“Hm,” Tess said. “You keep gravitating to gestures.”

  “I know.” Natalie had to stop herself from snapping at the irl. Tess was actually patient and overall pleasant, not pushy or desding, but Natalie’s tinued inpetence made it hard to keep her temper in check. “I’m trying not to.”

  “Why?”

  “Why?” Natalie was taken aback by the question. “Because … it’s bad?”

  “Why is it bad?”

  Great. She was being prodded to figure something out. Tess’s tone made that clear enough. “Because being able to cast with your head is better for versatility.”

  “Sure,” Tess said easily. “That’s the general advice. But what did I say about general advice?”

  “That it doesn’t apply to everyone. But this does, doesn’t it?” Natalie had no iions of half-assing the learning process and falling ba crutches, even if she was struggling.

  “But you’re a hands-on girl,” Tess pointed out. “I reize a fighter when I see one.”

  Funny enough, that had goh ways.

  “And?”

  “So maybe your css expects you to use gestures,” Tess said. “You’re really gravitating to them.”

  Natalia had noticed that too. Her limbs were itg to be in motion. But everyone else was simply holding their hand out, at the most. Clearly, that was the right way to go about things.

  “But in a fight, I’ll need my hands fhting,” Natalie said, trying to keep the exasperation from her voice. “So even if I did better, it’s pointless.”

  Tess o the side of the courtyard. “Go grab one.”

  Natalie blihen looked in the dire she’d indicated. A rack sat there, hosting a colle of varied wooden ons. “Seriously?”

  Tess quirked her eyebrow. She atient, but she also wasn’t afraid to make it known she was the expert here. And who was Natalie kidding? Tess did know better.

  Natalie sighed, then jogged over to the rack.

  She surveyed the options avaible to her. Te had covered all bases when it came to the stockpile. Her eyes naturally fell to the bluraining sword. Swords were the most on fighting utensil among melee adventurers, food reason. In trained hands, their versatility was hard to beat. But Natalie could wield most of the ons in the rack, besides the most etric. Maces, spears, swords, polearms—she’d gotten her hands on each, and traio at least a non-embarrassing standard.

  Like many fighters, she’d avoided log herself into a specific on in case the css she accepted couldn’t utilize it. She still hadn’t decided, specifically, which she’d stick with. Maybe she’d tio keep her options open, so that whatever on she found first in the dungeon, she could use. Letting fate decide had a certain appeal. It also didn’t.

  Something one-handed might be the best choice. As a tank, odds were high she’d want a shield. Not all tanks wielded one, but the majority did. So … a mace? Something simple, for now? Probably not what she’d stick with forever, but Natalie let her first choice guide her. Her hand closed around the handle of a simple training mace: long smooth shaft with a heavy orb at the top. She weighed it in her hand, then shrugged. It was much lighter than it ought to be, but these were clearly weren’t meant for real bat. To be used like Natalie was about to: as a simple prop in spellcasting coordination.

  She returo Tess. Tess made no ent over her choice of on.

  “Go ahead,” she said, gesturing for Natalie to tinue.

  “Go ahead what?”

  “You’re a fighter,” Tess said. “And you’re fidgeting trying to cast. Focus, gather your mana, the your body guide you.”

  “But—“

  Tess’s raised eyebrows cut over further pints. Natalie muttered, but did as told.

  She had to fight not to close her eyes. Whatever Tess said, it helped her focus massively. Though, her point about being horrible in bat—though obvious—was much, much more salient than simple gestures to aid in spells. Close your eyes in the middle of a spar for more than a blink, things wouldn’t go well.

  She collected her thoughts and focused inwardly on the orb of power iomach.

  The imagery she jured wasn’t that different from her ‘advance’ skill. Instead of a pink orb, though, the essence sloshing around was blue, and she extracted rather than pushed into. It was all in her head. Each person apparently had their owal guides to aid the process.

  Funny enough, Tess helped Natalie in more ways than simple adviatalie didn’t particurly like making an idiot of herself, but triply so in front of a pretty girl. She gave the spellcasting a bit more elbow grease than usual. And no lorying to rein ig desire to summon the spell through her movements, she took stand swiped the air with her mace.

  Thank the heavens, the spell didn’t fizzle. [Illusion] activated, and the mana she’d withdraw from that imaginary orb—and been holding, vibrating, somewhere in the back of her head—expended, and a bright fsh of light popped in front of her. She’d gone for something simple. A bright light, enough to temporarily blind, could do wonders applied at the right time in a spar.

  Tess blihe fsh out of her eyes, having been looking right where Natalie had been aiming. She had let the spell hit her. She was a mid-ranker, and a mage no less—she could have shrugged the simple effect if she had wao.

  “That felt better?” Tess asked.

  “Sure, but it’s not effit.” That had been the crux of her argument from the start.

  “You think it telegraphs the spell.”

  “I don’t think. It does.”

  “And you think monsters will reize your tells?”

  Natalie paused. It was, of course, a great point. “But duels.”

  “So you’re a duelist?”

  “Well … no. But still. And some of the smarter monsters might cat.”

  “Only if it drags long enough for them to start reizing patterns. That’s not on down in the dungeon, even for boss fights. Besides, are tells that big a deal?”

  Natalie was learning to hate those raised eyebrows. Though, the rational part of her told her it was deserved. Tess was only stating the obvious … just, not obvious at the time.

  “I don’t think they are,” Tess said, answering her owion. “And besides, you could have several gestures for each spell. It’s not as crippling as you think. Sure, it locks you in to specifients, but you py around with that. Assuming someoudies your style, you make pys based on their assumptions. Make that motion, they’ll expe illusion of some sort—or that specific fsh you sent. But don’t, oime. At a critical moment.”

  “That’s true.” But she wasn’t fully sold. Even though it souupid to her own ears, she repeated the cim from earlier. “But everyone says gestures are a crutch.”

  “It’s best if you divorent from spellcasting,” Tess ceded. “In a perfect world, you would. But, really, it’s not that bad. Trust me.”

  “I guess.”

  “Or trust your superiors,” Tess said. “Go study the styles of some fighter-mage hybrids. You’ll see that some of them—even high rankers—lock certain spells to certain movements. Makes it easier to bance physical bat with magical.”

  Tess patted her back.

  “It’s your choice, ultimately. Keep practig. I’ve gotta help the others. If you want my opinio your body guide you. I’ll make my way back around.”