The room had fallen silent after Jake’s declaration. Tul didn’t flinch and continued to stare at his cake. Xul seemed torn as to what to say, and Yae played with her thumbs. Staying underground was an option available- there was nothing saying Jake really needed to leave the village so early. It had likely not even been a full day since he’d arrived, depending on how long he had slept. The concern he had was the total amount of time he had spent underground. Since leaving his village, Jake estimated it had been at least three days, possibly four. It felt like far longer but he chalked that up to his time in the Library. With time being distorted there and moving more slowly, it was hard to put a definitive guess on his time away from the sun.

He had slept only twice since traveling into the ravine and had only one actual meal. He didn’t eat at all between the time he entered the ravine until he reached the village. The lack of food and good rest had worn on him. Add on all that had happened thus far and Jake was at his limit. Either he needed to spend a whole day eating and sleeping, or he needed to return to the surface to give himself time to recuperate. His body was developing rapidly in magic ability, and he was keen on fostering that growth. If he stayed here, he would likely learn swordsmanship with Mur as his teacher, adding to his skillset. For his future adventures, knowing both would certainly help.

But there was only so much he could handle at once. He was tired, mentally and emotionally. He felt drained and his mind was foggy. Even as he continued to think and weigh his options, he worried about his Auntie and about his home. He felt uneasy and restless due to the fear of the Maedra potentially coming at any time. And now he had the problem of Chul’s mana crystal. He wanted to bury his friend, but he also wanted to crack open that purple sphere of power. Too much to do, too little time. Even though he knew this type of lifestyle likely awaited him if he became an adventurer, the feeling of homesickness waned on his willingness to continue. He missed home.

Xul said something with a frown, and Tul shook his head. Yae glared at the boys, but the two ignored her and continued to speak to one another. Xul pressed, but Tul only shook his head again. Silence returned as Xul thought of something, but nothing came out of his mouth except for a sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Jake asked. Xul looked at Jake, and then at Yae. Tul closed his eyes, his jaw tensing up.

“They…” Yae started, stopped, and sighed. “Surface hard to reach. Beasts, tunnels, barriers. We not know. Only better Scouts know.” Yae spoke again, this time not meeting Jake’s eyes. Instead, she fiddled with her cup and stared at the liquid inside of it.

“We too weak. Not allowed.” Xul shrugged and crossed his arms, trying to think some more.

Jake should have expected such, if he were being honest with himself. This place was well-hidden and every entryway was likely heavily guarded. If the other tunnel systems were as complex as the one they’d used to get here, then reaching the surface would likely be a challenge. There were probably one or two routes somewhere, since other Surface Walkers had reached the village at some point, but they were likely hidden from public knowledge to keep the residents from wandering beyond the protections of the guards. The heads of the village probably would know, as would the upper echelons of the security personnel. People like Yae, Tul, and Xul, though, wouldn’t be told unless there was an emergency.

Even so- Jake didn’t live here. He wasn’t bound to the village. Following the rules only ensured his friends were kept out of trouble. But Jake? What was saying he couldn’t just leave? As a Surface Walker, he didn’t belong in this village. These streets weren’t his to live within. His home had a burning sun above it, not mana fueled lights.

“Then I’ll go back the way we came. I can use magic, and I’ll clear out the Maedra. Climbing will be tough, but I can use Rock magic to help,” he said. Crossing through the Dragon Vein cavern was the best route, though it was honestly the only one he knew. As long as the Maedra didn’t follow them or appear in the tunnel, the journey would be an easy one. A long walk along the flowing river, a quick ride over the pool, and then he would just fight his way back to the surface. Simple and easy. He could take some food from the village to feed himself after the fighting, and then just climb back up to the surface from there.

Assuming all went smoothly, of course. If he had any hiccups or if another Maudrake appeared, then he would be in trouble. Especially if the Maudrake had magic resistance, again. With no trace of the previous Maudrake’s mana crystal in the cavern, there was no telling where that beast actually was. It was a miracle it didn’t show its face again when Jake had his outburst. Taking the risk again, Jake bet it would return. His luck wasn’t good enough to let him get away so easily.

