Unused Storage Room, Chaldeas.
February 17th, 2015, 12:17 PM.
Blake studied Jean as she lay panting on the floor, struggling for breath, his own breathing mostly even.
"That was much better than the last time," Blake said genuinely, "Your ability to mostly maintain the corrections even while stressed is admirable, considering you spent so long ingraining those habits, to begin with."
Jean couldn't reply, still unable to gather her breath, and Blake watched as she struggled to brush the sweaty mess of hair from her face where it had come out of its tie.
"You are still to direct, however." Blake said evenly, "You are also almost always the first to act, which isn't necessarily a bad thing in most cases, but if your focus remains on outputting as many attacks as quickly as possible you will inevitably fall into a trap from any opponent who can match your pace."
"The," Jean managed breathlessly, "Kick?"
"The kick," Blake confirmed, "You used the same series of attacks several times, and the gap towards the end was easy to capitalize on given I'd already seen it before."
There was a lull while Jean regained her breath and forced herself into a seated position.
"It's remarkable how difficult it is even to touch you now," Jean breathed, "The way you suddenly accelerate at the most inopportune times is incredibly frustrating."
"It is much easier to use small bursts of reinforcement then it is to hold a single encompassing one," Blake said evenly, "The rest will come in time I'm sure, but this is enough to even the playing field between us at least when you are restricted to melee."
Jean let out a tired laugh.
"I've been using reinforcement for more than a decade, but this doesn't feel like an even playing field." Jean said honestly, "None the less, you are a remarkable instructor, and I plan on learning as much as I can from you."
"I intend the same," Blake said smoothly, "If my own teacher had been half as skilled at abstraction as you are, I would have learned much faster."
Jean tilted her head at the comment, and her hair fell in a pile in front of her chest. Blake realized he had revealed something that he hadn't intended, and that Jean was intelligent enough to read between the lines.
"Who was your teacher?" Jean asked curiously, "I wouldn't think that abstraction of thought had much a place within martial arts."
"A man named Han," Blake said evenly, "It doesn't, at least not when relating to purely physical combat."
Jean raised an eyebrow at him archly, but he didn't respond to the unasked question, and she didn't force his hand by asking.
"Interesting," Jean said pleasantly, still looking like a complete mess. "I noticed several things about your use of reinforcement that we should go over as well, while it's fresh in my mind."
Blake smiled at the woman; he was glad to have met her.
Lecture Hall C, Chaldeas.
February 22nd, 2015, 8:53 AM.
"We've mostly covered it already, but I would like to make sure you're all on the same page," Feend vor Sembren said seriously. "Ms. Maru, what is the standard mission progression?"
"Gudako! Gu-da-ko!" Gudako Maru complained, "I tell you every time, teacher! Gu-"
Blake glanced at the pouting girl for a moment, auburn shoulder-length hair, and a ponytail on the side of her head, how strange, but she was certainly energetic.
"Gudako," Feend said dryly, "What is the standard mission progression?"
Gudako practically beamed at the man.
"First, we send in Team A!" Gudako said easily, "They scout the area out for any hostiles that could attack the rest of us upon arrival, and establish a base of operations, then-"
"Explain the base of operations," Feend interjected evenly before she could roll on past it.
"Right!" Gudako said happily, "We find a building, structure, or defensible area that is out of plain sight, but it depends on the environment we are rayshifted too!"
Feend nodded, gesturing for her to continue, and Blake listened idly as he continued practicing his reinforcement.
"Once we have a base and relative safety, Team B-which is my team! and C will be brought in." Gudako said, grinning. "Team D will follow soon after with all the supplies we request based on the situation."
Blake glanced at her again, team B, he was in team D likely because he did not know mage-craft or the existence of any of this prior to being recruited by Jean.
"Perfect answer, well done, Gudako." Feend praised evenly, "What are the team's designations? Mr. Laine?"
Blake glanced up at his name.
"Team A is the scouting team, Team B and C are the combat teams, Team D is the backup team, and the one in which I am assigned. Each team is made up of twelve masters, for a total of forty-eight complete master-servant pairs, if every summoning succeeds." Blake said evenly, "The designations are simply the team duties and do not reflect the capabilities of the masters themselves, and all teams are required to summon as soon as they can safely do so."
"Perfect," Feend said pleased, "Who wants to cover the protocol once all of the teams are on-site?"
Romani Archaman's Office, Chaldeas.
February 28th, 2015, 3:53 PM.
"You are in excellent shape," Romani said curiously, "Were you an athlete of some kind before you came here?"
"I exercise every day," Blake said simply, "I also practice 'martial arts' regularly."
The word still annoyed him, but he would use it because it was the commonly used title for someone who fights with their body here.
"I see," Romani said thoughtfully, "How are you dealing with the after-effects of the conversion process?"
Blake found this entire conversation to be incredibly uncomfortable, revealing the state of his body, and how it reacted to certain things seemed like he was revealing potential vulnerabilities to a stranger; even so, he could follow the rationale behind it.
"The fatigue is irritating, but it only lasts for several hours, so it is tolerable." Blake said carefully, "You are probably not the person to ask, but is there any similar level of fatigue associated with summoning a servant?"
