Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) Daniel Schinhofen (books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📖

and beat him soundly. Even the teacher has been taking notice of how the three of us are doing.”

“I expect his clan to speak with us soon,” Nessa said. “Them and the Iron Hand. A few of the adepts are from the Iron Hand, and they’ve been taking note of us, as well.”

“The Iron Hand is friendly to us,” Yukiko said. “The Hardened Fist… aren’t really friends or enemies with anyone. They hold their neutrality highly, though the Iron Hand doesn’t care for them at all.”

“That explains some of the friction in the class,” Victoria nodded. “Some of the adepts have nearly come to blows a few times. We’ve had a handful of ‘demonstrations’ over the last two weeks.”

“You should read more on the clans so you know about them,” Jenn suggested. “It might help when they approach you.”

“I’d been considering it, just so I can have knowledge about the ideals each clan holds highest,” Nessa said.

“We’ve chatted enough,” Yukiko said gently. “It’s time to study.”

“Yes, Yuki,” the three novices said. They each pulled out some paper and ink and started creating Magi Squares for each other.

Chapter Forty

 

Nearly two more weeks of routine passed without major incident for them. Two of those days had been taken up by Hayworth’s group and the apprentices from Yamato Shipping having a challenge. Surprisingly, it wasn’t combat, but Empire’s Gambit, with Egil being the adjudicator of the matches.

All of the apprentices were in the main room, watching the five games play out. Though they were given breaks to get some food and relieve themselves, they were otherwise observing the matches for nearly two straight days.

The instructors walked around the room, waking any student who nodded off with a cuff to the back of the head, a loud word in the ear, and other jarring actions. The ones who used aether to keep themselves awake were obvious in small ways— the body path users looked refreshed, but it was obvious they couldn’t follow the game easily. Mind path users had bright eyes, but their movements were sluggish and jerky. The few spirit path magi seemed the best of the three with bright eyes and sure movements, but they would go still for hour-long stretches, clearly meditating without seeing.

Both Elkit and Harrison stayed near Gregory, Yukiko, and Jenn, waiting for a chance to rebuke them for sleeping. They never got the chance, as all of them took turns meditating with their eyes open and burning their aether to stay sharp and focused.

In the end, Hayworth’s group won the fourth and deciding game out of the best-of-five format, but Egil still made them play the fifth game. The last match didn’t take long, as the player for Yamato Shipping was mind path while the apprentice for Swift Wind was body path.

That game helped reaffirm what Dia had told them about their aether being used to help them stay awake. They knew that it would be obvious that they were on more than a single path, and that they would need to play into being on the spirit path during those moments.

~*~*~

Gregory was looking forward to the game today, as Paul had promised a change from what they’d been doing. “Do you think he’s going to start us playing on multiple fronts?”

“It’s a possibility,” Yukiko said, “but I think he’s going to force us to play nations other than the empire.”

“Oh,” Gregory said, his excitement ebbing. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“You have to know what your opponent is capable of if you want to have a better chance to defeat them,” Jenn said. “Clover and Ling have been studying hard. I wonder what they’ll do?”

“We’ll find out shortly,” Yukiko said. “It’ll probably be like us dabbling with the other nations— a learning curve. What about Farin?”

“He’s been a surprise,” Gregory said. “He’s willing to learn and is even eager, in his own way, but he’s obviously not on the mind path. He’s been determined to learn since Paul got him a trainer. You can see his drive. He was very happy about the book too.”

“Farin is vastly different from Chucky,” Jenn said, “and he is glad to be away from Nick’s group.”

“Can’t blame him for that. Wonder if Chucky regrets his choice of leaving now?” Gregory snickered.

“Or if their mutual dislike of us has caused a new friendship?” Yukiko suggested.

Gregory went silent as he considered that.

“There they are,” Clover said, bouncing up from her seat. “We grew, we grew, we grew!” She fished her medallion out as she did a fun little dance. “Rank ten! We made it to rank ten!”

“Both of us,” Ling said. She had her medallion out when they looked at her. “We never expected to reach this rank so quickly after the last one.”

“Congratulations,” Gregory grinned at Clover. “You’ll be in the apprentice tier in no time now.”

“All that extra studying must be paying off,” Yukiko said, going to Ling. “How does it feel?”

“Amazing,” Ling smiled. “Since we’ve been learning with you, it’s felt so much easier.”

Yukiko glanced at Gregory, who gave a micro-shrug.

“It has been,” Clover agreed. “And we have friends now, too.” She grinned and lurched forward to hug Jenn. “I like friends! Thank you.”

Jenn laughed and patted Clover on the back. “We like friends, too, and we’re glad you’re ours.”

“Friends make things easier,” Gregory said.

“They can, indeed,” Paul said, coming into the room, trailed by Farin. “Clans can strain friendships, or even break them, however. It’s something to keep in mind when you have friends who don’t share a clan with you.”

“Yes, sir,” all six of them echoed.

“Today, we’re doing something different. You’ve all made strides with the empire, but to be ready for being an adept or magus, you need to know what our enemies might do. With that in mind, we will