The Daily Humdrum of a Spymaster [Training/Private]

After the entire situation in Reim's capital, Garret had come back to the port city with his new orders. He had read and re-read them many times, and had a hard time coming to grips with the reality of the situation. There was certainly something occurring in their capital, for him to obtain not only a pardon but also a promotion. Garret could certainly infer that a good deal of this was due to his patron and benefactor, Spymaster Takahashi Sato, but there was more to it than that. He was sure of it.

He had opened the door to the inn where Acius' base of operations and headquarters was located. It had been some time since he had been there, but the same innkeeper was tending the customers. As Garret walked by he nodded to the man. The man nodded back, and stuck his thumb out of his fist while pointing it towards the back door behind him which lead to the basement. Not missing a beat, Garret walked behind the counter space and entered the 'V.I.P.' room, going down the stairs. He made his way through the hidden passages, entering their base of operations.

What greeted him was a surprise. They knew he was coming, likely through the warning system the innkeeper has in place through the floorboards, and the entirety of the staff was awaiting his arrival when he opened the doors. Each of the operatives went down to one knee and clasped their hands while bowing to Garret. At first, the action had Garret taken aback. He was not used to such treatment from those around him at this time; they were all his superiors or agents outside of his realm of influence when last he had seen them. He recovered shortly after, gathering his wits, and returning the bow. It was not appropriate for him to bow deeply in such a situation, so he stood while clasping his hands and bowing to the group.

While normally a hotbed of activity, it seemed that there were no operatives below officer level in this group, and that the group before him were the officers that had been handling different departments for their operations. It was obvious that they were all aware of his promotion as well. That is one thing that we do not have to discuss. Garret began creating a mental checklist of things that he would need to do in order to be up to date on all the matters he would need to be up to date on. The list was large, and he knew he would need to tackle it one at a time. Since all the officers are gathered, we should begin with learning who my legs, arms, eyes and ears are.

"Everyone, sit down and relax." Garret ordered the group to sit down, motioning to the chairs in the room and pulling one up for himself, as he was about to hold a make-shift meeting. The group obeyed his instructions, many of them blank-faced, though some showing interest in what he would be doing first. Garret knew that many of them would be judging his every movement. Once everyone was seated comfortably, he spoke. "In a zig-zagging order, starting from me, we will be announcing who we are and what we do." Garret motioned to Acius and spoke his next authoritative command. "Acius, document key points of this meeting in a ledger for me to review." Acius nodded and retrieved the necessary equipment to do so, and began writing information down.

"The name I have gone by is Garret Kires. My real name is Takegawa Iatsu. I have had extensive training in our homeland of Kou, under the instructions of Spymaster Takahashi Sato. As many of you likely know, I have done operative work in the field as a simple operative and as a cell leader. I have recently been promoted as this continent's Spymaster, and I intend to continue and support the hard work of our officers, as well as our operatives in the field. I will be relying on your support in order to help guide our operations to success." His introduction seemed to put some of the officers that were showing concerns at ease, but there were still plenty that didn't seem to drop their guard. And then there were the impassive officers as well, whose stance on the matter could not easily be read.

Garret looked to his right at the next officer, who began. "Current operative name Martinus Gallus. I am Bai Su Ma, equipment manager. I work under Aurelius Junius, and my work consists of  overseeing the development, acquisition and maintenance work of equipment." Martinus finished his introduction, and looked at the man across from him. He was one of the individuals who had an unreadable expression about him.

The man to Garret's left began speaking. "Tacitus Sextus is what I've been going by. My name is Jian Huan Guo, and I am the assistant project manager. I work under Aurelius Junius as well, and work closely alongside Martinus Gallus and Iulius Valentinus. My primary role is to fill in mission details and plot out courses of action in order to increase the success rate of missions made by our operatives." Tacitus also had a reserved look about him. He nodded to the next man, sitting diagonally across from him. Garret noted that each of the men so far under Aurelius Junius were hiding their emotions, and wondered whether or not the entire group was like that.

The second man on Garret's right spoke up. "The name I have been given for operations here is Aurelius Junius." The leader of the two previous men, then. Garret took a moment to look over this individual. Aurelius seemed to be entirely at ease while speaking. He was one of the few individuals who showed relief when Garret had spoken earlier, and Garret suspected he had the man's reserved approval, pending actions he took in his position as Spymaster. "My actual name is Fu Bo Sung. I am the project manager, and my work involves making determinations on steps that are necessary to take in order to succeed in reaching a goal. As you've heard, I also oversee anything project related overall, and both Martinus and Tacitus report directly to me. I used to report to Lieutenant Acius, but from this day forward I report directly to you." The man held a fairly important role within their operations, and Garret needed to make sure that he retained the man's support.

The second man on Garret's left began to speak. "Blandus Cato, also known as Hui He Zhu. One of the three trainers, I am in charge of stealth lessons. For new recruits as well as old ones looking to pick up other skills." The man's introduction was short, and he didn't seem to be one to talk much. He showed neither signs of approval nor disapproval, hiding his thoughts behind a practiced mask.

The third man on Garret's right spoke up. "Zheng Jing Zhou." The man's voice was particularly deep. He held about him a level of alertness that some of the others seemed to lack, and his eyes seemed to casually scan the room, at times. "They've assigned me the name of Marinus Nerva to use. I'm your troubleshooter. I only report to one man, the man in charge. Now, that's you. If you've got a problem, I troubleshoot it. Anything from botched missions to operative defectors. It's been a while, but I've also hunted down high-priority traitors as well." The man eyed Garret closely. "An opportunity came up not too long ago that would have been taken care of by me, but it seems his life was wanted by others outside of Kou as well, and an assassin had managed to get past the guards of the traitor in question." The man didn't say much more, but there was a hint of hidden meaning behind the man's words, and Garret understood it well. The man he spoke of was Li Cao, and the fact that he had died was known to be no accident. At least, known by Zheng Jing Zhou. The man seemed to be reserving judgement on Garret, as if he wasn't quite too sure yet on where to place him.

"Avilius Brutus." A wiry man, the third man on Garret's left, said in a bored tone. The man's actions bordered on rude, but Garret had just become Spymaster and wasn't sure exactly whether or not it would be appropriate to discipline him on the spot. "Endurance trainer. I train the recruits for endurance, as well as the veterans." He didn't have much else to say. His overall demeanor suggested disapproval for Garret.

The man sitting next to him, fourth on Garret's left, cleared his throat and began speaking. "Aulus Ovidius, Riku Matsunaga. Avilius' real name is Ryuunosuke Tsukuda." The man broke the turn order to inform Garret of information that Ryuunosuke had left out. "I'm the head of human resources. My primary responsibilities are to ensure the staff is trained in hierarchy matters, and provide those with clearance to have personnel information that they request. I retain records on individual agents, active and inactive, as well as persons of import such as Kou royalty and those who have influence." He seemed to support Garret, though it didn't seem so much as that Garret had won him over as it was simply his work and job to do so.

The man who was skipped spoke up next. He was more polite than Ryuunosuke Tsukuda was, however it was clear to Garret that this man was watching his every move. "Diocletianus Gratianus, a ridiculously long name I've been given. Kaoru Matsuoka is my real name, and I'm the strength trainer for recruits, as well as veterans looking to gain an edge in dangerous situations in the field."  He was the fourth man on the right, and was very short with his answer.

As the fourth man from Garret's left, Aulus Ovidius, had already spoken it was the fifth man from Garret's left that spoke next. "Iulus Valintinus, my real name is Yuki Nishimura. I am the information analyst, and my primary work concerns the study and dissemination of information brought in from the field. As part of the Communications Department, I work alongside most of the other groups here. I work most often with Tacitus Sextus, for obvious reasons. I report to Lucanus Albinus." The man's general appearance and manner of speech gave off the idea that he wasn't too concerned about who was the head person in charge, and that he would continue his work as if nothing had changed.

It was now time for the fifth man on Garret's right to speak. "Hibiki Yoshida, known as Maximus Cypriatus to the operatives and non-officers. I am the head of interrogations." The first thought that came to mind, when Hibiki mentioned his position, was the thought of torture. A mix between distaste and distress briefly crossed Garret's features, but he quickly squelched the feeling. He looked at the reactions of the others, but only two were looking his direction at the time. Marinus Nerva and Maximus Cypriatus. Marinus looked pensive, as if considering something, and Maximus had a blank face. "I extract information from a target as efficiently as possible. Not just from enemies, but from suspected defectors and traitors as well. I've worked alongside Marinus Nerva quite a bit, though I actually report to Aulus Ovidius." The inquisitor was an unreadable man, but even if he were friendly Garret did not like the type of work that man did.

