It was rare to catch Ittindi in athletic wear, but today would be one of those days. Wearing a simple tank top with harem pants, and his hair tied in a ponytail. Ittindi would not tell anyone about going to train, he had made a couple friends in Era not to mention his Young Master being there. Today he wanted to train alone, to focus on himself starting with movement spells. He had noticed how slow he had been in his fight with a rival gang with his Young Master. He would stamp his foot on the ground and a familiar green circle would appear under his feet, it would send him flying like a slingshot into the nearest tree. Ittindi had put too much power in the string pulling him, he wanted something more subtle. He’d have to try a smaller string with less force, which sounded easier than it was. The problem with his silk strings is he had used them for two things, the first was to cut or slice others, the other was to create a hardened shield. Doing something with finesse was such a different magic muscle. Ittindi would brush off random twigs sighing before attempting again. This time he tried a lighter touch, but now the string wouldn’t pull his body it just made him feel lighter. Something he would have to think about later when he was theorizing other spells. For now, he needed moving power for his body, but not enough to sling shot himself. He would attempt again this time moving himself one meter when the string pulled him, the movement speed wasn’t as fast as he desired either.

Realizing that this method would take too much mana Ittindi decided he needed to approach this more granularly. Taking off his work boots he would go barefoot, he remembered that when he was first learning his magic there was a need to attune himself to nature. It wasn’t something Ittindi enjoyed particularly since this would involve getting his feet dirty. Ittindi would sit down, studying both his feet. He’d snap his finger and a magic circle would appear under his foot this time instead of pulling himself Ittindi would attach the string to various parts of his foot seeing which felt the most stable. Then he’d stand up and see if the balance still held the same, and he felt it did. Carefully he’d stomp the ground and attempt to push himself one meter again, this time it felt much smoother he was at the same speed as if he lunged forward. It was not how he initially imagined a slide maneuver off his thread, with this he’d be able to change direction with ease. He had told himself he’d need a stronger variation for other situations, foolishly Ittindi would try at the same location on his foot to pull himself ten meters. He figured that pushing for short distances wouldn’t probably work for longer distances.

This would unfortunately end with Ittindi slingshotting himself once again though this time he managed to avoid the trees instead tumbling down through branches on the forest floor. With his boot removed his feet were not only dirty but there were little specks of blood, Ittindi couldn’t tell if he had cut himself or if he stepped in or crushed another animal. He hoped it was his blood, but either way it was going to be a disgusting bath. Having already tried finding a base to pull on Ittindi realized it had to be another problem for going further distance. He needed a thinner string to help.

Ittindi would go for one of the thinnest strings he’d ever conjured this time, the magic seal once again appearing underneath his foot. This would sling shot him even further than the last time, this time he hit a tree branch clotheslining himself. Laying on the ground for a second, Ittindi felt his breath gone along with his desire for strength. He hated this kind of training, that’s why he didn’t bring anyone with him. Letting out a raspy cough he’d manage to get back on his feet, realizing he’d need something much thicker to propel him Ittindi would try again. This time he created a string so thick it could have been a frozen slush, while it did push him at 10 meters, it was entirely too slow. He felt as if he was swimming upstream in a river of molasses, everything about the process seemed slow.

He'd try to do the push method instead; his magic was stronger than he first anticipated. It seemed his side jobs were finally starting to pay off. He had been practicing using his magic more than anytime in his life. His aptitude had shot through the roof with it, he could even use it to minor degrees when doing cleaning services. He’d stomp again this time shoot out large blobs to push him away, to his surprise it worked exactly as he had originally imagined. It would need refinement, as Ittindi looked around the forest and saw globs of his silk some sticky others not sprayed around. He’d take a short break while cleaning up after himself.

