[h1][center]Two Days Later...[/center][/h1]

Taliya had been serious about putting them all to the test as two days of intensive training could attest. Ethan had been wowed by Kensen's knowledge of wind magics - magic which, while his own, he was admittedly a novice - and the variety of applications it could have. Much of it was out of his reach and would remain so for a long while but the possibilities had inspired him to push through training. Kensen's other student however didn't quite share the level of enthusiasm as Ethan did. The style of fighting seemed so... Unconventional to Nymira. And the fact Kensen was able to take flight meant much of his style couldn't hope to be applied to the Dimuran princess either and she'd have to compensate for such. It was fair to say her kin was a capable fighter as she'd seen him first hand, but it felt insulting that his abilities should overshadow hers. But in her agreement with Taliya she would be trained, and she did so, albeit while biting back numerous critiques of her instructor. In all likelihood anything she might say would be overshadowed by Ethan's idiocy and enthusiasm, a waste of her breath at best.

Nymira's training consisted of two parts: refining her flames and trying to imbue her weaponry with magic. Her 'enchanted smithing' as it was called - a term she'd never heard until recently, was only uncommon among Dimuran as a number of subjects within Adelon reportedly shared the same magic. Yet few could claim they had any magic suitable for combat as well and the natural process was to try and combine the two. After attempting and failing to create a vortex of flames as Kensen was able to she'd devoted most of her time to bolstering her blades with flame. She had done it before albeit temporarily and the fires were never too hot, lest she melt her own weapon. Trying to set the blade alight with a powerful flame and do so without reducing it to liquid was much more difficult than she'd anticipated. Her first attempt ended with a partially deformed dagger, her second fairing little better as she caused the heated blade to fold in on itself. It wasn't until the second day of training and after a dozen attempts she'd finally managed to ignite a proper flame on her weapon. Firing a fireball or releasing a stream of fire was fairly simplistic: you channeled the energy required and released it. But to retain her weapon's durability, the intensity of her flame AND focus on a fight? The princess was finding herself coming up infuriatingly short on her exercises. 

Ethan was handling his training considerably better than Nymira - perhaps in part because he never considered himself exceptional to begin with - and took to his lessons with a fervor. Kensen had been respectful yet quick to point out that all of the training Ethan had received up until that point had been effectively moot; Cedric's earth based magic called for a forceful, static and rigid style of casting. Wind magic conversely was fluid, fast and meant to confuse the enemy with erratic and quick movements. Gusts of wind, while a viable attack, were hardly the best application of wind spells. Short, controlled bursts were better suited as quick strikes while arcs of pressurized air were a highly effective weapon against opponents at a distance. With no weapon to his name unlike Nymira he couldn't quite hope to imbue anything, not that he'd even know how, which had given Kensen and Ethan an idea. With his non-lethal mentality it would be difficult to willingly teach any fatal moves, and so a compromise had been reached: learn spells which could harm but not kill. And so Ethan had begun to learn to augment strikes with short bursts of air, in essence creating an area of effect with punches and kicks. One slight problem remained however: while serviceable with a blade the wind magi was dreadfully poor with hand-to-hand combat. It would take a lot of training for him to even hope to use it in combat.

As Nymira carried on with her training Ethan had to take a breather, ducking away to join Amuné and Wyth at the edge of the training grounds. Flashing a weary smile he turned and collapsed backwards into the grass as a breathless laugh escaped his lips. "He's... One heck of a teacher..." the magi commented, lifting his head and looking at his practice dummies. Their burlap hides were well worn and ripped in places where his control faltered and the wind had torn clean through. "But he's fair... Doesn't give me too much grief when I mess up." Aside from the reminders that he'd kill someone with his current level of skill, or to be more exact the lack thereof. The style was like night and day in contrast to that of Cedric's and yet it felt much more natural, his magic clearly more suited for this. Wiping sweat on his sleeve Ethan turned to Amuné, smiling as he ripped up a few pieces of grass and playfully dropped the blades upon her head. "How's your training going? Is Gage still... Well... Gage?"

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That should conclude the installation process and the trial period. Cecil was capable of activating the barrier on command and, should the demacite shard burn out, he could use his own battery as an auxiliary source until the shard could be replaced. Which shouldn't be for a good while assuming his calculations were accurate, which they usually were. The installation had been painless and quick which left only the actual testing of the device. Pending Cecil's ability to use the barrier and erect it on time the practical tests could be as painless, or painful, as he wanted them to be. Norman of course took no pleasure in subjecting the Machina to anything which might cause harm but there was no other means of testing a shield other than throwing attacks at it. And on the off chance Cecil was injured somehow? They were right near the shop, repairs wouldn't be terribly hard to do!

"If we're confident the shield is ready then we can begin the projectile tests. Cecil, could you stand at the far end of the room please?" The scenario he'd had in mind was quite simple: load a simple, miniature ballista with increasingly heavy objects to find whether the barrier had a breaking point or not. In theory everything they had to fire shouldn't penetrate the shield, nothing shy of a greataxe or warhammer should have enough force to do so. Testing spells against the shield wouldn't be possible without some of Taliya's people to help and at the moment none were available for the experiments. 

