"… Hm."

Finn lowered his hand for the seventh time that morning and sighed as Archon chuckled.

"Don't worry about it, kid. It takes a while to get the hang of using Abilities. The specific amount of mana in everyone is different, so the point of balance is naturally also different depending on the person. You just have to find that exact fine line for how much mana you should be using, and you'll be good to go. Try again."

Finn did as told, taking a deep breath an raising his breath once more. It was now attempt eight. Right before he was about to chant the Ability's name inside his head, however, a voice spoke to him.

[Fufu, do you want some help, Finn~?]

'… Zelestria? What?' He thought.

[Because I am tethered to you, I can monitor and regulate your mana flow. With my help, you'll be able to easily use Abilities whenever you want, until you figure out the balance for yourself.]

'… Hmph. You're not the type to do anything like this for free, so tell me now. What do you want in return?'

[Heh, you know me too well for your own good~] She teased playfully. [Hm… if you take me out on a date and let me have whatever I want, I'll do this for you.]

'…' Finn contemplated this in his head, but Archon noticed his still body and utter silence.

"Uh, Finn? What's wrong?"

"Ah, it's nothing," Finn quickly said, snapping back to reality before shooting Zelestria a quick message with his answer.

'It's on.'

[Fufu~ I knew you wouldn't be able to resist my charms~]

'Get on with it.'

[Yes, yes~]

Finn concentrated and thought of the Abilitiy's name in his head: 'Modification: Void Shield.'

Immediately, he felt a tiny bit of mana surge out his body without him even having to do anything. The orange essence wrapped around the gauntlets laid down on the table in front of him, and began working its magic.

Archon's eyes widened at this sight. "Okay, looking good…! Keep it up!"

Finn assumed he was usually supposed to keep a steady, stable flow of mana coming out of his hand until the modification was complete, but here, Zelestria was doing everything for him. That said, it wasn't like he wasn't doing anything at all either. He was closely feeling the amount of mana being pumped out of his body right now, so that he could grow independent as soon as possible. Continuing to rely on Zelestria for every Ability he uses in the future wouldn't be ideal, after all.

The gauntlets burned with bright orange energy as silver shield symbol with a purple glow appeared above it. Since Finn couldn't see this, Archon had to tell him when to stop.

"Alright, Finn. 3, 2, 1… done!"

Finn quickly closed his palm, cutting off the mana flow. The gauntlets shined white for a moment before returning to normal, and the shield icon also disappeared.

"Nice work, kid!" Archon praised in laughter. "When I first learned how to use Abilities, it took me over a hundred tries over the course of a few days. To think you were able to get it in a mere eight attempts… not bad, not bad at all."

In reality, Zelestria did all the work, but Finn didn't mention that and just nodded in response.

"Any other mods I can learn?"

"Of course. Now that you've gotten the hang of using Abilities, learning new ones will be a breeze — for weapon modifications, anyway. Other ones are a bit different since they involve more factors… but that aside, before we go any further, why don't you test out your new, upgraded gauntlets?"

Finn picked up his two fingerless black gloves and slipped them on.

"… I don't particularly feel anything different."

"Well, of course not. It's a modification, and only activates when certain requirements are met. Void Shield, in this case, needs something to be thrown in your direction."

"What-"

Before Finn could even finish his sentence, Archon chuckled and launched an axe in his direction, aiming straight for his head.

Finn, hearing the sound of the incoming projectile whizzing against the wind, hurriedly brought his arms up in an X-shape for defense out of instinct. Under normal circumstances, the axe would've just cut into his arm, especially given how hard Archon threw it. Contrary to Finn's expectations, however, he felt as if his gloves had been extended into a large, circular shield, and the axe soundlessly struck that instead.

The shield was naturally purple, and was translucent as well — meaning the user could see through it to possibly launch a counterattack. For Finn, however, this feature was somewhat useless.

After several seconds, the shield dissipated and the axe clattered harmlessly onto the concrete ground. Archon chuckled.

"Do you see now, Finn?"

"I don't 'see', but I understand," Finn replied, as stoic as ever. "Does this work against melee attacks as well, or only projectiles?"

"It works against both," Archon confirmed. "In melee combat though, this isn't all that useful because of the quick pacing. I would recommend saving it for ranged enemies, since the shield does require time to recharge."

"I see. Thanks for the info."