“No. Unsafe.” Tul finally spoke up and sighed, his throat raspy as he groaned. He stood up, crossing his arms as he looked down at Jake. “Another route,” he said.

“What other route?” Jake prodded, but Tul only chuckled.

“Only best Scouts go in tunnels. Only best fighters leave village. So, become best Scout.” He spoke nonchalantly, as if it were the easiest answer. However, for Jake it was the opposite. Tul’s words implied Jake needed to just learn to fight, become strong enough to gain the trust and respect of the other Scout leadership, and be granted permission to leave the village and head into the tunnels. Sure, that was a way- but it would take time. A lot of time. Jake would need to learn how to fight and would train under Mur until that day came.

How long would that take? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? The time it would take Jake to return to the Dragon Vein cavern, fight, and climb the ravine was less than a day and a half, two days at best if he rested along the way. The biggest trouble would be fighting the Maedra and avoiding the Maudrake. But to learn swordsmanship and become a strong Scout for the village? That took uncertainty to an absurd level. In just a single day, Jake had barely learned how to stand the proper way, let alone how to do any fighting.

There were likely other things he would have to learn other than just fighting. Scouts didn’t fight- they scouted for the Maedra and then told the Warriors their locations and let them do the fighting. Scouts only traced the tunnels, snuck around in the dark, and found whatever hidden treasures the ravine decided to hide. Mastering all of those tasks… Jake couldn’t wait that long. He didn’t want to wait that long.

Jake looked down at Chul’s mana crystal and stared at it. The runes swirling inside of the crystal continued on with their twisting dance. As he stared into the core of his friend’s remains, he couldn’t help but clench his teeth and curl his hands into fists.

Adventure. Magic. Gifts from Gods. A Ravine full of Maedra. Guardians. The Eternal Library. A new race, the Oryx, from what Instructor Mur called them. His Father, Alan Furrow. Chul E’tana.

He grew up in an isolated village in the middle of the desert. Their only fear were large Sand Beasts which rarely, if ever, stumbled close to the village. His life, while boring and mundane, had been a good one. He grew up healthy, had friends he could play with, had a woman he thought beautiful and thought he might try to marry her, and an Auntie he treasured. While being an Adventurer was always something he had wanted, he had already come to terms with the unlikelihood of it ever happening.

So why now, when it was at his fingertips, he felt so afraid? Why did he tremble at the thought of leaving his home behind, when that was always in his dreams? Why did his stomach twist from being so far from the village? Why did he yearn so dearly to see his Auntie again, when all he ever wanted to do was run off into the sands and see the world beyond the village walls?

If Chul was here, he could ask him for advice, for his thoughts. Jake could lean onto the wisdom of his older friend. Chul would happily offer a story to guide Jake to an answer, or begin to ask questions to make Jake think more deeply. Without that calm knowledge, Jake’s mind swirled and he felt his heart race. He needed an answer, one he would have to come up with on his own.

Inhaling slowly, Jake closed his eyes and eased his breathing. He stabilized his mana, calmed his thumping heart, and let his thoughts mellow. The room stopped closing in on him and he felt the heat in his face recede. He placed his hands onto the crystal and felt the mana within it. The rhythm of the flow inside it was steady, smooth, and there was a faint hum to it. Without hesitating, he eased his own mana to his fingertips. The crystal resonated and he could hear a soft ringing in his ears as he prodded and tested the surface of the crystal. Little shocks and echos vibrated up his arms as he felt the crystal react to his probing.

Carefully, he eased his mana into the crystal. It pushed back and he felt resistance. Using Dragon’s Blood, he began to wind and twist his mana around the power of the crystal that rushed to meet his intrusion. He heard Yae gasp as he continued his work, but the room remained silent. He reached deeper into the crystal, sinking his mana down into the core while he siphoned out the leaking power. The Dragon’s Blood made easy work of the power he had to face, and Jake was quick to siphon strength from it. The problems began when he reached the midway point.

