After nearly four weeks of going at that breakneck pace, the faculty finally relented, and on Sixth, the 27th of Xu'Yotlan, another of the Fourteen Great Houses, the apprentices were allowed to have the afternoon for themselves.

On the morrow, they would head into the auditorium once more, this time to finally learn what awaited them in the Brightnight, and classes and lectures would be canceled in the upcoming week. It was a last chance for the apprentices to get their shit together before departing on the week-long journey to the Brightnight domain, and it would be entirely focused on dungeon delves.

 

I've turned off the cilices for today. Tomorrow too.

 

Enjoy your rest, and well done in getting this far.

 

From Tys.

 

Nar exhaled in discreet silence. He unconsciously felt for the black band of cloth, one of which was currently nestled around his bicep, and the other around his thigh.

A full night's sleep? Crystal. He didn't even know how to take in the news. As it was, he was currently sitting around their common table, his eyes glassy as he pondered over the last month and its whirlwind of pain and non-stop activity.

From Tys' torturous nightly training, to his master's hardcore and enhanced skills and swordsmanship training, to the mind numbingly boring yet ravaging training to deepen and expand his pathways and increase his [Mastery], and the cilices random attacks… It had been day after day of nothing but training, training and more training.

Not even sleep had been the restful escape that it usually was, thanks to the frequent stabbings of those damned black bands, and once again Nar consider the sanity of anyone that willingly subjected themselves to their torture, which included himself.

However, he could not deny the results of his training, or at least the early showings of its promises. Gains in the dungeons had been slow to make, but when they did come, they had been steady, and interspersed with upgrades to his pathways and [Mastery].

Hopefully with a full week of dungeons still left, we get something better. Anything, please, he thought.

But he knew not to hold onto much hope.

"The skills we're aiming to gain are not your run of the mill skills, Nar," Tys had told him a couple of nights earlier in the week.

He had cracked at last, and in a shaky voice, allowed out his displeasure at how long it was taking.

"To be perfectly honest with you, it would be the surprise of my life if you actually gained these skills in those crappy dungeons," she had said.

"Really?" he asked, his eyes hollow. His hands were stained with drying, sticky blood, as it had been his shattered and thorn thumbs that he had healed this time.

She placed a hand on his shoulders and squeezed.

"Yeah… I'm sorry. I doubt you'll even gain any upgrades to your active skills," she said.

"They're that easy?" he asked, incredulous.

"They're that easy."

"Then?"

She sat beside him, a grimace of compassion coloring her expression.

"What I'm going for is to drill the behaviors into you. To take the pain in without letting it take you, and to slowly make this healing process become second-nature to you, so that eventually it does become second-nature to you," she explained. "And once these behaviors are carved into you, you will be able to continue them by yourself in the Brightnight, a place that is definitely challenging enough to earn you the gains we are aiming for."

She nodded at his legs, where the cilices slept, ready to sprung to action at any moment.

"On your last night, you will remove those and give them to me," she said. "Their purpose was to build into you the reaction, not the thought, but the reaction to immediately heal upon injury. To immediately trigger the healing process no matter the surprise, situation or the pain inflicted. And slowly, very, very painfully slowly I know, your aura has been learning to do just that. It has been integrating your intent into it, and remembering it. Taking it in as its duty."

She grinned at him. "And whether asleep, in the toilet, eating, or fighting, I'm glad to say that you have succeeded."

She patted his leg and stood up, stretching a hand for him to help him up.

Nar took her hand.

"All you need now, is to go into the Brightnight and face proper combat in order to earn your rewards," she said, lifting him up. "As long as you maintain that discipline over pain and continue to teach your aura on what to do, you will earn those two skills, Nar. "You are what you do" is inevitable."

Nar gave her a nod, swallowing a worn shaky breath with gritted teeth.

"Hopefully you will get to upgrade your actives as well," she said, her eyes dancing. "But that's a conversation for when we arrive at the dungeon."

She placed a hand on his chin and gave it a caring squeeze.

"You have done well, Nar. Seriously. Just keep going through these last two weeks, and then throw everything you've got at the Brightnight," she said, her eyes holding his with an unyielding dark care. "Give it everything you have… Throw your very life at that jungle! And I guarantee, you will not regret it, Nar. These skills are worth every drop of blood you've shed, every swallowed scream, every sleepless night… You'll see!"

She squeezed his chin again and tugged his head right and left, chuckling, and Nar tutted and pulled away from her.

"But the night's still young! You're definitely getting better!" she said. "And as a little reward for your hard work so far, I'll let you pick what I break next. Go on, don't be shy!"

