Sir Alexander Roth, first of his name, quested up the tower to meet the evil sorcerer Val’Rok. Well actually, he simply climbed the stairs to go see his former professor.

Who, to be truthful, was probably at least a little evil.

And come to think of it, a vague memory of a great uncle also named Ale—

“Aaaaaargh!”

A scream echoed from above followed by the rapid thudding of feet taking stairs two and three at a time. Alex tensed, reaching into his bag for a booby-trapped potion.

Claygon raised all four arms, levelling them up the stairs.

Was it a demon? Had something escaped a summoning circle?

Did—

“Waaaaargh!” an orcish student appeared on the steps, wailing like a frightened child sprinting past Alex and Claygon like they were invisible.

“Come back!” Val’Rok’s voice cried from above. “You’re not going to get very far in wizardry with such thin skin! Come now, when I was learning wizardry we used the Illusionary Hell Box on each other for pranks, not just learning!”

A high-pitched laugh echoed through the tower, mixing with the retreating student’s fading screams.

Okay, maybe more than a little evil.

“Ugh, let’s keep going, Claygon,” Alex said, taking the stairs two at a time.

Professor Val’Rok’s voice echoed through the upper halls of the tower as the young wizard and golem made their way to his office.

“Well, I trust the rest of you won’t be so cowardly,” the lizardman was saying to someone.

Alex was sure he heard a whimper as he rounded the corner nearest the office. The door was open, and flickering light spilled into the hallway along with the surprising scent of woodsmoke.

Through the doorway, he could see Professor Val’Rok lecturing three students standing in a row before him. They were as still as statues, the kind that didn’t shoot horrible fire-beams of death, he noted.

“Professor, you have to let us do something different for the assignment. That device…it’s cruel!” one of the trio said. “It’s unnatural!”

“No, it’s quite natural, actually,” their professor said, conspicuously leaving out any mention of the ‘cruel’ part. “If you have no spine for thi—Aha! Here’s someone with some spine!”

A reptilian hand pointed at Alex just as he knocked on the doorframe. “Alex, you didn’t take my class this year, you traitor!”

“Uh…” Alex started. “I have a pretty full course load, sir.”

“Hmph!” the professor sniffed. “Well, don’t just stand there, come in, come in.”

He hurried inside.

A fire blazed in a hearth, filling the room with flickering light, pleasant heat, and the reason for the feeling of surprise he’d felt earlier. He was sure the fireplace hadn’t been there the last time he’d visited Val’Rok’s office, and the shadows it was casting made the room feel even eerier than before.

Dozens of devices lined the space—big, small and in-between—each with one purpose, to train mana manipulation. No two were alike; rows of glass tubes, brass spiders, and even some Alex recognised from first year mana manipulation class, and Challenging the Exam for Credit.

He might’ve felt a bit nostalgic returning to Val’Rok’s office, but with the air of creepiness permeating the chamber, all sentimental feelings were squashed like an awakening pest. Firelight cascading over the mana manipulation devices cast long, flickering shadows on the walls like giant, quivering insects.

The lizardman’s reptilian eyes glowed red in the firelight, adding to the unnerving atmosphere. It was no wonder the students were trembling.

“Is, uh, this a bad time?” Alex asked.

“Nonsense!” Val’Rok’s voice cracked like a whip, making the line of students flinch. “If anything, your timing couldn’t be more perfect. Alex, do you know what an Illusionary Hell Box is?”

“Uh, yeah,” Alex answered slowly, looking at the strange device in the professor’s hands.

It was a cross between an iron helmet, and a monstrous spider: an iron cap with ten arachnoid legs, curled and ready to snap around someone’s head like a cage. Alex had only seen them diagrammed in books…which had been enough to make him never want to see one used in real life. Yet, here he was.

“Well?” Val’Rok waved his hand expectantly.

“Eh? Oh you want me to say what it is! Sorry, professor. It’s an illusionary device that trains someone’s ability to sense mana, but about a hundred years ago a committee at Generasi banned them, concluding that it was too ‘cruel’ of a training tool—”

“A ruling that was overturned,” Val’Rok quickly added, while his students seemed to be shrinking like they were willing themselves to disappear from sight.

