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

Cypher was in no mood to be stopped now, not while he felt this immense power coursing through him. His attack had once again caught Glenda off guard and if she didn’t do something his blade would bury itself in her skull.

The attack continued to scream through the air, but before it could make contact, the light around Cypher vanished, and with it, the power he had just used. The blade cracked, bounced off her forehead, and sent vibrations down his arm all in the same instant. Glenda flashed him a look of rage and sent a punch directly into his gut. His breath caught in his throat and he collapsed to the ground heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

Glenda scowled and lowered her blade. “Enough! You’ve proven your point. That is a fine battle pressure you have there Cypher. If you can remember that feeling you felt just now you can enhance it and learn to channel it into more precise strikes just as I did when I cut that tree down. But I’ll warn you now that if you insist on throwing a tantrum just because I hurt your feelings then I’ll be forced to defend myself in full.”

Cypher was still seething as he tried to stand back up and Glenda released her battle pressure on him again which left him frozen and unable to even think properly. Alvin had finished with the tree a few moments earlier and ran up to pat Cypher on the shoulder.

“Calm down Cypher, she didn’t mean it. Anger is just another one of the tools she uses to train her students. That said, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Glenda bleed. You did quite a good job there for your first try,” Alvin beamed at him and Glenda simply scoffed.

“It’s just a scratch, don’t get too excited. He still has a long way to go before he’s ready to fight anyone for real. I had to resort to pissing him off before he even picked up on trying to use his Zight Stanza that way.

“I will admit though that it was quite the attack Cypher, and I apologize if my words cut too deep, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant that you’d be trained properly. Your speed and form were quite impressive for a novice. But simply flooding your Zight Stanza is only a single step towards using battle pressure properly. If you didn’t have such a large supply of Zight that attack would never have worked against me,” Cypher wiped the sweat from his forehead and took a deep breath, his rage flowing out slowly as he exhaled.

Glenda was right, and he noticed only now that his reserves had fallen from full, down to a quarter of their maximum in those few instants. He couldn’t use another attack like that even if he used the rest of his Zight. As for her insults, he wasn’t quite ready to forgive her just yet, but he understood now that she was just baiting him into using his anger to attack her properly.

Cypher stood up and clutched his stomach, he wiped the dirt from his knees and spat out a bit of blood from where he had bit his lip earlier, “Don’t do that again, Glenda. I’ll let it slide this time on account of the private training, but you replace a different way to enlighten me next time or I’m done learning from you.”

Glenda smiled wryly and nodded her understanding, “I like this one Alvin, he’s got balls! Tell me, Cypher, did you get that tenacity from watching Galex? He was always a rambunctious little shit from what I recall. You wouldn’t believe it looking at him now, but when he was a boy he was quite the class clown. That said, he was very skilled. If I’m not mistaken he’s one of the few I trained who actually made it to adulthood.”

Cypher raised an eyebrow and looked up at Glenda, “Wait, you trained Galex?”

“Indeed I did. He wasn’t nearly as powerful as you are when he was your age but he showed amazing potential. I suppose that’s why he’s lasted this long,” she replied.

Cypher had no words. It was surprising to learn that Galex was once a student of Glenda’s. However, if he thought about it, it made sense. Obviously, Galex attended the Academy. There was no reason he wouldn’t have. But that knowledge only led him to another round of questions. If Galex was once a student of Glenda’s, then just how long had she been teaching students here at the Academy?

“Wait how long ago was this? Isn’t Galex in his forties? Just how old are you?” he asked.

“Now now, it isn’t very gentlemanly to ask a woman her age. Besides, Galex is actually in his early hundreds, though I can’t really remember how old he is exactly. In any event, it doesn’t matter. The point here is that you’ve managed to impress me. If I were you I’d focus on keeping in my good graces instead of asking pointless questions. You did well learning to run your Zight through the Zight Stanza in such a speedy manner.”

Now Cypher turned to Alvin and asked, “Was it really that impressive? Honestly, I can barely remember how I even did that, and why does it take so much Zight to pull something like that off?”

