I breathed out a long-held breath as my consciousness returned to me. I had been making good progress, but I often needed to stop myself to ask if my idea was truly possible. I figured that there should have been a mechanic in place to allow for those with extreme vitality to do more than just survive, but my best guess had yielded nothing.

That being said, it was still early on. I had been attempting the Trial once every hour. I could have done it more, considering the strange way that time behaved during it, but I wasn't sure if my brain could handle it. Even if the pain was muted, needing to die to fail was always an unpleasant experience, and-

I stopped my train of thought in its tracks. My mind retreated from its shell and I laid back on the damp ground. I had gone so long without a shower that the greasy and dirty hair running across my head felt natural.

Still uncomfortable, mind you, but natural. My face as well had begun to break out from all of the time spent in nature.

On top of that, it was still too soon to have any muscle to show for it.

I shook myself off once again. The sensations were getting into my head as much as my own thoughts had been. I needed action.

And, as my nose so politely reminded me, a bath.

With a goal in mind, I finally set off.

-

I made a game out of ducking and weaving between the drooping branches of the willow trees.

At first, I just took the multi-tool out of the satchel and formed it into a knife to cut through as I trudged along. But as the trees grew closer together and more stiff and rocks grew more frequent, beckoning water up ahead, I began to use Gradient to pick up my pace.

It started as one quick step between a rock and a root obscured by an unassuming-looking bulge in the grass, under a low-hanging branch.

I tripped, of course, but it was because of my own clumsiness, not a lack of awareness.

I remembered a certain game and came up with the following rules; I would earn more points on closer calls with obstacles, but I wouldn't gain any if I came into contact with it.

One foot over a root, the other held on a rock, right hand on a nearby trunk, left hand to balance. Three points of contact for momentum, one for balancing and knifework. With a swift cut, I removed the branch in my way (a movement flashy enough to garner protest from the arm wielding the tool) just as I flew forward.

Knees bent, narrow passage under a bush. Beyond it, I was already analyzing the next area, something like a mini-clearing with a boulder marking the center. Nothing of interest, so I dashed through it, using the downtime to take a sip of the Well of Life.

I started incorporating fancier moves, ducking and diving whilst decidedly not practicing proper safety around sharp objects. Sorry, Mrs. Anderson.

In my defense, I was basically a superhero now.

I felt the world around me and moved where I saw was best to get to the next best spot, I took a step. 1 point. Followed by a sidestep and a duck in quick succession. 3 points for that one, since the passage was narrow. My foot nearly got caught. Then a twist back around onto a relatively clear path, 0 points for the lack of danger, followed by a risky shortcut through a thornbush.

Ouch. Zero points.

It was addicting. I could feel my movements getting smoother and more connected at an inhuman pace. In at most ten minutes of walking I could feel myself acting with precision above that of any of the sporty kids at school. My movements had always been stiff and my posture high-strung, but now I felt loose and light and most of all graceful. It started as disconnected yet precise movements, but now, watching myself with Gradient as much as I did my surroundings, I could control every muscle and joint in my body to work like a well-oiled machine. Which chugged once in a while, or needed to be refilled often, or- Yeah, no, I still wasn't anything that great.

I told myself doing this was to get better at using Gradient, and that very well was a side effect, but honestly? It was just unreasonably fun. I felt like a ninja of some kind, prowling across the forest silently like a ghost.

PLUNK

Ouch, again. I subtracted a point for that one.

I rubbed the chipped wood off of my face after removing it from the tree trunk. I told myself I'd pay more attention.

I subtracted a point for that one.

It was then I realized that for the past few minutes I had been getting further from the direction of the water source I was hoping that I was right about.

The island wasn't too big, only about three kilometers in diameter at most. Navigating anywhere, however, was still a nightmare, what with the living obstacle course in front of me. So please understand when I say it was a perfectly normal mistake, and not at all because I may have gotten just a little bit too immersed in the plot about a druid-ninja hunting a traitor I had spun up in my head.

A fantasy I may or may not have continued until a mote of azure peeked through the foliage to meet the edge of my vision. I did forget myself and trip amidst the excitement, but the Well of Life fixed that right up.

I broke through the greenery around me, which suddenly cut off from grass, dirt, and bushes to solely the first on that list. Long, lush green dotted in skin-smooth stones, the placid calm of the windless island broken only by the gentle flow of the clear river in the center.

I couldn't see much further than that in either direction. On my left, a white mist wove itself and dissipated back toward the meter-tall ledge the entering riverwater flowed off of, marking a slight change in elevation while framing the scene. To my left was more dense plant life.

