Chapter 15: Chapter 14 – The State of Progress

Day 4

 

Julia Sarcos

 

Julia had stirred her Mana into a surge that coated her in a protective layer that pooled deepest on the face of the wooden shield. This was her Defensive Form, and its greatest attribute was that Mana radiated outwards to heighten her awareness. The bubble only extended a foot around, but that was still effective at detecting anything coming at her. Invaluable in any fight. The experience was like hearing movement underwater. The moment something crossed the border she was immediately notified. Within her sphere of influence, the shieldmaiden was acutely aware of every movement that happened. Instead of making her dizzy, the form somehow aided her mental capacity to use the information. 

The only downside was the severe narrowing of her focus. Julia’s opponent made annoying use of it. The swift footed Vincent briefly dipped toe or sword tip from several directions. It was disorienting to have little pops of sound going off randomly. Quick half-thrusts were her only retaliations. The shieldmaiden had learned it was imperative to never overextend. The swordsman instantly punished such openings, and any others for that matter.

Julia did her best to keep the shield between them as the fight shifted about the dueling floor. She could see the frown forming on Vincent’s face. It wasn’t because she was holding against him, but instead that her actions so far were passive. The swordsman had pressed how inaction was a guarantee for defeat. The shieldmaiden, however, was just being patient. Plans were a strong suit of hers. The turtling was about to pay off as out of frustration Vincent dove in to teach a lesson.

There was no playing from her opponent's strikes this time. He didn’t try to distract her by causing a patter of strikes across her aura of awareness. Vincent struck with the intent to hit. Their wooden swords danced against each other. It was only because her shield took the piercing hits that Julia endured the exchange. It was only a delay for the right moment. Circling each other, her eyes were patient while Vincent’s flashed with intent.

They clashed several more times with Julia barely keeping the fight going. The moment came when the swordsman’s blade slashed downwards. Julia stepped into the strike and lashed out with her shield. With a moment of thought, the Mana coating on the shield ruptured with kinetic force. The combined power of the swing and effect threw the blade arm wide. Vincent’s eyes widened in surprise atop a grin of excitement. 

The shieldmaiden wasn’t done yet. 

At her command, the Mana of her Defensive Form snapped inwards. Instead of a shell, it became an internal enhancement anchored to the bone. The Mana now radiated only to reinforce muscle and accumulated along her sword’s blunted edge. Julia switched into Offensive Form. The quickness of the change would cause a great deal of soreness, but that was later. The time to attack was now. 

The shieldmaiden struck out in a series of attacks that Vincent was barely able to respond to. She had him on the back foot and couldn’t afford to let him get comfortable. To keep that awkward footing, she needed to keep being aggressive. Julia charged in with the shield up. The swordsman tried to shift to the side, but the shieldmaiden was too quick. That made it all the more awkward for Vincent when he was forced to take a couple quick steps back to prevent the impact. 

The charge moved smoothly into an attack to keep the pressure on. Her shield swung out in a bash that almost clipped his chin. She took the moment to reposition while thrusting low. The strike caused Vincent to shift his foot into a bad position. 

While out of balance, Julia charged again, planting the shield into the swordsman’s chest. Vincent’s sword flicked at her head, but she ducked in time. A flick of the wrist ended the fight as her sword struck his left side.

They split apart as Vincent rubbed his side. “Alright, that one is yours,” grinned the swordsman. “Keep in mind, surprise only works once.”

“Still got you,” stated Julia, returning his smile. “Also it was good to prove I can switch Forms like that in the middle of battle.”

“It’s a neat combo,” assured Vincent. “Though, don’t get too cocky, my dear. You may have won that one, but the scoreboard is still heavily in my favor.” 

“Yes, Vincent the mighty blade,” replied Julia dryly. “Not like I’ve been using a sword for less than a week.”

“I’m going to make you eat those words,” promised Vincent pleasantly. “We have one more match before I must switch to teach another… Let’s see how you hold against me at maximum effort.” 

“Shit,” spat Julia. She quickly got herself ready to go.

The swordsman grinned as he charged in and said with a laugh, “Shit indeed.”

