Machinist of Mana Chapter 93 Magical Resistance

I woke up, looking at the ceiling and knowing that the day would be magnificent. My mornings would be much the same of course, with wake up and breakfast first thing. Of course my waking wasn't the hectic assembly it had been in my first year, with our food being disturbed and work thrown off, no, it was as normal as a first day of school could ever be.

Older students looked tired, blinking and rubbing eyes, one or two asking friends to borrow materials they'd forgotten at home. Though I didn't participate I was sure there was a thriving black market for such things. First year students were of course running around either unable to process the morning routine or so panicked that they looked like chickens with their heads cut off.

Food was good, filling, but simple. Nothing fancy adorned the table my friends and I sat at, but a good filling bread, plenty of fruits and vegetables, some sausages, and porridge. We ate quickly, savoring the quick meal as quickly as we could, knowing full well that these times could be cut short of the staff got a bee in their bonnets.

“Ready for Killic today?” asked a boy beside me.

“Don't have him, the headmaster reworked my schedule,” I informed them.

“Seriously? How could they possibly fit anything else in there?” chimed in Lucas as he came to join us.

“Not more, less.”

“How does that work?” the boy from before asked, as everyone knew I was being put to the grindstone.

“I'm doing all the work on my own, instead studying privately with an instructor. I think I'll actually have more free time, or any free time at all,” I told them.

Several boys patted my back, looking on with mock tears in their eyes.

“Oh Percival, how you've changed, grown, you'll even get to live this year. That might be a first, seeing you out on anything but a rest day, not looking like you are in the middle of breaking yourself against your books,” Lucas teased.

“Was I really that bad?” I asked.

“By the end of last year your eyes were red almost daily and I'm pretty sure you didn't comb your hair for a full week once,” one of my dorm companions answered, munching a slice of apple.

“That's not true... I think,” I said trying to remember.

“Well you looked better than Lucas there, he came back with his face all blue that once, remember?” he asked.”

I did indeed, our older friend had gotten on the wrong end of a sparring match and managed to get himself actually hurt. He'd healed in a day or two, but it looked like his face had been smashed into a concrete wall for that little bit.

“What happened with that anyway?” I asked.

“Snapped at the professor during a combat demonstration and he introduced my face into the cobbles,” the boy in question answered. “Hurt a bit, but I learned a good trick out of it.”

“Well,” I said looking at the people beginning to leave. “Looks like it's time to head out.”

As one we rose and made our way to the doors. Lucas, in his final year split off first, having a very different schedule than the rest of us. Only a few moments later I had to break with the rest of my fellows, turning towards one of the smaller arena-like structures.

Sir Kendrick was there before me, dressed in armor rather than the clothing he used more often.

“Good morning Percival, come in and let us begin.”

“Sir, I'm still unclear as to what we're doing here,” I said.

“Worry not, you'll be getting detailed instructions, this is one of the disciplines I had to master before joining His Majesty's service, so you'll have exactly what you need.”

“Yes sir,” I answered with a nod.

“All people capable of magic naturally project an aura, as you well know. This is magic leaving the body, and relates to the level of our power. I'm told this is easier to explain to casters who can see this, but it matters not, I have an aura, you have an aura, all of us. What we'll be doing is learning to control that aura.”

“I'm not sure how that helps sir?” I asked.

“By 'pushing' outwards you are able to fill the air around you with your own magic, which will resist the magic of others. This doesn't help against secondary effects, like a mage throwing a knife at you with magic, but does against magic directly influencing you. There are a lot of factors, and it's not going to be mastered today, but you need to do this, and when you do, hostile spells will flow around you like water flowing around a rock in a stream.”

“Sounds like something we should teach earlier...”

“In the past it was, but it was decided that teaching schoolchildren to repel spells while they were still in their early stages was dangerous. A few incidents where one got angry and proved very difficult to restrain led to the change. Some youths still end up that way though, stumbling upon the technique or just so naturally gifted at it that they develop that way regardless.”

That was true enough, all of us physical magic users seemed to develop a bit differently. My senses were far above par, though nowhere near the most extreme. Even at my strongest and fastest I still fell behind Lucas, but I could hear and find people through walls, something I suspected he'd never been able to achieve. There were also a few people here and there who were like walking tanks, taking blows that would toss me like a leaf in the wind.

“Where do I start?” I asked.

The knight led me through a few meditative poses designed to put my body at ease. These were followed by exercises in which I would breathe in and out, trying to feel my mana, trying to focus it. None of that was fully foreign, and my work with magical items was similar, but he started from the very basics, like this was the first time I'd touched on my internal power.

Inside me magic flowed, and while feeling it wasn't a strong sensation there was a slight tingle where it moved, like static on my skin. Once I could feel it Sir Kendrick had me focus it to one body part at a time. I had to increase the strength in my hands, or eyes, or ears, all bit by bit. This too wasn't a terribly odd exercise, and worked sort of like learning to use my abilities again. Focusing it into my skin to harden it was an odd one, but it did give me a very slight boost.

“If you mastered that focusing there you could temporarily boost your abilities in one way or another. Limited in use, and really more advanced than we're doing now, but we might work on it later. Generally training to increase them permanently is better though.”

Long term gains came only from training, using out powers again and again and slowly building strength, not unlike normal physical exercise, only on another level. That was still interesting though, the idea of expanding one ability without weeks or years of effort would be worth it. For now though I got the feeling that outside of this very controlled exercise it would be difficult to pull off.

“Now on to our next part,” the knight declared. “Grab your magic and push it to your skin, don't bind it there, instead letting it flow.”

I struggled to do what he said, but thought I was feeling it.

“How do I know if it worked?” I asked, straining.

To answer he pulled out a small rod from his belt and touched me with it. Instantly a shock ran across my body, causing me to leap and lose concentration.

“Good, had you failed you would not have been able to move at all. Not a bad start young man,” he told me with a smile.

“That rather hurt,” I complained.

“Oh come now, that was the lowest setting. Now sit back down, we've got a lot of work to do.”