Once again, I didn't bother to ask where the river came from. I knew that there was a waterfall off one end of the island, so where it went wasn't a mystery. Wherever it was from, it was undoubtedly shallow, half a meter deep at the very most.

That did not stop me from ripping off what was left of my shirt and gently removing my new pants before cannonballing in. An action that only earned me a pathetic 'splunk' and a not-insignificant quantity of kinetic shock.

Not insignificant, but also not unexpected. I laid back in the spring, all to myself, peaceful, with a whole new world around me, ripe for the taking. It was liberating and relaxing and altogether lonely.

-

I washed myself off and got out of the stream quicker than I had hoped. The water was pleasant, but I had to get ready again, with my next Trial test run, or 'trial run', in about a half-hour.

I would've stayed in longer, but the silence of the woods had begun to gnaw at me. I had seen no fauna on my entire trek, all of the noises were natural or of my own doing. Which was peaceful at first, but it quickly grew unsettling, more stifling than liberating.

I figured that, with nothing better to do, at least nothing I felt like confronting, I would finally get started on a small project I had been telling myself that I'd do in a while- a guidebook.

A lot of the information that I had on magic was very poorly defined and nebulous. I took what scraps I could get and prayed any crazy idea I had would work. And it had thus far, but I figured that it probably wouldn't forever. Especially then, without someone to save me if I fucked up.

So, I took out a notebook and a pen, I sat down on the grass with my back to the slight overhang enabling the waterfall, and I let myself lose myself for once.

In hindsight, I should have probably been more cautious, but nothing bad happened this time regardless.

-

The first item in my little encyclopedia was the most annoying one to pin down by far. I scribbled down a word. Used to typing, I already felt a dull ache in my wrist. I pressed more lightly and did a few practice sentences before getting back to the page I was trying to write.

Imprints:

Hmm...

Imprints were a doozy. I could only vaguely feel them and the feeling itself was completely indescribable. I mentioned it felt like a boundary of sorts, but the term I decided on recontextualized that a bit.

It was a sort of existential weight, a proof of one's existence. They were defined by their magnitude, wavelength, and frequency, similar to waves, like another spectrum of light, with the difference being that it was created rather than reflected.

So it violated the law of conservation of energy, but it was magic.

Anyway, those terms could be applied in a lot of ways. The way I went with it was as follows-

Imprints: A mark of one's existence. The size of an Imprint is determined by the 'power' of an object, or, more accurately, the amount of energy given to it through interaction with other Imprints. Imprints do not lose energy, but when they interact they tend to either alter or amplify each other. However, they can only interact when moving at a similar frequency in an area, and that area will become exaggerated either by the properties of an object changing or the direct

That was far too complicated and obtuse, and even self-contradictory in some areas. I boiled it down a bit after thinking a bit more.

Imprints - The mark of one's existence. Imprints change and behave like waves, with the difference being that they ebb as something closer to the gravity of a planet rather than a beam of light, being roughly spherical and constantly moving in complex patterns and weaves. Imprints conduct energy from the development of the physical form or 'focus' of the object or being the Imprint represents and interaction with other Imprints. Measured through Wavelength, Frequencies, and Amplitude.

Wavelength - A term I use to refer to 'magnitude'. Longer wavelengths translate to a larger Imprint, which means a wider variety of abilities. More life experience translates to a larger Imprint. Determined by average amplitude of frequencies against the number of major frequencies. Probably. Basically, an Imprint with more energy flowing through it will have a greater wavelength. Translates to a greater mana capacity.

Frequencies: The things that represent the complexities of the represented entity. Multiple Imprints only ever interact with one another physically if certain Frequencies are identical. The extent to which they interact depends on the Amplitude of these frequencies. So a powerhouse following a similar path to a child may train them and cause incredibly fast growth in their skill, as they can push the child's Imprint a lot and exaggerate that frequency specifically.

Amplitude: How intense frequencies are. Certain frequencies with higher Amplitudes will take up more areas, overshadowing other parts of existence. Basically, how important a certain aspect of existence, i.e. a given frequency, is.

It certainly wasn't scientific, but I didn't think that there was anyone in these worlds who could read enough English to tell me I was basically just treating a hypothesis as fact. Next, I went with a strange mechanic that had saved my ass more than a few times.

