Zeirdin practiced circulating his mana and getting a feel for it again, as Jin practiced shifting and turning on the hoverbike. He chose a lone black oak tree to sit under in the expanse of the grassland. Mana twisted and turned within him. He stared into the empty space behind the space in deep concentration as he circulated it faster and faster. Heat began to gather on his back. If he could hold his concentration and move in this state, his physical capabilities would be vastly higher. This was the foundation of Lovac.

“Holy shit, his circulation is stupid fast.” Zeirdin was so deep in concentration that he did not hear the arrival of Teiya, Doryan, and Willem. He remembered that they had previously made plans to meet up and that Teiya was a Galma user. She stood three meters to his right barely under the shade of the tree. The twins and Jin were already hatting.

“I can’t even channel that fast in a sensory deprivation chamber,” Teiya said in admiration. Zeirdin scratched his brow, “I had a good teacher. I’m still rusty though. I wouldn’t dream of using it in a combat scenario.”

“That didn’t look very rusty to me,” Teiya retorted. “I think I even saw the beginnings of a Gaela too. People can’t begin to manifest one until around 3rd circle level.” Zeirdin nodded. It was true. Given different life circumstances, he might’ve been considered a prodigy. He had nearly been able to manifest a Gaela four years ago when he was 11, which was almost unheard of. “By the way, I’m a beginner 2nd circle. What level are you?” Teiya asked.

Zeirdin thought for a moment, “Uh. I’m not sure. I know techniques up to 4th circle, but I never learned any practical spells due to the heavy regulation of all Cerulean Arts in Gistern. Plus I’m rusty.”

“Ah, that makes sense. You’re from the North, huh? Wouldn’t want another blue uprising wouldn’t they.”

“Pretty much exactly.” Zeirdin chuckled. Zeirdin’s parents had both met from their involvement in a blue uprising twenty years prior. “So, what was that spell you were trying to cast yesterday before you got shot?” Zeirdin asked.

“Ah, yeah. That was a cheap blood clotting spell I bought off a shady dude. I can show you the spell print. It’s the least I can do, I guess,” Teiya said as she began rummaging through her pack.

Zeirdin nodded, “That’s a clever idea for an application of a blood clotting spell.” Teiya handed him a crumpled piece of paper. It was clear that she had spent a lot of time memorizing the mana structures, activation orders and weaves. Zeirdin looked over the spellprint for a good five minutes. Teiya watched in slightly nervous interest.

“I think I know why it took so long to cast. Obviously, it’s hard to always be quick when put on the spot. But also, this spell isn’t optimized for combat at all.” Zeirdin said.

Teiya nodded in excitement, “Please go on!”

Zeirdin took a deep breath. It had been a while since he had thought about any of this stuff. Around four years to be exact. “Ok, so this spell’s priority is safety since it’s a coagulant spell. If it messes up, it could kill the patient. But that has me thinking, what if we removed all the safety nets and shifted the target area and focus?”

Teiya’s eyes widened, “I think I like where this is going.”

“Yeah. This spell was for stopping bleeding, but it doesn’t have to be. Give me a second,” Zeirdin looked over the spellprint then got out a pen and began making changes, notes, and adding diagrams. About 40 minutes had passed when Zeirdin finally stopped. Zeirdin inhaled, “Alright. This spell is decently complex, with 31 structures. However, like 13 of them were either redundant or irrelevant for instantly killing someone with a blood clot to the brain. I marked the ones you can ignore. You should prioritize mana flow to structures 3, 7, and 15. Also, formations 21 and 30 are watermarks and don’t do anything. The guy you got this from stole this thing.”

“Damn, what the hell,” Teiya said in amazement. Zeirdin shifted his sitting position in the grass.

“Uh, don’t ever tell anyone who modified this spellprint. It’s essentially a military-grade insta-kill spell. My entire family would be executed in Gistern if the authorities found out.” Zeirdin said. In the back of his mind he wondered if giving someone he had just met the day before a death spell was very smart.

