Dual Wielding

Steel couldn’t be lit on fire, and somehow that surprised Wyn. But to be fair, spirit fire wasn’t exactly normal. Apparently though, it still followed at least that rule. It was good information nonetheless, as Wyn had found at least one way he could manifest spirit fire outside his body, and one way he couldn’t.

In his left hand was his wooden training sword, which lit at his command, wreathing in the ghostly purple flames. They seemed dimmer in the day, compared to the night he’d originally gotten them on, so instead of seeming bright, they seemed more translucent than anything. In his right hand was a normal sword, his long-used steel blade. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t get it to ignite like the one in his left.

“I really can’t get it,” he told Corrin, “Maybe I should try something other than wood though?”

Corrin clicked his tongue repeatedly, “Hmm I guess that’s probably good to figure out. You’ll want to know if you can only light wood, or if you just can’t light metal. While we’re on the topic, what can the flames actually burn?”

“So far? Just monsters. They didn’t affect the people they touched or the buildings.” Wyn sheathed the metal sword for the time, it wouldn’t be much use in his experiments if he couldn’t even light it.

With both of their options for learning more missing, they’d have to learn about their new abilities the hard way: trial and error. Wyn wasn’t a huge fan of the method, but they didn’t really have much choice. The spearwood was a familiar training sight, so they’d met up at its base to work together in figuring out their respective powers. Unfortunately, spirit fire and mana couldn’t have been more different.

Wyn was able to produce, as far as he could tell, an unlimited quantity of spirit fire, whereas Corrin described a distinct amount of mana within himself. Spirit fire seemed to sharpen Wyn’s concentration, while preventing fatigue from building up, functioning in some ways like coffee or tea. But it also had the strange properties of burning poison from his body and destroying monsters. Mana on the other hand only seemed to affect Corrin’s physical abilities, making him stronger and faster, but that was all they knew.

Wyn waved Corrin on, and the white-haired boy began breathing more intently. He’d said this was how he “channeled” the mana into his body, but Wyn couldn’t tell, unable to see the invisible energy.

“Ok so try pushing it out of you. Can you get it?”

“Let me try,” Corrin held out a hand, his face growing focused.

“Why are you closing your eyes?” Wyn chuckled.

“It helps me see the mana inside me easier.” His face scrunched up, and his hand started shaking, “…almost…” Then, his whole body seemed to clench up, and he fell over onto the ground, slowly tumbling down the hill where its slope was steeper at the back.

“Help!” He cried out, but Wyn just watched and laughed. His friend regained control after a few seconds though and stopped himself, walking back up.

“What happened?” Wyn asked.

“I couldn’t get it.” Corrin said. “I kept pushing and pushing, until eventually I got a whole-body cramp. I’m not sure why though. It’s not that it can’t leave me without being used.”

“Right, you had all that light coming off you before, I assume that was mana, so how’d you do that? Could you just do that again?”

“I wasn’t doing it on purpose that time. To be honest, I’ve only got maybe a tenth of the maximum mana I had back then. I think it was just kind of leaking out because there was so much. Even if I hold my breath after taking in mana now, some still leaks out, just really slowly.”

“Hmm, does it leak out more when you try and push it?”

Corrin thought for a second, “Yeah, I think so… well, from that spot at least. The rest of my body is about the same or less.”

“So, it acts kind of like a filter then. It limits the flow rate, but if you increase the pressure it flows out faster. Ah so that’s why it was streaming out, if you had so much more in you, the pressure was probably enough that it just leaked out way more than usual. Maybe it became visible due to how much there was? Though I’m just guessing,” Wyn said, “I have no idea how you’d go about really getting it out then. For now, we should focus on what it does.”

“It makes me stronger, faster, and makes me heal faster,” Corrin said simply.

“Right, but how much stronger, and how much faster, you’ll need to know. You said you had more power in the dungeon, but how much more did you have? And how about how strong you are now? If this is your new baseline, that’s all stuff you need to know.”

“Fine fine. And how do you propose we go about testing it?”

Wyn grinned. “Well, that’s easy.”

He lay down in the grass, holding his hand up with his elbow on the ground.