Alvin shrugged and helped Cypher dust himself off, continuing the instruction as he did, “Converting Zight into physical power is very costly. Spells use a lot of Zight, but they work differently than physical attacks.”

“Spells only allow us to access the laws of the universe and bend them to our will by expending Zight. All the energy released when you launch a fireball or lightning bolt already exists in the world. The diagrams for spells, and the subsequent way we cast them simply channels those laws and molds them to our will. Physical attacks on the other hand have no such advantage or hurdle,” Alvin said.

“Thank you, ‘Mr. Know-it-all,’ but I got this,” interjected Glenda. “He is right though, physical attacks rely on the energy in your own body to work. Flooding your Zight stanza with power only allows you to convert that energy into something your body can use, and the conversion rate is shitty to say the very least,” she finished, scowling at Alvin.

“If I had to put it into terms you could understand,” she held up the hilt of her sword and pointed at the handle, “A single spell of the second rank, your lightning bolt, for example, would use around this much Zight,” she dragged her finger down two inches from the base of the pommel and stopped there.

“It isn’t a whole lot, you’re simply using Zight to condense the energy in the environment, change its nature, and then force it out in the form of lightning. On the other hand, if you were to convert your Zight into a physical attack of the same rank, it would use about this much Zight,” she moved her finger back to the pommel and this time, dragged it all the way down to nearly the crossguard of her sword.

“As you can see the conversion rate really is quite shitty, but there isn’t anything you can do about it. That’s just how the world works. Still, we’re talking about someone who just learned to use Zight in this way. You’re still a novice. As you get better at using this converted Zight the results will improve as well. A similar attack at that level should only use about half of that energy once you know what you’re doing.”

Cypher understood now. He didn’t appreciate the methods she employed, but because of them, he had made a bit of progress. With his enhanced mind he would be able to remember the feeling he had just felt and he was certain that with some practice he could do a lot better in terms of energy consumption.

“You will get better with practice. Practice that you’re going to continue before the day is out. Refill your Orrium and we’ll start again! I’m not going to stop until you can better control the amount of power sent to your Zight Stanza. If you can inflict another two attacks like that on me, I’ll move on to how you can use your battle pressure for defense,” Glenda said, pointing towards the tree with her sword.

A thought occurred to him then as he remembered his duel with Eiden. “Wait a minute, was this what Eiden was doing back then? I thought it was strange that he was able to fight me off so effectively and I thought he might be using magick or something but since Elder Fergus didn’t stop the duel I figured I was off the mark.”

Alvin nodded and Glenda raised an eyebrow as Alvin explained, “Yes, young Eiden was making use of his Zight Stanza although between us he was quite pitiful at applying it properly. If he had been using the technique correctly I doubt that you would have been able to win that battle. I’m guessing he thought it would be the edge he needed to get the better of you, but your own skills were already so much greater than his that all he managed to do was temporarily close the gap between you.

“Without that technique, he would have lost very quickly I imagine. Hell, he only did as well as he did because it caught you off guard. I’m sure that you’re used to having the upper hand against him am I right?”

Cypher nodded and hurried over to the tree to begin refilling his Orrium.

“If you want to know the truth, you’ve been passively using your Zight Stanza for years now but a lack of proper control is only to be expected without further instruction on the finer details.”

“Wait what? I have?” asked Cypher.

“Of course! How else do you think you were able to beat fully grown adults in open combat? You said you were trained by a Conductor named Jelroy right? I can only assume it was Jelroy Tennagrove. He’s well known for training young heirs to noble families before they enroll at the Academy. That man is a master of what he does. The combat forms he taught you, Fenn, Eine, and Brodd, they’re all crucial components of learning how to use your Zight Stanza in the early stages of combat training.

“Most properly trained warriors make use of these forms to enhance their battle capabilities, but for those pursuing the path of a Conductor, they get pushed a step further. Actively infusing them with Zight is the very next step in this process. Learning and practicing the forms themselves prime your Zight Stanza and ready it for the infusion of Zight once your Orrium fully develops. Without those forms to back you up, you would have stood no chance against those bandits you fought in Gett, or those Zightbeasts at Gelrin Cliff!”

