A Step Into The Danger Zone(Clyde Sullins)

by **Garland** on January 18th, 2017, 7:42 am

Garland nodded. "I guess incantations and gestures stay relevant throughout the whole of reimancy, what about other magics, Clyde? Do they support focuses as well?"

Garland noted what Clyde said about the focus not actually making his magic better, just he could possibly cast it faster. He let the flame that was floating above him burn out. "I should have brought marshmallows..." He muttered to himself, and willed in some more res.

He muttered under his breath. "Family..." And the res materialized quicker than before, even by a few ticks.

When Clyde had finished his explanation, Garland raised his hand to ask a question, but the res followed where he was pointing and it shot straight up, pass Garland's field of control.

Garland took a few steps to the side to avoid fireball as it dropped down. If it did drop down that is, Garland wasn't sure if res followed the laws of gravity or if gravity was a real thing, he just thought of the word when an apple was dropped on him from the second floor of the Herald's Arm.

Someone must have had a food fetish, because a few chimes of food being thrown out the window followed.

"You say after magical practice I can't do physical practice and have to actually relax, correct? What about if I do physical training and tire myself out there, would I still have the djed to create res or would it be easier to overgive at that point?"

Garland created another miza sized glob of res and willed some more fire to it. "I am feeling a bit winded now that I think about it, but its not something I can't handle... That's what an idiot that would overgive within a week say... I should probably stop as soon as we're done here."

by **Clyde Sullins** on January 18th, 2017, 11:11 pm

It wasn't long before Garland nearly set himself no fire a second time. Considering the short amount of time he'd been practicing the magic, it was rather often to be doing so.

The res and fire would fly upward out of the squires reach. Once that happened the flames would drop due to the res no longer holding it in place with attraction. However as it dropped t would also spread, no longer held or concentrated without attractive pull doing so.

A short bit of time later the res would begin to drift downward. Due to its light nature as a gas this would be much slower than the flame, but eventually it would descend and fall within reach.

“Some magics more than others, but yes in my experience they are of use with most personal magics.”

Clyde was careful to make the clarification of personal magics, as world magics in general were rather different from most personal magics beyond just the source of djed.

His next question though, on res, made Clyde glare once more. Annoyance showing on his face and in his tone, Clyde answered.

“Garland, I just explained that. Didn't you listen to what I said? We're gonna be here all day if you don't listen and I have to reexplain things. Tired is tired, djed spent is djed spent, no matter if its from mundane or magical usage. The only difference is with mundane use you are limited in the djed you can use. With magical use there is no limit, and that is where overgiving comes in.”

Letting out a sigh, Clyde resolved himself to explain the concept in simpler terms. However he was somewhat annoyed, as he'd just moments before explained that it went both ways.

“Fine, I'll explain it as simply as possible. Think of your usable djed as a hole in the ground. A small hole full of water. Next to it is a shallow, dirty, creek. Whenever you do anything, magical or mundane, you use up some of that water. Drink it. Think of your djed use, your actions, as drinking water. Now, over time rain comes, and slowly that hole will refill with water. But if you drink it faster than it refills, it'll be empty. When its empty you are spent, exhausted in the mundane sense. But as I said, that exhaustion can come, that emptiness in the hole, can come whether you drink it mundanely or magically.”

“Now, the difference between the hole and the creek is in how it can be used. That hole full of clean water, it can be used magically or mundanely. The creek though, it can only be used magically. The creek is overgiving, but you only drink out of it when you finish all the water in the hole.”

“So whether you use it up by magic or normal means, if you are out of usable djed, if you've drunk the hole dry, it doesn't matter, should you then use magic you'll draw from that dirty creek. And bad things happen when you drink from a dirty creek. Understand?”

Clyde would give Garland time once more to answer, before pressing on to the final bit of the lesson.

“Now, as I said before, transmutation is only a last resort. If at all possible attraction is preferable. But you must bear in mind when you do use transmutation and turn your res into an element, it is just that, the element. For a bit you'll retain control, but soon after, almost instantly, it'll act and behave just like its mundane version in most circumstances.”

