Chapter 8: Repetition is the Mother of Learning

The golden threads of morning light streaked across the sky, ushering the dreams of the night into the light of day. Ace stood on the training grounds, admiring the sunrise while waiting for Leonhart and Jude. 

Jude arrived first, having made her way from the Athenaeum. She jogged to where he stood. She wore a pair of black and yellow gloves which extended up to her elbows. “Dr. Farid requested to see you this early in the morning?” Ace asked.

“He needed to tack a name to my ability. He’s been busy recently, having to deal with paperwork on your behalf. This was the only time he could squeeze out for me.” Jude smiled and gave him a playful nudge. “You’re pretty famous now.”

Ace’s lips drew into a tight smile. “So, what’s your ability’s name?” he quizzed, trying to change the subject. “Mine’s quite long.”

“Yours is ‘Lingering Wills of the Bygone Past’, isn't it? Mine’s ‘All the Light We Cannot See’. What’s with that book giving convoluted names?” Jude shook her head. 

“Considering that you guys have been around for a long time, they are going to run out of words and combinations,” Ace said. “Leonhart’s one is so easy to remember. It’s literally two words, ‘Opera Omnia’. ”

Speaking of the devil, Leonhart came charging towards them on top of Gauss. She let out a whoop as she flipped off its back and landed with a flourish. “Top of the morning to you and you!” she gleamed. 

Ace stared down at his hands and then at Jude and Leonhart. He quickly realised that he was the odd one out. Leonhart was showing off her weapon inventory that she kept within Gauss, and Jude was practising her punches. All he had with him was a notebook and a pen. “Hey guys,” he said as he started sidling away from them. “I’m just… gonna head back to my room…”

And put these back! The notebook and the pen felt like rocks in his pocket. “Ace, you don’t have a weapon?” Leonhart asked. 

Ace gulped and shook his head. “I can give you one,” Leonhart said.

“Everyone needs something to fight with,” Jude remarked. “Unless you’re trying to die.”

Swords, throwing knives, guns, and a variety of weapons were arranged neatly inside Gauss’s body. However, none of them really caught his eye. He would not choose the gun because if he whipped it out in public, people were going to panic. He had no proclivity for swords. Throwing knives were one-time use at best if he missed his shots.

Ace reached in and grabbed a small stick. It had a button in the middle, which he depressed with a click. Just as he was about to release it, Leonhart grabbed his hand and twisted it so that the end of the stick pointed away from his face. “Don’t do that! You’ll take your eye out!”

Ace released the button, and the small stick extended into a full-length staff. Unlike her other knick-knacks, which had acrylic paint splashed all over them, the staff had engraved whorls that resembled stylised clouds. “Made with titanium and reinforced so it wouldn’t bend that easily if you hit things,” Leonhart boasted. “How does it feel?”

Ace gave the staff a spin, and to his pleasure, it was light and evenly weighted. “You look like you know how to use it,” Jude remarked.

“I did a bit of wushu back in primary and secondary school before I decided to try something less intense, which was contact bridge,” Ace replied. “I was placed in the gunshu section. The staff is a bit different, but the principles should be the same.”

Ace demonstrated some moves. The muscle memory slowly kicked in with each revolution of the staff. Leonhart cheered while Jude watched on with a mildly impressed look on her face. His face flushed, a bubble of confidence rising in his chest as he tucked the staff in a holder Leonhart had made for it. “I wonder who is going to be our teacher,” Ace wondered aloud.

“The second-years should be doing their full-time internships this year,” Jude replied. “Maybe Lady Meng would be in charge of us since she’s free now.”

Leonhart nodded in agreement. “But Lady Meng doesn’t look like the type of person who would be late for her first lesson.” Ace shifted on his feet. “What if Felix is our teacher?”

“Don’t jinx it!” Leonhart and Jude said in unison. 

“Did someone say my name?”

