Dara noticed that something was wrong once she saw that the door leading to Veric’s bedroom was not closed. Veric hated when his bedroom door was left open. He felt safer while isolated from the rest of the castle. She opened the door slowly and saw Veric lying on the bed sideways with his legs hanging off the bed.

The crystal bottle containing tears of Nessari was lying on the floor empty and the scroll was torn to shreds. At the first glance, it might have looked like it was Veric’s own doing however she instantly knew that it was not the case. Veric would definitely not damage something that belonged to his mother and wouldn’t leave the door open. There was only one person that came to mind.

“Rigon.” She said coldly through her teeth. She walked over to Veric hastily and hovered her hand over his face to check whether he was breathing. After realising that his breathing was deep and stable, some of the tension left her but none of the hatred towards Rigon did. She teared up slightly hoping Veric will be ok.

Rigon was always overshadowed by his older brother Oswyn and thus developed an inferiority complex. He would overcompensate by highlighting Veric’s shortcomings. ‘Sometimes Rigon would become violent but never to this extent. This is unforgivable.’ She thought and placed Veric in a comfortable position on the bed.

She didn’t know what else to do. She wasn’t a specialist potion master nor was she a secret mage working from the shadows for Lady Gaelia. She was but a simple maid. Her husband is a blacksmith and they moved to Yorel once Krado became the baron. She couldn’t punish Rigon nor could she report this to the baron. She had no definitive proof that Rigon was responsible. Baseless accusations could have dire consequences.

She sat down on the bed next to Veric while feeling like her guts were twisted and stroked his soft hair. On the surface, he looked to be sleeping deeply, but Dara knew that it couldn’t be that simple. She continued to stroke his hair while hoping he will wake up soon. Veric’s hair was unlike that of the Baron. It was blonde but dark blonde and curly instead of being completely straight. His eyes were not blue but deep purple just like the potion and his cheeks were covered in freckles. He inherited the eyes and freckles from his mother, the baron had completely smooth white skin even after spending days in the sun. The giants were known for not tanning.

“Will he wake up?” She asked herself hoping that the potion has not decreased his wisdom and intelligence to an irreversible degree. A part of her also blamed herself for bringing this potion to Veric. It was an unreasonable thought because without it he would not be alive for long.

|*|***/*|*|

When experiencing sudden high degrees of pain, the heart rate and blood pressure decrease greatly. It is the natural defence mechanism of the body. Usually, when people are in pain they are bleeding. Decreasing blood pressure slows down bleeding and increases the chance of survival. However it is a double-edged sword, it can lead to a decreased amount of blood flowing to the brain leading to a temporary loss of consciousness.

Consciousness is the state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings. The surroundings were what made detecting mana so difficult. All of Veric’s senses were occupied with light, pressure, heat, balance and many others while awake. All of them but a noise distracting away from the barely detectable mana.

In addition to strengthening the body and causing pain; Tears of Nessari create a disturbance in mana and Aether forcing the mind into a meditative state, experiencing its intricacies without the external noise. It was a tool used by young Nessari to train their attunement to mana. Usually, one drop was enough to achieve [Minor Mana Sense] however young Nessari had lower intelligence and wisdom stats than Veric. He needed a whole bottle in order to reach that state. Like a leaf swaying in the wind, his mind was slowly experiencing the various forces of mana.

‘Deep so deep.’ He thought while delving into the mana and its origin within his body. ‘Some of it is mine produced by my soul while some of it is absorbed from my surroundings, refined by my soul, once it is refined it becomes indistinguishable... Mana permeates my body without being impeded like a swarm of neutrinos, only my soul is capable of capturing mana like a sail capturing the wind in the middle of the ocean... All of this feels like a dream. It’s so difficult to stay focused… I have a soul?’ He thought and realised that once he started to follow the flow of mana he noticed that something within him was capable of capturing mana. The word “soul”. Was just the closest representation of the concept.

‘Yes, I do have a soul, it was right there in the description of the bloodline. They abandoned their bodies to strengthen their souls and minds. The souls…’ His mind focused on his soul exploring how it interacted with mana. The longer he looked at the connection between them the longer something seemed wrong. ‘Mana is not the only force my body interacts with, there is something else. Something heavy, viscous and sluggish. It’s like thick tar.’ he couldn’t sense it directly like he did with mana but he could see its effects on his soul. It felt dangerous, a part of him wanted to stop looking. But the part that made him a scientist caused him to delve deeper, he plunged a metaphorical finger into it and the pain became real once again, hot, searing, stabbing pain returned. He retracted his connection to the viscous force and the pain disappeared. ‘It’s not new, it’s the same as before. This liquid connected me back to my body… My body. I need to go back. How long was I out!?’ He thought but was unable to wake up. He started to panic. ‘What the hell will I do? Will I die of thirst if I don’t wake up within 3 days? It already felt like I spent many hours here…’

He tried forcing himself to wake up but couldn’t. ‘How do people wake up anyway? Usually, the alarm clock rings and I wake up, but now that I don’t feel anything… feel? The connection between my mind and body is severed so I need to reconnect them.’

