The burning heat of the suns’ rays caressed my skin and with every breath I took more of that glorious golden heat crept into my lungs. My retinas were opened to the vast coronas that encircled themselves around seas of molten gold. I rejoiced as my body burned with the energy of the twin suns that revolved in cycle after cycle after cycle. It was beautiful, the suns were both so beautiful showering the world with warmth and I felt an instinctive wanderlust swell within me. I wanted to walk among the world under these suns. I wanted to do things and make waves on the world wherever I walked. A physical burning took place in my body at that moment greater than the heat of the suns and I felt my desire to travel skyrocket.

xxx

I shot awake and took deep breaths feeling like I could run a marathon. That burst of dynamism didn’t leave me and instead I felt myself almost vibrating as I stood up of bed looking around and finding myself in an unfamiliar tent. All aches and pains and regrets of the previous day burned away by the light and I felt the need to move. I was almost out of the room before I suddenly felt my body lock into place and all my muscles refuse to respond.

“Phew, that took a bit more than I thought it would,” the voice of Cronceet sounded in my ears before the man grabbed my shoulder and turned my unresisting body around until I was staring into his eyes as he crouched down to examine me.

“I see,” he said with an unreadable tone as he stared at me. “Your eyes are glowing. You are…Sun Touched?” Despite the last sentence being framed as a question there was no doubt in my mind that he didn’t know and I wondered how to respond. This is the kind of thing that I would want to hide in my home village, insomuch as I could. Would a powerful wizard be more accepting? Would he know more about my condition? Had he met another like me?

“I’ve never met another Sun Touched,” he said even as I deliberated; cutting off my burgeoning hope. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you much. Nor am I that interested in performing extensive research for obvious reasons. He would likely forget the research as everything else that is touched by those that are touched by the sun fades from memory. “If you are ever interested in looking into this I would recommend Qwart. For all the problems they indulge in, ignorance is not one.”

“Thank you,” I said and found my voice quite hoarse. I wasn’t happy as such, I might have been if he had more news, but there was almost a weight off my shoulders at the thought of finally mentioning it. “I’m going to try and learn to perform my old spells the new way,” I said after a few seconds of thought. I felt like I had all the energy in the world right now and it would be a shame not to use it to further my abilities.

“Good idea,” Cronceet said, with an indifferent shrug. “It could only help. Before you go and do that though; I’m going to give you the exercises to train Will-Element conversion as I promised. While you weren’t able to fight for very long against June you would have beaten her in the second fight if I hadn’t intervened.”

“So it was you that stopped that,” I mused out loud getting a nod from the wizard.

“I did,” he admitted. “And you defaulted to your old method. That’s not a technique normal wizards will perform, let alone an apprentice still wet behind the ears.” I wanted to argue but was forced to admit he was right. Just using those magical muscles to cast multiple spells strained me; had always strained me, even if I didn’t realise it.

“Do abnormal wizards perform this technique?” I asked picking out the unsaid implications in his words, but the look that Cronceet shot me said a lot about his dwindling patience.

“Look,” he said. “If they somehow do manage to get Blue to come over you can ask her. Until then we have a plant monster to catch.”

“You convinced them to send troops?” I asked surprised. Last I heard that wasn’t going well.

“I did nothing of the sort,” Cronceet said. “Unfortunately Lord Aardhilt has firmly planted his head far up his ass. It will be you, me and June and a couple of mercenaries I’ve hired out of pocket.”

“You’re being quite generous,” I said. There was really no need for him to do anything of the sort. He was likely strong enough to just leave in the first place without anyone stopping him.

“Not really,” Cronceet said shrugging. “It’s probably safer in the forest then out here with the dragon so close and I might be able to use that monster for parts in the first place. I’m not great at potions but I can make some simple ones and just sell them off. The market is always undersupplied.”

“Potions,” I said perking up at that and I got a knowing smile from the older wizard in return.