A short while later Ittindi would be ready to start again. This time he’d be working on his offensive spells, it was more of his typical training, but refining the edge on his silk took a certain degree of skill. Ittindi’s strings had to be calibrated, so he started by pointing both of his hands at a nearby tree shooting out two strings, the first incapable of cutting anything, the other razor sharp, however not enough durability it would leave a cut on the tree and split apart at the edge. The two extremes that he had to be weary off, he always found it easier to start at failure rather than success. He’d try his real first attempt now pointing his left arm at the same tree, the thought of the web pattern encompassed his thoughts. Silk was unique, almost like rope in how it knotted and twisted to maintain a certain durability. To create an edge, on the outside of the string required all the knots to be done meticulously down the middle. While Ittindi’s work was ok, he had somehow managed to create a string barely sharper than his usual. Trying to find the right amount of mana to push down the line was another problem, he had to keep control while not causing the magic to dull or overpower the edge of his thread.

He'd exert more mana into the silk thread this time it’d cut at the level he needed, but then he couldn’t seem to get it to bend and move with its usual snake like agility. It would go through another tree, before Ittindi dismissed the ability entirely. He’d spend the next hour practicing different thread thickness, before going back to the original radius. He’d extend his arm forward this time having his string slice through a branch, then forcing it to a sharp left turn to slice another piece off the tree. He’d then shoot out another string from his other arm slicing the branches finer, then he’d try to interweave the strings to slice at the same time. However, they ended up intersecting each other and causing both to break. Ittindi would sigh before sitting down on the dirty grass. There were some parts of nature he’d never get used to. He’d love a good hike, and could even tolerate a campout or two, but an extended stay with no shower in sight was something that would cause Ittindi to break down. Funny considering his magic was at its strongest in nature, even now he could feel the life energy around him.

Standing back up Ittindi felt comfortable with the sharpness of the threads, especially looking at the cut into the branch. It was time to get its flexibility and range down, he had to test his limits before he felt confident with a spell being mastered. He’d go to the pile of cut branches and pick one up tossing it with all his strength diagonally into the air.  Pointing his right arm out his spell would shoot out closing the gap and slicing the branch out and making it to around 20 meters before Ittindi lost control. Relinquishing the spell Ittindi would let out a whoop, that was the furthest he’d ever been able to extend a spell. The thought of his Young Master’s thunder hardened his resolve. He still had more to do; more practice his strings would need to be able to stand against someone like that. He’d go back to testing his newest string, slicing off a couple more branches off his initial tree. Ittindi would have his string flay in different directions, its speed hitting up to 40 m/s, he still hadn’t found a way to increase his spells speed. While his seemed to be faster than the average mage he met, Ittindi wanted more. That would have to wait until another day it seemed, at least his edge and range had increased with his latest spell. He felt he could still push a little further. Ittindi needed rest first, he wanted to completely drain his mana on what he had accomplished today first.

He'd stomp his left foot shooting off to the right 5 meters, the piece of thread propelling him an instant, before both his feet could touch the ground he was already shotting out another thread his hand pointed directly at the ground. His string would slice through the earth, as effective as a metal tiller, and he’d have it rise above a different area 8 meters away from him. It wasn’t the simplest move, but something that was inspired by the OctoNappers he had gone against on a different day. Still 8 meters was still in eyesight, he’d need something to distract the opponent while he had one of his strings burrowed underneath. Possibly one weaker one that he had before he pointed downwards and had a string burrow. Ittindi would try the opposite movement, this time shooting his thread downwards first the green seal appearing along the end of his palm then he stomped his left foot, and a glob of thread propelled him 10 meters to the right, his string continued down its path from where he originally started. Ittindi was still within range that he didn’t have a problem controlling the string, as he had it impale another imaginary target in his radius. It gave him an idea for a cocoon, he could easily create a cocoon of web to defend himself, then shoot out multiple lines that he could control. He’d just need a better way to see, he’d have to investigate feeling with his webs, that was something he might be able to achieve sensing the vibrations possibly. It was something he had heard warriors doing. That was when Ittindi would feel the light headiness of too much mana exertion.

