Start of a differente routine, Part 6

—Got something in mind? — The elf asked, turning to Chiaisei. She had been very focused on the sparring that was just taking place. Far more than she had been during mine sets, at the very least. 

—Not much. While we were still in my training, Fasnilthar had also swept through me without a loss during this type of match as well. I was simply curious if that pattern would repeat here. 

—No reason why it wouldn't. Experience aside, you're smart enough to know your hand and understand those of others to an extent. Maybe the situation was heavily biased, but it still remains these two would never match evenly so long as ranged combat was the category. And though there are some tens of fyetrij between them, any difference in effective range can be turned into an advantage, if used correctly. Otherwise, a spear's reach would be completely irrelevant in a battle between mages, seeing how short it is in reach even when compared to short ranged magic. That difference likely didn't matter when it was with the two of you, and would have been far less relevant regardless. Moving at top speed for an infuser means abandoning a major part of our defensive ability, but to a wind caster it is simply a matter of redirecting it briefly. Evasion is your biggest defensive tool, besides. Your tools are far better at dealing with someone like Fasnilthar, so if dismantling them completely is something she can easily do, it's logical to assume that simpler tasks are already something she has dominion over. — Nalfimiria explained, making the situation feel clearer in a way. In a sense, it also made a pair of feats I wouldn't think of compatible seem far more even than I would have guessed. 

—I suppose making sense of that is easy enough, putting it that way. Who is the outlier in this situation, though? I suspect it is her, still it would be best to hear it for sure. 

—Oh, the question is much harder than you make it sound, though. If the norm is this group's humans, the outlier is Fasnilthar in this regard. But in the whole human population? All of you would be classified that way. The blue haired idiot is just specially talented when it comes to fighting, though I wouldn't call any of you average to begin with. It's just that her abilities are currently beyond your age group, even taking into account that you're all gifted with magic. — Nalfimiria interrupted her explanation briefly while taking a sip of her drink and conjuring a small board as if to imitate the training ring before us. I couldn't view it well, yet it probably was either created to help explain matters or to show off. 

—Think of the sparring we've seen. She basically fought through the situation flawlessly, for over 15 rounds in a row. If that doesn't count as exceptional, I don't know what would. Though of course, boiling it down to talent would simplify things a little too much. Dedication and humility also played a role to make this one as successful as she is, as well as a well focused training. But if it helps it with understanding this matter, just think of her skill with combat as compatible with that of a blessed child. She still obeys most of the norms regarding age when it comes to magical skill, just develops the practical skill connected to it about as quickly as a human being could. — Her explanation made me more interested in seeing Fasnilthar continue fighting, though it wouldn't be happening immediately. 

"Still, I wonder how I would match up against her, based on how she is being described. The match up should be much better than it would be for Sowanar, at the very least, but… It still would seem Chiaisei might hold plenty of advantages, and she herself has never been able to match Fasnilthar. It would be tough, but it could be a helpful way of practicing against her type of fighter as well." I considered, having finished listening to them while glancing at the talk happening between Sowanar and the woman I had been thinking of. 

All the while, it seemed like the sparring partners had been done with their conversation. Fasnilthar moved over to our side of the yard while Sowanar prepared to move Finarkzir's perch a little, at the eagle's request. Initially upon reaching the three of us around the table, Fasnilthar simply spoke to the other two, though eventually her attention fell on me as well. She sounded like her usual by that point, with her mostly consistent smile and way of talking. As she was during the fighting, there was a focused air about the way she looked at others, as if she was constantly seeking to observe completely the one in front of her. 

There still was a hint to Fasnilthar's smile through the protective mask she wore, but similarly it gave a different impression. As if the challenge in front of her had been engaging, and that sensation brought her satisfaction as a boon. In a sense, it wasn't as if her person had entirely changed from the ending of the sparring, yet seeing what I had been imagining was her normal made me more aware of this contrast. I didn't think such a difference existed whenever I took a blade, though I imagined this simply was a result of the incompatibility with what her normal behavior was and what was needed of a warrior during a match. 