"Lucanus Albinus, true name Ryo Nakano and head of the Communications Department. My primary role is to oversee the dispersal of information to all the departments, as well as communications with our Kou headquarters." The sixth man on Garret's left explained his job to Garret. "It goes without saying that we work closely with all levels of officers within HQ, and review the compliance of secrecy and level of discreet actions that are taken in the smaller outpost branches throughout the continent." The man seemed ready to continue to provide the operations within their headquarters his normal tasks and duties, and didn't seem to mind Garret as their new leader.

The sixth man on Garret's right spoke up. After him, would just be Lt. Acius. "I am known as Quintus Titus, but my name is Ryouichi Nakahara. I work under Lieutenant Acius as the treasurer of our operations, and I work closely with all of our departments as I have to document expenses. I create and graph reports on expenditures and income, as well as our funding from our homeland of Kou. Any large request for funds I run by Lt. Acius." It seemed that he had a good relationship with the Lieutenant, as the man had a very supportive tone when speaking to Garret, and it wasn't a large secret that Acius approved of Garret's abilities.

The last man sitting directly across from Garret was the man he was here to replace as the leader of operations, Lieutenant Acius. The man was still jotting down information from everything that was being spoken, abbreviating some words, omitting others that were not important.  He worked efficiently and was all caught up moments after everyone had introduced themselves. He looked up from his papers, which he set to the side, and smiled towards Garret. "I am known by many as Lieutenant Acius Maximus. However my real name is Qing Bao Yu. I have been the acting leader in Reim's operations since we began, while also leading the Logistics Department." Acius looked to Garret and nodded slightly. "The reason I was chosen for this assignment was, in part, due to my mother being from Reim and myself inheriting her people's looks. It was also due to my superior's faith and praise of my moderate skill sets that brought me here, though I would be nothing without my team." Some of those gathered around the table grinned and rolled their eyes. The man worked enough to be his own team, and had a knack for the work he did. "I will be reporting directly to you, and you have my full support and assistance in your new role as Spymaster Takegawa Iatsu."

Garret stood and motioned the others to do the same. "With that being said, gentlemen, I will not hold you all up any further. I will be working with Acius and discussing things with... Lucanus. In order to determine if anything needs to be taken care of." The officers bowed deeply, and Garret returned the bow to a degree as was appropriate for him being a station above them and immediately began discussing his role with Acius as the others unlocked the various doors about the area and went about their work.

The place was still a bustling center of agents.

After having discussed several matters throughout the following days, it was determined that their operations were picking up and the Inn was no longer a sufficient hub for activity. They had discussed and determined several alternatives, however Garret had settled on the thought of obtaining a villa and outfitting it to their needs.

It was the first morning they operated out of the villa HQ that they had recently acquired, and Garret had just finished morning paperwork and overview of various intelligence reports and requests. Even though Garret believed himself to be an individual who was ready for the job, he still believed he had plenty of room for improvement. There was quite a lot he was unaware of. And not just matters of administration.

He took great steps to include others in council for making his decisions, sometimes cross referencing different departments when time permitted. He was, however, the only magician within HQ and it was thus his responsibility to be able to respond to any magical threats that may occur. With these thoughts in mind, Garret knew that he would need to study magoi and Rukh in order to prepare and imagine possible situations.

He was very familiar with spells that used water. Then there were the spells he had seen Azix use, which were mostly spells of light that caused burns and blinding. When he was training under Takahashi Sato, the spymaster had mentioned there were various other types such as heat, sound and lightning among other things. However their primary focus was on Garret's personal development of spellcraft, and he was woefully unequipped to handle situations outside of his own Rukh.

It was with this in mind that he had worked to find an agent he could send out to procure tomes of knowledge from Magnostadt in order to study such things. Having heard of their entrance exam, he consulted Aulus Ovidius to make sure the agent himself was also a capable magician.

Aulus came to his office, and Garret stood. "It's good to see you. Those are the requested documents?" There was a manilla folder in the man's hand that contained papers within them. Aulus could be making a report on the new recruits that should be coming in soon, but he was hoping it was the list of agents within their organization that had an affinity as a magician.

"Yes, Garret." He had insisted on being called by first name from the staff. Some refrained, but most didn't seem to care one way or another. The folder was set down on his desk.

"Quick work, I appreciate it. You may continue as you were." Garret dismissed the man and began looking through the documents. They had a few agents here and there scattered about, but it seemed that some of them were already on long term missions. After taking a moment of time to determine which individual would be best suited to the task, he contacted a member of Lucanus Albinus' team.

The communications member appeared, and Garret gave instructions to have the agent he wanted for the mission to report to HQ.

The communications went out, and Garret went about his other tasks on the following days. A daily morning workout and his normal administrative duties while waiting for the agent to arrive...

OOC:

Intelligence training B-Tier to A-tier 550/2000.

Garret woke up early in the morning, as was usual for his days, and began his morning exercises. First were the warmups, a series of short exercises that didn't strain his muscles but got them going for his harder exercises. These warmups consisted of several different things, the first of which worked some of his joints. While pivoting a single leg to the left and right, placing a majority of the weight on the ball of that foot and making the ball the pivot point, Garret also rolled his hands in circles to warm up his wrists.

He continued this exercise with the other leg, but this time he flexed his fingers and balled them into and out of fists. He did varying degrees of windmills, circling his arms as a cone outward from his sides. Deep knee bends was another warm up he worked on, where Garret would put his hands on his knees and lean slightly forward to keep balance while bringing his body as low to the floor as he could and then slowly stand back up.

Once this was finished, Garret worked on pushups. He breathed in as he came close to the ground, until his chin was touching it, and then breathed out as he pushed himself back up. He counted up the number, and his arms began to tire. He did not stop, however, until his arms were too tired to continue. Switching to a different set of muscles, Garret continued his workout with sit-ups. In much the same manner as his breathing method before, every exercise Garret did included a breath in during the least resistance moment and a breath out during the exertion against resistance.

His meditations came next, and Garret thought on matters as he relaxed his body and allowed himself time to recover from the muscle fatigue. His body was beginning to sweat, and the grime from not yet having taken a bath mixed with that sweat. This, too, was normal for Garret. He had to manage his time wisely, and had he chosen to take a bath before and after his morning workout routine, he would have wasted time.

Once a sufficient time had passed, Garret stood up from his meditations and made his way to the outer walls of the villa. The walls themselves were connected all the way around as a single large hallway, and worked as an excellent training ground for endurance training through the cardio workout of running and jogging. He did often times pass a few guards doing their rounds in the early hours of the mornings, but for the most part it was a peaceful time that Garret spent keeping up with his physical fortitude. While he didn't miss the prison itself, the running was definitely an enjoyable experience. After a few laps, Garret was sweating with a force. He occasionally wiped his brow in order to keep the sweat from his eyes, alternating his speeds when he needed to catch his breath, and thinking on the matters at hand.

He had finished his daily training and had taken a shower in their bath house, and it was now time to get to work. When Garret approached his office, he was met with the sight of an agent awaiting him at his door...

OOC:

Strength training C-tier to B-tier 550/1000.

Garret looked to the man standing before his door and recognized him from the portfolio of potential candidates that could be sent to Magnostadt that he had selected from and sent for. The man noted Garret staring at him, and bowed before speaking. "Excuse me, but do you know when the Spymaster will be available? I am waiting on a summons from him."

Garret returned the bow, slightly, and spoke. "Yes, he should be available shortly. If you would follow me?" Garret moved to open the door. When they entered the room, Garret noted that the windows shed enough light in the room to make things readable. "Now, then, have a seat. I suppose I should introduce myself." Garret motioned to the man insisting he take a seat in his office.

Garret went through a drawer and drew out the mission plans that were created with assistance from the others. Tacitus Sextus, Quintus Titus and Lucanus Albinus had all worked in tandem in order to pull the details of the job off, working to ensure that everything would be funded, and providing a means of communication should anything be needed or sent back to their headquarters. He placed this manila folder on the desk in front of the man who had been waiting for him.

"Vitus Egnatius, I am Garret Kires, current Spymaster for this continent, and the one who has summoned for your appearance here." The man himself did not betray signs of confusion, and though he became slightly more rigid and disciplined. He moved to stand, but Garret motioned him back. "Relax. In these documents you will be reading about an extended mission that needs to be undertaken. The infiltration of the Magnostadt country."

Garret paused, allowing him to read the documents. "Officially, when you arrive, the registration will be under your true name and you will have been sent from Kou. Learn what you can, send any books pertaining to magic that you can back to us through the channels described in your mission details. Commit the details to memory, as only a small amount of that information is not considered sensitive."

Vitus began reading through the several pages there. Garret had selected another man initially, as that man was ready to work, however he had changed his mind on that selection when reading the prior mission history of Vitus. The man had a high success rate in infiltration and data gathering, and Garret had requested Lucanus Albinus to re-purpose his prior request for summons to the other agent, who would instead be handling another matter within the port city that needed taking care of.

