Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.49 (81) (Patreon)

Cathleen Averett had forgotten how much she enjoyed real training. When she had followed two of her brothers south, she had hoped to find worthy warriors to bring into her clan. Yet, all she found since arriving over 40 years ago were weak southerners. Cathleen had found that training in the south was nothing but a pale imitation of what she had faced in her youth. But she stayed anyway, because training wasn’t why she had settled in Dorchester.

Over the centuries, the Averett family had spread out across Oglivarch, always looking to improve themselves. They had branch houses across the kingdom, intermingling with the local houses while staying loyal to their clan. She had chosen to stay in Dorchester while two of her younger brothers joined the army in the south. It had taken more than 40 years, but she finally had something worthwhile to report. The sense of accomplishment was wonderful, and she had almost forgotten what true happiness felt like.

As she watched Nero cast a cleaning spell to remove the blood and dirt from what was left of his clothes, Cathleen used her link to update the report she was compiling on the little lord. While reviewing what she had just written, her pride in her student was obvious, despite her efforts to reign in her praise.

‘Training day 6 – The little lord started the day poorly. He was worried about some noble nonsense, and it looked like he was going to fold under the pressure. I am happy to report that he mastered himself quickly. His dedication to training returned with a vengeance. He approached his combat training with the same ferocity that I have come to expect over the past few days. 72 times he faced death today, and not once did he hesitate after resuscitation.

The captain has fulfilled his promise and there are several more medics from central command. Even so, the medics are still working in rotations to keep up with the little lord’s requirements. I’m surprised to report that the army didn’t try to interfere, ask me to let-up, or in any way scale back the training. In fact, the captain has given me full control of the little lord’s physical combat training. With the army’s support, I’ve stepped up the intensity as much as I could. We may not have a true warrior camp here, but I’d say we’ve come as close as circumstances allow. If I had a year, I’d say the little lord would have no trouble becoming a ‘Warblade’.

Unfortunately, I only have 4 days left until we head out into the wilds. I don’t know how long we will be deployed, but if he survives, the training will continue.’

Closing her link, she watched Nero meet up with Nick and Rose, while she went to drop off her weapon at the training racks. The little lord was all smiles, as if he had not spent the past few hours on the end of her spear. She couldn’t hold back a smirk at his antics. There was no doubt in her mind, the young man was something special.

Even while distracted, she felt a disturbance a few units behind her. Cathleen was careful not to indicate that she had noticed anyone approaching. Instead, she continued on her way to the racks.

“Ms. Averett, I need a moment of your time,” Specialist Howard said.

Feigning surprise, she turned around and raised an eyebrow. “What can I do for you, sergeant?” she asked.

Specialist Howard wore a serious expression, and said, “Tomorrow I’m going to introduce Walker to mage-duels. Captain Angelton told me to push the kid hard, but from what I’ve seen, you’re the one who’s really in charge of his training. I need to know how you want me to proceed.”

Cathleen gave the specialist her patented look of appraisal. While staring him down, she was pleased to see he didn’t shy away, or offer any hint of weakness.

“How is the little lord’s mage training progressing? Is he actually ready to learn combat casting?” she asked.

Crossing his arms, Specialist Howard replied, “Yeah, the kids ready. I’ve never seen anyone progress this fast. I haven’t even heard of anyone doing it. I tried slowing him down by teaching him the elemental wheel, but he’s already mastered it. That took me two years. And I think he’s already working on infusing his center into his casts. I don’t even know how he has enough center to do what he’s been doing. Long story short, he’s ready.”

Smirking, she said, “So you want to know how hard you should push him?”

Nodding, he said, “The captain just said ‘push him’, but I’ve watched him training with you. If you give me permission, I’ll bring over some medics and give him a few days of real combat. The captain will probably glower at me, but I think the kid can handle it.”

Cathleen stared hard at the specialist, and said, “If you have the medics available, then use them. Put the little lord down, then pick him back up. I want you to hammer him like steel. You don’t have to worry about him breaking. But I’m warning you,” her eyes burned with promise, “If he dies while under your care, you’ll be following him into the afterlife along with anyone you care about. That is a promise.”

Specialist Howard gulped, but his eyes never wavered. He said, “Your lord will be safe in my care. I just want to see what he can do. Like I said, I’ve never seen someone progress this fast. I want to see what he’s really capable of.”

Cathleen and Howard stared at each other for a few seconds, then offered each other a nod. The specialist walked off, while Cathleen opened her link to update the report she was compiling.

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When day 7 of their training started, Nero was ready. He had spent the previous night reviewing his spells and meditating on his growth. If everything went according to plan, he would be leveling to 11 at the end of the day. He was looking forward to it, as he really needed to clear his level stress from his ‘body’ stat.

His morning training went well. Although he still wasn’t able to keep up with anyone, he thought his improvement was spectacular. It felt like he was having weeks of progress compressed into a few days of workouts. Nero didn’t get sore, or suffer from shin splints. His recovery stat was able to refresh him every day, and every morning he felt a little stronger than the day before.

Nero’s close quarters combat training with Cathleen was still a nightmare. But, he felt like he was improving faster than should be possible. With the world correcting his form, he let himself float in the ether during his fights. Even though he never came close to winning, he’d gone from a complete novice, to a skilled warrior. He had learned how to grapple. What strikes worked, and what didn’t. He now knew how to dodge, and how to position himself for a proper counter-attack. What would have taken years back home was compressed into days. Unfortunately, Cathleen didn’t seem to notice.