Cypher was surprised to learn that he was further along than he originally thought. It was nice to know that his skills hadn’t really failed him in that battle against Eiden and that without even realizing it he had been improving himself for future endeavors. In fact, he almost felt as though he had been cheated given that Eiden had possessed more knowledge of a skill Cypher had no idea even existed. Still, he had won. Things had shaken out in his favor and holding onto the past like that was pointless.

He threw those thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on refilling his reserves of Zight. His training was more important to him now than worrying about Eiden, and he was pleased to know that he had a nice headstart when it came to the training on his Zight Stanza. The process of refilling his Orrium took an hour, but after that, he was ready to go and the pair continued fighting. Cypher and Glenda both were even more aggressive than before.

It took him less time to learn to flood his Zight Stanza than the first time, but despite that, his attack had just barely missed her. “Just because you have a better grasp of the technique doesn’t mean you can just wildly attack me and hope for the best! You caught me off guard last time, just do that again or you’ll never land a single blow on me,” Glenda said as Cypher leaned against his sword for support.

He was tired and the sweat was really starting to flow now that he was exerting himself. Glenda was extremely skilled in her swordsmanship and Cypher could only admire her skills. He had been proud of his own abilities, but only now did he realize how much further he had to go before he was on par with someone like her. Training, actually training was something completely different than what Jelroy had been teaching him.

In fact, his lessons back at Galvan manor couldn’t even be called training compared to this. It was truly just an introductory course and contained only the basics of the art of combat. That kind of instruction was fantastic for normal people only aiming to be guards or knights or back alley brawlers. It would take them far in the mortal world and had he stayed in that realm he might have become one of the greatest mortal swordsmen to ever live.

But this was different.

Conductor combat was far removed from what the world of mortals knew, and he was only just now peeking behind the curtain. The real show started now. It was great that he had come as far as he had, but now that he was being pushed to his limits and using every resource his body had to offer, he felt as though his eventual gains would be far greater in the end.

After a moment of rest, the two began again and this time he was able to trick her with a feint. The resulting slash appeared across one of her shins and caused her to stagger a bit before she recovered. This time he had focused more on the muscle groups that he would need to use to perform the attack instead of flooding his entire body.

It had been difficult to focus his Zight directly on those body parts, and even once he had, the attack had only been about seventy percent as powerful as his first successful attack. Still, he had already improved and even Glenda praised him this time.

“Good, another attack like that and we can move on to the next lesson. Don’t get comfortable though, I won’t fall for another feint so quickly,” she said after she readied herself once more. This training was grueling. Even Jelroy hadn’t pushed him this far when he was first learning, but this was exhilarating!

The two continued to fight until the sun began to set and a dusky twilight filled the sky. Cypher was exhausted and despite his best efforts, he hadn’t been able to land that final attack on Glenda. Alvin had set up a small table and was drinking a cup of tea as he read a book. The two soon joined him and Glenda sat down on a chair across from the man.

Cypher on the other hand was sprawled out on the dirt and was breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. His arms hurt, his legs hurt, and blisters had popped up on his left hand from gripping his sword so tightly. Shards of broken swords littered the ground around him. Glenda had broken several during their bouts, and even now he could still feel the vibrations in his arms from the shattering of those common blades.

“We’ll call it a day for now. Make sure you get a lot of rest because tomorrow, I expect you to land three more strikes on me!”

Cypher sat up despite his exhaustion, a look of disbelief on his face as he complained, “I have to hit you three more times? How am I supposed to do that? I could barely hit you twice already!”

Glenda chuckled and poured herself a cup of tea before sipping it, “You just have to try harder. Don’t expect me to go easy on you just because you have some fancy affinity. If you’re going to train with me, I expect you to get better daily,” she said, taking another sip of tea.

Cypher groaned and fell back into the dirt, a cloud of dust rising into the air around him. The day wasn’t even done but already he was dreading tomorrow. ‘And she wonders what kind of monster I’ll become? What about her? She’s the real monster!’ he thought as he stared up at the sky, groaning again.