"As you can see, the reason behind this is an attempt to garner any information that would not be possible to reach otherwise. However, a copy of any text that is based upon the nature of magic in general and its manipulation should be purchased and sent, even if it is a common work." Garret paused, giving the man some more time to read over the documents.

"Once you are finished, go to the briefing room and report to Martinus Gallus and Tacitus Sextus so that they can get you any funds and equipment you might need for your operation." Garret dismissed the man, allowing him to move onward with his work.

OOC:

Intelligence training B tier to A tier 550 + 550 = 1100/2000.

It had been weeks after he had killed Diocletianus Gratianus and Avilius Brutus, replacing the two with Kawahara Akiho and Murata Fusao. Today was one of those days where Garret had the opportunity to participate in one of Fusao's classes. The old man had mats outside, and the entire class was doing warm-ups, Garret included. The kinds of warm-ups that they did for Judo differed from Garret's normal warm-ups he did in the morning. It began with falling to the ground and performing a break-fall. There was a particular way to fall that redistributed the force of the blow, negating any serious harm. But it was a jarring exercise. From there, they did an exercise called 'the shrimp', in which they pushed themselves across the mat using their feet while staying lying down on the ground. And a final exercise was straining their necks and strengthening the muscles there. They would begin lying face down on the ground, and slowly lift their body up with their heads. Those whose necks were not powerful to handle the strain on its own were encouraged to use their hands to keep some of the weight off.

When all was finished and over with for their training, Garret stood and worked out the stiffness in his neck. Many others were doing the same, but it seemed a few of those Garret had high hopes for didn't really seem to feel too much of the effects of that training. Particularly Yang Jianjun and Zheng Longwei. Rolling his shoulders, Garret made his way to the front of the group. Murata Fusao liked to use Garret as an example when executing various techniques. The old man's throws were fluid, and he was a great teacher, which Garret believed came to him through age and experience.

Time passed and Murata Fusao had gone through several throws with the class. They had already learned them, and were just training on them to make them more seamless. There were plenty that had much more training to go before they could even begin to use some of the techniques properly. Some of them were afraid to throw each other, some of them were afraid to throw the girls that had joined. Though the girls themselves enjoyed the class greatly, and didn't hold back at all. The sisters Wu Xifeng and Wu Meixiu, as well as Xin Qiaolian seemed to relish throwing each of the trainees as they traded partners so that a variety of shapes and sizes could be tried out with the techniques.

From throws went foot sweeps. A series of techniques that could trip an opponent up in battle, they varied in approach and in effectiveness. These two techniques relied heavily on the center of balance of an opponent, and worked to teach the recruits how to judge their opponent's footing and stances and where to aim for the most effective disruption of said balance. When they finished with foot-sweeps, they then moved on to choke holds. Specifically, the choke holds used did not actually block the throat's path of air directly. It instead focused on the carotid arteries and jugular veins, which was a much faster way of knocking a person unconscious. Some of the trainees did, in fact, fall unconscious as they were not fast enough to tap out.

The last part of their training were pins and the means to escape them. This was by far the most grueling of the training. The exertion and stamina used in order to escape a pin put in place by even a semi competent Judo practitioner was incredible, as well as depressing. After being stuck in a pin by one of his students, Garret had no choice but to tap out. "Tseng Qiang, you run a tough game." The recruit got off of Garret and offered him a hand up, which Garret took. While it was true a semi competent Judo practitioner could enforce a strong pin, but the man was incredibly skilled and soaked up the pinning techniques like a sponge that soaked up knowledge. Fusao had gone so far as to praise the child for his quick learning. One of the lessons that was taught was that while most fighting rewarded reaction speed before thought, grappling rewarded thought and strategy above reactions.

It was in this manner that the training continued. Occasionally the group would stop and discuss the ways some of the techniques worked, and counters to those techniques, but the training was grueling as always.

OOC:

Strength training C tier to B tier 750 + 550 = 1250/1000.

It had been some time since they had sent out the agent to Magnostadt, and Garret had been receiving regular reports in the interregnum. The recruit's magical training was going along nicely, which was a plus on its own, but what Garret was truly interested in was the magical tomes that were sent. From the letters, it was clear that there weren't any great secrets held within these tomes and that it was certainly fine for the agent to send them, which Garret was not overly concerned about.

The tomes that had been sent were three; one for beginners, one of intermediate skill requirement and a final of advanced skill level. The letter mentioned that these were core books that the country had in their curriculum plan. Garret began reading the beginners books. Though he was far beyond the skills of a simple beginner, this was a curriculum that was planned for a variety of magicians and, as such, had information that was pertinent to each individual type of mage on a whole. Garret spent much of his days reading. First was heat magic, a type he was not particularly familiar with but was not surprised to see. Heat magic was adept at manipulating fires and, of course, heat itself. The magical circle that explained the various types of magics showed their relationships with other elements as well. Heat became stronger under the effects of wind, as the wind fanned the heat on and gave it energy. As could be expected, water dowsed heat and was extremely effective against that type of magic. Though it seemed ice did not hold the same effect, even though it was a subtype of water magic itself. It seemed as though those who began as heat specialists were often most skillful with wind as their second type of magic they mastered.

Of course, Garret's own magic types were in there as well. Water magic was his, and he already had a strong grasp with it. He had never had to face up against a lightning user before, and so was unaware until now of the strength that type had against him. When it mentioned that his type was particularly skilled at sound magic after water, Garret simply smiled. He never understood before why it almost came as second nature to him while listening to the Rukh, but he supposed this certainly explained it.

He continued to further his studies with each individual magic type. Light, lightning, sound, strength and life magics. The elemental magics had strengths and weaknesses, but there were others that did not have such a relationship with other magic types. Garret had began to understand the relationship of magoi and Rukh to a better degree, and continued to read about the other types of magics and how they influenced nature and spells.

A few days passed as Garret was researching information between his regular administrative duties and his workouts with the recruits. He had finished the book that had described basic spells of each of the types and how to manipulate one's Magoi. He was now moving towards the waters of intermediary magics, which pleased him as the prior book was mostly filled with useless information asides from familiarizing him with what types of magics there were. This book certainly piqued his interest, as it explained the processes and ideas behind what was called 'combination magic'. This magic was a form of spellcraft that came about when the user performed spells with the assistance of two different types of Rukh, combining different spell elements to create a brand new element.

Some of the themes provided were those such as lava magic, a combination of life and heat, as well as earth magic which was a combination of life and strength. Storm, steam and mirror magics were all also parts of their examples provided. Garret continued reading, working to understand the underlying principles behind creating and controlling such spells himself. The primary idea was the understanding of the relationship between two elements and what they could do when under different situations. It would take a normal magician, one without the aid of traditional training from a mentor, either a stroke of genius or a long-time relationship of using different types of magic in tandem in order to create such a spell. The thought had never truly occurred to Garret to mix two spells types together to come out with a stronger one.

Truly, listening to Rukh and physically training could only provide him so much insofar as his ability to manipulate and create spells. Garret considered the magics he had available to him at this time, those that he was familiar with handling, and wondered as to their properties. After thinking for some time, Garret believed he was onto something. Sound caused vibrations, and water could create ice. Garret knew from some of his discussions a while back with Seviticus the kinds of things that would occur with combustion, and how the pressure caused by such a thing couldn't be contained within a solid object and thus created a loud explosion that shot out what the man called 'shrapnel', harming everything in its path. Garret believed he was on to something with that, and felt that he understood the behaviors of the spell types well enough at this point to try it when he next had the opportunity.

Coming out of that thought, Garret continued reading through the book. It was truly interesting information, and had given him that progress that he was looking for when he had hit a wall with the manipulation of the spells a while back.

When the week was over, Garret had finished the second book and continued onto the third book, which mostly had theorems written in it and did not have much of practical use. Garret felt confident that he knew enough to go to new heights, but there was something that was nagging on the back of his head. A thought that wanted to surface and emerge. Garret spent less time studying the third book, the book of theorem, and more time tending to his daily activities. If he spent too much time chasing that thought, he might never catch it. But one day, he was sure it would if he gave it time.

OOC:

Intelligence training B tier to A tier 1050 + 1100 = 2150/2000

Garret sat on the shores of Reim, north of the villa headquarters. The man was sitting in a lotus position, contemplating his use of magoi and spells. A strange feeling had been nagging at Garret's mind, in the back of his head, but he was still allowing that to build up by itself. A breakthrough was coming, he knew, but it would be unwise to force the issue. Instead, he focused on his body and the strength and flow of magoi. Hasan had taught him quite a few things, and one of those were pressure points on the body, and points on the body that Magoi flowed through.

