Struggling for breath, Tercius tried to empty his mind and focus only on the tip of his sword.

Only here and now and the next few moments existed, nothing beyond that.

Move forward, block the opponent's weapon then bash it away with the shield, and finally, slash with the sword if the bash resulted in a good opening.

Shield Mastery [22] is now Shield Mastery [23]

Sword Mastery [22] is now Sword Mastery [23]

Mana Sight [48] is now Mana Sight [49]

“Finally,” he murmured, slowly lowering the sword and the shield then letting Mana Sight collapse.

With a momentary flash of light, his surroundings returned to normal, his room and the impromptu clearing in the middle of it replacing darkness and mana. Slick with perspiration, his arms, abdomen, back, and strangely even legs ached with uncomfortable heat and tension. He had thought that Running would keep him in shape, but the painful fact was that he had irrefutable evidence that strongly argued that not all muscles — previously regularly exercised for over four years — had gotten the needed attention over the past year.

The simple fact was that puberty happened to him, something which he tended to forget until he was forced to remember, and all of that three-dimensional growth that his body experienced in the past year was untempered towards wielding the sword and the shield, even though both tools had kept much of the familiarity that he had gained while learning to wield them.

And yet it was not his aching body which troubled him the most. It wasn't even the need to adjust his rehearsed movements ever so slightly, to accommodate for his growth.

What took the top spot was that in the past three hours — if the dripping sand of his half-day hourglass was to be believed — of his practice, the skills Sword Mastery and Shield Mastery, despite the somewhat ample presence of his Energy in his Well, were proving to be stubborn about climbing up their levels.

Actually, no, that was not the top spot occupant. Tercius knew exactly what the root of the problem was because both Lux and Septimus had shared with him that skills such as Sword Mastery and Shield Mastery, in other words, skills meant for combat, leveled best not while practicing alone or while swinging against a dummy, but when faced against an actual opponent, one that could and would hurt him.

That was why Lux didn’t hesitate to beat Tercius in the course of his training. His lack of suitable response to the stimulative pain certainly didn’t help either, Tercius imagined.

At the time, the practice had seemed just cruel and sadistic, but now… It was both of those things still, and yet if his theory was right then that would mean that the days when he ended up with a bloody nose, bruised ribs, scraped elbows, knees, and who knows what else, had actually had a purpose beyond his uncle's well-concealed satisfaction.

His uncle’s actions had, knowingly or not, stimulated his Energy which would then seep towards the practiced skill and ultimately result in growth for that skill.

So… since he couldn’t just trick himself, it stood to reason that if he wanted his growth to be faster he needed someone to attack him and this attacker needed to do that with actual intent to hurt and no hesitations.

He could continue practicing this way, but at best he would reach level [30] with his skills before the next day.

The only two people here who he would consider asking such a thing were Mistress Kalina and Perdinar, and, if he was frank, he was not sure that his Mentor would help him with this. Perdinar was the more likely one of the two to understand the request properly and show no quarters or mercy if Tercius asked him to do so. Would Perdinar accept?

Tercius had no idea, but he could ask.

And, along the way, he could also ask for some advice regarding Energy Sight and Mana Sight. It was in their best interest to help him with the two skills, after all. Also, he reminded himself, he would have to see what else his Mentor could share especially regarding Energy and Skills now that he was her Disciple.

Only where to find Perdinar?

***

*****

***

Finding Perdinar proved difficult. Indeed, when Tercius went to search for these people, it proved difficult to find anyone at all.

Mistress Kalina's door was silent no matter his knocks, Gael's too. He didn't try the Keeper's office or private room, nor any of the other rooms in the Tower Black. Instead, he took the lift down to the dining room, located inside the tower's deep basement, which proved to be as deserted as the kitchen next to it and the rest of the tower.

There were more floors below for him to try inside this tower, but according to Gael, those were storage rooms, many of which were protected by powerful enchantments that only the Keeper himself could safely open. He didn't want to take the elevator to the other towers, so he figured he would just go back to his room and wait a bit before trying again.

