Is the pain worth the reward?[Gallo Duplais]

by **Clyde Sullins** on November 6th, 2012, 3:27 am

Clyde simply disregarded the statement, as Gallo complained of him not knocking. For all he knew, Gallo was inside dead, or unconscious. In those cases, knocking would have done little. Better for him to just come in, since he knew he was welcome and expected.

He shook his head at his comments. Such simplistic assumptions about reimancy, which he supposed most anyone who had not practiced it would say. If nothing else his ignorant comments told him his pupil had done as he told him to, and waited till he got here to use reimancy. Even though really he was edging on the side of caution, waiting as long as he had.

"Conjure the elements? Yes, that is one way of using res. I suppose you have seen me, conjuring up balls of flame, lightning bolts, spikes of earth... Well, you have seen me do some of those, not sure if you have actually seen them all. Those are the ones I use the most commonly, though there are others I can do."

Clyde smiled a bit on this, proud of the many elements he could use, much more than most any reimancer he knew. Three full elements already, not to mention the mixed ones of in between elements... And he had recently been feeling... Perhaps... A fourth one coming on... Not quite yet, but it was a feeling similar to when he had unlocked the earth element... So it would not be long before he had finally reached the last hurdle, and unlocked the last element... But not quite yet.

"But that is not what you will be doing today. Instead, you will be using a different facet of res. Res can indeed turn into an element, or be transmuted into it as it is technically called. But another thing it can do is attract mundane elements from the environment. So instead of creating a rock out of res, you instead gather it in from the wild using your res, using earth attraction. Or water or fire, or whichever element you are trying to attract."

Clyde looked at Gallo to make sure he was paying attention, and paused here for a moment to emphasize his words.

"This is what you will be doing right now to start, and also for a while until you are more skilled, as attracting something in from the environment, using elemental attraction, is much cheaper in djed than creating it. For the same res you would use to create a small rock, you could manipulate and use a much greater amount. At a low level, you will do this as it is less costly on djed, and easier. However, at a higher level, when you have gotten skilled at extruding res and controlling it, it will allow you to control much vaster quantities of elements than creating it out of res ever could."

Already Clyde was getting into his teacher mode, spouting off a long lecture full of facts and other essential information that Gallo could not afford to miss. His skills as a teacher was also something he was proud of. He had gotten quite good at teaching others, especially at teaching magic. He was proud to say it was one of the things he was better at, superior to all of his skills except his vast skill in reimancy and glyphing.

"However, while doing as I said, attracting things with res, is less costly in res, it is more costly in concentration. You will find that creating an attack out of res is much easier than attracting one, and in fact is generally faster. It can be done with little mental effort to transmute it, while attraction requires direct concentrated mental effort to keep it intact. Which is fine if you only plan to do one attack, and have plenty of time to rest. But if that is not the case, and you need to do more attacks, or are in combat, you always want to attract the elements from the wild whenever you can. Attraction is much more sustainable than creation."

Clyde moved down to show Gallo the things he had brought, holding up for him to see the rock, and the waterskin. If he could find something to pour some into, like a cup, he would do so, and place it on the ground next to the rock.

"Now don't worry, this will not be painful, to extrude your res. It is your res, it belongs to you and is native to your body. The res in your initiation was mine, and so was foreign and did not belong, that is why it hurt, your body was rejecting it. Your own res will never hurt coming in or out. In fact in time, you may find the experience pleasurable, and calming, as I do, even if a bit later you feel weaker for it. So, I want you to draw a focus, extrude some res, and try to attract an element. Here is some water, and earth, and there is air all around us. If none of those work, we will try fire, but try these first, and see which one you are called to."

by **Clandestine Duplais** on November 26th, 2012, 11:18 pm

Gallo nodded at Clyde as he began to explain the lesson planned out for the day. He listened closely as he was taught that not only could Res be turned into elements, but it could attract them. This idea intrigued him to no end. The potentials could be endless and in his mind only grew more worth the pain he had endured and still felt to this day.

He watched as Clyde set out the objects in his lesson before he set out doing what he was told. He reached for his quill and a pot of ink, noting that it needed to be refilled at a later date. He began to draw on his palm a simple focus, a v where the open ends were closed off by what could be described as the branches and leaves of a tree. Finished he capped his ink well and placed the quill down into the small, water filled, holder. He let the focus dry before he began to breathe deep and become in tune with his own body.

He focused on attempting to recreate the feeling he got whenever he used flux, though after several minutes of nothing he decided to change his plan of attack.

