This new aura took a bit of mental fortitude and manipulation to get used too. I would believe I had mastered it enough to move, only to have it fizzle out and dissolve as soon as I tried, or worse, transition into Beleros Aura and heal everything in range. It would have been nice if the System menu came with controls. A slider or on-off switch, but there wasn’t a toggle I could turn on or a cheat that allowed System to take over and handle the aura. I had managed to create a new spell, now I had to master it.

Deciding to incorporate the tricks I’d used when I’d entered the Ring of Hidden Depth's alternate realm, I sat down and began meditating. It was easy enough for me to activate the aura, my will, focus, and intent were firmly established, I just needed to create a magical ‘muscle’ memory to ingrain the spell into my magical matrix.

Pathways and circulation channels needed to be formed within my magical neural net so that this aura was an instinctive ability, it needed to become intrinsic, something so deeply rooted that it became as much a part of me as Belenos Aura.

Because Aura’s worked differently than spells creating an Aura was just the first step. With a spell, casting ended once intent was released. With Aura’s intent was both the end of the process and the beginning. It was really similar to a kind of computer program that looped.

Cyronax Aura Intent = Input (Will)

While Cyronax Aura Intent = 0;

Then Cyronax Aura Intent = Off.

While Cyronax Aura Intent = 1;

Then Cyronax Aura Intent = On

End Process (Off).

I needed to soft code a toggle that allowed me to turn the aura on and off at will, and as long as I choose to keep the aura active, make sure the aura would continue to radiate.

There were a few other fiddly bits I needed to work through. Knowing how to extend the aura, how much power was required for a specific radius. What and how much the temperature of the surrounding area was affected. And if the aura acted differently towards living organisms, liquids, and materials.

Having the ring helped. After hours of attempting to get control, I had given up and entered the dimensional space the ring contained. Using the teaching Entity along with the time dilation, I was able to get control of the aura and perfect my control. If not for the ring’s advantages, in order for me to master Cyronax Aura would mean that the process had to take place in the real world and required real-time considerations.

Time was not subjective. Between learning to understand the function of the Aura, exiting and testing my success in the real world, then re-entering the ring to build on my success, took time. And as I trained, the passage of day to night, and night to day passed for all of us. I would have hated to have tried this without the functionality of the ring that allowed what was really a tedious process, to be done in a matter of seconds.

The task was frustrating, advances occurring slowly. Beleros Aura did not want to play nicely with Cyronax attempting to exploit the mana channels I had that were ingrained into my astral form. But painstakingly, I made progress.

I created the pathways and circulated the energies needed to build a stable infrastructure of magical conduits that would allow me to internalize the process and automate it. The process, using meditation, perception, and my entire concentration took a little over 28 hours.

[Cyronax Aura – Level Up! - Journeyman Rank.]

The system’s notification took the guesswork out of my accomplishment, and let me know when I had reached a level that gave me control. I knew I had succeeded in leveling up the Aura to a useable level.

I was famished and parched by the time I finally released my will. My body was screaming at me demanding both nourishment and water. I desperately needed to use the restroom. And my legs had cramped from sitting in a lotus position, the pain excruciating as blood flow was restored.

I had no idea how those cultivation masters I’d read about in Manga or Wuxia managed to sit for days, months, and years, without their muscles atrophying. They were always able to spring up fresh and capable, no matter how long they had spent cultivating. I suppose it was the difference between reality and fiction. You could get away with anything in a novel. But for me, I had to send a blast of healing magic towards my legs in order to ease the cramps and allow me to stand.

I held off on experimenting and validating my mastery of Cyronax Aura. My conviction that I had progressed and mastered the aura was secondary, and really unneeded after the System notification, but my next attempt to circumvent the Maze’s protection would wait until I met my body's need for food and water.

My hunger was such that even Sidhe trail rations, rations that came in two forms was satisfying. The first type was pretty standard, very like a trail mix compacted and pressed into wedges, it tasted amazing. Nuts, dried fruits, honey, and some type of grain that was oatmeal-like in appearance and taste made for a protein bar very similar to something I might find on Earth.

There was also jerky stored, but I had never been a fan, the taste not something I enjoyed, and I was happy I wouldn’t need to taste test this product, because while the trail mix had eased my immediate hunger pangs, there was actually a stew available.

While I had been in meditation and experimenting, the rest of my party had set up camp. Unsure how long I would need, they had organized a hunt, established a cook-site, and someone had enough field experience to make a campfire stew.

The jerky which had been reconstituted with some freshwater was thankfully soon replaced by fresh meat. Tubers and root vegetables had been foraged to add to the pot, as well as some of the trail mix.

The result was a complexity of taste and smell that was comparable to anything Jennie had made for us. It was probably the freshness of the ingredients that had been gathered from the surroundings that added the depth of flavor and created a taste profile that was steeped in earthiness.