While pondering these matters, I noticed that the subject of my thinking had been staring at me for some time. It looked like something was on her mind, and uncontent with allowing it to remain that way, Fasnilthar started poking at my head, against my best efforts not to acknowledge her. Unsure how to best respond, or even what was going through her head, I spent another second or two trying to ignore her, to see if anything would change. Though ultimately, after some more moments passed I determined a test of patience would be unproductive, just as well as unnecessary, really. Thus, while trying not to break away from my concentrating posture, I focused my glance upon her, as she had taken to sitting next to my own chair, between the position Chiaisei and Nalfimiria had been occupying. 

—What are you doing? 

—Poking you. — She answered while continuing on. 

—I noticed. Why? — That she didn't skip to explaining or speaking more at that moment exactly felt a little irritating. 

—You seemed reaaaally thoughtful for a moment there, so I got curious. What's up? 

—Nothing. Is that answer enough? — I said while hoping she would leave the topic at that. From my experience with her, engaging in conversation with Fasnilthar always carried the risk she didn't plan on stopping anytime soon. Hence, I decided it was best to keep interactions short with her, unless they felt necessary. She greeted my reply with a soft punch to the side of my arm. 

—Nope! You're horrible at this. Even the bird would give more in response. 

—Truly? Try to talk to her, then. Would spare us both the effort. — This awarded me a slightly harder punch to the same spot. Her precision with the blows was impressive. 

—Maybe, but… You're done recharging? — She asked. If I had annoyed her before the punch, the tone of her voice didn't betray as much after she went through with it. 

—Yes. Why? 

—You kept the same pose even after being done. It was harder to judge, so I wanted to check. What's that for? 

—Standing still and thinking calms the mind and helps with concentrating… It's a good mindset to keep during training and before it. You should try it at times. — Already knowing how her questionings worked, I imagined that simply offering the first half of the explanation would have granted me a different question. 

—Hmmmmm… Nope, I don't think I would be very good at that. A cool head comes naturally when I'm enhancing my mind, anyways. Still, what's after the recharge? — Hearing her, I recalled our prior conversations. Namely, what had been proposed after the first sets of sparing. 

—Defensive practice, as you proposed, right? 

—Yup. You can't really expect me to just keep plopping down barriers without anything to block against, right? So get up. Since you just loooove to talk about training, this should be good. Help us put the target in place as well, 'kay? Else I'ma use you for target practice one of these days, alrighty? — The threat aside, after saying as much she signaled for me to follow her. We headed to the house's armory, from which we removed a sturdy set of dummies, likely ones meant to handle some amount of spell casting. After carrying it there she also suggested marking different spots for points in it, but the rest decided against it since it would have been a useless metric in this context. 

We then took the time to organize the rules and space for this exercise for this specific ruleset. It was a far more sport-like method of training, in some ways, so we were separated into teams. The defender was Fasnilthar, as the one with ability for group and ranged barrier conjuring. The attackers were divided into two groups. The first consisted of Sowanar and me, and the second just contained Nalfimiria. In a larger battlefield, Finarkzir or Chiaisei could debatably work as both defenders and attacker, but in something as small as a normal backyard this would carry the risk of them damaging the house, as mentioned before. Finarkzir could cover for barriers as well, yet we chose to leave only Fasnilthar for the task, as she was the one claiming the need to practice the function. 

Fasnilthar's goal was to keep as many attacks from hitting the dummies - the ones under her protection - as possible. Making mine and Sowanar's landing successful hits against the dummies, as you might expect. The same applied to Nalfimiria, though her points wouldn't be counted alongside those of the two of us. The attack waves would happen inside a time frame, one and a half minutes, in the case of this first exercise of ours. The judges would count how many attacks had been blocked, and how many had landed, as a method of comparing the score of the defender and attackers. Personally, I didn't find that part necessary, but Fasnilthar insisted someone should count the score. Additionally, if the attackers hadn't passed a minimal amount of scoring attempts based on the time for each round, this would discount some of their points. An incentive to keep the assault constant, though admittedly that already sounded like something beneficial based on my experience. 