Romani blinked at the question.
"It can be taxing, or so I've heard, depending on the consumption rate of magical energy," Romani said thoughtfully, "Although there is no actual fatigue, mental or otherwise."
Blake nodded, the man was clearly knowledgeable about many things even outside of his specialization.
"The uncertainty around all of this had led to a lot of stress for the vast majority of the masters," Romani said pleasantly, "Are you dealing with the stress in a healthy way?"
Blake stared at the man in exasperation.
"The stress?" Blake said incredulously, "Nothing has happened since I have arrived, there is no stress, it is boredom that I am in constant conflict with."
"Boredom?" Romani said, startled.
"I am rarely able to fight anyone in this place," Blake said annoyed, "Even then it is standard training, I wish to do battle, I wish to fight something, the day of this singularity could not come quicker."
"Well," Romani said strangely, "That's the first time I've heard something like that I must admit, most of the contributors to stress that are reported here are the lack of contact with families, friends or the threat of violent death by hostile forces."
Blake scoffed.
"I have no family, and there is nothing I desire more than conflict with 'hostile forces.'" Blake said evenly. "I wish to test myself against something, and I will admit that I am becoming more ill-tempered every day I am forced to wait."
Romani scratched the back of his head, looking kind of lost.
Lecture Hall C, Chaldeas.
March 4th, 2015, 10:21 AM.
Feend vor Sembren strode down to the front row and placed a large but simple cloth bag on Gudako's desk, and by the way it deformed on contact, Blake could tell that it was filled with lots of small objects, whose purpose was unknown to him.
"These are artificial crystals with the same threshold requirement as the quartz crystals," Feend said evenly, "Gudako, please pass them out the everyone, make sure to take a hand full each."
"Here you go, Blake!" Gudako said happily, holding out the bag.
Blake took a handful of the glass-like crystals and met the woman's eyes.
"Thank you, Gudako," Blake said evenly.
Gudako beamed at him, before bouncing over to the next closest person.
"See!" Gudako stage whispered, "He doesn't hate us! He's just shy."
Blake outright ignored the nonsense she was telling her companion, instead of focusing on the crystals on the desk. Small, perhaps the size of an eraser, with several spikes warping out in every direction, he could see straight through it. The actual Quartz Crystals where multicolored, opalescent things, while these were simply transparent rock or a glass of some kind.
"As I was saying," Feend continued once they all had some, "These have the same threshold as the quartz crystals, you will be attempting to convert your Od into magical energy, and then filling these false crystals until they activate."
Blake watched the man demonstrate it clearly, the crystal, from where his two fingers held it on either side abruptly started to become hazy until the entire thing seemed almost filled with a cloud of grey smoke. Then the crystal abruptly disintegrated into a fine dust that fell to the floor like sand.
"Not quite the exact effect as consuming the Quartz Crystals during the exchange but close enough to serve as a decent representation." Feend said easily, "These are easy to make and cost almost nothing, so feel free to practice as much as you need to."
The crystal felt smooth in his hand, as well as somewhat cool to the touch, and it took a moment's attention to ignite his circuits. Blake closed his eyes and felt the process of his Od undergo the conversion into magical energy before he directed it into the crystal. It seemingly absorbed the magical energy easily, almost to the point where it was actively assisting him in the task.
Blake opened his eyes when the crystal vanished from his senses, to find a small pile of crystalline dust on the table. The exercise was absurdly simple, and even if the Quartz Crystal were several times more challenging to fill, it would still be barely a moment's effort to accomplish.
They had designed this process from start to finish, within the constraints of the natural world, which was an impressive achievement, they had streamlined this to be as easy to replicate as possible, something he was growing more accustomed to every day.
The ease at which everything was seemingly handed to them was absurd, what was next, would they offer to swing his sword for him? Block his opponent's attacks for him? Carry him around the battlefield so as not to tire his legs?
Blake snorted at the thought as he repeated the simple process with the next crystal, almost immediately reducing it to a fine powder, before reaching for the next one.
"Blake!" Gudako said happily, before dropping her own pile of crystals on his table and taking a seat opposite him.
"Gudako," Blake said evenly.
He didn't bother opening his eyes, as he moved onto the next crystal, but this time paying closer attention to the feeling of his energy filling the crystal, to see if he could derive anything more from the exercise.
"Do you want to come to eat with us later?" Gudako said easily.
"No," Blake said immediately, "I do not."
"Ouch," Gudako laughed, "You didn't even think about it! Why not?"
"I have witnessed your 'socializing,'" Blake said dryly, "I have much more valuable things to be doing with my time than sharing embarrassing stories."
"They weren't all embarrassing!" Gudako complained, "What are you going to do then?"
Blake cracked an eye open for a moment, but Gudako was focused almost entirely on her own crystal, as she reduced it to dust without effort.
"I will be refining my reinforcement in preparation for our first mission," Blake said evenly, as long as she wasn't wasting her own time he didn't mind the small distraction.
"Reinforcement?" Gudako said curiously, "That's usually one of the things you learn right at the start along with structural analysis, alteration, and more useless things like projection, I'm surprised you're still working on it."