Going back up, Tercius remembered to make a stop at the ground floor and it was there that he found the likely answer to where everyone was. Only two of those raincoats remained hanging on the walls around the grand-looking door that led outside, to the gardens. Most of the black, knee-deep leather boots that Gael told him were for anyone wanting to go outside, were also gone.

The large, clear-glass windows were visibly pummeled by rain, but, much like the rest of the Tower, the sounds from the outside were almost non-existent. An occasional lightning strike was heard, or more commonly felt, but even they were mostly muted. One by one, Tercius peered through windows into the darkness. Just when he thought that he could have to climb up to his room and have a look from a window up there, the last window gave him the location of the missing population.

There was some light and movement on one of the terraces below. A lot of movement. It was likely where everyone went. A mage gathering outside on a stormy afternoon? This was not the Academy. There are no students here, but him. All but him were Magi.

As suddenly as a lightning strike, a thought gripped him. If there was a spell being cast out there, he wanted to see it.

But his desire and curiosity were willing to compromise with his caution, which warned him to return to his room and observe from a higher vantage point first. The massive, circular floor-room that was given to him to use was in the upper half of the tall Tower Black, and Tercius rushed to it with his utmost speed only to glue his face to one of the windows facing east.

Down there Tercius saw light and movement play in a large, circular platform on one of the lower terraces. There were pillars around the edges of the platform and a moving halo of light around it, likely light being refracted through the raindrops. Small figurines moved or stood around in concentric circles.

He knew that this Mana Sight was blocked, restricted by the walls of the Tower by some enchantment that cut off his skill completely, but one thing he didn’t try so far was to use his wandering eyes, an option which he now came to consider.

They will likely just bounce off the walls, Tercius thought, and give me a headache. But they could also work…

Just as Tercius's skilled eyes left his skull, his Amulet started acting up. A small vibration buzzed on his chest and Tercius had to cancel his skill.

Fishing out his Amulet from inside his shirt and robe, Tercius saw that the metallic surface was glowing orange, the significance of which was not lost on him.

A call.

All he had to do to answer was to send a pulse of mana that was “purified at least once” and shaped like the Rune “Receive”. The purifying part was actually quite easy to do, and it was something that Mistress Kalina had taught him back in Nurium.

Holding his hand open like a claw, Tercius pulled his mana to hover above it in a spherical pulse. As his eyes narrowed at the carefully measured blood-red mist his Mana Metamorphosis engaged the pulse and remade it three times as he commanded. There was this uncomfortable push for each of the three morphs, but Tercius just had to push back to overcome the sensation. The spherical mana pulse was noticeably smaller now, almost by a third, the missing mana spent to fuel the metamorphosis. The red color of mana was noticeably duller, maybe even with a bit of pink to it.

Then, with the morphing done, it took him almost a minute to properly make the “Receive” Rune. He had to consult his mental notes at multiple points, only to make sure that all the lines were properly done. The final result was a red and pink Rune, smaller than a palm and so thin that it seemed two-dimensional, written in the air itself. Mana Manipulation sank the supremely compacted shape into the glowing Amulet and immediately he heard a voice in his head, an experience similar to what he and Amber shared via their Familiar Bond.

Mistress Kalina’s voice rang.

Hesitation gripped his reply for a moment, as he looked at the lights down there.

The Amulet lost the glow as the call ended.

Leaving his room, Tercius made way for the ground floor and there he grabbed one of the remaining raincoats and made sure that he was properly protected. Gael had told him, in the presence of Mistress Kalina, that it was perfectly safe to go out in one of these.

He had some double-hood trouble, the large hood of his mage robe protesting being pressed by another layer, but he soon replaced his shoes with the watertight boots. They were a bit tight but it was the biggest pair of those available currently.

