It is astounding the effect one’s mental state can have on one’s ability to use the powers. If taken far enough, it can cause equally extreme and unexpected changes within the user. As if changes to one’s mental state is reflected in the power. How fascinating!

  -Note by the Archivist

  A full week has passed since Galen and Tufani trained with Aleksi. Unfortunately, the Rebellion’s general wasn’t able to train them very frequently after that first day due to needing to help in rescuing escaping elf slaves.

  He had, however, instructed them on things to work on while he was away.

  Normally, Galen would be extremely limited in his training due to needing to taper off the addictive effects of his Ether Intolerance medication. However, they recognized also that it was necessary for him to train with the power so that he’d be able to defend himself. It was quite the conundrum.

  They’d tried to come up with a solution to this problem, and it had been Lusha who’d offered a good solution.

  “Instead of reducing the frequency at which he takes the pills, why not reduce the dosage?” she’d suggested the evening after Galen and Aria’s first sparring day.

  It was a smart idea, so they’d decided to test it. He carefully divided a single pill into halves, then took one half and cut that into two.

  He’d taken the complete half and found that, thankfully, the medication still worked. It just didn’t work for as long. With a full pill, Galen had been able to freely use Ether without suffering an adverse reaction for about three to four hours. At half dosage, he’d found the medication lasted for about an hour and a half to two hours before its effects started to wear off.

  The next day, he’d tested a quarter dosage. He’d found that it just wasn’t enough to be effective. He’d begun to suffer an allergic reaction after trying to use Ether, though not nearly as bad as the first time all those months ago. Still, it had been enough to force him to take the other quarter dosage to finally curb the effects.

  The only downside now besides the reduced time limit was the fact that Galen didn’t feel nearly as much relief from his withdrawals at half dosages. The first few days, it had been a real struggle to not take a full pill, but he’d managed to resist the temptation. He’d like to say he’d easily pushed aside the cravings through sheer willpower. However, the truth was that he’d nearly succumbed to the urge a few times. Hell, one of those times Tufani had to stop him.

  After confirming half dosages were the sweet spot, Lusha had then gone through the trouble of painstakingly cutting each and every pill into halves for Galen. Something he was extremely grateful for.

  Lusha’s idea had been a good one, as it helped him train more frequently while still restricting his intake of the medication. And he made sure to train as hard as he could during that brief window he could use Ether, making sure that not a second went to waste.

  He liked to think that he was making good progress. Right now, however, Tufani was making him reconsider.

  “No, you’re still wasting more Ether than you need to,” she chastised as she studied him closely.

  Galen wiped the sweat from his brow, relaxing as Tufani put a brief pause to their sparring match.

  She circled him, looking him up and down with a critical eye, “You’re not utilizing every bit of the power you burn, Daxton. We’ve been over this.”

  He sighed with frustration, “I know, I know! I-”

  “No. You don’t,” she cut him off, “if you did know, then you’d stop being so wasteful!”

  He took a deep breath to calm himself.

  Tufani had been more or less coaching him in Aleksi’s absence, what with her being more experienced with Ether on top of having been trained by the best of the best.

  Redian had been oddly quiet when it came to giving advice ever since. Every time Galen prodded the sword, it had told him to ask Tufani. Thankfully, she’d been surprisingly patient as his tutor. She had an uncanny ability to read the flow of the power, and had been using that to give him tips and advice on how to better control it.

  Unsurprisingly, she hadn’t been very happy at first when Aleksi had asked her to help train him. She’d only agreed when the man explained that teaching others was a great way to improve oneself. The cherry on top had been that her mother had told her the same thing once.

  Though initially reluctant, Galen had seen a shift in her attitude. She’d become less begrudging and more willing. In fact, he was almost willing to go as far as to say she took a surprising joy in teaching what she’d been taught. Though she still held some things close to the chest.

  When they’d started, he’d been expecting her to be harsh. He’d expected she’d snap at him for every little mistake. However, she’d been very fair in her criticisms and advice. Her harshness, it seemed, came from being a strict teacher.

  And, despite his frustration at his own screw ups, he had to admit she wasn’t being unfair to him now. He knew he was still missing something, that there was something he had yet to understand, as his Efficiency hadn’t improved as much as he’d have liked it to.

  Granted, it had only been a week. But still! He didn’t feel like he had much time to improve.

  Galen ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep, long breath before asking, “Can you explain what I’m doing wrong again? I’m sorry I keep asking-”

  Tufani, surprisingly, waved away his concern, “It’s fine. Maker knows it took several explanations for me to understand.”

