“Shift the floor beneath my feet; push me off balance,” Laeman instructs as he approaches me with his sword. He’s moving slowly for now, which I appreciate. I send mana into the ground beneath his feet and do my best to follow his instructions.

  We’re in a different room from the training hall I use with Mathis – it’s rather hard to practise Earth-Shaping on wooden floorboards. The duel will apparently take place in an outside arena specially designed for fights. According to Nicholas, that’s intentionally so that elemental mages are not disadvantaged, something I’m grateful for.

  Marble is harder to manipulate than soil is, but that’s good for practice. I cause the white material to crack sharply beneath Laeman’s feet and become uneven. He stumbles, and that’s when I strike, lunging forwards with my spear.

  Laeman twists away, shifting his feet back onto solid ground even as he uses his momentum to swing at me with his sword. Using the butt end to deflect the sword sideways, I press my advantage. At the same time, I send a pulse of mana to raise a chunk of rock just behind one of his feet. A moment later, Laeman’s heel catches on it and he stumbles again.

  This time, I use the opportunity to drive the butt of my spear into his stomach, my force sending him to the ground. I level my spear tip at his throat. He raises his closed fist to touch his head in a gesture I’ve come to realise means ‘yield’.

  I step back, give him a moment to catch his breath, then put out my hand. He grasps it and pulls himself to his feet.

  “That was well done,” he praises, “I didn’t see that second stumbling block coming, and you combined it well with your spear movements.”

  “You’d have managed to avoid it if you were using your full Dexterity though,” I point out, knowing that he’s intentionally reducing his capabilities to give me a chance to practise.

  “Surely,” Laeman agrees, not trying to be humble. “But it’s unlikely Heir Fell has put as many points into Dexterity as I have.”

  “Though you’ve told me that your Class is Uncommon, and it’s likely Fell’s is Rare,” I point out. Sarran’s been sniffing around for information for the last day since Fell called for the duel, but he hasn’t managed to get too many specifics. Details of the family Class is one of the best kept secrets of any House, after all. But noble Houses tend to have classes which are Rare or above. Though Fell is a Lesser House, so it’s not likely to be Epic like mine is.

  “He is only in his thirties,” Laeman points out. “He’s unlikely to have his Class too many levels over level 20. Even with a Rare Class, that means, at most, he’s received a hundred attribute points. It’s highly doubtful that, out of those, he’s added as many into Dexterity as I have – his Dexterity value may even not be much more than your own.”

  Nicholas suggested that I share my stats with my trainers. I agreed that it made sense. I did rather enjoy the bulged-eye reactions they gave me when they realised just how many stat points I’ve got above the norm. On the downside, it’s made them train me all the harder. “And if he has put so many points in Dexterity, it will have made him unbalanced in other areas which you can take advantage of.”

  He does have a point. Still, I’d rather Laeman gives me a better idea of what to expect.

  “Another round?” I ask. “And this time, perhaps increase your Dexterity to what you expect Heir Fell’s to be.”

  Laeman gives me a grin, a flash of teeth revealed in the movement.

  “As you wish.”

  I swallow nervously.

  *****

  My eyes closed, I focus on bringing up the memory of the venom, how it works, its structure, what its magic feels like when I duplicate it, even what it tastes like. Pushing magic into my hand, I open my eyes.

  I sigh – empty. Like every other time I’ve tried this over the last two days.

  I wonder again whether I should give up – perhaps I would be better served practising changing the environment with Earth-Shaping again. The candle is almost touching the next mark – Mathis will soon be calling me to return to practising my spear once more, and I haven’t made any progress.

  But having venom with which I can poison my weapons would be incredibly useful. I might not be allowed to use Flesh-Shaping to heal myself, but Nicholas has indicated that it’s within the rules to manipulate a poison in my opponent’s system. I need every advantage I can get, and this has won me fights against stronger opponents in the past. The problem is that I can’t take poison or venom in with me, which is why I’m trying to create it from scratch.

  What am I doing wrong? This should be possible, right? I always create venom out of magic; the only difference is that I currently don’t have the template in front of me to copy. But I’ve done it often enough that surely, like drawing a shape freehand instead of using a template, I’ve had enough practice to create an acceptable simulacrum?

  Apparently not.

  The metaphor gives me an idea. Maybe the problem is that I’m trying to imitate a shape perfectly that I can only draw with a template – very few humans could draw a perfect circle without drawing around something. But maybe I don’t need a circle. Maybe an egg shape would work well enough, as long as it’s well-drawn.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  This time, when I focus on filling my hand with a substance, I don’t try to mimic the venom that I usually work with. Instead, I think about creating a substance which will poison my opponent’s system.

  I focus on what I’ve learned about what stamina is – transformed Energy. I learned long ago in the other world that stamina exists both in the walls of the Energy channels and a different type that settles into the body itself. Stamina energy is the foundation of both Dexterity and Strength – the speed at which someone can react, the force behind the movements, and the length of time they can continue acting. But as I’ve also learned, one energy can easily become another.

