I Want To Go Home - 15

Life and Magic

Boot camp was definitely an understatement of what followed. Uké’el was spending every hour of the day on my lessons, taking advantage of the fact that neither of us needed sleep or food, myself being a goddess and her being a lich. Though she did need a sort of rest. A couple of hours a day of a ritual to restore her energies.

I was given those hours to train with Sukura, in one of the few places where the ceiling was high enough that I could stand.

After just two days I felt more than a little fried mentally, but I did my best to push through that as there simply wasn’t any time to waste. Food was running out and I had a long way to go to be of much use.

On the first day I’d learned that one’s spiritual energy consisted of two main types of reserves. One was called ‘life force’ or ‘essence’ here, while the other was ‘mana’ or ‘magicka’ depending on who you asked. The names were effectively interchangeable, though the measurement systems tied to both required conversions. Apparently one was a standard created by Elves up north in the Holy Kingdom, while the other originated in Maxuul, in the far south. Neither side was willing to budge from their systems, and the rest of the world generally juggled between both as those were the two greatest centres of magical learning.

Of course there were efforts to create a neutral standard for everyone to use, but those were generally shouted down by the rest of mages who didn’t want to juggle a third standard.

Academic definitions were a secondary concern for me, at least in the immediate term. What I did need to learn was the difference between the energy types and how to separate them. Both energies were reasonably similar in what they could do in the hands of a skilled mage, but the issue was their regeneration process.

Mana was easily released, the spirit constantly producing more of it. In fact, at least in this world, all living things constantly release a free flow of it, akin to the heat produced by the human body. There were base reserves, however. As best as I understood it, it was a bit like a fact I’d heard about how it took a million years for a photon to get from the heart of the sun, where it was created by fusion, out to the surface. The amount created and the amount leaving was roughly the same at all times, but one had a reserve to call upon due to that transit time.

A skilled mage generally pushed to both slow the rate at which their body leaked its mana and to increase the rate at which their body produced it, though there were advantages and disadvantages to focus on one over the other (or vice versa).

Life force, however, was obviously quite different. The body regenerated it slowly. In humans it took days to manage what mana reserves restored in minutes. Which meant that life force used in magic was often pulled back into the body, since there was a minimum amount needed to survive. That life force pulled back in could be tainted, something I’d learned the hard way. Damaged life force was a serious concern for most, and Uké’el seemed almost disturbed to learn what I had survived.

“There is value in knowing how to work with your life force, though,” she’d said. “In a moment of true desperation, even the greatest of mages will generally have at least as much essence energy as magicka, and so it can provide a powerful fuel in a last bid for victory. But… if it fails… you rarely survive that.”

The theory was good to know, of course, but one also needed practical practice. As I already knew how to produce a shield with my essence, Uké’el felt it would be easy enough for me to switch to producing one from mana instead.

Or, at least, easy compared to anything else she wanted me to try. Which translated into it taking many more attempts than I feel willing to admit.

“I… did I get it?” I asked, after having spent most of a day trying to sort the energies.

She watched over the shield I’d created with those pained and tired eyes of hers. I felt a warmth in my chest as I saw a spark of something approaching hope there.

“You did indeed… good girl,” she said, smiling softly. However, it lasted only a moment before she tightened up with determination. “We need to teach you some offensive magic as well, however.”

Wanting to chase that look of joy and hope I had seen in Uké’el’s eyes, I decided to redouble my efforts. That was only possible to maintain for so long, but I felt she noticed my attempt. There was a slight smile on her lips as she explained the basics of the first offensive spell she wanted me to learn.

Though I was focused, the softening of her expressions helped lower my stress levels. It was a calmer focus washing over me. Which in turn led to me more properly taking in her appearance, even if I wasn’t dwelling on it.

While she had a mild greyness about her, and a depth to her eye sockets she was undead, there wasn’t actually that much deathly about her. For one, she was… well, pudgier than I’d have thought a lich could be? To be honest, assessing her now, I realised she was fairly pretty. Definitely older than me, but there was nothing wrong with that.

Though I was not about to let that distract me from her teachings.

Her lesson for me this time was a simple case of creating a small sphere of pure mana to throw at an enemy. Though I wasn’t supposed to throw it any time soon. While most students could toss their efforts around fine, with the amount of mana Uké’el could feel radiating from me, she was certain she needed to make sure I wasn’t going to blow up half the old-town by releasing too much energy. Instead, I was instructed to hold the energy in my hand. Focusing on maintaining it, and observing how much I created.

The energy sphere I could generate was still varying wildly when Uké’el had to call for the day. Which didn’t really mean a break, but the idea of switching to physical training with Sukura felt like a break at that point.

