Inside the Core of Shield Mastery, Tercius's hands kept weeding off the chains that trapped the little wisp. Flu seemed content to just float in front of him, as Tercius did the grueling, pain inducing, work.

Around him the Energy winds howled, while Tercius's kept his eyes on the direction where all of this Energy went to. Just like a wind would move the fog out of its way, the Energy made a passage through the gray fog that surrounded this Core. The passage was like a dark tunnel, where Tercius could only see up to the point. The passage of Energy did have some light effects so he was able to see that the Energy traveled in a straight line.

The decision to go and see where all of this Energy was going was not an easy one. But Tercius knew that would not rest easy with a mystery so close at hand. His tunnel vision would not allow him to focus on other things while this one was tempting every fiber of his being. When he thought about it like that, this exploration had more beneficial sides.

Tercius let his weary hands drop to the side, the pain that coursed through them a mere afterthought. I am probably turning into a masochist. Oh well, it's the price of progress. Besides, what’s wrong with a bit of kink?

Tercius stopped himself there. Sometimes, just thinking about sex gave him the creeps. He was a 40-year-old man in a body of a kid, so his body/mind situation had him postponing any kind of thought on that matter. Maybe try some kind of brothels, and specifically search for those over 18? No, at least 20, just to be sure. Maybe even 25? he thought. A guidebook for these issues would be nice…

Like so many times so far, he left those thoughts for later.

Flu went back to his lethargic floating, as Tercius got up and went near the boundary of the gray fog. Peering into it, he was not able to observe anything, but he knew that this was the direction the Energy took.

Straight ahead.

That's assuming that a direction has any kind of meaning in a place like this. some doubtful part of him whispered. Your body here is a mental construct. What does that mean for everything else?

If it's a construct of mine then a direction will mean something. Tercius thought loudly.

Stepping into the fog, just like that first time he came to this inner world of skills, he moved with a purpose.

To find out where the Energy went.

Time passed and he was still walking. Minute, two, ten. Walking is taking too long. he reasoned, as he remembered that he was limited in time. Let's speed this up. Tercius started running, first with a speed he thought normal for his height and physical condition. Then his skill engaged, and his speed increased. Tercius ran like the wind, never seeing anything in front of him, as the gray surroundings closed in on him.

Below him, above him, left, right, front and back, there was nothing other than him.

Somewhere along the way, his initial drive for this quest started to evaporate and was replaced by something else. A feeling of being lost. Thoughts of turning back were going through his head, as his feet ran ever forward. What ifs by the dozen came to mind, but his thirst for the answers to this mystery proved to be more stubborn than all of his fears. Like a wolf hungry for fresh meat, Tercius ran towards his prey, knowing that he could only rest once his belly was filled with what it desired.

Along the way, cold winds of doubt and fear threatened to tear the hungry wolf from his path, promising warmth and food, if he turned the other way. This world of gray gave rise to his fears, his mind making things that were simply not there, just so that it would not look at the endless bleakness of emptiness.

Truth be told, the further he ran, the less his fears and doubts bothered him. When they were there, he knew that he existed. In this never-ending world of gray fog, they gave him comfort that everything was still somewhere out there.

For how long Tercius ran, he had no idea. The surroundings did not change.

Until it, abruptly, did.

Far ahead of him, a dim light came to life. With renewed energy he ran, moving towards it. The light gave him hope that he was on the right track, so he gave it his all. The light grew and grew as he neared and details started to get into vision.

Two giant hands hovering above a giant globe, protecting it from the world outside. White strings connected the globe and fingers above it.

This was how he imagined the effigy of Energy Manipulation.

This is the inner world of Energy Manipulation, its Core. he thought, as his mind connected some things. If he could go from one Core to another, then all of the cores of his skills were probably here, somewhere in this world of gray. If he set his mind to it, with enough time, he could probably find every single one. But who knew where they were? In what direction do I go to find another? he wondered.

The only reason he even went this way and found this skill Core was because he saw that the massive amount of Energy was headed in this direction, and he kept going straight.

Where would I even begin to look for another? He thought gazing back into the fog. A thought for another time.

Tercius returned his attention to the Core of Energy Manipulation. Every Core so far was made in the manner how he imagined them. The skill’s Core before him was different in only one way from what he thought in his mind. The center part of the Core seemed to be... pulsing in some way. Vibrating. The hands were almost out of that area where the vibrations existed, but the globe was the center. It was right in the middle of that entire churning turmoil. Tercius was pretty sure he did not envision that happening at all.

He moved forward, passing under one giant hand of the Core. This part of the Core was calm, but it was only a few meters in length, while the center of the skill looked ready to boil over. Right where space started with the vibrations, Tercius placed his hand, only to pull it back in recoil as pain assaulted his whole being. He clutched his hand, his mouth open in rigor, screaming, yet no sound came out.

Then, out of nowhere, he had one visitor, drifting into his field of vision.

The wisp.

Flu.

