by Chris Vines
After I finished gathering, I went downstairs to find the reading lesson had not quite started yet. Not seeing Jamila, I sat down at the back of the group and tried not to fall asleep again. She came into the room with a couple of other students. Brett and Bridget came in behind her and headed over to the group. Jamila broke into a big smile and came over to join me. As she sat down, her face turned serious and she lightly smacked my arm. “I was not sure you were going to come. I had heard what happened. Do not do that again, you worried me.”
“Sorry. I’m feeling better now, and should be back to full health tomorrow. Shall we begin?” I whispered back, hands up in a placating gesture, before indicating the book I had gotten from the instructor. She nodded and we went through the book. Over the course of the next hour, I was intensely surprised. She had learned nearly the entire book. “You are learning incredibly fast,” I commented as we finished up.
“I opened a meridian that connected to my head and it has given me a nearly perfect memory. Counselor Sojka said I was lucky since that meridian is very useful. Though she did say that most of the benefits come after opening and it does not get much better as you grow in strength.” She said as she stood up.
“Neat. Um, did you find another pavilion in the Grotto? I didn’t see you earlier.” I asked.
“Yes! I found a place that is right next to a small pond, with Watercress and Frozen Lilies growing around it. It is beautiful and full of Water, Wood, and Ice Aether. The area where you were gathering is too high in Fire and Lightning for me. Should be perfect for you though.”
“That’s good. I need to explore the Grotto more. Maybe you could show me the area you’ve found?” I asked nervously.
“I would be happy to. Good night, Aiden, see you tomorrow!” She said as she walked through the entryway into the girls’ side of the building. Runes glared at me from the door frame. Huh, I guess they enforce the no opposite gender in the rooms with magic. That’s awesome! I thought as I turned to go back to my room. I was excited; I had gotten Jamila to agree to show me around, so I get to spend more time with her. Also, I was excited for tomorrow, with the first explanation of channeling techniques, now that we had the major meridians open.
Even with my excitement, I still slept like a log, only to awaken with the sun. Focusing on myself, I looked into my center and traced my meridians. Thankfully, the damage that had been evident yesterday was now nearly gone. Should be healed up by tomorrow! I thought. I grabbed my towel and went to take a shower. After the morning rituals, I went to get breakfast. I’m starving! I thought. I wonder if my calorie needs have increased this much permanently, or if they will decrease once I’ve reached equilibrium with all my meridians opening. Ooh, today’s Ice day! Intro Alchemy! I can’t wait.
Breakfast was delicious, as always. It was eggs from Elemental Fowl and bacon from Aniyu Elk, both with Ice Affinity. The days of the week determine the affinity of the food we are served. Why did it take me four days to figure this out? I wondered, smacking myself on the forehead. The Aether from the meal refreshed me a bit, but nowhere near as much as the first day did. Well duh, my Affinity with Wood, Water, and Ice was Low, so I won’t get much benefit from those. Tomorrow will be much better for me.
I mentioned my findings to Jon at the table, and he looked at me questioningly. “Really?” He asked, “How can you tell?”
“Can’t you see the color of the Aether when you eat it?” I asked.
“You can? That’s amazing! No, I can’t tell at all. No wonder this tasted so much better than yesterday’s.” He exclaimed back, after which he went up for thirds. After Jon finished his meal, we got up and left for class. Everyone was in a hurry to get to the first class on channeling. As we reached the class building, I noticed Bridget and Lucas leaving the doorway.
“Hey. We’ve got class down on the training fields today. Let’s go find Counselor Sila and see what techniques he will teach us!” Bridget exclaimed as she got close. Shouts of agreement sounded out as everyone turned to follow her. Shortly after that, we were all jogging to where we saw Counselor Sila, full of excitement. This was why many people had joined, and I just couldn’t get past how cool doing actual magic was going to be. I wonder what we are going to cover first.
Just before we got to our class location, Counselor Sojka called out my name. I turned back towards her as she walked up. “Good, I caught you. Come here, let me look over you,” she said as she reached out and took my arm. A pulsing wave of Aether flowed through me, looking almost like radar. “Hmm, much more healed than I expected. That is unexpected, but good. Did Counselor Sila give you anything yesterday?” She asked. I showed her the Meridian Cleanser pills, at which she nodded.
“Good. Based on your condition, I think three more pills should be plenty. You can try to give the other four back, but I doubt he will take them. If you keep them, wait to take them until you reach the Smoke stage of Aether Gathering. They will be more beneficial then, as impurities in your meridians will make reaching Compression much harder. You are cleared to attend class. I will check on you in three days. Good day.” She dropped my arm and turned to walk towards another group, calling out another student’s name. Well, at least I wasn’t the only idiot to need to get inspected by the healer this morning.
