The case of Stealth vs. Acting presented a significant amount of headache to Tercius. Simply put, he wanted both skills yet still wanted to see what would happen when he declined a skill.

Tercius sat on the gray sphere surface, his legs folded beneath him as he took his time. He knew that there was a deadline for his time here, but he did not want to rush something important. The work in Seliana’s garden only needed an hour or two of work, nothing major.

Thinking about Seliana, Tercius remembered her new skill Heart of Mending. A skill she presumably received because he intervened with a large dose of Energy. He started doubting that this was the complete case. She probably already had a seed of a skill on its way and I just gave the last push. Maybe even gave some kind of evolution? That seems... possible at least. The situation she was in probably had some influence.

The same thing, probably, happened with Lux’s new skill. Seliana needed the skill to live. Lux too, come to think of it, but not in the same way as Seliana. He mentioned how the skill solved a few of his weaknesses, didn’t he? What better way to survive than to solve weaknesses?

It all comes back to desire. To need. Tercius mused. I needed these skills at some point or another— and here they are, asking me to take them in.

When he thought about it that way, he felt strangely attached to these… skills. Their whole existence was only possible because of his own existence. His experiences, possibly his memories, his Energy, and his need gave them what they needed to exist. He gave shape to them as much as they gave shape to him. The skills were his creations.

That last thought made him cringe. He was literally debating over which skill to terminate, and he had almost started to anthropomorphize them.

Tercius looked at the dull color-coded crystals around him. There were hundreds of them. Most were tiny growths, barely larger than the nail of his pinky finger, just extending past the height of the crystal carpet that clung to the gray sphere.

He was sure that somewhere in this spherical field of crystals existed skills that had roots in the interactions he had with his new family. With Ciron and Rona. With Petra and Septimus. With Neiran, Aurelia and even Leo.

Tercius had done everything from cooking with Petra to helping to gut animals with Septimus. Brewing remedies for those who had fevers and learning the basics of playing a stringed instrument with Rona. Tilling land with Ciron who insisted that the backbreaking work would help develop him to be a better mason. Playing silly games with Neiran when they were bored out of their mind. He had taken care of Aurelia and Leo, giving private time to the two lovebirds who made them.

None of these crystals got to the point of becoming skills, obviously, but when his eyes looked at the crystal field he didn’t only see skills; he also saw mementos, of sorts.

Like that small statue, Ciron had given him on the day of his departure. From Nurium to the Pyramid, then from the Pyramid to the underground bunker, he had kept it intact. Tercius kept it locked in his nightstand, only occasionally taking it out to see. It was precious to him and Tercius would keep it safe.

If his theory that the crystals were the reason everyone had skills AND, paradoxically, the main reason everyone eventually lost the ability to gain new ones—maybe even the initial reason people had started cannibalizing other skills for crossing over barriers, he noted the possibility—then if he were to keep these mementos, he would do himself a disservice.

The problem was that it felt like terminating memories and not those of the dark and twisted kind.

The more Tercius dived into the aspects of the whole skill and Energy business, the more he realized how little he knew. He had spent so many years using Energy, by all accounts a rare resource, yet he knew little about its true capabilities. He had hints of its true potential, mostly knowledge tried and tested. Everything he knew about it, he learned by himself. But he saw now that he was just scratching the surface. It was the same way with mana.

The world of gray fog was a great representation of how he often felt, Tercius noted when he thought about his place and role in the wide world. Obscured while wandering aimlessly. Lost.

Suddenly, he knew the right ruling for Stealth vs. Acting.

He was not thinking about this clearly. With sudden clarity, he was rushing ahead just to shake off the unpleasant feeling that mired this world. To lift the fog. Fear of the unknown was in the lead of guiding his decisions, not the desire to learn more— it had fallen behind to second place.

One step at a time. 'Yes' today, 'No' when another opportunity strikes, and then everything else in the days that follow. I need to learn my way around this place... Tercius thought as he pushed away his desire and fear and placed himself in charge. Both of these skills will be useful and there will be time to find another skill, possibly some Mastery skill, to use as a 'No'.

He made his first ruling as he focused on the messages, Yes.

The sphere flashed and a crystal cracked somewhere. In a moment, when his vision returned, he saw a glowing crystal fly away. After the shaking, which Tercius assumed was the reaction made by a crystal when it somehow became a Core, he called for Stealth.

Stealth (1)

The sounds you make are muffled by a medium amount as you blend into your surroundings by a small amount, while the skill is in use. Every skill level increases the effect by a small degree and lowers the cost of use by a small degree.

Yes, he made his second ruling.

For a third time, he was a witness to the same events about 'Yes', giving more firmness to the conclusions he made.

Acting, Tercius called for the skill.