“We’ll start with arm wrestling. First, get all the mana out of you so we can test your base level.”

“Easy enough,” Corrin smirked, breathing in and out for about a minute. “Huh, I can’t actually get rid of it all. Some of it is refusing to go. This isn’t the lowest I’ve been on mana before though. It was worse after we fought the Leviathan. So I probably could get more out, but I’m not sure how.”

“Interesting, well let’s start with that amount then,” Wyn said, holding his hand out.

Corrin took it, and they began. Shockingly, Wyn didn’t find his friend to be any stronger than normal at all. After a brief struggle, Wyn forced his arm down to the ground, leaving Corrin shocked at how easily he’d been beaten.

Wyn frowned, “I mean, I am stronger than you… but I thought the mana would cause more of a difference. Take in some more now, let’s do it again.”

After a few breaths, Corrin was ready, and they began again. Corrin exploded out of the gate, forcing Wyn’s arm almost all the way down in an instant, but Wyn caught it just before it hit, forcing it back up. He got it about halfway to the top, where they deadlocked for a time, each struggling to gain a single inch. Corrin let out a strained groan, and then drove his arm down, taking the round as the two of them heaved out their held breaths.

“Less—” Wyn caught his breath. “Less than I expected. It seems to be better for bursts of power rather than sustained strength. You said you couldn’t get any more out before that first round right? But you didn’t feel any stronger than you normally do.”

Corrin rubbed his forehead. “Maybe that amount is just so low? I definitely had mana during the first round.”

Wyn hummed, puzzled. “Well, we’re not going to get all our answers in a single day I suppose. Let’s move on to speed for now, we’ll do the same thing, but with a race.”

“Here to the bottom of the hill and back?” Corrin proposed.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Wyn said. He wondered if there would be a difference between running sprints and running longer distances. “Can you get new mana while using it?”

“No. Well, kind of. I’m stronger and faster while it’s in my system in general, and I can breathe in more while I’m just letting it sit there. But when I’m fighting, I try to channel it to specific areas, and if I do that, then I can’t focus on taking more in at the same time. That’s why it’s best if I top off before starting. Also, the amount I can use or get with one breath is less than the total amount I can hold.”

“Doesn’t it go in and out while you breathe?” Wyn asked.

“That’s how it gets in and out yeah, besides using it. But I can choose not to let it, kind of like breathing through the nose instead of the mouth. Since it doesn’t make sense to let it leave, I’ve been holding it in when I’m doing stuff.”

“I see. Alright, well let’s race. Same as last time, start with your baseline.”

They raced twice, with Corrin winning both. The first race was as close as always, with Wyn only a couple steps behind. But once Corrin had fully channeled his mana, the competition vanished. By the time Wyn made it to the bottom, Corrin had already gotten back up, taunting him from the top of the hill.

Apparently, mana was great for speed. Wyn didn’t expect to win any more real races anytime soon. If it was long distance, Corrin would eventually run out of mana, likely depending on how quickly he ran, but the lead would probably be large enough that it wouldn’t matter at that point.

They continued testing: reaction time, coordination, agility, flexibility, even memory. If it was physical, the mana seemed to have some effect on it, and even allowed Corrin some extra coordination and the ability to process fast enough to manage his increased speed and power. If spirit fire allowed Wyn to operate at his absolute peak, mana allowed Corrin to surpass it.

“There’s one thing I don’t get though,” Corrin said as they took a quick break, sitting against the base of the tree, “Why didn’t you get mana poisoning like I did?”

Wyn raised an eyebrow, “I’m sorry did you expect me to? Wasn’t it killing you before?”

“Knowing what I know now, you would’ve been fine. You might’ve gotten the first bout of chest pain—which wouldn’t have been pleasant, but it would’ve been funny. But you would’ve eventually just lost all the mana once we got back to the surface. I was dying because I couldn’t get rid of it.”

“You said you were still breathing it out though, right?” Wyn asked, confused.

“I think you were onto something when you mentioned the pressure,” Corrin paused, “well, maybe pressure isn’t the right word exactly, but I think it works. There’s a certain ‘ease’ to taking in mana. It’s way easier on the lower floors than it is up here, and some of it just comes in naturally. Just like how when I escaped, it began rushing out of me, when we’re down there, it starts seeping back in.”