“Greetings class, good to see that you all in such fine spirits. Come, gather around and we will discuss what we are going to be doing today.” Counselor Sila said as we approached him. The group of us formed a semi-circle facing him and the small chalkboard he had brought out. “Today we will be learning a method of channeling Aether through your leg meridians to increase your running speed. Often being able to run faster and longer can make the difference between getting to a town in time to stop a Beast horde, or arriving after it is destroyed. Also, at your level being able to run away from danger is eminently useful. Now look,” he said as he gestured to the chalkboard.
On the board he had drawn an outline of a person with the leg meridians. Then he drew an arrow pointing into the right leg. “First you need to push as much Aether as you can into the right leg, as the leg is hitting the ground. Some will be absorbed, while the rest will flow on through, then, as it reaches your center, you must use the same Aether and push it into the left leg. Continue this cycle for as many rotations as you can, and make this rune in your center as the Aether flows back and forth.” He drew what looked like two Greek Chi’s next to each other. “Without the rune, this will increase your speed slightly, but the rune changes the Aether’s effects to enable faster movement. Now, watch. First I will run without Aether, then I will cycle it without the Rune, then I will use the Rune as well.”
He started jogging to the side of the PT field. After about twenty seconds, he suddenly increased in speed by twenty percent or so. This was about as fast as many of us could run, so it wasn’t too surprising. However, I noticed that his pacing didn’t seem to change; just every step took him farther. After another thirty seconds, his speed tripled from the second stage. He’s running faster than Usain Bolt could! And this is a low level technique that we can all use. I wonder how fast he is able to move?! Counselor Sila came back, looking none the worse for wear. “Now you can see the difference. I was just jogging lightly and was able to move that quickly due to the effects of Aether and Runes. Any questions right now?”
I took the opportunity, “Sir, how fast can you run with full Aether support?”
“Well, if I’m just running, I can probably make it to the capital and back in an hour, though the soldiers tasked with patrolling the road don’t like it when people run that quickly.” He said, and everyone gasped. The capital was nearly a hundred miles away. He could run around two hundred miles an hour! Holy snikeys! I thought, amazed. “Of course, if I needed to get there quickly, I would use my flying disk and get there in ten minutes.”
A gasp of “Flying” came from several mouths. Wow, they have flying magical artifacts. I want one! “Any other questions, related to this channeling technique?
No, okay, everyone get started. We will be watching to help correct any mistakes,” Counselor Sila said as he gestured to the PT field. The Mentors guided us to start running in a line, so that we weren’t in anybody else’s way. I tried to focus on my center while running, and ended up tripping. Up and down the line, many people were tripping or stumbling. Apparently, they were having the same issues I was.
Standing back up, I centered myself, falling into that focused state that brought my body into high resolution. In this state, I opened my eyes. The first time I did this, I lost the centered state immediately. After a couple of tries, I was able to stay centered while watching the world. I tried to step forward, and my leg barely responded. I ended up on the floor again.
Over to my right, I saw Mentor Lo coaching Jon through what I was trying to do. Ming, Anberlin, Lucas, and Brett were all running up the field. Anberlin looked like her legs were on fire, while a swirl of Air surrounded Ming. I don’t think they are using the method we were just taught. I thought. Probably have techniques that they were taught by their Clans. I’ve got a long way to go to catch up. Well, no time to dawdle.
I got up and focused again, feeling my body move as I did so. I was able to start walking while holding the centered state. After a couple of minutes pacing, I started jogging. Again I focused on just holding the centered state, moving back and forth across a small part of the fields, watching the Aether and blood flowing through my body. This is amazing. I can see my form as I run. Wow, I really need to improve my running form. Okay, now I need to push the Aether into my right leg, and move it to the left after it circulates through.
I waited until I had just pushed off with my left leg, and then flooded my right leg meridian with Aether. The sudden jump in strength caused me to fall over to the left. I rolled a couple of times, and ended up at Counselor Sila’s feet. One of Nicky’s lackeys laughed at me, before tripping themselves. Serves him right. “Good start. A little less Aether to start with, I think, would allow you to get used to the strength increase. Keep going,” Counselor Sila told me.
By the end of the lesson, I had managed to get the Aether timing down, and could now use the technique without the rune. Counselor Sila admonished all of us to continue to work on the technique, and to gather enough Aether to replace what we used. “Continue to gather as much as you can. Once you have opened all the meridians that you were instructed to, you need to focus on moving to the next level of Aether Gathering. By the end of the first six months here, you all should be able to attain the Smoke Aether level and be ready to start Aether Compression. Towards that end, tomorrow we will work on a technique for gathering Aether. I will see you all after lunch for your introduction to Alchemy. Good day.”
The class bowed to him in response, with most of us covered in sweat. Then I turned towards the Meditation Grotto and began to jog off, continuing to work on keeping a constant cycle of Aether streaming through my legs. I reached my pavilion quickly and took some time to stretch out. Afterward, I sat down and began to gather. Wow, I’m really low on Aether. So I can only sustain a small increase in speed for twenty-ish minutes right now.
