Jane's stint as a head was oddly relaxing, actually. As soon as he went flying into the air, his teacher caught him gently. Well, his teacher had caught his severed head. Meanwhile, all Jane had to do was cast some 'Breath' runes on his head and body, and he wouldn't die too soon. Oh, and it turned out he could still use magic as just a head.
"Oh no, I've really done it this time... My student is dead..."
Calex carefully lowered Jane's head down to his body, and then pressed the two cut portions together. Jane winced from the irritation of the wound, and glared at his teacher. Still, he had a chance to try out something new with healing magic.
Jane formed a disc using 'Include' on the line of the wound, then placed as many 'Grow' runes as he could inside. Since he made sure to keep his head and body in perfect shape, there wasn't too much pain as his senses returned to him. All in all, it only took about a second for the wound to heal completely.
Now that control over his body was returned to him, Jane sat up and ran his hands over the healed area.
"What the hell was that for?"
"It's a miracle!"
"You..."
"How was it, being just a head?"
Shockingly, his teacher had found it in his heart to mock his student for being decapitated.
"It wasn't that bad, actually."
"Oh? Then, why don't you stay that way?"
"Wait, don't—!"
His teacher formed another blade of air, and used it to chop off Jane's head. Being partially prepared this time, Jane used 'Sound' to continue speaking.
"Goddamnit, what kind of teacher beheads his students!?"
Jane complained, but he was already in full control of the situation. He had cast 'Breath' inside of his body again, and was in the process of using 'Force' to align the two halves. Once his head was close enough, he pushed it onto the wound and quickly closed the gap. All the while, his teacher was watching from above.
"Hmm, not bad. However, you wouldn't get time to heal like that in a real battle. You should be able to repair yourself before your body even hits the ground. Again."
'I should never impress this bastard... damn it...'
As Jane's head went flying, he glanced at where his attack had landed earlier. Where the flesh had burst and began frying initially, there was now an expanse of unblemished skin.
---
"In short, you should always make sure your opponent is completely dead before acting like you've won."
Jane cracked his neck a few times, checking if it was put together correctly.
"You're saying I should crush their brain, or keep them from regenerating?"
"Yes, and so that is the one thing we will not do in sparring. Mages are incredibly resilient, but only when they can use magic. Indeed, we die like normal people otherwise. That is why so many are fond of engraving internal magic into themselves."
"Actually, what kind of magic do you have engraved?"
"You wouldn't understand it even if I explained it to you."
Jane narrowed his eyes.
"Let's see if that's true, then."
"Sure, but when asking someone about their engravings, isn't it common courtesy to reveal yours first?"
"Teacher, please forgive your foolish student, who does not know magic courtesy, and tell him what runes you have engraved!"
"If you insist."
As the two of them loitered around in the forest, Jane waited for a response.
"Well?"
His teacher began smiling.
"Wait, you—"
Still keeping his mouth shut, Calex's smile grew even wider.
"You don't have any engraved?"
"Why would I?"
"Didn't you just say that not having engravings leaves you susceptible to surprise attacks?"
"I never said that. I only pointed out that many mages choose to use them for that purpose. And besides, when have your surprise attacks ever worked on me?"
Jane wanted to object, but found himself unable to. Instead, a fine blade of air dashed towards his teacher's neck without warning.
"Personally, I find engravings to be—"
Calex's was a little interrupted when his throat was cut clean in two. But as soon as it was cut, it mended itself back together.
"—a waste of mana. Wouldn't you agree?"
Jane felt a little defeated.
"What do you even want me to say?"
---
As always, his teachers training methods were oddly effective. This time in particular, Jane had gotten much better at healing. Specifically because he was beheaded so many times, and left unable to use his body, he had gotten faster at using 'Force' runes to align wounds. Then, he could more or less heal the stuck-together portion instantly. While he could not heal quite as fast or as instinctually as his teacher did, he would no longer have to take pauses in the middle of battle if he was severely injured.
'That's not a good thing, though...'
As time went on, his teacher had began using stronger and stronger magic against Jane. The quicker he grew, the more he would get hurt during their spars. Now, even beheading was not off of the table. In addition, it was not nearly enough to win a spar.
'Maybe... If I chop him up into ten pieces next time...'
Then, his teacher would slice Jane into a hundred, and make him heal it as part of his "training". In the end, Jane knew what he needed to do. In the air, he manifested a 'Soil' rune.
'Not fast enough...'
Ignoring the clumps of dirt gathering outside of his window, he dispelled and reformed the rune. This time, it was a little faster, but also messier. He quickly refined it, then tried again.
Once he felt that one rune was already at an alright degree of proficiency, he would repeat the process with different syntax runes. He would repeat it again and again, coming up with unique patterns when he didn't feel challenged enough. When the resulting runes came out sloppy, he would once again focus on making his magic start neater. For once, his large repertoire was proving to be a pain. At the same time, however, it made him excited.
'Next time, if I use this...'
With every rune that reached proficiency, he would get a little stronger. When he got stronger, it would open up new possibilities in his battle strategy. Suddenly, being beheaded and torn limb from limb didn't seem so bad anymore.
Jane was speeding up his construction of 'Fire' when he felt the mana stop responding to him. In his intensive training, he had run out of mana. He smiled a little, seeing that this part of his practice never changed.
All of the scars on his exposed skin, and the even more numerous ones still hidden by his clothing, they began to look like rune circles to him. They were the proof of the future he had began constructing out of almost nothing. It was like magic.