She didn’t ask any questions when he had finally recovered somewhat, and he was grateful for that. To be frank, he wasn’t quite certain what had happened himself, or what lasting effects there were.

Instead, she turned his attention to the crisis. “You’ve been out for hours, Mason. We’re hidden and secure here for now, but the city is overrun. I don’t know how many Marrans are still in the city, or where the band is.”

“Lady Sorynel?”

Making a mental note of the strain in his voice, she had a decent idea of the pain he was in. “They might still be there. If she could be retrieved, they would have done so at the cost of their own lives. We can’t risk taking that detour though. If anything, we’ll meet the band on the road.”

Mason just nodded, and closed his eyes to control his breathing. Everything hurt, and every fuel he had was drained. Even with his recovery skill active, this was something he’d need time to overcome. Faynel eyed him with concern. Getting out of the city would not be an easy task with Mason like this.

Faynel knelt down next to Mason so he could put an arm around her, and together they stood, but it became increasingly obvious that even with help, he was too shaky to be moved. They collapsed back down, and Faynel just looked at him with pity in her eyes.

And he felt it weighing him down. She had stayed and helped him, and done far more than could be expected of anyone while he basically lost his mind to a cursed staff. But how much more could he ask of her?

“Faynel, I-”

“Stop. I’m here. Neither of us know time magic so there’s no way we could be in any other situation right now than this one. Just let me go on thinking I made the right decision. Do you feel okay? I mean, you look like shit, but do you feel like yourself again?”

In the span of a breath Mason assessed himself. It wasn’t enough time to account for how many pieces of him had changed in the months. His body was partially infused with mana now, he had a strange soul place within him bound to the tree of memories, The Trials altered his strength and his speed and whatever else about him, there were other souls in residence within his own…

“Yeah, I think so.”

There was a faint trail of mana which connected the two of them. No more than a single string bound from one hand to the other. Mason’s fatigue made it impossible for him to notice it, but Faynel could still feel him through it.

“We’ll rest here. The city can only crumble around us, but I doubt anyone will be able to detect this cellar under the mess that’s above us.” Faynel fought off the awareness that if she were by herself, she could be out of the city in almost no time. She was committed to this path.

“How bad was it when you came down here?”

She looked him in the eye and considered lying, but instead just shifted closer to him, “Bad, Mason.”

He shrugged and put his head between his legs, “I fucked up, Faynel. I was just supposed to be helping keep the stragglers together, but I completely lost control.”

“You looked like a fucking monster,” she agreed, but smiled kindly at him.

“I’m not entirely sure what happened. I remember fighting, and then needing to keep fighting. Everything was blowing up around us, but I felt so powerful. Not at all like I feel now.”

“Not many people can take down three Corrosi. You cheated, of course, but it was still impressive.”

“Cheated?” He turned his head to look at her. She was covered in dirt and filth, and more than a little blood, but he was so glad not to be alone.

“That deflecting spell you used. You’ve really gotta show me how to do that.”

He chuckled, “Somebody would need to show me how to do it. I don’t even remember that though. Not clearly, at least.”

“Well it would have been impressive if you had any idea what you were doing.” Faynel stood up and paced around the cellar. There wasn’t much down there. A few shelves lined one wall, covered with jars of preserved food, and along another wall were some shovels and picks and other assorted work equipment. They could have been under a general store. “Source, I wish I had some tea.”

“Gods, I almost forgot I was a human for a second.” Mason pulled his bag onto his lap and slowly dug through it until he had found his canteen with water. He uncorked it and tossed it back, taking long sips of water and only stopping when he coughed and spluttered from too much at once.

Faynel grimaced at him. That might end up being a costly mistake if they had to stay down there too long. On the other hand, Mason seemed to have perked up from just that small boon. He wasn’t moving around, but he was almost smiling, which was an improvement.

“Why didn’t you leave me?” Mason brought up suddenly.

“Something about you being an ambassador or something? It’s my job to keep you alive so you’ll tell all the weak little humans to be our friends.”

He rolled his eyes, “Faynel, seriously. Maybe I’m asking too much but I’d like to know what made you decide it was worth trying to get me out of that state.”

“You’re right, it is asking too much,” she retorted, staring hard back at him. Her expression was fierce, but eventually softened as she sat back down in front of him. “I could blame it on the mana mingling, but that’s only part of it. You seem like a good person, and I didn’t want to let some strange artifact burn your soul or get you melted by acid.’