Gathering after using up most of my Aether always made me feel like I had a sinkhole in my center. The Aether around me would be sucked inward, pulling into my center to fill the hole. I gathered for an hour, filling myself back to where I was before class and even a little beyond. Slowly making progress towards Mist. I wonder how fast everyone else is progressing. Adding more Aether beyond my current max to my center takes so much longer than just filling it back up. As I stood and stretched after I finished, I saw the Zarorzel watching me. This evening, I’ll bring some fruit or something for it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Before lunch, I hurried to take a shower and change. Lunch proceeded normally, with almost everyone talking about the new technique. After lunch, everyone headed to the alchemy building rather than the classroom building. The alchemy building was in the far southwest corner of the Academy, with a fairly large open space around it. “The gap between buildings is in case the Alchemy building explodes,” Lo Ming informed the group we were walking with.
“Is that really a danger?” Jon asked.
“Not really. Especially not for us. I doubt we’ll be allowed to experiment with new formulas. Generally, the only danger for us is bad smells and ruining ingredients.” He said back, grinning. Jon and a few other people relaxed at that. I was excited as we were getting to learn magic chemistry. I wonder how much of what I studied before will apply. Probably almost nothing. Though I hope something does. I thought as we entered the building.
Inside the building was a long hallway and stairs that led up to another floor. Counselor Sila’s name was written on the third door to the right, so we filed into that room to see Counselor Sila and Mentors Granjer and Bonde standing in front of a number of tables. Each table had a mortar and pestle, a couple of knives, a small brazier with a pan on top, and some glass bottles on it.
“Everyone come in, partner up, and find a seat.” I smacked Jon’s shoulder and walked to a seat in the front row.
“Good. Today we are going to start with a description of what Alchemy is, why it is important, and we shall perform a simple powder creation. In front of you are the tools of the beginner Alchemist. Alchemy is the art and science of distilling medicinal and Aetheric properties from plants, animals, and minerals. Alchemists use these properties to create medicines that heal injuries, cure disease, and enhance the gathering base of consumers.”
“This last use of Alchemical products is the main product line because most people will require Alchemical assistance to open meridians, cleanse their inner selves, and to condense Aether into a liquid or crystal for the next two stages. Alchemy provides the ability for people to catch up to Elemental and Primordial Beasts so that we are able to form civilizations and defend ourselves. ”
“There are three major types of Alchemical products. The first and easiest to create are powders. An Alchemical powder is a combination of two or more herbal products that are blended, ground up, and dried in such a way as to encourage the medicinal properties to be brought out. The resulting powder is either added to a drink or sprinkled on a person to use these properties. The second is a potion, which includes the powder from before with additional products in liquid form. These allow for the distillation of the medicinal properties to a more concentrated level while reducing the impurities that can occur during powder making. Finally, potions can be condensed into a pill, which has more impurities but lasts for significantly longer than a potion does. Pills are stronger than potions and powders as well. Each step requires significant Aether and technique to prevent the loss of ingredients or the inclusion of extra hindering impurities.”
Most of the students were hanging on his words, with some excited by the prospect of creating pills to heal while others just wanted to get stronger. He spent the next couple of minutes describing various powders, potions, and pills, such as the Meridian Cleanser pill he gave me, a Bloodstop powder used to close cuts and encourage healing, or the Aether Flame potion which could be taken only once to increase one’s Fire Affinity. The latter potion surprised many. It wasn’t widely known that Alchemy could increase Affinity. “Of course Alchemy can increase Affinity. It can also increase talent, even beyond what the test showed. It is possible to open any meridian; it just requires extremely rare and expensive materials to open those you are not naturally inclined to. Those ingredients are one reason we teach everyone Herbology, so that you will recognize important plants to harvest.”
“Now we will try to create our first powder. This is a simple powder that increases gathering speed by a small amount. In the cabinet below your table, you will find a jug of spring water, a Goldenflame Lily, a Frozen Lilac, an Earthen Groundvine, and a Shocking Lotus. The Goldenflame Lily has Fire and Metal Affinity, Frozen Lilac Water and Ice, Earthen Groundvine has Wood and Earth, and the Shocking Lotus has Air and Lightning. Take out the jug and all four ingredi
ents. You can make the powder one of two ways. The easiest, and weakest, is to take the ingredient that matches your highest Affinity and balance it with its opposite. You will cut one third of the flower of each, boil them in the water, and grind the result into a paste which will be dried. This is a Simple Flower Gathering Powder.
“Additionally, you can try to combine all four ingredients to make the Complete Flower Gathering Powder. This is harder as the proportions of Aether from each must be exactly equal, or the result will do nothing but give you a sour stomach. Exactness is incredibly important in Alchemy. While this powder has little downsides, some medicines will instead turn into poisons if made improperly. You may choose which powder you wish to create. There should be enough of the ingredients for each person to make several powders. If you run out, come up front to get more. You may begin.”