seems…”

“What exactly are we talking about?” asked Terry.

“Just a little ant infestation.” Sigille snickered. “It should prove to be educational.” She walked ahead.

The others followed.

“Does Sigille teach all her students like that?” Cadence asked Matteo. “Trial by fire?”

“Only her personal disciples,” replied Matteo. “By now, everyone should know what they are to expect.”

“So you had similar instruction missions when you were young?” asked Cadence.

“Yeah…” Matteo let his voice trail off.

“Not exactly,” objected Sigille. “Normal disciples have to be pushed into the fire occasionally. With Matteo, however, I was mostly busy pulling him out of the fires he jumped into of his own accord. Too far in the other direction. Most troublesome student I ever had.”

Matteo puffed his cheeks and averted his eyes. He smiled but made no attempt to defend himself.

“I’m still feeling like I have missed a briefing,” interjected Terry.

Matteo chuckled. “You might want to save your breath. This will be a long day for you.”

Uhm…

Terry moved his eyes from one person to the other, hoping for some more intel.

“Are you familiar with manaleech fireants?” asked Sigille.

“No?” replied Terry.

“You will be.” Sigille snickered.

I’m really missing Siling right now… Terry felt wistful towards the walking encyclopedia on mana corrupted.

“Okay, so I am figuring that’s a mana corrupted ant?” Terry wondered out loud. “Fire-aspected? What’s the ‘manaleech’ part?”

“Not fire-aspected, no,” replied Sigille. “You would realize as much once you see them. They’re mixed aspect corruptions of fire ants. Their acid stings and may carry an additional effect.”

“And the ‘manaleech’ part?” Terry asked again.

“What does it sound like?” Sigille grinned mischievously.

Like a pain!

Terry shrugged and resigned himself.

***

A lone mana signature appeared against the backdrop of the large anthill and its bustling activity.

That must be one of the scouts.

Terry approached the manaleech fireant from the air to get a better look. His aunt had not given him much intel about the mana corrupted insect.

The ant was about the size of a large dog. Its carapace had a blue shine to it. Six skinny limbs. A pair of sharp mandibles. At its backside there was a stinger that sprayed or injected acid.

“The legs look weak,” murmured Terry.

But unless these things are as stupid as the wiremoss tarantula, I would have to crouch down in order to reach them with a short spear. Or switch to the glaive…

“I could stay in the air and attract them one by one.”

Remember how that worked out in the dungeon? I bet there are more ants here than there were ghouls back then. I doubt Aunt Sigille wants to stay here for several weeks.

“Boulder?” Terry chuckled at the idea before dismissing it. “I doubt that’s what Instructor Sigille had in mind.”

“Hmm…” Terry clicked his tongue. “Once that thing is dead, its pheromones will attract more of them. This is the best chance to probe…”

Test the carapace. Test the mandibles. Experience its strength. Experience the leech effect.

Terry deactivated his boots and allowed himself to fall in front of the manaleech ant.

*Clack* The mana corrupted angrily clicked its mandibles.

Terry kept his eyes close on the creature to not be blindsided by its stinger. As soon as the creature turned around, he intended to distance himself.

Terry retrieved one of his scrap spears and thrusted it with deliberate slowness.

The ant snapped its mandibles around the spear and pulled while Terry carefully observed the damage on the long spear.

Damn. Tough and sharp.

Terry frowned at the scratches and nicks on the metal. “Good thing that my barrier spears are of higher quality. Even the glaive should hold up.”

Still, if that’s a scout, then I need to be careful with the soldiers.

“Strength isn’t that worrisome,” murmured Terry while wrestling the spear back from the mana-corrupted ant.

Wait until there are dozens of them.

“Stay sharp,” murmured Terry. He returned the scrap spear to his storage bracelet and summoned his barrier spears.

The fire ant whirled around and sprayed acid from its stinger.