Halfway to the core, the strength behind the resistance rapidly increased, stalling his progress. He couldn’t push deeper and as he tried to force his way in, he felt heat in his fingertips. The power within the crystal kept him at bay as he greedily tried to pull it away. He had reached a barrier, one he assumed would be the first of many. He used his mana to probe the barrier for a weakness, or for where its foundation was, only to come up short. His solution was to simply overpower it, so he began to spread Dragon’s Blood to cover the entire thing. He dumped his mana into the crystal slowly, feeding strength into the object until he felt the entire barrier beneath his grip.

The barrier pulsed and throbbed, its power still holding firm as Jake began to squeeze down on it. The tighter he gripped, the more the barrier throbbed. The crystal began to heat up and his fingers felt as if they were being cooked against his surface. The ringing in his ears was painfully loud and his head throbbed, pleading for the noise to stop.

Pressing on, Jake squeezed down on the barrier with all of his might. As he did, he felt something pop beneath his mana. A thin line formed near the back of the crystal and he felt it spread through the entire barrier. He kept up the pressure and fed mana into the crack, easing a thin amount of Dragon’s Blood through it. He used that thin amount to seek out the rune on the back of the barrier and he traced it. Sensing it to be larger than he thought, Jake fed more mana through the tiny split until he could completely cover the rune. It was complex and well-made, but crumbled the moment Jake severed the anchor points of the rune. It shattered like brittle glass- the barrier with it.

The Dragon’s Blood Jake had poured into the crystal remained in place as the barrier fell apart, consuming the power of the barrier and adding it to his available pool of strength. Opening his eyes, Jake could see a thick green layer of mana surrounding the sphere. His mana was clear and visible to the eye. To his amazement, the inner runes were intact. He smirked and pressed on. This time with his eyes open, and using his mana to sense out the barriers, Jake closed his mana down onto the sphere. Four barriers blocked his path, but crumbled one by one as he forced his way through them into the core.

With the powerful sphere just within touch, Jake steadied his breathing and began to layer Dragon’s Blood around it. He fully enveloped the inner sphere with the thick mana until he could not see through the veil of it. Only then did he begin to ease his mana into the sphere. There was no resistance anymore, but without sight he relied only on the sensations pulsing through his mana. He closed his eyes and began to meditate.

The sphere brushed against the little threads of mana he reached out with, the top two runes sweeping past his tendrils over, and over. He timed the rhythm and gently attached the first tendril. He anchored it to the base of the rune and let the rune drag his mana in a full rotation- all the while leaving a trail so that Jake could create a full disk of mana. This way, he could provide a constant feed of mana into the rune even as it spun, without tying it up.

Using the tendrils, Jake slowly traced the rune and carefully created anchoring points all over it. Everytime a line was crossed or an intersecting set of lines felt- he left a small dot of his mana behind. He focused entirely on his work and kept his breathing as steady as possible. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he felt his muscles grow weary as he worked. The singular rune was dense and of high level, so he needed to be thorough. After a while, he noticed he was backtracking quite a bit and ended up crossing over previous points a lot. Finally, he found the core of the rune. He attached a thick anchor and then began to sense out the rune as a whole.

Confident he had everything in place, Jake fed mana throughout the rune. He used his mana dots to guide the power and coated the rune with his mana. It didn’t take a lot, but it was enough to make him uneasy. Unable to see if he had fully coated the rune, Jake pushed his mana through the connecting lines and sought out the second rune. Once he found it, he repeated the process. Anchoring points were made, little dots on the crossing-lines left behind for markings, and the small words of power coated with mana to weaken the rune’s strength. He fed mana to cover the second rune once he was satisfied, and took in a deep breath.

Slowly, he pulled on the runes. Little by little, he felt the lines break apart. The words written into the runes smeared and vanished. Immediately after, the runes crumbled and fizzled away. Noticing this, Jake looked into his memory of Light magic. He had learned that he would need to entirely control the flow of power within the rune to disable it. If that were the case, then why did the rune break once the words were erased? What truly fueled the power of the runes? The lines and mana? Or the words written within the sigils?

