Chương 70: Chapter 7

Shaya breathed heavily as she simultaneously did push-ups and practiced her formula for bear's strength. Gently, she coaxed the Jade aether to grow and expand into the shape of her spell, successfully shaping the first rune of the spell that would enhance her torso's muscles and the glyph that maintained an open connection to her reserve of aether to maintain the spell.

That part was easy, and she closed the first rune's circle and moved onto the next, connecting the central formula to the first of four secondary formulae with a glyph that limited the amount of power that could travel to her right arm. Armstrong's Glorious Guide to Muscle Magic warned that failing to put the correct limits on any of those connections could result in one of her limbs overpowering her core strength, tearing apart the muscles of her limb—at best.

Memories of the book's descriptions of snapped spines from overpowered haymakers made Shaya shudder, causing her to become unbalanced. She paused at the height of her push-up, taking a moment to catch her breath and steady herself. Within her spirit, she wrapped up the first secondary formula and closed the circle, then looped her aether back to the first circle to start on the next part of the spell. She completed that one, and the third, but close to a minute into the spell, she began to lose control of her Jade.

The aether began to spill from her carefully laid formulae, creating extraneous connections that threatened to ruin her circuit. With an act of will, she pulled those tendrils back into the formulae and rushed to complete the final section. The Jade resisted her pressure, the aether spreading out as she tried to trace the last glyph and runic circle.

She felt the circuit grow skewed as her carefully laid connections were invaded by others and knew that if she channelled aether to bring the circuit alive now the spell would backfire and cause untold harm to her. She broke the connection instead, letting the Jade fade from her circuits with a sigh. Almost there, she assured herself. First second-tier spell nearly learned, you've got this. Just need to stay calm and move faster, but without the pressure that unravels your grasp on Jade aether.

Slow is smooth, she repeated her old mantra, smooth is fast. Looking down at her notebook, she added a new note to the top as she held herself up with one arm.

End of Week 6: Bear's Strength: 95% Wards (Aegis): 3 second cast time Wards (Circle): 10 second cast time Invigorate: 4 second cast time Summon Creature: 30 seconds Control Blood: 12 second cast time, medium efficiency Flamethrower: 2 second cast time, passable control Flameblast: 10 second cast time, poor control Fireball: 15 second cast time, poor control Practiced Runes: Light-forged armour, spirit weapon, barrier of light, ignore pain, and mend wounds"What are you doing?"

Bri asked, frowning at Shaya as she walked up to her in the courtyard between the towers of their apartment building. The area offered enough privacy that it served as their ad hoc exercise space, since the public gymnasium was often full of Azreon's goons.

"…Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Shaya said, looking up from her push-ups.

"Because we're worried you're working yourself into the ground?" Bri placed her fists on her hips with a scowl, looking ridiculous with her injured arm still in a cast.

"A likely story," Shaya said, giving up on her push-up and sitting back on her heels.

"You're just worried you might not be the only sexy giant woman on campus if I keep going like this." Bri cocked her head down at Shaya.

"You think I'm sexy?"

"Uh," Shaya forced back a blush, "hells yeah. Do you…not think that?"

"I don't know." Her friend averted her gaze, hiding her own blush.

"I think I'm fine, but I'm not exactly attracting a host of suitors here."

"Psht," Shaya snorted, "idiots, the lot of them."

"Yeah," Bri said, a wry expression on her face as she looked down at Shaya, "they are. And if you think you're catching up to me, you are very mistaken."

"Oh yeah?" Shaya said, raising her chin in defiance.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Look at your numbers," Bri said, kneeling next to Shaya and flipping her notebook to a different page.

"These aren't the numbers of someone with your physical ability." She stabbed a finger at Shaya's latest exercise notes.

"You grow bored of your exercises and give up instead of pushing yourself past your limits. You're barely sweating compared to Shep and I when we finish."

"Okay, okay," Shaya said, raising her hands in surrender.

"In my defence, repeating the same action again and again is pretty boring."

"Yet," Bri said, cocking an eyebrow at her friend, "you do it with your magic until nearly burning out routinely."

"Okay," she replied, stroking her chin, "fair point. Then…how can I make exercise more interesting? Or are my shifts at the forge combined with our classes enough?" Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"No way." Bri shook her head, almost disgusted by Shaya's suggestion.

"It just means we're going to have to customize your routine to avoid over-straining the arm you hammer with."

"Oh, I work with both. So, no worries there."

"You're ambidextrous?"

"Yep," Shaya replied.

"I don't flex it often but forging definitely pushes me past my limits otherwise. Sometimes, I think Auric forgets we're not golems and our bodies need actual breaks."

"Even easier then," Bri snorted, "we'll just go a bit lighter on your arms. As for making things more interesting, maybe you'll push yourself if we burn you out faster by doing more high-intensity exercises and adding some weights."

"That, uh, doesn't sound pleasant," Shaya said.

"What?" Bri grinned and shoved her with a shoulder.

"You think looking this good is easy?"

"Ugh," Shaya groaned, " you make it look easy. I guess I should've known you were a hard worker or something."

