More About Trumps

Days pass, and before I know it, it is the last day of Apprentice classes. I have not been to the Lands throughout this time. A few days after the concert, classes suddenly picked up, and before I realized what was going on, I had little to no time for anything else. I soon found out why though, when Tobi and the rest started pestering me to give them lessons on all we had done so far. Summer break was coming to an end, and with it, our classes in the Metorium. More than a week passes by in this strange state of accelerated learning, and then before I could make sense of it all, our final day arrived.

I stare at Master Speller, who in turn is staring silently back at us. The whole class is silent as they stare back at him, all of us wondering what the heck is going on. The door opens and a Pre-protector enters the class, holding a Tester in her hand. As she hands it over to Master Speller I begin to suspect that we might have an exam today. I mean the last time I had seen a Tester was during my Apprentice exam, so if one is appearing here today then there is a possibility we could all be taking the Pre-protector exam.

The girl leaves the class, and finally, Master Speller begins to speak. "I want you all to come here one after the other. Starting from you."

One by one everyone in the class has their Uua purity tested. The process is simple, the person being tested leaves their seat and walks up to Master Speller before placing their hand on the Tester. A moment later, he calls out their purity and they return to their seat. When it is my turn Master Speller raises an eyebrow. "Seventy-eight. Impressive."

I walk back to my seat with the eyes of most of the class on my back. It's easy to tell why he was impressed, after all most of the class have a purity between sixty-five and sixty-seven, with the only exception being Keldin who has a purity of seventy, and a few others who had purities of sixty-four and below. With a purity of seventy-eight -far above anyone else I obviously stand out from the rest of the class.

Once all the purity tests are done Master Speller begins a new one. Drawing a circle of noers in front of the class before instructing us to take turns standing in their center and performing the Tryer Circulation Technique we had mastered. Once again I have no problem performing mine, but a few students in the class seem to have some difficulty doing them. Still, everyone manages to perform theirs.

"Now," Master Speller says, "as you should have all realized by now today is going to be the last days of your classes as Apprentices. By this time next year, you should have all become Pre-protectors, or at least I hope so. All those of you that were struggling with the Tryer Circulation Techniques, and those with a purity below sixty-five, you have quite a lot of work to do before the exams next month, if you go as you are undoubtedly going to fail.

"For those of you with no problems, you also have something to work on: finding the Teachers you'll Apprentice under, as well picking a Trump to learn and a field of study. From Pre-protector onward you'll be spending less time in classes like this and more time with your masters learning whatever it is you have chosen, so as classes end today I urge you all to begin your research. Your choices will determine your future as Laen. Of course, you can always change later, but that would just waste your valuable time. Okay, I think I've said all that needs to be said, any questions?"

Almost immediately someone raises their hand. "What are the Trumps we can choose from, and which one is the best?"

Master Speller makes a humming sound, "Well, the Trumps are divided into two courts, the major and the minor, though you need to understand that just because something is a part of the major court doesn't automatically make it strong. The seven major trumps are Grand Scale Telekinesis, True Body, Elemental, Super, Avatar, Yin, and Yang. For the minor trumps, the only ones I can remember are those that have started becoming popular in recent years: Space, Illusion, Arcane... and Master Yiude is currently working on a new one, Invincible, I think that's what he called it. As for the strongest, I don't know, they all have their strengths and in some cases, they even overlap. That's why you need to do your research, to find what fits you best."

Another hand is raised. "What Trump did you choose, sir."

"The Super Trump. It focuses on improving everything the human body can do until it reaches a superhuman level. Our senses, reaction, resistance, and most importantly, strength. For instance, doing something like this poses no issue to us." He snaps his fingers, but instead of hearing a low snap, what comes out is a loud boom, followed by a shockwave that pushes back everyone in the class.

The entire class is in disarray when it dies down, but thankfully nobody seems hurt. We all stare at Master Speller in surprise, wondering how such a simple snap could produce a shockwave. That is a feat of strength I haven't seen anywhere else.

He chuckles, "In our court, we call what I just did an inefficient use of strength, even though it has its uses in some areas."

What follows is a barrage of questions about the capabilities of the other Trumps. Master Speller does his best to explain, and soon I have an idea of the Trumps I would love to learn from. Either Arcane or True Body. The rest of the trumps are great but they just don't resonate with me.

Grand Scale Telekinesis focuses on using telekinesis to perform feats that could shame even Master Speller's shockwave snap. Though, from the way he speaks about it, it is clear that things aren't just so cut and dry about the Trump. Those from the Avatar Trump use their knowledge of noers to create different Avatars which have unique functionalities. They use their Avatars the way we use clothes, wearing whatever they deem appropriate for a particular scenario. Elementals control the elements: fire, water, earth and air, and all the various derivatives that can be produced from the original four, however, most of them seem to like fire the most, like Jade. Illusions do what their name suggests, Space aims to master control over space-time. So far, they've only managed the space part, but Master Speller hints that they've had some initial success with time, all thanks to scientific research.

True Body however involved creating an entirely new body, one that you could switch out with your human body at will -at least that's how Master Speller described it. This body could be tailor-made to give you specific advantages the human body doesn't have. Super strength? Doable. The natural ability for something like flight? Also possible. Super resilience? Too easy. Plus, you could give the new body a kind of affinity for magic, to a certain extent. However, this also makes it one of the more difficult Trumps to fully master, since, before you can showcase your true strength, you have to create the new body.

And then finally, there is the Arcane Trump. Master Speller admitted to not knowing much about it. No one does, as its entire focus was on the more strange parts of magic. But after describing some of the strange feats people achieved with it, I couldn't he but become enthralled.

Master Speller had said, "These days, a lot of our thinking involving magic is heavily influenced by science; whether how we make weapons, new spells or other things. Those of the Arcane Trump however reject it and everything having to do with it in favor of studying the more incomprehensible parts of magic. I can't really say much about them, but know this, they are strange. And if you ever have the misfortune of having to battle one of them, you'll realize just how frustrating that strangeness is."