Awakening - High-Amplitude Frequencies that take up a lot of the Wavelength can reach a threshold where they extend through the frequencies across the entire Imprint, changing the represented object or being in turn, along with potentially other parts of the Imprint. This results in an Awakening, a qualitative change in an entity's properties and/or capabilities that comes with a new focus or a new dimension to their focus. Must either be physically impacted into occurring or have another Imprint force the exaggeration of a tangentially created path*. When the Imprint is in the process of 'installing' this alteration, it will have a greater impact on reality than normal, allowing for a short period of explosive supernatural potential.

*It should be noted that brute forcing it like this will create immediate firepower, but can cause instability in the long run if this immensely powerful frequency defines the existence, weakening other areas if they do not work in synergy and creating diminishing returns. With that said, that sort of training is still valuable if given time to breathe, and it's the entire reason leveling works.

I backpedaled a bit and realized that I hadn't gone over Manifestations. Thankfully, it wasn't a long explanation, so I had space within the margins.

Manifestation - As most cannot feel the state of their Imprint and the potential it holds, the Manifestation allows one to gauge its properties and know what they have. People with Classes can analyze the basic traits of others through them, and they act as a convenient thing to channel Mana into, though it's seen as a crutch for more skilled practitioners. One's manifestation tends to represent them to an extent. To what extent? My sample size is 2, I have no idea.

Ok, longer than I thought. But it still barely fit within the margins at the cost of legibility. Not like anyone would be reading this except for me.

And then came time for the big one, Skills, Classes, Mana, and Leveling. These ones I didn't have the experience to get, so I was going off of whatever Rilu had said. First, I needed to define the Akashic.

Akashic - The network that connects the Imprints of every living or dead being. Began as an indiscriminate network, but later on developed by the collective into a 'club', to allow for new abilities and foundations to be formed. The Imprints of dead beings, known as records, cannot sustain themselves anymore and seek an outlet to interact with to exhaust their energy.

Next, I needed to put down what a Skill was. A Skill was relatively simple, thankfully;

Skill - Something every being Awakens into, providing passive benefits or no benefits until some sort of 'fuel' is acquired. There are two types; Bloodlines and Talents. A Bloodline is the inherent Skill of any race, and they are generally the easiest to awaken. Whereas a Talent is a Skill that reflects something an individual excels in, to the point that it replaces their Bloodline. These are rarer, but not inherently more powerful. Often, they do less, especially when it comes to Dragons, who are known for having an unfairly versatile and powerful Bloodline Skill.

Next, was Classes, which I wrote on the next page.

Classes - A category a being chooses after defining their Imprint well enough to Awaken for the first time, acquiring a Skill. After this, they are deemed worthy to connect to the Akashic collective and are offered this choice. This category essentially offers a path forward, opening up the ability to acquire mana aspected to you from Records with Imprints relating to your Class. This mana is the result of small amounts of a wide variety of Records relating to you being processed and exhausted to fuel your own Imprint, opening up a space for Mana to be stored and generated.

Essentially, Classes appeared to be the first step in growing, since a lot was walled off. Leveling, Active Skills, Analysis, Trees (which I still hadn't gotten an explanation on), new potential Skill paths, everything. The first Awakening was the first step, made through muddy waters, but once it was taken it felt like you were suddenly on a paved road free of danger.

Well, 'free of danger' is objectively wrong. It just got a lot easier to break your limits.

As for the things I knew about that it gave, I started with Mana, the 'fuel' I had mentioned prior.

Mana - Records are processed and sent as a unique type of energy into your Imprint to form Mana, which isn't just an echo that unlocks potential, but an actual fuel to manifest that potential more fully outside of an awakening. Or even make an Awakening even more significant. Capacity and regeneration rate increases with level. As opposed to Imprints, everyone can feel and freely control Mana. Allows for the use of active skills and a burst of power in passive ones.

And finally, the main form of progression through the Akashic.

Leveling - When one accomplishes something that puts them in a state resonant with the Records within their Class, those Records will reach a point where they can transfer more energy to you*. Once this occurs, the Akashic, Speaking through your Manifestation, gives you the choice of improving your Mana capacity or natural regeneration rate. Additionally, it provides a point that can be used to upgrade a certain part of a Skill, which can lead to an Awakening due to how Skills develop.

*Leveling becomes harder as one moves further on their own paths, as the set of Records to pull from must become increasingly elaborate to be compatible. This is why a Class Upgrade exists, so a category can be connected to more things. I do not know how Upgrades work, still.

God, writing textbooks must have been hellish. Everything was so interconnected and reliant on things that were reliant on it. It didn't make sense at all for the first 90% of it.

I just hoped that from here on things wouldn't be as confusing.