After calling an end to our mock fights, the instructor speaks. "I am honestly rather worried that many of you will not survive tomorrow. Your skills are very lacking at best and non-existent at worse. I recommend that you begin practicing [now] and not stop until we leave for training tomorrow morning. Otherwise, many of your deaths are imminent. And, just as a warning, do not expect me to step in and save you tomorrow. While you will be able to work as a group if you must, you cannot be in the habit of expecting powerful soldiers to descend from on high to rescue you from your own incompetence. Whatever your fate may be tomorrow, you are expected to meet here at 6:00 A.M.; this takes precedence over your other training assignments. Dismissed."
[Heh. What a useless instructor, condemning his students to die simply through not teaching them.]
Jorgenson turns to me. "Should I expect to see you at dinner?"
"Unless my master calls, you can count on it."
With that I head to my aforementioned master, or at least the class that he teaches. I note that the swordsmanship training, if it can even be called that, has ended early again. [He must really hate being an instructor, considering that he has taught us nearly nothing in two days, and that even then he could not bear to keep us for the whole time. In fact, this degree of displayed incompetence must make one wonder how he acquired such an important position.]
I get to master Lector's class before his previous class has ended. I stand at the edge of the area of flattened grass that he is using as a training field, holding a bit apart from his other students. From there, I observe his teaching.
"I said to summon a fireball the size of a pebble, not the size of a stone! Learn to control your output better!"
"This is ridiculous! A pebble is hardly an objective form of measurement! How am I to follow instructions when what is a stone to you is a pebble to me!"
"Bah! Two inches in diameter is hardly a pebble by any reasonable standards!"
"Eh… fine. Fair enough. I rest my case."
Sir Lector merely snorts in response as his insolent student returns to the crowd of students.
"Hmph. Overall, the majority of you are not adequately capable of controlling output. In the elemental manipulation branch of magic, and even in the mana manipulation branch, for that matter, output is everything. While straight magic will guarantee a satisfactory result so long as it is executed correctly, the key to elemental manipulation is to maintain perfect control over the element as you manipulate it to do your bidding. Only then can you use elemental magic for anything more than slinging elemental spheres and imbuing weapons. For example, watch."
He then summons a large amount of fire that he then compacts into a sword so condensed that it looks almost solid.
"As you are all probably aware, the biggest downside with fire as opposed to the other primary elements is that it is poor at making quick and clean cuts. Yet, through mastery of manipulation, even this great detriment can be alleviated."
He then uses what I can only assume to be metal manipulation, a popular branch of the primary method of earth manipulation, to draw up a metal block from the ground. I notice a bead of sweat gather on his brow, from which I deduce that this probably isn't a very easy undertaking. Once enough metal particles are removed from the ground and added to the cube, he wastes no time to swing down the blade. I, and most likely the other cadets as well, expect the blade to melt through the metal block, perhaps rather quickly. So it comes as a surprise when the blade cuts keenly through, eliciting several gasps of awe.
"There are actually two instances of exquisite elemental manipulation to be observed here. First, is that my blade cut through a block of metal - note, cut, not melted. Secondly, believe it or not, that cube of metal was not at all formed. I gathered up infinitesimally small metal particles from the earth to construct a perfect cube of metal. Being able to due one of these, not to mention both, takes a great degree of control more than anything else. With elemental manipulation, it is rather easy to make a massive elemental ball; it is far more difficult to shape and condense those elements into something more useful. Think over that, and perhaps practice your precision tonight. You are dismissed."
After his class has departed I walk over to him. "What an impressive display of expertise. Truly the most magnificent manipulation of elements that I have seen in my life."
"Ha ha ha, my young apprentice, to be truthful, elemental manipulation is where my expertise lies. While most mages who are capable of doing so employ almost exclusively straight magic while looking down on practitioners of elemental manipulation, I find that to be unbearably foolish. Straight magic, though at first much more complicated, lacks the depth of skill that can be found in elemental magic. While most take advantage of elemental manipulation at only the most basic level, I prefer to explore its depths and cultivate my skill in its many intricacies. While there may be many wizards in this kingdom superior to me, there are few who could beat me in shere elemental manipulation expertise."
"Well, in that case, I am certainly glad to have you as my master."
By this point, much of the class has begun to arrive.
"Excuse me," my master says, before taking his place at the head of the class.
Once the class has fully gathered, their silent trepidation standing in stark contrast to their demeanor yesterday, Sir Lector addresses us. "Welcome back. I expect you to show the proper attitudes today, in hopes that we may not have a repeat of yesterday. Understood?"
"Yes sir!" a chorus erupts from the gathered soldiers.
"Good. Today we will be practicing elemental manipulation. Control, precision, output… elemental manipulation has far more depth than most realize. Hear me, and hear me clearly: elemental manipulation is by no means inherently weaker than straight magic. While straight magic can technically accomplish a wider range of things, for it to do so the user would have to memorize, perfect, and perhaps even create a nearly endless variety of spells. On the other hand, elemental manipulation is extremely versatile. While at first seeming simple, it can be mastered to accomplish nearly anything that a straight magic spell could. As an example, I will have one of you name a straight magic spell and I will recreate its purpose through the use of elemental manipulation. You, there, name a spell." He points at a soldier, who, based on his clothing, is one of the wealthier ones.
Looking terrified to even open his mouth, he responds "Um… dispel magic?"
"Ha ha ha! Almost too easy! Will one of you volunteer to attack me?"
Seeing that no one else is willing, and figuring that he is unlikely to kill me, I volunteer. "I'll volunteer for it, master," to which he nods in response.
Amid some questioning whispers of the word 'master,' I step forward.
"How would you like me to attack you?"