  She stopped circling him and began to pace back and forth instead, not in an annoyed way, but in a contemplative one, “When you burn Ether, what do you feel, Daxton?”

  “I feel a burst of energy,” he answered, “Ether on its own feels… well, it feels rather cool. Refreshing. Like a cool breeze hitting you when you’re hot. But when I burn it, it feels warmer. Not quite hot, but close.”

  She raised a brow at him, “So, you feel it to that extent too?”

  “Doesn’t everybody?”

  Tufani shook her head, “No. I’ve asked other Ethereans, those among my people who’d secretly learned how to use the power but managed to keep it secret. When I asked them about it, they simply gave me confused looks. All they felt was that burst of energy that comes from burning it.”

  “What does it mean then? That we feel it like we do?”

  “My mother explained that it’s an indication of just how deeply connected to the power we are. It’s an indication of one’s latent potential with Ether,” Tufani stopped pacing and gave him a confused frown, “I’m surprised that you possess such a connection given that you come from a world without it. Add on top of that your… condition…”

  “I know,” Galen sighed, “Aleksi said the same thing.”

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  “It is rather confusing, though perhaps that shouldn’t surprise me. You’ve been nothing BUT confusing from the moment I met you.”

  “Hey!”

  Shockingly, Tufani SMILED at his reaction. It was a small one, but it was a smile nonetheless. One that made him blush as seeing it adorn her beautiful features.

  He rubbed his face to clear his thoughts, “S-so, I can see why it’s surprising for me to have a strong connection to Ether. But what about you?”

  She raised a brow at that, “What do you mean? It’s only natural.”

  “Why though?” Galen asked.

  “Why?” Tufani frowned, “it should be obvious, should it not?”

  Galen merely stared in response.

  She sighed and explained, “Much like how facial features, hair and eye color, and other such physical traits are genetic, so too is one’s latent potential with Ether.”

  No doubt this is another reason for the Dominion’s pursuit of eugenics, Galen noted.

  Tufani continued, “As such, my mother being who she is, it’s only natural that I inherited her powerful connection.”

  Galen raised his brows, realizing something he’d forgotten to ask her, “Who IS your mother anyway?”

  Tufani blinked. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She then frowned, before her eyes slowly widened into surprise as she realized he was being serious, “You don’t know?!”

  “Uh… no?” he rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly, “I… I know your mother’s name was Anila Tufani… and from what I can gather from hearsay, she was a very important and powerful figure to your people. But that’s about it?”

  She looked incredulous, “Didn’t the Dominion ever tell you of her?!”

  “No? Why would they?”

  Tufani pinched the bridge of her nose, “Void… just how much knowledge did they keep from you?!”

  “As frustrated as you are, imagine being in MY shoes.”

  She sighed, “I’ll tell you after today’s training. We’re wasting time.”

  He had to admit she was right.

  “Anyway, as I was saying earlier,” Tufani began, “when you burn the power, you feel a burst of energy. The Ether bursts from a cooling sensation into a warm one. There’s a reason Ethereans use the term ‘burning’ for the act of converting the power into the energy we use. If I were to use an analogy, imagine our bodies, rather, our Capacity as a cooking pot. The water inside the pot is the Ether we use. In its natural state, the water is cool to the touch. However, when you ‘burn’ it, the water starts to boil. And the heat released from that boiling water-”

  “Is the energy released when we burn Ether,” Galen cut in.

  Tufani nodded, “Right. What you have been doing, Daxton, is leaving the pot completely open without a lid. Either that or the lid you’re using is cracked and full of holes. The energy disperses into the air and is wasted. What you need to do is focus that ‘heat’ or ‘energy’ into a specific point. Or, in this case, into doing a specific action. Whether that be strengthening your body, enhancing your senses, or using an Art.”

  Tufani made an “O” shape with her hand. “The greater you focus that energy,” she slowly closed her fingers, making the “O” shape smaller and smaller, “the less your overall expenditures. Thus, you increase your Efficiency. Does that make more sense?”

  Galen nodded, “I think so. Let me give it a try.”

  She gave him a firm nod, “Very well. I’ll keep an eye on the flow of your Ether.”

  Her focus became more analytical, and he could have sworn her eyes began to faintly glow, though he was probably imagining that.

  He closed his own eyes and tried to focus on the Ether within him as he crouched down and grabbed a decently sized rock. He tried imagining his Capacity as a “cooking pot”, and the power within as “water”. Right now, it was mostly full considering they’d barely begun their training. He tried to visualize the water being completely calm and still.

