Waking up just before dawn as usual

You wake up and carefully look around. Edin is still in his bed and asleep. You climb out of bed as quietly as you can and lightly step over to your truck. You pull out your sword and wonder where you can do your morning exercises.

Even if Edin had been awake the room is big enough to wake up and stretch your muscles, it is too small for you to stretch your magical one. You sneak out of the room making sure to not disturb Edin. No doors are open and you can't hear anything behind any of them so you keep sneaking past. You stop and flick your eyes to Vatarie's door. Given her appearance she probably works out in a similar fashion to you. Maybe you should talk to her about working out together at some point.

You resume your walking and reach the stair as a new possibility occurs. So far you could fly outside for about ten minutes a little slower than you could run, down side is for about an hour after that you're basically catatonic. Compared to how you were, this was is massive improvement but there always room for more.

The method you ended up using was to cheat. Flight was common in your world so you knew how do it without magic. With magic it just meant giving yourself wings for lift, a shell for aerodynamics and to get the wind out of your face, and creating a jet of magic from the middle of your wings. That was the draining part. You could just fly like birds but doing so meant you had to grow your wings to almost four times your height to overcome your mass. And all of this was dependent on being outside.

You reached your foot over the stairs and coated the sole of your shoe in magic. You stepped onto it and almost toppled over. Once stable on one leg you took a step down onto your other foot. It was slow going and exhausting to do it. After the first flight your magic was feeling sluggish. You stopped try for the rest of the trip down. If you exhausted your magic just to get outside you wouldn't be able to warm up and practice your sword forms.

You walk past the attendant office and are a little surprised to meet someone eyes. "Can I help my Lord?" His eyes glance at your sword.

"Yes is there somewhere I can practice?" You raise your sword a little to make your intention clear.

"There is the academy's training field. If you walked that way." He points in the direction. "Until you reach the end of this building then turn right and keep walking you will see the training field on your left. It is a large pack dirt area with viewing platforms around it."

"Thanks." You smile at him and nod. "Christopher by the way nice to meet you."

He looks a little unsure. "Wilfred my Lord." He bows slightly before you stop him.

"Just Christopher." It occurs to you that you could be putting him a little too on the spot. "If you're ok with that."

He looks at you for a moment before smiling and returning your nod.

Feeling like you made a friend you walk out of the building and follow Wilfred's directions. You can tell you are getting closer because you can hear the sound of metal clashing.

Your curiosity piqued you stretch your sense out to feel who is fighting. You can feel two women in the field in the middle of combat. You slow your walking a little to not disturb them and keep feeling their combat. It is a purely martial event, you can't feel any magic at all coming off the two.

The clashing gets louder and the training ground's viewing platforms get in the way of your seeing the fighting. Slowly you round the wooden structure and see the women.

One was a blonde a little shorter than you with hair in a pony tail that reached her lower back. The other, a redhead with hair almost as short as your own who looked a head shorter than you. The blonde looked about your age while the redhead was clearly older probably late twenties early thirties. As the two sparred it was clear who the teacher was of the pair. The blonde would leave an opening that would be instantly punished with the flat of the redhead's blade.

Even without using magic the two were fighting far more rapidly than you thought was fitting for a sparring match. Those punishment thwacks by the redhead were doing damage. No blood was drawn but each hit slowed the blonde which lead to more punishments.

You relaxed your eyes to check their auras. Both were perfectly control wrapping around themselves like a second skin. No patterns or colours just a slight haze of blurred air around the two.

You wondered how long this had been going on. Clearly they had been going at it before you heard them. The blonde misplaced her foot and the redhead's blade came to whip her on her butt. You could see it was a faint on the blonde's part, while her foot was misplaced her blade was ready. The redhead didn't notice and as her blade struck the blonde the blonde blade swiped the redheads stomach. It had been a real fight with magic that wouldn't have been the end of it. The redhead saw the blade coming and angled her body to avoid anything more than a gash.

Without magic it would have been devastating but not a kill so the fight would have lasted a little longer. With magic even you could repair that much damage with barely any effort. The blonde could have used it to her advantage to press the attack but she pulled back.

"You're improving rapidly my Lady." The redhead bowed.

"I know." The blonde twirled her sword theatrically.

"However allowing an enemy to strike you just to hurt them will fail in real combat." The two walked off the packed dirt towards you.

"I can heal." The blonde said. As she finished speaking she looked ahead and her eyes met yours. "Who are you?"

"Christopher." You take your hand away from your sword and wave at the pair. The blonde looks you up and down quietly judging you. The redhead was looking at your arms and leg accessing your skill based on muscle and posture.

"I don't know your name. Why is a man here? Did my mother send you?" The blonde put her hands on her hip and glared at you.

"To do my morning routine. And no, I don't know who your mother is." Your eyes kept looking at the redhead because she was being far more critical with her gaze.

"How long have you been practicing?" The redhead asked.

"A few years?"

"When did you last spar."

Having to admit to her that you'd never sparred because you aren't good enough to do so without being seriously injured was a bit too embarrassing. "Umm..."

"Who cares he's a man. I need to bathe." The blonde said walking past you. You feel her aura flick across your skin. The tickle made you look at her. You catch her gaze for a moment as a slightly look of surprise flicks across her face. She doesn't stop walking despite the shared look and you think better than to try and get a peek at her ass as she leaves.

The redhead had moved from gazing to glaring so maybe you had tried to sneak a bit of a look. "Did you see her faint?"

The question catches you off guard. "Y-yes, she held her blade to stiffly." It was the give away, the misstep should have made her shift her blade but because she was planning a slash she kept it angled as such.

