“Normally, this would take months to teach.” Val’Rok gestured to a chair by the fire for Alex to sit in, then scuttled over to some shelves and began rifling through various devices. “But with your level of experience in mana manipulation and alchemy, let's see if we can’t crash you through the basics. If you do well enough, I'll get you access to the more advanced mana technique guides from the library’s lower floors.”

“Alright!” Alex rubbed his hands together in anticipation, then startled when a particularly loud pop exploded from the fireplace. He shifted his chair. “Uh, Professor?”

“Yes?” Val’Rok continued his search through the shelves of sinister looking devices. Alex shuddered when he picked up what looked like a fan made of knife blades.

“Why the fireplace?” He said. “I mean, forceballs, light spells and magic items would be more efficient as a light source, and more suitable for a mana manipulation professor, right?”

“Ah, you might be right on that account,” Val’Rok said. “But all the talk of the expedition has me feeling a little…rustic. And longing for the smell and pop of fire in the office. When I get tired of it, I’ll have it remov—Aha!”

The lizardman turned, holding a device that looked part funnel and part corkscrew which grew narrower and narrower from the funnel shaped top, down to the tip of its spiralling ‘tube.’ “This device is designed to test and train your mana senses’ sensitivity, and your mana manipulation’s precision. If you want to run a mana current through the individual fibres that surround your mana pool, you have to be able to sense them with the strictest precision so you can then run the exact amount of mana through each fibre.”

“What happens if I pour too much current in?”

“The fibres will break under the strain and your mana pool goes ‘pop’ like a paper balloon!” Val’Rok grinned.

Alex stared at him…not really surprised by his reaction.

“What? There’re reasons why two out of every three mana manipulation students quit before they even get to second year. By third year, the attrition rate is even steeper. But luckily, you’ll have me right here for guidance, so there won’t be any…unhappy little accidents, as it were. Now here—” The lizardman extended a copper wire from the bottom of the funnel’s spiralling tube. “—hold this wire.”

Alex eyed the wire with mistrust.

‘I really need to stop taking suspicious things from suspicious wizards,’ he said. ‘Actually, if I stop doing that I’ll probably have to drop out of school…’

He took the wire and felt a small jolt from it.

Mana current was already running through it, which quickly faded.

“Hah!” Val’Rok laughed that high-pitched laugh of his. “Forgive the prank, I was just running a little electrical magic through the wire. You really ought to stop taking suspicious things from suspicious wizards.”

Alex looked past Val’Rok at a small window that led to a drop hundreds of feet below. For a few heartbeats, he calculated whether he could pick up the professor fast enough to throw him through the window before the Mark stopped him.

“Now, I want you to run your mana through the wire and into the spiral, then into the funnel. If you can do that, then I’ll lend it to you. And by using this little device, you’ll be able to practise sensitivity and precision with mana.”

Alex examined the wide end of the funnel. “Shouldn’t I start there, Professor?”

Val’Rok grinned. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Just try it.”

Frowning, Alex poured his mana into the wire…and immediately found a problem. He couldn’t find an…entry point. Nowhere for his mana to enter the device. It was like trying to thread a needle without knowing where the eye was. He tried sensing for it, but felt nothing but metal.

“Okay, here we go.” Closing his eyes, Alex inhaled deeply, shutting out his other senses to only focus on mana. He felt around slowly, incrementally, searching for the beginning of the pathway.

‘Slower, Alex,’ he thought. ‘Slower now…remember in the Cave of the Traveller you used the Mark to find those pathways in the dungeon core. This time, try finding this device’s pathway without the Mark’s help.’

‘Slower…slower…slower…’

In the Cave, the Mark had helped uncover hidden patches and discolourations along the walls. So, finding the pathway in the device would be a similar task, but now, he wanted to test himself and see what he could do on his own.

‘Slowly…slowly…wait.’ He stopped.

His mana had caught a snag around the edge of the wire. Gently probing the area, examining it for…

“Yes,” he whispered.

There it was. The entrance to the device. Alex had not only found it, but he’d done it on his own, with no help from the Mark. Satisfaction grew in him as he eagerly sent his mana into the wire, searching ahead. Slowly, cautiously moving forward until he bumped the side of the pathway within the wire, and was ejected: it seemed that any contact with the sides immediately broke the connection.

He started again, resisting the urge to swear.

Moving as slow as honey in winter, he eased forward, finding the task easier the second time around…but still very finicky: the pathway in Val’Rok’s device was narrower than in any magical device he’d ever connected to before. Trying to guide his mana through it felt like he was trying to thread a thick rope through a needle’s eye.

Concentrating intently, Alex manipulated his mana, thinning it to a narrower and narrower stream. It called for precision, and a large measure of patience if he wanted to successfully thread that symbolic rope—so to speak—through the needle’s eye again.

…he really needed to stop thinking about needles.

Gradually his mana thinned enough from twisting and stretching it over and over like clay, until it formed a thin, narrow point like a sharpened arrow tip, ready to find its target; he shot his mana straight for the entrance, it found the pathway again. ‘Yes!’

He’d done it, he’d gotten through the first part all on his own—with zero help from the Mark two times now. A moment for a little mental congratulations, then, it was Mark activation time. Past successes flowed into his mind to guide him through the path. The first memory it brought up was the success he’d just achieved. Alex smiled, knowing he was more than just a man with a magic Mark.

