Some 36 hours after arriving in the trial grounds, when I’m simply too tired to continue, I stop on the stone floor of the central chamber to get some sleep. Having already found a couple of places of interest with the puzzles that I meticulously copy to reproduce in the central chamber is a small relief, along with already knowing where I can find at least one source of water.

Without the time or anything that can be used in Lieu of a clock, precision is completely lacking, but by now my body is a well honed machine and my biochemistry is extremely familiar to me, so my estimate will be fairly accurate, maybe even down to the hour for a time span like this.

Struggling to keep up the fight against the system and without an immediate and obvious use for my last remaining point of mana, I decide to stop.

I need to get some sleep and though I could keep the effort a lot longer, there is an added effort I’m not very familiar with yet draining a decent check of my attention. Keeping the system out of a small space in my chest isn’t as effortless as the other things running in the background.

Saving myself from a worse headache in the morning, I sit on the ground cross legged and try to do something fairly stupid. I try to make use of the little mana squirreled away.

A torrent of mana slowly flows out from my core, or at least a torrent compared to the drought the system imposed in this place.

This thin stream feeds a small flame and this effort rapidly drains the last of my will, but playing with the smallest of flames is all that it takes for me to run out of the bluish resource in less than a minute. I use the opportunity to get a sense of how to affect mana in a place that actively fights it, but all too soon it’s over.

With a happy grin, I make use of my position and mental state to try and find a real crack in the place so I can reach for my Mana or something similar that was always within myself instead of relying on the system. A cold and uncaring system that takes its gifts away whenever it suits itself.

If they were true gifts, the system would have relinquished all hold over them, but there were strings attached and it didn’t let go.

Going deeper and deeper I try to evoke the same emotional shift from when I use my familiar ‘vigor’ resource, instead of Stamina. That, like all similar experiments, can only be marked as an utter failure. But even in failure, a sliver of hope shines in my gut.

I have finally taken the first step with this experiment and what a glorious step.

Keeping the flame lit for a minute is something I doubt any other human could say even if these trials were more common.

With a wide grin plastered on, I lay back in the corner of the chamber as the lights fade and I’m at least grateful that there are no lights while I’m sleeping, better for optimal hormonal balance and recovery.

--------------------

Already familiar with the logic and organization of the maze, I push on keeping a higher pace than even the fastest marathonists throughout the day only stopping for a few activities like my daily meal or sleep time. All remaining time, roughly twenty hours are very productive.

I map the complex tridimensional shape of the 7 layers of Labyrinth begins to build in earnest, rapidly developing with my extended range perception field and monstrous running pace. It takes only a week for me to have a decent blueprint of the map. Even if I hadn’t passed through or even seen every corridor, which will take much longer, happiness is simply overflowing from…everywhere and nothing can stand in my way.

The mentally low effort actions like following the lines of the map and searching through every little nook and corner take a lot of time, but leave most of my attention free. All that remaining brainpower doesn’t sit idle and go to waste.

I grind, push and pull against the system’s restrictions around mana, and continue scratching and banging on the door hoping to find an answer to my dilemma any time now.

As the completion percentage of the puzzles approaches the 90 percentile with only two of them to go, I can almost feel something in the distance. Not mana… something else, something intangible… for now, but it is all too real.

Something in corner of my perception that the occasional stat increase from my daily meditation session provides.

This place may not have the same amenities as the instance, but although the system doesn’t make things easier and gives more exp, I do have loads of time in turn.

As the thought of the others squirreled away in the inner world crosses my mind, I smile widely. That was an absolutely wonderful Idea. Truly a genius level of thinking from the Shaman. Even if that was his only contribution, I would happily pay the mana price in nigh perpetuity, though I both doubted the price would be that steep and that no further returns on my investment would happen.

Too bad only a few had chosen to take the risk of heading into the inner world. Of course a few like the wonder pair, which were our best spear fighters in the village purposefully choose to remain behind to fight the HLZ beasts roaming the place. So far we only had a single team capable of doing it without their help, but we were expanding and as soon as a few more chose a decent class to get past level 100 we would see more of these groups showing up.

Technically, a certain someone was supposed to stay behind, but he ‘snuck in’ with the translator and crafting groups. For all of his age and vaunted wisdom, when it comes to magic, he is a kid. The opportunity to have more time to study, especially in a different context is simply too interesting for him to pass up the chance. This may very well be my last foray into the trial before I have to return to Earth, I just don’t know.

I halt my runaway mind.

Extraneous thoughts leak away as my will and Aether spring up around me in a sharp and concise movement and I shift my mentality trying to fit the myriad of puzzle pieces in their proper place. Even through my exhaustion and the hypnotic movement of my legs, I notice something missing, something that will tie all my efforts together.

I manage to open each and every single one of the puzzle copies, in the central room and get the last loaf of bread as a reward from the system. I meticulously map all the places I visit and any in range of my perception field. I even managed to begin the last step in the process that involves moving back and forth a couple of times to the closest puzzle ‘dead ends’ spread in the maze floors and aligning each of the pieces as precisely as possible until they all lock into place.

With a focus I seldom felt, I keep running and running for the longest time as my mind and will whirl away at the chance of something more, something mine, something that...

Another piece clicks.

I cannot continue to call ‘it’ just ‘something’. I need specificity, not generalities. The perfect Idea is to come up with a proper name, a single word or idea to focus myself. Sure, coming up with names is not my favorite activity, but it is necessary.