Soren Hill

 

Like a red star, the charged Mana from Soren’s crystal gun impacted the shadowy target. There was a flash of heat and red light as everything dispersed. Several people had pressed to him that reading the path book was a necessary effort. Through grit and effort, he did. The pulse of red energy instead of a beam was one of the results of what he gleaned from the book. The efficiency of his Mana had skyrocketed as well. Before, his rough-handed attempts had “spilled” more than what had actually transferred into the crystal gun. His Mana pool lasted longer now, and his aim improved with the time to train. Firing a laser differed some from bullets.

Currently, Soren was in a fiendish competition in the ranged practice room. It had evolved away from static targets to moving ones. That such a thing was available had been found completely by accident a few days ago. Over-celebration on his part had resulted in a stumble. Then a flailing hand had activated an unnoticed panel. Suddenly the fixed targets had dropped, and hologram looking figures moved about the firing range. A little playing around of the panel had opened a lot of options for training. Competitions too.

Soren’s redhead competitor nodded in acknowledgment of his aim. Smiling slyly, the archer locked eyes while she brought an arrow to the string. Her peripherals were apparently enough to choose a target. The arrow flew true passing through a vaguely panther-shaped shadow. Soren groaned as he copied her, trying to aim without breaking eye contact.

His Mana energized. A quickening of his senses came with the activation of his Form. A light defensive shell did cover him like an extra layer, but the effects were more mental. The world slowed for the gunman. On top of that, he gained a heightened instinct for momentum. Soren picked out a holographic shadow that was about to leap up. Mana surged into the crystal ball as a red storm. He let the charge build up while his mental hand gathered the Mana into a dense ball within the crystal gun. At the critical moment, Soren shoved the ball forward as he allowed the Mana to flow through. 

A bolt of red light burst forward like an angry flare. There was no sound as it headed towards the targeted shadow in the middle of their leap. It scoured across and over the flank, but the featureless hologram continued on its path. The deflected bolt denoting against a wall.

“Ugh, god damn,” swore Soren. “You’re too good.”

“Well trenchy, I’m just impressed you stayed with me up to level seven,” grinned Clarissa. “I was startin’ to think I was gonna have to use my Mana to beat ya.”

“Wait… this whole time you were… just using, I don’t know how to put it… natural ability??” questioned the flabbergasted gunman.

“What can a fine lady like myself say?” preened the archer. “I’m really that awesome.”

“I half want to say that you are claiming that just to rub the victory in more,” accused Soren.

Rolling her eyes, Clarissa waved the thought away. “I’m quite happy with my level of victory. No reason to be a spoiled winner. Though I may have considered using a Form earlier if I was better at maintaining it.”

“I guess that takes the sting out a little,” decided Soren while tapping his lips in thought. “Tell you what, as the spoils of victory let me tell you about a couple of tricks. Ones I found useful to keep it runnin’.”

“As the most gracious of winners, I shall of course allow you to make me better,” declared the archer. 

“Right… maybe I should rethink that?” remarked Soren to himself. Clarissa glared. After a pause of thought, he refuted, “Ah shit, I wouldn’t go back on my word. Alright, so hey, tell me how it’s been going for yoy. Maybe I can figure somethin’.”

“Good, good, um… well I got the peering inside down,” began the redhead. “I try to um… coat myself in the Mana. Create that armored layer I’ve heard about from others. I can get the Form to start coalescing, but it never holds.”

The gunman tapped his lips in thought and moved his head as if having a conversation. Nodding to something, he said, “Mm, ok, I think I can actually help you out. The issue is you are trying to copy what other people are expressing.”

“Expressing?”Clarrisa asked, pertly in confusion. 

“The book gets fancy explaining it, but let me see if this layman can explain it some,” responded Soren. “Mana is like self-expression. ya feel me? Will, faith… that’s all just a strong sense of self. We’re just impressing ourselves on reality through those aspects. Mana jumps in and makes it work. However, in your case, it’s like a weak effort cause you ain’t supporting it with your true self. Try accessing the Form process again, but this time don’t force any which way. Let you, guide you.”