  Then, he tried burning the Ether, just a tad.

  In his mind, the water immediately began to boil, and he visualized the burst of energy he felt as steam. He tried to put a “lid” of sorts on the pot, with a single hole pointed a specific direction. In the direction of his hand holding the rock. The heat began to travel as directed, and he felt a burst of strength in his hand. Using that power, he began to crush the rock into smaller pieces.

  He heard Tufani call out, “Still too wasteful. Again.”

  He scowled as he opened his eyes and grabbed a new rock.

  He closed his eyes and began to try again.

  That is, until a certain Sentient Weapon decided to break its silence.

  “That cooking pot analogy was decent enough,” Redian whispered in his mind, “but it’s not very practical for actual usage. Rather than a cooking pot, boss… visualize your body as a series of pipes. Imagining the Ether as water and it boiling when burned is fine enough, I suppose.”

  Redian? Galen questioned, why are you suddenly speaking up-

  “Hush,” the sword scolded, “focus. You haven’t exactly got the time to spare.”

  That was enough to get him to refocus.

  “Now,” Redian whispered, “imagine your body as a series of pipes. Using this analogy, the pipes have a few holes in them, much like the pores on your skin, causing leakage. Now, strengthen your hand holding the rock, but don’t crush it quite yet. Instead, focus on the flow of the burned Ether.”

  He did so, focusing more on the flow of the power rather than directing it.

  “Good. Do you sense it, boss?”

  No, I-

  “Focus harder then,” the sword advised.

  He did.

  Still nothing.

  He frowned deeply as he put nearly all his mental energy into trying to sense-

  I feel it!

  He could feel some of the power he burned leaking out of his body. It was faint, and given his own lacking Ether senses, it was likely far more than it seemed.

  “Now,” Redian guided, “focus on plugging those leaks. Don’t go for perfectly sealing them tight. You won’t be able to manage. Just do the best you can to shrink the openings.”

  Galen did, and could somehow sense Tufani perk up near him.

  She didn’t say a word, however. Probably to let him focus.

  As the Ether he burned faded, he burned some more and, with this newfound awareness of the flow of the power, he directed the energy to his hand and crushed the rock.

  He opened his eyes an excitedly looked to Tufani.

  Her brows were raised, and she openly looked impressed.

  “I don’t know what epiphany you had,” Tufani began before giving him a slight smile, “but whatever it was, it must have put you on the right track. You just cut down your expenditure by ten percent!”

  Galen deflated, “Only ten percent?!”

  Tufani frowned, suddenly looking very annoyed, “ONLY ten percent, you say?!”

  She shook her head, muttering something Galen didn’t understand. It hadn’t been Durainese, so she had probably spoken in Elvish. And given her irritation, whatever she said likely hadn’t been polite.

  “Void!” she exclaimed in Durainese, giving him a scowl, “your ignorance is infuriating. I don’t know how Barus finds it amusing!”

  Galen flushed, “Uh… sorry? Ten percent by itself didn’t sound very impressive, but I’m guessing in this context it is?”

  “Yes!” Tufani snapped before pinching the bridge of her nose, “Winds! It normally takes much time and effort to increase one’s Efficiency. To suddenly decrease wasted expenditure by ten percent from one moment to the next is extraordinary!”

  “Well, you didn’t exactly react like it was,” he huffed under his breath before reminding her, “don’t forget I have no grasp on what is considered normal or average when it comes to Ether. My view on these things are sorta skewed given who I’ve been around.”

  At that, Tufani’s irritation seemed to deflate, “Well, on that front I suppose it’d be hypocritical of me to be annoyed with you. Maker knows my own views are just as skewed as yours.”

  “They are?” Galen asked.

  She nodded, but then cut back to business, “Now that you’ve reached some kind of epiphany with your Efficiency, let’s apply it in battle. Come, let us continue our sparring match.”

  “Uh… can’t I practice a bit more first-”

  “No,” she interrupted before charging at him, forcing him to raise his sword as she brought up her own for an attack.

  Thankfully, since that first day, they’d been given blunted practice swords to use for their sparring matches instead.

  A huge thank you and special shoutout to my Myth Keeper tier Patron, Voltrus, and my Lore Master tier Patrons, Mountain Knight, Conman2731, ThoMiCroN, and MCE 2 München 2. Your support is sincerely and greatly appreciated.

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