He held out a hand in front of him, looking at it thoughtfully.

“I couldn’t actually see or feel the mana until I got the channeling technique, so I’m mostly guessing. It’s possible I could’ve solved the problem just by getting out of the tomb and burning through the mana, but I think by that point it was already too late. Azoth said that raw mana was poisonous, and it had already been in my body so long—”

“It’s a poison!” Wyn realized. “It’s getting purified by the spirit fire.”

“Oh, you might be right, were you burning it while we were down there?” Corrin asked.

Wyn thought to himself for a moment, “Well, for some of the time, but not all of it. I can’t ever completely stop burning it though, there’s always at least the embers. It’s only enough to purify weak poisons and alcohol. Maybe that's not the entire story? Either way we should let the elders know so they can be careful if they send people to the lower floors.”

“When we went down there again, it didn't start seeping in until we got almost all the way to the bottom, so my guess is that it only affects the bottom two floors. Plus, by the time I got the first pain, I’d already been down there for a while, so I think it takes time to build up enough to cause pain. I imagine even if it could get through your spirit fire, it’d take longer for you. Still, even if you could take it in, I couldn’t begin to tell you how to channel it like I do now, after he knocked me out it was just instinct. He said something about imprinting it on my soul.”

“That's not ominous at all,” Wyn sighed. “Well let’s test the spirit fire as much as we can I guess.”

And so, they did just that. First, he intended to burn it for as long as he could, but as expected, his amount never seemed to diminish at all. The output remained steady, and there wasn’t any strain to maintain it. It was as easy as walking, or even easier, like breathing. After an hour without any noticeable difference, they gave up and decided to move on to other things. Next it was weapons, anything made out of iron, steel, or any stone refused to light. Wooden weapons of any type however, were easy to light.

The most interesting results came when they experimented with whether or not he was able to light a projectile, and have it remain lit after it left his hand.

Wyn breathed out, igniting the small stick in his hand. No need to be fancy, he tossed it onto the ground a few feet away, focusing on keeping the stick lit. Though it sputtered a bit, the flames didn’t die out, neither spreading nor shrinking as the glowing piece of wood sat in the grass.

“Not bad, is that automatic or do you have to focus—never mind it’s out,” Corrin said.

Wyn turned back to it, and he was right. As soon as he’d stopped paying attention, the fire died. Striking on an idea, he picked the stick back up, reigniting it, and then started talking to Corrin again. This time, the stick had no issues. It seemed that contact made the link much easier to maintain, if not unbreakable.

“Hmm, how about distance?” Wyn threw it down the hill. Once again, as long as he stayed focused, the stick remained aflame. “No change.”

“So, distance doesn’t really matter then,” Corrin said.

“At least for this kind of range. I feel there’s a way I can put that to use, but I’m not really sure how. Wooden arrows maybe? Or maybe there’s something more to the fact I can hold a link like that? The fact Iillia used this on me makes me feel like it’s some great power, but I have no idea what it’s actually good for.”

“Hey, it can kill monsters just fine.”

Wyn clicked his tongue, “Yeah just in time for us to leave the dungeon.”

“I’m sure there will be others, I bet knights have to fight monsters all the time.”

“Yeah maybe, just feels like you got the better end of the deal.”

Corrin shrugged. “If you want to make a deal with the demon, be my guest.”

“Hmm, fair point.” Wyn chuckled. “Let me get back to you on that one.”

They did a few more tests, but nothing particularly useful came of them. Each one only yielded what they already knew. It was clear though, these were the tools that had been handed to them. They would be their best chance of achieving the strength they’d seen on that day. If they wanted to become spirit knights, then this was their path forwards, and they’d master it as best they could.

Weeks of training, rebuilding, and planning passed by faster than Wyn could believe, and soon, autumn was upon them. The days had begun to cool, but it wouldn’t get truly cold for a few months still. But with the changing of the season, their time had run out. The day for Wyn and Corrin to leave had finally arrived.