A jab to the back of her knees caused Lumina to stumble losing her grip on her sword. A plain training Great sword is then pointed at her head. "Good reflexes, but you are still missing a key element in your fighting style" Sylvia said pulling back her sword and helping the tiny lady up from the floor. "And what exactly could that be?" "I have agility, stamina and strength that are on par with an Awakened Kyrexian without the use of their Aether" Lumina asked as she tied her hair into a ponytail. "That's all well and true, but you are forgetting the essence of combat" "Murder" Sylvia said as she dressed the scrapes and bruises on Lumina's body. "Murder?" Lumina froze stiff at the mention of the word. Her eyes exuding a chill greater than the wind blowing through the opened basement door.
"Yes, Murder, the essence of combat is and always has been murder. From time immemorial, mankind as killed both beasts and humans alike, just so they can survive. What do you call that if not murder." "Murder is essential in combat because at the core of any form of combat, you are trying to kill your opponent, and they are trying to kill you as well. One as to die for the other to live, the one who lives is the murderer, no matter how you look at it." Sylvia approached Lumin ruffling her hair as she explained. "In truth, you have the concept of murder down, after all you are an assassin" "But your problem lies in fusing it with your battle style without letting it control you" Sylvia added looking her dead in the eyes seriously hoping she was understanding her.
"What I can understand from your speech is that I have to fuse my murderous intent into my fighting style, huh?" Lumina asked with an accomplished grin on her face. "True, but you cannot lose yourself to your intent or else it will feast on you until you get yourself killed" Sylvia rained on her parade. "And how exactly should I do that, you know I can get carried away sometimes" "It's just, have you ever watched someone squirm and see the fear and plea for life in their eyes, it's almost intoxicating. The light fading out of their eyes, as they seek a solace only death can grant" Lumina snickered maliciously as her faint murderous intent flared encompassing the entire room.
The sudden surge of intent made Sylvie tense up as she watched Lumina mutter nefarious, wicked things to herself. She carefully made her way towards the now crouching, grinning Lumina reveling in her torturous plans.
But amidst all that intent a single ray of light ignited from the darkest deepest well her soul, increasing in brightness as the sigils on her shone a pale green. The sight before Sylvia left her stunned, shocked even. Despite are immense knowledge as a Scholium, she had never heard nor seen anything like what was happening before her.
The emerald green blades in Lumina's hands were shining as the sigils that mysteriously appeared on her body paled with the reduction in the intent she emitted. A few minutes later, the sigils had completely faded off her body leaving behind a drained Lumina with a warm smile on her face holding onto two emerald blades that pulsed with power that frightened the mountain of a lady before her.
"Are you ok de..." "Am fine" "I don't recall anything, but I am fine" Lumina said sluggishly, calming the racing heart of her teacher. "I have no idea what just happened, but I believe we just found a counter to your illness." Sylvia said with a solemn smile on her face. "What do you mean by my illness, did it happen again...I am so sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you did I, I..I..." "Stop!, You didn't hurt me or anything, not like you could but still" Sylvia pulled Lumina in for a hug to stop her spiral sobbing. "You did go into that state yes, but you were only there for a few minutes" She said still holding onto the sobbing child in her hand. "Wh...what do yo... you mean?" Lumina asked.
"Your blades, they did something, I don't know what, but it was like the...they were absorbing your intent or at least whatever was leaking." " They've been pulsing with a weird aura ever since, and it's not a murderous aura like you gave off b..but something more sinister yet affirming." she said searching for the blades with her eyes. "Where are...they …when did you get a tattoo?" Sylvia asked as she held onto Lumina's hands which now had a tattoo of a sword engraved on each of them. "What the heck, where did these come from?" Lumina shrieked as she noticed the tattoos. "I have read about these somewhere, hmm" "I got it, it's not a cause for alarm, it just means that your weapon as bonded with you." "Bonded?" "Yes, bonded, B.O.N.D.E.D" Sylvia said in a mocking tone. "I know how to spell, ok, I just don't understand how exactly a weapon bonds to a human." Lumina examined her new 'tattoos'.
"Hold up! We live in a world where people possess magical healing abilities, Immense weapons mastery, Abnormal speed, strength, stamina and endurance, a mystical force/energy that pushes us to advance beyond mortal means, people (strong enough) practically fly. And your question is 'how is it possible for a weapon to bond to someone' " Sylvia mimicked gasping for hair.
