"What's with you today, Tercius?" his Mentor asked, the near-invisible Energy pulled back through her hands into her body and then siphoned off into the Well.

As the darkness of Energy Sight receded and revealed a frowning Mistress Kalina, Tercius shook his head gently and cleared his throat.

“Nothing,”

“It’s not nothing. The previous two days you paid absolute attention to the tiniest of details of what we were doing, and I can’t help but compare that to what’s happening now.” Mistress Kalina said and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Not only does it take you longer to catch on, but you are also clearly absentminded and looking chipper while being so. Something is clearly distracting you away from being here and now, and if you can’t concentrate, we better stop here for now.”

He thought that he was better at self-control than this, but as the last month revealed, and kept revealing, that he still had a lot of work. Be it handling surprise or excitement, he was clearly lacking in certain areas of self-control.

Despite the skipped night of sleep, Tercius felt vibrant. It was as if the revitalizing Energy was coursing through his muscles and bones for the very first time, awakening the body and its functions with a gentle but firm and electrifying charge of pure happiness. The events of the night behind him preoccupied him, especially the new Powerleveling function, and he couldn't help himself but think of all the possibilities. Thoughts of adding the function for inverse mana flow to Running and Precision and Quick Learner kept slipping past him.

It had been four or so hours since they started exercising Energy Sight and not a single level was there to show as a result, which Tercius had to admit was far from ideal. He had to get his act together and keep calm, collected and focused if he was to get his skill to the planned level. Tercius took a deep breath and held it as he focused on calming his racing heart, but it didn't help at all. He had no time to let his excitement dissipate on its own nor could he say to his Mentor, at least not with any measure of certainty, that he would be able to place it under control.

To hammer this distracting nail away he would need a big hammer. Perhaps, Tercius considered, he could use Meditation to take him into its peaceful fold and wash away the excitement and leave him primed for studying.

But, despite it being the logical, easy solution, he was hesitant to reach for Meditation. He had just started leaning away from using it for these kinds of things and reaching for it now, despite the need, seemed ill-advised.

“Can we make a short break here, Mistress? I need to clear my head a bit…”

With a nod, his Mentor agreed.

***

*****

***

Tercius took a walk outside, his first walk during a storm of this magnitude. He was quite positive that if he didn't have the enchanted raincoat on, the howling wind would have likely blown him off the Everstorm Citadel. Visibility was minimal — even with the light given away by the handmade flashlight, he was barely able to see a few meters in any direction, the rain creating a small world just for him under its curtain.

Despite technically daytime, he decided to count this walk as a nightly one, being reminded of a time in his old childhood when a walk at night was the only time of day when he could find some manner of solitude. He had forgotten how pleasant those walks had been.

As he walked, he observed the bushes surrounding the pathways. Stormberries, a plant that was able to endure the winds at this altitude, made up the majority of plant life found on every terrace. Thrown around by the harsh winds these tenacious plants seemed to be holding on by mere stubbornness. They were used to enduring and thriving even while under the pressure of the hostile weather and Tercius couldn't help but admire that kind of tenacity. Perhaps he could get a few seeds for Rona to try out, even though he seriously doubted that they would take well to dry and sunny conditions.

Flexibility was key, Tercius thought, for anything desiring continued survival. Too much specialization was harmful. When the time comes for the conditions to change — a matter of time — the best ability to have is to rapidly adapt.

Mistress Kalina’s help with Energy Sight, while enormously helpful with the leveling speed, was also highly repetitive in nature. It was a great breeding ground for stray thoughts, especially once you had something far more interesting to think about. The walk gave him time to clear away the slate.

An entire circle made around the fourth terrace later, Tercius found himself at the entrance of Tower Black. As far as he could tell he had been the only person outside.

Tercius returned to the room of his Mentor and, with some proper focus on his part, they spent the rest of the day practicing.

Energy Sight [28] is now Energy Sight [29]

Energy Sight [29] is now Energy Sight [30]

They even had some time for her to give him advice on a few skills he was interested in.

After dinner, Tercius got some time to prepare himself and his things before his Well was sealed. But even as he sorted out the things he would carry in a backpack after he gave his Amulet over to his Mentor for safekeeping, he got a sudden pair of visitors — Mistress Kalina and Mistress Prime’era.

“Tercius…” Mistress Kalina seemed conflicted as she began. “I did not speak of this earlier, but we do have some mechanisms of dialogue that we can try. I can try to arrange some kind of a transfer with the Spirits. It has been done before.”

“Oh,” Tercius said, surprised.

Mistress Prime’era nodded. “The only issue is that the only currency that the Spirits accept is Energy, preferably willingly given but they don’t mind too much if it's forcefully taken.”

Tercius swallowed. “Well… I am more than willing to pay, but… why are we speaking of this? I mean why now?”

