As it would turn out, the process of getting a merchant permit was tedious but not that difficult. They would have to come back the next day to finish everything, but for the most part it only took a few hours. Tanisha assumed she would finally have some time to herself to think when Joha decided this free time would be perfect for her combat training. 

She wasn’t sore, and all of her tiredness from the morning was gone thanks to smoking the maya pipe throughout the day. Tanisha agreed to train, although she wished she could do something else now that they were in a city. She understood the importance of keeping up with her training and had no intention of slacking.

Tanisha decided to use the gear she’d received as a gift since it was so high quality. She discovered that the gift box itself was a dimensional storage space, but a weak one that only slightly increased the room inside. 

As it turned out, the gi was actually a lightweight scale armor. While the outside appeared cloth it was impregnated scales in vital locations. There were even blue steel boots and gauntlets made of a highly mana-conductive material used specifically to enhance body strengthening magic. It wouldn’t work with her maya, but she had plenty of mana.

The robe was enchanted for protection against physical, magical and material attacks. There were even self-repair enchantments; as long as damage wasn’t too extensive, feeding the outfit with mana and materials could repair it over time. If the outfit was too badly damaged, though, she would need to take it to an armorer or artificer. 

The two daggers had a belt which held them at her sides. Tanisha smiled as she put on the outfit and circulated her mana. She then remembered that the skill allowing her to manipulate mana in her body had changed. It was easier to control the mana that the Delta Pact had purified in her core. She could even slightly move some of the corrupt mana that still made up the majority of her core. 

She opened her skills to read over the changes again.

Sage Core Manipulation
Magic cost: Variable
Manipulate the pure mana inside and around your body with greater ease. Allows you to circulate your mana and use mana dependent tools. (II) Maya is Breath, Maya Cost: Variable. Control the flow of maya within your body and around you for a short distance. Allows you to use maya dependent tools.

Tanisha focused on the word Sage for a while. There were still so many questions she had about that. She decided she would ask Helina to train her in elemental magic, since as it stood she only knew Mystic Wind Hands. She grabbed the warstaff, which was now the least impressive weapon in her arsenal. Not to mention the fact it was druidic. She felt as though she should buy a replacement soon and get rid of the thing. 

She entered one of the large training areas with Bjorn. This one was made of rectangular stone slabs with runes etched across every square inch of their visible surfaces. Tanisha could feel ambient magic powering the symbols, which she didn’t recognize other than knowing they were archaic. 

Joha was in the middle of the training area, talking with Æsa when she walked up.

“As long as you two are in this area it should be fine,” Æsa responded to a question Tanisha didn’t hear.

“Well that is excellent to hear, thank you,” Joha said. “Ah, Tanisha, the outfit looks good.”

“Thanks, it’s actually light weight armor. Figured I might as well get used to wearing it,” Tanisha said. “What were you two talking about?”

“We were discussing the training area,” Æsa responded. “The stones that make up the floor are enchanted to allow for people to use abilities unrestrained. The runes prevent magic from leaving the area or damaging the landscape. Joha requested the use of the area for your training. I am here to treat any injuries.”

“Uh, injuries?” Tanisha asked.

“We will do some light sparring today,” Joha said before taking a long draw of his pipe. “You managed to fight with a gnoll warrior and injure her on your own by using a technique you shouldn’t have been able to master so quickly. I want to see where we can improve.”

“I will leave you to it then; I will be watching from outside the training area,” Æsa interjected with a bow.

Joha and Tanisha returned the bow, they then refocused.

“Show me the skill you developed by fusing mana and maya first,” Joha said.

“Infernal Hands?” Tanisha asked.

She was already forming the spell before he responded. As she exhaled blue maya escaped her mouth, forming into ghostly hands. Joha studied the constructs for a moment, walking around them.

Joha nodded. “They are well crafted maya constructs, but fragile. Are these what you fought with?”

Tanisha explained that she managed to turn them invisible during the fight with the gnolls. Joha was impressed by the sound of that, and told her to do the same now. It took her a few minutes to alter the spell without despelling them first. It was her first time trying but was pleased at the result. Joha was impressed, but not satisfied with the invisible hands. 

“Is this what you fought with?” Joha asked again.

“Yes, is there a problem with them?” Tanisha questioned.

“Ah, I see. Did it work? Were you able to use these against the gnoll successfully?” Joha asked.

“I was only able to get a few strikes in,” Tanisha admitted. “She kept dodging them even though they were invisible visually and magically.”

“As I thought.” Joha then turned to Æsa who was standing at the perimeter. “Sorry but could you come here for a moment?” He yelled.

Æsa sped over immediately. “How may I help?”

