Sparring

Ares was astounded, this sounded almost too good to be true. Magic which would allow him to absorb books how powerful that could be.

"That sounds amazing, how long have you been studying this Aurora?" Ares asked eager to begin the lesson.

"Well I recently turned one hundred and twenty and I learnt book absorption about twenty years ago; so, I would say it took about eighty years for me to master the book absorption." She counted off the years with her fingers as she added them together.

Ares's face sank, it made far more sense no why no-one wanted to take this class. For a start it was impossible to learn anything in three decades let alone three years.

"I will try to impart the knowledge I have gained which might give you some partial success in this area." It was clear that Aurora too knew of the limitations of her magic.

"Do you have any other magics that I could learn preferably before I turn fifty?" Ares asked daringly.

Tutting her tongue Aurora looked over Ares a displeased look on her face.

"Young people are in such a rush. Fine what about location magic, its low level but it might be quicker? You could use it to help with casting spells and learning new fighting techniques. location magic helps to find the location of objects; the only drawback is this magic is extremely taxing to your magical core; unless you become an adept mage you won't even be able to understand it." Aurora clearly didn't have the same enthusiasm for this magic as she did for absorption magic.

Thinking about its uses Ares was unsure; being able locate things, that did sound useful but why was it so taxing. Admittedly between the choice of location magic or absorption at least he wouldn't have to wait until he as one hundred.

"That sounds good can I learn that." Ares said.

It was clear that Aurora was reluctant but she turned and started looking at huge stack of books.

"Its here somewhere." She mumbled.

Instead of disturbing the pile Aurora pointed a finger at the book stack. A light glow surrounded the bookcase before a thick book retracted itself from the bottom of the pile and flew towards her hands. The rest of the stack slowly lowered and took the place of the now missing tome.

"This is it; take it read it, practice it. Don't bother disturbing me again until you have at least understanding of how to cast locate."

Ares took the book with a grin on his face; his magic spell expertise had increased by another spell (assuming he could master it).

Ares made his way to a quiet area and began to contemplate his overall skills.

He could barely cast the void spell; barely cast the push spell and now he had another spell to learn. On top of that his combat skills were severely lacking. He knew to himself that if he was going to be able to change his future and that of his family he would have to better himself quickly.

The rest of the day before his sparing with Miles was empty so he practiced the void spell several times; by this point he could cast it and destroy objects at least ten times before he felt that he was almost out of magic. By checking his magic reservoir at that time Ares could see that it was almost empty, it was filling up slowly the water climbing the sides without a source in sight. Ares could see by the speed that it was filling it would be full again in two or so hours.

Ares rested an hour or so before making his way to the area Miles had told them to meet. Upon arriving there he could see Miles already attacking a large rock with a wooden sword. The speed and power were apparent as the rock was shaking and splinters kept flying from the wooden sword.

"Put your gauntlets on and stand ten metres away down the street. I will begin the spar at one percent my normal speed and power." Miles commented without even looking in Ares's direction. Ten percent was somewhat insulting to Ares and he lifted his gauntlets with great difficulty after Miles made the comment.

Sensing Ares was ready Miles put the sword down and turned to face Ares raising his hands at the same time; Ares could see several weights were attached to his wrists already. How strong was Miles that he could attack the rock so easily while still having weights attached?

"Let us begin." Mile moved quickly and swung his fists directly at Ares. Having not really familiarised himself with the gauntlets Ares could barely raise them to meet Miles; this was annoying for Ares especially considering Miles clear reduction in speed. Ares found that his own movements were slow and cumbersome. During the fight and after continued pressure from Miles Ares found that his movements became slightly smoother. He could still barely block Miles and a fair few hits went straight through his defence and impacted heavily on his body; but he was making less useless manoeuvres.

Miles continued for around twenty minutes before stepping back. He wasn't even out of breath. Ares on the other hand had no energy left and was covered in sweat.

"Not bad, not bad. You continue to surprise me; after the first ten minutes I even raised my efforts to two percent." He nodded approvingly.

Two percent only? Ares was still dismayed, it was clear he was very weak.

"Small steps Ares, small steps." Miles said as he ended the lesson and walked away.

Ares decided at this point he would no longer take things easy; it was clear to him his achievements were meagre and if he wished to truly change sacrifice would be required. He made a silent promise to immerse himself deeply within the training. As he got back to his dormitory he shut his eyes and focused on the future; he still had yet to understand what the mark on his hand was and nothing he had come across assisted him. He would have to get stronger faster he thought to himself.