Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. Two: Beneath the Hawthorn Tree: Verse Seventy-Five

“Trio, Verse one, Crackle of Lightning bolt!”

The spell took hold the moment the last word dropped from his lips, and the sound of crashing cymbals was almost deafening. He felt his Orrium instantly drop down from being completely full to only having a quarter of its maximum capacity.

The spell was fast, faster than he could have imagined and it seemed to hit the stone target the very instant the last word had been spoken. The stone target glowed white-hot and then exploded violently sending shards and globs of molten rock in every direction.

A few nearby trees caught fire as the molten liquid sloshed against their trunks and leaves. Even the grass caught fire, yet the energy that had hit the target still continued forward.

The bolt of lightning continued over the edge of the mountain peak this secluded training field stood upon, and out into the clouds above another. As soon as the spell hit the clouds, they changed from white and fluffy, to dark and brooding.

Lightning crackled through the atmosphere and a massive thunderstorm began to brew over that uninhabited area. Cypher could feel the thunder from what must have been several kilometers and it stunned him.

Alvin shared his shock and turned his head slowly to look at his disciple. He had stopped writing his notes the moment Cypher had cast that Rank-Three spell and all he could do was look at his student with a dumbfounded expression.

“You… You can cast at the third rank?! At your age and level?!? How is this possible?” Alvin hadn’t expected Cypher to be able to cast the Rank-Three spell. He thought that the attempt would only empty the Cypher’s Orrium and quite possibly render him unconscious.

He had even been prepared to offer his own Zight to stabilize his pupil if needed. But the fact that it had worked and that Cypher was still standing before him looking only slightly more exhausted than before stunned him to his core. Alvin had been made aware of Cypher’s vast amount of Zight by the Elders but to actually see it in action was unbelievable.

It was inconceivable, impossible even. Never had Alvin met a first-year student, let alone one of such a young age, who could cast at the third rank. Even more surprising was that his spell had carried such enormous power.

It had caused an environmental response kilometers away and traveled with such speed that even Alvin had a hard time keeping track of it. He knew that if he had been the target of that spell that it would have either killed him on the spot or injured him severely, Rank-Three body and all.

In theory, if one had enough Zight there was no limit to the level of spell one could cast. The fourth rank, fifth rank, and even the sixth rank were not impossible to surpass if one had access to the proper amount of Zight. However, there were many other factors that limited one’s use of such powerful spells.

Mental energy, physical durability, and the ability to understand and control such complex laws of nature, all of these were factors that played a part in keeping Conductors in check. Just because one had the Zight to cast at the sixth rank, didn’t mean that their body or mind could handle the force of such a spell being cast.

Seeing a child of twelve standing as if nothing had happened just now despite having just performed such a profound spell was a feat that impressed Alvin to his core.

Cypher felt woozy from the sudden and extreme drain on his reserves of Zight, and his entire body tingled and felt numb. Aside from when he was training in the Zight Vortex he hadn’t really ever ‘felt’ his Zight Stanza before that moment, but right then it felt like it was twitching rapidly.

He wobbled a bit on his feet after another moment and the storm in the distance let out another thunderous boom as it let loose a torrent of rain. Alvin still looked out of it, but after another moment of stunned silence, he managed to speak.

“Cypher, how are you feeling? Do you think you could do that again right now? Or are you completely out of Zight?” Alvin looked at him with a combination of eagerness, confusion, and wonder in his eyes.

“I really don’t think I could. I might be able to cast at Rank-One a few times but that’s about it. Any more than that and I’d be completely out of Zight,” he responded, flopping on the ground to rest as he began to refill his Orrium with his Ark.

Alvin quickly wrote on his clipboard and joined the boy on the ground. “Well, at least we found your maximum output. How much Zight was left after you cast that spell?”

“I dunno, probably about a quarter of my full Orrium?” Cypher had taken a second to think carefully before he had answered, rubbing the area of his Orrium as he considered the question.

“Then it seems to me that your maximum potential is that Rank-Three spell cast in duplicate. If you were to unleash a spell in that manner you’d fall unconscious, but whatever you were fighting would have to be at least at the peak of the third tier or higher to survive. Conductors at or under Rank-Two, as well as Zightbeasts in that range, would most likely be instantly killed.”

“It’s incredibly lucky that you didn’t try to cast at the fourth rank the other day. It would have most certainly killed both you and Alex. You would have died from Zight depletion, and Alex would have been vaporized along with many other students in the area given how far that bolt you just used went.

“The elders were quite wise to sentence you to this period of training. No offense, but you’re very dangerous as you are now. Thankfully you now have a better grasp of how to use this power and won’t carelessly use another spell like that again… right?”

Cypher nodded and Alvin patted him on the back again.

“It seems that we still have quite a bit of work to do before you’re ready to rejoin your classmates. I had planned a single month’s worth of training to master yourself, but we might need to take two instead. I hope you’re ready because this training is only going to get harder from here.”

Cypher had expected as much, but he was eager to get back to the core of his classes and advance further in his lessons. All of that had taken place during just the first week of his solitary training with Alvin.

On the second day of the next week, Alvin arrived on the training field with a woman following closely behind him. Her appearance was quite basic as he looked her over but she was still quite beautiful all the same. She wore a pair of tight-fitting, black leggings, a short maroon tunic, a belt, and a simple black cloth headband.

Her arms were covered in scars, no doubt from countless battles she had fought in, and her silver-streaked light blue hair was cut to her shoulders and shined in the light as she moved. She wasn’t old but Cypher could see that she appeared to be in her mid-forties. Although in the world of Conductors, it was impossible to accurately gauge the age of someone, as he had discovered in his studies, training to be a Conductor increased a person’s lifespan by decades or even centuries.

The more one committed themselves to the advancement of their centers of power, the longer they would live. For all he knew, she could be well over a hundred. He thought to ask her about it, but when he saw the cold attitude that she was exuding from her hazel eyes, he thought it best not to ask her about that. He remembered her though. She was the one who had saved Alex the other day and a twinge of guilt entered Cypher’s mind for an instant as he remembered how cold she had been towards him.

Cypher looked confused, but as they neared closer to him, Alvin gave him a wry smile and suddenly, Cypher was eager to see what this was all about. He considered the possibilities and his train of thought only led him to a single conclusion.

She was the combat instructor for students in his year and if she was here then it could only mean one thing, he would be fighting, not casting spells. After all, he was training to better control himself and his body was part of that.

Now that he had a better idea of what he could really do with magick, he was eager to replace out what his body was capable of. He wasn’t a weakling, but around those in the higher ranks, he might as well have been, and she was certainly high-ranked. Adrenaline filled him as he became excited about the upcoming session and his smile grew wide.