Acting (1)

Your ability to observe and interpret detailed movements, gestures, and intonations of individuals is increased by a small amount, while the skill is in use. Your ability to perform observed movements, gestures, and intonations is increased by a small amount, while the skill is in use. Every skill level increases the effect by a small degree and lowers the cost of use by a small degree.

Tercius read the skill a few times, making sure he got the gist of the skill. To put it plainly—monkey sees, monkey understand, monkey do. This skill… wow.

Tercius thought about how his new skills, Dexterity and Acting, would influence his effort of learning Magik. Both Ruces and Ruges were now a much more viable path forward than they were a day ago.

The impact these skills would have on his daily life… well, one thing at a time. Acting demands that I am around people… spend time to observe them, Tercius took a deep breath as another thing came his way. I'm not made of mana and these skills are still at a low level. I will have to test to see for how long I can power them.

Only the message about Familiar Bond remained in his view. That one would wait for Amber. Compared to five messages obscuring his vision, having just one was a much more tolerable situation.

He once more looked at the calm world of gray. I should see if the Academy has some kind of knowledge about hunting, tracking, and such. Maybe also visit a mapmaker? Hmm, added to the list.

He tapped the sphere and observed the crystals. Visualization would help him go over the whole event a few more times. Who knows, I might have missed something.

Like any time he wanted to go back to the real world, Tercius just allowed himself to be pulled back. In an instant he was back in the familiar black void, the effect of Meditation still working in the background.

He stayed put, enjoying the soothing feeling for a little while longer.

When he released the skill, he stood up and started stretching.

He activated Dexterity first and started doing the weird finger twisters Lux had shown him. He felt his mana go down slowly as minutes went by. Five minutes in and he was sure that he would be able to use the skill for over three hours easily before his mana went dry. Probably for even longer. He would have to do some tests.

He repeated the same for Small Blade Mastery and the cost was even less than Dexterity. Probably another reason for its widespread use.

Acting, on the other hand, took more mana than Dexterity by at least a factor of two.

Quick Learner turned out to be an even bigger consumer than Acting was, in regards to mana.

All in all, he would not be leaving any of these skills to run in the background any time soon. He needed them to go over the first barrier to get to a more manageable level of mana consumption.

For example, he could use Meditation all day long. Its high level made the skill's mana consumption so small that it was almost negligible.

Mages measured mana in mana pulses. It was a very imprecise method, but it gave a rough estimate which was often enough. When Master Belior measured Tercius's mana pool, the man had counted twenty-one pulse.

Now, over two months later, Tercius was able to do the measuring himself.

At full mana pool, usually just when he woke up, he would take all the mana he was able to take— leaving only a little in him to stave off the unpleasant effects of complete mana withdrawal. This remaining mana was left ignored in the final count as it was around or less than one pulse.

He would then make mana pulses and just release them when he was done properly shaping it. The mana without control would dissipate within moments and he would go onto the second pulse and so on. The last time he did this, three days ago, he had twenty-three pulses of mana. A pulse of growth per month. The exercises were a real game-changer, he was able to tell. Sadly, the rapid growth would not last long— the largest progress was in the beginning and then it slowly went into decline.

An average twenty-year-old adult had about twenty mana pulses, Master Kot mentioned at his lecture. Kids who trained to be mages had that much mana at fourteen and fifteen years of age.

Tercius at eleven years of age was over that line.

Even though he was a kind of cheater, he felt proud of himself. He did not regret his decision of coming to the Pyramid one bit, even with the… additional baggage the last weeks had.

Tercius went through the motions Lux had shown him, both for his hands, wrists, arms, torso, waist, and so on, hoping to spend the Energy he had, but no level came even after half an hour of zen-like fluid movements.

Strange… he thought as he reached for Energy Sight— Only for the skill to disobey his orders. Suddenly, he felt sick.

Tercius knew what this meant. I must have spent it in all of that… somehow, he thought about the events of the fog world as he started shivering. And now I have spent every last drop my body had, by trying to activate Energy Sight. Fuck.

Weary and shivering, he returned to bed. He just closed his eyes for a moment.

"Tercius? Are you awake?" A voice asked in a whisper. He cracked one eye open and tried to stop his body from behaving the sickly way it was.

Penelope's full head of hair was poking in from the barely cracked door. He stayed silent until she went away.

I need an hour to get a grip, he thought. I will just endure the rest…

***

"And you are not feeling any pain? For sure?" Penelope asked for the seventh time in the hour since they started doing this.

"I’m fine," Tercius said with some already forced patience. "Like I told you the time before this and the time before that."

"Just checking. Mother said that I should make sure you were not enduring the pain,"

Oh, I'm enduring a pain alright, Tercius thought as he mixed the compost, manure, and wood ash into the plain old earth. The smell was a bit much on his queasy stomach, but he endured. Make that pains.