“Don’t worry I’ll give you second pick of the materials,” he said. It was a more than fair proposition considering how he would be providing the bulk of the muscle. I wondered what else he wanted in trade. He swiftly picked up on my suspicious glance and chuckled.

“A future investment,” he said as explanation. “Right now you have nothing that I want. Don’t worry you can pay me back if you become a powerful wizard. I won’t pressure you.”

“Okay,” I said scrutinizing him before accepting. “It didn’t matter. I would repay him regardless. I hated being in debt more than nearly anything.

“Great now I believe I promised you exercises to train your Will-Element conversion,” Cronceet said. “We’re going after the monster in two days so use this time wisely.” In the next second I was handed a stack of papers about the width of my fingers and I briefly paged through it to see various breathing, meditation, visualisation and other weird esoteric techniques.

“Practice all of them and choose the one that works with you the best,” Cronceet said shrugging off any ideas of personal teaching lessons I had. “We head out in two days to hunt the monster. I will measure your progress today and tomorrow. If you want to practice anything else you can do that instead; I’m not your teacher.” With those straightforward words he stepped out of the tent.

“Thank you,” I said to the empty air before I sat down and began to devour the new knowledge placed before me.

xxx

“Aren’t you nervous,” June said as she sat down next to me. I was leaning against a tree after nearly forty-six cycles of straight training and I still felt like I had more energy. Thankfully the glow from my eyes had faded by now leaving a murky-green in their place whenever I looked in the hand-mirror that Cronceet had provided me, a luxury I had never owned before.

“I might be a bit nervous,” I admitted easily. “But I’m just far too excited at the moment. I want to go out and use my magic now. I’ve learnt so much in the last few days and I really feel like I’ve powered up. Wouldn’t you want to go out and use that magic?”

“But you can use that magic for things like potion-making, or creating magical items, or healing, or even you can just your spellcasting abilities in a safe environment,” she said. “There’s a risk that we all die from this. Then all of your hard work will be wasted, and what about your family?”

“That’s true,” I admitted. “But__”

“Alright people time to get to it,” Cronceet suddenly said as he walked into the sight flanked by two mercenaries with axes and shields. “This is Brett and Boris and they will be assisting me today.” The adult wizard was dressed in a brown coat with black leggings and a white shirt that appeared entirely mundane if it wasn’t for the thrums of magic I felt every time I happened to cast the spell that detects it.

“Just relax and stay behind us,” the man called Boris said in a deep and assuring voice. “This is their first attack against monsters?” I could hear his scepticism in the way that he looked at us, but I didn’t care. I wanted to see that scepticism turn into disbelief and awe and I idly summoned a few drops of water into the air and started playing around with them.

“June’s fought a few under controlled conditions and Marvin’s killed a couple out in the wild,” Cronceet said. “They’re mostly coming along for a bit of experience and to pad out the numbers. Now let’s go,” he said pointing into a specific direction with a staff made out a twisted purple wood and topped by a Magite crystal. “The beast is in that direction.”

That assessment of my talent rankled me; but I was much stronger than I had been a few days ago and so I settled for just reciting the spell formulas that I had learnt over the many cycles of the past two days. I stood up a second after June and took my spot to her right her while the two mercenaries walked ahead and Cronceet brought up the rear.

June remained quiet besides me and I didn’t feel like talking to her either. Despite my gratitude towards her master I did not believe we would ever get along. To me staying in my little village, while far more safe, would be nothing but a slow death as that drowsy place sucked the life out of me as it had done to others I knew before.

xxx

It was only after a full two cycles walking that Cronceet spoke up. I had no idea how he was tracking the monster; probably a spell of a tier that I couldn’t cast. Regardless of how he did it, he had spent the last two cycles walking in a line that curved around all major obstacles while heading unerringly to a location only he could see. And so when his instructions were barked from his mouth I didn’t hesitate to obey.

“Guard,” he said and I instantly raised my own awareness as I looked towards the treeline. “They’re up ahead, but they’re moving to flank us. Focus on your own defences. Good luck.”