“Ahem, I got this.” He said hesitantly at Clyde before he took in another breath. “With the light in my heart,” Gallo began to move his arms into a fighting stance. “Let it flow through me,” Gallo had said this incantation many times in the past and began to feel his djed seem to wake up within his body. He could feel the buzz and flow of his djed as he rocked back and forth. “To my palms, so that those I touch will gain the light as well. With the light in my heart,” he continued as he began to focus once more on the feeling he remembered of the res as it was forced into the slits of his palms.

“Let it flow through me,” Gallo concentrated on his djed as he attempted to direct it to the focus. Juggling back and forth, proved to be quite difficult. “To my palms,” Gallo felt a stir on his palm and turned it face up as he continued. “So that those I touch,” through the focus began to manifest a viscous, green, opalescent, liquid. “Will gain the light as well.” His eyes opened as he looked down at the bit of res he had excreted. It was a small puddle but as Gallo moved to touch it, proved to be able to able to stick on itself into a pea sized ball.

“Interesting,” he said truly mesmerized by what he had just accomplished. He studied the round res before he jolted back to focusing at hand, “oh right, this doesn’t last long does it?” It was a rhetorical question, more of a reminder to himself.

He leaned down and began to focus on each element set out in front of him while his hand held the res close to each object. The air didn’t seem to change as he focused on the cool air of the room. He then moved it to the stone and circled the res around it, all the while focusing on earth. But when he came to water, he focused on it and soon the liquid that remained dormant within the cooking pot began to dimple and extend toward the ball of res. The sudden movement of the water surprised Gallo as he dropped the res into the pot, wearing a shit eating grin.

“Guess my beginning element is water huh?” Gallo looked up at Clyde like a kid who had just received a gift from a long lost friend.

by **Clyde Sullins** on December 5th, 2012, 2:53 am

Clyde watched as Gallo made his little low level glyph... He would certainly need to spend a bit more time on that... It did not seem like he was nearly as good as he would need to be in it... Perhaps unlike Clyde, he just did not have a knack for the magic... Then again, he might have a natural knack for another kind of magic, which Clyde did not.

It seemed some people were almost innately inline with certain magics, that they fitted them better.

For instance, for him reimancy and glyphing, and even Magecrafting, were easy for him to grasp and work on... But a few other ones... Shielding for certain... And even Auristics which he was slowly getting better at... Those two, he did not come to as easily as his earlier magics... Perhaps those other magics just were not in line with who Clyde was, as well as the ones he was so good at.

Slowly Clyde brought his attention back to Gallo, and away from his minds wanderings... Best to stay focused...

He listened as he went through an incantation, to help him with the magic, to let it flow better... Though really, it seemed more like full on sentences... Perhaps the chant meant something of importance to Gallo?

He watched as he formed his res, a greenish hued matter... Working it up and holding it there as a tiny bead of djed... Clyde just shook his head, as he asked the stupid question to himself of that the res did not last for long... Which he had just told him hadn't he? Or he had said it at some point.

Clyde just shook his head, and glared at Gallo, after his facial expression, and celebration at the simplest little thing in reimancy. Literally. It did not get any easier. And he was over there patting his own back like he had just done the work of a master.

"Apparently so. But don't get ahead of yourself. All you did was find out your element. It is the first step, but also the smallest. Nothing impressive."

Clyde kept on with a blank stare at Gallo, making it clear he was not impressed by his apprentices action. Clyde was not so easy to please.

"Now, I want you to attract a coating of water onto your bit of res, and try to hold it up in the air at chest level, keeping the water coating the res core. See how long you can make it stand there, without moving up or down, and without adding new res to sustain it. You will need to concentrate on both attracting the water to the res, and on keeping it stable and from moving."

This of course was a important beginner lesson, showing him how hard it was to concentrate on the two separate things, splitting his focus and his mind, which tended to make one oblivious to other things. Until he got better, much better, it would take all of his concentration... And if something did come in, a distraction, which pulled his focus off of his magic, it would likely fail and fall apart without his direct concerted effort. And along with that, the res would slowly diminish over time, along with being spent in the manipulations, so it would only last for a certain bit of time.

At Clyde's level such things would take a minimal level of his concentration, it was so well practiced it was almost done subconsciously, leaving him open to focus on other things. But Gallo was far from that level.

He left Gallo to do as he was instructed, and so Clyde went over and took out the rough draft of his grand oath. He would show him it in a moment, perhaps even letting the parchment and its crinkle be the distraction to pull away Gallo's attention, making his magic fail.

by **Clandestine Duplais** on December 12th, 2012, 4:09 am

“Tsk, typical. A milestone to me is another planet compared to Clyde.” He turned his eye away from his teacher’s cold expression and instead listened to what he had to say and instruct. He listened closely and felt a little apprehensive.