He'd throw his training clothes in a corner of his hotel, laying out another pair for the next day he could tell he was close. It was rare that Ittindi woke up so excited he’d get dressed and hygiene before heading back to the same spot. He’d warm up by practicing a couple of his movements from his propelled threads. Once his blood was flowing from his quick shifts of movement and stopping Ittindi would shake both his arms loosening them up. He had felt it yesterday when he had been working on the sharpness of his threads. With a little more mana, he knew that he’d be able to push even farther even sharper.

He'd extend his arm and the string that came out looked sharp, sharp enough to sever someone’s limb. He’d slice straight through the tree with cut branches, it was softer than butter to his thread. When Ittindi tried to control it, he overexerted the mana and the string snapped back he’d manage to dismiss it as it came within an inch of his nose. Ittindi would have to be very careful with this move, before he could cut himself to a degree, but nothing on this level. In the back of his mind, he knew that this kind of power would have been much easier to practice on live targets. Once he was in the Rune Knights he’d need to approach training with one of the higher ups. It would be awkward as a private, but he’d doubt such a move would be received well among the rank he’d be joining as.

To give himself a little break from the danger Ittindi would practice the range of his spell. The last could go out to 20 meters he couldn’t throw much further than that. So, he’d find a small hill that he could see further. Then he’d shoot his string letting it fully stretch out, while it was little less than a second Ittindi range still left much to be desired. His string could go about 30 meters before he lost control of it. That wasn’t much of an improvement from the spell before, but at least its power made up for it.  He’d try two at the same time and immediately felt the drain of mana as the two strings started to slice up the fallen tree. The dicing of the tree was an interesting sight, Ittindi imagined slicing the doors open to a headquarters next time he received a job. He’d then use his dash to shoot himself into the air while trying to control his two strings. It proved to be too much, and one string sliced the other cancelling both strings out. The lack of tension also threw off Ittindi’s balance as he didn’t stick the landing using his hands to break the fall. His wrists felt very tender, like he had barely managed to avoid spraining them from the fall. With that mishap he’d take another break, this time having a little bit of iced tea he brought with him in a canister.

Observing his work, he decided after he finished that it was time for a real playthrough. There was a Rune Knight he had done a couple jobs for Jonathan. The man bragged about his regal armor; he’d make a good target to practice on. Going back to the headquarters of the Rune Knights it wouldn’t take long for Ittindi to find the man he was looking for.  After explaining how he wanted to practice his new magic on a living target Jonathan would accept, they were both under the pretense that the other was much weaker.

To Ittindi’s surprise Jonathan seemed quite competent, first thing he wanted to do was to test his string’s sharpness against some swords in the armory. The first he created was the weaker, it clashed with the blade, but with Jonathan’s strength was sharp enough to cut through. His second however sliced through Jonathan’s blade, luckily he said it was a spare and went to grab another. He claimed that he could see the difference between the strings and would be able to approximate which he could block. Ittindi looking for a good practice bout thought it’d be fine.

They’d face off in one of the training yards at Rune Knight headquarters, a couple knights had gathered to watch. Ittindi wasn’t exactly excited to fight under other’s eyes, still practice was practice. His main problem wasn’t others judging him by his spells, but for his outfit he wasn’t in his Sunday bests. Jonathan would lunge straight for Ittindi, his speed was his asset, stomping his foot at Jonathan’s approach Ittindi would send himself backwards 10 meters while extending his right arm. His left arm he’d extend as well but downwards. His first string coming out straight at Jonathan’s chest, which he nimbly parried while pressing towards Ittindi. Expecting as much Ittindi’s bottom string was sharper and it would slice through Jonathan’s back, as well as part of his armor. A minor cut, what could have been obviously much more. Jonathan would sigh and put his sword down admitting defeat. Ittindi was surprised at how well the tactic worked, though most of it relied on Jonathan underestimating him. He’d chuckle as Jonathan bought him drinks that night, his spell had turned out better than he first thought. Every day closer to capture.

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