Mistress Porfira stayed with Tercius until he was settled in his room, and then made her departure with the words, "Tercius, I can see your apprehension about this whole thing. The Mistress is one of the best, arguably the best, expert in pain management you will find in the whole world; especially for pain-induced during Well development. She is a certified magus of diagnostics and healing and a few other medical and non-medical fields, so … just … even if she seems a bit … eccentric at times … just know that she knows her business,"

Within half an hour of Mistress Porfira's departure, Tercius received a medical examination from the Mistress of the House. Two masked servants in their early twenties arrived for him, a male and a female— both dressed in suggestive white clothes, the form-fitted clothing accentuating their very defined physiques— and took him to the medical wing.

“Now be as still as you can, and don’t speak.” the Mistress said as she pressed Tercius down. Tercius held his eyes firmly shut as he laid on the examination table. The woman's naked palms rested on Tercius' bare stomach, as the woman murmured, “Oh my… so much pain… and not a grunt from you… a tough young man…”

The woman tsked a few times, poking him just below the ribs. “Everything is proceeding as it should… but… this spontaneous development… it's been around twelve hours since it started, hasn't it? And you only report now… are your pain transmitters damaged?” The woman pinched him on the stomach with her sharp nails and Tercius cried out as he spasmed. For some reason that hurt more than anything he ever felt, with his body. The woman calmly stated, “It doesn’t look that way… Do you feel this?” A light press of a finger on the side of his ribs followed the words.

Tercius nodded, “Yes Mistress,”

On and on the woman pinched, randomly increasing and decreasing the pain, or simply gently touched all over his stomach, arms, neck, and lower part of legs, asking him for a verbal confirmation every time. Finally, she said, "From what I can tell, you only have a high pain tolerance. That makes my work much easier. When did you last sleep?"

"I had a two-hour nap yesterday around noon," Tercius said as he got up and pulled on his shirt. "Mistress,"

“Go to your room, and I will send over someone with medicine for the pain. Sleep, rest, and we will begin with some targeted development when you wake up and have something to eat. And put your mask back on before you leave the room! Remember the rules!”

He had just returned to his room when a masked woman delivered this medicine. “The Mistress ordered me to be here until you take your medicine,” the young woman stated and assumed the pose of a silent statue near his bed.

“Of course she did…” Tercius sighed. He looked at the small vial that the woman handed him. “What is it exactly?”

“People feel less pain after it and they sleep for longer,” the masked woman said.

“And this is standard medicine here?” Tercius asked as his Acting whirled in the background. Uncle's skill would be so useful right about now…

The masked woman nodded, the feather at the top of the mask swishing gently. "Yes. Every single mage who is opening a Well here uses it regularly to sleep,"

“Do people have some difficulty later, after they stop using it?”

Tercius asked a few more questions, the woman providing answers to the best of her ability. Tercius sighed finally. He had to drink it. I won't be able to sleep with this burning and stabbing in my chest. The bitterness of the green sludge made his eyes water.

"Thank you, and I apologize if my questioning was a bother," Tercius said hoarsely and returned the empty vial to the woman. He followed after her and locked the door with his amulet, even though he knew that the Mistress could unlock the door anytime with her key. The Mistress was to the House what Mistress Dea was to the Dorms, or Eiler formerly was to the mansion. A controller and Keeper, an absolute authority in the enchanted walls. Tercius remembered how Mistress Helfira handled the Keeper Eiler in his own domain and a weak smile overcame him. Absolute, until someone more powerful comes along. Well… she was inside and she did surprise him. He had no time to do anything…

With that in mind, Tercius knew that he had to do something. A glance over his room noted only the door and the window as potential entrances. Discounting weird skills and spells, of course. Diving into the prevention of spells and skills of unknown types and variants seemed foolhardy, especially as he felt the potion take effect. He did not have a lot of time to execute a lot of preparations, but something basic would do.

Tercius doubted that someone would attack him, even though he did not discount the possibility. More likely was that someone would spy on him or something along those lines, and he wanted to know if someone entered his space while he was asleep. A skill for mind protection would have been a great relief, and Tercius had to question his desire not to use any Energy while inside the Pyramid space. Besides pacifying his skills with it, he could use it to attract the unknown party, assuming that the party could enter the space of the Pyramid and the premises of the House of Pain and Pleasure.