Hasan had explained that at the peak of a martial artist's ability, they were able to manipulate magoi in conjunction with their body, which Hasan explained was not to be confused with the manipulation of magoi that a Magician used. This altered the flow and effects of the magoi of the user in question directly, and instead of manipulating it to do things outside of the body, this type of technique changed the body at its base. While meditating, Garret imagined the diagram that Hasan had loosely drawn at one point in their training; the flow of magoi throughout the body. From head to toe, Garret imagined the magoi flowing throughout him, cycling over and over. His breathing was slowed, and he continued to reinforce the image in his mind with what he normally felt when handling magoi when casting his spells.

He couldn't feel it directly, at least not at first, but after some time Garret began to feel a light pulse of that magoi. His imagination continued to use this new feeling, augmenting his imagination while simultaneously making him more sensitive to the magoi within him. Part of the image training was convincing himself of the channels in question, of imagining what the flow must feel like within him. This would open up his awareness of that flow, allowing him to understand and manipulate that very pulsation of power that existed within all humankind. His thoughts and focus continued to intensify his detection of that flow of magoi, and Garret was fully aware of those lines of power within him.

He began to imagine that flow changing. It was a small change, at first, as it was incredibly difficult to do. It was a simple pulse of magoi that Garret sent up through the course of his magoi lines that only moved a short distance before tapering off into a normal flow once again. Garret focused hard, imagining a greater effect than the one before. His will augmented his imagination, trying to force the magoi to pulsate through his body, but instead the pulse was weaker than the one he had done before. It was a matter of trial and error, and Garret began trying to emulate his feelings from the first pulsation of magic while eliminating the parts of his feelings he was using during his most recent attempt. The results were positive, and the Magician felt pleased.

That was, however, only the beginning. He then began to amplify the inner manipulation with those feelings backed with his willpower in order to push the magoi to its limit and bring out his full potential. A large burst of strength flowed through Garret's body, and the man felt a bit of elation even as the burst of strength died down. The exercise itself had made Garret sweat, which was impressive in and of itself.

Opening his eyes, Garret began to go through his various Kata while thinking on what he had just experienced. Different parts of the Kata itself had different flows, and even some attacks stopped suddenly, only to flow fluidly towards the next technique in a softer manner. The difference between these movements were like light and day, and there was certainly a higher amount of strength and stamina used when Garret had thrust the full amount of force he had in a technique. The thought occurred to him to continue to monitor the flow of his magoi during his movements, and he immediately began to do so. The concentration was intense as the magician performed his Kata at slower speeds than usual, now with this additional effort his mind was making to keep track of his inner magoi. Throughout his movements, the magoi did not really fluctuate by itself all too much.

Garret began to experiment, between increasing the rate of flow of the magoi and increasing the density of it. As the flow increased, it seemed his body's ability to move increased proportionally. The strain on the body was greater, expected really, than that of his normal movements. Garret could only imagine what would occur at the pinnacle of stress, and did not believe that it would be an ideal situation to be in. From the speed of the flow, the change went to the density of the flow. Garret felt additional weight behind the blows he made, crossing into the realm of what he assumed a Fanalis might feel when fighting with their bare hands.

Equaling the strength of another, however, was never Garret's goal. Garret wished to ensure the fate of his country, as well as the well being of his subordinates and the citizens that they worked to protect. For that to be possible, he would have to be peerless in strength. The question, he felt, was how? It was then that an idea held within him. He would build up an increase in the pulse of his magoi, however he would not allow it to course throughout his entire body. The idea itself held merit, however when Garret attempted to put it into practice he found himself having troubles. The magoi wouldn't obey his will, as before, and he struggled to put a stopper at a single point to hold back the excess. Garret continued to change his approach, trying different thought processes while going through the movements of his Kata.

It was a short while later that he had finally succeeded. He retained all of the extra burst of magoi into his arm. The magoi wrapped around the arm, strengthening it and providing a hard cover of the substance around the arm. He felt the supportive strength of the magoi not only within his arm and joints, but on the exterior as well. Garret allowed the magoi to once again flow freely as he worked his way through another Kata, Raging Undercurrents. It was time for him to think on the different techniques that would best be enhanced and retain the greatest benefit from such power. He continued performing the series of techniques, rushing forward and to the side while performing flowing arm movements that trained the flexibility of his muscles and were exaggerated movements of one of the defensive techniques he used. It would not be for defensive purposes that he would augment his technique, though such a thing would certainly fit his style. No, Garret felt he needed something more offensive in nature in order to overcome opponents quickly and with little chance of resistance.

It was at that time and thought that Garret performed an open-handed thrust forward. He paused, looking at his open hand, palm facing to the sky, and thought to himself. An open palm... The speed and force behind the technique... Suggests it's offensive in nature. But that doesn't make sense. Garret stood up straight and brought himself back into the stance he was in before he had done the technique, repeating it again. I had always imagined that the hand moved upwards and clasped in a fist in order to grapple an opponent's strike... But what if... Garret coated his arm with the burst of magoi as he once again went through the motions of the Kata. Sharp movements made with his arm punctuated the air with a deadly force, and Garret noted that the use of the magoi manipulation put a lot of different techniques into perspective. Many things changed when adding magoi manipulation to the Kata, and Garret was honestly surprised.

When he came to the open palm thrust forward, Garret paid careful attention to where his body moved, and simply performed the technique as he always did. What he saw slightly disturbed him, though simultaneously provided him with the answer he was looking for. It was a hidden movement within the Kata, though Garret felt embarrassed for not having realized its offensive nature from the name of the technique Hasan had mentioned far back; Deep Sea Harpoon. Garret had assumed it meant the technique was fishing for the attack and pulling into them. In fact, the technique was an attack itself, meant as a fatal finisher for an opponent.

The image of Kawahara Akiho appeared in his mind, using a sword slash that was a combination of beautiful and deathly dangerous. 'Ikken Hissatsu', she had called it. 'One hit, one kill.' It was a term that described the resolve behind the user's intentions, and that every technique should be used in order to finish the conflict. Garret looked at his arm, contemplating the new-found technique.

OOC:

Technique training 1528/1500.
Azix may join at any time.

Garret had still kept in mind the use of combination magic from his readings before when he had obtained the books from his agent in Magnostadt. The idea that he could combine two types of magic together to create a new and interesting magic type was precisely the direction Garret had wanted to take in order to propel his abilities. His primary concern was to be able to respond to first class magician dangers while defending their operation's villa headquarters. Or, in the event of a military incursion, have the spell allow him to go about taking out a large force of enemy soldiers. Regardless, he would have to create the spell before he could have a peace of mind knowing that he could work against strong or numerous opponents.

Garret had to first test out the actual effects of combination magic, and how ice and sound related and reacted to each other. Gathering up his magoi, Garret commanded the Rukh to create some ice out of the water nearby. A simple enough task, considering the ocean was just a stone's throw away. Garret gathered the blue Rukh, feeding magoi through his will and gathering the nearby water and turning it into an orb of ice. Once that ice had formed, Garret brought to bare more magoi. This time, however, he directed green Rukh, the Rukh of sound, to move to his will. With it, he created intense sound vibrations with the magoi allowing it to clash against the ice he had formed just earlier. All the while he observed the interactions of the two together. The sound beat across the ice and, as he suspected, it did not bounce off. Sound itself could travel through nearly any medium, and ice was no different. However, as Garret pushed the source of the sound vibrations closer to the ice, the ice shattered from them. The resulting 'explosion' was a meager meter large, leaving nothing remaining of the ice that had once been. The sound vibrations, however, was not an overwhelming victor; it had been absorbed by the ice and both elements had dissipated back into nature.

Taking note of this, Garret considered for a moment what he had spoken to Seviticus about. The man was a revolutionary in the aspects of technological advancement, and had been researching combustion long before the Kou empire had kidnapped him when Garret had first arrived to the continent. The man had said that the sudden expansion and increase of pressure within a solid object would cause an explosion, and that was the basis of the militarization of Seviticus' research. While the academic had lamented to Garret that he had originally wanted his research used for energy purposes, it made sense to Garret that the militarization of technology was the first thing that came about from new finds. Garret at first wanted to see if he could create an explosion with an outward force of sound, but it did not work out as he had imagined it would. Instead, his next attempt would be following the advice of Seviticus and creating the sound vibrations from within the ball of ice itself.

Garret begun the work of creating another ball of ice. Instead of clashing the vibrations of sound with the ice as he had before, he instead infused the green Rukh directly into the ball in order to cause the vibrations from within. The ball began to shake a moment before the results of the spell became apparent. He sighed in frustration as the spell failed yet again. The ball of ice that was created had simply shattered from the sound vibrations, with none of the force necessary to make the spell as deadly as Garret wanted and needed it to be. Garret twirled Kuroi Shimo across his fingers as he thought. The idea was to cause the pressure to build up within the ball of ice so that the explosion could take place, but why did it not move as he wanted it to? Were the two spell types actually incompatible? Garret refused to believe that. Surely there was a way to combine the two and perform the results that he had desired.