“I swear on my life I won’t tell anyone. Also, I won’t use this spell for anything other than a last resort. Thank you for giving me one.” Teiya said genuinely grateful. “So, who taught you though? I took Novice and Beginner magic before I left home. That's like six years of schooling, but I never learned to modify or do more than reading spellprints.”

Zeirdin sighed, “My mom was a court mage. I’m not sure if it was her expertise, any innate talent of mine, or both, but she taught me Galma. I think I learned pretty quickly. Again, due to severe regulation in Gistern, I didn’t get to practice with anything practical. I’m useless in combat for now.”

“Holy crap, a court mage? That’s amazing. So, did you grow up wealthy?” Teiya said.

“Not quite wealthy. My dad was a weapon smith and frequently got contracts with the military, but since he was Toxda, the extra taxes ate most of the money. And my mom was a court mage in Cervantes, but she was exiled and had all her assets frozen after her involvement in the Blue uprisings was discovered,” Zeirdin stared at the sky.

“I’m sorry, that’s rough.” Teiya nodded. Zeirdin handed back the spellprint and began circulating his mana again.

***

Jin haggled with the man who ran the scrappery. It was a glorified black tent in the Cobalt Annulus’ junk strip. Zeirdin scratched his brow in impatience. The dark-skinned balding man had already given them a reasonable price for the 2m of blue wire they had brought in, but Jin was never one to miss out on a profit. Zeirdin tuned out the roar of the busy street. It was reminiscent of Splinter, with a gravel main street lined with vendors and shops. It was nowhere as dirty as splinter, but it wasn’t called the junk strip for no reason.

The day was overcast. They were going to meet up with the trio again and scavenge. Teiya wasn’t supposed to be out in combat zones yet, but she insisted she was fine and didn’t need the crutches anymore. They had all agreed to make the push for Floor 3 once she was fully recovered. This scavenging expedition would be their first real-time together out in the field.

Zeirdin was snapped out of his daze.

“Okay, fine, 57 dynats, no higher.” The shopkeeper sighed in defeat. Jin smiled smugly.

“See, almost getting killed was worth it,” Jin laughed.

“Almost,” Zeirdin corrected. Zeirdin shifted uncomfortably as they walked through the crowd. Zeirdin felt as though someone was intently watching him from behind. It was comparable to the feeling of a thousand pine needles rubbing against his back. This new sensitivity was probably thanks to his Galma practice. He knew his mother had a Galma-related 6th sense, although she was a court mage, so hers was much stronger and more accurate. Turning to look would be pointless in such a busy street. It would also probably alert whoever was tailing them. Zeirdin decided he would tell Jin later. Knowing that idiot, he would probably immediately turn around and look for anyone suspicious.

Geared up, the two made their way towards the North gate of Lestag to meet with Teiya and the twins. It was noon, with perfect weather for scavenging. Slightly overcast but with little chance of rain and a cool breeze.

Zeirdin was starting to get accustomed to his new heavy gear. IT was so soul-crushingly heavy anymore. Jin was having more trouble though. He wasn’t as conditioned as Zeirdin, who had spent months traveling on his own before arriving at The Tower.

The five of them waded through the waist-high grass. In the expanse of green, their bodies were the only dots breaking the monotony of the rolling hills of emerald. This particular hill was supposed to be an old battlefield with good scrap, according to one of Teiya’s sketchy sources. They all kicked at the ground, hoping to hear any resemblance of a metallic clink. The grass tickled against Zeirdin’s hands as they continued. He sighed, “I don’t think we’re going to find anything.”

“Oh, shut up. We need to keep a positive attitude,” Jin grumbled back. They continued trudging through the grass in silence. Even the twins were starting to get bored. Zeirdin had forgotten to ask, but he guessed the twins were around his age, 15. Jin was slightly older at 16. Teiya was 17. Although it didn’t matter much in The Tower.

