181 Chapter 10 (1/2)

Other than the open practice fields, we had six training grounds in our clan compound. One for each element. Each one had the corresponding topology engraved into it and was fuelled with stones and crystals of the corresponding element. The six topologies were among the largest expenditures of our clan. The training areas were open all hours of the day and every clan member Tier 2 and above with no other pressing duty tried to spend as much time in their elemental training ground as possible.

The thing was that the topologies had all been constructed in my great grandfather's time by a Formation Grandmaster he had befriended. We didn't have the expertise required to turn the formation on or off at will. Neither did we have the know-how required to train a formation master of our own. Not for the lack of trying though. Every following patriarch tried their best, including father, but any family with knowledge of formations hoarded it like it was their life. And in a way, it was, seeing that they earned huge chunks of their revenue from creating and maintaining the topologies of other clans.

The training grounds were segregated into sections corresponding to the Tiers and separated into parts that favoured training Specialization – both Force and Control.

The wind topology for instance had a life gate where the air was continuously turbulent – useful for training how to manipulate projectiles and other floating implements to improve one's control over the wind. And then there was the dead gate of the topology where the air was extremely viscous and difficult to move. Training in wind spells there was akin to exercising with weights strapped on to your body. A form of resistance training that worked wonders for wind mages specialized in Force.

I fondly recall the time I spent playing around here with paper planes and origami cranes with Deimos. It all seems a lifetime ago, what with everything going to hell in a hand basket.

The wind topology was where I spent most of my time in the training ground but today, I had a different destination.

The fire formation was more unitary in its effect. No fire mage in the history of our clan had ever specialized in anything other than Force.

Actually, come to think of it, I don't recall any fire mage that made it big with a specialization in control. The unruly element just doesn't lend itself to strict regulation, and the emotional nature of the practitioners of flame makes control doubly difficult.

Signing in at the reception and obtaining my entry token, I placed the token into a groove in the door, pulsing ambient fire mana into it in a particular pattern to unlock it. Shoving the door open, I was assaulted by a gust of heated air that parted my hair with its force.

Taking a breath that scorched my lungs, I stepped in, the door swinging shut behind me.

In front of me was a world of flame. The entire topology was enclosed in a dome of glass doped with Inflammation crystals. In the daytime, the dome would concentrate the sunlight into thin beams of solar flame that would turn the interior into a grid of fire.

Currently, as dusk had already blended into the quiet darkness of night, the embedded crystals simply sparkled in the dome like a galaxy of flaming stars. That didn't mean that the topology was only usable in the daytime. The solar flame was just an accessory function of the dome, the main reason for its existence was to lock in the heat produced by the topology like a greenhouse.

The entire area was partitioned into segments in the form of concentric circles. The innermost section was for Tier 4 mages while the middle one was for Tier 3 mages, separated into four sections by dividers. The outermost segment was for Tier 2 mages with eight partitions. The dividers and walls were made of a dark igneous rock shot through by veins of fire stone and embedded with Inflammation crystals in tasteful locations that manipulated the fire mana in the environment, making it spiral inwards to the centre of the topology.

It was oddly reminiscent of the interior of the volcanic Dungeon at the centre of the sixth Forbidden Zone.

I wiggled my toes in the heated sandy floor of the training ground. I had entered barefoot as per the regulations – too many sets of burnt footwear had taught our ancestors a lesson and they had added the provision to the rules – and the heat of the very first level was challenging the limits of my tolerance even with my enhanced body. Sweat beaded my forehead and soaked into my shirt as the air warped by the heat of the sandy floor scorched my lungs.

With a thought, the ambient fire mana gathered around me and ignited the air adhering to my body and shrouding me in a layer of flame.

Tier 1 flame magic: Ember.