Whispers from the Rukh broke him from his thoughts, and Garret felt foolish. While the Rukh would not tell him of combination magic before, as he had no idea that it had even existed, now that he was actively seeking it it was almost as clear as day. After listening to the Rukh, they infused Garret with raw inspiration and knowledge, allowing him a better understanding of the relationship between green Rukh and blue Rukh. The reason that Garret's spell was not working was twofold. The first of which was due to the rate at which the sound vibrated within the ball before causing the explosion. It was a small amount of sound vibrations that he was using, which had built up at a steady rate. What this meant was that as soon as the vibrations hit the breaking point of the ice, it would immediately cause the cracks and fractions within the ice, ultimately shattering the ball instead of exploding his creation with a great outward force. Instead, Garret would have to make the sound itself on a much higher level. He would need to increase the strength of its vibrations, allowing it to immediately shatter the ball in question. Furthermore, Garret would need to activate such a series of vibrations in a sudden manner in order to cause the maximum disruption within the ice itself. This would create the force necessary to break the ice while simultaneously forcing it outward, and avoid the issue where the ice simply shattered before there was enough force behind the spell to cause it to explode.

The second reason of which was because the ice itself was weak. When Garret had created the ice, he had done so with just the one element in mind. He had thought nothing of the fact that the spell was supposed to be made with the conjunction of sound magic working in concert with the ice magic, and the influence of this thought and approach certainly played an effect in the end-game of the spell creation itself. In order to create a successful spell, he would need to focus on the goal while creating and shaping the individual elements of the spell in question. Garret once again called out to the blue Rukh and infused his magoi within a ball of water, forming it into ice. This time, however, he kept in mind that it was but the first part of a combination of Rukh. He made sure to pressurize the ice, compressing its volume. Compacting it and squeezing it until it was only a meter in diameter. The strength of the pressure that the ice could contain was immense, and the structural integrity of the spell could not be questioned. Be that as it may, however, Garret had made sure to hold back enough so as to allow the strength of the greatest sound vibrations that he could create to destroy the ice with enough force to cause an outward explosion.

With the direction of his wand, the ball of ice moved. The bundle of magoi was highly sensitive to his commands, and moved at an incredible rate as the magician directed it with his wand. While watching the spell move away from him, he could not imagine anyone being able to move fast enough to avoid it. Garret knew that the resulting explosion of a successful spell would be devastating, or at least that was the feeling that he was getting from the Rukh. He would need to be able to position the ball in question in a place that allowed him to be outside of the spells effects, and as such pushed the ball of ice towards the edge of his effective range of control. Keeping in mind his prior mistake, Garret gathered the green Rukh within the center of the ball, feeding it with magoi. He did not activate the command right away, instead allowing the hidden pressure that was not yet released to build up. With this new direction he had taken, the amount of devastation that would occur was sure to be great.

It was time, and Garret activated the command. "Kori no bakuhatsu." The green Rukh activated and moved with an incredible force within the ice ball. The ice ball was woefully unequipped to contain the sudden burst of energy, and splintered into shards of ice that flew outward. Even with that thought, however, something Garret had not expected had occurred as well. The sound of an explosion so loud that it would have certainly caused quite the pain to a person's ears if they were close to the explosion had sounded off. A wave of the green magoi had preceded that earth-shaking boom, and Garret had a grim look upon his face. The spell was surely powerful, but he would have to take great care when using it. It could harm not only his opponents, but his allies as well.


OOC:

A tier Spell Training: 1524/1500

Spell in question:

Again, Garret felt that he was on the cusp of a discovery. It was that nagging feeling he had had when he was researching magoi, Rukh and their relationship in the world. The extremely complex advanced magic he had read into that went beyond simple combination magics provided context clues and hints towards what could be done, as well as an idea on how to manipulate such magics, but Garret was still struggling with what his intuition was trying to tell him. He began to mentally go through the different ways he manipulated magic. Combination magics normally shared in the strength equally.

The Rukh whispered to him, and he quickly changed his thoughts. A spell came to mind, almost as if on its own accord. His State Transmutation spell. Certainly, it was an interesting spell, and one that he had cast on several occasions, though not so much recently. It had allowed him in the past to keep Manius contained within a sphere of water and ice while he was able to get away. It was strange that the spell simply came to his mind as he was thinking upon and brainstorming a technique greater and stronger than even his ball of ice that exploded with the help of sound. Was it the guidance of the Rukh, or perhaps his very own subconscious mind that pushed his thoughts along to this spell?

These thoughts swarmed Garret's mind before he paused and realised that all they were really doing was distracting him. There was a reason his mind was on the spell right now, and that's all that was important. Garret thought long and hard on the effects that the spell had. When he had first learned the spell he was extremely young, still under the tutelage of Spymaster Takahashi Sato, who didn't know much on magic himself. Garret had learned how to change water to ice or water to mist, and he was also able to turn mist into water or ice into water. At this thought, the Rukh offered suggestions of guidence to him. His spell was incomplete; it was well beneath the power and ability of the rukh to do such a simple task. With his direction, they could bypass such a need to move from one state to the next, as the states of water were malleable to their touch. With what Garret now knew, it was certainly no stretch of the limits of his capabilities for him to be able to handle such a spell.

With an experienced hand that put into perspective his novice attempts at spellcraft when he had first began, Garret choose a patch of water and began to mold it to his will. The blue Rukh shot outwards when he flicked his wand towards the water and infused the liquid that he was molding with magoi at the direction of his will. He was much more efficient with the spell, and a large patch of water quickly changed over into ice. Garret walked up towards it and placed his hands on the smooth ice texture to feel his handiwork. Wand still in left hand, Garret closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Upon opening them, he pointed to the large block of ice and willed the Rukh to change the ice into mist.

The Rukh danced at his direction, changing the state of the spell directly to mist and completely bypassing the step of changing to water beforehand. The scale at which he did so was much more grand than before, and the ease at which the Rukh switched the states impressed the Blue mage, though it did not surprise him.

With his direction, the states of water could be changed, in sequence or not.

OOC:

Training C tier Spell Word Count: 624/500

While Garret had yet to find himself in many situations where he was underwater, the chance of him having to fight while at sea was becoming more and more realistic as the date and time for his work got closer to a deadline. The man was going to have his recruits work hard. But that was only if Azix was able to pull through and leverage his connections with the pirate leader Madam Trixie. He needed to develop a spell that could be useful both at sea and on land, one that he could use during different situations, and could take care of opponents that tried to close the distance to him. A mid-range ability that would remove opposition.

An idea formed within his mind as he thought back to another spell he knew. Certainly, Garret was able to improve upon his State Transmutation spell, but what of some of the other spells he was already able to use? The spell Pressure Control was what had come to mind. It was something that increased the pressure of an amount of water, crushing a person or object beneath the strength and weight of far more water than what was actually there. Again, just as the last spell, this was a technique he knew as a novice. Garret began to mold a film of magoi, gathering to it blue Rukh. His expertise with spellcraft was beginning to show in the masterful manipulation of these new spells.

The film of magoi started to gather in an orb around him, 4 meters in diameter. This film, however, would not be one that dictated how far out the ability went. No, instead this was where the ability began. His manipulation of it in this manner was to allow one to perhaps three others to be near him and outside of the influence of the spell when it was activated. That film of magoi continued to extend outward while the blue magician guided the Rukh outwards, guiding it through his commands and will.

Once the magoi had extended outwards seven and a half meters, it stopped. This would be the spell's sphere of influence. Garret recalled the effects of one of the spells he came to Reim knowing, Pressure control, and took those same concepts into account as he provided guidance to the Rukh. It was at this point that he focused on creating a field of high pressure within that area that had been created with his magoi. "Oshitsubusu." The Rukh followed his command, but no visible effects could be seen from his spell. That only made sense, as he was not directly in the water. Casting Water Gills, he created a bubble around his nose and mouth as he walked into the water and began swimming with the field around him in order to observe the effects of the spell he had cast.

His presence certainly seemed to disturb some of the fish, though Garret suspected that had more to do with him than it had to do with his spell. The spell itself was focused only on the water that it touched, not changing any of the parameters of the rest of the surrounding water. If Garret were to truly observe the effects of the spell he would need to increase the rate at which he moved underwater. A feat that would prove difficult for the normal human meant little to the Blue Magician, who was at home with the surrounding water. Garret cast Controlling the Currents, a spell that allowed him to control the rate at which a small body of water would move. Controlling the water directly around him, Garret was able to push himself forward with the assistance of that water, allowing him to swim at 20 m/s. Though, to be honest, it wasn't so much him swimming as it was the water pulling him through the currents he was creating.