The wisp floated in the strip between the vibrating center of the skill and the fog, in the same calm ring in which Tercius himself stood. To try to separate himself from the pain he kept watching Flu drift about. After the pain eased a bit, he only felt tired. This would probably be a perfect torture tool. It can send huge amounts of pain but do no actual damage.

Looking at the chaotic center of the skills Core, Tercius decided to try and see what Energy actually did once it got here. He moved to the floating wisp, his hands gripping the chains, his face only making a small grimace at the pain that flared up, and he tore the Energy constructs one after the other. Before his eyes, the Energy moved to the boiling center like cool water, like a magnet draws a piece of metal.

It took some time to notice, but where the Energy met the turmoil, in very small amounts, it would calm, pacify, that chaos in the center.

The skill gained order before his very eyes, albeit very slowly. Wondering about what this meant for the skill, Tercius pushed on. It was doable, but he would need some time to do it.

And there was no time like the present.

***

As the chaos in the center of the skill shrank, it got harder and harder to pacify it, but Tercius did not give up. The more chains he tore off, the faster they were regenerating, so he went wild. Tercius even wondered if he would ever be able to tear them up at the rate these things could remake themselves. For all that they were Energy constructs, his skill Energy Manipulation did not have any effect on them. Only when he tore the chains did they disperse into the surroundings where the center of the skill's Core sucked up all Energy.

All of this Energy went into a single point at the center of the skill’s Core, the point that was still in chaos.

That one blip proved difficult to snuff out.

With enough time anything was possible.

When finally Tercius did it, there was a… feeling in the air. A wave rushed over him, and the skill somehow felt… more.

But there was another problem that required immediate attention. Tercius now had a boat-load of Energy that was not going anywhere, and he had neither the will nor the time to do this one more time.

There was only one thing to do now.

He had to spend this Energy the old-fashioned way.

***

Like any other day of the year, the sun rose on the 20th day of the 12th month. The day in question did not have any significance to the locals of the provincial capital city of Lissea or the Empire at large. There were no festivals, no special holidays, no historical weight to this particular date existed. You might go as far as to say that it was just an ordinary day.

You would be mistaken.

The Arena of Lissea.

A place where fighters showed their mettle in duels, group fights, and any manner of contests, much to the pleasure of the crowd. Where the rich made bets with amounts that eclipsed two annual salaries of a common working man or woman, in fact even much larger amounts were not rare at all. Where the poor gave away their last coin for a lucky break they knew, deep down, was just around the corner. For the majority, this proved to be a false hope.

Constructed well over two centuries ago, entirely underground, the Arena was in the ownership of one of the most influential families of Lissea. Like most noble families of the Empire, the owners were of an opinion that managing a business was in some way beneath them. They could own land, but manage a business… Yet where coins flowed, especially in such amounts as was the case with The Arena, the allure of the skill hardened and enhanced pieces of metal proved too strong to pass upon. To this particular problem, the solution that most nobles used was both graceful and elegant and showed off a noble's high standing.

Merely hire a servant, a manager as most of these servants called themselves, for their properties and let these servants do the tiresome business.

Once the right time came, they would merely collect what was rightfully theirs.

Some of these servants even prove to be capable of coming up with ideas that start bringing in additional money.

One such idea was that they start renting small private arenas, equipped with weapons and armors, to the public. While some had their doubts about such an enterprise, others just did it. That decision proved its worth and soon every Arena followed in the wake of the successful model.

In a private circular room, three floors down, with a door bearing the number 7, two men were sitting on a bench and snoozing.

The older man had his head leaned back on the same wall where his back rested, while the young one was leaning on the older man, using his upper arm as a pillow. Both of them released small whistling sounds while air traveled through their mouths, into their lungs, and then back out.

Both of them had blood on their bodies, some forming bruises visible under the gory sight.

Yet on both of their faces was a small smile.

Just an hour earlier, both of them were awake and celebrating. Two accomplishments were the cause of this celebration, and if either one was known to anyone beyond these walls, this day would echo far and wide.

The older man, Lux, had become an Expert.

The younger one, Tercius, had found an inkling to the root of the problem of new skill acquisition. At least he thought so.

For Lux’s part the skill in question, the one that overcame the Adept barrier and went on to Expert levels, was Dash. When the barrier of the skill was torn and the skill went to level 61, Lux finally decided to share the name with his young nephew.

However, Lux did show the effects of his skill to Tercius, and Tercius finally had an answer for what skill allowed his uncle to make such large leaps in a mere instant. The number of times his uncle just appeared in front of him, when he was supposed to be some 5-6 meters away, was uncountable. It was to this skill that Tercius attributed the majority of his losses to. The level to Expert freed the skill from one major impediment. Before Lux broke through, the skill could only massively increase the speed of his uncle in a straight line, at short distances. The short distance was still there, up to some 8 meters, but straight lines were a thing of the past. For an hour after Lux managed to level his skill over the barrier, the man just kept making circles and curves in the round Arena using his skill.

