“Thank Aether for that,” a snide voice chimed in from behind them.
“I will not abide disruptions in my class, even when the class isn’t in session,” the magus said sternly, staring at the newcomer.
“My apologies, Magus,” the man replied. “I’ll do my best to follow your instructions. I should sit in the back to keep the fringer smell from affecting me.”
Gregory had turned to look at the novice who was now smirking at him. Voices and footsteps announced the arrival of the other students, stopping the tension from devolving further.
“Come in, find a seat. We start promptly at the sixth bell,” the magus said archly.
Novices kept showing up in small groups, right up until the sixth bell. The moment the sixth chime sounded, the magus gestured at the doors and they slammed shut right behind the last novice.
“Tardiness upsets me, and that is not a good thing,” she said sternly. “Welcome to economics. I’m Magus Marcia Han, and I will be your instructor for the year. This class is to teach you how economics work so you may better defend the empire against all manner of threat. Failure to complete this course satisfactorily will result in ineligibility for certain posts in the empire, but you aren’t mandated to stay. You may leave the class at any time, and even miss it entirely to better focus on other avenues, if you wish. Any questions?”
“Magus?”
“Go ahead,” she motioned at the novice who had spoken.
“From your name, can we assume you are with the Han Merchant Exchange?”
“I am, and those who excel in this class could find themselves recruited by them or by other merchant groups serving the empire. Now, let us begin. We begin with the vela, and how this currency came to dominate the empire.”
For the next two hours, Magus Han went over things Gregory had already learned from his time in the archive, but he was attentive and took notes of the small differences between what the magus told them and what he had read. Yukiko did not take any notes, but she did answer three questions put forth by the magus. That brought her to the attention of the other novices who had not seen her during the last week.
When class was dismissed, Gregory and Yukiko were one of the last groups out of the room. They had walked the routes to each class numerous times before, so they used some of the shorter paths they had found and ended up being among the first few into the next classroom. Sitting in the third row, they had a good view of the blackboard and the severe-looking man in an emerald kimono.
“Wasn’t he at breakfast, too?” Yukiko whispered to Gregory.
“Yes,” Gregory said. “I think the four we saw were our instructors.”
When the eighth bell rang, the instructor started talking, not caring that the doors were left wide open. “I’m Adept Thomas Martin, and I’m your instructor in history. Why are we teaching you history, some of you might ask? The answer is simple; those who don’t know the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Now—” He cut off suddenly, his gaze narrowing at the door. “You are late, Novice. Come up here!” The last three words held an edge that made Gregory’s eyes narrow.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the novice apologized and hurried to the front.
“You are late and disrupted my lesson,” Thomas stated, his lip curling in displeasure. “You will complete an essay exploring why angering your instructor is an unwise decision, and you will hand it in tomorrow. Failure to do so will get you removed from this class. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the novice bowed, then hurried to a table at the back of the room.
“Where was I?” Thomas sighed. “Oh, yes. None of you are required to be here. History is for those who wish to learn. You may leave the class at any time, but if you do, you’ll never be allowed back in. Same goes if you fail an assignment from me. Failure to complete this course means that some postings in the empire will be denied to you. Any questions?” After a pause, Thomas smiled, “Good. Let us start at the very beginning, with Emperor Toja. Not as the Divine Emperor we all know today, but when he was simply War Leader Toja.”
Gregory was quick to put his things away when class ended. Like economics, the class covered things he read over a week ago, so the only notes he had taken were the parts where Thomas discussed points that historians had contentious views on.
Gregory was almost jogging as he and Yukiko made their way to the next class. Yukiko giggled, “The next class isn’t going anywhere, Greg.”
“I know, but this will be new information,” Greg said, but slowed his pace. “I’m hoping that maybe something will shed light on what my magic is.”
“I understand,” Yukiko said, touching his arm. “I’m excited about hearing more about shadow magic.”
Grins in place, the two of them walked quickly to their next class.
Chapter Nineteen
Gregory approached the class area more slowly, since this class was held outdoors, near one of the walls. The patio had twenty tables set up in a long arc facing an open area. Setting out paper, ink, and pen, he looked at the teacher questioningly. The plain-looking man in the emerald kimono sat in a lotus position on a small stool, eyes closed and breathing slowly.
“I guess the magus who was reading is going to be our conditioning instructor,” Gregory whispered to Yukiko.
“I believe this teacher must follow the spirit path,” Yukiko whispered back.
“I do indeed,” the meditating man replied, his voice as plain as the rest of him. “We will cover that when class begins.”