The hairs on the back of Zeirdin’s neck stood up on end. Following his instincts, he swung his rifle on its strap around from his back, turning the safety off. Zeirdin’s own lack of hesitation for violence surprised him slightly. The overcast weather meant that the was even lighting in all directions, and no assailants could get the upper hand using the sun to the blind. With all senses on high alert, Zeirdin scanned the landscape behind them. The others had not noticed yet. Anyone sneaking up on someone in The Tower should know better than to expect anything other than hostility. Zeirdin wasn’t taking any chances. The grass 10 meters diagonal to him rustled before stopping. The high-powered ammunition in his rifle would deal with human or machine the same. Flicking his entire body in the direction of the rustling, Zeirdin dropped to the ground, squeezing the trigger twice in quick succession. The first bullet was for the head, or at least where he thought it would be. The second bullet was intended as a body shot, a guaranteed hit. The tremendous thunder cracks from his rifle traveled in all directions. Everyone reacted immediately to the sound. Jin flicked around and dropped to his stomach, while the twins took a defensive stance around Teiya. Simultaneously, two crashing metallic thwacks filled the air. Both Zeirdin’s bullets had hit their marks. Zeirdin scanned for more signs of enemies while everyone held a look of surprise. Signaling safety with his hand, Zeirdin approached the smoke rising from the grass. In the grass lay a small mangled gray humanoid android with a disk-like head. The energy weapon systems on its shoulders were long defunct. It wasn’t much of a threat at all. The others walked over to him and stood around the fallen android. Zeirdin sighed in relief. It wasn’t a person.

“Damn,” Jin said.

“Agreed,” Teiya nodded.

“Glad he’s on our side. I didn’t hear shit,” Doryan commented. After searching its remains, they found half a meter of blue wire that they unanimously decided that Zeirdin would receive. The information about the location of scraps seemed to be a bust so they decided to head back.

Sweaty and a little fatigued, they decided to head to the Boiler Room bath house on the edge of Lestag on the floor border. Its location was the reason that such a large bathhouse could be maintained all year for cheap. It was able to siphon hot water out of exposed pipes in The Tower. Normally Ike the overseer would not allow such exploitation, however, due to its cheap cost and community reliance, it was allowed.

They arrived at the bathhouse. The building itself was a dirty concrete block covered in snaking rusty pipes that leaked steam.

“Gee, I wonder when the last time I took a bath was,” Jin chucked. Everyone nodded. No one exactly enjoyed the “baths” offered at the most affordable inns in Lestag. Those “baths” were nothing more than a metal trough filled with cold water, so everyone usually opted to scrub down with a soapy rag.

“Holy shit, for one dynat, you can receive a lifelong pass to the bathhouse. It’s such a good deal!” Teiya squealed as she read the sign on the building. After everyone paid, the group went their separate ways, the boys leaving Teiya. The facility provided grungy lockers with locks that one could store their belongings in. It was definitely catered towards tower climbers, with racks for rifles inside the lockers. The boys all met up in the main bathing room after storing their belongings. Zeirdin walked down the hall of showers. It was a little grimy and the walls of concrete gave it a dingy atmosphere, but it was the best bath one could get in Lestag without a stupid amount of money. Zeirdin and Jin scrubbed themselves clean in the showers before soaking in the large communal pool, as was etiquette.

Zeirdin groaned. It was heaven. It had probably been 8 months since he had soaked in a proper warm bath. Although the steam obscured everyone’s faces, he could tell the other ten or so people in the large pool were enjoying themselves just as much as he was. While things hadn’t been completely smooth or relaxing so far in The Tower, an old feeling Zeirdin had forgotten about began to blossom within him. Under all the rage, hurt, and sorrow, something warm began to form. He wasn’t just surviving anymore. He had friends, people he could rely on. He could begin to look forward to things in the future. His thirst for vengeance, although still just as strong, was not the only thing on his mind anymore.