After the crowd settled down, scattering back to their routines, I finally got to discuss the pod with Tamara.  

“Smartphone, hmm, yes, yes, interesting,” she was ogling at the oval pod sitting on her table.  

I warned her not to touch it with her bare hands!  Unless she wanted to trigger the full might of the Demonus Empire to erase us off the map.  

“It’s probably using signals similar to a telepathy stone.  We will attempt to block those wavelengths first, and then experiment on finding the potential spectrum ranges they’d be using,” she blasted out some ideas, which was exactly what I’d hoped.

Propelling up from her chair and declaring with arms stretched to the sky, “This is our highest priority!  Defcon 1!” She wanted a taste of this technology too. The other researchers scrambled to reach her station immediately.  I excused myself, waving her goodbye, but she ignored me, still staring at the pod.  I prayed she would have the self-preservation to avoid starting it up. 

I spotted Dean walking out of the entrance, and headed after him.  It was time to get serious.  

“Dean,” I called out.  He turned slightly, as I approached and stood in front of him.

“Please, make me your apprentice,” I said, bowing my head.   

Peeking up, I saw an evil grin plastered on his face. Oh crap.  This wasn’t good.  He’s never shown this much emotion.  

“You will start at the bottom,” he declared.  

I wasn’t going to argue, “Yes, sir.”

“Great, let’s see what you can do first,” he calmly spoke and started walking past me.  

Feeling his pace gently increasing, I followed close behind. 

The evaluation has begun.

I guided the flow of mana towards my legs, filling every inch towards my toes.  Keeping two meters distance behind him, I closely matched his steps, crossing the bridge, and winding through the garden.  We reached outside the castle gates, waving past the guards, and set out into a brisk jog, going north.  Passing the noble houses, and zig-zagging between pedestrians wondering about, his jogging pace accelerated. 

Swirling the mana around my chest, focusing on only using blue aura, I prepared to enhance my muscles further as needed. I’ve had plenty of practical experience, but I was curious to see the heights Dean has risen to these past few weeks.

So far, his movement was clean and efficient, I could barely feel a hint of aura escaping him.  Mine on the other hand, was billowing out of me.  I focused on every leg muscle, and lightened the circling mana, trying to find a balance at our current pace.  The excess was now slowly puffing out, not nearly as clean as Dean’s, but it was major progress.  

The stairs of the city wall were up ahead, it seems we’re going up.  Dean reached in front of the first step, jumped up to the fourth step, and without stopping, bounced to the tenth step.  Quickly following behind, as I added more mana towards my ankles and knees.  He then leaped straight to the twentieth step at the top of the first landing, pivoted on one foot and launched himself to the top of the city wall. 

I wasn’t going to be left behind.  I increased the flow’s density as I reached the landing, pivoting and hopping upwards.  Crap.  I jumped a little too high, arching upwards, strengthening my feet, and prepared for landing.  Dean, bolted into a full blown sprint down the wall, as I adjusted myself and followed behind.  The breeze in his wake was picking up dirt, as I struggled to follow.  I dragged more mana from the atmosphere towards me, and veered it directly towards my legs, but he was still increasing his speed!  We passed through several watchtower enclosures, as the commoners assigned to duty leapt out of our way, yelling at us to slow down.  

Falling behind about four meters now, he halted immediately, stopping almost instantly in place as if time stopped.  Shit! I drew all the mana towards my right leg and stomped it into the ground, shoving all my momentum into the impact.  A puff of dirt and rock crumbs were sent flying, as I slid forward.  

Dean ignored it, and walked over the edge of the wall, outside of the city.  This was a good fifteen meter drop.    My muscles were throbbing already, but this was probably the final test.  I gritted my teeth, tightened my fists, and focused on calling the mana towards me, as I followed him over the ledge.  

The breeze of air felt amazing, but I ignored it and focused everything on my legs, just as I’d practiced before, trying to distribute the impact force while aiding my tendons and muscles with mana. The ground grew closer, as I braced myself for impact.

BOOM.  

I landed right next to him, as a cloud of dust flew outwards and expanded away from us.  Dean, unconcerned, blasted forward, leaving an after-image.  His takeoff thundered on the wall behind us, as he headed towards a dirt path between the fields.  I frantically lifted myself up and followed the dust storm in his wake.  

I reached into the forest, lagging far behind, where there was a clearing with a bunch of trees cut down, or rather ripped apart, leaving only their stumps.  Scanning the area there were six others here, three men, two women, and Danny who was talking to Dean.   I nodded to everyone, gesturing a hello, and waited.  

“Next, we will test your fighting skills,” he stared at me, then glanced to his side, “Danny.” 

“Oyyy, mister, you don’t look so great, do you want to freshen up first?”  Danny spoke up, approaching me.

This little kid!  Dean wants me to fight him?!  He’s not even an ancient.  

“Haha, the rules are simple, mister.  You just have to knock me down to my knees or my butt!  I won’t go easy on you, so get ready!” He taunted me, as he got into a goalie pose.  The aura was no longer visible on his body.  This boy was serious, I better not embarrass myself.  