Cordyceps, a rare caterpillar fungus on Earth, were abundant and plentiful on Talahm. The ingredient could be harvested from every other tree it seemed. The easy availability of this unique food item didn’t detract from the richness of the broth. The ingredient allowed for umami to develop and complement the complexity of the soup, a taste sensation that any Master-class Chef would be envious of.

It was interesting that an ingredient that I would never have been able to afford on Earth was used as almost a throwaway seasoning here. More a condiment than a rarity. It was just one more difference between the two planets.

But at least this one was pleasant.

Once I had my fill and finished the soup, I took a few minutes to freshen up and change clothing. Refreshed, my hunger and thirst slacked, I once again approached the entrance to the maze.

"I wonder how they found this path, or why they bothered looking for it since it would be easier for the Kelpie to stay in serpent form and swim upstream?" I said to no one specifically.

"For the same reason they failed to report their discovery," Uron suggested. "They wanted to keep the mine and dungeon hidden, so they searched the area for obvious egress points, and created obstructions to block passage for any but the most determined and powerful."

"They had to have had help to do this," Irvin pointed out. "Kelpie may be well versed in growing things, so they would have easily been able to layout and encourage a maze to form. But the arrays of confusion and passage? No Kelpie from our territory is skilled enough to integrate these many arrays into a formation this powerful and intricate."

"It’s possible that people skilled in those abilities were hired by Haygan. More likely Kel fief supplied the resources and experts. At the very least, Thom and-or Kel were instrumental in expediting the process, they may not have found them, but they certainly made finding them easier," Lohne suggested. "Part of the trade agreement between the two parties, if I had to guess,"

"They would need people just as dishonest as they are, to move and sell the crystals and whatever they are harvesting from the dungeon," Cedric agreed. “They were able to funnel the raw resources through Kel fief because they had Blacksmith willing to help.”

"That’s something else Blayney and Duke A’Daoine will need to investigate and discover," I said turning my full attention to the maze, extending my perception to try to identify the location of the embedded crystals and perhaps understand how this formation was created. “Just who was involved and how deep this conspiracy to defraud goes.”

I found the concept of formations and the techniques to deploy them fascinating. Additionally, they seemed to resonate and spark my memories. I had no real knowledge of what they were or how they worked, but a sense of deja vu seemed to be evoked whenever I brushed my awareness across the runes and formula that had been inscribed to power this array.

It was almost as if I had learned formation construction and forgotten how it was done. My memories tantalizing me with glimpses of insight into knowledge that was just out of reach. It was both frustrating and thought-provoking. The dichotomy of emotions heightening my expectations and impatience.

My aura stable, I was able to extend the radius to ten feet. What was interesting was that the aura extended down the same distance. It was a perfect sphere, and what it touched began to change.

I watched in wonder as I brought winter to this place. Snow forming as the water contained within the air froze. The cold extended as I moved, killing everything that it touched. Temperatures plummeted, and ice-covered and encased leaf and branch. Where fire from Beleros Aura destroyed, the destruction was healed and repaired. Cyronax used the nature of Winter to kill and then place in hibernation those plants that it touched.

The maze began to transform. No longer obstructing my path, the breeze that was both gentle and harmless, still capable of shattering the newly formed ice sculptures, Cyronax Aura created. The warmth and cold alternating, fighting for supremacy, with only a glistening field of snow and broken hedges remaining to give testament to the clash of elements.

The aura extended deeply enough to cause crystal arrays to become brittle, expanding as the molecules reacted to the cold. The sounds of crystals shattering soon filled the field. Loud pops and bangs exploding in a systemic four-meter beat. A beat that could be used in counterpoint for music.

A clever musician could create a Waltz that allowed dancers to synchronize their movement in time with the explosions.

Cyronax Aura made it possible for us to completely ignore the maze and the path that had been established. The rest of my group followed, making sure to keep a safe distance. The aura probably wouldn’t kill them, but they would certainly be afflicted with frostbite, perhaps sever enough to lose fingers and toes, before their bodies could repair and heal the damage.

It wasn’t worth taking the risk when they could simply wait a moment or two, watching the path before them, waiting to move when they noticed the ice beginning to melt under the warm summer sun.

Cedric and Uron were not happy that I had to take point, afraid that it would be much easier for me to be ambushed or trigger a trap.

But we really had little choice.

If they walked in front of me, before I had a chance to destroy the embedded crystals, they would be caught in the formation. There was no telling where they would wind up since I was destroying as I walked. The formation was created to always return the trapped person to the beginning of the maze.

There was no longer a beginning. My path of destruction made certain of that. How that would affect the Maze’s function that still existed was unknown.