"Ugh…"

"You know, some people actually develop a kink from this kind of training," she said, grinning wickedly.

"Ah… For Crystal's sake…"

Stolen novel; please report.

And so he had endured, shouldering his non-sapient training once again.

It's good to have a break, though, he now thought, still in a daze at that table. But what in the Pile do I do now?

For some reason, while he was tired, he didn't feel like sleeping. He craved something, anything to distract him and to make him feel a little bit alive, though he didn't know what. And to be honest, the fact that he felt that need, that desire, was plenty of surprise in itself. It was as though he had mourned and mourned for his dad, and although he was not quite ready to put it aside, not by a long shot, the mind was tired, and the spirit broken and in need of some measure of peace. No matter how small it may be.

"Wow!"

Viy's cry and subsequent happy giggle made him look up.

Across the table, with their backs turned to him, Viy and Jasphaer were having a blast watching something that the healer had called a cartoon. Apparently, it was something that aired weekly on these things called aether channels, and he had raked up quite a lot of episodes to watch.

"I've been keeping off the 2NET so I don't get spoiled!" Jasphaer had added, as everyone happily wielded the screen in the common room for his use.

The furry healer had been quick to become a part of them, and they had done their best to make the O-Nexian feel welcomed and one of them. And when a few minutes later, her hair still dripping wet from the shower, Viy had emerged onto the common room, mouth open to say something… She had instead immediately fallen silent at the sight of the colorful, animated and over the top action show playing on the monitor.

"What is that?" she had whispered, sitting beside Jasphaer.

And the healer had only been too happy to oblige, offering an endless explanation that had the halberdier listening in rapt attention, her eyes wide and glued to the screen. Several episodes later, and she was only getting more and more sucked into the story. Nar couldn't help smiling at her wide, wonder filled expression.

So cute.

And it was good to see Viy chatting away with the healer in such a nonchalant way. From what he had managed to glimpse, she was the only one to treat the healer with something approaching apprehension.

Nar hadn't asked her about it, but he had caught enough discrete, almost disguised, questions from the healer towards and about Mul, Jul and Viy to know that he was… Well, he didn't know what exactly Jasphaer was trying to achieve, but he seemed to want to take on the role of mental and emotional caretaker of the party seriously, just like he had told them he would.

Jul was happy and open about it, ever driven to conquer her fear and never let it dictate her actions ever again, and while Mul was similarly open, his approach was dismissive of any need to improve. And Viy… Viy was uncomfortable to say the least, and Jasphaer approached her with the highest care.

Nar wasn't sure of what to think of it. On one hand, the Master of Emotions seemed to have the matter well in hand, but on the other, he still couldn't discard the feeling, or the hope, that Viy's real affinity and path lay elsewhere. Plus, Viy was perfectly capable of ending Jasphaer's pursuit if she chose to, as he had a feeling the healer would respect it if she did.

And yet, she didn't…

Nar sighed and shook his head, even as Viy and Jasphaer burst out in riotous laughter. For now, he would just watch, and see what came of it, and having decided so, he scanned the rest of the table.

Gad and Kur were sitting side by side, their eyes glued on their touch-screens.

The Scimitar had offered them access to a few, paid popular services that offered arena streams as well as an immense, episodic raid show, and the two of them were voracious in their need to fill in their gaps and continue to increase their knowledge of all things combat, strategy and making full use of everyone's individual strengths, while ensuring that the party further bolstered each individual and covered for their weaknesses.

Even now, a stream of loud, chaotic screaming and roaring emanated from Kur's screen, and he elbowed Gad to have a look.

"Look! Look! See how she turned that thing around to avoid that beam?" he said, his tone awed.

Gad nodded with calm fervor in her eyes. "And she waited for everyone to get out of the way too. Their synergy is…"

Nar tuned them out as his eyes fell on someone else. Sitting a stool away from him, Cen shifted a tiny ball of aether around her fingers, the little manifestation of aura darting smoothly as it circled them one after the other, back and forth.

However, despite the control that Cen had managed to regain, and even surpass, to make up for her lost staff, her expression was downcast, and her eyes were now customary vacant and lost in thought.

Oh, Cen, Nar thought, pressing his lips.

Their caster was still struggling to come up with a defensive skill, and every time she practiced her two devastating active skills, [Scattering Drops] and [Orb of Erasure], and was forced to behold the devastation they wrought and the screams of her foes, the light in her eyes went out a little bit further.

Nar sighed and rubbed his chin, tracking the tiny orb of aura with his eyes.

Can we do anything for her? He wondered.