Also, in this particular case the score from my pair would be compared to Nalfimiria's. Not to enforce some kind of punishment to the loser, just simply a method of us getting a chance to try to match the ability of our older teammate. On another point, Nalfimiria would also be fighting under a restriction. Unlike us, who merely would be giving Fasnilthar points whenever our attacks got blocked, Nalfimiria decided to limit the amount of mistakes she could make during a match. Specifically, if 8 of her individual hits ended up being blocked, this would remove her from the round with the score she had at that moment. There were also rules regarding her rhythm of attack, which were far stricter than ours, and unlike with us, if she attacked in waves each hit would count as an individual miss for removing her from the competitions, despite the fact there would still be a limit in how many of them would count to scoring a point if landed on sequence. 

After deciding that, we drew the ring that marked the position for the attackers, trying to utilize as much space as our backyard allowed us to. This required us to remove the table from there, leaving only the chairs, as we had already finished that meal. Even then, the circle wasn't completely even, being more like an elliptic. It had quite a bit more length than the one we utilized for sparring earlier. The three of us attacking would be allowed to move around parts of the ends of the training space, all the while Fasnilthar would take a fixed position outside it, from where she would project the barriers meant to block out our attack. Being that we avoided placing her within the circle for the simple reason as to avoid having her possibly between the targets and our line of fire, as well as to give her a better view over our positions. 

Nalfimiria chose to stand still on the opposite position to Fasnilthar, while Sowanar and I got a small portion of the elliptic through which our movement was free. There were three targets in total, all of which should have been at about the same amount of distance to the division of the circle. Finarkzir had perched herself in the pull up bars, in order to judge the match from a spot she could fully view it, while Chiaisei remained sitting on the sidelines. A part of me was curious about how training with those two would be, but without having a reservation to a decently sized ring we wouldn't be able to know at that point. 

This training went well, I thought at the time. Fasnilthar had been quite successful at blocking most of the attacks from Sowanar and I, but at times the two of us did manage to coordinate those well. Our individual attacks weren't making it through too often, yet while striking together we were far more effective, resulting in us trying to find ways of communicating our intentions to the other, as to best strike as a team*. Thus both in regards to the quality indicated to the barrier caster we had and this aspect, I thought the training had been rather productive.

(*We weren't using the thought communicators during the training, as they would have made this process far too simple.) 

Though admittedly, our score paled in comparison to Nalfimiria's, in all three rounds we shared. If anything, Sowanar scored quite a few points on occasions he noticed Fasnilthar had her attention on the elf, a productive decision from both parties, in a way. Nalfimiria had more than proven she was the biggest threat in this exercise, after all, seeing that whenever she found openings she usually would score anything between 3 to 10 points at once. Her control over Iscathnerin spirit constructs was masterful through the whole exercise, to the point I often found myself distracted wondering how she would opt to apply them between each of her volleys. She rarely would choose to simply fire out a conjuration the normal way, yet instead have them float, slither or fly in circles around the field, putting them in place before shooting while also at times creating a distraction. All the while never failing to pick an angle to attack from which her attacks could surprise. 

This reminded me how I had often been told that in higher levels Iscathnerin often would be used in similar ways to Thalgignir and Yealmyrn. Nalfimiria's control over her conjurations already was similar to usage of familiar spells, and like Fasnilthar she clearly knew well how to use options coming from every direction against an opponent. Likely a result of the fact her reflection and veil had been divided all over the training zone. The scale was small, but I was curious whether this kind of control was common on mages at her level as well. "Perhaps it is partially a consequence of training with Nairsylvir in her fighting style. Maybe to her manipulating less potent forms started feeling much simpler, as a result." 