The tallest of the trio had opened his mouth, preparing to say something, but went quiet instead.

“...yes it was overturned about twenty years ago,” Alex continued, making sure to watch the glint growing in Val’Rok’s eyes. “But it hasn’t really gotten popular because of its horrific—”

“Details, details,” the wizard waved his hand dismissively. “Just get on with what it does, my boy!”

“Okay, okay so it trains the mana senses by forcing you to rely on them. The cap sits on the crown of your head, then the spidery ‘legs’ wrap around your entire head. When the device gets turned on, it does its best to drown you in a horrible nightmare of illusions that trick the senses…except for the ability to sense mana, that is. Then, to get it off your head: either someone has to release you, or you have to guide your mana—while the illusions are trying to scare you to death—through a bunch of magical pathways that unlock the cage and stop the illusions.

“Exactly!” Val’Rok laughed, waving around the Illusionary Hell Box. All three students took a step back like he was waving a burning torch at them. “It’s a fun little activity that’ll really make sure you know what you’re doing. You’ll learn quite quickly if it feels like your life's on the line, trust me! Observe!”

‘Uh oh,’ Alex thought as the Illusionary Hell Box was shoved into his hands.

“Alex here is one of the best mana manipulators from all the first year students I‘ve taught in the last half-decade,” Val’Rok clapped him on the shoulder. “In the cause of advancing young minds, would you mind showing our friends here just how this device can be mastered?”

The young wizard gave it a brief examination. “Well, I’m always up for a challenge.”

Without hesitating, Alex took the device and placed it on the crown of his head like a watch cap.

Click.

The arachnoid legs came down on all sides, forming a cage.

“Here it comes,” Val’Rok announced, placing a hand on the device and running his mana through it.

And then the world vanished.

In a heartbeat, Alex found himself in a nightmare realm. Frothing monsters crawled through living shadows that twisted through the room. The scent of blood, fire, and rot stung his nostrils. Screams and the wet sound of ripping meat contorted his hearing. The taste of ash filled his mouth, while the sensation of scores of insectile legs crawled along his skin.

Terror…did not consume him.

At all.

All the alien images and sounds just reminded him of a particularly nasty session with the Mark. And he knew well how to handle those. With a deep breath, he felt out the mana pathways in the device, steadily guiding his mana through them.

One after another, little mana locks popped open and—as they did—the illusions became more intense, attempting to overwhelm his senses. The Fool smiled, then called on the Mark.

Images of all of his past successes with mana manipulation, including assisting Lagor in Shale’s workshop, rose in his mind, guiding him effortlessly through the mana pathways. The task became so easy, that he actually startled when the arachnoid legs surrounding his head snapped open.

The room immediately returned to its ‘normal’ eeriness as every illusion faded away; all three students were silent, Val’Rok grinned and licked his right eye.

“And it’s as simple as that,” the lizardman wizard stressed. “See, nothing to worry about when it comes to our little Illusionary Hell Box! It’s harmless.”

The trio were staring at Alex with a mixture of bewilderment, resentment…and maybe even a little hatred.

Why were—

“And that’s why your request to have the device removed from the course syllabus is denied!” Val’Rok grinned. “If a young man with only a single year of mana manipulation training can handle it so easily, so can you! So, off you go. You’ll need every minute of practise you can get if you’re going to master it in time for the midterm.”

Alex paled, looking at the trio apologetically as they slunk off, glaring daggers at him.

“Now that that’s out of the way,” the lizardman wizard said. “What can I do for you?”

“Well, I was wondering if you could help me out with something, professor, I’m trying to break through to third-tier spells—”

“Already? Most don’t reach third-tier until close to the end of second year.”

“Yeah, well I think I’m getting close to some kind of breakthrough,” Alex said. “I’m just trying to practise as many second-tier spells as I can right now.”

