The FORM-115 practical was another of Elder Fischer’s early classes, though at least it was held at eight AM rather than seven.

  Kevin woke up early and reviewed his notes over breakfast before heading to the Fire Courtyard. Confident in the safety of his ‘battery’ plan after the last two days of experiments, he filled his body to the brim with free-floating Fire and Earth Qi.

  Then he headed around to the back of the Formations building to Formation Courtyard One. Much like the martial courtyards, this was an area of plain brown dirt for practicing formation techniques; unlike them, there was only a single courtyard for practicing formations.

  He’d arrived ten minutes early for class, and it looked like he was the first student there. Nor was Elder Fischer present, though someone had prepared stacks of bundled formation flags to one side.

  Remembering what he’d learned in the theory class, Kevin examined the area before finding a spot to sit. It didn’t look like the elder had prepared any surprises this time, but he still gave the flag piles a wide gap to be safe.

  When sitting on an empty patch of grass failed to trigger anything, he closed his eyes and focused on the Spiritual Void technique. Using these little slices of time was one of the primary benefits of storing Qi for later use, but it came with its own challenges.

  With only ten minutes available, he needed to get the startup time of the technique down as much as possible. It still took about a minute to get in the right frame of mind, but he was working on improving it.

  As the minutes passed, Kevin sensed more people arriving and milling around, but with no signs of danger, he continued cultivating until the last moment. Eventually, it was Elder Fischer’s voice that interrupted his trance.

  “Gather round,” the elder called out, forgoing any hint of a greeting. “We have a lot to get through and limited time.”

  Kevin snapped to his feet in a smooth movement, opened his eyes, and turned towards the sound before he’d fully registered the change. His cultivator reaction speed was impressive, but still something he was getting used to.

  Elder Fischer stood by the pre-prepared stacks of formation flags with her arms crossed, one foot tapping on the ground. Wincing, Kevin rushed over, barely avoiding being the last to arrive.

  “Right then,” the elder relaxed once the group was present. “Combat Formations is the name of the class, and it’s time we began practicing the difficult art of making that possible.”

  Fischer paced along the line of students as she continued to lecture. “Of course, I’m not talking about a pre-prepared defense here. Anyone who’s tried attacking a sect before will tell you to never underestimate emplacement grade defensive formations.”

  “Those,” she held a finger up for emphasis without slowing her steps, “are simple to implement. Extensive and time-consuming, certainly, but simple. You just need to work out the likely attack vectors, then cover them.”

  “As such, the only time we will devote to those formation styles is learning to recognize them in our theory class. Bypassing or implementing such things is beyond our scope.

  “No,” the elder shook her head and paused to look over the gathered students. “I’m talking about using formations in the thick of battle, with no preparation beyond whatever you happen to be carrying on you.”

  “I’m sure you’ve all considered it,” she continued, opening her hands wide. “You’re standing in the open, some bull-headed martial cultivator charging you with sword drawn.”

  “You have moments, at best, to decide on a formation to use, plan out where the flags will go, locate said flags on your person, and then deploy them. In many instances, several flags must be placed behind your charging opponent.”

  “Worried yet,” Fischer raised an eyebrow, her tone serious. “You should be. It’s damn hard to pull off. Nor is it particularly flashy or glorious. Even if you win, people will accuse you of being a ‘coward’ for relying on ‘traps.’

  The sneer on the elder’s face as she made air quotes made her opinion of such claims clear.

  “But if you ignore all that, these skills might save your life someday. Many formation experts have been dragged along on an expedition, only to realize they had no combat ability at the worst time possible .”

  “Don’t be one of them,” Fischer finished with a hard stare.

  There was a somber pause as she stared around; the excited atmosphere of the class long faded. At last, she nodded, her face lightening.

  “Enough prattling then, let’s get started.”

  “Take a set of flags and the corresponding pamphlet from each stack,” Elder Fischer gestured to the equipment beside her.

  Three stacks of formation flags sat on the bare dirt, each with a small pile of paper behind them. Walking over, Kevin followed the rest of the class and grabbed what he needed.

  Twine wrapping held together the correct flags for each formation. It helped organize the sets but created wide, awkward bundles that were difficult to carry.

  “We lack the time to cover creating each of the flags we’ll be using today,” Elder Fischer tsked, shaking her head. “So each pamphlet contains the design and the flag deployment diagram.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “It is yours to keep. I suggest you make copies of each formation and start carrying them with you, no matter how inconvenient it might be.” Fischer continued, her firm tone making it sound more like a command.

  “A formation cultivator who doesn’t carry formations is like a swordsman who left his sword at home. Useless.”

  Kevin winced but nodded along with everyone else. Just when he’d gotten on top of his FORM-101 project, more work arrived. Nor were these formations likely to be as simple as the ones he’d just finished.

  This must be why Fischer warned him the class would be challenging for him. If the new formations were at standard level for the other students, they would be far ahead of his current level.

  Perhaps he could ask her for advice in their next FORM-101 tutoring session. Given that she’d told him not to charge flags, it seemed like the only option.

  “Line up when you’re done,” Fischer clicked her hand, an unseen Qi blade slicing a furrow through the dirt. “Leave plenty of space, and lay the three piles out in front of you, smallest to largest.”

  Crossing her arms again, she waited with a frown until everyone hurried into position. “Each of your bundles demonstrates a formation category used in practical combat.”

