Chapter 3: Beaten But Not BrokenOn my day off, I spent my m swimming in the ke that fed the showers at camp. We ran by the ke on one of our longer runs. I had made sure it table before I headed up to the ke, and one of my trainers firmed I would not be killed for swimming up there. There was a watchtower up there, and the two guards said I should just remain on the banks u, and I would be fine. The st thing I wanted was to be executed f to escape.
I was sitting on the bank, admiring my leaner and fitter body, when one of the mages came down to the bank with a fishing pole. Looking up, I noticed it was Damian. He had healed me many times, usually charged my transtion amulet, and helped me with the nguage. We started talking while he fished, and I asked him more questions about magic.
“Damian, what is the differeween a spell form and actual magibsp; I asked while he cast over and over, something akin to fly fishing.
He was very patient with me as he expined, “In order to cast a spell, a mage has to el aether into a strubsp; structs e in three forms. They be a physical device with an embedded spell form like the amulet you are wearing, or they be imprinted permaly onto a person’s aether core, although each affinity on a person’s core only accept one suscription. But what really defines a true mage is the st method. Being able to create a spell form in the air usiher manipution and manual dexterity. However, the spell form is created; once you have it, you only o el aether into it to gee the spell’s effebsp; Give me your transtion amulet, Eryk.”
I removed the devid ha to him while he put down his fishing pole. He proceeded to disassemble the device, showing six stacked disside. Each disc was prised of plex runes. He assembled the device, orienting the dis a tab, charged it, and ha bae. He tinued, “You see how difficult it would be to write out all six sets of runes, maintain their forms, and then el aether to cast the prehension spell.”
“Yes. I could maybe write one from memory if I studied it for a while, but all six?” I responded with a nereciation of mages.
“There are some simpler spells with only three yers, but it is not just writing them with aether in the air. You have to do it fast enough that they do not dissipate ahem all oriented correctly. Even if someone had a strong affinity, only one in a thousand of those people trol their aether and truly cast spells. Mages are highly valued throughout the world.” he sighed. “I am not a true mage. All my spells are spell forms permaly imprinted on my aether core.”
“ anyone add spell forms onto their core to cast spells?” I inquired hopefully.
“Yes and no. It is not too difficult, as it is mostly i and will, and having a visual representation of runes also helps. But you do o have a strong enough affinity with the magibsp; Generally, you need a score of at least ten in the affinity to imprint a spell form on your aether core successfully. Less than that, it is extremely unon.” He picked up his pole and tio fish.
After a while, I asked, “So people generally don’t have affinities over 10?”
He looked over at me curiously. “Usually, everyone is tested when they are fifteen. Do they not do that where you are from?”
I remained calm and responded, “No, it is reserved just for the nobility.”
He nodded in uanding. “A waste. You never know where the great mage might e from. But everyone always has some affinity for at least one of the magibsp; It is usually small; aween five and six is normal. Sedary affinities are usually half of the primary.” He sidered for a moment. “If you have never beeed, maybe your primary affinity is strong enough to create a spell form on your core. If you wish, I try to obtain an affinity assessment stone when it passes through. They are expensive and usually only found iies.”
“I would appreciate that, Damian,” I replied with a hopeful smile.
He nodded and cast again. “I am actually quite well-versed in the process. I ot create spell forms in the air, but have seven different spell forms inscribed on my core.” He held up his fio demonstrate, and a steady fme appeared on it. “This is my fire affinity spell form. I only have eight affinity with fire, so this was all I could ma. Still, it is useful in lighting fires.” He smiled triumphantly.
His smile fell. “Your affinities were spad time?” I nodded. “Do not get your hopes up. They are rare magics, which usually means lower strength of the attribute.”
“How strong is your healing affinity?” I asked.
He smiled at my curiosity. “Generally, it is impolite to ask a person their affinity strength, but my healing affinity is 54. It is my sed stro affinity. My spell form heal another person’s flesh, ans, and bones.” Damian was one of the best healers in the camp, and I had been administered to him many a time.
I pressed hopefully, “ you teach me some basic aether shaping exercises? I have a potential of eight in shaping and would like to improve.”
Damian frowned. “I thought your shaping was something like that. In order to create spell form and cast spells like a true mage, it is sidered a requirement to have a minimum score of forty iher shaping. My own score is twenty-seven after years of practice, and my potential is only slightly higher. I spent years trying to learn spells and failed.”
Seeing my downcast expressioried to cheer me up. “You might still be able to create a spell form, Eryk. I will see about borrowing a tablet if it passes through. And I will also teach you the two basic exercises for aether shaping.”
