I awaken, groggy and still plagued by my projections. Though the feeling is a bit muted, like it's a little further away than it was last night. And as luck would have it, today contains one of the regularly scheduled training sessions with Erysis and Nexen. What wonderful timing...

***

I arrive at the Guild's fields and spot my friends.

Erysis greets me cheerfully, "Hi, Lucius."

I greet back, "Hey, guys." Nexen extends his arm, and we perform an elaborate shake. In the background, Erysis is rolling her eyes. "She's just jealous."

"You can take part too, Ery."

She turns around and starts warming up, trying to ignore our snickers. Nexen and I follow suit.

When we finish, the duo takes up one side of the large circular arena, and Erysis fires an almost white flame into the air. The spell gains some altitude but then loses power and starts dropping lethargically to the ground. As it finally connects with the sand, my vision is filled with a radiant flash of light. Fighting dirty. I like it.

My character is momentarily blinded, but I detect Nexen blurring in his swift approach toward me, his ethereal steps not even disturbing a single grain of sand. At the same time, Erysis has fired several elongated motes of light and starts weaving them around Nexen, limiting my area of approach and cutting off paths of escape.

I make two explosive dashes, one to avoid Nexen and one to engage Erysis, each one creating large divots in the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The fire mage is already expecting my attack, and I need to dodge and dispose of a bunch more precisely aimed projectiles swerving around in the air unpredictably. With every mote taken care of, I strike at her with my sparring shortsword, the blade ringing off of a shimmering shield.

There is not much time for a second attempt at an attack, as the melee fighter barrels behind me and swings a gauntleted hand trying to take a hold of my arm. The grapple is avoided, but it gained them space to breathe again. Nexen takes advantage of his close proximity and fires off a barrage of punches. The onslaught is either dodged or parried, until one catches me wrong, and I am hit with a soft tap. He tries to follow up, but I jump back.

While still in the air, the aftereffect of his strike manifests, throwing me even further back and away from the path of a volley of glowing motes. The price for that timely assist is a very sore spot on my left side.

Coordination can use some more work, but they are getting stronger and stronger. The two adventurers in front of me are incomparable to the two trainees I first met in the Guild. I inadvertently smile, prompting them to tighten up their formation and prepare for an assault.

Let's take care of Nexen first, change it up a little. I dash for the deceptive pugilist, and when he tries a jab, I deliver a counter. The point of my sword gently brushes past his temple, ruffling a bit of hair. As he collapses to his knees, groaning, I am already halfway to Erysis, dodging a new cascade of spells with every leap. A slam against her shield produces a crack and earns a wave of fire. A thrust shatters a section, and from the hole spills another beam of blinding light. A strike stops at her midsection, harmlessly.

She moans. "Why does it feel like you get stronger every time we train?"

I look dumbfounded. "Because I am? It's not like you are the only ones training. Do you need a break, Erysis?"

Stolen story; please report.

She looks at me like I actually found the dumb. "You know what I mean."

I shrug. "If you are asking me, your progression is way faster than mine." I look at her in mock shock. "Are you like a hidden genius or something?" I lean my head to one side, avoiding a mote of light. "Rude."

Erysis yells out, "Stop playing dead, Nex! We are resetting." Nexen springs up from a faceplanted position and jogs back to us.

I take up some distance, and we begin again.

After about a dozen spars, Nexen takes a short break, taking a seat at the edge of the field, still observing intently.

Erysis and I continue on, her stamina bottomless, or maybe she's just driven by a big helping of good-natured spite.

Okay. Here it goes. I let a mote fly in from a blind spot, and before it would impact my head, I conjure a hexagonal metal plate, blocking the projectile.

Erysis pauses. "That's new." The flow of the spar is disrupted. She takes up a casual stance and relaxes, getting her breathing under control. "You been training alone?"

"Something like that."

"We can do mage duels if you'd like. I can help you out, even if I am kinda bad at metal. But why start on spellcasting now?"

"Funny story—"

"It's not going to be a funny story, is it?"

"Probably not."

She sighs and starts walking toward Nexen. He only caught some of what we said, so he asks, spurred by Erysis' expression, "Are we mad at him again?"

"Remains to be seen."

I catch up and try to defend myself, "No reason to be mad. Maybe? It was due to some personal stuff." A duo of questioning expressions are regarding me with mild scrutiny. "...I couldn't spellcast." Elevated amounts of scrutiny. "And I couldn't use or sense mana." Dangerous levels of scrutiny. "Then I got fixed up a few days ago." Scrutiny levels at critical.

Erysis starts a sigh that continues for a few seconds. During that time, Nexen is giving her supportive pats on the back.

"It's okay, Ery. Think of it as a misbehaving pet. Poor thing just doesn't know that it did anything wrong."

"Hey! It's not that big of a deal. I just didn't want you to think of me differently."

They both turn to me and drop the playful ribbing. Erysis speaks up, "Sorry, Lucius. I can assure you that won't happen. Especially when you can kick our asses with hardly any effort." Nexen nods in agreement.

"Right... And I am sorry about not telling you sooner. Kind of a dick move."

She waves me off. "It's fine. Everything's 'fixed up' as you said?" I nod. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah." We make ourselves somewhat comfortable on the ground and I start, "Hall Master Ren figured out I couldn't spellcast during my solo exam and recently connected me with a researcher from the Academy. The researcher used a few methods to try and kindle my magical abilities. One of those worked, and here we are."

Erysis asks, "What was the method, Lucius?"

I point somewhere behind her, squinting. "What's that over there?"

She asks again, her tone a lot more forceful, "What was the method?"

There is some urgency in my voice. "You'll miss it." The air around us heats up. I clear my throat with a cough, trying to conceal my next words, "Mental magic."

Erysis rubs at her eyes, inhaling deeply. "What do you think, Nex?"

"Lunch."

"Lunch it is."

I chuckle. "Honestly, I expected way worse."

Erysis sighs. "I swear to the Goddess, if you get better than me at spellcasting in like a week, I am going to lose it."

"Would a month be an acceptable time frame?" She can only groan back as Nexen tries to comfort her again.

Then, she springs upright, startling us both. "That's it! You." She points an accusing finger at my face. "Me." She jerks a thumb at herself. "Only spellcasting. I'm taking advantage of the situation while you are still weak. Who knows when I'll get another such opportunity."

"Let's do this." What can I say, I am always one to oblige.

I don't even need to hold back. These two might actually be hidden geniuses, or my involvement with their training has been more effective than I anticipated. Erysis is turning out to be one scary-strong mage. And Nexen is shaping into a force of nature in his own right.

***

As we are walking back toward the city, Erysis has a beaming smile on her face. Eleven to zero, in her favor.

Time to rain on her parade. "I hope you are happy with yourself, Erysis. Beating a caster with not even a week of experience."

The smile does not even falter. "I am so happy, Lucius. Not only that, but that lame caster also owes me lunch." She sighs, content, and leans against Nexen. "Another session tomorrow?"

I try to scoff, but it turns into a chuckle. "You bet."

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