"I'm sorry about that, it's a..." "Scholaria thing, I know, this isn't the first time you've gone on one of you lecture rants" "Why exactly do you do that again?" Lumina asked with a look that questioned her teacher's sanity. "Great question, according to studies every Caste provides a certain number of advantages to its members, but each also suffers from its own flaw. According to the records of one of the most knowledgeable Scholaria, for one to rise on the path of ascension one must first master/control their flaws. Therefore, the flaws of each Caste are needed for mastery before you can fully rise in the ranks towards the Mythic rank." Sylvia ranted on and on "Hypothetically speaking this all seems right but..." "You are doing the goddamn thing again!" Lumina called her back to reality. "My bad, anyway the flaw for the Scholaria is the compulsive accumulation of knowledge from the minds of those around us and the compulsion to speak of what we garnered. And the occasional rant as well" " Well, that would get annoying fast, imagine being next to the wrong person and being forced to lecture them about something they didn't even need to know." Lumina giggled as she imagined the scene. "It's not funny at all ok," "Wait a minute, does that mean it's happened to you before?" Lumina asked chuckling, "No Comment" Sylvia said trying to end the discussion right there. Lumina pestered and troubled her until she could get a complete story of the event that happened. "That's just insane" Lumina burst into a full-blown laughter barely keeping herself upright.
Sylvia had apparently heard the innermost thoughts of her dates on multiple occasions, she was well aware of her beauty so it didn't surprise her but she just couldn't look at them the same way again. She had tried to learn to control her flaw since her awakening, but even now as an Ascended rank Scholaria she had made little to no progress bringing her to a bottleneck. "Talk about unlucky, should that still be called a flaw or a curse." Lumina said rolling across the floor. "Anyways, that flaw of yours is the mountain you must cross to get to the Sage rank. But you still need to refine the aethereal energy in your 'center of power'." The center of power in Tenrians with a class, is determined by their Caste. The Scholaria Caste possessed an Ajna which was a core that stored their aethereal energy located in their forehead between their eyes. The stronger the pressure their core exerted, the stronger their abilities and higher their rank.
The Kyrexians possessed a Mujadara core which located at the base of the spine, it is what was responsible for their impressive physical capabilities and their affinity to weaponry in a manner that was almost like trust. The other castes were scarce leaving little to no information about them apart from their names.
Each Caste further required techniques to refine their centers of power in order to ascend further in rank.
"The refinement techniques are divided into five grades; Grade 6 through to 2, with two being of the Mythic rank." Sylvia explained. " You said 6 to 2 what happened to 1?" Lumina asked puzzled. "The techniques were discovered two centuries ago during an expedition to the Beast lands. The royal family has ever since controlled its distribution, hence the reason why you can only find low grade ones." Sylvia told Lumina who was evidently struggling to process all of this, as she headed for her secret room "Even I only have up to Grade 4 of my current technique." She added as she rummaged through the room until she found a few scrolls. "So why don't you just switch to another with higher grades released? And where can I get mine" Lumina asked with a sly smile on her lips. Sylvia noticing this looked towards her, her lips curled upwards, not a smile in sight. "To answer your first question, you can't just switch techniques, because only one technique can work for a particular person. Secondly, here" She said handing over a bunch of scrolls to Lumina. "What are all these?" Lumina asked with a puzzled look on her face. "These are a number of techniques I managed to amass in my thirty-five years of life" she said exasperatedly. "I am giving them to you, one of them should work for you and the rest you can sell off." She said in an stern tone composing herself. "Sylvia, is something wrong? I can help you if there's a need" Lumina said casting aside her childish persona.
Sylvia reached for her face, caressed it and gave a soft smile before giving her a pair of sheaths with her blades already placed and a bag with her belongings placed in them. "Take these and head out back, the train station should be within running distance. Lumina remember, your intent shouldn't control you, you should control it." Sylvia said picking up a longsword, one made of a strange blue metal that seemed to eliminate all forms of darkness around it. It gave off an indigo colored pulse of energy that made Lumina stumble. "Sylvia, what is that and who is coming?, don't lie to me" Lumina asked with pleading eyes.
"Do you think my ancestor only made weapons for Kyrexians and ignored his Scholarian children. This is the product of that. For your second question,..." as she said that a dark hollow footstep echoed through the room. The chill in the room intensified, as the sigils in the room flickered before shattering. A figure with white hair, crimson red eyes and porcelain face walked into the room with a dark grin on his face walked in its gaze fixed on Sylvia. "...an Old friend".