He knew what he needed to do in order to wake up and he didn’t like the idea. He probed the viscous liquid with his mind and the pain returned. It wasn’t as powerful as when he passed out but it could be already considered the worst migraine of his life. He retracted and took a few seconds to prepare himself.

‘Fuck me sideways. When I find Rigon I will skin him alive.’ He thought and plunged fully into the thick tar. The deeper into the tar he moved the worse the pain became and the more resistant the force was. It was like hitting his head against the wall while blind. After a few seconds, he retracted. ‘GOD! It’s like being on fire! Worse! I won’t only skin him alive, I will break every bone in his body.’ He thought and plunged back into the liquid.

He tried multiple times. Each time coming up with more painful torture techniques for his older brother. ‘There has to be a better way, I can’t penetrate it with my mind… My soul may be the answer!’ He thought and tried moving it but it didn’t respond. It remained motionless, attracting and refining ambient mana and releasing the excess into the surroundings. The process felt extremely slow and serene.

‘I don’t have time for this.’ He thought and tried plunging his mind into the thick tar again. The pain returned, he couldn’t go puncture it no matter how much he tried. After a few seconds, he retracted once again.

‘I’m flailing like an idiot. There is no way for me to escape this prison of pain. The tar seems to be in the space separating my mind and soul from my body.’ He thought while focusing on his soul, The slow dance of mana being absorbed processed and expelled made him think. ‘The mana is not blocked by the tar… but I don’t have [Mana Manipulation skill] hmmm… screw it. I might as well try.’ He thought and tried pushing a tiny amount of mana in the direction of the tar and found it surprisingly easy.

‘Right. I am an idiot. Just because I have 100 units of mana is doesn’t mean that I should be able to use it all. The only reason I was able to use 85 units of mana was because of the scroll. When I look at the mana now I am most likely not using even one percent of the total that my soul has processed.’

He continued pushing mana into the tar-like substance and noticed that the tar started to absorb some of the mana and once the tar absorbed the mana he was able to affect its motion too, to a small extent. He could create ripples on the surface of the sticky tar. The more mana the tar absorbed the more control he had over it. He tried thining out the tar to make a tunnel for himself. After minutes that felt like hours or hours that felt like minutes he made the tar so thin, it was semi-translucent. He could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. He moved his mind towards the thin tar and before he even reached it, the pain returned it was a different type of pain. It was cold a complete opposite of the pain he experienced from the tar.

‘Why? Why is this happening?’ He asked himself and looked back and noticed that he was very far away from his soul. It was almost a speck compared to its normal self. He returned back to his soul and realised that the pain lessened.

‘The universe is literally playing a painful game of hot and cold with me. I get it now. My body is in pain because it’s separated from my soul and once my mind separates itself from the soul it is also in pain. What I need to do is unify all three.

He positioned his mind in the centre of his soul and instantly felt connected to all of the mana around him. Controlling it became a lot easier and faster, he unified every bit of processed mana with the tar and started to move it closer and closer to his soul. ‘I really hope I am right about this.’

He redied himself for the pain and once all of the tar surrounding him became unified with mana he pulled the tar into his soul. In an instant, he could feel mana and tar were two sides of the same coin. ‘It’s Aether! A flame to a torch!’ The epiphany didn’t last long before he was pulled out of his soul palace.

He felt the dry ashy feeling in his mouth and throat, one usually feels after sleeping too long but other than that he felt fine. He took a deep breath and the feeling of cool air entering his lungs. It felt a little foreign yet refreshing. ‘I missed this. I didn’t realise before, but I really missed my body.’ He thought and opened his eyes which became assaulted by the golden light of the scroll.

You Have Completed The Trail of Tears:

You have completed the ancient ritual of your ancestors. From this point on you are considered to be a true Nessari. Be sure to collect your tears for future generations.

Willpower + 5

Intelligence + 5

Wisdom + 5

You Have Set A New Record Of 14 Tears:

Out of all Nessari you have overcome the greatest chasm between your body, mind and soul yet you found the balance. This was a true test of your willpower.