"Just use whatever method with which you are most capable. In your case, a wind blade, perhaps? Though, again, any method will work."
Deciding to try to catch him off guard by ignoring his advice, I launch a ball of fire at him. Before it even travels a foot in his direction, it fades away as though it was never there, leaving only a lingering wave of heat.
I expect the soldiers to be at least a bit impressed with Sir Lector, but from their mutterings it seems as though they think something strange has been arranged due to the master-servant relationship that they have only just heard about.
Eventually, one of them speaks up: "This is only a trick! Obviously he just canceled his magic in midair."
"No, no, there is no trick here. By dispersing the fire elemental particles through my own manipulation, the ball was destroyed."
"If that is possible, then why would any elementalists duel? If they can merely take control of each other's spells, why bother?"
"Well, you see, the mage who casts the spell has far more control over the particles initially than the disperser. To easily disperse the elemental attack, one must be much more skilled in elemental manipulation than the attacker. Furthermore, dispersal is far more difficult when the attack has been compressed, which is incidentally what we will practice today. My new apprentice also did not use his primary element, which made dispersal far easier."
The student replies "That still doesn't prove that there was no collusion between you two! And besides how did a slave become an apprentice to such an accomplished wizard? Did you two truly meet only yesterday?"
"I grow tired of your incessant complaints, but, still, I will answer them. Yes, I encountered him for the first time only yesterday. As for why I took him as an apprentice, well, he had certain attributes and qualifications for which I was searching. And if you really do not trust in my power, the power of elemental manipulation, feel free to test it. I give you permission to use any spell you want on me."
"Very well then! Charm person!"
So far as I see, nothing happens. However, the student, who was once haughty, is now shocked.
"I was rather expecting you to be able to brush off my spell, as it is weak against the strong-willed… however, instead you accepted it and crushed it. How did you do that? What elemental techniques did you use?"
"Well, as I'm sure some of you are aware, there is a very rare and hard to manipulate emotion element that can only be observed with a highly leveled 'magic sensory' skill. Using it, I crushed the straight magic technique 'charm person.' Of course, if my attacker was more powerful than this weak student, he could have used a stronger variant of the spell, which would have been harder to defeat. Furthermore, there has to be enough of the emotion elemental particles around; so long as there are people around, this should be assured.
Still, I hope that this demonstration helped disprove the commonly held notion that elemental manipulation is inherently inferior to straight magic. This belief causes mages to not focus on improving their elemental manipulation skills as they ought.
Now that the theory regarding the relative uselessness of elemental manipulation has been disproven, let us begin. Each of you, summon a sphere of your strongest element."
We do as commanded, and a variety of differently colored elements are formed. The most popular are of course water, wind, earth, and fire, but there are a few people who form rarer elements, like metal or ice. I briefly wonder why wind has such a vibrant green color, but I quickly decide that I have no real way of knowing so I move on.
Once everyone has done as commanded, Lector commands us "Now concentrate your elements. Imagine the elemental particles coming closer and closer together, compressed in towards a single point at the center of the ball."
We do as commanded, or at least try. I imagine the air elemental particles that I have summoned moving in towards each other. I am abruptly met with a strong force resisting their conjoinment, but I push past it. Eventually I realize that the amount of material that I'm working with is too large, so I expel most of the wind into the air, leaving myself with a small fraction of the original amount. Once I am working with a smaller amount it becomes much easier, though still far from actually being easy.
Slowly (and certainly not surely) the particles are forced together in a fight that feels like making two strong magnets stay together. I am forced to dispel more wind particles three separate times, but eventually the particles have been compacted to the size of a marble. At this point I recognize that I will not be able to compact it any further with my current power.
Holding the marble together, I glance around to see that only a few other people have compacted their elements as tightly as mine. Another few seem to have had some success, and one is left with a glaringly bright fireball about half the size of my wind marble, though whether he did that by using less material to construct it or by compacting it tighter, I am not sure.
As for the rest of the soldiers, well, they are a bit of a mess. Random elemental blasts are flying everywhere as they lose control over their elements, forcing Sir Lector to keep dispelling them.
Eventually ten soldiers manage to compress their element to some degree while the others give up. Having held my element compressed for nearly ten minutes, sweat drips down my face from the indescribable exertion. 'Indescribable' I say, for none of my physical body is technically being exerted yet the exertion is more physical than mental. If I had to describe it, I would liken it to an invisible muscle that I didn't know that I had, being used strenuously.
Eventually, seeing that no more soldiers are likely to succeed, he calls for us to stop unless we have already formed a compressed ball in which case we should hold it. He then gathers up the two pieces of the block of metal he bisected at the end of the previous class and tells us to direct our attacks at them.
Grateful to be rid of this burden, I throw it at the nearer chunk. I expect it to merely scratch the surface, so I am surprised when it drills a hole about a half inch deep into it. The other successful soldiers follow suit, launching their attacks. The water attacks likewise drill into the block, while the earth attacks dent it and the fire attack melts a notable amount off the surface. The metal attack splits apart in the air, pelting the metal block with many tiny holes. The ice attack, which lands last, coats the entire block and the ground around it in an inch of snow.
Many 'oohs' and 'ahhs' can be heard emanating from the soldiers, evidently quite impressed by the degree of damage the attacks had each done to a solid metal cube.
"As you can see, even those new to the concept of elemental compression can greatly increase the power of their attacks through employing this method. In fact, elemental compression can do more than merely increase output on impact. Note how the most compressed of the fire attacks actually bored a hole into the metal, something that no ball of flame no matter its power would usually be capable of. Through compaction, the fireball took on some attributes of solidity, giving it the potential to bore, not just to melt."