It was surprising how little Nalfimiria chose to rely on light magic as well, seeing how quick her spells with it were, compared to my own. But considering how many different ways she demonstrated her skill, it was likely she simply had been opting out of that form due to the fact it would make things simpler if constantly relied upon. None of us would have any hope of challenging her in a situation in which she was serious, due to the gap in magical ability and skill, so it was natural she had been limiting herself for all of our sakes. This somewhat made her figure more impressive as she sat there, playfully taking part in our practice as if it was the simplest of things, as far as she was concerned. At most she ended up missing 4 attacks over a round, after all, despite Fasnilthar clearly seeing her as the actual threat. Following the scoring, Nalfimiria easily ended up surpassing the scores from both other teams, almost going as far as beating those numbers while combined. 

"Magical ability aside, she not only has far more experience putting it to use but with life as a whole. Understanding us thus is made simpler, and as a result acting around our actions becomes as such as well. Hence the ease with which she can find weaknesses in the one who by now appears to be our strongest, and why understanding our own attacks also seems so straightforward." Thinking back to how she would occasionally use the spells my partner and I created as openings to her own, I conclude as such, based on what I had previously heard of similar situations. 

Understanding the disadvantages caused by a shorter life was a significant topic of study to those of younger races who might have needed to interact with older ones, after all. And therefore I thought comprehending how Nalfimiria would act through her advantage would likewise to everything else, be a meaningful discovery to the functioning of this unit. There was some temptation of distraction while observing her, in part due to the impression left by seeing a portion of what she acted like during battle, but in this case it hadn't kept me from making the needed observations towards the described end. 

As this practice ended those thoughts caused me to space out for a moment. Soon, the scene caught my attention once again, though, in parts a result from Fasnilthar's actions. That woman tried involving me in sharing my opinion on the training and her performance during it, therefore stealing away the attention needed for my reflection. Not that I found the topic irrelevant, in either case. Sowanar and I exchanged words as well, to discuss how well we had been cooperating, and possible ways to improve. As we discussed these ideas, Fasnilthar mostly seemed to have concluded Nalfimiria appeared to be using the openings we created better than the two of us had, though that criticism fell within all of our expectations. The sister then spoke of some patterns she noticed, to add some extra advice from the session to both sides. 

—The boys were somewhat predictable in your attacks. You weren't making that big of an effort to hide the direction of the points from which you would launch your spells, and for the most part there isn't much you can do to alter their trajectories once thrown. And though you didn't use signs over all of the matches, it was clear you had been trying to follow up on each other's attempts, as well as my own. Knowing when you would cause a distraction and from which angles therefore made it easier to sneak in blows from unguarded spots. Next time, I recommend you both to try to coordinate with things varying from just straight shots as well. I get that it is harder to coordinate with more complex attacks, but you should try to get used to it at some point. Giving the boy the space to use a bow well likely would help with this much as well. Just keep the pointers in mind for the next time, when we get to a bigger training zone. I'm guessing you're not used to fighting while locked at range as well, young helper? 

—Not quite, no. The usual advice from my teachers was just to try to break through most kinds of barriers, instead of trying to use Favighea to go around them. Either that or to strike from below, once I've finished developing tremor casting. — Sowanar explained, after being questioned. 

—Indeed, earth casting isn't exactly fit for complex attacks when fighting at some distance. It will take you some years before you could try to pull off some of the maneuvers I showed off, if using the area. This to say, you both should consider that in this scenario there is a bit of an inversion to the expected dynamic in your abilities, right? — Upon hearing her question, I got curious enough to ask for more details. She appeared to have been expecting us to try to guess her reasoning, but I decided that hearing it straight would simply be faster. My rushing the answer seemingly cut through any guess by the others as well. 