“Ok, I think I get it,” nodded the archer. “I think I was letting Julia’s discipline success confuse me away from my strong suit. Just gotta be me. Alright, let me give that a try. Thanks, trenchy.”

“Do you think you could stop calling me tenchy now?” asked Soren. He felt the annoyance rising up from his mixed-up embarrassment issues with the coat. I refuse to give it up, thought the gunman.

“Nope,” replied Clarissa. 

There was a shift to the air of the room as the redhead closed her eyes and went quiet. The silence dragged on as Soren waited for the results. He had heard that those with external Mana training could sense Mana outside themselves. Rumor had it, a few could even see it. For him, there was only the vague sense of something pinging off his own Mana. It was a sensation that could only be described as close to that feeling you got from another person in the room.

That one you got even when you had your eyes closed, or someone staring at you across the room. Like all that, but much clearer, considered Soren.

A grin formed before her eyes opened. Sounding very pleased with herself, Clarissa announced, “I got it. Crank the targets up a couple notches and let’s see what I can do with my… Precision Form.”

“Sounds like a hoot,” said Soren as he grinned back at her.

Malachai Armstrong

 

The simulation was about to begin. A couple of read throughs of the book and some conversation with Damian had helped Malachi get a grip on his Mana. The back hallway of the training hall led to the ranged target room and, he had learned, to more private rooms for training. It was there that the sword acolyte was trying to understand his place on the battlefield. Combining swordsmanship and magic was the task he was currently working on. Mostly he was experimenting on the timing of when to use his magic in battle. Malachi couldn’t afford to leave himself open.

The private training rooms had a wonderful projection system that created holographic targets that could be set to different modes. Currently, they were set to target him. A little kinetic force was all they did, but gave the rising leader encouragement to avoid an attack. All and all it was helping him get better at acting smart on the battlefield. 

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A glowing number fell to zero and then the shadowy figures appeared. Each simulation started the same, with Malachi being surrounded. Perhaps there were reasons to change that, but he had gotten used to it by this point. Instead, he cast the first spell.

 

“Stormy Sky, 

 Bright light,

Thunder’s Roar,

Lightning Blade”

 

His Mana rushed into the stone sword and burst into lightning. It surged along the edge as the sword acolyte charged one figure at random. It lashed out with dark translucent claws. Ducking around, he slashed across the side of the shadow. It wouldn’t normally be a fatal blow. The monster simulated would have survived such a blow, but the electricity along the blade changed the story. It crackled across the figure until it collapsed and dusted. 

Another leaped at Malachi. He sidestepped and slashed upwards. It dispersed behind him. There were ten more to take down and he was beginning to get surrounded. There was enough charge left on his sword to take two or three more with the lightning. Grinning he thought, Or one charge for something big!

Keeping mobile, he charged to the opposite side of the room at the three rushing holograms. The rising leader sent a force of thought into the stone sword. The electricity grew wild. Arcs of lightning grew larger. The shadows prepared fang and claw as Malachi unleash a wide side slash. A yellow-white light was traced across the air and soared forward. It impacted the three ahead with a blinding explosion of angry red lightning. 

By the time he passed through, everything had cleared. There could be no slowing as the sword acolyte came to the wall ahead. Deciding on the group to his left next, he angled himself and pushed off the wall to change direction. With the sword returned to normal, it was time for another spell.

 

“Flare

Scorch

Explode,

Fire Blast”

 

From his outstretched hand, a molten red ball shot forward into the chasing pack of three. The one in the middle took it in the chest and disappeared in a roar of flame. The two on the side were thrown. One impacted a wall and disappeared. The other one slid across the floor crippled.

Four were left on his tail as Malachi considered the next move. His last spell was more tactical than destructive, but would buy him time. Heading towards the corner to narrow the angle of attack, he began the spell.

 

“Wall Unseen,

Force Shaped,

Quick Reprieve,

Barrier: Impale”

 

Between the holograms and the bearded man, a thick line of white appeared. Malachi stood his ground in the corner. He waited. When the shadows approached within a foot. Glass looking spears shot up out of the ground at an angle. Two of the simulation shattered from impalings to the chest. One got scoured along the side by a spear. It stumbled through the barrier and lost its feet. Malachi brought his sword down on the neck to dust it too. 