Jude groaned audibly as Felix strutted in, dressed simply in a dropped armhole tank top, cargo pants, and combat boots; an obvious attempt to show off his lithe and toned body. “I’m your teacher if it isn’t obvious enough,” he smiled smugly, setting down several packages and a cage stuffed to the brim with phantoms. “I collected your uniforms on the way here.”

“You weren’t on the register of educators yesterday,” Leonhart said and eyed Felix suspiciously.

“I signed up to be one last night. Signed it off myself just because I can,” he replied. “Isn’t this exciting?”

That’s the textbook definition of abuse of power, Ace thought.

“Great, you jinxed it,” Jude whispered in Ace’s ear. 

Felix let out a long exhale as he got to his feet.“These are your Sentient Gear. They are woven with a spell that provides a layer of protection. Try on the jackets! They will customise themselves with just a drop of your Essence!”

Everyone practically tore into their packages. A full set consisted of a sleeveless white turtleneck, fingerless gloves, a black sports jacket, and black cargo pants. A pair of standard combat boots finished the outfit.

What’s so sentient about these? Ace slipped on the jacket, which seemed too big for him.

The moment it settled on him, the jacket adjusted itself to give the perfect fit. A thin blue line appeared on the shoulders and ran down the sleeves. It was the same shade as his Essence. Leonhart’s was white; Jude’s, gold. 

Felix clapped his hands. “Very nice! Let’s start with the basics for now. You don’t need your weapons for today.”

“Why?!” Leonhart pouted.

“We aren’t there yet. Not all of us are,” Felix said. “This year, you’ll train under me. In your second year, you’ll be a junior sorcerer. At that point, you will be assigned a rank. The lowest is Rank 16, the highest is 0. Then there are Spectrals, an imaginary class with special rules on who they can procreate with. When a sorcerer is a Spectral, they are also Rank 0.”

Felix held up three fingers. “There are three types of sorcerers: Purists, everyone else and Ancils. In short, Purists are those who are able to manipulate the five elements: Wood, metal, water, air and fire. I am the Flame Purist and the only one too!”

“Show-off,” Leonhart scoffed. “Can we get to the fun part?”

“Leonhart, you can have all the fun you want at the firing range. Just be a bit patient,” Felix said. “As I was saying, Ancils are able to see phantoms and can only manipulate raw Essence. If you can’t tell from their names already, they simply serve as ancillary staff who keep stuff running.”

“So they don’t have abilities?” Ace asked.

“That’s correct. The reason why differs for each Ancil. Some may just be incapable of cultivating their abilities properly or they simply don’t want to embrace them,” he replied. “Sometimes they may even interpret them wrongly, who knows?”

“Wouldn’t that make them deadweights?” Jude asked.

“Everyone has their place, and it just happens that they aren’t cut out for tough work. However, they are still very important. For starters, they maintain the Veil over every Beacon and institute in the world to keep it hidden and help with Beacon-to-Beacon teleportation,” Felix said. “Actually, now that I say it, it does seem that they are just batteries…”

“How do people know they have interpreted their Wills correctly?” Leonhart asked.

“When something different happens. There are nuances hidden in them,” Felix answered. “But of course, parents have to pass down their Wills one way or another. What will be kept and discarded is all up to the future generations.”

“Do we get to learn what the Ancils do?” Ace asked.

“Nah, I want my lessons to be fun and cool! All of you have everything it takes not to be an Ancil!” Felix rubbed his hands together, creating sparks. “To start, there are a few main exit points for Essence. Any point could be an exit, but the main ones are your feet, hands, head, mouth and eyes. Today’s lesson would be on how to release and regulate the flow, like this.” 

Felix manifested a thin stream of fire that looped around his neck. The necklace of fire slid up his face and formed a thin halo that dissipated with a snap of his fingers. Ace could not help but clap in amazement. “But you need at least a few weeks of non-stop training to get to this stage,” Felix said smugly. 

Felix lifted a leg and crossed it over the other. He folded his arms over his chest and bent his knees, sitting down on nothing.  “Everyone starts with the Invisible Chair,” he said. “Try it out!”