“What does fire do when there is nothing to control it? It falls, and it burns. So if you have a piece of res, and transmute all of it into fire, whats that normal fire gonna do? Its gonna fall and burn things.”

“That is why you normally won't transmute all of your res at once into an element. General practice is to transmute the outer layer into the element, while keeping the core as res to attract, hold, and guide it. Only when you are about to hit your target, or more likely in your case your limit will be when the res is about to reach the edges of your control, will you transmute the whole and toss it along its path. That allows you to keep control over it for as long as possible, and to be as accurate as possible.”

“Of course, depending on how far your target is that might not be much help. You'd probably be lucky to hit a tree 10 feet away as it is now without your aim being off, even if you transmute at the outer edge of your control. Still, you need to practice. For the final bit of our lesson, I want you to practice some partial transmutation. Collect a miza sized ball of res. Then transmute the outer layer into fire. Then pick a target, and toss your fire at it, waiting till the last moment to transmute the core.”

by **Garland** on January 19th, 2017, 5:39 am

Garland listened to Clyde as he explained it as simple as he could. Garland was not a smart man, he was muscle and not brain, he was instinct not tactics, he was more animal on the battlefield than man.

So it wasn't a surprise if his mind blanked out when Clyde said something and had to repeat himself. "I think I understand, if one gets better with reimancy, you could say that you were digging a bigger hole for the water."

Garland let the flame that was hovering an arm's length away die out, and he tried what Clyde was teaching, he willed more of the res and muttered the word 'family' under his breath once more.

He then willed the flame from the campfire to his hand , but only in the exterior of the res, the inside was still the misty blue gas he had come to recognize as his own res. Garland briefly thought about throwing the ball of fire to Clyde, for shykes and giggles, but quickly the thought disappeared.

He saw a lone tree, dead without anything near it to catch the flame Garland were to miss. He didn't want to burn down a large section of the forest... Again.

Garland extended the res to the edge of his zone of control, he aimed at the tree and with a flick of the hand the res inside the fire turned and merged with the outer fire and then he threw the ball of fire at the tree.

The ball was madly off target and landed pass the tree and hit the ground and just disappeared from existence.

by **Clyde Sullins** on January 21st, 2017, 1:24 am

Clyde stared somewhat dumbstruck at Garland, before he switched to annoyance bordering rage.

“What the petch was that! I gave you a simple set of directions Gar, simple! And you went and did something completely different which defeated the purpose of the ENTIRE thing I was trying to teach you.”

Glaring at the squire, showing him quite clearly how annoyed he was at not following his direction for the lesson, Clyde let out a huff of air before continuing.

“I said I wanted you to practice PARTIAL transmutation Gar, partial. What part of using attraction and then transmuting the entire wad of res into fire fits that? I didn't even tell you to use attraction! I petching told you specifically not to this time, because this bit of practice was about transmutation. I... Petch Gar, are you trying to tick me off, or are you just this dumb?”

Done fuming for the moment, Clyde walked off, grumbling as he inspected the area the fire had landed. He wasn't sure what he'd been trying to hit, but whatever it was he had a feeling the empty patch of land he was scratching at wasn't it.

Returning to Gar's side he stared at the squire, still annoyed but speaking in a more even tone now.

“I said collect a ball of res, transmute the outer layer, so as to practice partial transmutation, which is a skill you'll need for any proper Reimancy. Then to toss it and transmute the core of res as it left your area of control. Instead you used attraction, and then transmuted the entire piece of res at once, and so learned nothing about partial transmutation. Did you consider following my directions Gar? Or that I might have a reason for giving you a specific set of instructions to learn something specific? I'd have you do it again if you hadn't already wasted so much djed. The last thing I need is you overgiving.”

“Precision is important Gar. Control, is important. Do you have any idea the control it takes not to just set you on fire right now? NO, because you've got petching no control! Any half wit can transmute an entire piece of res at once, its easy. I asked you to transmute a part, a specific willed portion at a time, with precision and focus. That is what you need to learn. Otherwise you risk killing yourself every time your res gets to close to your body. What would have happened if you'd done that when half of the piece of res was in contact with you? You'd have either set yourself on fire, or turned part of yourself into a ball of flame.”