With a pull and a groan, one wing of the massive door opened and Tercius found himself looking at two meters of a tunnel. At its end, an almost completely translucent barrier, with a slight blue tinge to it, didn't allow the elements to cross inside. He heard them now, the howling wind, the hammering rain, and the growling lightning, and yet despite the ferocious power evident in each, none were more attention capturing than the female voice singing to the deep heartbeat of a drum, distorted yet heard over the elemental noise.

With another look back inside, Tercius swallowed a part of his apprehension and closed the heavy door behind himself.

Tercius morphed a pulse of mana and constructed the Rune “Open”, just as Mistress Kalina had instructed him, and he sent it into the flat metal plate embedded into the wall, near the barrier. His mana signature had been taken on the same day of his arrival, as it was needed for everything from using the lift to locking the door of his room, and only one more security check was needed. Almost instantly after he pressed the front side of his Amulet onto the metal’s smooth surface, starting from the center of the barrier, an expanding hole made way for him to pass.

As the rain gained access to the entryway, Tercius moved to step out quickly, taking to the wide stone trail outside. His enchanted raincoat, despite taking quite a bit of mana to power, proved useful immediately. Only a bit of wind reached him, no more than a breeze, but most importantly the rain didn’t bother him at all, as if preferring to give him a meter wide berth.

Suddenly the solitary voice of a woman became replaced by a choir, an all-male one if he was hearing right, that carried only a single, letter-short Rurd on their lips, but they weaved their unified voice deeper and higher with an almost holy yet surprisingly haunting tone.

It was the wind, Tercius realized, that made him hear and think of graveyards and mists. Tercius stood before the tower’s closing barrier as he felt goosebumps go over his skin, his curiosity and excitement rapidly overruling the last remnants of his apprehension.

The curved path took him left of his destination, but, just as the choir gave way to that woman’s voice, he found the stairs that took him one terrace down. As Tercius headed back towards the music, thick growth of dark bushes surrounded his left and right, some even taller than him. The wind swayed them high and low as they hugged the stone path that was wide enough for four to walk side by side and Tercius noticed that this path too was curved slightly, almost as if it was the boundary of a circle.

A massive circle or maybe even an ellipse…

Another tower appeared out of the rain and as it loomed over the bushes, even its windows completely dark when looked from the outside, Tercius passed by the entrance to it, the same barrier found here as well. Another stairway, this one just next to the tower, took him down to the next level. Tercius contemplated taking out his handmade flashlight to combat the darkness, but he decided against it. Darkness didn’t bother him much as he could see the steps and a meter or two ahead. That was enough for him. A light would just attract attention to the newcomer that he was.

As Mistress Kalina said, all he had to do was follow the music.

Or, as he realized, he could just follow the magic. With his Mana Sight lightly covering his eyes, he observed a veritable tsunami of swirling mana ahead. The mana was so crowded there that even the light mode of the skill was overwhelmed.

One more terrace down another staircase and he saw the light that illuminated his destination, even if the destination itself was hidden by the enduring bushes. Tercius came to the end of the path and took a look around the corner of the bush.

Fat pillars circled the platform, the same platform, and pillars that he saw from his window, holding up a ring of stone on them. The space on the platform was lit as if it was daylight, which on second thought it likely was. It was only that the clouds of tar obscured the sun as they persistently unloaded obscene amounts of freshwater.

He had already somewhat expected to see what he saw, but it was still a shock to see some four dozen people gathered — almost all of them Magi if not for a few graduated Neophytes, many of whom were at the cusps of their Well Formation. Most of them stood at the top of the stairs that led up to the raised platform, interspaced evenly between the pillars, their arms and hands moving through a set of Ruges, as the rhythmic beat of the drum and the woman’s singing voice took the rest of those present and made them dance as one. Tercius caught glimpses through the stationary and moving bodies that the instrument was placed in the very center of the raised area, seemingly the center of its own planetary system. The light was so bright there that he was able to see that all the clothes the people there wore were made in reds and blacks.

“Quite a sight to see, isn’t it?” a familiar voice said close behind him, the words raising Tercius hackles until he realized who it was.