Mason considered this for a moment. “Thank you, then. I’m beginning to think I really suck at these Trials. If it weren’t for an overwhelming amount of help from your people I’d be dead in a dozen ways by now.”

“Isn’t that a skill in itself, though? Getting people to help you? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about doing good, but it’s not like I’d risk my life against a trio of Corrosi for just anyone.”

That drew a genuine smile from Mason. “I’d like to think I’d gladly face a trio of Corrosi for you too, Faynel.”

She just snorted, “Well that’s good because we might have to face a dozen or so if we’re going to get out of this mess. Have you seen if you gained anything from The Trials after the last few fights? If you can get a few skills or Focus Points we might have a lot better of a chance of getting out of this.”

“Let me check.”

He tried to read through the notifications one by one, but his head felt muddy and he was lost looking at the numbers. He’d gained a great many skills points, crossing the threshold of proficiency with several skills, and there were challenge notifications too, but there was so much of it that he couldn’t sort it out easily. When had he even last gone through his notifications?

He lacked the mental energy to pore over them in detail, so he pulled up his stats screen so he could take in the main changes at once.

Demon of the Darkest Night:

Amateur Magical Slayer

Level 4 (39 FP)

Health: 14/84 (2.7/hr)

Mana: 8/44 (3.3/hr)

Mana (Mardun): 2/44

Stamina: 5/95 (4.7/min)

Strength: 6 (0)

Agility: 7 (0)

Intelligence: 9 (+1)

Willpower: 10 (+1)

Vitality: 6 (0)

Endurance: 9 (0)

Creativity: 7 (+1)

Active Skills: Focus (26), Mana Vampirism (15), Analyze (16), Life Drain (12), Recovery (23)

Passive Skills: Equip (8), Staff Specialization (27), Blade Specialization (26), Footwork (23)

Mana Arts: Mana Sight (25), Mana Manipulation (27), Mana Tolerance (33), Mana-Blade (13), Shadow Stalk (12), Glamour (20), Stamina Drain (14), Runecraft (14)

Spells: Indiscriminate Force (49), Force Shield

Soul Arts: Soul Steal, Walker

With a smidge of inspiration, he then cast Analyze on his notifications, willing them to condense the rest of the information for him. He was still left with a wall of details, but these were at least important. Each one offered the chance of Focus Points or skills.

Focus has passed level 25, and you’ve become proficient. You’ve gained one Focus Point in Endurance and Creativity to commemorate the growth of your skill.

The mind, like any other muscle, can be flexed and strengthened. Only once you’ve honed your focus can you make the most of your talent. Your awareness is now passively improved by Focus, and activating the skill will now highlight important details in your surroundings.

So far, so good. Focus was the bread and butter that kept him alive in his first few days in The Trials, and he had no doubt that would remain the case.

Staff Specialization has passed level 25, and you’ve become proficient. You’ve gained one Focus Point in Strength and Willpower to commemorate the growth of your skill.

Your staff feels natural in your hands, and as both a focus for your spells and an instrument of combat, it serves you well and loyally. You’ve gained the skill Staff Imbuement, which allows you to prepare a spell within your staff and use its effects while in physical combat.

A new skill would serve its purpose, but at the moment, he didn’t think he wanted to play around too much with the spells in his staff. He kept reading.

Blade Specialization has passed level 25, and you’ve become proficient. You’ve gained one Focus Point in Strength and Agility to commemorate the growth of your skill.

Due to a competing challenge, further rewards have been withheld. Complete or dismiss Distinguished Footwork to receive these rewards.

Mana Sight has passed level 25, and you’ve become proficient. You’ve gained one Focus Point in Willpower and Endurance to commemorate the growth of your skill.

Light and mana are the two frameworks that reveal the world before you. Your vision is now passively improved by Mana Sight, and activating the skill will enable you to peer deeper into the mysteries of mana.

Mana Manipulation has passed level 25, and you’ve become proficient. You’ve gained one Focus Point in Willpower and Intelligence to commemorate the growth of your skill.

Mana holds the power to reshape the world, and you hold the power to guide mana with your will.

Having gained proficiency in so many skills at once was overwhelming, especially to Mason’s tired mind. But the new skills, upgraded abilities, and Focus Points were obviously worth the trouble of reading through the notifications. He hadn’t really gained anything directly combat related, but the improvements to his awareness and especially his willpower would surely pay dividends.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the notifications. There was a notification for both his two new skills; Force Shield and Staff Imbuement, but he decided he would just Analyze the skills later when he was stronger. He basically had an idea of what each did anyways.