"You shouldn't do that, you know. It's how my mother became so sick," Penelope said slowly, in a low voice.

He froze for a moment. Well now I feel like this turd I'm mixing, He carefully placed the roots of the plant into its newly enriched soil and covered them around the sides. It should have plenty of new room to grow now, Tercius observed.

"Don't worry. This thing that I'm expecting is nothing like what Seliana had," Tercius said slowly.

"Yea? Will you tell me what it is?"

Tercius thought about her question and then shrugged. No one told him to keep it quiet. "This is something that is taught in the fourth year. So… as long as you agree to leave my name out of it, if … when you speak about it, I'll tell you,"

When she agreed, he started explaining what Mistress Lovela told him about the Well and its use.

"So even I will have to… open this Well?" Penelope asked excitedly.

"Absolutely. Any mage has to do it at one point, from what I understood,"

"And what does it do?" Penelope asked, her eyes shining.

Tercius thought a bit about how to explain it properly as he watered the newly replanted specimen. "How much do you remember from Master Kot's class from the week before this one? The one where he talked about mana quantity in human bodies?"

***

"That will fall into my window!" Seliana said dramatically when Tercius showed her where he intended to cut off the branch.

"That's why I will first remove the small growth right near the window. I will then cut back at least half a meter, maybe even more just to be sure it won't land anywhere near the window, and then one final cut, right here near the collar," he tapped at the saggy underside just where the branch met the tree trunk. "It should heal nicely,"

Seliana surveyed the area and then the branch. "You seem to know what you are doing…"

Finally satisfied she turned to him and found the look of him wanting. "Tercius, you look a little pale. Are you sure you are all right?"

Tercius forced a smile. The Energy withdrawal should pass by tomorrow morning. "I'm just tired. It was a long night,"

"No pain?"

"Nope,"

"Well if you say so. I still think that we should go to this House that woman told me about," Seliana said. "We could be there within the hour,"

"I told you already, I should only go there when it starts. It has NOT started yet, Seliana.” Tercis said, exasperated. A bit of steel came to his voice and made a request that sounded more like a command, “Please, don't make me repeat it another time,"

"... you truly are related to those people… that same tone… it gives me the shivers. Now tell me where you need my help with this branch," she said in a tone that brooked no argument. In a murmur, she said, "I'm just going to dump you to those mages and let them deal with you…"

***

“Doesn’t that look much better?” Tercius asked rhetorically, as he surveyed his work.

Just three hours of work in the garden left it much more orderly. There was a patch of dirt that was disturbed, just where the branch fell, but Tercius had raked it even and planted a small shrub that a noisy neighbor brought over in the middle.

Besides enriching the soil, he had used his Gardening skill while he worked on those plants. It would mitigate the shock of his actions and possibly even give a small additional kick when the time to bloom came, in a week or three.

He could imagine the way it would turn out to be.

"Let's go Tercius," Seliana said. "Admire your work some other time."

He closed the gate and caught up to the two in a moment. He already felt better, if a little weak. A good night of sleep should sort that out. He activated Acting and started observing.

“Mother, can you ask for Euria and Lomera to come to our home next time?” Penelope asked. “Maybe even Eunim and Jorro?”

“I don’t know…” Seliana said with some hesitation. “They only let me take Tercius because I said that I was his aunt and he confirmed it… and… isn’t Jorro is that werebeast boy you mentioned?”

Tercius noted that even Penelope mispronounced J’ro’s name.

"Mother," Penelope said the word in such an accusatory way that Tercius, who was just practicing Acting, caught a hint of a distinct note to it. “I told you. It's not as the book said it was. He isn’t feral. You need to learn these things, Mother… maybe read some more?”

“You little cheeky brat,” Seliana smiled as she heard her own words from her daughter's mouth.

As they walked down the well-made stone road Tercius observed the way the mother and daughter interacted, through the Familiar Bond message that waited for Amber.

Somewhere along the way, he noticed a pain in his chest. Right around the spot that Mistress Lovela showed him. He paid attention to its presence and noted that the pain was very slowly increasing. It wasn't even enough to give him a pause, but it was there.

Finally, Tercius thought, a giant stone lifted off his shoulders.

When he and Penelope said goodbye to Seliana, Tercius turned to Penelope. “Do you know where Euria might be around this time?”

“There she is,” Penelope pointed.

Sitting on a bench near the massive entrance to the mansion, was a familiar crowd. The black-haired twins, redheaded Lomera, and finally J'ro. A small creature napped in Euria's lap, one familiar to him.

Surrounded by the early growth of spring green, they took in as much sunlight as they could before they went back to the bunker.

Tercius focused on the only remaining message and thought, Yes.