Nero didn’t fare any better with weapons. He had long since stopped counting how many times Cathleen killed him. Yet, he still showed massive improvement. His preference was a one handed sword along with a knife, or sometimes a buckler. Nero had mastered the essence blade technique, and had figured out how to improve his mage-armor. While he still couldn’t stop Cathleen’s spear, he was getting very good at making her miss her target. The result was him dying by bleeding out, rather than being stabbed. Nero considered it a win.

By the time Nero arrived for his mage training, his pants were barely hanging on, and his shirt was gone. Thinking about it, Nero couldn’t remember the last time he managed to go a whole day without his shirt being destroyed. Luckily, he found a fresh set of training clothes in his room at the end of every day.

As Nero thought about how ‘repair’ magic might work, and whether or not it was hard to learn, he was interrupted by Specialist Howard.

“All right Walker, let’s do this,” he said.

The specialist walked into the middle of the training hall, taking his place in the circle designating the training arena. The man wore a blue shirt like all the other trainers, and he looked like he was enjoying Nero’s hesitation.

Frowning, Nero joined him in the arena. He stood about 20 paces away, and stared the specialist down. He said, “Before you tell me about all the rules and crap, how about you tell me what makes combat casting different from what I’ve been doing. I’m already infusing my center into my spells, what else is there?”

Nero heard Nick shout from the side of the arena, “I already told you! You have to control the essence. Both combatants will fight for control, it will affect your casting.”

Specialist Howard said, “We’ll start with a simple training exercise. I want you to take over the essence around the ring. Spread out your field and make it yours. You have to hold on tight, because I’m going to take it from you.”

Nero nodded, then did what he was told. While keeping his mage-armor tight, he spread out his psychic field and took hold of the ambient essence. He let it flow, but held on tight. It felt like he was holding on to a fire-hose.

As Nero concentrated on his task, he felt the specialist’s psychic presence fill the arena. At first, it was just a sensation of them sharing the same space. Then, without warning, Nero felt a lurch. It was like he was in a mental tug-of-war over the essence. Specialist Howard was kind enough to give Nero a few seconds to get a better mental grip, then he started to yank. In seconds, Nero was sweating. He felt like he was trying to do math problems while mentally playing a game of push-pull.

Nero focused on keeping hold of the essence, while he tried to pry the specialist loose. Meanwhile, the specialist kept jostling Nero’s grip. They traded mental tugs, while slapping each other’s mental probes. It was the oddest, most interesting feeling Nero had ever experienced.

His concentration nearly broke when he heard the specialist ask, “OK, now that you have an idea of how this works, try and stop me from taking control.”

Nero firmed his grip, then immediately felt his control slip. It was like he was playing tug-of-war with a greased rope. In less than a second, the ambient essence was completely out of his control. He could feel Specialist Howard’s mental presence enveloping the flows, and there was no purchase to be found. Nero couldn’t take it back.

“Now try and cast something,” Specialist Howard said, sounding bored.

Nero’s brow was furrowed in annoyance. He didn’t like how easily he’d been bested. Nonetheless, he was curious about how casting would work while the essence was out of his control. He cast a simple ‘water ball’, which was essentially just a water balloon. While he had no issue carving the spell-form with his center, it didn’t seem to want to pull in any essence. Confused, Nero tried to nudge it; the mental equivalent of kicking the lawnmower, hoping it would magically start.

Specialist Howard said, “If you don’t have control of the essence, you can’t do anything. Now, I’ll release my grip a little. Try and take control from me, but keep your spell-form active.”

Nero felt the specialist’s hold loosen, and immediately tried to rip it out his mental hands. Instead of taking control, all Nero managed to do was return their mental tug-of-war to a stale-mate. Yet, that was enough. The essence started flowing into his spell-form. It seemed slower than normal, but he was still able to cast the spell. Nero smiled as a basketball sized ball of water flew toward Specialist Howard.

Nero watched as the water ball flew straight and true, but before he could celebrate, the ball seemed to evaporate around 5 ft from the specialist. Frowning, Nero wondered what happened. Luckily, Specialist Howard was more than happy to tell him what he did wrong.

“You’re still not putting enough center into your spells. Do you think I’m some low level apprentice? I didn’t even try and dispel your construct. You didn’t even manage to get through my essence field, let alone my essence-shield. Try again, and don’t lose control of the ambient essence,” said Specialist Howard, while still sounding bored.

Nero grimaced at the tone, and redoubled his efforts. He had to mentally fight for control of the essence, while maintaining his spell-form, holding his mage-armor, and then impart his essence into the collected essence for the spell. Even though Nero was just standing there, he was drenched in sweat.

It only took 7 casts for Nero to finally breach the specialist’s essence field. He smiled as he saw the water ball explode and then evaporate. His happiness wasn’t allowed to flourish, as he heard Specialist Howard’s laughter from across the arena.

Specialist Howard said, “All right. Now that you know how to cast during a mage-duel, let’s add some complexity. Do your best to hit me with whatever you want, while I stand here and try and hit you with some iron spikes. I doubt your essence-shield will be able to stop them, so I suggest dodging.”

Before the specialist even finished speaking, Nero watched an iron spike launch itself toward him. Eyes wide with panic, he jumped to the side. Unfortunately, his concentration broke, and his spell-form cracked. The mental pain from losing his spell cause a cascade of failures. Nero winced as he lost his grip on the ambient essence. Distracted, he never noticed the iron spike heading for his chest.

Nero’s psychic field collapsed, and he looked down to see a foot long spike sticking out of chest. Too stunned to feel the pain, he managed to mutter, “Huh?”

As Nero collapsed to his knees, he gripped the spike while hearing Nick asking, “Hey specialist, did he manage to keep his essence-shield up?”

The last thing Nero heard as the lights went out was Specialist Howard saying, “Nope, I think he got distracted.” Then the man shouted, “Medic! Let’s get him up and we’ll try again.”