Gripping a throwing knife in each hand, his grip firm on the naked metal, Tercius executed a series of slashes, cutting the empty space with rapid strikes. Left hand, right hand. Slash low, high, and at chest level horizontally, then turn to vertical and diagonal variations. One by one, Tercius methodically went through the moves that he was taught, removing a layer of the rust off of what little he learned of fighting with knives.

At some point of his training, a part of his brain started shouting with Lux's and Septimus' voices that he had legs which he better put to some use, so he started sidestepping at random intervals. After he started creating imaginary enemies and having them come at him, he started ducking and moving backwards and forwards, establishing an irregular, increasingly chaotic rhythm to his movement, attack, and defense.

Mistress Kalina might have said that this would be better solved by diplomacy, but he felt that it would be better to be prepared for other eventualities.

Spinning around on his heel, he threw a knife at his target. A hollow thump rang out.

Small Blade Mastery [17] is now Small Blade Mastery [18]

Precision [41] is now Precision [42]

"Good enough for tonight," he murmured, looking at the carved-out piece of wood where a single throwing knife was sticking out. Two days ago he could have eaten out of that plate – he likely had eaten out of it, back home. Today… Well, he was quite sure that rats could shimmy through some of those larger holes.

With breaths heavy from the hours of training, Tercius packed up all of his unorthodox training equipment – everything from the now ruined kitchen plate to the large blanket that he used to protect the room’s furniture from the rare miss on his part – leaving only a single throwing knife out and his father’s spare gladius. Battered, dulled, and even chipped in one place, the old thing had seen better days, that was for sure.

But it should do for the last step of what he had in mind.

In one hand he held a sword, in the other a knife. A green fire burned in his irises as he used the respective mastery skills for the weapons and started to examine them.

A single day of practice with his Mentor had brought his Mana Sight from [49] to [52], a number which was monstrous even to Mistress Kalina. Monstrous or not, Tercius would like it if it went up even a bit further still because tomorrow and the day after he and Mistress Kalina only had Energy Sight on their schedule from early morning to the late evening. They would seek to push the skill as far as they could before Mistress Prime’era enchanted his Well with a seal.

Tonight, before he went to bed to rest for the next day, he decided to examine his Sword Mastery and Small Blades Mastery to determine any similarities and differences between the two, and then, when he saw how things progressed, he would see what else he would be doing.

Sword Mastery was at [23], meaning that unlike Small Blades Mastery, which had just arrived at its first barrier, it already had an additional effect of some kind under its belt. Before overcoming the barrier, Lux had only told him what he knew on the way that normal mastery skill barriers were overcome: it was always advisable to sacrifice mastery skills to other mastery skills.

When the skills came to life, Tercius saw metallic silver and blue mana surge through the sword in one hand and the throwing knife in the other, lighting both weapons with the fluid grace and malleability of water in a blink of an eye.

A part of him got goosebumps every time that happened, older times flashing before his eyes in a series of moving pictures.

His uncle’s advice came from the passed down knowledge of the Army and il’Drusus family, but it was now that Tercius came to see an inkling as to the workings behind the curtain. Mastery skills were most likely sacrificed to other mastery skills because by doing so everyone was doing just what he did with the first barrier of Spring of Crystal Thoughts and Precision, in other words — doubling down on the good parts and maybe, just maybe, broadening the basic skill somewhat by creating what his Mentor called deviations.

Basic mastery skills enhanced the speed of learning a particular tool, but how did they do that exactly?

His eyes stopped glowing just before he closed his eyes and focused on the tools in his hands.

Tercius was quite sure that he had a feeling, a certain hum of tiny awareness when he held a sword. It was… strange to explain — the connection between him and the sword — not unpleasant in any way, just… peculiar. In a way that he hesitated to compare, the feeling of the sword was somewhat similar to the bond he shared with Amber, but also very, very different in another way that he couldn't put to proper words.

The connection he and Amber shared felt far more active than this, and he had to take into account that the basic form of Familiar Bond was among his more passive skills.

With the throwing knife, there were none of those tangential motes of awareness, or at least none that were on the edges of his current perception.

