The girls didn't follow, continuing their discussion of puzzling out the answer, while Zu Mari descended the stairs to seek the answer in his own way.

Zu knew that the strongest person in the tower, Master Elvanis, was up at the top. Therefore, hierarchy being what it was, his lower underlings would be further down.

He descended along the spiraling stairs until he reached the bottom of that staircase, about halfway down the tower. Then he wandered the halls a while, missing Fire Twilight Death's company, and wondering how long it would take Smoke of Progression to learn to talk.

While he walked, he prodded at the godsword within his soul, but it only responded with its usual unhappiness at everyone and everything.

Grumpy godsword. "Hurry up and learn to talk already, you boring thing," Zu muttered.

Discontentment radiated in response.

Yup. Nothing new there.

Zu found a kitchen after some time wandering around aimlessly, and helped himself to a loaf of pie sitting on a rack to cool with dozens of its counterparts.

"Hey!" A girl in dull grey tunic and trousers ran toward him, eyes wide. "Y-you can't just eat that!"

"I can," Zu said, taking a large bite to demonstrate. "And who might you be?"

"B-Betti," she answered, looking at Zu with obvious fear. She looked around and her voice sank to a whisper. "Please don't steal any more food."

"No problem. I'm looking for Nira. Do you know where her room is?" He smiled with his best charming smile.

Betti trembled and pointed. "That way, room 19." She was staring at the pie loaf in his hand.

"You want some?" Zu broke the loaf in half and offered it to her.

"N-no, I couldn't, I need to protect it from thieves, not steal it myself.”

Zu continued to hold it out to her, taking another bite from his. “It’s still warm. Very tasty.”

“I… I shouldn’t.”

Zu shrugged and set the half loaf back on the rack, then left to find Nira’s room nineteen.

The rooms were marked with symbols he didn’t recognize, but he was confident that the sort of people who could incinerate you on the spot wouldn’t be living down here. So, by process of elimination, he made his way down the hall until reaching door 19.

At last, he pushed open Nira’s door, to see the familiar room where they’d started. Nira herself was reclining on her bed, reading from a scroll that fell off on either side. She looked up when Zu entered, and smiled.

“Ah, you are the first again. I see I was correct to choose you. Come in. Close the door.”

“I want to learn to summon my sword through my spirit tether.”

“All in time.”

“Now.”

“Close the door.”

Zu recognized the stubborn set of her eyes, and knew that this was a time he had to bend before he could stand. He stepped inside and let the door close behind him. “I cannot be defenseless,” he said, shifting his tone from confident to pleading. “I need to retrieve my sword.”

Nira set the scroll down and sat up, and for the first time Zu noticed how beautiful she was. Not wearing her ugly robe, but a nicely fitted golden gown and dark leggings, the bright color contrasting beautifully with her skin and setting off the perfect black hair that fell over her shoulders in waves.

Zu didn't know how he'd missed it. Perhaps the way she'd been wearing ugly poorly shaped slime green, or always treating him as a slave or trying to kill him before now, or maybe it was the intimacy of the setting. But for the first time, he began to see Nira as an actual person rather than an obstacle. And a pretty one at that.

She caught him staring and smirked. "Yes, yes, I know how this goes. You think you can flatter me into giving you an easier time of it, you'd better rethink that real fast."

"No, I haven't any intention of flattering you. I only want you to teach me. I know you can. You promised you would. Tell me how to summon my sword."

"I will, but not until you've proven you are capable of handling the knowledge."

"I can."

She raised an eyebrow at him, her lovely eyes glinting almost golden in the light. "Oh?"

"Yes."

"Then prove it." She pointed to a cabinet on the side wall, beside the door. "Within there are eight phials of potent spirit essence. Bring one to me without opening the door, and I will begin your instruction."

"I don't know how to move things through solid objects. That's the point of needing a teacher." Zu growled, annoyed by her pettiness. It was a struggle to keep his voice calm. "If you'd show me to an instruction manual, I'm sure I could figure it out."

"So you haven't even a foundation in dimensionalism and you already want to start pulling solid objects through your soul? That sounds like a recipe for disaster if ever I heard one. Do you have a death wish?"

"No, but I do not fear it. If death is the result of my progress, then I will rise from the ashes stronger than before."

"Will you indeed," she murmured. "I almost believe it to be true."

"It is true."

"So you insist. Well, our other students have yet to arrive, so for the moment I suppose it wouldn't hurt to indulge you. We should begin with the most basic beginnings, then?"

"Yes." Zu clipped off the word, but he couldn't claim to know what dimensionalism even was, much less how to use it.

"To begin, the essence of dimensionalism is to twist space without breaking it. You can move two places into the same space and move from one to the other, allowing reality to re-form itself behind you. If you stretch it too far, the snap back will cause damage to you. It could cripple or even kill you."

"Most magic is the same."

"Not like this. Most spells if you lose control of them can be dangerous, but in dimensionalism every spell is deadly. If you lose your grip of a portal while stepping through it, your body will be separated and scattered across the world. If you lose control of the twist of the world before you can anchor it with portals, then you're liable to be vaporized on the spot from the backlash of the energy involved in performing such a powerful change on the world."

"I accept the risk."

"Perhaps you do. I do not wish you to explode yourself in my room." She held out a hand, and a book appeared resting atop it, her use of the portal so subtle Zu almost missed it. "Here is a manual of the basics. You are to read it and memorize every word. Do not return to me until you have done so."