Moments later, even before I really put my mind to it, it just comes to me. Something simple that fits snugly into place and will add the very last piece with a bow on top, almost like a present.

A single word meticulously chosen.

The epitome of and proof of my naming scheme:

Qi

I want to find my Qi.

I need to find my Qi.

I will search and reach for... my… Qi.

This simple and fitting concept comes to mind fitting nicely with its twin: Vigor. While some people would always find trouble with any idea I propose, the choice is simple. After the word crossed my mind, there was no turning back.

Qi.

In kinetic meditation, even if that is no longer its name, I run as the search consumes me. Nothing will stand in my way and all the time and preparation I spent on this makes itself known. Not even the system can stand in front of me now.

An hour, a day or a week passes. Time loses its meaning and for the life of me, I can't tell how long passes, but finally, the tantalizingly out of reach resource gets into focus in my soul as I pull and pull. It builds in my arms. Power floods me and I put forth my all into a single point to CREATE.

Wielding all my skills and experience everything is in the line.

For the briefest of instants, a spark litghs up.

The saddest and limpest spark I ever saw that wasn’t even a proper bright yellow flies an inch before winking out. Even the color is off, being a red faded tint instead of the normal bright yellow.

But this is all I want, all I need.

A crack, a new way, a new mentality and lots of ground to explore.

Letting the abating exhaustion catch up with me, I lay on the ground right then and there before closing my eyes for the most peaceful and fulfilling night of sleep in… Ages.

------------------------

“What the hell are you doing Merlin?” Asks the most annoying person from anyone on the translator team.

“I’m just… Thinking.” I reply in my usual cross legged position.

“No, no you are not, I recognize that face of yours. You are planning something, something dangerous probably.”

“Maybe, but I won’t experiment with it now, I’m gonna wait till I’m back and can talk to Nash. Messing with the inner world is too… never mind.” I take a deep breath and answer his actual question. “What I’m going to do now? I don’t know, just so many possibilities to follow up on, though I probably keep reading and doing a few small experiments just to get a hang of the use of most of these new runes.”

“Small... experiments? These are not small… at all. Goddammit, you are setting off explosions every other minute. It seems you only know how to screw up.” Complains the tired translator putting a hand to his face.

“That’s the best way to learn. The most successful people are also the ones who most failed in their lives. The difference: they learned from each and every single one of those mistakes. Managing something on the first try may be satisfying, but the true and deep learning process can’t happen like that, and I have been learning a lot. Even without the hints and nudging of the system that we get while we are on the instance, now we have a lot more time to work with, to read, and think deeply about how things are developing instead of coasting on the system’s help.”

The translator pulls his hair out clearly frustrated with my line of reasoning.

“Ugh, you are impossible. Just… try to set off your explosions in the appropriate place and try to do something to muffle them.

“There is the testing area, but the Rabbits are not keen on letting me go there. Nash tends to set off his own experiments back there with no warning.”

“I don’t like how they have a run of the place, It’s like we are second class citizens or something.”

“Nah, I don’t think so, this is their home, we are closer to guests. But if the explosion bothers you so much, just build a hut with proper doors and windows far away close. There is plenty of wood around. If you build it around the wooded area, that should also help dissipate the sound. I will also try to keep it only during the day.”

“Don’t you think Nash would mind if we cut down his trees?”

“Probably, but he will understand our needs, just don’t be wasteful.”

As our conversion draws to a close in much more amicable terms, he moves off as I pull paper and pen from my inventory and start scribbling another Idea. Even if I don’t test now, I can always save it for later.

Though even as the lines leave my imagination and start occupying the piece of paper in front of me, a young rabbit shows up by my side and rubs his head along the outside of my thigh.

“What I wouldn’t give to learn the telepathy skill, you beautiful creature.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, he twists his shoulders in delight.

“Still, it’s not like we cannot communicate at all. I know exactly what you mean right this instant, no words needed. “

Five minutes pass on this exercise even as I let m mana flow around me while drawing complex runic shapes. Complexity that nobody else seemed to really grasp. What they didn't understand was that for me my Meta magic was just a logical extension of smaller and simpler units, most people just didn't think like that.

Even Nash still hadn’t quite gotten it. He was always loudly spouting about mine and Alex’s talent, but in the rush of the system and the instance, that didn’t make itself known to me. Now, without any help from the system comparing my progress to the other mages who were struggling to learn even the basics from all the new books, that is when my ‘talent’ is making itself manifest in even more impressive ways.

I was chewing through the books nearly as fast as back on the instance, and needing only about twice to engrave and set up my experiments, the others…. they need from double to triple the time to read and grasp the runes while taking even longer to successfully cast their magic for lesser results. Even their engraving was lousier.

The contrast is so sharp, that nobody missed it, though the others hadn’t mentioned anything for over a week.

I had gotten through nearly half of the books while keeping a relatively low pace and stopping to apply in small ways what I was learning as my very understanding of magic shifted.

When this is over I need to find a way to repay Nash. And he better not come up with an excuse, I may have the raw talent, but he knows where to push and how to break the rules of the system like nobody else. His gains are obviously commensurate.

In a calm and peaceful state, I rub the head of the bunny going back and forth over my leg. I try to reach out with my Aether, to bend my field ever so slightly to connect to the living being by my side, and for the first time Alex’s and Nash’s instructions click into place and the world becomes my oyster.

I can finally yield Aether.

Warm.

The fuzzy and indistinct image comes, but I can only translate it as that: A fuzzy warm feeling mixed with happiness or something, so I try to send something back:

Yes, you are also warm.