He continued smiling as his mana passed through the small end of the spirally part of the funnel. Basic pattern recognition dictated that the pathway should widen when he reached the funnel…but he had a feeling it wouldn’t be so easy. There was no way Val’Rok would give him a tool that became easier the farther he went. After all, where would the fun be in that for the wizard?

Cautiously, Alex manoeuvred his mana to the edge of the funnel’s spiral.

‘And there it is.’

The pathway didn’t widen. At all.

Quite the opposite.

Instead of widening when it reached the funnel, the minute mana pathway split into a multitude of narrower paths, each fanning out in different directions. To move his mana through the next part of the device, he’d need to sharpen it, break it up, then try sending the pieces through the web of pathways all at the same time…

Unless…maybe he could travel one pathway at a time?

He carefully probed the device with his mana.

No.

There was a lock on every path: if he sent mana into only one or two, the device would break the connection and eject him. Then he’d have to start all over again.

He looked up at the professor of Mana Manipulation who was watching him with a broad self-satisfied grin plastered on his face. It seemed he was quite proud of the tricky little device.

With a grunt Alex tried splitting his mana into smaller streams.

He creased his brow in concentration, twisting his mana into narrower and narrower points. The sensation of passing his mana through a device that was full of twisting pathways that could lock him out without notice, was familiar. He remembered well how the dungeon core had fought him back in the Cave of the Traveller.

And that was when it was almost emptied of mana.

‘If I can’t do even this much, how the hell am I going to deal with a fully powered dungeon core?’ he thought.

He was reaching his limit, but he kept going, shaping his mana into a finer point, trying to keep the thread of power from snapping. It was a strain. Like trying to spin a strand of wool into thinner and thinner filaments while keeping each one intact.

He called on the Mark again.

…but, it wasn’t quite enough to help him.

And…the thread snapped.

“That’s enough,” Val’Rok said. “You look like you’re going to give yourself a stroke.”

Alex opened his eyes, feeling a pounding headache beginning.

“I can give it another shot, professor.”

“Oh no, that’s enough for today. You accomplished more than I thought you would: my third year students typically take a good week or two to get through the wire and make it to the entrance of the spiral. You did very well, Alex. You just need more practise time. So, I’ll let you hold onto the device for now: once you’ve mastered it, come see me and I can recommend some books on more advanced mana manipulation techniques for you to get from the library.”

“Right…” Alex said. Turning the device over in his hands. “What’s it called, anyway?”

“Ito’s Spiral,” Val’Rok said. “It’s a device so frustrating that it might drive you a little mad…but if you master it, you won’t regret it.”

Val’Rok was right about one thing.

Ito’s Spiral was absolutely maddening.

At first, it had started out as just a device to practise his mana manipulation between learning summoning spells, but now, it had become an obsession. He brought it with him when he was spell practising, he brought it to class to use between classes, he brought it to the encampment to practise with during lunch breaks.

He’d even brought it to Shale’s workshop.

Lagor didn’t even try to hide his disgust for Ito’s Spiral the first time Alex brought it to work with him.

“Ugh, get that awful thing away from me,” the orc crafter said, glaring at it from across the breakroom. “That thing led me to more nightmares during third year mana manipulation than the damned Illusionary Hell Box did, which I didn’t believe was possible, until it happened.”

He snorted, his short tusks chewing on his upper lip. “Even just laying eyes on it makes me want to smash it into a thousand pieces…and besides, aren’t you in your second year? How the hell did you get that?”

“Professor Val’Rok lent it to me,” Alex said, already pouring his mana into the wire. The initial part of Ito’s Spiral had become a lot easier to negotiate after days of practice, but he was still having problems breaking his mana into multiple threads. Thanks to the Mark, he’d gotten to the point where he would split his streams of mana into two without breaking them, but his control fell apart once the streams narrowed.

They’d either sputter out, or crash into the walls of the pathways.

Alex told himself he was still making good progress, but he really couldn’t help but feel his progress was actually at a crawl. He’d been learning a new summoning spell almost everyday, but his mana manipulation training felt slower than an iced-over snail.

“How far are you with it?” Lagor peered at the device, his face like a thundercloud.

“At the beginning of the spiral,” Alex said. “Then when I break my mana into two smaller threads, that’s where I lose control.”

Lagor blinked. “Wait…you can split your mana into threads? Already?”

“Yeah, but I can’t control them yet. They go crazy.”

“Go crazy? Not…just fall apart?”

“Yeah, that’s what’s been happening for days now, and it still happens—” he growled. “—when I try splitting them into three, I feel like my head’s gonna split in two.”

“I remember that feeling well…still, already able to split your mana into two when the pathway’s so narrow. That’s…huh.” Lagor seemed deep in thought. “Alright, I’m done, I can’t even look at that thing anymore.”

The orc crafter stomped off, muttering to himself.

Alex really couldn’t blame him. He’d often felt like throwing the device against the wall, even presently, but fought the urge away, continuing to pour his concentration into it.

Days crept by in a mix of classes, being tortured by Ito’s Spiral, and learning summoning spells on his own. A week passed, seeming to both drag on and fly by, until once again, he and his friends were heading back to Thameland.

What awaited them there were…unexpected developments.

And unexpected faces.