We spent the wo hours as a teacher and student. The two exercises were focused on visualization aation. Once you could feel the aether, you could manipute it with your mind in your body. It was te in the day when we finished, and I thanked him aurned for dinner since I had missed lunch while I was out swimming. I po double up on my calories.
I kept my routine over the hree weeks. Eventually, I could mahe feeling of my aether in my core with the exercises Damian had imparted. It was difficult aally taxing, and my trol was crude, like kneading a dough ball in my core. My mental exhaustion didn’t help me during m fitraining the following day, so I o temper my magical aspirations.
The wave of testing on us, and I was very curious to see my results.
Physical
Mental
Magical
Strength
(+3/+0)
40/79
Intellect
(+1/+0)
26/54
Aether Pool
(+1/+0)
9/21
Power
(+2/+0)
38/82
Reasoning
(+3/+0)
38/59
eling
(+2/+0)
5/55
Quiess
(+2/+0)
23/49
Perception
(+1/+0)
49/60
Aether Shaping
(+3/+0)
4/8
Dexterity
(+2/+0)
20/55
Insight
(+6/+0)
26/49
Aether Tolerance
(+1/+0)
20/50
Endurance
(+3/+0)
50/87
Resilience
(+2/+0)
43/71
Aether Resistance
(+0/+0)
3/19
stitution
(+4/+0)
28/65
Empathy
(+0/+0)
9/21
Prime Aether Affinity
Space
Coordination
(+2/+0)
31/61
Fortitude
(+1/+0)
38/88
Minor Aether Affinity
Time
The tester raised his eyebrows while writing down my ats in the log. I again sneaked a peak at my magic stats and saw a great improvement. My goal was to be able to charge my amulet by myself. I could now unicate in the on tohout the amulet, but my vocabury was still limited. It appeared the nguage was derived from Latin, but I was not a linguist. I found out the amulet cost 20 gold even though it was extremely old. It would not be going with me when I graduated, so I needed a good grasp of the nguage before then. Six more soldiers were cut after the tablet readings by Sis, bringing our o 68.
Testing did not go as well as I had hoped. I finished 23rd in sword ranking, 30th in sword and shield, 25th in dagger, and 7th in hand-to-hand. We were also tested on spearmanship for the first time, and I finished 3rd. All of the practice with the staff and Helena had greatly helped. Helena was the only woma in the barracks; the other woman had been cut at tablet testing. Now Helena was stantly harassed. She was not in danger of getting raped because if she was, the man would have beeed the day, but she did have to deal with stant “requests.”
I would have helped her, but I was outnumbered and didn’t want the small cliques of men to focus their attention on me. Some men had taken to sharing in each other’s pany at night, without a willing resent. That was not my preference, and I hoped maybe after I graduated, I could find a woman. I used the interaining to keep myself distracted.
For finishing 3rd in the spear petition, I was awarded an essenbsp; The awards were announced after three more men were dismissed, bringing our o 65. I was worried as I was called to y essenbsp; In the office of ander Sis, I was asked, “Which physical attribute do you seek?”
I thought about my shortings in bat. My lower speed and agility were what e the most during practibsp; So, I o choose quiess, dexterity, or coordination. My gging stat was dexterity, so I decided on that to increase my accuracy with my bde. “Dexterity,” I responded after thinking. ander Sis thought my indecision was amusing and handed me the tiny faintly glowing yellow pearl—maybe closer to a marble’s size.
Seeing my fusion, the ander said, “Just swallow it; savor it if you want. The first time is always the best.”
I went outside and examihe ball for a long time. I imagined what kind of power was tained within and how much potential was stored in the small item. If I wao remain, I his reward to make a differen my bat skills. I swallowed and trated ily on it as it dissolved aered my stomabsp; I focused on the electric shocks in my veins and hat caused my muscles to twitch for a few minutes. When it ended, I did not feel any different. I didn’t know if I should have expected more, but I definitely didn’t transform into a hulking warrior.
We had a day off, and I hoped to meet the mage Damian again at the ke shore, but he never came to fish. I spent the hree weeks bag off my magic training aing more rest to foy on skills. I couldn’t afford to slide down in the rankings a cut. The threat of beio the regur army kept me motivated. After being at the camp for 12 weeks, I went fidently to the tablet testing for the first time. I knew I had made ground on some of the others and was looking forward to oing after the tablet.