“Because I don’t want you to go, Tercius.” Mistress Kalina said clearly. “You are barely even trained properly and all manner of things can go wrong.”

“Oh…” It would seem that his Mentor couldn’t accept that he had decided to go without her.

Mistress Prime’era cleared her throat. “But this path would need to be done officially. A delegation of Magi would have to be formed and sent. Negotiations would follow.”

Tercius slowly nodded, starting to consider what that truly meant. The presence of other Magi meant that he and his Energy could easily be exposed. Once it got out, there was no putting that genie back into the bottle. Even if that didn't happen, too many eyes could see him being involved in something that should be way above his head. People would poke and prod and eventually make some connection…

“Another problem that would arise from an official delegation is that the Spirits would realize that they possess something that we place value to. Our history with them has shown that they will hold onto it until they drain us for everything that they think they could get — which they know is a lot. Then there is the consideration that your grandmother is well on her way to becoming a Medium…” Mistress Prime’era said and his Mentor nodded.

Meaning that the negotiations could fall through, which would mean leaving the situation at an even worse place than the start had been.

“Can you roughly tell me how likely are the negotiations to succeed, Mistress?” Tercius asked, looking directly at Mistress Prime’era.

“There is no way I can predict something like that.”

“Then no.” Tercius said firmly. “Thank you for offering something like this on my behalf, but this option is out of the question. I will try getting them out on my own first. If I fail… then I will consider it.”

Mistress Prime’era nodded. “Perdinar told us as much, but your Mentor insisted.”

There was some part of him that knew that he was the topic of discussion of other people, but it was never pleasant to get a confirmation like this.

“Tercius… just consider it once more. There are so many things—” Mistress Kalina said.

“Kalina, the boy’s path, while potentially dangerous for him, is the one with the biggest chance of succeeding while walking a thin, neutral line. It is the optimal solution in all ways that matter.”

“Optimal?! Not if something goes wrong. Not if he dies. Mistress, you stay out of this. He is my Disciple.” Mistress Kalina snapped at Mistress Prime’era. Even as she said it, Mistress Kalina’s eyes went wider, likely realizing that not only had she been disrespectful, but that Tercius probably understood everything she said. Slowly, his Mentor seemed to shrink as she looked from Mistress Prime’era to Tercius, unable to speak a single word. For their part, both Mistress Prime’era and Tercius gave the sudden silence space to spread and clear the air.

"I am doing this. The only way you can stop me from doing this is by force," Tercius finally spoke slowly while keeping eye contact with his Mentor. "And that would have to be against my will."

His Mentor was breathing harder now and a bit of rouge was overcoming her tanned cheeks.

“Then that’s concluded.” Mistress Prime’era said, standing up to go. “Come, Kalina, let’s leave Tercius to finish his preparations. Tercius, I will be here in an hour.”

As they left him alone, Tercius looked at the large blanket he had been folding when they arrived and he shook his head. He found a chair and sank into it with a sigh.

***

*****

***

“I just need to make an incision this big,” Mistress Prime’era said, showing off a long, pale index finger. “Right below your ribcage so that I can get physical access to your Well.”

Tercius nodded slowly. He did anticipate this, but hearing it said…

“I assure you that besides being a Mistress of Enchantment, I am a Mistress of Healing,” Mistress Prime’era assured him with her warm voice and Tercius saw Perdinar nodding again. “Do you know what that means?”

Tercius nodded. "That you, Mistress, have been recognized as a competent Enhancer and Healer by the respective Guilds. It means that you can practice those crafts professionally,"

Mistress Prime’era nodded. “Enchantments done on bodies are one of my specialties. Do you have any questions before we begin?”

Tercius swallowed and pointed at a few open containers full of differently colored liquids. “I do, Mistress. What is that?”

Mistress Prime'era gave him over one of the containers. As Tercius took over the container he saw that the green liquid was as viscous as honey. "The liquid is designed to be used for enchantments on several internal organs, the Well being the prime target. With proper spells employed, the fluid latches onto the outer layer of the organ. Unfortunately, even with its help, the enchantment itself will start to degrade anywhere between fourteen to seventeen days. After that happens, you will start to feel your Well again and from that moment on you can count that the enchantment will be as good as gone."

“I see. And what happens to the leftovers of this liquid, Mistress?”

“After the enchantment fails the leftovers of the medium are absorbed by the body. It’s made to be completely harmless to it,” Mistress Prime’era said, suddenly dipping a finger into the green honey and putting the colored finger into her mouth.

“Is this enchantment done on my Well or on this medium, Mistress?” Tercius asked.

“It’s actually done on both, to prolong the duration of the enchantment. Without the medium, any enchantment I do would likely fail within a day or three. The body itself is a poor holder of enchantments, the Well being counted as the most resistant organ to take enchantments. That “impermanence of the enchantment vessel”, as we call it, is partly solved by the use of mediums I mentioned, which alleviates some of the issues that surround internal enchantments.”

