Neidr woke up early in the morning. He turned and shifted about and tried to go back to bed. He was tired, irritable and sore. However, a constant irritating sound kept rousing him from his rest. Laying in his bed, Neidr opened his eyes and looked at the man sitting in his room sharpening a sword at six in the morning. Neidr had noticed this long ago, he is just pretending it isn't there. Even if he deludes himself, though, going back to sleep is getting increasingly difficult along with the continuous sharpening of the blade.

shing

shing

shing

shing

shing

'FINE! IM AWAKE!'

Neidr leaped out of bed and asked incitingly,

"Aren't you afraid you are going to whittle that thing down to a toothpick?" [Neidr] Laszlo shook his head and said,

"It's a different sword." [Laszlo] Neidr rolled his eyes and said,

"Even if it's a different sword from yesterday, you've been sharpening that thing for thirty minutes!" [Neidr]

"First lesson for today, it is common practice to sharpen each side of the blade for ten minutes." [Laszlo]

"That leaves ten minutes."[Neidr]

"Different sword." [Laszlo]

"Where is the first sword, then?" [Neidr] Laszlo tapped a a wooden crate laying on the ground with his foot. Neidr looked down and helplessly asked,

"What is that?"[Neidr]

"Box of swords." [Laszlo]

"Why... You know what, nevermind. Why are you here?" [Neidr]

"In order to wake my student. A warrior's day starts early in the morning. Unless you want me to sharpen my sword in your room, make sure to meet me at six in the morning at my classroom." [Laszlo]

'Your classroom is a boom closet.'

"How do I do that?" [Neidr]

"Go to sleep earlier." [Laszlo] Neidr just stared at him for a long time. He felt that the answer he received wasn't very helpful, but talking to this guy frustrated him.

"What are we doing today?"[Neidr]

"I am glad you asked. Today we shall do resting exercises and I shall teach you about magic." [Laszlo]

"I thought you taught swordsmanship." [Neidr] Laszlo stood up, slung the box of swords on his back with a leather strap that was attached at the back and began to jog down the hall.

"Follow me." [Laszlo] Neidr started jogging after Laszlo and Laszlo began to speak.

"It is true, I am advertised as a swordsmanship teacher. In truth, I teach the ways in which you can be a warrior. For some reason, everyone labelled me as the swordsmanship teacher. This is how this misunderstanding occurred."[Laszlo]

'Oh I don't know, could it possibly be your obsession with sharpening swords? I think that might have something to do with it.'

Laszlo continued to jog circles around Neidr as he lectured.

"In my class you will learn balance in being. There are three components of humans. The knowledge in your head, The knowledge in your body, The knowledge in your spirit. Wizards focus on the knowledge in your head, considering a body just a husk that holds the mind. Why increase your physical abilities if you can just use magic anyway? I think this is a mistake. Humans are not just their mind, but their body and their spirit too."[Laszlo]

'That's a beautiful philosophy you have there, but I'm a transmigrator. Does your belief account for a man with multiple bodies? Or man in a body not his own. I have a new body, but I'm still me.'

Neidr shook his head internally, thinking this man's words were incorrect, but being unable to correct him. Laszlo looked at Neidr and shook his head. Eventually, the duo reached the secluded location. Laszlo sat Neidr down and gave him some weights to lift.

"You have very little mana. Do not worry, there are a myriad of methods used to increase it. There are three known methods. The most broadly used method is mana expense. This works like exercise. Expending the mana naturally available from your spirit triggers your spirit to think it should produce more mana to fill your mana shell. This is the easiest and most safe method. The second method is often used by geniuses and failures. Mana bursting. This method requires you to bottle up your mana and forcefully expand your mana shell through shell accumulation. This is much faster, but has the potential to cause you to explode. Finally, my method. The trickle method. This method is very similar to the first method, but rather than forcefully expanding your mana shell, you let just enough mana out so as to not pressure your shell. This method is slower than mana bursting, but faster than mana expense. This method is best for training the stability of one's mind. It is what you shall learn." [Laszlo]

"Wait I have questions! many questions!"[Neidr]

"You get three." [Laszlo]

"Fuck! uh, why the uh mana trickle method?" [Neidr]

"You shall find out in training." [Laszlo]

"Shit, did that count as a question?"[Neidr] Laszlo nodded.

"What's a mana shell?"[ Neidr]

"A mana shell is the natural spiritual storage for mana accumulated by the soul. You can think of it as your spiritual body. The mana within it is free for you to use. The mana that irradiates out is no longer yours." Laszlo stood up and began to walk away.

"Very good, you can return to your room now. Class is over." [Laszlo]

"I didn't get to ask three questions though?"[ Neidr]

"Yes you did. Start your mana practice in between classes"[Laszlo]

As Neidr watched Laszlo's back get smaller in the distance, he increasingly felt as if he got scammed.

'wait, he didn't tell me how to train mana!' As soon as Neidr started to run after him, he heard a crinkle under his foot. He looked down a saw a piece of paper.

"Trickle mana method-Professor Laszlo."