"The Horse Stance is far more than just a physical exercise, Charles; it's a form of active meditation," Anduin explained, seamlessly dropping back into the perfect, powerful posture himself, his knees angled outward, his spine ramrod straight. The position appeared effortless on him, betraying the immense, sustained pressure placed on the lower body.
"By standing motionless in this position, you fundamentally strengthen your lower body's Rootedness and significantly increase your core stability. But more crucially, it is a direct method of forging Willpower and honing the Mind-Body connection."
Charles, still trembling slightly from his initial three-minute attempt, reluctantly slid into the stance. His muscles immediately protested, his legs shaking violently against the memory of the searing pain.
Anduin walked around him, using his staff not as a weapon, but as a pointer, gently correcting Charles's posture.
"In my experience with complex spellcasting, especially those requiring massive, sustained energy output—like the Echo Charm, or the volatile Infrasound—Willpower and emotional stability are paramount factors that directly govern the spell's power and consistency.
A wizard whose mind is weak, whose body wavers, will cast weak, inconsistent spells. Sharpening your willpower through the endurance of this pain is the simplest, most direct way to increase the baseline power and control of your magic."
He pointed at Charles's trembling hands. "Correct the stance. Clench your fists lightly, extending your arms forward as if gently embracing a large barrel. Engage your core—tuck your hips slightly, pull your lower abdomen in. Crucially, shift the load: do not concentrate all the pressure on your knees, or you will cause permanent injury. Use your hips and your gluteal muscles for primary support. Feel the weight descending directly through the center of your feet, connecting you to the earth."
Anduin spent a full minute adjusting Charles's body, physically positioning him into the correct, agonizing equilibrium.
"Is… is that it?" Charles managed, his teeth clenched against the pain already escalating in his thighs. He looked up, expecting some complex, multi-stage drill, only to find Anduin watching him silently from the perfect posture he had adopted.
"What's next, you ask? Endurance. Just hold it. Try to push past the immediate, burning sensation. Today, we aim for five minutes," Anduin said, his expression flat and unyielding. The gentle, apologetic tutor was gone; the relentless taskmaster had taken his place.
"Five minutes? But this is impossibly tiring! My legs are already screaming!" Charles complained, his voice cracking.
"Willpower is only forged when the body is truly exhausted and the mind is forced to override the physical complaint," Anduin countered, his voice steady. "Do not worry; this exhaustion will only refine you."
Anduin remained there, completely motionless in his own perfect Horse Stance, a silent, immovable pillar of encouragement and challenge. Charles watched the contrast: his own body violently trembling after less than two minutes, his arms aching as the blood pooled, his concentration slipping; Anduin, only a few feet away, looked like an uncarved granite statue. He could not, in good conscience, quit while his friend endured the same ordeal right beside him. Charles gritted his teeth, focused on the dull throb in his core, and desperately fought the urge to collapse.
The five minutes were an eternity. When Anduin finally called for him to stand, Charles's muscles had locked completely. He staggered, unable to straighten his legs or control his joints, and Anduin had to physically assist him back to the hut, his friend resembling a poorly jointed puppet.
"Is this… is this how you train, Anduin?" Charles gasped, collapsed on the cot. "You are not human."
"I am simply consistent," Anduin corrected calmly, pulling Charles's thick socks off. "It is difficult now, but consistency yields unimaginable results. This is merely the beginning. Starting tomorrow, we increase the standing time by one minute each day until you can maintain it for thirty minutes without external aid."
He continued, laying out a terrifying schedule: "After the Horse Stance, we will integrate magical energy circulation exercises while you hold the position. Then comes dedicated footwork drills, followed by magical first aid, and finally, unarmed combat training. We build the soldier step-by-step."
Charles whimpered, certain he was facing a destiny of perpetual muscle soreness and magical exhaustion. He had thought his training was intense; he now understood it had been a soft prelude to a magical boot camp.
Over the next few days, while Charles endured the daily agony of the Horse Stance, Anduin continued his parallel magical training with Professor Burns. The Professor was immensely proud, guiding Anduin to finalize and submit his extensive thesis on the Echo Place Charm for review by the International Alchemical Guild, ensuring his priority claim on the groundbreaking runic matrix.
Burns also taught Anduin a variety of specialized alchemical enchanting spells—charms designed not for dueling or self-defense, but solely for transferring magical properties to inert objects.