He took a potted plant from its usual post at the corner and he placed it behind the door, near the hinges, and noted the positions of the pot in relation to the marks on the floor and the wall. The same arrangement was made with another pot, near the hinges of the window. If anyone opened the door or the window, he would know even if it was moved just a tiny amount. The plants and pots will tell. Hells even if someone moved them and then returned them to the same spot, the position isn't the only mark I can spot. Rotation of the pot, the position of the leaves, my memory will be perfect… the question is, how perfect will the memory of the potential invader be?

"No eating these plants, Amber," Tercius said sternly. "You will get a good meal when I'm up, ok? The park out there is filled with new growth so make sure you are hungry…"

As minutes went by, the pain had eased to a barely noticeable degree. Even his eyes seemed to droop slowly. His tiredness was apparent to every part of his physical being. Satisfied that he did the best of a job he could, for now, he took off his dark mask and went to sleep, imagining all kinds of custom traps that he could make around the door and window once he got the hang of some rope and stone.

***

Tercius slept through the whole morning, noon, and almost complete afternoon. He would have probably slept more, but Amber had enough of waiting and had taken it upon herself to chew his nose off with her flat teeth. With a wet nose and lingering aftereffects of the potion that kept him dazed, Tercius checked his carefully arranged alarms and found them undisturbed.

Releasing a deep sigh, he put his mask on and went to find a servant. After a shower and a change of clothes, he was led to the kitchens where the advertised divine meals were made. To tell the truth, anything would have been divine with the hunger that he had; it had been almost a full day since his last meal so he mostly just shoveled food into his mouth as fast as his teeth chewed, as the kitchen staff scrutinized the starving barbarian. Little Amber got her fair share of fruit, as a little thank you from Tercius for leaving the alarm plants alone. We will go to the park as soon as I’m free, then you can play, swim, and eat as much as you want, Tercius sent through the bond.

Just as he finished his meal, making sure to give a deserved compliment to the staff and chef, a servant arrived, bearing a message for him. The Mistress was demanding his presence in the medical wing of the mansion. Following the young man, Tercius made observations that all of the staff was seemingly young— from what he could tell behind the masks everyone was between the early twenties to thirties. All of them were fit and physically appealing to the eyes, male or female. Following after the servant, Tercius heard voices; the hum of conversation from the common rooms he passed by. He heard instruments; drums, flutes, and a stringed instrument, familiar to him, as they accompanied a tenor in a song.

But above all that hubbub, he heard something that made his smile wryly. Tercius had expected it, ever since Mistress Lovela mentioned the House in her explanation. The House was infamous or famous— he had never learned to differentiate the intricate difference between the two, as they sometimes blended so seamlessly into each other— amongst mages for a simple reason.

It was where the vast majority of mages had their first taste of sex.

In days of old targeted development of a Well was almost non-existent, or if it existed at all, then it was kept as a closely guarded secret. Spontaneous growth of a Well was how most did it, and that could take months, sometimes more depending on the individual. That was months spent in pain that some female mages compared to the one experienced during childbirth. Sex was used to help mages cope with the pain of Well development, both then and now. Most of those who underwent the development of a Well, over ninety-fifth percentile, do it after fifteen cycles of age. The books at the underground bunker had a lot of historical information about the Well, and he saw that mages who were starting to develop the Well under fifteen cycles of age were a relatively new development, barely two centuries old. This early development was credited to a much better-developed schooling system because the most numerous of these overachievers were boys of thirteen cycles of age, followed closely by girls of twelve— all students of the Academy.

Children of nine, eight, even seven cycles of age were mentioned, but the magical community was extremely divided on the topic. On one hand, it led to a better developed Well, but on the other hand, these children were essentially tortured by their teachers and parents, albeit indirectly.