"Don't look too surprised." Bri narrowed her eyes as she spoke.

"You're not the only one with goals here."

"Nonsense," Shaya said, lifting her nose into their air, "the world revolves around me and my goals." Bri rolled her eyes.

"I might have to root for Una." Shaya gasped in mock offence.

"You traitor!"

"Someone's gotta pop that ego of yours before it gets too big," Bri said, rising to her feet and offering a hand to help Shaya up, "and it would look bad if I did it."

"I'm trying to do push-ups here." Shaya frowned at the offered hand.

"Nuh-uh," Bri said, insisting with her offered hand.

"You need to recover from the magical healing like the rest of us."

"But I have to prepare for my duel with Una in a few days," Shaya complained.

"I want to be in peak form."

"Then you should've taken your exercising more seriously months ago," Bri said.

"That's the problem: it takes months for it to make a meaningful difference, you can't just wait to do it right before you need it. And working out while you're injured isn't going to make you stronger either."

"Fiiine," Shaya said, finally taking her friend's offered hand and standing up, "what do you suggest we do?"

"We plan," Bri said, "for when we're fully recovered. We've got some time to kill before Foundations, should be plenty to figure it out."

"What are you thinking?"

"Well…" Bri drawled, "now that Azreon seems to be out of the picture, I think we should move our workouts to the gymnasium. They have some interesting equipment there to do different exercises and weighted gear. It will burn you out faster, which will hopefully make you give your all to the workouts moving forward." Shaya thought it over and nodded.

"I'm down to give it a shot. With Azreon gone, this week has been pretty…peaceful for me, all things considered. I'm already making better progress in class because fewer people are distracting me."

"Perfect!" Bri said.

"The healers said they can finish healing up my arm before the weekend and I should be good to use it a few days later. We'll have to start with leg day." Bri paused while Shaya groaned.

"But we can shift to other muscle groups after."

"I can't wait," Shaya smiled through gritted teeth, "it sounds like making progress will be so much fun." Note to self, she thought, find a way to abuse Jade magic to grow stronger, faster. Bri laughed.

"I can't wait to have this damn cast off, I'm just happy that Auric's been focusing on lectures and light activities in Foundations. What do you think we'll be covering in class today?"

"Battling monsters, but I'm actually skipping Foundations," Shaya said, patting the air gently as Bri looked at her with surprise.

"I got permission from Auric. I'll need you and Ral to take notes for me, since I'll be meeting with Rea."

"That's awesome!" Bri grinned.

"I'm sure she'll agree to help you out!" +++++"No," Rea said, sitting at her desk.

"Oh, thank you so mu—wait, what?" Shaya stuttered, aghast. Rea's office was huge by Shaya's standards, each wall covered floor to ceiling in wooden shelves laden with books and even scrolls. Most of the books were paper and bound in normal leather, but Shaya suspected some of them were bound in stranger materials, perhaps even including… human skin? She shuddered as she thought about where Rea might have acquired those books. Her desk was covered in more books.

One lay open in front of her, turned to one of the tome's central pages that depicted the anatomy of a half-bull, half-human rage demon in gruesome detail. The book's notes were written in a language Shaya couldn't understand, but small arrows pointed to areas on the body she assumed were weak points—joints, ligaments, arteries, and one specific organ that looked like a sac of bile. In sharp contrast to that, two stacks of books sat on the other side of her desk.

A glance at their spines suggested they might all be the absolute worst, or at least cheesiest, romance "literature" the Empire had to offer. Love on the Battlefield, On the Lips of a Goddess, and more… graphic titles that made Shaya blush even at a glance.

"I said no," Rea explained, smiling in amusement at Shaya's wandering eyes and blushing face.

"Yes," Shaya muttered.

"I got that part… but why?"

"Because I am first and foremost a professor at this academy, Shaya," she explained, "and you are already mentored to Auric and working almost full-time at his forge now. You're bright, but you're also behind where I'd like you to be in my classes. What you're asking for is another time commitment which you can't afford."

"But!" Shaya gasped.

"I—I need your help to control this! I need to control it for Intro to Pyromancy! I can't think of anyone else!"

"You've controlled your anger just fine, for the most part, your entire life," Rea said.

"Why do you feel the need to delve into this 'issue' right now?"

"Because it's worse here than it's ever been," Shaya explained, desperate.

"I've never had more practice in keeping my anger in check, but… but every time I come close to slipping—or gods forbid, slip like I did on deployment—I put others around me at risk. There are rumours that the rage has driven some of my people to kill close friends and I've seen first-hand that it's impossible to tell friend from foe for someone gripped by it." Rea's three eyes bored into her, her third eye sitting in her forehead unblinking.

"There's more to it that you're not telling me." She paused.

"That you're not telling yourself, perhaps. Is your anger changing, somehow?"

"I…I'm not sure," Shaya admitted.

"I think the rage feels different, sometimes. Like… it's more my own than something else." Rea nodded, leaning back in her chair and crossing her long legs languidly.

"Can you explain the difference between an invoker and a binder to me? Particularly their relationship with their esper."