32 Formations

The day of my one year agreement with Rand was slowly approaching. I formulated my plans already, and had a few options depending on what Rand would come up with. Other than that, it was training as usual. The practice with wooden poles wasn't over, since Nick required fluid movements. But, in my mind, I achieved something that would be considered impossible a few months ago.

When that happened, Nick explained some stuff to me as promised. "Go on, ask your questions. I can tell your curiosity is gnawing at you", Nick stated. "You know the first question. Where did you get all that stuff from? Are you trying to debut as a magician of some sort?", I asked. "Hehe, no, and it has nothing to do with my abilities. Everything is in this small bag", his reply made me look at him differently.

"Yea, it might seem crazy to you, but it really isn't. Look", he said before taking out a large pot from a bag. "What sort of sorcery is this?", I asked with my mouth agape. "There's no such thing as magic or sorcery. This isn't a trick either. This bag isn't normal, as it has formations placed on it", Nick explained. "Formations? What is that?", "Hmm, how to say this... There are certain signs, or runes as they are called, that carry power. Someone who knows how to write and assemble them in a specific way, can create such effects. This bag has a shrinking formation placed on it. Therefore, any item will be shrunk and stored inside. That doesn't mean it weights nothing. Here, have a look for yourself", he said while handing the bag to me.

"Wow, it really is quite heavy. So the items inside are shrunk, but the weight stays the same?", I asked surprised, while passing the bag back to Nick. "Yes, there are formations that reduce the weight, but these are much more expensive. I never required that to be honest, but yea, formations can create miracles you never heard of".

"Then that means you don't have any knowledge of formations?", I asked a bit disappointed. "Formations are really difficult to grasp. Just like arts require specific conditions, so does the formations. There is a whole place where people learn formations, but usually, people start at much younger age than you, or they are exceptionally talented. Moreover, you have arts to worry about. That alone should take most of your lifetime in order to master. I don't think you have the time to worry about formations. Once you are really strong, and get a lot of money, you can just buy stuff", he explained.

He was right, but at the same time, formations seemed really interesting. "Since you know about formations and such, what else can you tell me? Perhaps something about the empire?", I asked my next question. "Boy, there's too much to explain here. You'll naturally learn a lot of things during your travels. Once we are done here, head towards north. You must avoid cities, if someone finds out your skills, you are as good as dead. Promise me this one thing. Before venturing into cities, hone your skills and try to master as much as possible", Nick said.

"That... I'd like to visit the cities, and see everything for myself though", "I'm sure you do, but you must promise me... There are a few reasons why. One of them is people, you can't be tainted when no one's around. Moreover, you will not be able to master your skills, if you start visiting cities left and right. Believe me, you'll get a chance to visit them", he explained.

"... Alright, I'm gonna hone my skills first", I said a bit dejected. "Nex, I'm not trying to keep you from exploring, but trust me with this. Besides, the Great Forest is full of places you've never seen. That's why it's my suggestion to go north. We are currently in the southern region of the empire, a very southern region. It might even take you a year or so, just to traverse this empire. This place is huge, you know?", Nick tried to lift my spirit. I nodded and promised him, Nick had much more experience than me after all. He wouldn't say that as a joke.

"Now that basic training is mostly taken care of, and the season of spring arrived, we'll soon begin your practice with medicine, and poison making. Have you figured out a way to deal with Rand?", Nick asked. "Yes, I have a few ideas. If everything goes well, I should be fine", I replied. "Oh, one more thing, let me teach you how to activate formations. This will be useful in the future", he added.

To activate the Formation, I had to think about placing an item inside the bag. "Your focus is really important here. Focus on the item, and imagine it inside the bag... That's probably as closely as I can describe it", he explained. I tried a few times, and finally succeeded. Interaction with the formation felt a bit weird. As if the formation tried to reach inside my body for something, before the object got stored inside the bag in it's shrunk form.

"That's easy, right? Now, if you want to take something out, there are two ways. You can literally reach with your hand, and take the object out. Once outside the bag, it will return to the original size. That method requires you to actually find the object yourself by feel. The other method is placing your hand inside, and thinking about the object you want to take out. The item will appear in your hand without searching for it. That requires a bit more focus, just like placing something inside the bag", Nick described the process.

I tried that as well, and after a few tries, an item appeared in my hand. "This is so useful. It's a shame there's no formation for weight reduction, though this alone is great", I said. "Now, now, with the wooden poles taken care of, your only real practice right now is to observe people. I believe we can move on to the next step then", Nick announced.

"Does that mean more of the Art of Stealth?", I asked, "Of course... Don't give me that look, you know the reason already. The next step is to combine everything you learned thus far, with the addition of breathing", he replied. "Alright, what's the exercise then?", "That's the exercise, you will combine all your knowledge", Nick said. "...Yes, in what way exactly?", my question couldn't be simpler, so Nick finally gave in.

"I'll spell it out for you then. You learned how to balance yourself, that's one aspect. Then you improved your senses and developed your instincts, that's the second aspect. You began to learn how people behave and how to predict their actions, that's the third aspect. The last one is breath. Your breath needs to blend in with the environment, which helps you stay hidden. These are the four aspects. Now, once you figure out how to judge people, and how to manage breath, you will need to combine all of them in order to hide yourself. This will be the last step of my teachings to you. When you are able to combine everything, you will be at around my level of skill", Nick explained.

That sounded great and all, but he didn't explain how to practice my breath. "I mentioned all of this to you, so you have something to contemplate about. You are already able to hide well, you just don't know it yet. To reach my skills, you will need to combine four aspects. Balance, instincts, judgement and breath. With balance and instincts alone, you can already utilise shadows to hide yourself. Try it out with some people when you watch them. As for the breath? You have to figure that out", he added.

"Alright, I'll try that as much as possible. What about the Art of Medicine?", I asked another question. "Yes, you will learn how to make medicine soon. You will also learn how to pick the herbs, and how to find them. We will do that during the night, but since you memorized the Encyclopaedia, you should know which locations might contain which herbs. Then we will practice medicine, and poison making with simple recipes. Some recipes require rare herbs, therefore we simply can't practice everything, but I'll give you a dry run with those recipes", he explained.

That sounded great to me, and I looked forward to making my own medicine. "Now then, focus on observing people, and get ready for the big day. I'm not sure what Rand will say, but my help will be of little importance here. So long you are prepared, you should be fine", he added. "I'm prepared, no worries", I replied.