He turned to the last, but cursed as it hit him. The impact didn’t hurt, though it pushed him back a couple of steps to a wall. The simulation ended and the words “Restart?” appeared in the air where the countdown had been before. The sword acolyte took a couple of breaths as he went over the battle. Visualizing it to look for improvements. Once he was satisfied with his mental review Malachi said, “Let’s go again, restart!”

 

Reuben Frost

 

The scout was training by basically playing Marco Polo with a few of the Sixty. Through the book, Rueben had gotten enough of an understanding to create two Forms for his use. The first was the Combat Form that increased his speed. The second and the one he was currently training was the Stealth Form. It activated the Mana to cover him in an effect that diminished his presence. From what those helping him could tell, the Form wiped the smell out completely, softened sound, and veiled the scout from sight.

 He wasn’t entirely undetectable as moving around too much made seeing Rueben easier. So far it was like a worse version of the Predator armor. Regardless, Reuben was excited to take it out for a test run in the tunnel. Once it was fully tested, of course. Last thing I want is to be rat lunch, shivered Rueben.

Shifting slowly, he got behind Warner with the intent to do the old disappearing shoulder tap. Unfortunately, the man with shoulders for days abruptly turned around. They stared into each other's eyes for several seconds. One held their breath while the bigger one sighed before walking off. Reuben let it out very slowly so as not to give himself away. 

Changing targets, the scout headed towards Phelian. The peppy warrior was randomly taking steps. Or trying to be random. Instead, it was more of an awkward dance that went in circles. Rueben snuck up behind him and tapped the shoulder. Twisting his way around the turning head, the scout took the opposite side out of sight. When Phelian had fully turned the other direction, he yelled, “Boo!”

“Agh! Damnit,” cursed the peppy warrior. Reuben only grinned in response as he let the Form fade.

“Well Rueben, that’s three times in a row you caught someone,” said Warner as he came over with the three others that had helped out as targets. “Might be enough for now. There’s other training to be done too.”

“I suppose that’s good for now,” considered Rueben. “Likely best to practice how to stab things in case I get caught.”

“Just don’t stab me ok?” pleaded Phelian dryly. “I took enough attention from you today already. My heart’s beating my chest blue.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” agreed Rueben. With a grin, he added, “Today at least. Maybe tomorrow.”

Warner added with good humor, “It would be good practice for the healers, though.”

Rolling his eyes, Phelian only responded, “You guys suck.”

Overseer

 

A ghostly figure stood watching screens. The darkness surrounding them was deep enough to hide any signs of the room’s dimensions. The effect left no sense of direction either. Up or down were both masked. The only light was from the translucent arcane displays and runic switchboards. This illumination gave the impression that the pool of light was the only firm ground in a void. Just a circle of stone floating in the dark.

Sixty screens focused on a person, each a different one. The rest showed read-outs and diagrams. The ghostly figure scanned all the screens with equal attention. Occasionally they paused to dictate something to a paired screen. One screen followed the ghost wherever they shifted to take down everything said. 

From under the hood came musical words, “Individual reports finished. Progress is promising. Overall, only two present a potential problem to system stability. I have faith that careful observation will negate the concern completely.”

“Despite delayed use of the training books, the subjects have acquired baseline Mana usage at a satisfactory rate. On schedule, the day five combat push is expected. Due to their earlier than expected expedition, this first push should have much fewer casualties than was assumed. Death dysphoria will likely be postponed further down the timeline. Whether this will cause favorable results is unclear at this time.”

“Origin aid has only been used on one subject. At this time connection to others is not necessary. Psychology states are fully within expected ranges. The majority are highly productive and the lowest on the scale are moving forward at a reasonable pace. Upload is still stable.”

“Memory and instinct packages are stable and integration is expected without issues.”

“Expectation of project end date is unknown. There is not enough data for calculation at this time.

“Outside interference is still completely impossible. The facility’s safety is still secure. Knowledge of the project is still unknown to the world at large. Everything is proceeding favorably. End Report.”

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