The Bookworm Returns

It had been quite some time since Jien had started his training in preparation for the eventual studies at the military academy. At least it felt that way to Jien, he was only a bit older than eight years of age after all. All of the training had deeply cut into his reading time, something that he spent the majority of his time on in prior years. It was only now, after having to be couped up to heal, that he was finally able to get more than just an hour or so of nighttime reading in.

He wholeheartedly embraced this new study session and for the first few days even requested that he be permitted to miss his usual lessons with Mark and Emily. This request of course did not go over well with his father and mentors. However, throughout the discussion he brought up various topics that he was studying or in some cases restudying. He made it a point to even show that he was reading books on military law, military strategy and court etiquette. These lines of study were able to make his father back down, only because he was still being asked to not move around too much.

The compromise was made that Emily and Mark would likewise add books to his study list and that as soon as he was healed, they were going to put him through a boot-camp that would make hardened soldiers cry to their mothers. The thought made Jien shiver as if he had been dumped into an ice bath, but there wasn't much that he could do about it.

Mark was the first to add books to Jien's list. Most of the books that he added were in regard to survival strategies for various environments. While he couldn't have Jien practicing the methods quite yet, he figured that the sooner Jien learn some of the topics the better. It was only after a day and a half after mark had provided his books that Emily provided two of her own. She was first and foremost his fencing instructor, and while manuals for fencing techniques did exist, she felt that it was always better to have technique practiced with the body than just the mind. One needed the muscle memory or else all the knowledge in the world regarding methods wouldn't save you. Instead, she provided him with two books to study, one in regard to poisons and the other medicinal herbs.

Poison wasn't particularly her weapon and was often looked down upon in many instances, but from a knowledge perspective, knowing about poisons, how to detect them and how to treat them if you received a dose was invaluable. The book on medicinal herbs was to compliment Mark's given books on survival. If one used the knowledge correctly and was able to gather the appropriate herbs while surviving and foraging, one would be able to be prepared for any number of occasions.

By the time all of his study materials were gathered Jien had a small mountain of books sitting at his bedside. He knew for a fact that this was going to take far longer than it would take for his injuries to heal, especially because his mana capacity was not all that large. He hadn't yet tried using Personal Library while reading but he had a fair idea that he wouldn't make it far per casting of the spell, especially until he got the hang of it. As with physical training, the more one practiced the arcane arts the more finessed they could become in the practice. With enough time one could better control the amount of mana spent to complete the same spells among other improvements. As Emily had stated in the beginning of her training, "Precision in all things." The more precise and practiced one became the safer they would be in their actions.

The first thing Jien did was focus on the books that he was going to summarize. The first task was to take these books that were sometimes in the hundreds of pages and reduce them as much as possible while not losing the important information. The books with this type of focus were more around culture, history and customs of not only humans but the other races. As many had said in the past, know thy enemy. Given that he was bound to be one battlefield at some point facing off against the other races of the world the more he knew the better he would be able to manage the situation.

He spent hours at a time reading these books and taking down notes in his best handwriting. He wasn't positive how the spell worked in full. The explanation from the shadowy figure had been minimalistic at best and he didn't have time to ask questions. Just in case the knowledge that he would use the spell on would somehow be recorded in his handwriting he didn't want it to be so sloppy that if he had to look back on it he would have trouble reading it again.

This safe approach came out to be the correct option in the end. It was at the end of the first day that he had read through and taken notes on one of the smaller books regarding court etiquette that he chose to attempt the spell. This was only his second time using ocular arcane arts, but he didn't particularly want to show his spell to Runa. While she was helpful and she may even be able to see what he was doing with her own spells, it was considered common for one to hide the spells from a god from others, even family members.

Each god's or goddess's blessing could be unique to the person receiving it and was considered to be private and often times a trump card of sorts. Jien following this line of thought knew he would sooner or later need to try on his own. He was confident in his attempt and knew to be careful, much like he was in his other practices regarding mana and the arcane arts.

He took control of a small whisp of his mana and moved it through the paths that Runa had shown in their short work together. When the mana reached his eye, he slowed down it's flow to gain a firmer control and slowly let it seep into his optic nerve. He felt a slight tinge of warmth in his eyes but there was no pain or negative reaction. If he were to look into a mirror at this moment, he would have seen that his irises now held a faint blue glow hidden in their sharp green.

Once he felt that his eyes had acclimated to the addition of mana, he let his mind become enveloped in the feeling that represented the personal library spell. This time around when the spell activated there was no voice, nor was there a vision of the white expanse and the clear sphere. Despite the lack of unusual input, he could feel that the spell was working so he focused his mind on two paths, the first was to keep the spell going and monitor his mana usage, the other to begin reading what he had wrote neatly on the paper.

As he began reading, he started with the title of the book the summary had come from "Court Etiquette For A New Lord" By Francis Nelve. As he read these words they seemed to seep into his mind. It was as if he had read them hundreds of times, as if he could recite them in his sleep. It was a unique and slightly unsettling feeling. It was as if he would never forget the words, or more accurately, that he couldn't. If he were able to see the white expanse from his vision, in the clear sphere he would have seen the very same worked etched in black ink upon its inner surface in his very own handwriting.

With just that short bit he now knew what to expect and it excited him with its potential. With that he moved forward in his reading, knowing that recording even what he had written himself would likely take multiple sessions given the drain on his mana for just those few words.