Codrin let out an angry growl when the candle on his desk melted into a puddle, his flame losing control. The flame flared up briefly before sputtering out, exhausting itself. The point of this exercise was for Codrin to light the candle in front of him with only the barest of sparks, just enough to light the candle without using unnecessary amounts of mana to do it.

It had only taken him a few days to pull it off at first, a fact that caused him to become insufferably smug, but Aldric had moved up to making him do it without using a spoken spell. If the ever-growing pile of mutilated candles was anything to go by, Codrin had finally met his match.

Aldric made a mental note to ask Kedrin to buy more candles. A lot more.

“Killed another one, did you?” Alek asked from his corner of the small classroom. He was currently doing one armed pushups from a handstand position, his arm glowing with the telltale signs of enforcement. He was practicing enforcing only one body part for extended periods of time.

Aldric had seen his fair share of rebellious young men, so it hadn’t been too hard to motivate the lazy Alek to work. It mainly involved embarrassing him for his lack of progress in front of two pretty girls and a condescending noble heir. Teenagers were simple that way.

“The great Codrin Caffaret, slayer of candles and other household goods,” Alek crowed, trying to get under Codrin’s skin. By the look on the young noble’s face, it was working. “Want me to find a bard to sing your praises?”

“If you’re that bored with your practice, Carlisle, maybe I’ll change Caffaret’s training a bit.” Aldric interrupted. “Think your speed has improved enough to dodge fire balls?”

Codrin looked like he was immediately in favor of this new idea. Alek scoffed and looked away, but shut his mouth.

Aldric returned his attention to Codrin. “Caffaret, we talked about this. Mana needs specific intent, especially when not using words. Stop seeing the candle as one uniform object and break it into parts. You only need to hit the wick.”

“But it’s such a small target!” Codrin whined. “That’s hard enough with words, much less silent casting. I wasn’t able to do any silent casting a few weeks ago. Isn’t it enough that I can do this much?”

“You can silent cast in a quiet, controlled environment with no outside pressures or distractions,” Aldric corrected. “Now you’re going to keep practicing until you can do it without even thinking about it.” He grabbed another candle and plopped it onto the desk. Codrin glared at the thing, like its existence offended him. “Keep going. I’ll check in on you later.”