“I need your help explaining something to my apprentice, please stay there,” Joha said.

Joha directed Tanisha to place the invisible infernal hands in random locations around Æsa. She did so, and then Joha asked Æsa to point them out. To Tanisha’s surprise she did so with ease, even when she moved them around. 

“Why can she still see them?” Tanisha asked.

Joha thanked Æsa and she retreated to the perimeter again.

“Invisibility is far more complex than just making something transparent, even with maya,” the tiger demon explained. “Ambient mana is always around us, floating in the air, in the ground and the water. Where your Infernal Hands are there is no ambient mana. It would be the same as pressing a sheet of clear glass into sand; even if you can't see the glass, you see the imprints around it. Once you lose the element of surprise they are no longer invisible. We will work on this technique as well.”

Tanisha thought about the encounters with the two gnolls. The one that attacked Helina she managed to strike in the face by surprise. The second at the merchant camp she tried to do the same and blind the warrior. However she had to save Tyr, which caused her to lash out at the gnoll’s arms first. The warrior had been surprised then adapted, dodging the hands and even destroying them.

“For this exercise I want you to attack me with all you have,” Joha said. “Then I will also spar with Bjorn. We will come up with ways you can fight together and apart. You may use all of your abilities and equipment, including Bjorn’s poisons and toxins. I want to see the full force of your abilities.”

Bjorn backed away from the two, walked over to the perimeter and sat down close to Æsa. The veiled woman looked at him for a second and reached out her hand. Bjorn lowered one of his heads, and she pet him and called him a good boy.

Tanisha and Joha bowed, then Tanisha took a quick step back to gather her mana and maya. She forced the two to spread throughout her body, using Mana Armor and Maya Cloak. They used to be her Mana Muscle Saturation skill, but seemed to have evolved. The original skill was a natural ability of the wendigo; all wendigo could do it with the exception of the material users, who had their own version. The new skill was more potent; she felt mana pulsing in her muscles and there was a slight glow radiating from just under her skin.

Then the maya came following the same paths as the mana and dimmed the glow within. Faint wisps of blue escaped her skin and looked almost like ghostly fire, but flickered out too quickly. 

Mana Armor
Magic cost: 2
Push mana into your muscles and bones to temporarily increase your physical attributes. (II) Maya Cloak, Maya Cost: 1, the infernal energies within you surround your body, greatly enhancing unarmed strikes. Unarmed punches and kicks will produce a maya shockwave, increasing range of unarmed strikes a short distance.

Joha raised an eyebrow at the control Tanisha possessed. He didn’t speak, however, as Tanisha rushed at him with far greater speed than he had expected. She was far slower than a material user with Flash Step or a mage with Blink, but it was still very impressive. She reached him and swung her staff at him, which he dodged easily. The strike threw her off balance, or at least that’s what Joha thought at first before he noticed the Infernal hands trying to grab him from his blind spots.

With a spin through the air he dodged both hands and Tanisha’s follow up swing with the staff. The tiger demon grabbed the next swing and kicked Tanisha’s legs out from under her in one motion. She fell to the ground, but caught herself with her arms and rolled to her side. She was disarmed as Joha threw the staff away.

She thought about pulling out the daggers, but she wasn’t confident in using those without hurting herself. Instead she had the Infernal Hands pull out her daggers as she remembered when she’d had the Mystic Hands swinging rocks around when she escaped the wolves. Infernal Hands were faster than she was, and faster than Mystic Hands by several fold. Because the hands were invisible it looked like Tanisha had two floating daggers attack on their own.

Tanisha let the daggers harass Joha, who dodged the flashes with ease as she lowered into the AgniKavach stance. She controlled her breathing, and once again followed the movements and breathing techniques Joha had taught her. The maya responded as it did the first time and a wave of energy left her form, flying towards Joha at incredible speed.

The demon used a single jab with a knife hand to split the energy, which continued outward past him before dispersing on a barrier at the edge of the training area. He closed the distance between them, dodging the daggers as he did; she threw up her guard only to be grabbed and flipped through the air. Her back hit the ground hard and after a few agonizing seconds she rolled over to pick herself up.

“Good,” Joha said as he sat on her back which pinned her to the ground.

Joha caught both of her Infernal Hands with larger red hands made from his own maya. His looked far less ghostly and more substantial. They crushed Tanisha’s variant, dispelling them, and placed the daggers on the ground beside her. Tanisha groaned; she’d hit the ground hard and was pretty sure the only reason nothing broke was because of the Mana Armor. 

“Your control of maya is impressive. We will go over everything after my spar with Bjorn,” Joha said as he finally stood up. “You have gotten stronger in a very short time.”