16 Grafler, The Hero, The Cautionary Tale

It seemed like the instant his world went dark Jien was awoken by a loud knocking on his door and Mark announcing that it was time to get up and get started with the day's practice. Mark had known that the first few days would be a struggle and that he had to keep on top of their schedule. Jien would likely end up sleeping in otherwise, which would be detrimental in the attempt to get his used to a certain daily schedule and also would greatly impact the amount of time they had to complete their exercises.

Jien groaned as he heard the knocking but almost immediately put his head back on the pillow. His eyes went dark again but not a moment later Runa entered the room with Mark right behind. He didn't like being intrusive like this but he had been through similar struggles when he was just getting started with his training. It was a common occurrence and had to be handled swiftly so as to break any illusion that it could become a habit. Mark walked over to the thick curtains that shrouded the large window of the room and swiftly opened them, allowing the light from the burgeoning sunrise steep into the room unhindered. Meanwhile Runa, though she didn't wish to disturb him, quickly removed the covers to expose Jien to the cool morning air of the room.

Jien groaned again at this, he was blinded by the light shining on his face, cold from having the blankets so abruptly removed and his entire body felt like he had been beaten with a sledgehammer and then been replaced with lead. He opened his eyes groggily to see Runa above him with an apologetic look in her eyes. "Time to wake up and get started" Mark commented as he made his way towards the door. "This will get easier after a few days; your body just isn't used to the amount of work quite yet." With that he left the room, knowing that Runa was more than capable of making sure Jien got ready in a timely fashion.

Much like he expected, Runa helped Jien sit up since he was still feeling lethargic. She gathered up another set of linen shirt and pants and even went as far as helping him get fully ready to make sure he wouldn't go back to sleep. She felt slightly nostalgic over this, though it had only been a few years since she had had to care for him in this manner it seemed like ages. As soon as Jien had become self-sufficient in such things, he adamantly refused her help. Even if it was usual for those of his position to be assisted by their attendants, often regardless of age, he still stated that he wished to take care of it himself. Today however, he let her have her way and help him getting ready. His mind was groggy, and his body uncooperative. Still, it wasn't more than ten minutes later that he trudged out of his room, followed shortly after by a smiling Runa. 

Jien yawned as he walked up to Mark, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. They then walked to the kitchens to start the same routine as the previous day. They gathered up their breakfast and walked out to the training field to eat before stretching and starting their jog. Mark took things a bit slower today, knowing well that it would take a while for Jien's body to warm back up. The stretching would help but only getting back into the workout would he be able to break past the feeling of slogging with through cement.

Much like he predicted, things picked up pace not long after they started their jog and the exercise moved on without a hitch, other than Jien slowing down on some of the more basic exercises due to his muscles aching. They soon had their lunch before taking up their training rapiers. They started with the same simple thrust, though Mark added some variation in the angle of the blade. He wanted Jien to get used to not only considering to the stance and the movement but also what his target may be. For a weapons in general the target was always important. Would you aim for the opponent's arm, the back of the knee, would you sweep their feet? For a rapier it was even more so since you were aiming for openings in your opponent's armor. For this purpose, Mark stood in front of Jien as his target and would have Jien choose where he was going to attack. He then would use a simple parry to deflect the blows. It may have been very early to have a target and opponent, but Mark felt that it was important to get Jien's feet wet in actual combat as soon as possible.

Before they knew it Mark had called for them to stop their physical work for the day. It was time to dive back into the world of mana manipulation and the arcane arts. Jien's eyes lit up as soon as that time came around. He had not remembered his successful movement of mana the previous night, let alone the fact that he had cast his first spell. This led him to be more intensely focused as soon as Mark sat down. Today he was planning to succeed where yesterday he failed. The arcane arts were always his focus after all. However, as soon as they got settled, sitting on brown dirt of the field Mark broke his train of thought by mentioning a slightly different topic.

"I saw that you were studying Grafler's Theorem" Mark mentioned. His expression was a bit awkward, as if not sure if he should be happy or worried that a seven-year-old boy was delving into such deep topics. "I thought it may be a good point to start our practice with a discussion on the topic since you have already started to read up on him and his arcane works." Mark rubbed his chin as he thought of where to start with the discussion before making up his mind to start basic and build from there.

"Ithin Grafler is one of the most well-respected arcane masters to have ever existed, but he is also a cautionary tale for aspiring magi. He is a hero in the eyes of some and a demon in the eyes of many. His theories and magical advancements have led magic to where it is now, but most of his life's work has been stripped from history and locked away. It was locked away for a good reason too. He was known as a hero to certain circles and a living calamity for most for the very same reason. He ended what is now known as the One Hundred Thousand Year War, and he did it in such a way that we had generations of peace after. That being said he didn't end it through peacefully means, nor did he end it by tipping the war towards any force. His knowledge and experiments are removed from the texts you read because he destroyed all of the involved armies and in the process shattered what used to be one continent into many pieces."

Marked paused here to ensure that Jien absorbed what he said. This was often a topic covered later in one's academy classes, perhaps even in the final year. However, Mark didn't want to wait after seeing Jien reading through what was available of Grafler's research and theories. It was safer to make sure that Jien wouldn't attempt to follow that path beyond maybe using bits and pieces to enhance his future work. Nobody wanted another Grafler incident, nobody sane at least.

"Basic education on the geography of the countries around us and the continent of Oslus is generally described as a vast natural disaster of sorts separating all of the landmasses from each other. The truth of the matter though was that Grafler was the cause of how our countries are currently placed. When he was at the end of his lifespan, he supposedly used his vast knowledge in the many fields of the arcane arts and came up with a method to cause mass destruction at the cost of your own life. Nobody knows why he chose to do this, but the end result speaks for itself. According to records, he entered the Eternal Battlefield, found the exact center of it and then enacted his method. The results were the annihilation of every member of all of the armies on the battlefield and the rupture of what used to be one landmass into many." To this Jien's eyes went as wide as saucers. He knew that Grafler was a powerful magus, and his theories and techniques were as grand as they were complex, but he had never thought that the man he whose theorem he was reading had committed such an atrocity. He wasn't even sure if he should continue reading those theories. Knowledge was great but the knowledge of someone who was willing and able to do such a thing was more than a bit frightening.

Seeing his worried expression Mark immediately assured him that studying what is widely available of Grafler's work was absolutely fine. The point of the discussion was to allow him to see that while the arcane arts were wondrous, not everything was sunshine and rainbows. It would depend on the mage how mana would be used.

With that topic out of the way Mark immediately dove back into trying to help Jien with his mana control as he had yesterday, and Jien took the chance to put the discussion to the back of his mind for the moment.