Pausing, Clyde spit on the ground at Garland's feet, though not so as to directly hit him with the spittle.

“And that's not at all how djed works. No, you don't understand. Its not like digging a bigger hole. You are the petching hole, you don't dig a bigger one. It never gets deeper, you don't learn to hold more djed. You just get more efficient at using whats in that hole. Instead of taking two sips of water to run to the castle and back, it only takes one, or half a sip. Thats how djed works. You don't get more, you just get more efficient at using it, so you can do more with the same amount, or use less to do the old thing as you get better. Not deeper, just more efficient.”

by **Garland** on January 21st, 2017, 3:57 am

Apparently Garland is a stupid and done something wrong.

There was no surprise there. In fact he had expected Clyde's outburst earlier, he was a slow learner, gifted in one art, absolute shyke in everything else. Clyde was not just having an outburst but a full mental breakdown by the looks of it.

Garland was a bit surprised he wasn't set on fire, shot with lighting, frozen in place or some other magical effect. Clyde was more patient than Garland thought, several teachers had already given up on Garland on something he had no skill in.

"So... you drink better?" The stupidity of Garland was unmatched sometimes. Of course he just laughed. "I'm kidding, sorry, I had... things on my mind when you were talking... It happens more often than not."

Garland felt the strain, but he felt like he could do just one more tiny ball of res before he'd force himself to stop. He didn't know his limits but he was being cautious, He'd find something to get his mind of the magic if he has any urgings to use it.

Garland thought about the res, but he stopped. That was the overgiving talking, he could barely hear Clyde over his own urge to use his magic. "R-Right, I should stop... I'll try to practice it in twenty four bells."

Garland stepped back and just now he could feel his knees wobble a bit. He sat down on the ground, feeling battered and winding, like a full day of training with no rests. He didn't feel it before when he was using his magic.

He was too tired to retort or explain himself to Clyde at this point and just breathed in slowly, trying to calm his nerves.

by **Clyde Sullins** on January 25th, 2017, 12:11 am

Considering Clyde's teachers in the past who'd set his example, he was a rather mellow instructor. His Magecrafting mentor and teacher in Ravok had once bodily tossed a student into a canal for some reason or other Clyde couldn't recall. And in Zeltiva and Sahova they'd been no less cutthroat or open. Magic wasn't an easy thing, and most of those who learned to do it well and kept sane were hard in many respects.

Being tough on ones students was both a learned act, and also a purposeful one in the hope of impressing upon his students the seriousness of the matters they dealt in.

When the squire let out another silly quip in response to something he said, Clyde had to bite down an angry reaction. Instead he just glared at the squire, as if his eyes could bore into his skull and thus perhaps give his brain access to his words.

“I don't petching care if you have things on your mind, FOCUS! Do you think you won't have things on your mind when your using magic? When its life or death and failing to properly use a spell means the difference between life and death, failure and success, and getting out unscathed or getting your face eaten off by a zith? Between living you cast another day, or or worse being the only one to? If you don't know how to focus, learn, or else never use magic again. Those are your options.”

“You will take magic seriously. I'm not offering you a choice, not ordering you, I am stating a fact of what you will do. Don't make that statement a lie, or you will regret it. You already made the choice when you signed, and when I agreed to initiate you.”

When Garland sagged to the ground in a plop of flesh, Clyde used the opportunity to explain while the squire had nothing else to do. Tiredness had a way of honing the mind at times, when it didn't do the inverse.

Once more Clyde tried to explain the concept of djed in terms the squire would understand.

“Think of it this way. You run to the castle and back with a full waterskin. How often do you have to stop? How many times would you need to stop, rest, take a drink of water? Say, three times. Well if you kept doing that, day after day, you'd get better. Maybe after awhile you only need to stop twice for a rest and some water. A while longer only one rest and drink of water. Your doing the same thing, but your getting better at it, and so you use that much less water as time passes.”