Exchanging a glance, the pair stopped talking and made sure they were ready. The other tables filled rapidly as it got closer to the tenth bell. A minute later, the chiming of the academy bell began, and the teacher unfolded his legs, got to his feet, and stretched. Looking at the group, his eyes barely touched any of them. With a nod, he stepped farther back, so he was in the sun and not in the shade.
The moment the bells stopped chiming, he addressed the class, “Welcome to aether introduction. I’m Adept John Dunn, your teacher.” His voice was nearly monotone as he spoke. “During the course of this year, I will introduce you to the three paths, as well as the known magics. This will involve a number of guests. Be respectful to them, as they are magi who have been in your place before. We are also lucky in that, at some point, we will get to see an unknown magic.”
Hushed conversations sprang up at John’s bombshell. He let them talk for a minute before he clapped his hands and everyone fell silent.
“Today, we will be focusing on the body path,” John said. “We will discuss the different viewpoints of the path, both for and against it. We will also have a guest show you the basics of how to start on that path.”
“Sir,” one of the novices raised their hand and waited for John to acknowledge them. “Is it true that some can follow more than a single path?”
“The number of magi who have managed that is less than the number of novices in this class. No one, except maybe the Divine Emperor himself, has ever followed all three paths. Find the path you think best suits you and follow it. After you are comfortable with it, then and only then, should you think about attempting to start another path. Just be aware that you are all but doomed to fail.”
Gregory’s aether churned and flared briefly at John’s words. Gregory frowned, wondering why it was acting up, but it subsided back to its base default state after a few seconds.
“I want you all to welcome Proctor Samantha Bishop. She has graciously agreed to be here as we speak of the body path.” John’s monotone voice had an edge of respect as he bowed to Bishop, who stepped past the novices and into the sun.
“Novices, I know many of you are wondering about the body path,” Bishop said without preamble. “It is the most widely followed path in the empire. The reasons for this are that the body path will sculpt your body to be the best it can be, and it will help your aether integrate into your whole body.”
“Is it only the body path that spreads aether throughout your body?” one of
the novices asked.
“All paths will let you use aether throughout your body, but the body path makes it easier, faster, and makes it painless.”
“Aether is the flame inside each magi,” John continued. “If any of you tried to imbue a kick with aether right now, that flame could possibly damage your body. If you follow the body path, channels designed for aether will spread out through you.”
“Doesn’t that make it the best path?” another novice asked.
“Not at all,” John replied. “The body path won’t let aether augment your mind. Those who follow the mind path find that they can process information faster, and follow multiple threads at the same time without loss of understanding. That path is more useful to those who need to multitask. We will cover that more when we speak of the mind path.”
“What about the spirit path?” another novice asked.
For a fleeting moment, a smile appeared on John’s lips before vanishing. “It is unique, and is looked down on by those that follow the other paths. Again, we will cover it more in time. Today, we focus on the body path. Bishop,” John bowed to her and stepped back again.
“The body path is a favorite for those who have physical enhancement magic, as the two dovetail nicely,” Bishop said. “I myself am a user of that magic, and a follower of the body path. How many here are blessed with physical enhancement magic?” Six hands rose, and Bishop smiled. “You are the spears of the empire. Now, I know some of you are wondering how the body path really affects the body.”
Most of the class nodded in agreement.
“Very well. I need a volunteer.” Her eyes locked on to Gregory. “Novice, step out here, please.”
Gregory felt dread start to build in his chest, but did as he was told. He stood next to her and waited. Yukiko smiled encouragingly at him.
“Now, strip,” Bishop said as she began to pull off her own clothing, “just down to your small clothes.”
Gregory blinked, staring at Bishop in confusion as she dropped her bag and sword. “Umm, Proctor?”
“What? Are you too shy for even that, Novice? I can ask your tablemate instead.”
Setting his jaw, Gregory glanced at Yukiko, who had turned red. He began to take off the kimono.
“Don’t gawk. The point is what the body path does, and that is all,” Bishop said firmly, glaring at one or two novices who were smirking at her. They quickly stopped smirking when they saw the promise of pain in her eyes.
Once they were both in their underwear, Bishop began to speak again, “I was roughly the same size and shape as your peer, but I grew out of that by the end of the year. Raise your arms, Novice.”
Gregory did as he was told, his face blank, his jaw set, and he kept his eyes off the others although he could hear their whispers when they saw the scarring on his left arm.
“As you can see, there is a lack of muscle definition. Now, look at my arms,” Bishop raised her arms in the exact same way. “Do you see the definition of muscle, class? Now curl your arm, Novice.”
Bishop led them muscle by muscle through the difference between their bodies. Gregory got a good look at Bishop, doing his best to keep his mind calm. Bishop in her underwear looked like she had been sculpted by a master crafter. Every movement left her flexing and shifting muscles on clear display. The scars she had crisscrossing her body were stark reminders of a hard life.