Val’Rok made a clicking sound, like he was running his tongue back and forth along the back of his fangs. “I hear a ‘but.’ ”

“Well, the problem is that I run out of mana too quickly. I could get way more practice in if I could regenerate mana quicker.”

“I see…” Val’Rok’s nostrils flared. “So you’re looking for a short-cut. Alex…more advanced techniques are gated off for a reason. For someone who only knows second-tier spells, what I taught last year should be good enough...”

Alex winced. Was he stuck now?

“I guess you’re ri—” He started to say.

“...good enough for most second year students, I mean,” Val’Rok grinned. “I’ve been keeping tabs on your progress through Toraka Shale and Professor Jules: they tell me you’ve been advancing nicely in alchemy and mana manipulation on your own. It seems your skill in mana manipulation far exceeds your spellcasting ability. Which isn’t…typical for most, I have to say. Usually it’s one’s skill in mana manipulation that lags behind. But, judging by how quickly you unlocked the Illusionary Hell Box, I’d say you’re probably equal to an advanced third year student when it comes to mana manipulation. A very advanced one at that.”

“Oh, why thanks,” Alex said.

“Mhmmm, so I could see why you’d need a technique with a little more…oomph,” Val’Rok said. “It seems you’ve outgrown the last one I taught you, so maybe I can give you a little bit of a pointer: a preview for your next class with me.”

Professor Val’Rok linked his fingers together, cracking his knuckles. “Let’s see how quickly I can cram something into your brain.” Looking around his office, he appeared to be struck by sudden inspiration when he scooped up a hunk of meat sitting on a plate on his desk. “Tell me, what is this?”

“Your lunch,” Alex said.

“...and?”

“Raw meat.”

“...more specifically.”

Alex leaned over, smelling the meat. “Venison, probably. With some spices. There’s salt…peppercorn—”

“Keep things straightforward, Alex. What we have here is muscle tissue. A big hunk of muscle tissue.”

“Oh yeah, right, that makes sense.”

“How does muscle work?”

“Well it contracts, using our bones as levers and exerting force.”

“Perfect,” Val’Rok said. “And have you ever looked at muscle tissue through a picoscope?”

“No, I can’t say I have,” Alex said, scrutinising the venison.

“Well, if you do, you’ll see that it’s made up of multiple tiny fibres that work together like threads tied together to make a rope. The fibres are the building blocks of muscle, like stone bricks are the building blocks of well…buildings.”

Val’Rok let out a high-pitched laugh at his own observation and pun.

“Right,” Alex pictured what the professor had said. “That makes sense: it’s like how grains of flour plus other ingredients become bread dough when you add water. Or how ropes attached to other ropes come together to make a net…” He thought back to his recent confrontation with the two dungeons. “Or how individual members of a team make the team stronger by working together.”

“Nicely said. Now, the funny thing about the edges of our mana pools—” Val’Rok tapped his belly. “Is that they’re also composed of tiny fibres: if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be ‘flexible’ enough to stretch and grow as we expand our mana. And if the edges of mana pools were rigid, they’d just shatter as our mana grew. Now—relatedly—do you know what happens when a creature…let’s say a toad, is struck by lightning?”

“Same thing that happens to anything else? It dies?” Alex said.

Val’Rok gave him a look.

“Okay, okay, they spasm and stiffen, then die.”

“That’s right. By running an electrical current through the muscle fibres of the body, lightning causes muscle to contract, including the heart, which can cause it to stop. Utterly. Conversely, electricity can be used to stimulate the muscle fibres of the heart to start beating again if it does stop.”

“Right…” Alex said. “So…magical fibres make up the edges of our mana pools, which generate more mana.”

“Correct,” Val’Rok said.

“And we can use mana to stimulate certain nodes in our pools—kinda like milking a cow—to make them produce more mana.”

“Correct.”

“But…” Alex paused, thinking his way through. “What if we stimulated the individual fibres that form the edges of our mana pools without magic, making all of them regenerate mana at once.”

The lizardman grinned, revealing rows of sharp fangs. “And you’ve just uncovered the basic foundation of advanced mana regeneration techniques.”