Barely had the words left his lips when I heard something large barrelling towards me and I whipped my head to the right in time to see a monstrosity in the distance. It stood more than double my height and yet was a black bulky porcine creature with horns piercing outward from its face atop legs that looked far too thin to accommodate its wide body.

I fired off a trio of Hydraulic Blasts, although only two of the three hit and they seemingly bounced off the mix of muscle and fat that was the monster. That wouldn’t work, but they seemed to force it to close its eyes momentarily. I recalled the spell formula and fired off another duo of shots before I conjured a lot of water and then immediately froze it. As a last thought I grabbed June and yanked her to the side just as the monster hit the patch of ice and went flying through the group. Just then I noticed that there was another one of these same creatures coming from June’s side and she had somehow immobilised. My touch had disrupted her concentration just in time for my monster to hit her monster with a sickening crack. As the two creatures attempted to stumble to their legs I stepped forward and fired off Hydraulic Blasts one after the other using the new method that I had perfected in order to grind away and hone on their weak spots.

From behind me a noise like a strong humming started up before with a cracking sound bolt after bolt lightning shot forward and impacted the two beasts causing them to scream and writhe as the smell of cooking meat filled the area. I turned my head to see the June looking at the two pig-like monsters with an expression that could best be described as determined discomfort and I decided to help her to put them out of her misery.

I needn’t have bothered however as a jarring humming sound pierced my ears and the world went white for an instant before the two monsters were reduced to charred corpses as a lightning bolt struck them. I gave them one last look, seeing only residual twisting before I turned to Cronceet who was casually holding one of the monsters still while surveying the battlefield.

The two mercenaries had similarly taken out one of the beasts although I couldn’t immediately see how. The beast that they had killed had apparently lost both of its legs and had its neck hacked right off. That was impressive and I shuddered to think how I would fare against the pair, even as a person getting closer to a wizard every day.

“You get what you pay for,” Cronceet said seemingly reading my mind as he gave me a rueful grin. “While the strongest are wizards there is a massive gap between the strong and the strongest. Don’t disregard those without magic.”

‘Was I doing that,’ I thought to myself even as Cronceet stepped forward to interrogate his still alive monster that resembled a wild boar that had been clumsily merged with a bear, the more that I look at it. I don’t think so, although I did tend to get overly focused on magic. It’s my dream after all.

“You were right Master,” June suddenly piped up. “Lightning does work best against them.” Her words caught me slightly off guard. These creatures had an elemental weakness; but one that I had no hope of exploiting.

“Weren’t plant monsters supposed to be weak to fire,” I spoke up as Cronceet yanked another thorny vine out of the plant and mercilessly inspected the flailing thing.

“Their bodies wouldn’t necessarily be,” Cronceet started. “And that’s a myth actually. You’ll find that most strong plant monsters are very hard to burn. Safest bet when fighting against plant monsters is to go for ice actually.”

“I should probably learn an ice spell next,” I mused to myself only to get surprised by June again.

“I can teach you a great ice spell when we get back to the camp,” she said and there was something different about her, some undercurrent of enthusiasm that flowed through her voice. “Just trade a spell back to me at the same time.”

“Gladly,” I said. An opportunity to learn a new spell formula was one that I could hardly pass up.

“Don’t count your rewards before we get back to camp,” Cronceet said as the vine in his hand turned to ash.

“Bad news boss,” Boris said as he walked forward. “Does the extra reward kick in yet?” His words were almost joking but there was a note of tension in it as he stood opposite Cronceet. Silence stretched on for a moment before…

“Here,” Cronceet said depositing a small bag that clinked noisily into the mercenary’s hand and I have never seen a man so reluctant to take money.

“So that’s it then,” he said, resigned.

“It is,” Cronceet said. “Without a doubt the plant is getting stronger. If it continues at this rate neither I nor Myrrha will be able to kill it.”