Taking a deep breath, I steadied my breathing and felt the mana churning in my bones, spreading it out evenly across my body, a little heavier towards my ankles.  

“I’m ready,” I spoke out.

He took a slow first step, then started hopping side-to-side, increasing his speed, heading straight for me.  I just stood there, bending my knees slightly, waiting for him to get near.  As he got within range, he spun on the ground attempting to sweep my legs, but I hopped backwards.  

Time slowed down, as I saw him thrust against the ground with his right arm, changing the direction of his sweep to follow me.  I tried to prepare, but I couldn’t react, and just as I landed, his foot connected with my legs, sending my feet flying backwards into the air.  

The world started spinning, as I landed face first into the ground, legs curling backwards into a full scorpion.  Spitting out the blades of grass, I hurriedly got back up, dusting myself off.

“””Ha ha ha!””” The other blues were cracking up.  

“That sly little dog got me the same way too!” One of the men spoke up.

I stood there trying to process what happened, as sweat dripped down my forehead.  Utilizing your whole body was important, but I only focused on my legs and was easily defeated.  He stayed low to the ground and anticipated my movements.  How embarrassing, the Soul Eater defeated by a kid! 

“Valiant effort, mister!  No one can stop that attack, except for Mr. Dean!” He was posing in victory, giving a thumbs up. 

Speechless, I just smiled and shook my head.  They weren’t slacking off these past few weeks, I had a lot of catching up to do.  

Dean stuck three fingers out facing us, then Danny turned with a smile and spoke, "These are the three important laws of the Deadly Blues."

"One.  Control the flow."

"Two.  Balance the flow."

"Three. Peace of mind."

I imagined Dean had been following these laws since the moment he discovered mana.  They are simple rules, but if burned into muscle memory, would bring amazing physical results. 

I was about to speak, but Danny interrupted me, "Yes, there are more laws, but you have to earn them!" 

He continued, "Alright, next up, basic training!"

"Huh?" Why is he instructing me?  

"From this moment forward, you will focus only on control until it is mastered.  Starting with the first step! You must fill your whole body with mana and use none of it for the rest of the day!" 

That didn't make any sense.  It gets used immediately as my muscles and joints move… Wait, was I forcing the mana to react, as I was anticipating and attempting to keep up?  The billowing unused mana was proof of waste.  

I accepted the mana, filling it into my extremities, guiding the overflow towards my neck, face, and torso. Sensing the muscles down to my right foot, I gently stepped forward.  A puff of mana escaped.  

This was harder than it seemed. It's like a hair trigger, any hint of flexing executes the mana to strengthen my physical movement.  That is probably why peace of mind is a law.  I closed my eyes and stared into myself, feeling the mana covering every inch of my body.  Concentrating on my legs, I could see the tendons and muscles separately, where the muscle’s glow was denser, shining brightly.  The tendons and ligaments glowed gently, unaffected by the radiance on the muscles.  I stepped forward with my left leg.  

I could see the moment a reaction occurred!  The biological components of a leg were extremely complex. The mana changed colors from white to blue the moment I unconsciously added muscle to parts I did not directly control.  

"Earth to mister!" Danny woke me from my thoughts, then continued, "We are leaving to scout the area.  Practice your control.  See you here, tomorrow at sunrise!"

The team scattered away into the forest heading East, in the direction of the mountains. I worried Danny would experience bloodshed, he was far too young, but I trusted Dean completely.

I turned and headed back to the castle to check on Emira.  Every step was a calculating mess. I didn't know if I would reach her room by sunset at this snail's pace.  What time does the city gate close?  Crap.  I better concentrate. 

Trying to control all the parts simultaneously was not possible!  I needed a different approach.  A way to imagine the system as a whole construct.  Movement starts in the brain, sending a signal down through the spine towards a motor neuron, which sends impulses to the two-hundred muscles that create a stepping motion.  I could layer my own directives on top of the impulses from within the spine, intercepting the communication and altering the instructions.  

I focused a denser flow of mana directly into my spinal cord, scattering along each of the nerves.  Staring at the silhouette of all the wandering lines, I slowly stepped forward one leg at a time, memorizing the impulse patterns.

Over an hour later, I finally understood it!  I could imagine it like a thin strip of paper that had many squares evenly spaced apart, each square shaded darker or lighter based on the intensity of the muscles needed.  There were different patterns needed for the types of movement I wanted, and each would equally glow brighter or softer depending on intensity.  

Next was to overlay my own commands into the impulses that would trigger the mana at the source.  It took another hour, and I had already reached the city entrance line, but I did it! Not as clean as Dean’s yet, but it was much simpler to control than focusing on multiple moving parts.

I asked a person waiting in the queue, “When does the gate close?” 

The old man, eyes covered by his eyebrows, turned and said, “At sunset.  Starting at the end of spring, the beasts come out at night.”  He turned back with a content face, hunched over and holding both hands on his walking stick.  

Beasts?  It has been getting warmer compared to my first day here three weeks ago.  I glanced up towards the sky.  There were only three more hours left of daylight.  My heart grew concerned for the Deadly Blues.