One more notification stood out though.

Completed Hidden Challenge: Devastating Retaliation! Kill an enemy with their own attack. You’ve gained one Focus Point to Creativity.

And accepting that notification led to a final one.

Congratulations! For crossing the threshold of 50 Focus Points, you’ve achieved level five. Receive one bonus FP to any skill.

For passing the boundary of your race and achieving level five, you’ve officially been selected as a pre-contender in The Trials! Enemies may appear to challenge your status. Defeating them will provide great benefits!

Pre-contender? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Mason set that aside- he had enough enemies to worry about at the moment without more cropping up. The real question was where to place that Focus Point? His vitality was running low compared to the rest of his stats, but would it be better to focus on specializing?

Focusing on vitality, he submitted the point. He needed to be able to stay alive if he was going to put any of this newfound strength to use, after all.

Brain aching with questions, Mason sighed. There was a lot to worry about at once. But he’d gained a lot from all of that, and when he looked at his status again, a rush of excitement energized him.

Demon of the Darkest Night:

Amateur Magical Slayer

Level 5 (51 FP)

Health: 26/107 (3.1/hr)

Mana: 14/65 (5/hr)

Mana (Mardun): 2/65

Stamina: 25/127 (6/min)

Strength: 6 (+2)

Agility: 7 (+1)

Intelligence: 9 (+2)

Willpower: 11 (+3)

Vitality: 6 (+1)

Endurance: 9 (0)

Creativity: 7 (+2)

The improvements were far more than substantial, and by whatever strange magic The Trials ran on, he was already beginning to feel better. Miserable still, definitely far from battle ready, but better.

“Well?” Faynel asked when it was clear Mason was no longer struggling through notifications.

“Looks like about twelve Focus Points and a level up? I broke a lot of thresholds.”

“Twelve!” Faynel shouted in the hushed tones of someone who knows fully well how to be quiet but was too outraged to do so. “I can’t believe you were sitting on that many notifications! What was even the point of training you? You didn’t even think to take a look after we visited my grandmother?”

Mason couldn’t help but laugh, “You do remember that I was stabbed, right? And then chased out of the city? I really haven’t had a lot of rest since coming to this damn city. Or this world, if we’re being honest.”

“Thank Source for improved stats, then.” Faynel rocked back as she contemplated Mason’s revelation. “You’re going to be able to put up a pretty good fight once all of those Focus Points settle in, you know. What’s your highest attribute?”

“Willpower. I guess it means I’m stubborn.”

“It means you’ll have some damn good spellwork if you can get your intelligence up and spend some time going over Grandmother’s notes.”

Faynel gave Mason an odd look, and her lips pursed like she had tasted something sour. “Were some of those benefits from the Corrosi’s soul?”

Mason shook his head, “No. I don’t think I’ve done whatever needs to be done with that yet. I haven’t checked my soulscape, and I didn’t get any notifications directly about it, either.”

“Right,” Faynel replied, staring anywhere but at him. “Right.”

“Seriously, more of this? You have to pick, Faynel. Either you’re going to support me doing what I have to do to survive or condemn me. You can’t keep standing in the middle going, ‘Well gee I just don’t know, I guess I’ll say you’re doing the right thing but still make you feel like shit for it.’” The human struggled to his feet, teeth clenched and itching to pull out his staff.

“Actually, I can!” She stepped to him, “You can’t fault me for being a little uncomfortable with you relying on a power that I not only was taught my whole life was the ultimate evil, but that I also just watched almost drive you mad and get you killed!

“So you know what? Yeah. I support you doing what you have to. I don’t blame you one bit. But it makes me fucking nervous, and not just for some high-brow moral condemnation, I am genuinely scared of losing my friend to some dark magic.”

The thread of mana that tied them together was still there, and Mason suddenly became aware of the feelings flowing both ways through it. For all her outrage, Faynel sent a calming sensation through the connection to him, and it made him painfully aware of how little control he really had at the moment.

“I’m still not myself, am I?” he asked.

“It doesn’t seem like it,” she admitted with a shake of her head, “We need to get out of here if we’re going to catch up with the others, but I’m worried about letting you loose in this state. So sit down, relax, and try and get yourself sorted out, okay?” She took his hand then, and the mana connection strengthened. Mason nodded silently, better able to share his complicated thoughts through that bond than words.