[Chapter 14 - Fortiter et Fideliter : Bravely and Faithfully Pt.1]

After my arrival back to camp the storm continued to rage on through the night and into the morning. During the temporary vision from the flashes of lightning I could see how the trees seemed to bend at near right angles from the sheer ferocity of the winds as the colorful leaves were stripped away by the pelting rain. Luckily our camp was the permanent eye of the storm thanks to the barrier my mother erected. The camp was encased within an invisible dome that blocked the chaotic and harsh surroundings creating the unique feeling that I was in a snowglobe.

After stripping my soaked clothes I had stayed in my tent for the rest of the night buried in a pile of fur blankets. Next to my makeshift bed was a small metal trough filled with softly glowing coals that radiated a soft and soothing heat. While huddled next to it I closed my eyes listening to the scattered pops and cracks of thunder that echoed in the night.

Morning soon came and I emerged from my tent to a still steady flow of rain against the tent and my mother sitting next to a fire. As I approached her she extended her hand holding a wooden bowl filled with an oatmeal and spoon

"Good Morning" she said kindly

"Good morning" I replied, receiving the bowl and joining her near the heat of the fire as I began to eat my breakfast. After my second bite she spoke up

"With the flooding of the storm the river has not only rose significantly in height but in ferocity, thus I expect it will not be until next Tuesday that we are able to cross again."

"A full week?" I chimed in still chewing the food tucked in the side of my mouth. As I did I realized what I had done and paused staring as I waited to be reprimanded for etiquette, though to my surprise she simply nodded and continued

"Unfortunately so. With the boar meat and our other supplies we have no worry on food but it does limit your training. The storm should clear later in the day and when it does we will begin training your recovery and concentration, it will also simultaneously begin your physical training. Until then the time is yours" she smiled and stood up as she walked over to the hitching post. The horses were freely wandering within the camp munching on grass so the post had become a storage area for the saddles and other various things. Reaching to her saddle she stuck her hand inside a small pouch pulling out a clasped hand. Finishing my breakfast I sat the bowl down and watched her with a curious and locked gaze.

One by one she walked to the spots she had originally drawn the symbols, though now there was no trace of them, and placed a small stone. As soon as she did I recognized it to be the jagged red stone I spotted in the corpse of the goblin. With a blank expression, I stared at the stone. My mother began to speak as she did the same at the location of the other symbols.

"Though I may have made it look easy, Domain of Light is no simple skill. It not only relies on multiple skills but skills from different classes. Rune magic, which is what these symbols are, is special in that once the skill is used and the magic is cast the predetermined effect will last a set duration and nothing further is needed from the mage. The drawback is the skills often have high mana cost and short durations. The counter to this would be constantly re-imbuing the rune with magic which just means repeatedly using the skill but that is tedious and sometimes impractical. So instead we can use mana stones like these to serve as a battery that will add to the duration of the effect. It's not a perfect or indefinite solution but it's a good one for what it is."

As she finished speaking the last stone was placed. Under the stones soft light began to glow as the symbols reappeared. The red mana stones began to wobble slightly as their edges crumbled and withered away slowly until nothing was left. When they vanished the glow of the symbols began to fade and once again they disappeared without a trace.

After that time passed rather uneventfully as we waited out the rain. I spent most of it immersed in distant thought either with rereading my status and skills or dwelling on my training and how to control sphere. I noticed I gained a small amount of Exp since I had last checked, my conclusion was that it was a result of training yesterday, if you can even call it that.

Eventually the rain let up and small beams of sunlight began to break apart the sheet of gray clouds that covered the area. After adorning our equipment we started the small walk to the training grounds from yesterday. The grass was wet and had small areas with pooled up water scattered across but the stone structures seemed relatively unfazed, as did the golemns…

"To use sphere subconsciously the manipulation of mana needs to become an instinctive quality for you the same as eating and breathing. If you were running from arrows being shot at you would you be able to use and manipulate sphere?"

"No" I replied blatantly

"Why?"

"Because I would need to concentrate on controlling the mana. I doubt I would even be able to maintain the sphere let alone manipulate and direct it to what I want it to do and where I want it to go. And then there is the obvious fact I would have to use my wand"

"Would you be able to breathe?"

"What" I said in a confused voice

"Would you be able to breathe in that same scenario? If you were running from arrows would you be able to breathe?" she spoke as if it had been obvious the first time she asked

"Of course" I replied somewhat snarkily.

"Why is that?"

"Because I don't have to concentrate to breathe?" I began to raise my voice. " Inhaling and exhaling air doesn't feel the same as controlling mana" I was growing frustrated. My life has shifted for essentially the third time in the past few days and all I've gotten are confusing explanations, traumatic experiences and a mountain of pain. I was now full on shouting "I mean it's breathing! I don't even think about the fact I'm doing it most of the time!"

As my tongue snapped with the last word the understanding of what she was getting at crashed over me. I had been completely overthinking it. It wasn't that she was just making it sound as simple as breathing, it's that for her it actually was as simple as breathing. Over time you become desensitized to the feeling of mana the same as you do to the feeling of air constantly coming in and out of your body. After all mana is naturally stored in the body and skills are just conduits to release and control that as magic. My mind had become so encumbered that I had already forgotten one of the first and most basic things I learned. If my body and mind are able to treat that as second nature like breathing then…

With a reclaimed voice I looked at my mothers blank expression. "I'm sorry, I am ready to begin"

"Very good. Let us begin again"

I would soon find myself struggling to pull my body up the couple inch thick wooden pole I was dangling from. I was around 10 feet up and two thirds of the way to the top where I was told I would have to stand and balance along with the use of the parallel pole a foot away. Below me was a thick layer of mud around a couple feet in depth, aka my assumed failsafe should I fall. Once I reached the top I wobbly placed one foot atop each pole doing as best as I could to center them with the soles of my feet.

After finally steadying myself I looked out to see the golems once again sprung to life, this time forming a spaced circle around me each of them about 15 feet away with a large pile of stones beside them.

"Alright" my mother yelled at me. "These guys are gonna randomly huck rocks at ya. And you are either gonna counter those rocks with sphere or most likely end up eating a face of mud! 3 minute intervals…and begin!"

At the sound of her words I raised my hand and created a wand in a hurried panic. My haste had caused my balance to waver, putting me into a shaky attempt to steady myself. Holding out both arms as counterweights I regained my composure and lifted my wand to use my skill. With almost perfect synchronicity one of the golems had grabbed and pelted a stone. The difference was I had not yet even spoken sphere, but the stone had begun colliding with my thigh.

As I let out a winced yelp my balance disappeared and I went plummeting into the mud pool below creating a slap like sound that shot through the area as I hit. While spitting and coughing mud I grabbed one of the poles and pulled myself against it using it as an anchor. I wiped my eyes to see my mother standing at the edge with an unfazed expression.

"Well? Unless your gonna fly up there better get climbing"

I would normally assume my reaction would be anger or resentment to her comment. But instead I almost felt myself agreeing. Overcoming this wasn't just about necessity anymore. No, it was out of spite to not be bested in life again. Last time I couldn't do anything, I couldn't escape that hospital or even have a chance to fight.

As these thoughts filled my mind the searing pain in my leg began to fade as I gripped the pole and started to raise out of the mud and into the air. Not only was I weaker from having just done this but the mud added considerable weight. Though it felt like I was being pulled down I resisted and continued to reach the top again, and again, and again…