Physical
Mental
Magical
Strength
(+2/+0)
42/79
Intellect
(+0/+0)
26/54
Aether Pool
(+1/+0)
9/22
Power
(+1/+0)
39/82
Reasoning
(+0/+0)
38/59
eling
(+2/+0)
7/55
Quiess
(+1/+0)
24/49
Perception
(+0/+0)
49/60
Aether Shaping
(+0/+0)
4/8
Dexterity
(+4/+1)
24/56
Insight
(+1/+0)
27/49
Aether Tolerance
(+0/+0)
20/50
Endurance
(+1/+0)
51/87
Resilience
(+0/+0)
43/71
Aether Resistance
(+0/+0)
3/19
stitution
(+2/+0)
30/65
Empathy
(+0/+0)
9/21
Prime Aether Affinity
Space
Coordination
(+3/+0)
34/61
Fortitude
(+2/+0)
40/89
Minor Aether Affinity
Time
I was happy to see my dexterity improve by 4 points, and my dexterity potential even increased by one point. The tester rec my data paused whe to my dexterity. He looked at my past reading and today’s reading a few times before tinuing to y stats to my records, just shrugging.
My physical attributes had improved signifitly, so I looked forward to the ranking bat. I wasn’t surprised my magic barely improved. I usually just pyed with mana while I was taking a shit now, having given up on my hopes of being a mage. Also, the nightly sessions caused fatigue the day, affeg my training. That day, I didn’t pay attention to people being pulled out, but noticed only 58 beds in the barracks were filled wheuro prepare for the sword ranking portion of the testing. With our numbers reduced, the testing was only going to take two days this time.
I finished 15th in sword ranking, 19th in sword and shield, 22nd in the dagger, and 5th in hand-to-hand. It was mostly thanks to my improved accurabsp; Having trained with the same people for so long, I caught them off guard. We were also tested in the polearm for the first time, and I finished 11th.
After getting noticeable results, I wished I had earned another essence, but I didn’t. If we had tested on the spear, I would have had a shot, but there were just too many men ahead of me in the hierarchy of the other ons. Only the bottom two soldiers were cut after oing this time, leaving 56 of us. Helena was still with us, aill practiced in the evenings. She didn’t like to talk, but I think she liked my panionship—aing on me.
So after 12 weeks of the 29-week training cycle, almost half of our number had been eliminated. Helena hadn’t been cut but was he bottom of the results. I talked to her about it, and she wasn’t ed. “Female legionnaires are rarer than horns on a horse. If I made it this far, I will probably make it a assigo special duty guarding a minor female ed to a Duke or t.” It was more words than she had spoken in a week, and it was all I got out of her.
We had another off day, and I ran into Damian fishing. I initiated a versation. “Damian, do you knoe are eliminated based on our results?”
He sidered what to say. “The ander decides based oablet testing. Sometimes it is the lowest summed physical attributes, but not always. He talks with the trainers and removes men he feels will not be good legionaries. If you are not w hard, then you are at risk,” he advised.
“How am I perf?” I asked hesitantly.
Damian thought for a moment. “You work hard, but of the men, you are 25th or 26th in the summed physical stat pool rankings. At least three weeks ago, I think that was where you ranked.”
My heart thudded. If only thirty men graduated, I was close to the bottom of the hierarchy in my physical performanbsp; Damian added, “The ander leans heavily on the oing, Eryk. If you are iop twenty for sword and shield, you will be safe from the tablet cuts the following tablet testing. The meo the capital to join the Royal Legion patrol the city and fight primarily with the sword and shield, so I think that is why he stresses it.” That alleviated some of my s as I had det skill with a sword now and had just finished 19th in the sword and shield ranking.
Damian added, “The instructor and ander were actually discussing you the other day, Eryk. You made a sizable jump in your skill sihe st testing.” I nodded, realizing a lot of that had to do with the essence I ed. It had giveter trol of my bde. I could see why essences were so valuable.
Damiauro his fishing, thinking I was done asking questions. He caught two det-sized fish while I rexed in the cool air uhe shade of a tree.
I came up with some more questions. I rarely had this opportunity, and my fellow soldiers were mostly ignorant. They were also assholes, for the most part. It wasn’t like a normal army where camaraderie was the goal. This legion training seemed to be about improving and outdoing your fellow soldiers. I asked Damian, “What are typical gaiween readings for people?”
He looked ptive and said, “Between 10 and 14 is normal after the first three weeks, then 6 to 10 each of the followiing periods.” I sidered I was doing all right then. I might have even moved up faster than most of the others. I had probably improved by 13 or 14 points in this st period alone.
Damian caught a third fish and started pag up. He said, “I heard they pn to send your cohort on a little adventure. There have been soblin attacks at a vilge a hundred miles from here, and the ander decided you all could use the ge of sery. Yoing out on a little training patrol.” With that, he smiled, turned, ao cook his fish.