Terry jumped back while channeling mana into one of his spears. Terry could see the acid falling onto the ground and sizzling on the grass.

Terry narrowed his eyes. “Not that strong. Should not get past the cloud badger leather. But probably not a good idea to inhale that.”

Some of the acid had also fallen on his barrier. To Terry’s surprise, the barrier showed more significant damage than the floor.

The acid disturbs the mana flow.

“So that’s its mana ability,” murmured Terry. “Still don’t get the leech part…”

Annoying though. If they damage the barriers too much, I will need to recreate them from scratch all the time, which will cost more mana…

While Terry was already grumbling in his mind, he noticed mana movement as the ant turned around again.

A small vortex appeared between the ant’s mandibles. Right after its appearance, Terry could feel some of his mana being siphoned off. It was similar to Derek’s Drain Mana spell.

“Ugh…” Terry groaned in annoyance. He quickly moved to test the ability’s reach. While it seemed to have a smaller reach than Derek’s spell, Terry noticed that the siphoned mana was not linear to the distance. It seemed to grow exponentially the closer he got.

“Once there are more of them, it will be difficult to avoid that ability,” murmured Terry. “Staying in the air would be the only option.”

Not an option unless you want to spend weeks here, remember? Additionally, you have no idea how many eggs these things lay or how long it takes for them to grow. If you fight like that, then they may come out ahead every day...

Terry recalled something that Derek had once said about his spar with Harrison.

‘Like sucking rubbery goo through a tiny straw.’ The Bright Lady can obstruct mana draining, which proves that it is possible…

Try to reclaim my mana before it reaches them? Is this what this instruction mission is about?

Terry furrowed his brow and then shook his head. “No point in guessing. I’ll just try. Focus. Carapace.”

Terry probed the manaleech fireant some more to get an idea of its reaction speed and field of vision.

Eventually, Terry struck his barrier spear with enough force to pierce the carapace and kill the mana-corrupted ant.

***

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Cadence anxiously. “You can still reconsider and call Matteo back.”

“I’m not quite sure how Terry has managed it, but my estimation has been off,” said Sigille grumpily. “That calls for drastic measures or this whole exercise would become pointless.”

“You mean that even you have underestimated his mana regeneration?” asked Cadence in shock.

“While that’s possible, that would indeed be surprising,” said Sigile with a furrowed brow. “I did not get the impression that Terry was holding anything back in our spars. Otherwise, I would have smacked him over the head a few more times.”

“Anyway, no matter how he is keeping his mana pool that full for so long, it needs to stop,” stressed Sigille. “That means throwing some more leeches at him. So far, the colony is treating him as nothing more than a slightly dangerous nuisance.”

*CRACKLE*

Cadence and Sigille observed a lightning bolt flung from the sky into the anthill.

“Now, they will treat him as a real threat,” Sigille spoke solemnly while furious ants were pouring out of the anthill. “Once their collective leeching outspeeds Terry’s mana regeneration, he will have to make sure that he uses the mana before they can leech it. If he wants to finish this, then he must use it efficiently as well. Burst techniques or bust.”

“Well, I hope he learns the lesson quickly,” said Cadence with a wry expression.

“The kid can’t keep losing his grip under pressure or it will bite him when he can least afford it,” said Sigille. “If he can’t internalize that with normal spars, we need to drill it into him like this. Better he learns this under our watch than when no one has his back.”

“Come,” said Sigille. “Matteo should reshape the earth to control the ant flow somewhat, but at this level, I would prefer to be closer in case we need to intervene.”

Sigille stopped in her tracks for a moment. “Wastes, the little critters are really livid, aren’t they?”

“Good that we have a capable healer with us.” Sigille slapped Cadence on the back and moved ahead.

Cadence froze for a moment and then shrugged. “Not how I imagined to use my abilities, but I take whatever praise I can get.” She followed with a smile on her face.