As he passed by a small school of fish, the creatures died after being crushed under pressures that there was no chance they could handle. Some of their bones had pierced through their skin, and their blood was leaking out and about. Garret was impressed with the level of destruction that the spell had wrought, though he supposed that it was to be expected. The only place this spell would work would be in places that a liquid surrounded the target of his crushing pressure attack. As Garret sliced through the water, he began to feel something... Off. He looked behind him and nearly sputtered. The trail of blood Garret had left had brought in predators to feed on the easy prey.

One of which was more interested, however, in Garret himself. The creature behind him, he realized, was something known as a shark. This creature was well known by sailors, and those who traveled by sea even if infrequently. What was terrifying was its ability to keep up with Garret. It hadn't yet reached the blue Magician, but the man did not know whether or not the creature was simply leisurely following him until it was ready to burst forward and attack him. And this was no small fish, either. While the other fish were easily crushed by Garret's spell, he wondered if this one would have any such troubles.

Garret planned on attempting to outmaneuver the creature. There was a planned point ahead which would send him backwards and above the creature at a seventy degree angle from his current movement. When it came time to change directions, Garret turned around to view the creature as he shot upward and above it. It did not miss a beat, and immediately shot upward to intercept Garret. It had been saving a burst of speed, the magician supposed for just such a moment, and entered Garret's pressure field. The field certainly gave it pause, and looked like it had done some damage, however the speed of the creature had scared the hell out of the magician. "FUUUUUUCK!" Garret aimed Kuroi Shimo at the creature and cast Jet Stream. The combined cutting damage of the water that sliced through the creature and the crushing pressure of his newest spell spilled the guts of the creature as Garret shot out into the air above the oceanic waters screaming at the top of his lungs. Once above water, he had cast Jagged Flying Ice in order to form a block of ice that he began flying back towards land.

He wasn't too sure how far out he was, but he needed some time to come to grips with the dangers of the sea. He breathed in and out deeply, his beating heart betraying the rush of fear and adrenaline he had just had.


OOC:

B tier Spell Training 1138/1000.

Spells used:

Azix arrived at his safe house after dealing with Pigeye Pallus utterly exhausted and started up the stairs to get some sleep. Before he made it up a couple steps, he heard a feminine voice asking him to wait. He looked behind him to see Carmen at the bottom of the steps holding a package for him. He took it from her with a nod of thanks and stumbled up to the bedroom, not in the mood for conversation at the moment. Azix briefly hoped she wouldn't hold it against him, but at the sight of his bed the worry vanished.

He collapsed onto the bed with a huff, tearing open the paper covering the package. Inside there was a small plank of wood and a note. He looked quizzically at the plank before setting it to the side and reading the note.


Azix recognized Mr G as Garret and was amused to see that his partner, superior now, would take the time to check in on him. He took a moment to scan over the words for a hidden message that Garret may have included but found none. He picked up the piece of wood and looked it over, curious at what purpose it served. Azix momentarily wondered if Garret was playing a joke on him by having him talk to a piece of wood but went along with it.

"Manius," Azix muttered in a low tone as he stared at the wood, watching for a reaction.

As soon as he spoke, Garret's voice flooded the room through the piece of wood.

"Azix, if you are listening to this, you will be able to stop this recreation of my voice by saying 'Octavius.' I have a request for a meeting, if you have time... I am suggesting a training session where the two of us spar in order to understand our strengths better. Most of the individuals at HQ can't keep up with spellcraft, so I haven't been able to gauge and strain my strength appropriately. If you're interested, send a response to HQ for when you're ready. We should do this around the beaches to the north of HQ."

Azix blinked his eyes in wonder as he heard the message. Garret must have learned how to use magic in a way Azix had never thought of since they had last seen each other. After the message repeated another time Azix muttered the keyword to turn it off. It seemed a journey was in store for the exhausted orange magician, but after potentially burning down a building Azix knew it would be a good idea to leave for a while.

Azix quickly packed for the journey, ignoring the exhaustion and aches from the earlier fight. After shredding the note and hiding the plank of wood, Azix headed downstairs to inform Carmen that he would be heading to HQ and to ask if she had anything to send there. She had already sent the reports through a trusted courier and wished him luck, so he left for a stable to rent a horse. As he departed towards the HQ, Azix hoped that he wouldn't be gone as long as he had been before. He had just secured the Grumptoes' faith in him again, Azix wasn't sure how long that would last if he vanished again. For the moment, they should be fine, Lavicus had his sister now and if anything, Azix would send a courier with a message if he was going to be long.

---

Upon arriving at HQ or what he thought was HQ, he soon learned that the base of operations had been moved to a villa north of the port city. Azix wasn't happy to hear that he had another four hour horseback ride, but he thanked the bartender for the information and hopped back on his horse.

By the time he found the villa, the sun was coming up over the horizon. Azix was astonished by the size of the villa, a massive complex that he imagined he could get lost in. He approached the front gates and slid off his horse onto weary feet. A sharp pain shot up both legs, half-asleep from hours of riding at a steady pace. He clutched the reins as he limped closer, looking for someone to let him inside.

*Time skip*

After verifying that the man was, in fact, a Kou operative, the guards opened the gates and began the process of checking him in. There wasn't much to do, but sign a piece of paper that explained when he had arrived.

It was fairly early in the morning and, as always, Garret and the group of overachievers began their running. As they began to loop around, the group were stopped in their tracks by some guards and a man with a horse. Garret immediately recognized the man, and began walking forward. He was dressed in his sleeveless jogging t-shirt with loose fit jogging shorts. The eight recruits walked behind him, curious as to who the early-morning visitor was.

When they saw the man, one of the recruits, Lu Feng, whispered to Tseng Qiang. "He looks like shit."

Garret coughed, covering his mouth with his closed fist, thumb side up. "Azix, you arrived early in the morning. You look like you could use some rest." Garret spoke in a friendly conversational tone to the man. It seemed as if his time in leadership had somehow loosened the man up, though he still spoke in a slightly formal manner.

Tseng Qiang's eyes went wide in recognition of the name, and he elbowed Lu Feng in the gut. He whispered back to his friend. "That's Azix Niraj. Are you trying to get on his bad side?"

Lu Feng looked taken aback, but quickly recovered and put up a tough front. "Hmph." He didn't have much else to say, however. Though that did get some of the other recruits murmuring to each other.

Garret turned his head slightly towards the group. "I didn't realize your purpose for waking up so early in the morning was to stand around and gossip."

That got the recruits moving, and they began jogging around Azix and the horse. They would surely be talking about him for some time as they made their rounds inside the walls.

The guard led Azix towards the courtyard and was promptly greeted by Garret with several younger people behind him, he assumed they were recruits of some sort. They wore loose clothes and by the look of them, they appeared to have been in the middle of jogging. Azix gave a friendly but weary smile to his friend as he approached. Azix heard one of the recruits whisper a remark about the state of his appearance and he suppressed a chuckle. His appearance was certainly ragged with the smell of horse lingering off him and the stains on his pants from his sweat and the horses soaked within the pant legs up to his crotch. It had been nearly a full day since he had sleep and longer since he had been well rested.

Azix acted as if he hadn't heard the comment, appearing as if his entire focus was on Garret. He nodded his head, "Quite so, I could use the rest. It has been a long ride and a longer week."

While he spoke, he casually gripped his staff and kept a friendly smile on his lips. When a girl whispered not to get on Azix's bad side, he started coughing, whispering commands to the Rukh behind a hand. He cast Phantasm's Redirection to form an illusion in front of the recruit who remarked on his appearance. The illusion was of a small donkey that looked right into the recruit's eyes before producing a large pile of excrement near his feet. After it expelled the load it pranced forward and the illusion of the donkey disappeared in a shimmer of light leaving the excrement behind for a few moments before it faded after Azix spoke.

"My, that is disgusting~" Azix chortled with a sly grin on his face, hoping to elicit some snickers. He then turned his attention back to Garret, "After I rest, I hope you wouldn't mind sharing a pint of fresh milk and discussing matter."

Spoiler:

The recruits were slightly wary of the sudden appearance of the creature. From Garret's duel with Akiho, they knew the strength of magic, and they also knew that Garret didn't have his wand with him at the time. The staff in Azix's hand gave him away as the culprit behind the whole thing, but the recruits didn't know what to make of it and treated it with caution.