Was that awareness of the sword the result of brute force that he and his uncle had instilled into his skill? Was that the deviation that resulted from him overcoming the first skill barrier? Perhaps, Tercius acknowledged in the mental notes he made. But, perhaps, it was just the natural progression of the basic job the mastery skill did – that of making its wielder learn the tool at a faster rate.

So did his Sword Mastery enhance that learning speed by making any sword a… part of him, metaphorically speaking? Perhaps that uncertain question shouldn’t be a metaphor or a question at all?

While the skill was at use, did the sword become a part of him, like his legs, lungs, or fingers were?

It was a thought that he found both disturbing and fascinating to think of — but more importantly, it was interesting. These were the kinds of questions he liked to think about.

From his Mentor's explanation of this interskill influence that the Magi called precursory interference – a phenomenon to which all personal skills, except the very first, came to be subjected to – Tercius finally had an inkling of what lay behind the commonly practiced skill sacrifice.

It was his theory that what was commonly referred to as "skill sacrifice" was a transfer of aggregated resources, namely Mana and Energy, from one skill to another skill with the goal of "skill consolidation", a concept whose name, motive, and inner working was still under consideration and investigation by Tercius.

But, if all skills were truly connected during their formation and even after the skill became active, as Mistress Kalina and other Magi supposedly seem to believe, then Tercius' model on skill sacrifice finally had a potential transport route — and, what's more, that was not the only thing that the conversation with Mistress Kalina unraveled.

The natural implication that arose from the existence of "skill deviations", as Mistress Kalina called them, was that there were also "mana deviations", which would also partially explain where the skills got the mana needed for initial skill formation. Much like a child inherited DNA from both parents, who in turn both got something from their own parents and so on, his Mentor's revelation suggested that all mana had some inherent qualities – the prime of which seemed to be the ability to mix and produce an offspring of sorts in an almost evolution-like manner.

A door to a vast expanse was open for Tercius to a place where the collective known as The Society of Magi has trodden and mapped out that expanse for millennia with Magi uncountable.

What kind of skills could he create if he were to use the knowledge of Mana and Energy that was kept inside The Repository?

He could only imagine.

Shaking his head out of the clouds, Tercius took a deep breath and decided that it was time for a bath and then bed. It was late and his eyes were giving up on being open. With him not being able to use Energy outside of his Well, here, meant that the good old-fashioned sleep was necessary. He should have asked Mistress Kalina if she had an Energy Potion or two for sale… or exchange… or well however it went now between a Mentor and a Disciple.

He would have to finish what he started tomorrow evening.

***

*****

***

The sun rose and for the first time in a while, Tercius didn’t rise with it. A constant knocking at his door was what finally woke him up.

“I’m coming!” he yelled as he squinted at the hourglass on the nightstand. Only a single measure of sand remained in the upper portion. When did I flip it last time?

He got out of his bed and put on his clothes. When he finally opened the door, it was his Mentor’s face that looked at him with a strange expression.

“What happened to you?” she asked.

“I went to bed late,” Tercius said, covering a yawn with his hand and ignoring the need to rub his sore eyes.

“Ah. Well go wash up, have something to eat, and then you can drink this,” Mistress Kalina said, a small metal vial appearing in her hand. “You have half an hour to be in my room ready for your lessons,”

“Thank you, Mistress. I’ll be there,”

Suitably prepared, Tercius left the room within five minutes. When the elevator took him down into the belly of the Everstorm Citadel and left him in the designated dining space, Tercius found a familiar face in the small crowd present. Mistress Helfira was there, having breakfast all by herself. She invited him over to her table and when he took a portion of everything offered for breakfast, he joined her.

As they ate, they ended up chatting. Tercius guessed that his tired look evoked some need in her to be as inquisitive as possible. He wouldn't be surprised if she got some kind of amusement from making him answer questions while the only thing on his mind was a bed.

In any case, from the topic of the ritual, Tercius shifted to the topic of Night Terrors.

“Do you know anything about these Night Terrors, Mistress?” he asked between bites, hoping to switch the roles of who asked the questions.

“Very little, but I do know someone here who studies the beasts. I just talked to her last night. She’s an old student of mine, you see.”

“Really?” Tercius asked, suddenly more awake than he had been a moment earlier.