***

Late in the evening, Terry sat on the ground in shabby looking armor. While the cloud badger leather had proven its worth several times over, the armor’s appearance had changed considerably since he was sent on his ant extermination.

Most of the fur had been bit off by mandibles or acid. If it wasn’t for a few isolated patches of fur remaining, no one would be able to tell that it had started out as fur armor.

Terry put his newly created wand down on the floor.

Okay… What now? The directional lines are working, but I’ve pretty much created enough wands for everyone back in Arcana and then some.

Terry stared at the wand and scrunched up his face.

I guess I could try and incorporate that into my own equipment?

Terry frowned slightly.

The reach is better than with a pure spell…

Terry’s frown deepened. “Stopgap. Nothing more.”

Even a stopgap has a point, no?

“The reach may be better, but the aiming is worse,” complained Terry. “Takes too much brainspace. Takes too long. And there is the risk of missing the target. If I want the liberty to reposition the imprint, I have to stay within my reach.”

But the reach for moving an imprint is different from the reach for the spellwork stages. The Gravitational Attraction imprint was fine. This would be fine, too.

“Still feels off,” grumbled Terry. “Does every mage feel like that when using a wand for a spell they can cast themselves? As if they are suddenly walking through sticky mud? Impaired? Fettered?”

A single spell gives me nothing to compare to.

I seem to recall that mages often carry wands to supplement their spellwork. Did that also refer to spells they can cast themselves?

Maybe I can ask Cadence later how it feels for her… Assuming that she has tested that before… Has she?

Terry grumbled quietly. “Empowering and quickening is less flexible as well. I can feed more mana, but I’m limited by the pulse generator as well as by the main imprint.”

Would still be a waste to not make use of what I can do.

“I would prefer using that for other equipment,” grumbled Terry. “Not for wands.”

Yeah, but I won’t be able to acquire the services of a capable enchanter in Tiv. As for the next few weeks, I’ll be on the move, so I won’t even have a smith to help me out.

Terry shrugged with. “I can continue working on my shielding until then.”

He looked towards his left. He pulled the mana container that was lying two arm lengths away from him.

Full.

Terry exchanged the container with an empty one. He rolled the mana container a bit further than the last one and then started siphoning his excess mana into it.

Terry thought about his recent progress in mana shielding. While he was not completely happy with the resilience against disruption, it was at least sufficient to create multiple imprints in the same object and shield them against each other.

That new ability already bore some fruit: Terry was able to use multiple imprints to control the direction from which his anchored throwing needles can be triggered. He only needed to position the imprints on the bladed part relative to the imprint on the shell.

Although for now, his choices were limited to the front and back.

Terry was uncertain if he should press the idea further. The fact that he had to pick the direction when throwing instead of reacting to what happened made it seem like yet another stopgap. A longer mana reach for his spellwork would make the idea obsolete eventually.

I certainly hope so… Stopgap.

Hm…

Terry tapped his fingers on his knees in thought.

“Or maybe I could get someone to spar with me in the evening as well…” Terry thought about his first spar with Cadence. It was different from his spars with Harrison.

On the one hand, Cadence was able to channel more mana than Harrison. On the other hand, Harrison himself was unaspected, which allowed him access to more versatile spellwork than Cadence, who was purely fire aspected.

Their styles were different, too. Harrison’s style was very offensive – lightning, weapons shaped from gold and going by Derek’s stories, wind and gold shrapnels. Harrison sometimes used his summoned gold to restrain an opponent but usually as part of an offensive.

Cadence, by contrast, nearly always started with a restraining ability cast from a distance. Mostly summoning golden chains with her channeled mana.

“Hm…” Terry recalled an item he had collected in the bandit hideout after meeting Devon.

Terry retrieved a long metal chain and let his eyes wander over it. “Or that.”

At least I would not run out of work anytime soon.

“Chaining the imprints so that each link in the chain gets transfixed after the other might be interesting.”

Having finally decided on a goal, Terry proceeded silently.

***