  I concentrate on filling my hand with a stamina-consuming poison, one that seeks out and transforms stamina in the body into acid. I choose acid since it’s pretty simple as a transformation and is sure to have a negative effect on my target.

  As I focus, I pull mana to the surface of my palm and then press it through. But even when it’s passed the barrier of my skin, I don’t release control of it, instead doubling down on what I want it to become.

  A flicker of hope goes through me as I feel something I’ve never felt before – a barrier. Every other time I’ve tried this, I’ve just felt nothing. This time, it’s instead like there’s a wall in front of me and if I can just push through it….

  I set my will to combat the barrier’s strength, stubbornly determined to make the wall yield. A flash of thought likens this to pushing against the will of another being in a Battle of Wills; the main difference is that it’s not actually pushing against me, only resisting my own force. But the realisation helps me focus even as I hold the sense of what I want to create uppermost in my mind.

  The wall resists...but my will is too strong for it. It crumbles and the jolt as I burst through is enough to shatter my concentration. Fearing that I might have accidentally ruined my attempt, I’m almost scared to look at my palm.

  But when I summon up the courage to do so, my excitement rises as I see a smear of yellow liquid pooling in the creases of my palm.

  “Markus? Markus! It’s time.” Mathis’ voice invades my ears as I stare at the liquid. I hold up my hand briefly, waves of jubilation going through me.

  “Hang on a moment – let me just check something.” There’s the nagging sense of a notification – it’s been a while since one of those appeared.

  My eyebrows rise as I read through the description. So, that’s twice now that I’ve earned an ‘unusual’ Skill evolution that adds a derivative Skill rather than affecting the base Skill – and in this case, it’s affecting a Skill which was an evolved form of another Skill in the first place. Interesting.

  Heartening, too – it gives me hope that creating this substance or other ones might be easier in the future. Since I probably won’t be allowed to use the Skill until the duel starts, I’ll need to be able to create my poison – or should it be called venom? – after that. Which means I either need to be able to do it quickly, or while defending myself.

  Of course, that’s assuming the poison works. I eye Mathis speculatively as the man stomps towards me to find out what’s taking so long. I wonder if he’d be willing to be my test subject….

  *****

  “My lord?” I manage to raise my sweat-streaked face from where I’ve been panting tiredly towards the training hall floor. But Mathis wasn’t addressing me. It takes me far too much time to realise that Nicholas is standing at the entrance to the training hall – I put it down to just how tired I am. We’ve been up since the fourth candlemark. Mathis told me that I will need to rest completely for the three marks prior to noon – which in this world is the fourteenth candlemark – but that it will do me good to be pushed to my limits until then. I’m taking his word for it – it certainly doesn’t feel good right now after five marks of hard work.

  “I regret disturbing your practice, but you have a meeting to attend, Markus,” Nicholas tells me, his voice emotionless. I focus more on him – my breath is coming more easily and my thoughts are working better as a result.

  “A meeting? I thought we cancelled all of those?” Certainly the cup of tila with Lady Renaye of House Artifice didn’t happen. The lady in question sent a message saying that she understood entirely, and that she looks forward to meeting with me at a more auspicious date. The meeting with Lord Pevril went ahead, but I wasn’t present – Nicholas told me afterwards that the lord had been disappointed at my absence, but, like Lady Renaye, had understood.

  So it is a little surprising that Nicholas is coming to me now, at the eleventh hour – almost literally, it’s just past the tenth candlemark now. We were only going to continue for another half candlemark before stopping so I can rest and be fresh for the duel at the fourteenth candlemark.

  “One does not cancel a meeting with the King,” Nicholas tells me with a sigh. A bolt of understanding goes down my spine.

  “He’s invited me for that chat? Now?”

  “Within the candlemark, yes. You have the time to bathe and dress yourself appropriately, but no more.” So much for resting, though I suppose that at least this will be a different kind of battle.

  I look over at Mathis and give him a respectful nod.

  “Thank you for your aid.” I can’t quite bring a smile to my face, though I know that I will appreciate how much he’s been pushing me when I win my duel. I refuse to think ‘if’.

  He gives a deeper bow.

  “Thank me by winning the duel and bringing honour to this House,” he tells me firmly. With a final glance at Nicholas who gestures with his head towards the door, I follow his silent instruction and stride away to get myself ready for my next challenge.

  Behind me, I hear Nicholas speaking quietly to Mathis.

  “What do you think are the chances of him winning the duel?”

  I put my fingers in my ears just to ensure that the words don’t make their way inside. Whether Mathis thinks my chances are good or bad, I don’t want to hear it. Bad, and I’ll be disheartened; good, and I might become overconfident.

  Instead, I turn my attention to deciding what I should wear for this interview. Because that’s exactly what this feels like.

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