Kevin scrambled to unwrap the twine binding together the Qi Rejection Formation’s flags. There were six in total: the control flag and five boundary flags.

  Based on the pamphlet that came with it, you could use four flags to form a blocking line or all six to form a protective hexagon.

  “We’ll be throwing in hexagon formation,” Elder Fischer called as she circled behind the group. “A four-flag line is faster for defending yourself but doesn’t require the lob technique to perform.”

  “Instead, imagine that an ally is in the line of fire, and you’re the only one who can help. You’re too far to intercede in person, but a well-thrown Qi Rejection formation may be enough to save their life.”

  “Assuming you can deploy it with enough accuracy,” the elder finished drily.

  Kevin bit his lip, staring at the thick pile of flags in his arms. There was no way he could hold them all and still perform the lobbing motion.

  Frowning, he considered the problem, then stabbed each flag into the ground before him. Each flag reached mid-thigh, high enough to grab without having to crouch.

  “I see a few of you have solved the first hurdle,” Fischer said, sounding pleased. “Before you can throw a series of flags, you need access to each of them.”

  “For now, continue with whatever method feels the most comfortable. Sometimes, you have nothing but a few flags at your disposal, so we practice that first. Once you have shown basic proficiency, we will explore tools to assist.”

  The elder’s voice circled behind them, and she soon came back into view at the edge of the line on Kevin’s left. This put her only a single person away from him instead of the four-person separation the other side would have given.

  “I’ll be moving along the line, demonstrating the technique to each of you,” Fischer called out, her voice pitched to reach the entire group. “Watch while you wait, and you may avoid some of the early errors your fellow students make.”

  With that, she turned and began walking Karlene through the technique.

  Kevin watched carefully, taking in the technique from a closer distance than before. Fischer was also moving slower now, showing surprising care in demonstrating the technique.

  In fact, she’d seemed more cheerful throughout the entire lesson, though he could only guess the reason. Since FORM-115 was a class she regularly taught instead of one she’d been stuck with, it seemed likely that combat formations were a passion of hers.

  Which was an important clue to impressing her as the season continued.

  After a few minutes of working on the swing, Fischer flicked her wrist, flinging something across the field.

  It landed straight in front of Karlene, about a hundred feet out, and swelled into a human-size clay figure.

  “There’s your friend,” Fischer addressed Karlene, her voice quiet enough that those further along the line likely missed it. “You need to enclose them in the formation if you want to save them.”

  “Keep the pattern in mind; this first throw will define the points you need to hit with the other five.”

  If Karlene was nervous, she was doing a good job of hiding it. With only a firm nod, she pulled her arm back and swung into the lob.

  Her flag flew into the sky with a noticeable wobble but still struck the ground twenty feet from her target. While it was far from straight, the fact she’d even landed in the general vicinity on her first attempt was impressive.

  “Not a terrible landing,” Fischer said, smirking down at the younger woman. “But you missed a key point. What was it?”

  Karlene’s face fell, worry showing up for the first time. She bit her lip, taking a moment, then responded. “Since I missed, the pattern got thrown off?”

  “Yes, but that is fixable with your next throws. I’m talking about something more serious."

  How about you, Mr. Blake?” Fischer asked, spinning to face him. “What did Ms. Brown do wrong?”

  Kevin froze at the unexpected call, his mind whirling as he tried to come up with an answer. Fischer preferred well-thought-out responses to off-the-cuff answers, so he took his time.

  The throw itself looked good enough, even if it landed a bit of target, so it had to be something else. What else could she have missed doing?

  Then the answer struck; he hadn’t sensed Karlene push any Qi into the flag, and he’d been paying close attention.

  “She forgot to activate the flag,” he said, giving Karlene an apologetic smile.

  “Correct,” Elder Fischer shouted, loud enough to be heard by the entire group. “Throwing an inactive flag is worse than not throwing one at all. Now, you can’t activate that formation even if you get the rest of the flags in position.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Not without running over there and fixing the problem, at least,” she continued, turning back to Karlene. “Better hurry, Ms. Brown.”

  Flushing, Karlene sprinted off. At the rate she was moving, it would take her seconds at most, yet Fischer was already moving on.

  “You’re up, Mr. Blake. Poor Karlene has dropped to the bottom of the list.”

  Kevin suppressed a gulp, watching with laser focus as Fischer slowly moved through the technique. As he’d thought, it was about swinging your arm backward, under, and then through to generate momentum.

  The point you released during your upswing controlled how sharp the arc was. That was the part you had to judge in order to get the distance right.

  Fischer gave him the same amount of demonstration time as she gave Karlene before flicking her hand once more. Another figure appeared on the bare dirt, giving him his own target.

  “Well then, give it a shot,” Fischer smirked, gesturing toward the target.

  Kevin took a deep breath and braced himself. He had no idea how Karlene had come as close as she did on her first try; it seemed impossible to judge the arc without having experienced previous results.

  Though he’d at least learned one thing from her example; make sure he activated the damn flag.

  Trying to make the motion as smooth as possible, he swung his back and flowed through the technique. At the same time, he focused inward on his sealed land.