That’s easy, Ace thought. He had seen videos of people doing the trick, and the secret was a strong core. He bent his knees and stretched out his arms, but Felix stopped him. “You can’t use your arms,” he said. “You need to regulate your release to make it so that there would be enough Essence gathered below your butt to support your weight.”

Leonhart and Jude were like ducks to water as they were able to recline as though they were lying on a lounge chair. They hardly broke a sweat doing it while Ace kept crashing on his tailbone. “How is it coming along?” Felix asked him while he was mid-crouch.

“I feel like I’m shitting my guts out,” he groaned as he peered down between his legs to check if it was safe to sit.

“Relax a little. It feels like exhaling so slowly that if you take a step forward right after you finish breathing out, you can feel the warmth of your breath,” Jude interjected.

Ace did what Jude taught him. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, slowing his pounding heart. His thoughts were only about the empty space below his behind. He loosened up and let it flow. This time, there was no pain, only cheering. Ace opened his eyes to see Felix’s grin and realised that he had done it. 

“Yay–” Ace’s euphoria was cut short when he felt gravity’s pull on him. Felix caught him just in time before he actually broke his tailbone.

“With repeated practice, regulation and release will become very second nature. It’s like riding a bicycle,” Felix said as he pulled Ace to his feet. “This is the manipulation of raw Essence, which is Essence detached from desires. You can progress to other things like Airstepping, protecting your body with it and so on.”

“However!” Felix raised a finger. “Its base form just isn’t as powerful or useful. The most you can do with raw Essence is padding for support, beams for attacking and Imbuement.”

“Watch.” Felix released two phantoms, and they scuttled for freedom. He pointed at one, and a long, concentrated beam shot out from the tip of his finger. The phantom exploded in a shower of black as the beam struck it. “I’m using more Essence as compared to this,” he pointed at the other one, which was already heading for the roof. It burst into flames and was quickly reduced to ashes. “The tip of the beam was already more than enough to destroy the phantom’s core. The rest was kinda pointless.”

“So, it’s more effective when your instructions synergise with your Will?” Ace paraphrased.

“Yep! Less Essence is required to achieve the same level of lethality. To do this, you have to ‘act’ on your desires,” Felix said, making air quotes. “This is called Manifestation.”

Ace recalled that he did that by accident when he met with the Resentful Spirit. 

“There is a caveat, however. You need a clear mind and be able to visualise what you are trying to do. How do I explain…” Felix paused and looked at Ace. “Ace, when you were first attacked by a phantom, what were you thinking about?”

“I saw that my Essence was eating at the bad stuff,” Ace answered after racking his mind. “For some reason, I managed to conjure my dog. She tended to nip strangers even though I always told her not to.”

“There you have it. Manifestation of memories.” Felix nodded in approval. “For it to manifest better, it would be better to have a name for it, or just yell the instructions. The more complex it is, the more you should utilise incantations.” 

Felix released a third phantom, which resembled a fat, deformed bird. He started bothering it, hurling insults and poking it. It got enraged and started to swell in size. When it was adequately fattened up, he clapped his palms together, and a ring of fire formed around the phantom. 

“Arise from the ashes, all of you. Five of five, all or none. Pull the chariot that seats the son of heaven.” 

From the flames rose five flame dragons. They surged towards the heavens and reared their heads. Their bodies coiled around the hapless phantom and ensnared it in a cauldron of flames. Ace shrank away from the heat and shielded his eyes with the back of his arm. All five dragons breathed long jets of fire into the trap. All that remained was a blackened spot on the training grounds.

“Holy shit.” Leonhart gaped. “I’ve seen ‘Chariot of the Five Dragons’ before b-but not in this form!”

“This is the full manifestation of the technique,” Felix said proudly. “One day, all of you will be able to accomplish something like this, or even surpass this!”

Felix ruffled Leonhart’s hair. “But that day is not today,” he said with a small smile. “Let’s start with the basics.”