Tercius could just imagine a scene where his uncle would wait in complete darkness using his Sphere of Cognizance to observe, aided by his cloak to conceal him, and then use Dash to instantly stab a sword into an unsuspecting victim, while the victim thought itself safe around the corner of a building. Then Lux would retreat with Dash and make a dash for it while a mob of pursuers went after him.

In Tercius's mind, the scene looked straight out of a movie.

After the brief celebration, both of the men felt drained and with no prompting, both of them fell asleep on the bench where they went to sit and quench their thirst.

Time passed while they rested, and soon the 24 hours that were paid for were up. When the staff of the Arena finally opened the door and found the uncle and nephew snoring loudly, they looked at each other in dismay. The armor was in tatters, the practice swords while normally dulled looked misshapen. The shields had indentations and even a few holes.

The staff was deferential, but they also had a job to do, so they woke up the pair and made them go to a washroom. Finally clean, Lux and Tercius had to pay for the additional service and destroyed property but they did so gladly.

Both of them had great gains this previous night.

Lux gained a new skill and two additional levels in it. One of his skills climbed over level 60, and a few others gained levels. In one night he gained more than he did in… who knows how long. How does one measure such colossal gains?

Tercius himself had three skills that made it over the level 20 barrier. Sword Mastery, Shield Mastery, and Energy Manipulation were all now skills with a level of 21. He also had suspicions of what happened last night in Energy Manipulation Core, and once an opportunity for more experiments presented itself, he would have to try a few of his guesses.

He suspected that Energy Manipulation crossed the barrier because he manipulated colossal amounts of the stuff, so as soon as Tercius had some more free time away from the Academy, he would try something similar with Mana Manipulation. The only problem was that Mana in his body was finite, so he suspected that the way forward with Mana Manipulation was in quality of manipulation, rather than quantity. As to how to do a finer manipulation, well, he was going to an Academy that specialized in such studies.

Once they walked out of the underground, the light of day reminded them what time it was. At noon Tercius had to be in the Library, to await the transport to the Academy.

"Let’s take a walk," Lux said, still a bit tired.

Tercius nodded. It was just after 10 am and from Arena to the Library was around half an hour of walking.

His uncle activated the enchantment on his cloak to keep their conversation private and said, "Now that you might have a solution for your problem of getting new skills, do not rush. I would recommend that during your first year you focus exclusively on your two Mana skills. First, master them and then, when you are away from prying eyes, solve your problem and try to acquire this Mana Metamorphosis."

"I had the same thought," Tercius said. "Maybe they have some kind of a holiday or something when I can return here, to Lissea, and continue with my experiment. I am sure that even a day or two will give me the solution I seek."

That Tercius was unable to gain a new skill was a sword that hung over his neck, and he had hoped to solve it before he went to the Academy.

When he pacified that skill Core last night, he tried trying to conjure the effigy of Energy Manipulation. With ease, the effigy was summoned. Then Tercius tried to conjure the effigy of Energy Sight and that buzzing, that happened previously when he tried to conjure the effigy of Energy Manipulation, now plagued Energy Sight. When he tried to do it repeatedly, the pain came, so he made a stop there.

Now, it did not matter that he did not solve the problem. Tercius knew how to solve it, probably, but needed time to do it.

Tercius made sure to transfer every single scrap of Energy he had to his uncle. He even dismissed the effigy. Now that he knew that Flu resided inside the world of gray fog, where all of the skills he had resided, he rested easy. The effigies merely provided the door to enter there, and the door could be opened any time the wisps appeared. I need to find a way to open this door on my own.

"Will you be going straight to the Capital?" Tercius asked his uncle, moving the thoughts of new skills and their inner workings out of his mind.

His uncle seemed to think it over, then the man nodded. "I think so, yes."

"And will you tell your mother of me and… everyone else?" Tercius asked.

"She is not only my mother Tercius, she is your grandmother. Just like Rona. Well, maybe not like Rona. My mother is a bit… intense." Lux said. "As for telling her… I am not sure. I have some time before me, while I travel. I will use it to think on this,"

Tercius snorted. "Grandmother Rona isn’t intense? Where did your thoughts wander during those dinners at our home?"

Lux suddenly had a thought. "And don't worry for your family back in Nurium. I made sure that nothing untoward happens to them."

As a face of a certain woman came to his mind, Tercius said, "Is The Commander involved?"

"Yes," Lux answered. "She is capable both as a bureaucrat and a soldier, and it would be a waste to leave her in that small town. So I expedited a few things for her, and after three to four years of service in Nurium, she will be moved somewhere upriver. Maybe even Spheros, if a spot comes up. Maybe even some other continent. By then, I will try to visit your folks,"

The Library came into view as they made some small talk about their time in Nurium, and the time for parting came.

"This is as far as I go," Lux said, pulling his cloak close to cover his face. "Even this is risky for both of us."

"I guess this is a goodbye then. For now." Tercius said and extended his hand. Lux took it, their hands locking onto the forearm of the other. Tercius kept his surging emotions down as he said, "Take care uncle. Thank you for everything."

"You too nephew. You too. And don’t become like those fogies up there. There is a whole world waiting outside of the Pyramid, never forget that,"