"If you let down your guard I'll strike you. No magic." The redhead spun and walked back to the ring. When you didn't follow she turned to look at you. "Now."

Her demand put a quickness to your step and soon enough you were across from her. "I-I never sparred before." You stutter out only realising now your embarrassment at that fact was going to get you, based on the blonde's performance, thoroughly beaten.

"Then you will learn through pain." The moment she finishes speaking she lunges at you. The point of her blade was going directly for your heart.

Your sword is still at your side so you have to flick your wrist to defend yourself. You aim for the just below the tip of her sword intending to tap it out of position and send it's your right shoulder when you see her right foot. When you lunge you want to keep advancing forward to give yourself more momentum. Her foot was turned slightly which meant she was giving herself more surface area to stop her momentum.

Your eyes check her wrist. It wasn't entirely straight which is also bad form for a lunge, your weight it what gives the strike ****, anything but a straight wrist and you waste effort. She was going very easy on you by making the feint clear.

Changing the angle of your sword you brace your arm for the slash. Just as you'd assumed the moment her foot is planted she halts her lunge and pivots her wrist. The slash wouldn't be very strong but if you had blocked the faint the slash would have open up a line along your collar right. She was used to fighting shorter opponents which meant reach was your advantage. She used the feint to close distance.

As your swords clashed you stepped left and pushed her blade down. She withdraw her sword but before she could strike again your dropped your sword point to her shin and swung up. It gave her a clear shot at your chest which she took. If she hit you it would have easily cut through your right pectoral making your own swing pointless. Expect she wasn't used to your reach. Her swing missed you by a hair as yours ran up her thigh. It wasn't deep but you angled it to severe the surface muscles limiting her movement and reinforcing your reach example.

"Who taught you?" She asked as the tip of your blade made contact and you halted it to not actually hurt her.

She straightened out of a combat posture so you did the same but kept an eye on her wrist. "I've had a few." As soon as you spoke she twisted her wrist to slash her sword tip at your leg. You were expecting her to try and limit your advantage you brought your blade down against her to **** it into the dirt. The moment it was lowered you lifted your foot and–

"Answer me." Her demand made you falter and she pulled her sword back before your could trap it.

"Yeven Coas, was my most recent teacher." You used her last names due to the familiarity between the two of you. Each of your combat instructors had allowed you usage of their last names, considering your averageness you had a feeling that right was related to the amount your father was paying them to try and teach you. There was a hint of recognition at the name as her sword shifted slightly so the name had distracted her as she tired to recall it.

"Before her was Ilas Tren." As you saw the recognition you swung your arm from the left, testing the level of her distraction. It was a slow swing but would be very strong if you'd intended to actually hit her. She raised her sword and stepped back to move out of the swings reach instead of countering, which is what you were aim for. If she countered it meant she was already used to your reach. "And before her was Hertan Duen." As you said that you stopped your swing and stepped forwards into her.

She had adjusted to your reach advantage and was preparing to do exactly what you just did. If you had moved back you would have given her momentum and since she is significantly better than you she would have won. You stepping forward took her by surprise. She tried to step back but her swing being interrupted meant she couldn't pull her arm back fast enough. You grab her wrist with your left hand and press the tip of your sword against her neck.

"And you never sparred with them?" She didn't react to your clear victory and you felt a poke at your chest. You looked down to see her other hand holding a knife that was pressed against your chest. A neck wound could be sealed with magic and the fight could go on an opened heart stopped the fight.

You remembered her saying that allowing an enemy to strike you just to hurt them will fail. She'd done exactly that and because you listened to her she'd won. "No. I'd just get hurt." You lowered your sword from her neck and she lowered her knife, she hadn't broken any skin though there was a hole in your shirt.

"It shows." You expected a switch of her sword against your chest to punish you for the opening but it didn't show. "You'll be attending my classes when they begin. Three pm every day here. Every time you fail I will rap your knuckles," she touched her sword to your left hand, "If you miss a class or are late I will rap your knuckles. If you cause any of my other students to waver in their training I will rap your knuckles and have you removed from the academy. You may perform your morning routine over there," She pointed her sword to a gap in the viewing platforms, "If you interfere with Lady Asune's training I will have you removed from the academy, if she wants to spar with you you will refuse." That last one was probably to save you more than anything, if she was referring to the blonde you doubted you would get any pulled swings.

She seemed to have finished talking but you weren't sure what to say. It didn't seem like you could refuse, as much as you wanted to. "Thank you? I'm Christopher." You smile mostly to hard your worry.

"Stephanie." She looks your up and down then waves you off. You assume that means you've been dismissed and turn to go. The moment your back is turned she speaks. "Your aura." You flinch at it's mention, though if you want get out of this showing it might do the job. "You're condensing is exceptional." As she said it turned and put her sword back with the others.

You aren't sure what she was talking about but presume it might be a misunderstanding of your abilities. You don't have the heart to tell her the truth about how inept you are with it and hurry off. When you leave the training ground it occurs to you you probably should have told her about your inability to imbue. Might even get you out of her classes. "Stephanie." You turn and catch her with a finger pressed against her neck where you sword tip had been. Apparently you weren't as careful as you'd intended and must have nicked her.

She snaps her hand down and looks back at you. "What?"

"I, ah, I can't imbue." She looks confused so you elaborate. "Every time I try to imbue my sword, it catastrophically fails." Saying it out loud was more humiliating than you thought it would be.

"Then you will learn or you will lose." She didn't even acknowledge you're humiliation.

"Oh." It's all you can say back as you leave.

Once you are most of the way back you realised you hadn't even done you morning routine but you weren't game to try it right now less Stephanie demand you spar again this time with magic.