He bit his bottom lip as he felt the top layer of the sphere fade, releasing a dense wave of mana. The wave bumped into his Dragon’s Blood, and Jake made sure to drain the mana into his own. He let out a breath of relief and released some tension in his shoulders. A moment later, he felt something cold press against his forehead. The feeling was relaxing, but also a bit unsettling. He opened his eyes to see Yae pressing a cloth against his skin.

With all of his focus on the mana crystal, Jake lost awareness of the room around him. Xul and Tul were watching him anxiously, their eyes switching between the crystal and Jake. Yae had a small bowl on the table, and two clothes along with the one on her hand. When he looked at himself- he was drenched in sweat. He pressed his lips together and swallowed a lump in his throat.

Yae smiled at him and then slowly brushed off a bit of sweat from his arms. Jake felt heat in his cheeks, and his mana quivered at his fingers. Not wanting to lose that connection, he quickly closed his eyes and refocused on his task. He cinched down on the next layer of runes, closing the space between his veil of mana and the sphere. Repeating the process, he attached an anchor and trailed the rune as it swirled. Disk formed and the route traced, Jake went to work anchoring down the first rune.

Midway through, however, he felt the fatigue of his work set in. The inner layer spun faster than the outer layer, making it harder to maintain the connection. The pressure pushing outwards from the sphere had also increased, requiring additional focus to be put into his mana wall. If he let that slip, then any mana released from the sphere would be wasted. He let out a long, ragged breath as he took a brief pause to settle his worries. There was no rush to the procedure, so he made sure to maintain his patient mindset. He would rather wait for the right moment than risk breaking the fragile runes by accident.

After another cold dab on his forehead by Yae, Jake continued. He poured mana into the first rune, interlacing his mana over all of the lines and crossing marks. He covered the words and could feel the power radiate from them. He took another brief pause, studying just where the heart of the rune was. He initially expected it to come from the center, or at least from the lines making its shape. What he found instead validated his earlier question- why did the rune collapse once he had removed the words?

The power of the rune wasn’t in its lines. Those words were the source, much like an incantation for a spell. Tired and already struggling, Jake made a decision either he would regret for his entire life, or one that would prove to save him a lot of time. He raced his mana to the second sigil and quickly sought out the words of power etched into its structure. There were a lot, and he traced the lines over and over to find them all. Most of the words were located around the outer and inner circles, but a few ran parallel with the inner lines. Once he’d found them all, he took a deep breath.

Holding that breath, he broke the words of power. The runes held firm, and Jake clenched his teeth as he felt a surge of power push upwards against his mana veil. The mana he had latched onto the first of the two runes held steady and the rune seemed to burn through it. Jake could sense the power of the barrier being released and it was painful to keep his grip. The veil pulsed and he felt his Dragon’s Blood stretch as the sphere’s power expanded outwards.

The runes collapsed, and the layer shattered. The outward force increased immensely for another few seconds but eventually waned and Jake’s mana stabilized. The power caught within became dense, and Jake was able to absorb it. His theory proved correct, however the result was more than he bargained for. Erasing the words of power certainly caused the runes to break and fail- but without mana holding the lines and containing that power, it exploded outwards without resistance. The entire layer had fractured at once and essentially just blew up, releasing all of the contained mana.

Jake’s mana veil had been able to contain the explosion, but it nearly failed. If he was going to do that twice more, he would need to thicken the wall. Especially if the next layers would be the strongest. There was no sense in being hasty if it would result in lost efficiency, so he simply dumped more mana into the crystal. He filled it with everything he had, including the mana he had just converted from the sphere. The thick, dense, swirling Dragon’s Blood darkened the crystal until it was a black hunk of mana sitting on the table. Just in case, Jake made sure to leave a bit of room for the veil to expand. If he filled the crystal to the brim with mana and the inner sphere pushed out, his own mana could cause damage to the crystal. Breaking the crystal from the inside, or even causing a crack in it, would also result in failure. Everything contained inside would leak out, and Jake would lose everything.

