Blade Over Magic

Free Training Day

”... Y’all look terrible.” With Mia in his arms, Xander observed his teammates with a funny expression. And, well, his words weren’t unwarranted.

Aubrey, who usually looked quite put together before anything training related had her hair sticking out in multiple directions. Her eyes were bloodshot and her glasses sat slightly ajar on her face, though she quickly adjusted them.

Falael wasn’t much worse. One of their ears was drooping, which quite literally signified that they were half-asleep, and their usually prim and proper appearance seemed disheveled.

The only one who looked somewhat presentable was Curtis, and even he had pretty deep circles beneath his eyes.

”... Xander...” Aubrey stepped forward and placed her hands on Xander’s shoulders, careful not to disturb the sleeping Mia. ”We need to talk about what was on those papers.” Hearing this, Xander blinked.

”... THAT’S what you guys are losing sleep over?” Xander was perplexed. While he understood that the knowledge he shared between them was probably not common knowledge, especially what he gave Aubrey, he didn’t think it would be enough to make them lose sleep?

His words, said completely honestly, seemed to shock the three of them.

”... You’re joking, right?” Falael scoffed. ”You... You can’t honestly say you don’t know the significance of what you gave us.” They shook their heads, and the three fully expected Xander to concede about joking, but he just... stared at them.

”Huh, you’re serious.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and that’s when it hit them that Xander truly wasn’t aware of the significance of what he gave them.

”Alright everyone.” Right on cue, Sergeant Alya appeared with her signature smile, and sighs sounded around the training field, everyone resigned to their fate at this point, however...

”We’ll do something a bit different today.” She snapped her fingers, and a pretty comfortable looking chair appeared behind her, and she promptly sat on it before crossing her legs.

”Today, we will have a... ’free training session’, so to speak.” She said calmly, but her voice managed to reach everyone as usual. ”I won’t tell you to do anything. Simply train how you want.” The words, despite coming out of her mouth, sounded wrong. She wouldn’t train them? Did something happen?

Even Xander was suspicious? But her words continued.

”Granted, this doesn’t mean it’s a free day. It simply means I’m letting you guys train how you want today. I’m trying to see something. However, if I catch you slacking off...” She just smiled sweetly, and everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

”Great, now...” She snapped her fingers again, and a magic circle appeared. From it, dozens of small creatures started to fly out.

’Those are... tiny birds?’ Indeed, a whole swarm of small white birds flew around the field, and Xander suddenly had the distinct feeling of getting watched.

’I see. She’s watching us from all angles to ensure we won’t sneakily try to slack off...’ He stared at Alya carefully. ’This magic of hers is very versatile indeed.’

As he was pondering this, someone cleared their throat, catching his attention, and he suddenly remembered that three of his teammates were staring at him, almost waiting for answers.

”... Yes?”

”Don’t ’Yes?’ us! You know why we’re staring!” Falael bit out, and Xander sighed.

”... Do you need me to elaborate what I gave you guys or help you implement it?” Hearing this, the three shared a look before saying in unison.

”The latter.”

’Thought so.’ Xander hummed and looked down at Mia who was fast asleep in his arms.

”Hey, Mia.” He say in a low voice.

”... Hm?” The girl didn’t open her eyes, but the noise she made was good enough.

”Could you go to Sergeant Alya for now?” He asked, and a few moments later...

”Mm... okay...” She mumbled sleepily.

Then, without a word, she squirmed out of his arms, but instead of falling to the ground, she simply... hovered. Then as though she was on some invisible bed, she floated over to where Alya sat, the latter staring in their direction like she had expected this.

”...”

The other three just stared for a few seconds, then simply chose not to think about it.

Xander looked up for a few seconds, then he spoke.

”Well, seeing as I gave you three different information, I can’t really help with the implementation aspect simultaneously. So...” At this, Falael spoke.

”Handle theirs first, we have all day.” They shrugged, and Aubrey just gave a thumbs up.

Xander then shifted his gaze to Curtis who stood straighter.

”... Alright, let’s start with this,” Xander started. ”Can you give me a summary of the note I gave you?” At that, Curtis fidgeted with his hands for a moment before replying.

”You... explained that in the world, everything is made of up tiny particles. And depending on how closely packed the particles are, the material they make up could be denser or more brittle.” At his words, Aubrey and Falael, who had received different notes, froze, their eyes widening, but Curtis went on.

”You then explained that water, ice, and steam have different physical properties but are made up of the same particles, and their physical states are determined by how these particles are concentrated. Ice is the solid, so the particles are the most densely packed together. Water is a liquid, so the particles are looser, and finally, steam, or mist, is a gas, so the particles are the most loose.” When he finished, he stared at Xander with a mix of wonder and awe, clearly amazed by the information despite having already gone over it.