“Perdinar…” he growled as he turned.

Perdinar’s smirk and Mistress Kalina were there and when he saw his Mentor Tercius immediately tone down on the aggression, even though his eyes remained narrowed at Perdinar. Both of them in their reds and blacks, the rain and wind avoiding them even without the raincoats.

Perdinar turned to Mistress Kalina. “You didn’t tell him to dress up?”

“Master, I don’t know if you’re aware but ritual participation is taught at years four, five, and six,” Mistress Kalina said.

"Nonsense, Kalina," Perdinar said, suddenly placing a hand on Tercius's shoulder.

Looking him straight in his eyes, Perdinar asked, “Tercius, do you trust me?”

“Ahh…” Tercius croaked, stumped by the question.

“Well?” Perdinar pressed.

“I… suppose…”

Perdinar smiled and a surge of mana crawled over Tercius’s skin.

“Hey—” he said in alarm as he took a step back and raised his arms. What the Hells? Did Perdinar just cast a spell on him?

“There, all done,” Perdinar said, slapping his palms against each other.

Alarmed, Tercius looked down feeling a lot lighter than earlier. Gone were his raincoat and the mage’s robe, leaving only his knee-deep boots, pants, shirt, and Amulet. The problem that his eyes found immediately was that his brown pants were now black and his previously white shirt was now deep red.

“Now let’s get going,” Perdinar said, grabbing Tercius by his shoulders again and turning him around. Suddenly, he found himself moving forward, propelled by a force not of his making.

“Wait— Where?” Tercius said, then looked ahead to where Perdinar was pushing him with surprising strength and force of direction.

Right towards the enormous congregation of mages.

Oh no. Tercius’s insides churned unpleasantly. Was he to be a sacrifice of some kind? He squashed the silly thought immediately, but he still had no idea what was going on. Mistress Kalina mentioned ritual participation when Perdinar mentioned his clothes, didn’t she? So he was to participate? How? His Mentor was right, he didn’t know two squats of ritual participation!

“Perd— Master, my Mentor is right. I don’t know anything about rituals. I will only be a nuisance—”

“You need to relax Tercius,” Perdinar said, with a knowing smile. “It’s nothing complicated. I will show you how it’s done.”

“Master—” Tercius whispered the plea, afraid to run away now that people had them in view. He should have done so seconds earlier!

Perdinar ignored him and continued to guide him to the ritual location. Why did I leave my room?

Tercius whipped his head to the side, seeking salvation elsewhere. “Mentor—”

“Oh, don’t go bothering Kalina, Tercius,” Perdinar waved away his pleas in his Mentor’s stead. “She doesn’t yet have the nerve to force you to spend less time inside your head, but I do. Do you know how long it took me to convince her to ask you to come out? Back in my day, Magi had faith in their elders…”

Was that what this was? An intervention of some sort? For what exactly? For thinking? Oh Hells, did it come so far that even people on another planet would argue that he was overthinking things and that he had to get out of his head?

“You do know that most days I saw you, you were just sitting, reading, and staring at a wall, presumably thinking, don’t you?” Tercius whispered back, bristling at the double standard of this methusalem.

“Well of course I did. I had just collected a treasure trove of new material from around the world,” Perdinar whispered back. “And I am still learning all the languages required to read them without resorting to the available translations. Some of those translators take quite the liberty when they do their work, you know?”

So that was why there were so many different dictionaries and books written in foreign and dead languages lying everywhere in his home.

“It will likely take another decade or two of work to go through it all, but then again I have decades to spare, so…”

“Alright… you can stop pushing me,” Tercius whispered, too aware of the decreasing distance from the nearest mages. Knowing Perdinar… Well, he was not sure what to expect exactly, but he was sure that escape was out of the question. “I’ll go on my own,”

“There’s a good boy.” Perdinar patted him on the shoulder.

Tercius rolled the shoulder, shaking the hand away.

“Stay close. You don’t want to get wet, do you?” Perdinar said, walking up the stairs.