Chapter 69: Unlocking Magic
Kir breathed a sigh of relief when he was assigned to a circle of fighters that did not include Lugh.
"Hey new guy," someone called to Kir as he joined the circle. He turned to see a beastkin woman long, antelope-like horns spiraling up past her helmet. "Start flowing your mana, gotta keep it on for the rest of training or you’re going to lose one of those pretty horns of yours." She tapped her own horn.
Kir assumed she meant circulating his mana. He had started circulating internally even before coming to class, focusing on not letting it escape him. He was still doing so now. "Thank you for the advice," Kir said. "I’m Kir."
"I heard. I’m Ata. I’m seniormost here so I’m in charge of this circle," she gestured vaguely at the rest of the group. "Go on and introduce yourselves."
As the rest of the group introduced themselves, with varying degrees of wariness of him, Kir noticed that all the other groups seemed centered around senior-looking cadets. His tail flicked with curiosity but he stayed quiet, deciding to focus on the task in front of him.
Very quickly, his expectations were blown out of the water.
Most of the cadets didn’t use swords, preferring spears, axes, or maces. The training versions of these were all wood, but some of the cadets used dulled weapons.
The way the cadets sparred, even if it wasn’t entirely serious, made it obvious that if the Olympics had come to Ayther, not one world-class athlete would have been able to keep up with the trainees here.
It wasn’t just the sheer strength and speed they put on display as the cadets began to spar in pairs. Their endurance made it evident that they could spar all day if they had to.
Ata came over and laid a heavy hand on Kir’s shoulder, such that Kir got an eyeful of her thick, black fingernails. She was only taller than him because of her horns. "You and me are going next," she said. "Good to see you know how to flow your mana." She withdrew her hand and stepped into the ring formed by the rest of their group.
Kir followed, his tail flicking with a bit of apprehension, his training sword held in the same two-handed grip as when he’d been doing drills with the other Academy students.