“Magic is kind of like that, in some ways. You are the water-skin, your djed is the water. As you get better and better, you can do more and more while using the same amount of water, or use less and less water to do the same thing. You don't drink better, you need to drink less, or less often. At least when doing that one activity.”

“But say you switched activities. Instead of running back and forth, you crawl on all fours. Suddenly your using new muscles, and you've got to start training yourself all over. Back at the start of stopping and drinking three times.”

“Now, did you suddenly lose water, did your water-skin shrink? No, you are just doing something new, and have to train all over. That's what I meant when I said you don't dig the hole deeper. So it is if you were to go from using one magic to another, from one you are skilled at to one you are less skilled at. Your water-skin stays the same, and so long as you wait till its refilled the amount of water stays the same, but different tasks will use water at different rates. Of course if you start off with the water-skin half drunk, it won't matter what your doing you'll be limited.”

“If its easier, think of it that way.”

by **Garland** on January 26th, 2017, 5:48 am

Garland sighed and listened, he heard the pounding on his ears and nodded when Clyde explained Djed to Garland for the last time. "Aye, I think I get it now. So just because you've gotten used to Reimancy, djed manipulation and all that, you wouldn't be all that good with say... Flux or some other magic."

Garland was too tired to say anything else. He took out a waterskin and drank deep from it, he felt the cool liquid run down his gullet, it refreshed him somewhat, but he could see what Clyde meant when he said that he needed rest.

Garland offered Clyde a drink of his water, he would most likely refuse, but it didn't really matter to Garland much. "You're a good teacher, Clyde. I'm just a horrible student, the fact that I actually learned something tells of your skill."

Garland shakily stood back up, gave himself a few slaps to wake up his mind a bit more. "That was educational, Clyde... Do you want to walk back with me to the city or should I head back first? Either way, I think I need a nap, and some food and drink, and by drink I mean water, I don't need a hangover with my tiredness."

Garland stumbled his way to his horse, and untied him from the tree. Garland lethargically climbed up the horse and looked over to Clyde and his dog, which the name escapes him at the moment.

"I owe you a drink some time Clyde, but for now I'm gonna go sleep. Climb on if you want a ride back to the city." Garland would wait for Clyde's answer, if he had something to do in the forests or would rather walk back alone, he would head off by himself.

by **Clyde Sullins** on January 26th, 2017, 10:24 pm

Clyde let out a sigh, glad that it seemed the squire had finally grasped the concept and was taking things seriously. Perhaps, he thought to himself, he should always wait till the squire was fall on the ground tired before trying to teach him.

“More or less that's how it works.”

When Garland offered a drink from his waterskin, Clyde turned it down. He had his own he'd brought, and it seemed the squire needed it more right now than he did.

“I've been a teacher almost as long as I've been a mage. Most things, when you do them for long enough, you get good at them. Though that's not necessarily true with magic. But with other more mundane skills, it usually is. Of course, your not liable to go insane or melt your face off from teaching too much.”

As Garland prepared to leave and headed to his horse Clyde shook his head and headed to collect his things.

“I'll head back on my own. I'm in no hurry to get back.”

Gathering his things back into his pack Clyde noticed the book he'd brought along, and pondered it for a moment. Making a decision he bent and retrieved the book, holding it up in his free hand not holding Cha.

“Next time you practice, work on partial transmutation. If you want to get good at Reimancy you need to learn how to be precise with it. You need to be able to transmute only the bits you want, no more or less, and do exactly with it as you wish. Otherwise, things will go poorly. Any idiot can transmute a bunch of res. It takes finesse to be precise and only transmute a bit as you desire and in the way you desire.”

Holding out the book to the squire seated on his horse, Clyde said his parting words.

“Take this. I wrote it awhile back, and I've got copies so you can borrow this one for awhile. It might be of use for a few lessons. Just don't lose it, alright? The last thing I need is a book on Reimancy, particularly one I wrote, loose in the city.”

by **Rufio** on March 22nd, 2017, 1:36 pm

G R A D E

G A R L A N D

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C L Y D E

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Closed A Step Into The Danger Zone(Clyde Sullins)