Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) by Daniel Schinhofen (motivational books to read txt) 📕

us through each match to show us where we could do better, and to explain it to Vicky at the same time.”

“She had the kids practice falling,” Daciana interrupted. “Baylyss watched and helped correct them while Indara worked with us.”

“Elsa was ecstatic to get some training on fighting, too,” Nessa said. “Indara said she would be there early to train the children before we showed up. That made all of them very happy.”

“I learned a lot,” Victoria said when Nessa stopped. “These two abused me a lot, but I learned. Maybe I won’t be the worst trained novice by the tournament.”

“Far from it, with Indara training us,” Nessa told her. “As she said, if you apply yourself, you’ll be a surprise they aren’t expecting.”

“And I will,” Victoria replied. “I have a feeling that our dedication to training will be reported to the people it matters the most to for us to get into a specific clan.”

“That could be,” Yukiko smiled. “We have Magi Squares and studying to get to. I am glad that your day off was good for you.”

~*~*~

“Didn’t expect the hugs,” Gregory said as they got closer to the tactics hall. “They were all happy, though.”

“Of course,” Jenn chuckled. “They’re getting instruction from Indara. They know that every little bit of help they get will help them in the tournament.”

“That’s fair.”

“They were very happy,” Yukiko smiled, “even Victoria.”

“I remember what it’s like to always get thrashed and feel like you’re failing,” Gregory said. “I know what she’s feeling right now.”

“And, like you, she’s accepting it and working on improving, which speaks well for her.”

“Unlike Chucky,” Jenn said, changing the topic to their upcoming class. “I don’t know if he’ll ever be happy with anything. He has no one to blame but himself, but he just won’t accept that.”

“I thought he was going to throw things yesterday,” Gregory said. “Of course Ling was doing better— she actually pays attention. He wasn’t listening to Yuki, either.”

“He ignored every piece of advice I gave him,” Yukiko shrugged. “That’s his prerogative, but as Imel, one of my father’s drivers, used to say, ‘You can lead the horse to water, but you can’t make it drink, though if it keeps pissing you off, you can at least drown it.’”

“I doubt Paul would let us drown Chucky, even if he wants to do so himself,” Jenn snickered.

“The normal saying doesn’t have the second part of that added on,” Gregory laughed. “It’s a little dark, but I like it.”

Making their way up to their classroom, they were surprised to find Ling and Clover already there. Both women were wearing happy smiles and greeted them.

“Good morning to you, too,” Gregory grinned. “Something up?”

“We made it to the ninth rank,” Clover said, pulling her medallion out.

They congratulated the two apprentices.

“We’re comparing our growth rates,” Ling said. “We were holding consistent until we began classes this year. Clover and I should’ve been another couple of weeks away from obtaining this rank. I think it’s because of the extra studying we’ve done on the game, and the tutelage you’ve given us.”

“You’re both on the mind path, aren’t you?” Yukiko asked.

“Yes,” Clover nodded. “Using the archive after class has helped. Thank you for suggesting it.” Her suddenly exuberant nature dimmed, and she bowed formally. “We’ve had little help since we came to the academy. We never thought that you three would help us as you have. Our deepest thanks.”

“No need to thank us,” Yukiko said. “Why wouldn’t we help you?”

Ling spoke up, “Because you’re champions, have a clan, and…” She hesitated before continuing, “There were certain rumors going around about how you all hated everyone else. We can see them as lies now, but we didn’t know better earlier.”

“Fucking Nick...” Gregory sighed.

“Have you two been helping each other this entire time?” Jenn asked.

“No,” Ling said. “We only started talking to each other during weapons training.”

“You were both in my group,” Gregory said.

“Yes,” Clover nodded. “Things got a little harder after you left. Klim didn’t have anyone who could help her demonstrate as well as you did. When it came time for the tournament, we were thrashed soundly. When it was over, no one approached us. The two clans we approached turned us down, too.”

“Because of…” Ling trailed off, her cat ears twitching.

“We understand,” Yukiko said. “How have you been training without a clan?”

“During the novice year, we didn’t have a lot of time to train extra,” Clover said, “and the little we did have, we put toward physical training, not that it did us any good.”

Ling nodded. “During the break between years, we studied, but I feel like we didn’t do enough.”

“Are you only reading?” Gregory asked.

“Yes,” Clover nodded.

Gregory opened his bag. He pulled out a Magi Squares sheet that he’d set up for the novices, but hadn’t given to them because they’d already made their own. “This is Magi Squares. I suggest looking into them to help with your mind training.”

Clover took the page, and Ling moved up beside her. “This will help us?” Ling asked.

“Logic puzzles can develop the mind path,” Yukiko said. “This is a way to help. We do one every morning. Once you get a feel for them, it helps if you create one for each other, then solve it.”

“We can do that,” Clover said, studying the page. “We should look into these more tonight.”

“Yes, yes we should,” Ling agreed.

“Keep it,” Gregory said. “I’m glad to help.”

Both women looked up from the page to him, then bowed their heads. “Thank you,” they said, then bowed to Yukiko and Jenn.

“Thanking them?” Chucky asked, coming into the room. “For what? It’s not like they’re really helping us learn.”

Clover opened her mouth to speak, but Ling clamped a hand on her