Mistress Helfira nodded proudly. “A proper mage, that one. I’ll let you know that she has traveled the world and thoroughly documented several previously unknown subspecies of various mammals and reptiles. Now she’s here to study the breeding habits and resistances to mana of these Night Terrors. Fascinating creatures to look at, let me tell you,”

Tercius cleared his throat repeatedly, hesitating to ask. “I’ve heard of this Mistress and the Night Terrors she keeps… Is it… is it possible for me to… see them? The Terrors?”

Mistress Helfira shrugged. “I have no idea if she’ll agree, but I will ask her.”

“Thank you, Mistress. I know that it’s an additional imposition, but if she agrees, could the visit be arranged for after the dinner? My Mentor has made plans for the entire day…”

“I will see what can be done.”

***

*****

***

As the sunlight suddenly became scarce, the lights of the room brightened as Mistress Kalina gestured with a swipe of her hand. Tercius looked outside, through the window, and he saw dark clouds moving back to cover the blue skies. The storm was returning to the way it was before the ritual.

It was late afternoon and he and Mistress Kalina had managed only two levels of Energy Sight, the second being quite recent. They were currently aiming for [28], a goal which both of them thought was within the realm of possibility before dinner.

Energy Sight [27] is now Energy Sight [28]

They achieved the goal with half an hour to spare. When Tercius asked if they were done for the day, his Mentor indicated for him to sit.

“I have something important to explain before we finish for the day,” Mistress Kalina said. “It concerns something we Magi call Anima, Arc in Magik—”

***

*****

***

During dinner, Mistress Helfira told him that Mistress Cecilie, the mage that kept the Night Terrors, had allowed him ten minutes to see the beasts. Mistress Kalina's explanation of Anima was still heavy on his mind when he accepted and followed after Mistress Helfira all the way to Tower Yellow.

The light in the room was low and Tercius could have sworn that he had stepped on something as he came inside. The space to move was rare, most of the floor cluttered with papers, countless haphazardly thrown instruments, and all manner of brick-a-brack.

The strongest light source inside the room was separated from the rest of the room by a solid panel of wood, where a large table lamp provided illumination as a frowning woman scribbled away in a book. A suspicious look came his way and Tercius saw that the woman’s face was not frowning, but scarred with what looked like claw marks.

He offered a polite greeting and introduction which she promptly waved away.

“There they are,” she said curtly, pointing a tip of her writing implement to two large metal cages, their tops covered with a blanket of some kind. “Just don’t point any kind of light at them and for the love of common sense don’t put your hands or fingers through the bars. I know that they look small and harmless, but trust me when I say this. You will lose any part of you they manage to bite.”

“I won’t be putting any parts of me inside,” Tercius said and Mistress Helfira chuckled.

Tercius coughed into his hand. "Thank you for allowing me this, Mistress,"

As the laughing Mistress Helfira sat across Mistress Cecilie, Tercius followed the instructions given.

All thoughts about Anima went away when he properly laid gaze on the creatures called Night Terrors.

As Tercius approached, he was mesmerized by the darkness of the creature’s scales. It was as if they were carved out of polished obsidian, seemingly still statues which could spring to life in an instant. The graceful lizards were laying low on the wooden branches, which were placed high in the cage, and they were not moving at all.

As he got as close to the cage as he could, he realized that they were observing him as much as he was observing them. The cage on the right had a larger specimen — which was perhaps a bit longer than his forearm and hand combined, from head to tail tip — while the other cage had a smaller one. Their necks were elegant and not too long, but where one of the creatures had rows of small black crests running from behind the tiny horn-like growths of its draconic head and the way down its neck, the other creature had nothing but smooth scales. The many horns of the smaller being's head were not shaped like pointy growths, as was the case of its larger counterpart, but rather branching out and forming an elegant small crown of twisting darkness.

A male and female, if he had to guess.

The dark leathery wings were tucked close to their body, covering the entire torso and the back legs. The tail was long and snake-like, and both creatures had it currently wrapped around the bare wood as if to hold themselves in case they fell off.