Willpower + 10

5 New Skills Have Been Achieved:

[Minor Aether Sense](Active)(lvl 0)

You have managed to look within and find Aether. You rightfully fear and respect it. You have understood the basics of its structure and purpose. Thus you have gained the limited ability to sense Aether within and outside of your body.

[Minor Mana Manipulation](Active)(lvl 0)

You have managed to control the movement of mana inside of your soul palace, thus you have been granted the limited ability to control Mana within and outside of your body.

[Minor Aether Manipulation](Active)(lvl 0)

You have managed to control the movement of Aether inside of your soul palace, thus you have been granted the limited ability to control Aether within and outside of your body.

[Nessari Meditation](Active)(lvl 0)

You have entered your soul palace and peacefully interacted with eather thus earning its trust. While meditating you have the ability to regenerate Aether.

In order to reach [Nessari Meditation] you have to separate your mind from external stimuli.

[Nessari Unification](Active)(lvl 0)

Momentarily, you have completely unified your soul, body and mind. You have understood the potency of this state. You can use this state to strengthen all Mana and Aether related skills for a duration of 10 seconds, once per day or after 10 hours of [Nessari Meditation].

Beware, once in that state, your body, soul and mind are connected. A portion of damage received by your flesh will also transfer onto your mind and soul.

5 New Classes Have Been Unlocked:

[Neophyte Cryomancer] (Tier: 0)

Ice mages study ice and coldness under all forms and conditions, they have the ability to control, shape and manipulate ice with the greatest potency and precision. Coldness is the lack of heat thus heat is your greatest enemy.

Unlocking condition:

Cast ice magic more than 5 times before acquiring a class.

Achieved [Minor Mana Manipulation] and [Minor Mana sense]

Changing or evolving this class will only be possible after reaching level 50.

Class details:

Intelligence + 3

Wisdom + 2

All Ice related magic is 35% more potent.

You are 25 % more resilient against ice magic and cold environment than your peers.

Your mana regeneration is 5% faster in cold environments.

Fire-related magic is 50 % weaker.

You take extra 25 % damage from fire magic and natural flames.

Your mana regeneration is 10% slower in hot environments.

[Neophyte Sourcerer] (Tier: 0)

A living source of magical energy. Your control over mana is naturally more potent than that of other mages however your flesh and willpower are weaker.

Unlocking condition:

Achieved [Minor Mana Manipulation] and [Minor Mana sense]

Bloodline with naturally high affinity towards mana.

Changing or evolving this class will only be possible after reaching level 50.

Class details:

Intelligence + 5

Wisdom + 5

Willpower - 1

Vitality - 1

Constitution - 1

All mana based magic is 5% more potent.

You are 5 % more resilient against magic than your peers.

Your mana regeneration is 10% faster.

Aether based magic is 5% weaker.

[Neophyte Wizard] (Tier: 0)

Spell formulas, Tomes and knowledge are the fulcrum of magic for every wizard without them their magic is weakened. So remember to treat all knowledge as treasure.

Unlocking condition:

Used spell formula more than 5 times to cast magic before acquiring a class.

Achieved [Minor Mana Manipulation] and [Minor Mana sense]

Changing or evolving this class will only be possible after reaching level 50.

Class details:

Wisdom + 7

All spell formula based magic is 25% more potent than that of your peers.

Casting spells through spell formulas is 15% faster than that of your peers.

When not using a spell formula your spells are 25% weaker and 25% slower than that of your peers.

[Nessari weaver](Tier: 1)

Nessari understood the depth of Aether and its dangers. Only through Aether can one control life, death, space and time. As a weaver, your connection to mana is weakened.

Unlocking condition:

Nessari Bloodline

Achieved [Minor Aether Manipulation] and [Minor Aether sense]

Changing or evolving this class will only be possible after reaching level 100.

Class details:

Willpower + 10

Intelligence - 5

All spells based on Aether magic are 25% more potent than that of your peers.

Pure mana based spells are 15% weaker.

[Nessari Arcanist] (Tier: 1)

Arcanists understood that the peak of magic can be only reached through the balance of knowledge, experience, mana and Aether. They study magic in all its forms. Being an arcanist is a slow arduous journey purely devoted to magic.

Unlocking condition:

Nessari Bloodline

Achieved [Minor Aether Manipulation], [Minor Aether sense], [Minor Mana Manipulation], [Minor Mana sense] and [Nessari Unification]

Changing or evolving this class will only be possible after reaching level 100.

Class details:

Willpower + 10

Intelligence + 10

Wisdom + 10

Vitality - 2

Constitution - 2

Your connection to mana and Aether is balanced thus your body, mind and soul are well attuned to them. You receive no boost nor hindrance from either energy.