Chapter 392
Arran awoke early in the morning, well before the break of dawn . And as he awoke, a broad smile appeared on his face almost immediately when he recalled the great step forward he'd made in learning the Forms .
His first instinct was to pick up where he left off immediately, but as much as he wanted to get started on his training right away, he forced himself to eat a hearty breakfast as he considered the path before him .
That he must master the Forms was obvious . What was less obvious, however, was whether he should focus his efforts on swordsmanship or magic .
Only the former would be useful immediately . While it would be impossible to conceal the effect of the Forms on his swordsmanship, the Forms resembled the Darian techniques closely enough that the difference would be all but impossible to discern .
In other words, he could display the effect on his sword skills with relatively little danger . His rapid progress would doubtless raise some eyebrows, but the Imperium was large enough that there would be many unusual talents .
His magic, on the other hand, was a different matter . Any progress he made in that area would have to remain well-concealed, which meant he might have precious few opportunities to use it in the Desolation .
Yet at the same time, magic was among his most important hidden cards . If he was faced with an enemy he could not defeat or was forced to flee the Imperium, he would almost certainly have to rely on his Shadow magic .
He considered the matter for some time, but finally, he decided to pursue both . While that would inevitably be slower than focusing on just one of the two, he had equal use for both magic and swordsmanship . And perhaps, he thought, approaching the problem from two angles might help deepen his comprehension .
Decision made, he quickly stood up and readied himself, once more wielding his sword in his right hand while gathering Shadow Essence in the left .
Then, he set to work on training .
The first day brought rapid progress . After just a few hours, Arran no longer looked like a child swinging a sword for the first time, with his movements quickly gaining a smoothness and fluidity they had lacked before . And if he couldn't quite match his normal level of skill just yet, he knew it was only a matter of time before he surpassed it .
Yet if his swordsmanship improved rapidly, his progress in magic was nothing short of staggering .
Arran had always felt that he had little talent for magic, but now, he found himself improving with leaps and bounds . Because although truly unifying all his insights was still beyond him, just attempting to do it was enough to make his spells faster and more powerful .
The most shocking change could be seen in his Flamestrike — or Shadowstrike, rather, since he now used Shadow Essence to cast it .
The previous day, he had been overjoyed just to see the spell cause a barely perceptible gust of wind . But now, after only a single full day of training, it had already grown strong enough to fell small trees in a single strike .
Those results far exceeded Arran's expectations . He'd expected progress, but nowhere near as fast as what he was seeing . It almost felt as if he'd spent years using magic incorrectly, and had only now discovered the proper way to use it .
Years earlier, when Anthea told Arran that Elder Nikias and his students had been the Ninth Valley's most formidable champions in the war against the Imperium, he'd taken her words with a grain of salt .
He had always believed the Forms had potential, but he'd also believed that the girl's beliefs were clouded by her blind faith in the techniques she'd learned from her teacher .
Now, however, he couldn't help but suspect that she had still underestimated the Forms' true power .
That suspicion only grew stronger during the week that followed .
With each day of training, Arran's magical power made rapid strides, his spells growing ever more powerful as his proficiency at uniting his insights increased .
That progress wasn't limited to his offensive spells, either . A mere week was enough to allow him to create Shadow Shields that were stronger than his Force Shields had ever been, and even his control over his Shadowsight increased .
What pleased Arran most, however, was the improvement to his Shadowcloak .
Of all the spells he knew, there were none he valued more than the Shadowcloak spell . It was something that allowed him to travel unseen, to strike his foes before they could defend themselves, and — if necessary — to escape those enemies he could not defeat .
Yet in the Imperium, its use was limited . Both Knights and Lords had Living Shadow weapons, likely allowing them to Sense even Shadow Essence . Because of that, using Shadowcloak in the Imperium might well expose Arran as a mage rather than hiding him .
Now, however, Arran's Shadowcloak was steadily improving — enough that Sensing it would be far more difficult even for those with the means to detect Shadow Essence .
It wasn't quite enough yet that Arran would dare to use his Shadowcloak near Knights — much less Lords — but even so, he knew it would reduce the risk of him being discovered . And if his Shadowcloak continued to improve, perhaps it would eventually become truly undetectable .
But as stunning as Arran's progress in magic was, his swordsmanship proved a more challenging obstacle .
During the first few days of training, his skill at using the Forms for swordplay had increased greatly . But then, even as his magic continued to progress at a robust pace, his advances in swordsmanship had slowly ground to a halt .
At first, he'd believed that perhaps the Forms weren't suited for physical combat — that perhaps he'd been mistaken about the similarity between the Forms and the Darians' techniques, after all .
Yet after giving it some thought, he quickly rejected this idea .
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