Everything that he had read and what was told to him by teachers, led him to … feel as if the Well was extremely important, but the reason for that was never stated clearly. The books and conversations built up this image of the Well and its importance in his mind, like a great story was inclined to do, and just when he was expecting a great finish, he got something that was … while good, still a bit underwhelming of his built-up expectations. Tercius knew, logically, that having a mana reserve would be a game-changer both in the short and long run; enabling longer skill usage even at lower levels of skills, which meant faster leveling, then allowing longer practice times for spells which led to exponential growth across the charts, both of which seemed like dreams come true.

The issue, deep down, was that he had expected something related to Energy to await after the Well.

So far nothing indicated that this Well was going in that direction, yet he knew that mages used the Energy. Maybe not all, but some at least. No mention of Energy ever crossed Tercius's path, written or spoken in any way he understood; until that night at Seliana's. Someone came for him because he had used Energy, which meant that someone had the skill for sensing Energy.

That was probably the main reason as to why the everyday Tercius, the one who could feel emotions that Meditation took away, decided to go ahead with the plan to approach the mysterious party. The 'fear' was there, 'apprehension' too, but so was 'curiosity' and it was mixed with a large dose of 'pushed against the wall'. He wanted to see how others did their manipulation, what skills they had, and more. He wanted some diversity to inspire him.

He had confidence in his capability to understand Energy and mana on his own, one day. The only reason he would have liked these mystical fuels understood sooner, theoretically and practically, was for the sake of his family. It may seem like a selfless reason, yet Tercius knew that reason had its roots in complete selfishness. Once they could stand against anything the world could throw at them, then he would be able to take any path he wanted with a clear conscience. Even tell them about himself.

It wasn’t like he wanted to go away from them and leave them behind, no. Just… if… perhaps… Tercius took a deep breath. After he tells his family about his double life, in the case that things turn out less than amicable, he wanted to prepare ahead both for them and himself.

Tercius shook his head to dispel his unpleasant, yet necessary, thoughts.

The Mistress was waiting.

“Did you choose a name yet?” the woman asked him when the servant closed the door behind Tercius.

Tercius shook his head. “No Mistress—” The code name ‘Pinky’ came to mind, and Tercius smiled. “Actually, one just came to me Mistress,” Tercius said as he wiggled his smallest digit at the Mistress. “Pinky,”

The joke flew over the Mistress and she simply nodded. “Come here, Pinky. I need to see how developed you are now,”

Tercius nodded with a tight smile, holding back a laugh. “Amber, wait here,” Tercius said out loud as he placed her on the floor; focused on the weight of the Familiar Bond. Amber just sat down and observed him. “Stay,”

“Oh! Is that a river lion?” The Mistress noted absently, as she moved her medical apparatuses around. “ Let the little creature out, there's a fountain through that door there. We can’t have her breaking anything in here,”

As the Mistress said, there was a small garden with a fountain in the center, and Tercius left Amber to frolic there. When he returned back in, Tercius waited for the Mistress to prepare. "Take off your shirt, Pinky, and make yourself comfortable on that table there,"

As he made his preparations he noted that most of the apparatuses were made of a glass-like material and crystals immediately came to mind.

The Mistress once more checked the state of his Well with just her hands, and then used one of the crystal instruments— a rod with a glass knob at the top— to press onto the spot just below his ribs. A projection appeared over the instrument, similar to the illusions Mistress Fenia did in the dining room, and the Mistress stared at it for a while.

“You see these?” The Mistress asked and turned the floating image his way. She pointed to something that reminded Tercius of roots. A network of roots. Then he realized what these roots were. Similar to a cardiovascular system the network was in the rough shape of a body.

“Mana channels, if I have to guess,” Tercius said as the hologram hovered over him.

“Correct, and these are the source of your pain,” The Mistress said as she pointed at the area of his chest where the Well was supposed to be. “Currently, that part of the mana channels are being built in a relatively slow manner. So make sure you eat everything you are given and don’t skip on medical supplements, or you will start losing body mass. Unlike some who come here, you seem to be within optimal parameters for weight, based on your height, and let us try keeping it that way.”

“Now let me explain to you how you can accelerate the growth of the channels to the Well, and once you do that we will see about the development of the Well. Ah, Ah,” the woman waved a finger to him, a universal sign of denial. “No questions now, you can ask later. Get dressed and listen in silence. Since you lack the education of a fourth-year, I will explain everything from the start. Mana channels are…”