Training Some More - Part 1

Samuel and his teammates quickly went to get something to eat as the lesson ended, together they went to the local canteen and ate some delicious food, doing their regular bantering and joking. Eventually time passed and it became within an hour of the lessons starting, so Samuel did the same thing he had done the previous day.

He bid them farewell and they still seemed to just roll their eyes at him, "Goodbye Mr dense!" Sonya shouted to him as he was walking away so he turned around and just held his hand out wondering what it was all about.

He made his way to the Blademage specialization, unlike the other days he intended to spend his entire class at the blademage this time. To become even better at it, he arrived an hour early and he wasn't surprised to find the teacher already there and focusing on her own craft.

"Good evening master Nereya!" He said the moment he came in through the door and the elf didn't flinch she just slightly turned her head in his direction and smiled. "My my, you are an eager one!" She said as pointed her hand for him to sit down in front of her. "I guess you have come here to learn how to listen to your blades song again..."

"Yes!" He replied, "But this time I am going to stay for the entire lesson, but I intend to spend the free hour I have to listen to my other sword!" He sat down on his knees in front of her and focused on his pocket dimension and thought of the sword.

Nereya was blind, but she could see in other ways, so to say she was shocked to see a sword suddenly appear from a magical opening was an understatement. "You are just full of secrets ain't you?" She sighed, remembering her small jealousy.

"Well yes, the best fighters are the ones with many cards up their sleeve, I intend to have many ways to fight against many opponents. I intend to master them of course, otherwise there would be no point!" He smiled as he fully took out the Phoenix sheathed blade.

He pulled the blade and it started glowing almost immediately, if one were to touch it one would probably get burns as it was almost boiling, but it soon calmed down and became like a regular sword.. But Nereya had felt it all, "This sword is....?" She gasped as she focused on it.

To her invisible vision she saw a miniature phoenix wrapped around the sword almost screeching at her to stay away or else she would become burned. "Amazing..." She silently whispered, "How did you come by this weapon? It's most certainly an artefact of ancient times! Not only that, but it is bound to you, It wouldn't surprise me if you could hear this swords song really easy!"

Samuel nodded as he heard those words and put the blade gently down in front of him and closed his own eyes, "Remind me again what I need to do please!" He respectfully asked her and she slowly nodded before explaining what she had done the previous evening.

To slowly learn to listen to the song of the blade, to hear its innermost thoughts, to think of it as a living breathing being! The short hour they had quickly passed and Samuel put the blade away again before the rest of the class arrived.

He dragged his regular blade and started to redo the progress he had with it, the Gillfall blade that he almost could hear its whispers, the entire class was essentially doing the same thing, the very basics of blademages were to listen to the song.

So they all had to learn that part first before going on to the next. There were only two or three that were training outside the hall against dummies, because they already knew how to listen to their blades. Talented people that had come to learn the way of the bladesong before enlisting at the college. Amanda Switchtrix was one of them, but Samuel could feel her looking at him several times.

Wether she looked at him with suspicion or not he couldn't tell because he was too focused on his own thing, the remaining time quickly passed and he could almost swear to hear the Gillfall blade to whisper to him, but he couldn't quite hear the whispers clearly yet.

At the end of class where most had left, he was still sat behind and listened for an extra minute until only the ones training outside were left and they walked back inside to thank the teacher who was leaving as well.

Samuel was just about getting up from the ground when he could see Amanda waiting for him by the door. He inwardly sighed and walked towards the door completely ignoring her presence as he walked by her, he could almost feel the open mouth from the shock. This princess was probably used to everyone paying her attention.

Samuel sighed loudly and held up the door and looked at her. "Can I help you with anything?" He tiredly asked which made her stop and look at him as they both were outside the training hall. "I may have insulted you prior, I wished to apologize... I have seen how much of a hardworked you are! Always here before everyone else, so please accept my apology - I will treat you to an evening snack at Cofafe Coco Shop!" She nodded to him.

Samuel was about to ask what the hell that place was but then he remembered Sonya talking about it, it was a mage city - but it also had slightly more normal facilities, like private shops and stores. Samuel tilted his head pretending to think about it before shrugging. "Why not! I guess I would be a fool not to accept a free treat!" He gave her a small smile.

"Alright great! Let's go then!" She nodded and started walking towards the shop. It took a small walk to get there and when they got there it was mostly empty, but a few people were seated inside as they entered inside, a high elf dressed as a butler greeted them welcome and led them to an upper floor private area with curtains that Amanda proceeded to close with a snap of her fingers.

"Awfully exotic?" Samuel said with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I am the oldest daughter of one of the most prominent families in the Republic! My father holds a senatorial seat while my mother holds one of the four top seats among the senators!" She had a sly smile on her face as she bragged about her family.

"One of the only Four Consuls huh?" Samuel nodded his head to try and look impressed while on the inside he wasn't the faintest impressed. "So I assume you have not brought me here just to make an apology..." Samuel sighed and leaned back in his seat as he looked at her.

Amanda laughed and waved her hand back and forth. "My apologies but no, you are indeed correct. I want to apologize for misjudging you, my parents made sure that I learned to pay attention to hard workers, at first I thought you were just stupid..."

"But now?" Samuel continued...

"Now I see that you might just be a bit of a smart guy, you hide your potential but you are actually pretty talented. You may have heard that certain students form factions... these factions do not have a lot of impact during the second year, but most students that want to become prominent leaders start doing it during the second year and in the third year when they actually matter..."

"Well, let's just say that those that start early are the most successful during the third year, I have already begun building my faction - and I would very much like to have you as a member of my faction!" She said bluntly and with a small trace of greed in her eyes. But at least she was honest about it.

"Sorry, but I ain't interested!" Samuel quickly shut her down and her smile turned into a surprised frown. "I am not a pawn that can be bought or bargained with!" Samuel abruptly stood up, sighing at the waste of time. This was the last time he would trust her, he quickly opened the curtains and left and started walking away.

Leaving Amanda fuming in anger and spite. She quickly walked down the stairs and snapped her fingers angrily, making all the six customers in the shop stand up from their seats and stand at her command. She left the shop with them at her back and quickly walked after Samuel.

"I won't be denied and insulted without reperecussions!" She yelled after Samuel as they caught up with him. He stopped in his tracks with another sigh and turned around to see Amanda and six others. Three women and three men, either human or half elf. "Teach this idiot a lesson, he might be able to beat a bunch of new years but teach him the difference between us and a bunch of new kids."