The following morning we did our usual ritual of endurance training and breakfast in the morning. Meliss, entirely unaccustomed to this life, struggled to keep up during the run, but we had both seen that coming. She knew from the start that she would have a lot to keep up with and learn in a short period of time. Nevertheless, Rosie was there to help her keep an acceptable pace for the morning run.
We met again after breakfast in the training ground, where I could see her coming out of the female dorms with her own jerkin, boots, hose, and a training sword Pyle had provided for her. "You look amazing in black," I said playfully. She rolled her shoulder, briefly massaging the top of it. "It's just as heavy as the one I wore in the battle," she noted. "Sorry about that, they really don't get much lighter, at least not to my knowledge," I said, trying to soothe what ailed her. "It's alright. I'll just have to adapt to it like everything else," she said, shaking her head.
"Thoma! Meliss! Get over here already," my older brother shouted from behind a small group of other synners. Nenvalur and Pyle's additions to our forces rallied around him, Taegin, and Pyle. We scurried up to the group, working our way to the front. "I see a lot of new faces here, and I can honestly say that I'm grateful for those of us who have made it back here in one piece," the Master began. "While I understand that there are a lot of differing disciplines here, I believe it will benefit us as a whole to learn what we can from each other. With that said, I propose we have a few one on one duels to see where everyone stands with each other," he continued.
"Master Pyle, Bernar, and myself will be the judges of these duels, and while we won't allow for beat-downs entirely, we will be trying to pair senior synners and those of Nenvalur's former group with juniors to help us assess everyone's abilities. We do not know when the enemy will try to strike again, so we're going to do this as efficiently as possible," Taegin said, glancing at all the faces reacting to the news. I saw an opportunity to raise my hand, and immediately took it.
"What about Meliss, Master?" I asked. He smiled at her gently, and gestured for her to step beside them. "She will be learning the basics from Rosie, one of our seniors, under the instruction of Roburn and Thorn," he said as I watched the two of them step out of the small gathering and walk over to their side.
Oh shit! She's in for it, I thought.
"Good luck, and make sure to control your breathing when you're fighting," I whispered just before she walked off. "What's that supposed to mean?" she shot back. At that point, she was a little too far for me to continue speaking without interrupting the rest of the group during the remainder of the Master's speech.
Once the speech was over, we were split into multiple groups that were fairly balanced across the board. Many of Pyle's synners were to duel against our own, while Nevalur's augmentees dueled most of the seniors. "Looks like you two are stuck with me," Bernar said, pointing at both myself and Edryd. "Better the enemy you know than the one you don't, I guess," Ed replied, elbowing my side. I smiled, but I knew what was going to happen.
As the duels went on around us, I tried to focus on what Meliss was doing in her training. I could tell she was learning some basic forms and guards, while learning to use her body as best she could under Thorn's watchful eye. Roburn was teaching her some sword-casting pointers for when she would eventually begin casting, while Rosie acted as the enemy due to their similar strength.
Meanwhile, Ed and Bernar's duel had already come to a close, and I'd be lying if I said that I caught more than a few seconds of it. "You move… way… too… fast," Ed said, completely out of breath with my brother's sword at his neck. "You're still at the first stage, so it's understandable why you think I'm so fast," Bernar said playfully. "You weren't that fast when we dueled last time," Edryd said, finally catching his breath as my brother helped him to his feet. "That's because like Thoma, you need to unlock the second stage. You're experienced enough for it to begin appearing on its own, though I don't know why it hasn't yet," Bernar said pensively.
"I just don't think I've ever been in a position to need a constant flow of mana like Thoma did," Ed replied. "But you fought the addia," I interjected. "I did, but whatever power I had back then came from anger more than anything else," he explained. "Speaking of which, are you…?" Bernar started to say, but Ed held up his hand. "No, I'm fine," he said plaintively, walking off at a faster pace than normal.
The hell was all that about, anyway? Didn't Ren fix his core? I thought.
"Focus!" I heard at the last second, realizing my brother had already begun the duel, and that his sword was right in front of my face. I could feel the mana seeping into my muscles and bones, pulling me backwards and downwards away from the blade. "What the actual fuck?" I shouted. My brother, as was his prerogative, wasn't going to give me an answer nor make this easy. He swung again, nearly missing my waist this time, barely allowing me to draw my own sword. I parried a few of his incoming blows, but his speed was phenomenal.
Since having reached the second stage, my mana manipulation has allowed me to augment my body through mana. Right now, however, I felt like I was a river of molasses flowing in winter by comparison to my older brother. Regardless, I tried my best to attack from overhead, hoping to catch him off guard. His reaction speed was incredulous, as he managed to whirl his blade over his head just in time to deflect my blow. He nearly caught me off balance, were it not for the stone my foot met before touching the dirt beneath it.
I felt a strange sort of connection to the rock, and immediately understood how strong I could push off it without it causing me to lose my footing. As I pushed off, it apparently caught my brother off guard, since he wasn't expecting me to do that. His speed ramped up to match mine, and we traded a flurry of rapid blows, causing a minor dust cloud to form around us. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he taunted. "If you say so," I said with malicious intent, opening the floodgates of my mana.
I dashed in behind him in the same way that I had caught Irun off guard just a few weeks prior, but somehow this bastard kept up with me. "You think you can get me with that trick?" he asked without turning to face me entirely. I could only see the corner of his glowing eye peeking out from behind his cheekbone.
Well, I'm fucked, I thought.
Sure enough, I felt the solid steel pommel of his sword bash right into my solar plexus, causing me to lose my breath and, ultimately, taste dirt. "Hehe, I knew you would try to pull that one on me," Bernar said, extending his hand to lift me up from my writhing on the ground. "H-how did you…?" I asked through gasps of air. "What? You thought I wasn't keeping an eye on you during your fight with Irun? I saw you speed blitz him the same way you just tried to do to me, dipshit," he said, dusting my back off. "Yeah, I probably should've thought of that," I said, understanding my mistake. Note to self: Don't try that on him again, I thought.
"It's all well and good to have a trick up your sleeve, but it's almost pointless if your opponent already knows it. You're going to have to do better than that," he added. I nodded my agreement, as his voice rang out for the next person to step up to the plate.
Meanwhile, both masters had observed our duel, and made inaudible notes to each other. It sucks that I can't hear what they're saying, I thought. Even if I had activated my second stage, I wouldn't have been able to hear them. Either way, I noticed Pyle's hand gesturing me over to them. I trotted over, one hand still on my injured solar plexus, and greeted them accordingly.