Okay.
Focus.
I dragged in a long, heavy breath, trying to calm my nerves.
I’ve been trying to do this for an hour now, with little success.
But I’ll get it this time.
I just… had to… focus… I felt it with my mana and reopened my eyes to look at the rock.
It floated up, smooth.
My control over it remained perfect.
And I shot it forward, towards the target.
It thudded a touch off-center of the red bullseye.
Dang it… We were at the training field.
A few other adventurers milled about, sparring, practicing techniques on dummies, or shooting at targets.
I was in front of one of those targets, practicing aiming with my telekinesis.
Nearby, Rey was at a dummy, also training.
I sighed, and pulled the rock back to me, using the very last of my mana.
I would have to wait a bit for my mana to regenerate.
Still.
I was getting the hang of controlling one target.
I had to start working on controlling two objects at once.
I sighed.
Magic sure was a lot of work.
Once I could control around ten objects at once with perfect ease, I’ll have mastered telekinesis.
Although, from what I heard, this spell could go a lot further, and some mages use it almost exclusively.
To control weapons, the environment, combining it with elemental powers.
The world of magic was a world of creativity.
You were only constrained by your mana and the spells you can invent.
But creating custom spells wasn’t a thing until tier five.
I still had a long way to go, but I’m not sure if telekinesis was my favorite spell.
It was taking me so much longer to master it than mana arrow, even though they’re supposed to be the same level of difficulty.
But I’ll get it eventually.
If it was easy, everyone would be a mage.
I glanced over to Rey, to see him running through his footwork drills, making the same motions over and over again so they become ingrained into his body.
Stepping lightly on the balls of his feet, moving swiftly with no wasted movement.
He’s gotten a lot faster over the winter… He came to a stop, breathing hard.
He sat on the ground, grabbing the waterskin at his waist.
I trotted over and sat next to him as he guzzled the water.
He finished up and turned towards me.
“Out of mana?” I nodded.
“I’ll break for ten minutes, to get it filled up again.
I’m getting better with telekinesis though.
How about you?” He groaned, leaning back.
“I think I’m making progress.
It’s kind of hard to tell without a teacher to guide me.
But I’m a lot… smoother?
I think?
Most of it is second nature by now.” Hmmm.
I glanced over at the target and the rock I used for practice.
I could really use some guidance too.
“Should we post a quest at the guild?” “Huh?
Why would we do that?” He frowned at me.
“I’ve been struggling a lot with telekinesis.
And you need some guidance with your training.
So, I was thinking we could post a quest for some more experienced adventurers to give us a lesson and some guidance.” It felt like we were both hitting a wall.
Some direction would certainly be welcome.
He considered that for a moment before nodding.
“Yeah, I see what you mean.
But how much would it cost?
Could we even afford it?” That I didn’t know.
“We have about one and a half gold, right?
We can ask the receptionist about pricing.
Hopefully that’ll be enough to tempt someone.” That one and a half gold was the culmination of all our efforts so far.
Six months of adventuring, training, and supporting ourselves went into it.
Now we were only one month away from my birthday… “Let’s ask when we stop by the guild later.
But for now, we need to get back to training.” I groaned as he pushed up and resumed his stance against the training dummy.
Time to practice his techniques.
I should get back at it too.
I had enough to throw the stone a few dozen more times.
Thank goodness for my mana restoration rate.
I got back up and took my stance from far away, but I felt the back of my neck prickle.
I turned to see who was looking at me.
Over there.
At the entrance to the field, a well-dressed man was speaking to the guards.
He had a nice suit, even a top hat, with a fine pocket watch.
He wasn’t the sort of person you typically see at a training field like this.
He was certainly well-off, if not noble.
He was either noble, or a very wealthy merchant.
Was he noble?
Why was he here?
I shook my head, and tried to ignore him as I refocused on the rock.
Pick it up.
Bring it back to me.
And throw it.
Tighten my mana efficiency.
I had to be as efficient as possible to make the most of my mana for training.
I couldn’t just drink potions to restore my mana, so I had to constantly be aware of how much I was using.
The prickle on the back of my neck didn’t fade for a while… The receptionist sighed, looking at our little pile of silver.
“I’m sorry.
While it’s feasible to get a swordsmanship instructor with silver, getting a magic instructor just isn’t possible.
Most mages are nobility, so anything less than ten gold wouldn’t tempt them.” Crap.
We were back in the adventurer’s guild, inquiring about posting a quest for instructors.
The guild was bustling, as always, and the neat receptionist’s face pinched as she delivered the bad news to us.
I looked at the silver and sighed.
“How much for a swordsmanship instructor then?” “But Kat, what about you?” Rey reached his hand out to mine, concerned.
“You heard the receptionist; we just don’t have enough for me.
You might as well get trained.” It was what it was.
We didn’t have enough for a magic instructor.
The receptionist looked down at the silvers.
“Let’s see, for a dual-wielding rapier specialist… do you have a specific rank you want them to be?” Rey shrugged.
“Not really.
I’m an E-rank, so, above that?” “Well, in that case you’ll probably be able to find one fairly easily.
For eighty silvers, you can get four one-hour lessons with a B-rank.
Or eight one-hour lessons with a C-rank.
Two weeks’ worth of lessons with a D-rank, a month for F.
It could also get you two lessons with an A-rank, but I’m not sure we have any rapier specialist A-ranks in the city right now.” Wow.
We had a lot of options.
Rey furrowed his brow, thinking.
“Can you post it for A-rank for now?
Just to see if anyone answers it?” Huh?
“Rey, are you sure?” He nodded.
“It’s not just about the amount of instruction, it’s the quality.
The more experience someone has, the more insights they have to share.
A lesson with an A-rank is more valuable because you learn more from them than with more lessons from lesser ranks.
I don’t need someone to watch over my training, I need someone to evaluate where I’m at, give me guidance, and show me more training methods so I can move forward.
So, any help from an A-rank would be invaluable.” The receptionist nodded.
“Well said.
I’ll post the job for A-rank, but it may take a while for someone to answer.
Is that okay?” Rey nodded.
“If I’m going to be taught, I want to be taught right.
We’re going to be in the capital for a while yet, so we can wait for someone to respond.” The receptionist swept the money off the counter.
“Alright, I’ll post the quest, and send copies to every guild here in the city.
Can I get your details to put on the quest?” She got Rey’s name, and the time and place for the lessons, during our regular training hours at the southern training field.
Once she received the details of the quest, she made up the paper for it and posted it to the quest board.
We thanked her, and left, heading towards the plaza for dinner.
I tried to subtly glance at Rey, worried, until he finally sighed.
I guess I wasn’t being as subtle as I thought.
He looked over at me, his eyes flat.
“Kat, it’s fine.” “But… only two lessons?” “Kat, I just need to be pointed in the right direction.
After that, I can get there on my own.
Anna and Bella have laid a good foundation for me.
To move forward, I just need to know how to keep training and getting stronger.
Even just a brief evaluation and advice will be enough.” Well… as long as he was sure.
Eighty silvers for only two lessons seemed like a rip-off to me.
But it was his choice.
“Who’s cooking tonight?” “Uh… the Archons.” We both grimaced.
That group were not very good cooks…