The next layer was significantly strong, but Jake had his steps down. He traced the route of the runes to make the circular disk around it, and then got to work finding the words of power. Once he was ready on both runes, he smeared the words and absorbed their strength. The resulting fission sent shockwaves through his mana wall. He was quick to drain the crystal of its power and reset the wall to ensure the last layer could be contained. With far less resistance on it, the later layer was spiraling at a very, very quick rate. Jake could practically feel the whipping of the runes tugging on his mana as he tried to attach his tendrils to it.

The anchors wouldn’t connect. The two runes were not just connected, but they overlapped on the top and bottom. Their centers swirled at the peak of the rotation, making latching onto them almost impossible. The anchor points at the top and bottom of the sphere itself were impossible to connect to, as the lines weren’t intersections. If Jake was going to make his connection, he would have to time it perfectly.

Judging the size of the sphere, Jake was able to estimate where the middle point of the sphere would be at. To make his guess even more accurate, he created two disks of mana. The first ran up and down, essentially connecting the top of the sphere to its bottom while the middle spun around through its center. Then, Jake created a second which intersected the middle of the first disk. This way, the second disk would be at the assumed middle of the sphere, even without the anchor point being made.

Taking a break, Jake eased out the anchoring tendril and let it brush against the sphere. He felt the rune’s strength appear and fade over and over. Like a blinking dot, he felt it come and go each time one of the runes brushed past his tendril. He began to focus on the timing and slowly began to spin the tendril around the disk, following the path of the sphere. The pulse of the sphere became less and less the faster he moved the tendril until he stopped feeling the pulse all together. At this point, he knew he had matched the rotation speed of the runes.

Very slowly, he caused his tendril to slip and tick backwards, slowing it ever so slightly to allow the runes to spin faster for only a brief fraction of a second. Using the technique, Jake was able to finally tap the outer circle of a rune. Continuing the technique, he eventually found the center and made his anchor. Before getting to work on finding the words of power, Jake generated a tendril on the exact opposite side of the disk. The center of the second rune was there waiting for him, so Jake used his own mana disk to establish the connection between the two.

The runes were different this time, and not exact matches. Thus, he took his time with each. Once he found the words of power on them both, he was ready. He wiggled his mana wall and stabilized the two disks around the sphere. Once it opened, he would be in for a fight. Taking in a few breaths, Jake prepared himself. Then, he broke the runes simultaneously. He clenched his teeth and his fingers gripped onto the crystal as he felt it thump powerfully.

The inner barrier shattered with a thunderous clap. His mana was pushed onto all around with the strongest might the sphere could exert as the remaining power was released. With no barrier to contain the sphere’s strength, the constant flow of mana crashed into Jake’s mercilessly. He couldn’t convert it all fast enough to make any inward progress and struggled to maintain what he had. He let out a pained groan as he felt pressure on his hands. The sphere’s mana was immense, unending, and Jake’s concentration wavered as he held the line.

Just when he was about to stumble again, another cold towel was pressed to his head. He felt the towel tap his cheeks, his neck, and felt it on both of his arms and shoulders. As he felt the tension build all over his body, Yae was steadfast with her support. Seeing him struggle, once she had dealt with the sweat, she placed a hand on top of his.

“Patient…” She whispered. Jake nodded, and he felt his own mana stabilize. He stopped trying to push inwards, stopped trying to force the issue, and simply focused on drawing in that which the sphere pushed out. He converted the mana into Dragon’s Blood and refilled his internal stores. The more he absorbed, the more he was able to fill the crystal with. He pushed the new mana to the inner layer, and slowly increased just how much spade his own mana took around the sphere. While he didn’t press or squeeze down, he filled the inside of the crystal to the brim. The sphere was fully shrouded by his mana. Even as it continued to pump out power, Jake could feel it pulse and throb like a heartbeat.

“Take it, Child. His final gift to you.” In the back of his mind, Jake heard the soft words of a familiar voice- Lady Rastua. He could not see her, but sixteen red eyes peered into his consciousness. “He acknowledged your bravery, and so shall I. May the darkness become a home for you, just as it did for him.”

