WW Chapter 89: Shrouding Plans (Patreon)

Together, Ezra and Basil went to eat a rushed meal, now somewhat late instead of early. The last stragglers remained in the room, but, other than continued glances at the two men, they remained far away. The meal went quick, and after putting their trays away, Basil faded back into obscurity as Ezra made his way into the training pit that he was supposed to be at.

Walking in, instead of the usual veiled hostility from the anti-Duke faction, there was no small amount of terror. None of the four people involved in the fight were there, presumably both healing and being interrogated, and those that remained studiously avoided making eye contact. When they couldn’t help but look in his direction, they immediately turned their heads away.

“Who pissed in their breakfast? They’re not the ones who had knives pulled on them,” Ezra grumbled to Telemachus. His friend narrowed his eyes and stared, before scoffing and shaking his head.

“You realize that less than an hour ago, you won a fight against their three strongest people in the middle of what was probably the worst circumstances you could be in? Then, after being taken to the General to be questioned, you’re back here as if nothing happened. Of course they’re scared of you.”

“Nah, it wasn’t so bad. I mean, I was wearing my armor,” Ezra joked. Even so, the fact that he hadn’t taken a single real hit in dismantling four people in unarmed combat wasn’t something to be forgotten. He settled down, scratching his chin and feeling the stubble there as, for the first time in quite a while, Michel came forward to teach the whole group of trainees.

“Welcome. Before we get into anything, though, all people who have had extended association with Anders Longfellow or Count Longfellow will need to report to the general immediately. He has some questions for you.”

For a beat, nobody moved, then Michel turned his attention directly to Tobias, the one who could probably be called the leader among the anti-Duke faction now that all of the Adepts and Anders himself were gone. At being called out so directly, Tobias nodded once, turned, and strode right out of the room. One or two of the remainders seemed to think about trying to stick around, to plead their innocence, but reconsidered after Michel started to turn his attention towards them.

Over the months of being here, nobody had left the Knight training squad, and instead, there’d been one addition to the commoners, two to the unaffiliated, and two more to the anti-Duke faction. Now, with five more, there would have been thirty-one people in here, but with the eleven anti-Duke trainees exiled, there remained an even twenty.

“Now, for the rest of you, I will not give any further details than what I give now. However, know that there is currently an expedition being planned, one which will take place over the course of several months. Evaluations are being made on if any of you will be selected to go along with any more experienced soldiers, and your performance in the coming days will determine if you are selected or rejected.”

Michel didn’t give any more information than that, but he didn’t need to. Most of the trainees only got to leave the garrison to go on patrols, and they spent their days training and training and training. There hadn’t been any extermination expedition since the one that Ezra and Telemachus had gone on, and an opportunity to do anything was fiercely sought after.

In the training afterwards, everyone of the trainees pushed themselves hard, testing each other, and especially themselves.

Knowing that Basil was in the room, evaluating Ezra specifically, Ezra also didn’t hold back. With Michel serving as the teacher today, he had plenty of opportunity to push himself, to see if he could figure out what he had felt the other day with something approaching a shroud. Then, there was what he had done this morning against Willem, which could be another view into that possibility.

The only reason that Ezra’s defense had held strong against the other Adept’s aura-infused attack had been the combination of his armor and his own inner world being notably stronger than the noble’s. As he had long since learned, his wind wasn’t solid enough to provide a solid defense. It helped him move quickly, it helped him react and to notice things, but wind wasn’t great at knocking things away. The fact that he had been able to cut Willem was a differing application of his natural attribute’s form and function.

So how had he managed to do it?

For the better part of an hour, since Michel had virtually determined that this training session was a self-study opportunity of sorts, Ezra tried to re-create what he had done. In concept, he understood, but getting himself to do the same thing over again simply wasn’t happening. The wind would hover over his arm, but only for a second before going somewhere else. It wanted to go places, to see things, to wander and be unfettered. Maybe it was because it was a single burst in response?

You’re starting to touch on what a shroud is. Keep experimenting, you were able to use what is half of a shroud this morning. Your thinking is too limited.

Jormun’s instruction was helpful, at least somewhat, and making sure that Ezra was prioritizing continued experimentation. Even so, the fact that he was on the right line meant Ezra wanted to be able to do it at least one more time!

“Come here,” Michel said to Ezra, from surprisingly close. The younger man had gotten distracted, and he blinked rapidly as he looked at Michel.