But their eyes… Under a row of eyebrow-like ridges, the Night Terror with the crests had red sclera and dark gold irises while the assumed female had red sclera and greenish-yellow irises. Both stared at him without blinking and moving, utterly still and ready to pounce.

Tercius forgot how to breathe. They were beautiful.

Not now, but someday in the future, Tercius knew that he would find and try to tame a pair of these magnificent beings. When Amber came to be able to hold her own against most predators, perhaps.

After one last look, Tercius turned away from them.

***

*****

***

This night was shaping up to be another long night for Tercius. After he brought his Small Blades Mastery to level [20], which took quite a bit of time, Tercius made himself comfortable on the floor, his back flat on the carpet, a sword in one hand, and a throwing knife in the other. From there, he went on a harvest of neutral Energy.

All of the Energy he kept tightly under his control inside the Skill World — or Anima, as the Magi called it.

As the pain shot through him like a current of electricity, the explanation that Mistress Kalina gave him of anima surged to the forefront of his mind.

“Your body – Mund – is the physical part of you, your anima – Arc – is the metaphysical part of you. Anima is, simply put, the other side to the corporeal you. Now to the important part. Much like you or I, the skills too have a Mund part and an Arc part. Remember that.”

Mistress Kalina's definition of anima that followed was close to that of what many on his old planet would have considered a soul, but Tercius wasn't quite sure if anima was truly that or something else entirely. His grandmother often spoke of something her teachings called "Aaio" which Rona translated as "Spark" or sometimes even "Inner Fire" into Empire's Common, a concept which was much more closer to that what Tercius thought the soul was.

Perhaps it was just some kind of old religious bias that he leaned more to Rona's side. In any case, the name or the nature that others named and considered shouldn't matter much to him. This part of him, whatever it’s name was, was what it was. He should just explore it and make up his own mind about it, just like he intended to initially.

This issue had crossed his mind more than a few times over the years and he had known from the very start that he was tinkering with some inner part of himself. While he had to admit to a somewhat uncomfortable thought that he was messing up the core of his own being, he didn't find it as repulsive or fear-inducing as he thought that he would.

He was far more curious.

If this Anima were to be a place, it would be the kind of place where anyone could easily get lost in, what with the thick gray fog shrouding the entire setting in an air of a lack of any manner of easy direction and most importantly — mystery. Anything could be out there, hidden by the fog.

His Anima, soul, Skill world, or whatever name he ended up choosing was, in a word, home.

What interested him more was the wisps. How did they have the capability of entering his home? Were they Animas themselves? Were they able to harm his home?

Tercius looked down at Flu and the rotating constructs of Energy that bound it.

Flu never entered the gray fog and only stayed inside the skill Cores. Was that on purpose, or… was it that he couldn’t? If the gray fog was his Anima…

He knew quite a bit about how the wisps behaved, chained as they were, but he was also quite conscious of what he didn’t know — of all of the things he could only speculate on.

His Meditation was what allowed him the possibility of interacting with the wisps, the wisps were the reason he could enter Anima, in some way, and it was that access that was the reason for many of his achievements in regards to skills, Energy, and Mana. It was a strange, suspicious sequence, which required quite a bit of factors to align just right to work.

Shaking the head of his Anima-self, Tercius realized that while he was lost in his thoughts a part of the Energy that he harvested had escaped out of his control and into his Well. It was not much, so he wasn’t worried about his Well leaking Energy into his body. He would just have to spend it later. Tercius pulled out a mental map of where the Core of Small Blades Mastery should be in contrast to the Core he was in and he oriented himself accordingly. Moments later, with a burden of Energy at his back, he went for a straight run.

Fog blurred around him for minutes on end, no sign of any existence but his own. The surroundings were so bland that thoughts simply started slipping into his mind.

Abruptly, Tercius stopped running, rooting himself into the non-existing ground of his Anima.

Arc’aneos. That was how Perdinar called himself the other day, didn’t he?

Arc. Anima. Arc’ane. Energy.

Arc'aneos, Arc'aneos, Arc'aneos… What did that Title mean exactly when broken down to the plain speech of Magik? Was it, perhaps, an Energy-wielding Magos or an Anima-wielding Magos? Or something else entirely?

Tercius hummed to himself in thought and suddenly his anima-eyes widened.