Jake’s cheeks become damp as his fingers squeezed into the crystal.

The sphere pulsed one last time and then Jake grabbed onto it with everything he had. A euphoric feeling washed over him as all tension on his mana evaporated. His mana quaked as the sphere collapsed. The same feeling from when he had conducted his Fire ball experiment washed over him, but there was no fear. His mana radiated powerfully and a lukewarm heat seeped through every part of his body. His right hand ached and he felt a burning sensation on his right shoulder as he felt power drain from the crystal. He withdrew his mana and pulled his hands off it. He kept his eyes closed as he assumed his meditative posture.

The mana inside of him swirled and twisted, dancing as a sphere appeared in his core. The same sphere from the crystal now sat at the core of his mana flow, and he could feel the density of his mana increase immensely. His old, fragile mana was gone entirely. Even his Dragon’s Blood was thin. The new power radiating from the sphere took over, disregarding all in its path. Jake felt the power pulse through his fingertips and when it had fully taken over, he finally opened his eyes.

The view of the room in front of him was much different now. The dark spots were brighter, more easily visible. Around Yae, Jake could see a thin veil of mana. Xul had it as well, but Tul did not. Jake could easily sense the mana in the air, could feel Yae’s mana flow from how close she was, and he could sense the presence of other individuals in the other rooms and buildings around them. Jake closed his eyes and used mana to push that sense to its limit. He created a sphere of mana around himself, and then expanded it. The sphere pushed outwards, phasing through the walls of the building and stretched for nearly one-hundred meters in all directions. He could feel the presence of every person within the sphere, their movements, their mana. He could not tell what they were saying or doing specifically, but if he focused on one person, he was able to get a better grasp on their current state.

Jake pulled the mana field back in and let out another breath. He lifted his hand in front of himself and easily summoned a ball of mana. It was purple, the color of Chul’s mana. The sight immediately brought a smile to his face. Xul and Tul’s eyes both widened at the sight, and Yae began to clap happily as she watched. Jake’s smile turned to a grin and he returned the mana to his body. He lifted his sleeve on his shoulder and spotted just what had burned him so badly.

A large black brand was now burned into his flesh. The Mark of the Arachkin, showing that he had been given a gift by Lady Rastua herself. The mark was a large spider, finely detailed and containing an array of red eyes. On the spider’s carapace, there was a familiar shape within it- the Mark of a Guardian. Lady Rastua had not only given him her blessing, but she also bestowed upon him the mark Chul had been given when she had made him Jake’s Guardian. Likely an individual characteristic, and one Jake would cherish.

He bowed his head and whispered a quiet prayer to the Arachkin Goddess. At the same moment, he felt the presence in his mind recede and fade. She had left. Jake mumbled out another prayer of thanks, and then placed his hands onto the crystal. He pulled it into his chest and held it tight. Silent, he embraced the crystal as the warmth within it finally faded away. With nothing inside of it, the crystal dimmed and darkened until it was a pure black mass. Not a trace of mana could be felt within it anymore.

Even though he wanted to, Jake didn’t shed a tear. He was proud of his friend and was happy. Chul had ensured his gift would not go to waste, and Jake would make sure to use it properly. He would certainly need to find out the limits of the new power, but for now, he would simply cherish it.

With the trial complete, Jake set down the crystal onto the floor beside him and then turned to face his friends. Tired, but empowered, Jake looked Tul in the eyes and clenched his fists.

“I’m going to become a Scout,” he declared. Tul’s lips curled upwards and he nodded. Yae squeezed her hands together happily, and Xul began to laugh.

“Good to hear,” Tul said. He paused for a moment, as if thinking of something more. But rather than speak, he quietly raised his hand and curled his fingers into a fist. Jake blinked as he stared down at the hand. Tul’s cheeks reddened and he looked down a bit.

Jake’s chest tightened and he grinned. Raising his own fist, Jake bumped his knuckles against Tul’s.