"No problem. To activate the shield, just bring your arms up in an X-shape like you did just now."

Finn froze. "… Wait. In other words… if I my natural instinct wasn't to cross my arms there, I would've died?"

"Most likely, yes, but I had faith," Archon laughed boldly.

Finn: "…"

"A-Ahem, anyway, ease up. The next mod I'll be teaching you is called Vortex Guard. It's pretty similar to Void Shield, but it is more advanced. Since you're blind, this mod will probably be useless to you since it requires great accuracy when using, but it's good practice material."

"Understood. What's the symbol for this one?"

Archon fell into thought. "Hm… how do I say this. A transparent diamond-shape glass pane, with beams of light shooting out of it on all sides."

"Which diamond are we talking about here?" Finn asked for confirmation as he took off the gauntlets and placed them back on the table. "The gemstone, or the rhombus?"

"The rhombus," Archon replied. "All four angles should be equal though, so really, it's more like a square tilted 45 degrees. Keep in mind though, this is a Tier 2 Ability, so it'll need more mana than Void Shield, which is a Tier 1. Find the new right balance."

"… Got it."

Finn pictured the icon in his head using the description Archon gave, then raised his hand up to hover above the fingerless gloves.

'Modification: Vortex Guard.'

Zelestria immediately went to work, carefully channeling just the right amount of mana out of Finn's hand. Finn, meanwhile, memorized this feeling so that he could do it himself next time. Slowly, he was getting the hang of it — how much mana a Tier 1 Ability used, and how much a Tier 2 did. Very soon, he would be able to cast Abilities on his own.

As the orange essence engulfed the gauntlets once more, this time causing a bright, shining white glass pane to appear in the air, shooting light rays all around it, Archon watched in shock — so much so that he forgot to tell Finn when to stop.

No worries there, however, as Zelestria knew, being a goddess and all. Finn lowered his hand as she ceased the mana flow, then turned to Archon.

"… Done?"

Archon blinked and hurriedly shook his head. "H-Huh? Ah, yes… you seem to have successfully accomplished it… first try."

"I just increased the amount of mana I used last time by about 10%. I guess I got lucky," Finn replied calmly.

"Right… but that's still quite a feat. The first time is always the hardest, but still, acing a Tier 2 Ability on the first try… ha, I suppose that's why your alias is 'Ace', huh?"

"Never really thought about it that way, but sure."

"Heh," Archon chuckled, then picked up a pen off the table. "Alright, kid. Let's test out your new mod. Slip on the gloves. The action to activate this mod is the same as Void Shield."

Finn complied and pulled the gauntlets over his hands, then crossed his arms once more in the same X-shape from earlier in preparation for Archon's attack.

"Now, since your weapon now has two Abilities with the same trigger action, you'll have to choose which one you want to use, since both can't be active at the same time — they interfere with one another, as the Void Shield would prevent any projectiles from hitting your gauntlets directly, rendering the reflective property useless. This is also why I purposely chose Vortex Guard for your second practice mod, despite it being practically useless to you."

"So, how do I determine which one I want to use?" Finn asked.

"It's simple. Just think of the mod's name in your head, just like when you're applying one to a weapon… except the 'modification' part. Leave that out, since it takes too long."

"Understood."

"Alright. Ready? Let's give it a shot — 3, 2, 1… catch!"

Archon flung the pen towards Finn as hard as he could, aiming for his crossed gauntlets.

Finn furrowed his brows in concentration. 'Vortex Guard.'

With this, Finn's Void Shield mod didn't activate — or at least, it shouldn't have.

Despite him clearly wanting to use Vortex Guard, he felt nothing strike his gauntlets and rather expanded another purple shield.

Slightly confused and uncertain, Finn tilted his head but didn't move from his spot. "Did it… work?"

"Uh…" Archon blinked a few times in surprise, wondering what the hell was going on himself. "… That's a damn good question."

Before him, a large, spinning purple and translucent shield had appeared in front of Finn, slowly rotating clockwise with the center being an eye of the storm. The pen had got caught on it, and was now spinning along with the shield. It was kind of like the Void Shield from before, yet not quite.

After a few seconds, however, the shield stopped spinning, and the pen was flipped around to face Archon.

"… Huh?"

Suddenly, the writing utensil turned murder weapon was shot out of Finn's shield, straight back to its initial thrower.

Archon's eyes widened.

"Oh shi-"