Marcus walked towards Fin, who was still catching his breath after the last round of drills. Is this a good idea? You already have a lot of things going on. Everybody is telling me to look after myself and this is what I want to do.

"Fin," Marcus said, and the thin young man came back to his feet and looked at Marcus with his curious, light gray eyes. "Yes, sir!" Fin said, with more bravado than needed. "I will be in charge of your training for a bit. I have my own busy schedule, but when I have time I will look after you. If that is okay with you," Marcus said. Fin got big eyes and exclaimed, "YES, SIR!" Marcus worried Fin would hyperventilate any moment now and asked him to calm down.

"You had enough physical training for now. How about we walk a bit and you show me what you can do with your Warlock class," Marcus said, and guided Fin away from the rest of the rookies, to a quiet part of the estate. "I'm still very much a beginner. But I have some manuals and-" Fin started, but Marcus interrupted him decisively, "Drop them. When it comes to classes and abilities you need to understand them yourself. No manual or generic guide will be able to tell you what is right for you, or how it should feel for you when you use your abilities."

HA! And that is coming from the man who is constantly asking me for pointers about his class.

I am learning too, Xeen.

Very well, continue to educate him.

Fin was somewhat surprised, but nodded. "Just show me what you can do right now. Don't worry about the rest," Marcus said to Fin.

Fin concentrated and in his open hand appeared a small amount of a black matter out of thin air. It had no defined form and did nothing. Fin concentrated again and the chicken egg sized mass slowly moved over his hand and then up his arm. It seemed to stick to him and even didn't fall off as he let it hang down from his hand. "Very good," Marcus said. "From now on, you will conjure your Shadow Mass any time you have time and play with it," he said with a smile, and Fin looked thoroughly confused.

"Play with it?" Fin asked, and Marcus nodded, "Do with it whatever you like. Move it around, invent games, set yourself goals and try to beat them. No matter what you do, engage with your ability at all times. Once you have better control you can even try to keep it active while you do other tasks," Marcus explained, and Fin nodded.

"Can you control the Shadow Mass while it isn't touching you?" Marcus asked. Fin let the mass drop onto a large stone nearby. So, he already can control if it sticks to him or not, Marcus thought. Fin hadn't yet realized this was an important function. Aloud Marcus said, "Try to move it while you are just touching it and then move your hand further away until you can no longer move it." Fin followed the instructions without any complaint, but more than two centimeters and the mass stopped moving, and it also started to shrink. "Okay, more stuff to play around with," Marcus pointed out. Fin's eyes glowed with excitement.

Marcus watched Fin controlling his little 'pet' and asked, "Why did you want to join the Colors?" Fin instantly looked awkward and his face actually got some color. "Grace Taylor, sir," he said with a weak voice, but he looked Marcus straight in the eyes. He is honest, but not very smart, Marcus thought. "But once I was here, I really liked it a lot. Then, I learned about you sir, and I became really motivated to try hard." Fin beamed all over his face with sincere excitement. Sociable, eh? It was hard not to like the young man, Marcus thought.

He is at best five years younger than you, Marcus. From my point of view you are the same age. You calling him 'young man' is, how do you say it, cringe?

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

We might not be far apart in age, but our experience is worlds apart.

I give you that.

After a pause Marcus said, "Good, you should forget about Grace for now and concentrate on your own progress." Fin nodded and said, "I know, she is a being beyond mortals like me." He is saying these things with a straight face, Marcus thought and sighed internally. Ehem, Azaa…. That is different. Of course it is.

"What are your attributes right now?" Marcus asked, and Fin told him. "One dexterity, two vitality and two willpower. Mrs. Long told me this would be good for me. I hadn't spent my crests before I got here." Marcus nodded and thought, two crests in vitality would make this a bit harder, but it wasn't too bad. "Fin, how is your body right now?" Marcus asked. Fin moved his arms and legs for a moment and then smiled, "Pretty good." Marcus smiled too, "Okay then start running around the training field and try to keep your Shadow Mass active while you do." Fin nodded and started to jog towards the field, but stopped to ask, "For how long should I run sir?" Marcus smiled even more, "Until you can't."

Marcus sat down and watched Fin running. The bodies of class holders were different from normal people, because of their Astral Body. They healed faster, regained their endurance faster and training that would cripple or even kill a normal human only made them stronger. This is how Marcus had been able to create a Beefcake body in only two and a half years, but Fin would have to work even harder.

The two points in vitality made it hard to train the natural body beneath the crests. The fact that Grace had bulked up a lot was a testament to her absurd training methods. Right now was the only chance for Fin to develop a normal body. If he failed to do so, he would stay this thin and weakly for the rest of his life no matter how many crests he would gain. It wasn't much of a problem performance wise, but for Fin's sake Marcus had to train him hard.

Night had fallen and Fin was huffing and aching around the training field. He held on to a small remnant of his Shadow Mass even in this state. Marcus was more than happy with Fin's determination as he watched Fin finally fall over and stay on the ground.

Marcus lifted the sweat covered Fin up and carried him to the villa. He put some blankets around him and gave Fin a large bottle of water that vanished into the thin body in no time. "Don't be afraid of working hard, Fin. I understand that you have been weak for a long time, but this new body of yours is much stronger than you think. You need to get used to it," Marcus said, and the young man nodded. After another water bottle Fin felt strong enough to go and shower in his barracks. "Come back afterwards. I will see if we can't find you some food," Marcus said. Fin slowly made his way to the barracks. There was still a small amount of Shadow Mass on Fin's arm, Marcus observed.

Marcus snuck into the kitchen in the hope to find some food at this hour, but he found something much better, Achara. "Have you tortured the kid enough?" She asked, when Marcus came in. "Training, and he agreed to it," Marcus said and saw some tasty food simmering on the stove. "Make sure he eats well. And you too," Achara said and put plates on the table. "You are the best!" Marcus said with bright eyes. Ten minutes later Fin knocked on the door and joined Marcus on the table. The two devoured all the food Achara had prepared and Fin looked extremely happy, "I don't think I have ever eaten something so delicious and so much in all my life." Achara laughed, obviously enjoying the compliment. Social, eh? Marcus thought.

After the meal Marcus escorted Fin back to the barracks and watched him play with his Shadow Mass between his hands. "I'm not supposed to do special training with the blob? Just play with it?" Fin asked again after some time. Marcus just nodded. When they arrived at the door Marcus said, "Until tomorrow, Fin." And turned to go. Fin quickly said, "Thank you very much. I will not disappoint you." He exuded so much positive energy, it hurt. "Just give it your all," Marcus said and walked into the night.

Fin wasn't how Marcus had imagined him at the start. He was not weak-spirited or introverted, not like his own younger self. Fin was full of emotions, connected easily to others and had a strong spirit.

But he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, in contrast to you.

Is that a compliment in my direction Xeen?

I am just pointing out that your disciple is not as smart as you. You need to keep that in mind while you raise him.

Marcus thought for a moment about Xeen's words. Disciple? Was he? Marcus himself was a disciple of Kim. Was it not much too early for him to have a disciple on his own?

You felt a strong desire to teach him, didn't you? Yes, I want to help him to grow. I can see a lot of potential in him and I want to see how far he can go.

Don't you think this is how Kim felt about you? And for that matter how I feel about you, too?

Thank you for taking care of me, Xeen.

Thank you for giving me a reason to look forward to the future, Marcus.

Marcus walked towards the villa, eager to do something he hadn't done in a long time. Creating a new training plan on a spreadsheet, with graphs and all.

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