When it laid a dookie at the feet of Lu Feng, and Azix made his remark, the boy's face went red. There was no laughing from any of the other recruits. In fact, after Garret had placed his face in the palm of his hand, one of the female recruits, Wu Xifeng, threw up a meter away from Azix. Her sister, Wu Meixiu, immediately began rubbing her back as both the fecal matter and the donkey disappeared, explaining to her that it wasn't real. The only thing holding Lu Feng back from an outburst seemed to be Tseng Qiang's calming words.

Garret sighed. "Alright folks, move along." Garret ordered the recruits to continue, and glanced at the vomit on the floor. He led Azix forward, into the courtyard. The butler had been summoned by a guard earlier, as he would be the one taking the horse to a stable. "You see, Azix, now that you've gone and done that, Fredrick here is going to need to clean up that vomit."

The butler paused and looked at Garret, before bowing. "I'll have someone take care of it right away, sir." Azix would likely notice that the man was the very same butler from the safe house in Remano, as the man took the reins from Azix.

"You do good work, Fredrick." Garret said, mostly because he felt a little bad about the man having to clean up after the results of one of his guest's pranks.

"Thank you, sir." The man bowed again, and lead the horse away. The way he lead the horse seemed a practiced and expert manner, which betrayed a hint of a background with horses to the one looking out for such hints.


Garret turned to Azix. "Now, I'm assuming you want some rest? The non-permanent residence is to the left." Garret led the way for Azix, and brought him into a fairly large building to the left of the courtyard. Once they entered, Garret pointed out to one of the other butlers in the building, a man who was dusting some furniture shelving.

"That's one of our groundskeepers." He began, explaining the man's job to Azix. "There is always one posted inside the non-permanent residence, in case someone has need of directions. They will be able to direct you to anything restriction level 3 to 5. That is to say, general facilities. They know nothing of things restriction level 2 or 1, however. Pick any of the rooms up top on the left. They're all vacant for now."

Azix was slightly disappointed that the prank was wasted on a crowd with a poor sense of humor, but didn't let if reflect in his features. He noticed the recruit turn red as the donkey defecated at his feet, but he seemed to hold his temper well. Azix had to give the man that at least, even if he couldn't take a joke, especially after giving a snide remark. Garret waited until the recruits had left before scolding him in a mild manner, which Azix expected. He was directed to a butler, the very same butler he had met at the safe house during his first encounter with Garret. Azix remembered him fondly, as a man whose duty to his profession was unrivaled, speaking volumes of his discipline.

Before the Butler walked off with the horse, Azix commented that the butler did indeed provide good service. He felt guilty that someone else would have to clean up a mess that had been caused by him, so he pulled off his cloak and cleaned the vomit up himself. A shudder passed through him as he heard the moist stomach contents slurp against the fabric of his cloak, but he resolved himself to the task. It had helped that the memory of Pallus' sweaty flesh was still fresh in his memory, nothing seemed worse than that at the moment. After wadding up the cloak in a fashion where it wouldn't leak, but allowed him to hold two tiny ends of it as far away from himself as possible, he followed Garret to the non-permanent residence.

He was impressed with the state of the villa and remarked to Garret stating just that. He bowed to the groundskeeper before pointing to the wadded up cloak, "Where would be best to dispose of this?" After he was pointed in the right direction, which he preferred, or it was taken from him, he would thank Garret for the hospitality and retire to one of the vacant rooms.

After a long, hot bath, Azix crashed into bed and drifted off quickly into sleep. When he awoke, he saw that the sun was rising again, apparently he had slept a whole day away. He yawned as he stretched out the sleep from his limbs before changing into a clean pair of clothes. As he descended the stairs, the groundskeeper asked if he could be of service and Azix declined his offer. He wanted to walk the grounds to stretch the aches out of his muscles. The rest had been nice, but he couldn't lounge around all day.

After some walking, Azix found a small garden that caught his eye. The colors of the flowers seemed to pull to his current mood and he found himself sitting in the grass with his eyes closed. His breathing had become slow and deep as he began to meditate, clearing his mind and letting lose the stress of the past few jobs. He had been through a lot and the tranquility of the garden seemed to help him shed the film of negativity that had accumulated in his mind.

He opened his eyes and noticed that he was drawn to a flower with petals that were a shade of brilliant violet. He plucked one of the flowers and drew it to his nose, inhaling the faint sweet smell of its nectar. His staff sat uncomfortably at his side, so he slid it from its loop on his belt and laid it across his lap as he studied the flower, twirling it in his fingers.

He reflected on his success in locating and saving Sophie, that was a positive thing in his life. He had also made the Grumptoes satisfied of his loyalty to them, which was another good thing. Looking back at the pain in his life, it seemed that maybe those things had happened to shape him into a strong enough person to handle these pressures. His thoughts turned then to Ariella, a magician he had worked with to clear out some mines of animals that prevented the miners from working. He wondered what kind of person she would turn out to be and if she would be of any use. He hoped to integrate her with the Grumptoes as another magician to handle any jobs too big for them or protect the Grumptoes if they needed it. Azix hoped she would turn out to be a loyal ally, something about her seemed to resonate with him.

Lost in his thoughts, he wouldn't notice if others were around him. If they saw him, he would look like a man contemplating deep matters and he would seem to be in a serene state as he analyzed them. To anyone that knew him well, it would seem as if he was without his normal mental barriers, exposed and in a vulnerable state. He wasn't usually known to be in such a peaceful state, instead either being theatrical or bordering on the edge of sanity.

Garret had awoke, as was his normal, several hours before the sun had risen. Stretching, meditating and basic physical training. He continued to go through his normal routine of running in the morning, joined by the recruits. When it was time to hit the baths, Garret cleansed his body before sinking into the hot water. The other male recruits were simply sitting down in the hot water as well. Garret closed his eyes for a short while, recalling the prior day's events.

"Lu Feng, forget about Azix. The man hides behind a dozen masks, and often jokes around for the sake of joking." He rarely spoke during these moments, and it caught the others off guard. "He is a dangerous man to cross, as well. I believe we are on par in terms of combat ability. He was fairly efficient with the use of his blade, last I saw him."

"..." Lu Feng said nothing, at first. He considered the implications of what Garret had said. When it came to straightforwardness, Garret didn't lie or sugarcoat his words. "I've forgotten about him already." In truth, Tseng Qiang had spoken to him the prior day, and had already helped him work out his anger.

Garret simply nodded at the words and left it at that.


The sun was rising at this point in time, and Azix had just began lying down in the garden. A Kou woman walked out from the central building directly across from the gate, katana at her side. she walked towards where Azix was, but it didn't seem she noticed him, as she was still too distant. Though Azix wasn't particularly paying attention to the woman, he would soon feel an unnatural killing intent that wasn't aimed at anything in particular. If he cared to see the source of that intent he would see the woman performing a series of cuts in the air, each attack looking like it could cleave a person. After each cut, the blade returned to its sheathe. This movement was repeated many times, the killing intent disappearing after the blade re-entered the sheath.

It was at this point that a familiar voice called out to Azix. Garret had approached the man from the side. "I see you are relaxing." How long he had been watching Azix was hard to guess. "Though it looks like there's a lot on your mind..?" It was an open-ended offer to hear the man's thoughts.

Garret looked over to Akiho, smiling. He waved, and the movement caught her attention. Quickly turning, the woman looked in their direction. Noticing Garret, she bowed and went back to her work.

Garret had Kuroi Shimo sheathed in a pouch on his right side, and his Prismatic Dagger sheathed on his left. He sat down two meters next to Azix, relaxing himself as well.

In the middle of his thinking he felt a person with strong killing intent nearby, he lifted an eyelid and spotted a woman practicing cutting with her katana. He briefly noted that she seemed quite practiced with a blade and that she didn't intend to bother him, so he went back to his musings. It wasn't long after that he was interrupted again by the sound of Garret's voice, who approached from his side. Azix twirled the violet flower in his fingers as his friend sat down.

"Yes, I do have a few things on my mind, but I think your comments the last time we spoke helped. It is strange, I used to curse my fate, but now I am starting to see that maybe the past laid the foundation for me to handle the future." He raised the flower to his nose and inhaled the sweet scent before continuing. "I apologize for my prank yesterday. It did show me their discipline, I imagine that you may have had a hand in that. I wanted to say that I found the girl I was looking for." An shudder ran through him as he recalled what he had gone through to find her.

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled the disgust of the memory and looked up at Garret. "So, did you really call me out here just for a spar? I had hoped you missed your dear old friend." He let out a small chuckle, "No matter, it sounds fun. While our powers in concert with each other create interesting utility for missions, making us a pretty formidable team, if I may say so from prior experience, it would be interesting to see them clash."

The spymaster was on the left of Azix. He nodded his head as he listened to Azix. "No, the man was disrespectful. Your response was much more mild than it could have been. Depending on who they are around in the future, which will likely be important figures, they will all have to act with the utmost respect." He dismissed Azix's apology with a wave of his hand in an attempt to assure the man that he was well within his rights to discipline the charge had he so chosen to.