  “In this class, you can forget everything you have learned about categorizing formations. When discussing combat formations, we group them based on the intended use, not the underlying mechanics.”

  “First is a barrier on your far left,” Fischer gestured vaguely at the students. “In combat formation jargon, a barrier is any formation designed to stop an effect from reaching you or someone else.”

  “In other words, they’re used for defense. I don’t care if it’s a containment, rejection, reflection, or even a spatial formation; if it’s used to ward off an effect, it’s a barrier. Today, we have a Qi Rejection Formation to play with.”

  Fischer shifted her arm to the right. “Next, we have a Still Waters Formation to demonstrate the denial category.”

  “As you might expect from the name, they limit or remove effects within their boundaries, denying your enemies the use of certain techniques.”

  “Restricting yourself might seem counter-intuitive,” the elder smirked, “But consider you are much more likely to keep an opponent within your formation if you are also in it.”

  “Often, they will focus on attacking you instead of chasing the flags you’re throwing into the distance. After all, it can’t be that bad if you’re inside it as well,” Fischer snorted. “The key is to restrict something you aren’t capable of yourself.”

  “Last,” she shifted her hand to the right of the group. “We have the most difficult category to use in combat: the trap formation.”

  “In most solo fights, it will be your end goal, with barrier and denial formations as distractions or restrictions while you set one up.”

  “Technically, a trap formation is anything designed to catch only your opponent or opponents. However, you had better make sure it’s a fight-winning move if you go to the effort of tricking or maneuvering an opponent into one.”

  “Our example today is a Matter/Qi Containment Formation. It’s a complex little thing and a hell of a lot of work to craft, but it’s worth the effort.”

  “Catch an opponent in one of these, and it will cut off all options beyond a brute-force Qi eruption. Since you will have charged this in advance over days, they are unlikely to succeed.”

  “If you only make one pattern here, make this one.” Fischer frowned, staring at the group, “Unless you have a trap formation on you, everything else you deploy is a mere delaying tactic.”

  After a moment’s pause, she flicked her wrist in a slow, deliberate movement. A flag flickered into existence, settling into her open hand.

  “You have five minutes to take notes and memorize the deployment pattern for the Qi Rejection Formation; then, we will move on to techniques.”

  Kevin hurried to pack away his notebook as the elder called for them to finish. He’d gotten the bulk of what she’d said noted down, along with questions for later.

  Fischer was tapping the handle of her flag on one shoulder, once more frowning at the group. “There are three basic techniques for deploying flags,” she began without further preamble.

  “First, the plant.” Holding her flag halfway along its handle, Fischer moved her arm to the side. “Hold the flag over your target point, then toss it downward.”

  An elegant flick of her wrist sent the flag straight down, piercing deep into the bare dirt of the field. For a second, it vibrated before the flag stilled in a perfect, upright position.

  “Planting a flag is easy to target and near-certain to work,” Fischer continued, gesturing at the ground. “However, it only works when you are standing in the correct spot.”

  “It is best used when you have already placed the other required flags with your current position in mind. Many experts have trapped their foes by closing a near-complete formation in the middle of a fistfight.”

  “However, it’s so simple that I won’t bother to cover it further. Practice on your own time until you have the movement down.”

  “Second is the toss.” Fischer pulled a fresh flag from thin air and threw it underarm across the field with a single movement. The wooden rod whistled through the air before sticking into the ground at a harsh angle.

  “Another simple technique,” the elder shrugged. “Tossing a flag gets it somewhere fast and with solid accuracy. However, angled flags are not ideal; they ruin a formation’s efficiency.”

  “A more advanced move is to shift the flag’s orientation after it lands.” As she spoke, the flag shuddered, then tilted away from the group until the top was pointed straight at the sky.

  Kevin raised an eyebrow; how in the world had she done that? He hadn’t seen or felt her send any Qi to the flag after her throw. Murmurs filled the air around him, the rest of the group seeming to be just as confused.

  Fischer gave them a few moments, then moved on. “This is a simple matter of imbuing Qi into the handle during the throw. I will provide a technique based on your aspect at the end of class.”

  “I’m sure you’re all competent enough to learn it with my supervision. Instead, we will focus all our attention on the third technique.”

  The elder gestured across the field. “Even if you correct the orientation deficiency caused by tossing a flag, there is still a major limitation to overcome. You cannot throw a flag when something is in the way.”

  “Often, this will be your opponent; at other times, it will be the terrain around you. Either way, you will fail if you cannot deploy all your flags. The solution is the lob.”

  Fischer gripped a third flag closer to the base, then swung her arm back past her shoulder, under, and up in front of her. The movement formed a circular underarm throw that released the flag into the sky.

  Blinking, Kevin watched as it flew up in a sharp arc before tilting over at the apex and falling base-down back toward the earth. With a sharp thump, it struck, driving itself deep into the dirt.

  This time, she needed no Qi tricks to correct the flag’s orientation; it was already straight as an arrow.

  “The lob is my preferred technique for every situation where speed is not required,” Fischer continued calmly as if she hadn’t pulled off something incredible. “It gets the flag where you want it and is almost impossible for a cultivator at your level to intercept or block.”

  “Its only problem is the difficulty of mastering the technique,” she smirked at the group. “Getting the arc right is hard enough when standing still with no distractions.”

  “In the middle of a chaotic fight, it’s far harder. Still, I assure you it is possible and something you will have at least basic competence in before the end of this class.”

  “Unpack your first flags, and I will walk you through the movements.”