I stretched, then readied myself again. “Ready as well.”
We fought for hours, and I felt like we were getting just a little bit better at keeping up with Keras toward the end, especially when we attacked together.
Our teamwork was getting better in general, too. Toward the end, we managed to block his attacks for each other once or twice, like I’d intended from the beginning.
I never landed another hit on him, though. Neither did Marissa. Not after he’d decided to take us more seriously.
All in all, though?
It was the first time I could remember enjoying combat training in a long, long time.
I had Understanding Attunements class that day, and I did go to the class, but I barely paid attention at first. It when Professor Conway introduced a guest that I regained my focus.
“This is Professor Yang, a visiting teacher from Alaris Academy in Caelford. While visiting, he’s agreed to help give you an early introduction to a particularly difficult task — resisting mental compulsion spells.”
Now that got me interested. Professor Yang was tall and heavy, with a pair of thick glasses and an uncovered attunement on his right hand.
It was a Controller attunement. I’d memorized the basic version of that particular mark after I’d seen how devastating Orden’s Controller abilities were. I wanted to be certain I could identify one early if I ever saw one again.
From the look of his particular attunement, I believed he was a Citrine — but it was hard to tell. There were a number of variations of each individual attunement, even at any given level. I’d learned to pick out the main symbol early in life, but I was just learning about all the types of variations that were possible this year.
Attunement levels each added an additional stroke to the rune’s shape, but the location and shape of the stroke varied. We were scheduled to discuss mark variations in the second half of the year, so I hadn’t spent a lot of time studying it yet.
“Professor Conway, thank you for having me. Students, good day to you all.” Professor Yang had a smooth voice without much of a Caelish accent. “I believe Professor Conway has already introduced you to the basics of my attunement, the Controller, but I’d like you to humor me and listen for a few moments before we begin the practical portion of the lesson. Some of this may be review.”
Most of this class had been review for me in general, but I usually didn’t mind. While I’d learned most of the basics about magic as a child, some of the elementary lessons had faded over time, and other things I’d been taught as a youth had been “simplified” to the point of inaccuracy.
The higher degree of accurate information in classes like this one and my general magic theory class made them useful to attend, even if they did go over a lot of information I already knew.
I imagined that classes like these were even more important for people like Marissa, who might not have had much of a formal education at all up to this point in her life.
Professor Yang continued an overview of his attunement. It was, as he said, mostly the basics. I paid more attention once he got into information that was new. “Most Controller spells involve working with perception mana. Perception mana influences how you experience the world, whereas mental mana is used for memory and analyzing information you already know.”
Professor Yang put a finger against his forehead. “While there is a considerable amount of overlap between the two, perception mana is primarily tied to your emotions, senses, and instincts, whereas mental mana is more about reasoning and conscious decision making.
“Both can be used for information gathering purposes; a perception improving spell might help you see or hear better, whereas a mental improvement spell might allow you to process something you couldn’t otherwise, such as improving your mathematical abilities.”
He gestured to the class. “Your brain uses both types of mana, and thus, they work in tandem. This means that some mental spells might still impact how you perceive the world, and some perception spells might still alter how you analyze situations. This is how Controllers influence you. Stand up.”
We all stood up.
It took me a moment to realize that I hadn’t intended to stand up.
That was really unsettling.
“While I’ve been speaking, I’ve been filling the classroom with perception mana. Unless you—”
No. This is unacceptable.
I didn’t like being controlled.
My mind was everything. It was the definition of who I was as a person. I certainly wasn’t going to let someone else play with it.
I sat back down.
Professor Yang turned toward me. “Ah, you discovered a weakness in this style of magic already. I did not explicitly command any of you to remain standing. There’s a little bit of my own perception mana influencing each of your own minds right now, making you vulnerable to my commands. This can be extremely subtle, but once you realize you are being influenced, you can attempt to resist.
He gestured at me. “This student found a basic loophole in my command. Not only can this approach do the obvious and help you avoid committing acts you do not wish to, but it also stimulates your mental mana — and your mental mana is a natural defense against compulsion magic.”
“Perception mana and mental mana work together, but they’re opposites; they cancel each other out much in the same way that fire and water do. You can also attempt to use other perception spells to counter existing ones, but I suspect most of you do not have access to those. Thus, I recommend this simple task. If you apply your mental mana to the purpose of freeing yourself, eventually, you may succeed.”
I was already working on that.
Now that I knew I was under a compulsion spell, I was actively converting some of my mana in my body into mental mana, then trying to cycle that through to my mind. That was a slow process, though, and I couldn’t identify the perception mana to try to target it directly.
Fortunately, I knew what the teacher was saying was accurate; I’d already managed to do something similar with the sleep spell that Sheridan had used. I could probably free myself from the spell like this…eventually.
This was a much subtler effect, though, which raised a concern.
How would I know that I was free, if I hadn’t detected the spell in the first place?
That was unsettling.
“Let’s see if you can actively resist, now that you know you’re compelled. Everyone, sit back down.”
I felt urge to comply, but I was already sitting, so it didn’t have any real impact.
No one managed to resist just yet. We were all sitting now.
“Stand up.”
We all stood.
I clenched my fists. I did not like this exercise.
I could see a few other people nearby who were taking other actions to try to free themselves. I saw someone pinching himself, hoping pain would overwhelm the instincts.
Someone else was covering her ears. That was the best plan I’d seen so far, but when the next command came…
“Sit down.”
She sat, too. Either she had still heard him with her ears covered, or the mana was activating and sending the command regardless of whether or not she heard the voice.
I was cycling my mana as quickly as I could, but the effect didn’t seem to be getting any weaker. In fact, it seemed to be getting harder to resist, not easier.
Professor Yang explained why. “This might seem a bit unfair, but as I’ve been continuing to speak, I’ve been continuing to add more perception mana into the room to reinforce the spell. This is how Controllers usually work, since otherwise, people will begin breaking out shortly after they realize they’re being controlled. This makes resisting compulsion something of an endurance test; you must outlast the Controller’s ability to control you, or wait until they make a mistake you can exploit. Unless, of course, you can force your way out of the spell by generating mental mana quickly enough — which is unlikely for first-year students.”