When Azix next spoke, it was about the child the man had been searching for. Garret held back from saying anything at first, but decided to say something. "It seemed like it was important to you when we were at Serene's and talked about it briefly." He didn't say too much after that, and allowed that line of conversation to die out.

Azix changed the subject, asking about the main reason Garret had called him out here. A contained laugh escaped from the spymaster. "We're busy, so there always needs to be a justification for what it is we do." While he had sat down next to Azix, He had moved his right leg so that his leg was bent with his foot on the ground and his knee. His hand, hidden by the placement of his leg, began making signs to Azix.

'Do not speak too freely here. There is something important I need to tell you.' The movements were fast and precise, and Garret hoped that Azix had seen them. He looked Azix in the eyes. "I don't think it would be wise for our abilities to clash here. I've been doing some training a few kilometers north of here, on the beachside. That would be the best place to practice."

Azix enjoyed the company of his friend as they conversed on the lawn. From his time in Zou, he never had friends, not that there were many to be had in the ranks of nobility, so it was rare to have such a relaxing moment. As Garret spoke, the spymaster shifted the position of his leg and gave hidden hand signals to avoid speaking too openly. Azix ran his fingers through his hair, a signal to show he recognized and understood the hidden message.

"I think a trip to the beach would be lovely," he looked up to the sky and surveyed the clear sky. "Perfect weather too, as luck would have it." Azix would follow Garret to the beach when he was ready to leave.

When Garret and Azix finally got to the beach, Garret breathed a sigh of relief. "Someone is, once again, moving behind the scenes. It is much more thought out, and a lot more focused than Li Cao's heavy-handed approach." Garret began filling Azix in on his most recent run in with a group of bandits. "Somehow, the bandit knew what to expect from me. There seemed to have been enough of them, too, to overrun the number of people we were supposed to originally have on that job."

Garret shook his head. "And they died on the trip back. Our head interrogator, Maximus, determined it was through self poison that they hid in a false tooth. This suggests a much more discreet opponent, as well as a mole in our organization." Sighing, Garret shook his head. "Just be careful. I don't know the real motive behind these attacks just yet, and you might become a target as well. Ready to spar?"

Garret stopped moving, and pointed to a spot 30 meters away from him, as if letting Azix know that he would like them to start a decent distance away from each other.

Azix listened to Garret explain about an ambush that occurred after a recent mission and his concerns about someone behind the scenes trying to take them out. Azix had to agree with his friend, it would appear that even with Li Cao out of the equation, the assassination attempts still continued. Between the obvious knowledge of Garret's abilities and the prisoner's suicide attempts, the attack reeked of an extremely detailed operation. What was concerning wasn't that his own life might be at stake, but that his friend, the spymaster of Reim's operations was being targeted. Previous experiences led Azix to believe it was someone in the ranks of Zou's nobility.

Azix looked Garret in the eyes when they stopped, "This is concerning, if they are willing to target you and your recruits, then I worry for the safety of mine..." He trailed off as he thought of the Grumptoes. The idea of them being used as pawns to get to him finalized his decision to test Ariella further, another magician keeping an eye on them wouldn't hurt. But would it be worth it to risk her life too? He exhaled his concerns for now, they would have to wait for when he could do something about them. He hoped they would be fine during his absence, at least he didn't hope he would be gone as long as he had been before.

"If you would do me a favor, Garret, keep an eye to avoid any traps. I wouldn't want you to come to harms way without me here to watch your back." Garret would be able to hear the concern in Azix's voice behind the teasing comment. They had fought together enough that Azix knew Garret was skilled enough to handle himself and judge a situation fairly accurately, but that didn't change the fact that he was Azix's sole friend.

With that he moved to the spot Garret had pointed out thirty meters away in preparation for their spar. Azix took a few moments to clear his thoughts, focusing on his breathing to find his center. When he was ready he let out a deep breath and pulled his staff free, signaling that he was ready to begin.

Garret took a deep breath. The last time he trained with somebody and went all out, he had nearly killed them. With wand in his left hand, Garret brought out a Prismatic Dagger in his right. The weapon was something Azix had not yet seen him use. Garret had made decent study of the weapon, but had not actually used it overly much in combat.

Garret noted that Azix, too, was ready to begin. The man was giving him the first move, which Garret decided to take when he began to gather blue Rukh infused with his Magoi to cast the Controlling the Currents spell. The water from their right covered the ground about 25cm high in a 15m diameter area around Garret. Garret sustained the water, and kept a feel for it while he moved forward. He would pay close attention to the details of Azix's actions all the while considering his next move.

The man could go invisible, which would make things difficult for Garret if he chose to do so. In preparation for what would likely come, Garret also cast Water Gill. If Azix did nothing, Garret would continue to approach him until he was within 10 meters of the mage, and then move the center of the water he was controlling to be directly between the two of them.

OOC:

Word count: 228

The blue magician started by manipulating water from the ocean to pool around him in a wide circular puddle. Azix noticed that Garret was wielding a dagger he didn't recognize, as usual, it seemed Garret was constantly expanding his skills. Azix had been training too, but he wondered if it even compared to what Garret had been doing. A flicker of blue Rukh caught his attention as a bubble formed over Garret's nose and mouth. With those two spells prepared, Garret began approaching Azix.

Knowing Garret's skill with controlling water, Azix wanted to keep his distance from it. With swift commands to the Rukh, Azix cast his Twist Reality spell forming two illusions of his likeness overlapping his skin. Afterwards, he called the Rukh to alter gravity's influence around his body with the use of Gravity Lift. When Garret was within twenty meters of him he sent the two illusions towards Garret at two-and-a-half meters per second. As soon as they moved, he flew upwards ten meters above the ground, keeping an eye on Garret.

The illusions both unsheathed the curved short sword at their right hip, each aiming to strike one of Garret's shoulder. Azix watched Garret's reaction, staying on his guard for any spells.

[206/2000 int spec]

Garret had cast his first spell, Controlling the Currents in anticipation that Azix would go invisible. Continuing to sustain both that, as well as Water Gill, Garret watched for the movements in the water's surface. It was his intention to be able to tell where the man was. He was surprised to see that his opponent instead chose a different spell, one that he did not recall the Azix having cast before.

Well, that's new. As one of the three of these Azixs flew upward, Garret confirmed whether or not the ones still on ground level were real. Though they were not invisible, the water would still show ripples from the movement of the real one. He frowned when he saw both were producing ripples. They aren't illusions? Well then, change of plans. The flying one is less of a danger than these two, but I cannot afford to let my guard down. Garret had no need to approach the two Azixs that were approaching him. They were already within his sphere of influence.

This was soon evidenced by the rushing of water, as the 25cm of water floating across the ground quickly changed into a funnel of water that drew everything towards Garret. Garret was using Controlling the Currents to pull the two Azixs into the rush of water at 20 m/s. They had been moving slowly just earlier so, even if only for a moment, they would have been under the full effects of the strength of his spell. While they were pulled close to him, the funnel moved upward and in a cone-like motion, akin to a tornado. Garret, during this time, had cast Pressure Crusher, which would definitely activate Azix's Borg if the real one were there...


OOC:

Word count training for spell: 303+228=531/1000

As the illusions stepped into the pool at Garret's feet, a flicker of blue Rukh flashed before the water began to swirl in a vortex, sweeping the illusions into it. Azix was glad to see that his previous caution was warranted, getting in close would have knocked him off balance. The illusions lashed out against the water, but they dissolved into magoi as the pool took on the shape of a cone. Azix wasn't sure how well Garret could see through the vortex, so instead of waiting to see he sustained Twist Reality and formed two new illusions around his body which he directed forward at twenty meters per second.

With the cone of swirling water around Garret, it would be hard for Azix to force his way through. Instead, the illusions flew above the cone, before descending at twenty meters per second, head-first with their swords held before them.

Meanwhile, Azix formed a mass of shadows above his staff which he sent at twenty meters per second to the ground beneath the blue magician's feet. Kage Youshiki formed a circular seal that radiated black light with magical symbols drawn in a dark purple that stretched in a fifteen meter diameter below Garret. From within the seal, fifteen tendrils braided together to form a single fifteen meter long shadow tendril that would pierce upwards, attacking Garret from below.

Still hovering ten meters in the air, less than twenty meters away from where Garret stood, Azix still hovered thanks to his Gravity Lift spell. He decided to stay where he was, ready to move or counter-attack if a spell aimed towards him. Azix knew his true location was revealed when the illusions struck Garret's spell. With two more illusions attacking the blue magician from above, Azix hoped that would keep Garret from attacking him. If that didn't work, there was the second attack from below to have to deal with as well.

[527/2000]