Blake felt the threshold activate this time, and the brief flicker of magical energy that converted the structure into dust brushed across his senses.
"The basics are the foundation that everything else rests upon," Blake said evenly, "If your foundation is weak, then why bother to build anything at all?
"That sounds like something my grandfather would say." Gudako snickered.
He quickly went back to ignoring her.
Lecture Hall C, Chaldeas.
March 8th, 2015, 11:21 AM
"The date of the first singularity has been confirmed for next week." Feend said gravely, "This is to be my last session with you all, you have all conducted yourself impressively. I want you to run over the protocols for an hour every day and prepare yourselves as much as you can."
"Teacher!" Gudako cried before launching herself at the man.
Feend was so startled he didn't even have the presence of mind to stop the younger woman as she wrapped her arms around his chest in a hug.
"Gudako!" Feend said embarrassedly, "Please remove yourself from my person."
"No!" Gudako cried, "You're my favorite teacher! You can't leave us; it's too sad!"
The other few masters who were in their class were laughing amongst themselves at the man's predicament. Blake just snorted at the woman; she was acting like a clingy child instead of the adult she was.
"He's going to teach other people, Gudako!" One of her friends laughed, "He'll forget all about you!"
"Nooooo!" Gudako cried.
"Ashley," Feend said, bewildered. "Stop taunting her and help me."
"Sorry, teach!" 'Ashley' laughed and made no move to remove her friend.
Blake didn't want to waste any more time, so he stepped forward and helped the man escape her.
"Thank you, Blake," Feend said, relieved as he straightened his suit.
Gudako clawed at air hysterically as Blake steered her forcefully back to her seat.
"Gudako, do not waste anymore of my time," Blake said evenly, "Sit down."
Gudako sat down obediently, still crying, and he moved back to his own seat.
"Gudako!" 'Ashley' stage whispered, "Blake's jealous that you hugged another man!"
"Really?" Gudako said immediately, no longer crying.
Blake ignored the nonsense entirely and seated himself.
"Where was I?" Feend said, frowning. "Oh, the director will be addressing all of the masters on the morning of the first mission. Make sure you are prepared to attend at a moment's notice."
Another briefing, Blake wondered. If it was that same woman with the white hair, it was likely to cover everything they had already learned over the last month again, how annoying.
"You'll be supplied with the standard mystic codes that you are familiar with, namely the protective suits you used during the simulations dives." Feend reminded, "Along with your single designated Quartz Crystal, I think I've said it enough already, but treat the crystal with care; you will not be supplied another for this mission if you break or lose it before summoning."
Blake didn't mind the parting advice.
"You'll be assigned a specific Spiritron Chassis, the Coffin's, Luke," Feend said aggrieved at the sheepish look the boy had on his face. "Do not attempt to damage them in any way; while they are durable on the outside, they do have delicate instruments on the inside."
Feend scanned the room for a moment before nodding to himself.
"It was a pleasure instructing you all, and once you have saved humanity from possible erasure, it might even become an honor." Feend smiled at them, "So whatever you do, make sure you don't die, at least for the sake of my reputation if nothing else."
Blake snorted at the man's priorities.
Central Control Room, Chaldeas.
March 12th, 2015, 9:50 AM.
Blake was annoyed to find that he was correct; the president did reiterate the basics once more. The only thing that had managed to get him through the speech was the audacity of the newest master that he didn't yet know the name of.
The younger man had actually fallen asleep during the address, and the president's fury was a sight to behold as she booted the culprit out of the room entirely and banned him from participating in the first singularity, which was both amusing and an incredible waste of resources given the current situation.
Once the president had finished her attempt at morale-boosting, they were lead to a room where they all quickly stripped down and put on the provided mystic codes. There was some giggling and awkward laughs amongst them at the co-ed change room, but Blake paid no mind to the immaturity.
"Blake, you're smiling!" Gudako said amazed, as she struggled to pull the bodysuit down over her shoulders. "If all I had to do were take my shirt off, I would have done it earlier!"
"Don't flatter yourself; they aren't that good." Blake snorted, "I'm simply looking forward to actually doing something exciting for the first time in months."
"They are so!" Gudako cried out offended, as she finally managed to drag the material down to cover her chest. "You're not even worried at all?"
"No," Blake said pleasantly, "Are you?"
"Of course!" Gudako said cheerfully, "What if we get attacked before we can summon anything?"
Blake grinned at the thought of fighting whatever was inside by himself.
"That certainly sounds like fun," Blake said evenly.
Gudako gave him a strange look, but the door opened, and one of the attendants started to usher them out into the central room that was filled with coffins. Blake strode out as soon as he was dressed, distantly disappointed that the request for an offensive mystic code had been delayed.
They were each led to there assigned Spiritron chassis and handed a durable container containing the single Quartz Crystal they were allocated for the mission, before the front of the coffins slid shut. There was a timer up the top on a small panel there that showed the time, and he watched it idly while taking the time to practice with his reinforcement.
As long as he stopped actively using it when the coffin started the conversion process, he would be fine.
Other places to find me!
Elbowsnapper on SpaceBattles, SubscribeStar, or Pa-Tre-On.