—Oh, how boring. Anyways, in a normal situation Senshin probably would be the one trying to create the openings in this dynamic, as I assume you know. His attacks are less threatening, but way more precise and varied, after all. Having to divide concentration in holding him off would make the target more vulnerable to having their defenses broken by our bold knight. Though in a scenario where all hits are treated as equal, there is a flip in this situation. Silver boy is more precise, making his hits more certain when he gets a clear angle. Usage of more complex conjurations also could aid in pressuring from different positions at once, as I put to show myself. That would make Sowanar the best candidate for distracting, in some ways. What do you think would be your best means of attack in this type of situation? — She said, turning to Sowanar again. 

—Probably firing blasts of sand, or other grain based projectiles. They are easy to produce in mass, and would cover a wide area upon impact. That, and putting more focus on usage of lighter conjurations when attacking, other than ones that provide constant use, like the chains. This would allow for greater waves of blows, and therefore threaten a larger area for the opponent to guard. — Sowanar said in response. It seemed like he already knew the theory behind her suggestion, at least. 

—This information isn't relevant just for this type of training though, so keep it in mind. Especially you, Senshin. Part of offering long ranged support comes down to spotting weaknesses in your target. If a shot connects, it doesn't matter much if it came from a potent spell or not most of the time. Since the heavier hitters tend to gather a ton of attention, picking off those unaware of our positions is part of the job for us. Both because it is easier for those with a more controlled touch to disable people instead of just killing them, but also 'cuz it reduces the risks the heavy hitter would face. — Fasnilthar said while turning towards me. I concluded this meant the lesson was also being aimed at me, seeing as both she and Nalfimiria seemed to agree on this point. 

"There are some similarities in how we fight, even if my form has more varied uses. Her advice probably has plenty of merit as well, based on what she has already shown in skill." While I took note of their council, Fasnilthar had also questioned the sister about her usage of barriers in the exercise. Nalfimiria seemed pleased with her choices, saying she chose well how to divide her vigilance. I agreed in this case, and it seemed like Fasnilthar was pleased with the feedback and her scoring as well. 

—Well, I hope we'll get more similar chances soon as well. Preferably in places that allow everyone to train together next time. Still, I'm thinking it might be a good time to start my morning round of guidance. Still up for it? — Fasnilthar said, while turning to Chiaisei. The younger girl nodded, before getting ready to leave as well. 

—We might be back before finishing the session. Still, we might be inside for some time. See you all soon, regardless. — With that, the two of them headed inside. 

With that done, the matches continued. Things got way more silent without Fasnilthar there, and since I had spent a considerable amount of time during defensive training, we only did three more matches after that. They were focused on using reduced amounts of magical energy, and being as such, they favored Sowanar even more heavily, since he was far more competent when fighting directly with a weapon. Despite that, I still managed to take a win. Feeling my essence growing ever lower, I suggested we stop at that point, since I was planning on doing my own guidance cycles around that point as well. To do that, I got my guiding eyes and materials for spiritual assimilation in the armory, before returning to that backyard, where Sowanar and Nalfimiria were discussing martial arts while she demonstrated hers in a training dummy near a corner of that area. 

That day, my first set of guidance was focused on improving my veil, some qualities of my light magic and my recovery, something I managed to do while doing magical meditation in a less focused fashion, since I wouldn't need to recover quickly too soon. Once that was done, I moved on to assimilation, as currently I was trying to improve my ability in conjuring materials with some elasticity, as there was still plenty of room for me to improve on that front. To accomplish such, I used spirit assimilation in the materials I had for that purpose. No mage focused on construct conjuration would ever be able to train without materials for them to assimilate, after all, and seeing as the process was similarly as time consuming as guidance itself, it could be argued it was an additional time sink for people in certain areas. Thankfully, it could be carried out during parts of guidance, and the very time spent assimilating objects assisted in developing the structure bound to it by itself. Thus there wasn't much of a need to devote guiding hours to it to begin with, as the area would more or less keep up with your other abilities regardless.