He had no advice to offer the caster, nor did he have any knowledge that could help her make a breakthrough towards her desired skills. Cen studied day and night already, hunched over an endless pile of documents that the Master of Aura had given her, and he doubted he could help her in that area. And while Cen had told him that her studying had helped her tremendously towards gaining a better understanding and control over her aura, it had thus far failed in granting her the enlightenment she most craved.

Just then he heard Tuk exiting the toilet and leap to chase after Wolfie, who had popped out of Mul while the brawler predictably napped away his free time.

Oh… That's right! He suddenly realized. He might have no idea how to cheer up the caster, but, maybe the number one cheerful and cheering guy in the party might! Even if they couldn't help Cen, perhaps they could at least cheer her up a little.

"Hey, Tuk!" he called, poking his head into the room.

"Yes?" the ring tosser said.

He was sprawled on the floor, holding up a tail wagging Wolfie over his head, and the two of them stopped their shenanigans to glance in his direction.

"Is everything all right?" Tuk asked, sitting up and dropping Wolfie.

Nar glanced at Mul, who was still snoring and fast asleep in his cot.

"You know how Cen's been a little down," he said, kneeling down to scratch behind Wolfie's ears. "I was just thinking you could organize one of those adventures of yours. Maybe something that could cheer her up a little?"

Tuk frowned. "Cheer her up?"

Then his eyes widened.

"Actually, I think I have just the thing!" Tuk said, grinning.

They left Wolfie to join Mul in his nap, and stepped back out into the common room.

Oh? That's perfect! Nar thought, as his eyes laid on Rel making small talk with Cen. The archer had hated to miss their previous adventures on board, and now, it looked like she was finally going to be able to tag along.

"Alright!" Tuk announced loudly. "Who wants to go on another of Tuk's extraordinary adventures?"

Heads turned to face him.

"Me! Me!" Rel shouted, jumping up. "Oh, my Crystal, finally!"

Tuk burst out laughing. "Looks like you're in luck today, Rel! Anyone else? And Cen, your presence is mandatory!"

"What? Why?" she asked, startled. "I was about to go study."

"It's a rest day," Gad said. "Take a break."

"But… But you're not!" she said, pointing at the screens.

"Us?" Kur asked, his tone one of feigned innocence. "We are just watching aether shows! Having a bit of fun!"

"What? How do you manage to…"

Tuk stepped behind the caster and squeezed her shoulders.

"Come on, Cen! I promise you that you're going to love this," Tuk said, massaging her shoulders. "Of all the people, I just know that you're the one who's going to enjoy this the most."

Cen looked up at him, suspicion evident in her neon stare.

"I promise you!" Tuk said, beaming down at her. "Besides, sometimes you've got to let it go sometimes and take a break! You know, let the subconscious mind do its thing…"

"I guess…" she grumbled.

"And you never know when enlightenment might come," Nar said, dangling that tantalizing morsel in front of her.

I have no idea what Tuk's planning, but he better deliver, he thought, as Cen turned hopeful eyes to him.

"Come on!" Rel said, nudging the caster with her elbow. "It'll be fun!"

"Ugh! Fine!" Cen said, trying and failing to hide her smile.

"Yay!" Tuk celebrated, throwing his hands up.

"But I want to be back before dinner!" she threatened.

Tuk chuckled. "Sure! But once you're there, I don't know if you're going to want to come back!"

He glanced over at Jasphaer and Viy's.

"How about you guys?"

Viy sneaked a glance at their show, and Jasphaer, catching it, gave Tuk a shake of his head.

"I've a lot to catch up on," he said, pulling a face. "Maybe next time?"

"No worries, man!" Tuk said, giving them both a double thumbs up as it was obvious that Viy was staying as well.

"Is Jul around?" he asked Rel.

The archer shook her head. "She's just left. I think the Master of Shadows wanted to see her."

"Fair enough," he said. "I guess it's just us four then. So follow me! This is going to be awesome!"

Always is, Nar thought, smiling even as he shook his head.

"Where are we going anyways?" Cen asked.

"Well, aura and aether are opposites, right? But you know how the Master of Aura had to tell us a lot about aether before she could tell us about aura?"

Cen frowned, but nodded.

"Well, I just thought that maybe if you learn some more about aether, that maybe it could help you with aura too!" Tuk said, grinning. He was obviously proud of himself, and Nar couldn't fault his logic. And neither could the caster.

She nodded, her expression thoughtful. "That… Makes a lot of sense, actually."

"Right?" Tuk said, beaming.

"So we're going to go see aether?" Rel asked. "Where?"

Tuk chuckled.

"In the place with the most aether onboard," he said, wiggling his eyebrows to them as he opened the door to the corridor. "We, my friends, are going down to the heart of engineering!"

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