These spells, which included Velocity Charms, Attenuation Charms, and Stabilization Matrices, all lacked a verbal component and a wand movement structure, existing instead as pure magical intention used to charge an alchemical framework. Anduin realized he was learning the tools of a professional Alchemist—magic designed for permanence and stability.
Finally, the long-awaited information arrived. A week after his initial agonizing test, Charles returned from his classes and excitedly presented Anduin with the solution.
"Granda Chitock is back! He was initially hesitant, but once I mentioned you were the one who taught us Mahjong, he was suddenly incredibly interested. He agreed to share the incantation—the Wind Sweep Charm—on one condition: you have to give him a custom-etched set of Mahjong tiles for his club. Apparently, they're having a big tournament."
Anduin laughed, pulling a sheet of parchment toward him. "Done! A set of tiles is a small price for a magical breakthrough."
The trade was made, and Anduin received the handwritten notes for the Wind Sweep Charm (its proper, slightly more dramatic name, Anduin noted). He immediately sequestered himself in the hut to begin testing.
First, the simple verification: He conjured a large, crystalline basin of water using the Aqua Vitae Charm, dropped a small pebble into it to create concentric, expanding ripples, and then cast the Wind Sweep Charm over the surface.
The incantation was fast and the wand work was crude, confirming Charles's finding that it was an unoptimized, recently discovered spell. However, the effect was unmistakable: the ripples vanished instantly. The water became unnaturally, perfectly still, as if glass.
"Effective against hydro-waves," Anduin murmured, his mind already racing.
Next, the critical test for his Infrasound defense. He put on his Echo Place Monocle, cast a low-level, continuous Echo Charm, and then cast the Wind Sweep Charm into the empty air of the hut.
Through the monocle, he watched the sonic waves propagate. The Wave Dispeller Charm created a visible, shimmering distortion in the field, like an oily film passing over the ultrasonic signals.
"Hmm. As expected. It has a repulsive effect on sound waves, but the density is insufficient. It pushes the waves away, but doesn't eliminate them. It's a repellent, not a shield, meaning the infrasound would still find a path to resonate the internal organs," Anduin analyzed. "I need to examine the runes."
The hard part began. He needed to reverse-engineer the entire spell—not just memorize the incantation, but extract and decipher the underlying runic matrix. For established spells, this was nearly impossible, as the centuries of refinement blurred the original runic geometry. But because the Wind Sweep Charm was a crude, unoptimized spell, the core runes would be clearly defined and easily extractable.
For two relentless days, Anduin poured over the problem, using the phonetic structure of the incantation as a guide. He then spent an evening with Professor Burns, who, fascinated by the concept of sonic repulsion, helped Anduin decode the more esoteric runic arrangements.
Finally, the matrix was fully revealed.
"Ah, I see the genius of the traveler's spell," Anduin exclaimed, pointing to three key components in the deciphered diagram. "This Charm contains not only the expected Repellent Rune—which physically pushes the water molecules—but also Elimination Runes and a Geometric Balance Rune."
He traced the runes with his finger. "The Elimination Rune actively cancels out the kinetic energy of the waves, turning motion into inert heat. But the most critical element is the Balance Rune. This geometry forces the chaotic energy of the storm to achieve a state of equilibrium with the surrounding environment, which is why it calms the waves fully. It doesn't just block; it harmonizes."
Anduin's eyes shone with triumphant realization. "If I replace the runes describing hydro-kinetic energy (the water waves) with the runes that specifically describe acoustic-kinetic energy (sound waves), and then weave this Balance Rune into the center of my existing infrasound generation matrix, I can create a new charm: a Resonance Damping Charm."
This Damping Charm wouldn't block the sound waves from the outside world (like Muffliato), nor would it force them to harmlessly dissipate (like Wind Sweep). Instead, it would cast a permanent, self-targeting bubble of equilibrium around the caster's internal organs. This charm would force the resonant frequencies of the infrasound to achieve instantaneous balance the moment they entered his body, effectively neutralizing the life-threatening internal vibration.
The problem, once a dead-end, had become a dazzling new avenue of research, thanks to the combination of ancient runic theory, modern magical ingenuity, and the casual observation of his well-meaning, Mahjong-playing friend. Anduin had the blueprint; now he just needed to execute the fusion.