What is Experience? The dictionary defines Experience as a resource you get when killing that lets you get levels. Scholars don't agree why Experience comes from. Some scholars think experience is a reward from the gods. Some scholars think you take part of the monsters soul and put it in our soul. Some scholars think it was made by Yalba Yaldabaoth to make us killing each other because he's mean. When I grow up I will get lots of Experience and be really strong. In conclusion, people don't know where Experience comes from but it makes you really strong.

-Essay by Cob, age 8, for Mrs. Bloodhammer's class

After the new skill took form, Mud felt an intuitive grasp of many aspects of the surrounding area it had previously ignored. Even without using its normal senses, Mud knew the exact time of day (which humans divided cleanly into 20 hours, it now knew), the date on the common sapient calendar, the local temperature, humidity, and air pressure, the lunar phase, what crops would grow best in the soil, and countless other details. The most immediately useful to Mud, however, was information about indigenous beasts. Amongst them were many that the golem recognized, such as Green Slimes and Red Deer, but also some it had never encountered, like Goblins, Kobolds, and White Mink. The list was not flawless, however; Mud immediately noticed that "golem" and "demon" did not appear in this intuitive knowledge of local monsters.

Refocusing on the immediate task, Mud returned to hunting slimes. After searching from the treetops for nearly an hour, Mud spotted a target and began an assault with loud phantom noises. Once the magical beast was suitably agitated and flailing at the air, Mud dropped silently on top of it with a resounding wet slap, followed by a series of rapid squelching. Without letting up the mental assault, Mud tore large chunks off of the slime, rapidly reducing its size. As it turned out, the kind of attack Mud feared the most, tearing, was also highly effective against slimes.

[Experience Gained: 27]

Despite the victory, Mud was not pleased. The amount of experience had shrunk yet again. If this rate continued, slimes would give nothing by level eleven, and would not be worth the golem's time even sooner. Additionally, the experiment with Paracusia had been a failure. Despite using the spell for the entire combat, no skill level had been gained. Although the golem had been using both of its spells frequently between hunts, Psionics was still sitting at level one. Deciding it needed to solve this issue as soon as possible, Mud turned back towards the The Master's estate.

Less than an hour later, Mud entered the mansion. As it opened the doors, it was greeted by discordant human screams. Mud was somewhat disappointed the demon hadn't simply killed the humans. It was impossible for the golem to order the humans to be killed or even imply as such, but it had been careful to not specifically order Jabrax to keep them alive either. While Mud couldn't kill humans, there was no need to go out of its way to protect them, either. So long as the actual choice to kill them was made freely by a different consciousness, the golem would feel no responsibility for the deaths. Unfortunately, it seemed Jabrax had other plans for the duo.

Identifying the location of the demon in the basement, Mud sent a burst of Mind mana through the floor towards her location. "I have need of you. Come to the entrance." Immediately the screaming stopped, and a moment later Jabrax flew up the stairs and landed lightly before the golem.

"What's up, boss?" she asked with crossed arms, slightly covered in blood.

Replying flatly, Mud began its explanation. "I have been using the spells I have learned extensively, but I have not gained any skill levels in Psionics. How do I raise my Psionics skill levels?"

With a frown and scrunched eyebrows, the demon spoke. "That's all? You could have just come downstairs and asked me. There was no need for me to stop..." Jabrax turned her head to the side and huffed before continuing. "Whatever. You don't learn skills by just doing them over and over. Well, that sort of works, but it's a really dumb way. Your skill level goes up when you learn more about the skill. When you got psionics you learned an Ideal Form, right? What was it, mind or something?"

"The Ideal of Control."

"Right, that's it. You need to meditate on control. Focus on what it feels like to have control to strengthen your understanding of the Ideal. It helps if you can immerse yourself physically in the element too, like taking a swim for Water or burying yourself for Earth. For Control, I guess you should give someone tons of orders and think about how it feels to be in control?" Eyes shooting open, Jabrax realized what she said and stammered "actually that might not-"

"Lie down on the floor."

With a scowl, the demon collapsed to a prone position.

"Get up and jump ten times."

The blood-soaked demon climbed to her feet and did ten short hops. "Look I don't think-"

"Bark like a wolf."

"Bow wow, Mud wait, you're a golem right?"

"Do a flip. That is correct."

Jabrax continued talking as she did an elegant backflip. "Golems love getting orders, right? Why don't you think about how it felt being ordered by your creator? That's like the inverse of control, so the ideal of control would just be the opposite of how you feel when you got orders." Noticing the taskmaster had stopped, the demon continued with more confidence. "When you control someone, you're letting them feel the joy you did when you follow Cithlar's orders. It's probably a bit of an unusual way to meditate about it, but it should be perfect for someone like you."

Mud thought back to the feeling of fulfillment and purpose when it followed The Master's orders, and the pain when it failed them. Being controlled, and the subject failing their master; these too were important aspects of the Ideal of Control.

[Psionics Skill increased to level 2]

[Force Bolt spell obtained]

"It worked. I will continue training with this method."

Jabrax smiled at the success of her redirection.

"Stand on your head and say the alphabet backwards." The smile on her face froze as she slowly leaned down and placed her hands on the floor. Of course this efficiency freak wouldn't just do one or the other, she lamented.

Several hours later, as the sun sunk lower in the sky, Mud was convinced by an exhausted Jabrax to postpone training. She would need some time to create a tonic for the mayor human, and would be unable to complete it while receiving unpredictable orders from Mud.

Returning to the cool air outside the mansion, Mud considered its next action. The slimes were quickly becoming less valuable, and it would need to find a new source of Experience soon. Thinking back to the wisdom brought by Almanac, Mud decided to search for the locations of the other endemic monsters it hadn't seen so far. Turning east towards the rocky foothills of a mountain range visible from the treetops, the golem set off. If Almanac were to be believed, that was the perfect environment for Goblins and Kobolds.