“I’ve read that metals are considered as excellent for holding enchantments, Mistress. Can’t certain metals also be used as these internal mediums?” Tercius asked.

Mistress Prime'era nodded, giving him a wide smile. "Metals generally are one of the best vessels for holding enchantments for while they also change over time, they do so at a much slower rate than a living organism does. And you are right, certain metals could be used for this, but there is simply no need for it. It's a balance of sorts. You see, regardless of the vessel type that houses the enchantment, the natural flow of mana inside your body will erode all but the most potent of enchantments and when the enchantment itself is gone, the metal-made vessel that would remain behind is just a hunk of metal. The soft medium you hold provides a perfectly appropriate vessel, in all ways required. No more, no less, but rather just right."

Tercius nodded. “And why exactly can’t this enchantment be done somewhere on me, Mistress? On my skin?”

"If this were the case where you just needed to hide the emanations of your Well, I would recommend an obscurity tattoo to be done right below your ribcage. When done properly and with appropriate materials, external body enchantments like that can last decades. But when I take into account where you're going, just hiding emanations of your Well won't be nearly enough. The Well itself needs to be hidden completely and utterly, all of the traces of both it and the enchantment that hides it, need to be blended and erased seamlessly out of existence. That means that many of the methods available to me can't be used at all, simply on account of their potency. Power, where there should be none, is quite suspicious to a trained sense, believe me. What I am offering here is not the only method that's done, but it is proven as capable of hiding the Well so subtly and do so in a manner so complete that there is no Spirit or Magos capable of peering past it. For two or so weeks, for you and everyone else, the Well is simply gone."

Tercius looked down at the container in his hands. All of this was a bit hard to swallow… But hard or not it needed to be done.

“What should I expect?”

It was Mistress Prime’era turn to be surprised. “What do you mean?”

“When you open me up, what should I expect to see and feel? Blood and pain I can guess, but should I know of anything else?”

Mistress Prime'era's face went blank then surprised and he saw his Mentor and Mistress Helfira pay close attention now. Perdinar was smiling.

"While I work, you will be under a pain-numbing spell and a sleeping spell. You won't feel or see a thing. When you wake up, your Well will be sealed, gone from any and all senses." Mistress Prime'era finally answered.

Tercius considered asking about staying awake to see the procedure, but he wasn’t sure if that course of action was advisable. Questions of if he could trust this group of four not to go tampering with his body roved on his mind, but he figured that if they wanted to tamper, they did not need his permission, nor did they need him passed out.

To tell the truth, Tercius was curious if his Well had changed from the last time he saw the projection of it, back in The House of Pain and Pleasure, but he had no idea how he would react to seeing his insides live. He could even act irrationally or out of instinct in the moment. It was indeed better for him to be put to sleep.

Tercius licked his dry lips, thinking of Rona and Septimus. He breathed out his nerves and nodded.

“Let’s do this.”

“Lay down and rest easy. This will be done within a few minutes.”

***

*****

***

When Tercius woke up, he felt as if he was halved.

“There you are,” Mistress Prime’era said, suddenly appearing over him. “How are you feeling?”

“Good,”

There was no soreness on his bare chest, no pain, no physical discomfort, but he could not feel that part of him that he spent the past months working with, and somehow that unsettled him. His Well was not there. Half of his mana pool was not there. Hours upon hours of work gone, vanished into thin air.

Tercius got up slowly, trying to see if anything would hurt. Nothing did. He wasn’t even dizzy. It was as if Mistress Prime’era didn’t cut him up, lathered his Well in honey and enchantments, and stitched him back together.

Maybe she just took it out…

Shaking his head away from the errant thought, Tercius looked around the room. Only his Mentor and Mistress Prime’era were present.

“What now?”

“Did you separate the things that you will take with you?”

Tercius nodded. “I did.”

“Then this is it. If you are feeling up to it, we can leave at any time,” his Mentor said. “I need to ask you this one more time. Are you sure that you want to do this?”

“Am I sure that I want to go and fix the mistake that is of my own doing?” Tercius said quietly. “Very much so. Wouldn’t you?”

Mistress Kalina didn’t respond.

Within half an hour, the five of them left the Everstorm Citadel behind in a large glowing orb. They flew north and at some point Perdinar just said goodbye and jumped out of the orb and into the storm, immediately vanishing from sight. Mistress Prime’era didn’t seem to find it strange, but everyone else kept looking at where the crazy man had been a moment ago.

Soon after, Mistress Prime'era landed the orb on the naked ground and started casting a long spell of some kind. It took her a few minutes, but she ultimately completed it. The spell enveloped the orb and with a kaleidoscope of flashing colors, they were gone from Sky Rending Mountains.