"Just to be sure we're clear we're going to fire an array of increasingly dense objects at your shield to test its durability. We'll start with a rubber ball and work our way up to an iron cast, which I suspect only the latter may have a chance of penetrating your defenses," Norman commented, furrowing his brow then as he examined the slew of items prepared, "Probably... Ah! But you don't need to worry, I won't be firing any of these directly at you! Just in the general vicinity. And it's not as though the majority of these can even cause you damage." To prove his point Norman used the rubber ball and bounced it off of an assistant's head, annoying them but causing no actual harm. His expertise in near all things mechanical was only rivaled by his eccentricity when he became excited, a trait that the people of Mutebo had quickly come to notice. If he asked anyone for assistance on a project they were typically quick to turn him down, but those of the shop were contracted with Taliya and, by extension, Norman. Simply put they had no choice.

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Being late was as synonymous with Lionel as Taliya and a hard drink. But even Lionel wasn't usually [i]this[/i] late to report back. His job hadn't been far and it had been easy enough in nature: help guide back a few stray magi to Mutebo for safety. The people they were bringing in had no records and weren't wanted by the Church so there should be no complications but something was clearly holding them up. With Gage and Kensen both working with new recruits and she herself having to manage everything Taliya had no choice but to go outside of her group for help. She needed a person who knew the area well, who knew Lionel, and could hold their own if anything should happen. The list of people she'd trust to travel on their own was woefully short but someone needed to go. Luckily she'd just the person in mind, and she was owed a favor so she knew they were good for it.

As expected Adrianna had been absolutely [i]ecstatic[/i] about having to go and assist Lionel. It was no secret that the two of them got along terribly but Taliya could care less, a job needed to be done and preferences be damned. Adrianna had traveled alone for a long time and knew the lay of the kingdom well, sending her only seemed natural. The job was simple enough: find Lionel and the magi and help them get home safely. Had the boy gotten distracted by something? It wasn't wholly unlike Lionel to meander and go chase a girl or get caught up in something non-work related. All the chastising and smacking in the world didn't change that. 

"I'm having second thoughts, I should have sent you." Gage was in between assignments and juggling his teaching duties, sending him off to find Lionel was out of the question. But he'd been with her longer than most people and she knew he was reliable, magic or no. He made a short remark about being stretched thin to which Taliya scoffed at. It meant he was good and his services many, a compliment that fell utterly flat to the rough man. Leaning back in her chair and drinking from her flask Taliya peered out the window and watched a handful of her people at work, frowning as she sealed her drink. "If the Church finds him we're fucked, you know that right? He volunteered for the job but I'm beginning to think it was a mistake. Dumbass is going to get himself in trouble."

"I doubt we're lucky enough for him to get caught. Little shit'll come back home with more people than we bargained for, and probably be in debt to boot," Gage remarked with a snarl. Too many people to keep track of and he was glad that duty fell on Taliya's shoulders, not his. Slinging his weapon over his shoulder he paused at the door and looked back to the leader, drowning herself again in a flask of mead. "Keep drinking like that and you're going to be no use to anyone, Tali," he grumbled before leaving her be. He'd be the first called to help Lionel if anything serious happened but for now they'd leave it to that Adrian kid. Wasn't much of a fighter but he had healing magic at least, better than nothing.

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Well that had been fun. On the bright side the men sent after these people were quite thoroughly dead - as most people with holes blown in them tended to be. There were going to be some words exchanged when they finally did reach Mutebo: nothing at all about this job had mentioned there might be Church hunters after this group. They at least got the better end of that scuffle of theirs. Save for the now limp arm hanging at his side the clients remained totally unharmed and he himself was alive if a bit beaten.

"Seriously what did they do...? Sleep with the bishop's wife or something?" A grunt somewhere between exertion and pain as Lionel popped his arm back into its socket. The look on the faces of his wards told him he looked exactly as awful as he felt. Shame, not half an hour ago he'd been doing quite well sweet talking a pretty redhead in the group, now she looked like she might hurl seeing him. "It's not that bad, honest! Most of the blood isn't even mine." Why he'd thought that might be of any consolation was anyone's guess. Watching one of the women faint he let out a long winded sigh as the others began shouting at him, claiming he was a danger to them and too reckless.

"I'm not the one that lied about their position now am I?" Lionel pressed, smiling angrily as he sat on a stump and began to try cleaning himself, "Any more surprises and you all are taking the walk to Mutebo on your own. I didn't sign up to fight groups of hunters." They hadn't been any big name hunters either but there had been 5 in all, and raw power advantages meant very little when it was 5 on one. The fact he'd gotten out with some cuts and a dislocated shoulder was quite miraculous actually and he'd be able to undo it all once he got a little more energy, for now he'd have to put up with the dull throbs of pain. Maybe he hadn't signed up for [i]that[/i] but he had agreed to help out in exchange for using Taliya's resources for his own ends, fair was fair after all. 

"Not that any of you care but we're going to be waiting a bit, I'm about to pass out. And unless one of you wants to fight the next group we're staying put." The thunderous silence either meant they were fighting over who got to play hero or that none of them wanted to even try. He was guessing the latter. Smiling to himself Lionel wiped traces of blood out on the grass before going to the discarded packs of the group, fishing through one of the bags for an apple to snack on. A woman complained he wasn't being kind enough and they would speak to Taliya later, to which he simply smiled and tossed the apple in the air. "Go ahead, she's not going to do anything," he laughed, catching the apple and taking a bite, "Mmm... Complain all ya want though! By the way, where'd you get this apple? It's good!"