  With Dr. Vaughan’s advice in mind, he imaged a wave of mud-like Earth Qi sliding out of the floating dome containing his land. It had to be fast, like a mud-slide cascading down a riverbed.

  It worked. His Qi flowed far faster than he’d seen it move before, at least five times better than his previous attempts. The energy reached his arm in record time, where it flowed out of his hand and into the flag.

  He’d never activated one before, but he’d gone through the theory with Fischer in their tutoring session. With all the work that went into creating the flags, it was a simple process.

  You just had to add some energy to pull the enchantment out of dormant mode. As long as the same person’s Qi was used to activate each flag, and the flags ended up in roughly the right spots, the formation matrix would activate.

  His energy entered the flag just in time, as his arm was already rising in front of him. Kevin did his best to gauge the release time based on what he’d seen Karlene do, then let the flag fly.

  It launched up as intended but wobbled sharply back and forth. At some point, the motion grew too much, and the flag landed with a flop on its side forty feet from his intended target.

  “Too much effort at the end, Mr. Blake,” Fischer sighed from beside him. “It’s a release motion, not a throw. You don’t have to push the flag out; it will have plenty of momentum already by the time you release it.”

  “Still, you did a tad better than Ms. Brown. Your flag is at least activated, so your ally could theoretically plant it for you. Assuming they aren’t too busy staying alive, that is.”

  Fischer mimed staring at the motionless clay figure. “Doesn’t look like they can make it,” she snorted a moment later. “Better go set it up, and don’t forget the pattern.”

  Then she was gone, leaving a wincing Kevin behind. It seemed he’d been dropped to the bottom of the teaching list as well.

  Still, there were hours left of the lesson, plenty of time to continue practicing.

  Despite her initial failure, Karlene Brown was still the first disciple to get six flags in a somewhat accurate pattern. After a mere half-hour of throwing, her excited cry drew the attention of everyone present.

  Kevin gave a forlorn look at his three finished flags before turning to watch Elder Fischer. Every overheard tip helped a little, and the elder was striding over to Karlene with purpose.

  “Well done, Ms. Brown. Despite a slow start, you seem to have beat out the rest.” Fischer turned and stared at the formation, quirking an eyebrow. “Are you confident in the placement?”

  Karlene bit her lip, hesitating, then nodded. “Yes, Ma’am. I know it’s not perfect, but I think it will function.”

  “Well, let’s see then,” Fischer laughed. With a casual wave at the clay figure, a flash of Qi burst from her hand. While invisible to the naked eye, it glowed to Kevin’s spiritual senses.

  When the technique hit the edge of the formation, a lopsided hexagon of shimmering blue energy rose from the six flags. It sparked with energy where the elder’s Qi burst struck, wavered, and then shattered as the energy continued through.

  Fischer’s technique struck the clay figure with an audible crack. It shuddered, fragments spraying into the air, but stayed standing.

  “Not bad. You lost around forty percent efficiency from poor placement, but it diminished the technique enough that it looks like your friend will live.”

  “I hope we can say the same for everyone else by the end of the class,” she continued, turning back toward the rest of the line.

  Kevin winced, turning back to his own attempts as the elder pulled a long tube and showed Karlene how to sling it across her back. Being first would have been too much to expect, but he needed to do better than last.

  Since their first flag, Fischer had stopped them from planting anymore when they went to retrieve a failed attempt. This left the first flag he’d placed to define where he needed to land the others.

  Seeing Karlene finish was a relief, in a way, as it showed he didn’t need to be perfect. The two flags he’d gotten in position by trial and error weren’t anywhere near that, but he thought they were no worse than hers.

  He was just slower to reach that point. Still, he was beginning to get the hang of the technique.

  It was something you had to do more by feeling than by logical thought. Trying to calculate the mathematics of such an arc on the fly was impossible, at least for him; instead, he had to practice until it was near-automatic.

  Which meant the more throws, the better. Without wasting anymore time on contemplation, Kevin sighted the spot for his next flag and let fly.

  His flag sailed through the air with only a hint of wobble, moved through the arc with grace, and then struck, quivering in the ground a half-dozen feet from his target.

  Kevin grinned; that was a solid shot, even if it wasn’t quite good enough to keep. A couple more like that, and he’d have his fourth flag.

  After another half-hour of throwing and two more disciples finishing their formations, he finally got the sixth flag close to where he wanted it. Each flag had grown a little harder as imperfections in the previous placements narrowed the margin for error.

  He bit his lip, glancing over at the other two students who’d yet to finish. One was picking his sixth flag up for another attempt; the other seemed to be having a horrible time with only four flags down.

  Waiting for a better placement would have been ideal, but he’d be fourth if he went now and succeeded. If he kept trying, Samuel might beat him to it.

  Kevin snorted, shaking his head. Cultivator culture had to be getting to him. It was no longer just about not disappointing the elder; he wanted to be at the top of the group or at least far from the bottom.

  With a last look at the positions, he nodded, turning back toward the line.

  It was time to see if he’d done well enough.