Once she was done, she picked up her clothing and began to dress. “You’re free to cover up again, Novice.”
Gregory dressed as quickly as he could before returning to his seat. He could feel the amusement of the others in class, along with the pity a few of them directed at him for his spindly frame. Taking a seat, he closed his eyes and tried to block out the embarrassment.
“Thank you, Greg,” Yukiko whispered, “for sparing me.”
Gregory nodded, “Welcome.” Opening his eyes, he locked them onto Bishop, now fully dressed.
“That is the most obvious benefit to the body path,” she said. “There are degrees to how much your individual bodies will change. Not only are my muscles as perfect as they can be, my aether is in conjunction with them, as well. I will demonstrate a simple punch, with and without aether. Adept, do you have the display ready?”
“I do, Proctor,” John said, bringing out a set of targets.
“The first target is one-inch thick wooden squares,” Bishop said. “We have ten of them here.” Standing above the stacked boards, Bishop focused on them. Breathing in and out steadily, she exploded into motion, her hand coming down square in the middle. The sound of breaking wood filled the silence, and the stack of boards fell away, all of them broken cleanly. “That was without aether,” Bishop said before stepping over to the stone blocks stacked thirty high. “This is with aether.”
The novices were silent as they watched her with breathless expectation.
Bishop breathed deeply again, and as she brought her hand over the stones, it was engulfed in blue flame. The flame deepened in color and blazed brighter. With no warning, she drove her arm down into the stone. The sound of stone shattering made everyone lean forward to see what had happened.
Stepping away from the broken bricks, Bishop flexed her hand. “Thirty stone blocks in a single blow. There is little difference between those stones and the walls you see around most cities. Now, for the last point, and this is for those of you with the same magic I have.”
John brought out a training dummy made entirely out of metal. Wheeling it in front of Bishop on a cart, he unloaded it with a groan. “Here you are, Proctor.”
Standing next to the dummy, she looked at the class. “A trained magi with physical enhancement can do amazing things, but most of it is geared toward combat. This is a dummy from the training hall— it survives even with adepts beating on it. That shouldn’t be a surprise, because it is thirty inches of solid steel.”
The class was dead silent as Bishop squared up to the target. Her breathing relaxed into the same deep pattern as before, and blue flame covered her arm from fingers to shoulder. With a sharp exhale, she drove her fist into the dummy. Stepping back, she turned it so they could see the hole punched clean through.
“That is what you can do if you reach the magus tier,” Bishop said. “Sorry for the trouble, Adept.”
“It leaves an impression,” John said.
A number of snickers echoed through the class.
“I hate that joke,” Bishop sighed. “Anyway, onto the basic training of the body path. Everyone, get up and move over here. This won’t prejudice your path, so don’t worry.”
Over the next hour, Bishop ran the entire class through a basic stretching routine generally used for the body path. A few in the class felt their aether become more active, but most did not.
“Stop. Return to your seats,” Bishop commanded. “Any questions before the class ends?”
“Are you seeing anyone?” one of the novices asked. His easy going smile and good looks made him seem like a playboy.
“I only date men,” Bishop said firmly, shutting him down. “Anyone with an actual question?”
“Why would you recommend the body path over the others?”
“Good,” Bishop gave the novice a smile. “Most of you will face combat; that is a given. Out of all paths, body is the most geared for combat. I would rather you all survive for many long years.”
“If not body, would you have gone with mind?”
“I’m not sure,” Bishop said. “Those who have physical enhancement magic would be foolish to take any other path. If I absolutely had to… maybe mind. I know a few mind path magi who can hold off multiple opponents.”
“Class is done for today,” John said. “You have a break before conditioning. I will see you tomorrow.” He stopped talking, and the twelfth bell began to toll.
Chapter Twenty
“Novice, a word,” Proctor Bishop said as Gregory gathered his things. Yukiko stepped to the side to wait for him.
“How may I help you this time,
Proctor?”
“Do you know why I picked you?” Bishop asked.
“Because we had the same body type,” Gregory recited what she had told the class.
“I could have picked any of the women in class as easily.”
Gregory sighed, “Because besides them, I’m the thinnest, least muscled person in the class. It spared any of the women from baring their bodies to the rest of the class.”
“Exactly. Most of them won’t see it, but your friend with you does. Do you still think of your friend Delarosa?”
Gregory blinked. He was at a loss when he realized he had not been thinking of her nearly as often as he thought he would. “Occasionally,” he said after a moment.
“A word of advice; relationships between magi and non-magi don’t work out well due to the difference in our lifespans,” Bishop replied, a sad smile on her lips. “You don’t have to forget her, but you need to accept that fact.”
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