“I’m going to slowly attack you with aura. Defend yourself, exactly like what you’re trying to do.” Michel didn’t wait for anything else, pulling a wooden training sword from the wall and swinging it with deliberate slowness towards Ezra’s left side. The blade glowed with radiant aura, and Ezra raised his arm, tried to cover it with aura, and took the blow.

Instead of doing anything, as the aura hovered there for a second before dissipating uselessly. The sword’s edge impacted Ezra’s arm and sent a flash of light and heat that had Ezra cursing as he stepped back.

“Is that how you defended?”

“What?” Ezra demanded, blinking the spots from his eyes.

“You are trying to replicate a defense that you successfully used, I would assume,” Michel explained. “I am attempting to put you back in the same situation that you were in when you were successful. So, when you defended successfully, did you make the same movements that you just did?”

The fact that Michel said nothing about how he obviously knew what Ezra was attempting to replicate almost made him smile. Instead, he thought about how he had repelled Willem’s attack.

“No. I struck back against it, closing in before it could get close to my body.”

Michel didn’t have to give any further instruction as he nodded once, reset his stance, and started making the same swing at Ezra again. This time, Ezra stepped forward, closing in to smack his forearm into the blade of Michel’s sword, just above the crossguard. Again, he pushed his aura into his forearm, and this time it did more than hover there for a split second. It slowed the attack before it could make contact with Ezra’s gauntlet, but the weapon still struck his arm and heated the metal armor further.

Ezra scowled, looking at the weapon. He’d almost recaptured that feeling, but not quite.

“The act of sending large amounts of aura away from yourself is typically reserved to Knights,” Michel said. “Sending waves of aura is not the function of the shroud. It repels, but it is still based around the body of the person who wields it.”

Ezra thought for a second, nodding slowly as he realized what Michel was getting at. That time, he tried to push Michel’s sword away instead of brace himself. The natural reaction of the wind was to cut what was trying to attack him, to blow it away, but it wasn’t him sending a gust of wind so much as the wind reacting.

Another hour passed in similar fashion, as he continued to try to create something that was like a shroud against Michel’s attacks. The more practice he got, the more proficient he became, until Michel was swinging with something not much less than half of his strength, and Ezra was repelling each attack.

“Your sense of self is very strong,” Michel said, as they took their fourth break for Ezra to recover his inner world’s aura reserves. “That isn’t a good or a bad thing, just know that it gives your aura a stronger presence. Chances are, you’ll experience greater aura depletion compared to somebody who has a similar affinity and is in your same tier. However, that will make your wind aura more capable of doing things that others with wind cannot.”

As Ezra started to respond, then he narrowed his eyes, thinking about the form of his inner world. It still was a swirling wind, something that Jormun said was similar to a tornado, but it had grown denser. The moisture and the cold he had brought into the wind made the winds heavy, sometimes more cutting, but there was still something missing about it. Something about his inner world that he didn’t yet understand, similar to how Chloe wasn’t sure how she had to change her own affinity.

Thinking of this, Ezra asked, “Is part of this density going to be related to my changing internal world? Because I can feel that it’s not finished, not even nearly, so will this solidness come from me understanding myself better?”

“Almost certainly,” Michel confirmed. “No person’s inner world is identical to another’s, and a greater understanding of yourself will continue to adjust what you are capable of.”

He didn’t argue, just nodding as he continued pulling the area’s ambient aura into himself. It was becoming more difficult the further along he went, as the environment’s aura seemed to be thinning. As Ezra opened his eyes and looked around, he could feel that there was significantly less ambient aura around that could come to his support. 

“We’re done here,” Michel said as Ezra tried to figure out what was happening. His inner world still wasn’t fully replenished, but he couldn’t say anything as he instead looked around and found Telemachus and Dirk standing nearby. Rose, Miriam, and Luna were putting their own equipment away, though as they finished, they also approached the two Adepts. Ezra saluted Michel as the Pseudo-Knight made his way out of the training pit. The commoners then surrounded him as the other remaining trainees seemed to try to figure out if they should leave or come talk to Ezra.

Even Ezra, as inexperienced as he was, could feel the allegiance of the unaligned trainees sway towards him. He’d been dominating the trainings as the undisputed strongest person in the squad, but now he’d show that he was either strong or important enough to circumvent the political power that the anti-Duke faction held. But, if that would hold true once Count Longfellow heard about it, so the uncertainty made sense. 

He didn’t care about that, though, and waved at the outsiders, Patrice, Tula, and Quinn especially. They waved back, and then, Ezra was bombarded with questions. He couldn’t hear any clearly, but then Telemachus raised his hand and cut off the others. 

“You said you could tell us more later. It’s later, so tell us more.”