“How could he expect me to do that, it took all of my will power to create the little bead that I’ve obtained?” Gallo’s lips crooked in self doubt as he searched for the res in the bowl.

“Alright Gallo, focus. You can do this,” he mentally psyched himself up as he focused on the bit of res in front of him. “Attract water,” he said as he visualized in his mind the water being drawn to the pea sized ball. He could see the res at the bottom of the bowl begin to wobble and sway along the bottom of the pot. His eyes focused in on the bit of res as he began to mentally turn off the white noise of the room.

The ball continued to waver underwater, but nothing more. His concentration broken from time to time as he heard Clyde move throughout his modest home. “That res is part of me,” he reminded himself once the noise seemed to settle. He kept telling himself that and found that he could move the res faster than before. But still it only rolled about along the pot’s submerged bottom. “Attract, move, float.” Gallo began to zone in the pool of water.

The light on the wooden surface moved an inch across the boards before Gallo thought he was able to lift the batch of res from the bottom of the pot. However, the rustle of paper broke his concentration. Gallo’s eyes glanced over at Clyde as he reviewed what he assumed was a scroll. He was filled with annoyance as his mentor didn’t bother to keep quiet. But the noise, whether intentional or not, was not what caused Gallo to curse.

He looked back at the pot of water and searched for the ball of res. The piece of res had long since dissolved.

“Petch!” Gallo spat out as he unfolded his legs from under his body. His knees were red and irritated, subtle imprints of the wood grain pressed into his fair skin.

“What was I even focusing on? I thought the ball was still the same size?” His head hurt from frustration, “have I been staring at an empty bowl for that many chimes?” He grumbled in frustration before he took in a few breaths. “Petch, guess I have to make another ball?”

Gallo looked at his palm, the ink had smudged and ruined his focus. His lips curled into a sideways grin, “great…”. He took some of the water from the cooking pot and splashed it onto his palm. He began to rub the ink off his flesh before he dried it on his shirt.

He picked up a quill and dipped the tip into some ink. With shaky hands he began to draw the focus, visualizing on the tree, his family’s symbol, as he did. Though what he had in mind was not what he drew onto his palm. The image of the tree was sloppy and blob like. The ink had dipped into the natural valleys and crevices of his hand and spread out to make a sort of blob in the shape of a tree. Any semblance of detail gone from to much ink and bleed over. Regardless he let the ink dry in place before he began to sit and focus on the energy that flowed within him.

He could feel his djed, tuned with his body as it should, and began to focus and attempt to move it toward his hands. It was easier to move the sensation to his hand than it was to convert his soul into useable res. Flux had helped him be in tuned with his own djed, but not the conversion into the foreign form. He focused on the tree in his mind and the bit of ink on his palm. It took him a moment , well a long moment before that green liquid began to manifest in his palm. It was a slow materialization of the round object, almost seeming to manifest just above the surface of his palm. “Just a little more,” he muttered to himself as he concentrated hard.

The conjuring of his res however was interrupted by a shuffle of paper that shattered his focus. Once more, Gallo shot Clyde an annoyed glare. He sighed however and waited for the room to once more become quiet.

“I want water near me,” he muttered to himself and decided to change his approach a bit.

He brought the ball of res down to the pot of water and continued to focus his eyes on the larger, lopsided, orb of res. The water began to bulge against gravity and pull toward the res as it neared the surface. Once it was close enough, the water seemed to touch the ball and suck the res into itself. The res coated in a shell of water stayed a float on top of the surface of the water like a water bug. It moved about on the almost frictionless surface with much more ease than before, not breaking the surface tension.
He kept his celebration short this time as he began to focus on attempting to raise the res from the water on it’s own accord. The light had moved further than before as Gallo continued to shift tactics.

“This is a part of me, an extension of my body.” He came to the realization despite being told that many times by Clyde. He didn’t truly understand what was said by the mage until he had the chance to do it first hand. The ball of water began to dissipate quickly as the res began to fizzle out. Even still Gallo was able to lift the ball of res an inch above the water’s surface.

“Petch, Clyde!” He busted out as the droplet of water plopped back into the pot. Gallo moved to stand and stare at Clyde, “could you at least be a bit more quiet?” Gallo didn’t really blame Clyde for the constant ruffling and noise, however he was frustrated with himself.

“Just what are you doing over there anyway?” Gallo asked curiously, still a bit irked as he walked over to were Clyde had sat.

by **Cataclysm** on April 17th, 2013, 8:53 am

Clyde Sullins :

Gallo Duplais :

Safety comes in the oddest forms

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.