The other two weren’t much better. Aubrey was looking at Xander like he’d grown a second head, while Falael’s expression had turned unreadable, but their ears had perked up, betraying their own surprise.

Clearly, they had the same thought.

How did Xander know this?

”Great, so I don’t need to spend time going over it again.” Xander smiled as he regarded Curtis.

”Now. Do you know why I gave you this information?” He asked, and the latter hesitated before shaking his head.

Xander just nodded, unsurprised.

Then, he drew his sword.

”Commonly, when a spell is cast, more mana is poured into it to make it more effective, stronger, faster, etc. In your case, to make your ice more durable. Correct?” He asked, and Curtis nodded.

”Great. Now, Aubrey, I’d appreciate it if you could read my mana flow following what I’m about to do.” Hearing this, Aubrey was snapped out of her stupor.

”Uh... yeah. Sure.” She cleared her throat before opening her eyes wide, her gaze fixed on Xander.

Xander nodded again, then her entered a stance.

Frost Flower Thrust

He thrust his blade into the ground at his feet, and cold winds swirled around the blade like a petal before concentrating at the tip, and when it struck the ground, the cold exploded outward in a torrent of ice around Xander, taking the shape of a frozen flower etched into the ground. Looking quite beautiful.

Xander then walked out of the frozen area and repeated the action, creating two identical patterns of ice in the floor.

”Alright. Aubrey, which one was made with more Mana?” He asked, and Aubrey spoke without hesitation.

”The first. It has roughly 50% more mana than the second.” Xander smiled.

”Alright. Now, Curtis, I want you to launch a spell at each of these patterns to break them. Same spell and same power for both. Nothing crazy.”

”... Okay.” Curtis nodded slowly, and once Xander stepped away from the patterns he created, Curtis did a quick chant, and two icicles the size of a torso appeared above each of the patterns.

With a thought, they shot down with surprising speed and force.

Both struck their targets, but the results stunned everyone other than Xander.

For the first pattern, the icicle had shattered most of it, leaving rapidly dissipating ice fragments scattered around.

As for the second one... while it too had taken some damage, compared to the first, it was much more intact.

In fact, if one looked closely, they would see that the tip of the icicles was covered in cracks!

”H-How...?” Falael stuttered, unable to believe it.

What they just witnessed... went against everything they knew from birth.

Spell optimization and mana efficiency were well known topics, yes, but for a spell with less mana quantity to outperform one with higher mana quantity... that only happened when the mana in one spell was of a higher quality than the other, leading to a better spell overall.

The issue is... both patterns were made by Xander, so the quality couldn’t have changed. It was simply impossible.

Seeing their shock and confusion, Xander smiled.

”As I stated in the note I gave you. The more densely packed the particles are, the more durable a solid object. Granted, it’s not wholly absolute, but close enough,” He gestured to the shattered patterns. ”Despite using less Mana, the second pattern held up far better than the first. Why? Because I ensured that the particles were much more densely packed that the former, causing it to be more durable. In short, I replicated the effects of casting a spell with higher mana quality without actually raising my mana quality.” Naturally, the ’particles’ Xander was referring to were actually molecules. That said, it sounded simple, but still...

Then Curtis turned contemplative, his gaze suddenly thoughtful.

”But how exactly does that work? The execution, that is. I understand the principle behind the particles.” Surprisingly, his voice was almost completely devoid of the usual nervousness, which surprised even Xander, but he grinned.

”It’s a matter of visualization. Like the note said, the particles are so small that we can’t see them with our naked eyes, but they are still there, like the air around us, or space. So, as long as you can visualize this,” Xander swung his blade again, creating another pattern in the ground. ”You can achieve the desired effect.”

”... Is that why you can so freely use different attributes of magic? Especially water magic? Since, according to you, it’s just ice and steam/mist in a different state?” Aubrey asked, her expression a mix of disbelief and curiosity.

’Pretty darn close.’ Xander chuckled.

”Something like that.” Then he turned back to Curtis who still seemed contemplative.

”Well, that’s my task to you. If you can gain mastery in this method, your ice spells and defensive will be far more potent while also cutting your mana cost significantly.” Curtis seemed to get excited when he heard this.

”Yeah! I’ll get started right away!” With that, some distance away and immediately got to it, leaving Xander with Falael and Aubrey.

”Alright. Who’s next?” Aubrey and Falael glanced at each other, then Falael just gestured to Aubrey.

’They are being weirdly accommodating. Well, it’s not an issue.’ Xander looked at Aubrey who adjusted her glasses a bit nervously and spoke.

”Now, what did you garner from my note on the light spectrum?”