Sukura was running through some stretches when I arrived. I was thrilled to reach the room, stretching out myself as well. It was nice to be able to actually stand up again.

“You look tired,” she said as she turned to me.

“I am tired,” I replied. “Pretty sure I’m going to pass out for at least a day when this is all over… but I don’t feel sick or anything. Pretty sure it’s fine for me to be awake this long.”

“If… if you say so,” Sukura replied, looking me over with concern in her eyes. “I’m not sure I feel right putting you through more training, though.”

“Honestly… I think the stretching and exercise would do me good, after being scrunched over textbooks all day,” I replied.

With a bit of reluctance, she gave a nod. She insisted on not training me on anything new, though. Simple drills on forms I already knew was all she’d give me, to try to help my brain rest. I appreciated it, and tried to give in to pure muscle memory as much as possible.

“How is that lich woman treating you, besides working you to the bone?” Sukura asked, while we both took a bit of a breather.

“I think I’m getting into her good books?” I replied. “At least… I hope I am.”

Sukura watched me for a moment, before nodding to herself. “You’re getting a crush, aren’t you?”

“W-what? No. No… I… I think she’s quite pretty, and I don’t like having anyone dislike me… though, especially women I find pretty, but… that… that’s not a crush yet. Even if it was, she’s probably straight, so I wouldn’t act on it anyhow,” I replied. “I have you and Lena and Kris and Aara and… that’s already far more than I deserve. Trying to add another romance would just leave me feeling even more inadequate of all the women who love me.”

“Again, you’re literally a goddess,” Sukura replied, causing my cheeks to burn.

“Goddess or not, I don’t have any aim to become some sort of… harem protagonist,” I muttered, studying the floor.

“Mhm… well, I still wish you the best of luck. I’ve always had a soft spot for older women,” Sukura said, a slight smirk on her face.

I blinked, turning to her. “You… I… you want me to romance her for you?”

“No… no, just, getting her into your orbit would make it easier for me to make my move… and you did say you wanted us to have other girlfriends,” she replied.

-

Despite Sukura’s request, there wasn’t really much chance for me to make any romantic inquiries with Uké’el. The lessons were keeping me rather too busy. I was having to cram what was at least a semester’s worth of lessons into what she clearly hoped would be no more than a week.

I was making some progress in controlling the amount of magic I released to form an energy sphere, but there was still somewhat more theory to study as I tried to master it. Specific measurements, ratios, and formulas that, at this stage, were about understanding the flows of magicka I was starting to feel. Later on, if I ever chose to make a more academic pursuit of things, it would also serve as a foundation of advanced magic theory, but right now it was more like analogies. Attempts to put numbers on what seemed like feelings, in an effort to predict them.

By the end of the next study period, I had managed to master the basics of changing how much energy I poured into the palm of my hand. That was, apparently, enough progress to earn more praise from Uké’el, as well as another one of her soft smiles as the amount of hope in her eyes increased.

“There’s one more spell I would like you to learn before we try throwing you out there to fight,” she said, wiggling fingers that seemed to be growing stiff. “It connects to the current lesson of holding energy in one place, which is another part of why I had you do that in place of hurling mana balls about.”

“Oh?” I asked.

“Magicka blade. It’s generally deemed as a bit more advanced, but… that is due to the drain of magicka needed to maintain it. Human or dwarven students need to build their reserves for years before they can manage to maintain it for more than a few seconds… but the actual control needed is fairly low,” she explained. “As you have more mana to start with than most mortal mages could ever cultivate, you should be fine to learn it.”

And so, once the exercises with Sukura were done, that was what I studied. It was essentially a matter of holding the spheres of energy I had produced before and then flicking my wrist so as to elongate them. Like an extendable telescope or umbrella (when the built in spring broke).

Uké’el only allowed me to do it on the most minimal of energy inputs while practicing, however. Which turned into more of a dagger than the sword she had described it as in her lesson. Still, it was interesting, a tiny shard of light to hold in my hand.

Even if it kept shattering on me, as I didn’t have the concentration to hold it in a form for very long.

However, each time I tried, I got a little better. By the end of that day I could hold it for nearly a minute. An amount of time that seemed to be viewed as acceptable in Uké’el’s eyes.

“Good. Run through your practice with your friend, then spend a few hours resting. It’s time for you to try to go out and see how well you do,” she replied.

I gave a nod, not quite sure what to say. It was something I had to do eventually, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have to be nervous about the idea.

“Don’t worry, you’ll have back up… but do remember we’re almost all half starved, so it will be less than we hoped,” Uké’el added, not doing overly much to raise my spirits.