Amalia pulled out another tool that resonated oddly to Ranvir’s senses and started pacing the clearing the boss had occupied. “The purpose for Sentinels’ invasion of folds are twofold,” she stopped to let out a chuckle before continuing. “Folds reach Korfyi with a lot of mana tied up into various parts of their creation, the air, the water—“ she stomped a foot. “The stone, but as folds age, Korfyi’s Second Order nature breaks them down into mana again, which can either coalesce into a creature, a mineral, or, if the density gets high enough, break out.”

Ranvir nodded. “I’ve heard of that. Night’s Heart was originally caused by an entire fold break, right?”

Amalia wobbled her head back and forth as the device gave off a buzzing sound in her hand. “It’s mostly speculation, but Night’s Heart have enough outlying markers that a different origin is suspected. I’m not fully up to date on the subject, so maybe the literature’s changed since my training.

“Anyway, the Sentinels were first founded to stop folds from breaking out as a sudden increase in the ambient mana can carry long-term effects. By regularly entering folds, killing the creatures and turning the mana that constitute them into katapetra, we slightly reduce the amount of mana the fold holds. Over years and decades, sometimes longer, this adds up, causing the power of the fold to lower, like this one.”

“How strong was it?” Ranvir asked wonderingly, truly examining the maze-like grasslands. A light breeze swept through it constantly, carried on the wings of air mana. The stone underneath him was mana as well, all of it was. The space mana had deteriorated along with the fold, he imagined, causing it to shrink and shift over the years. “This fold, that is.”

“On the border of Urityon,” Amalia said. “But that was before my time, even.”

Ranvir frowned, turning his gaze back to her. “I didn’t know that mana lasted that long in a physical form.”

“It only does because of the miniscule amount of anima that gets inside. Outside it would last a couple weeks at most,” Amalia pulled out a third and final tool from her pouch. This one was a sphere of blackened iron. “The Sentinels have another purpose for entering folds, especially once they’ve grown as weak as this one. The fold has weakened enough that it’s become more dangerous to let it decay on its own. If it has a complete break out and flood Korfyi, nothing much is going to happen, but whenever it has lesser events, monsters are going to come creeping out. Less than two hours from Eriene, which doesn’t have any regular guards.”

Ranvir frowned. “So you’re going to bring it down?”

“Sentinels are given three tools to perform their duty. A pick to open the fold, a scanner to search for the densest mana point, and finally a hammer to break it.”

“Why the densest point?”

“Come and sense it for yourself.”

He did and Ranvir’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What is that?” It felt like the fold had a twisted over and grown together clump in the middle of it. “It feels almost like a heart.”

“A heart is a good analogy, but we call it a knot or knotting point. This is the core of the fold, what keeps the space together. Break it and you’re breaking the entire fold.”

“And it creates the densest point of mana?” Ranvir asked, frowning as he corrected himself. “No, it wouldn’t have any effect on the mana flow within the fold. In fact, it would be drawn by that same flow. That’s why it’s here?”

Amalia nodded. “But we won’t break it just yet,” then she fished out a katapetra marble from her pocket. “First, we’re going to take a few measurements.”

He caught the stone she threw to him, followed by another six coming in rapid succession. Each where the size of one of his fingernails. “I should get to the max of Tier 2 first, then?” at her nod, Ranvir unleashed Amanaris on the stones. It traveled through his tether-sense, and lapped at the katapetra, turning it into little lights flickering with blue and yellow. The embers traveled into Ranvir’s soul where Amanaris devoured them before convulsing once and growing slightly.

Amanaris

***

You have successfully consumed lesser katapetra x7.

Level up x7.

You have reached Tier 2 (10), Level 20.

You have been awarded 35 stat points.

You have reached the maximum level of your tier, search out a greater piece of katapetra to break into Tier 3.

Ranvir looked nonplussed at the notifications appearing partially in his peripheral as to not obscure his view. Learning to read Amanaris was a skill that usually took people a little while to learn as its boxes were never fully in focus and you couldn’t turn or look towards them.

“That went well, though, you’re still in the low Tiers so that’s not unexpected,” Amalia held up the larger katapetra from the boss. This one was the size of Ranvir’s thumb. “Let’s see you Tier up.”

This time, as he absorbed the katapetra, a convulsing quiver rippled into his soul from the core of Amanaris. Roots emerged from Amanaris-space stretching just a hint of distance away from the shell, distance that the next ten Levels would slow eat up as he grew stronger again. As the roots extended, the core of Amanaris shut down for a moment, allowing Ranvir the shortest and slightest glimpse inside the usually protected center. He barely managed a moment before it started sparking with the brown power of stone again.

Amanaris

***

You have reached Tier 3 (20) Level 0.

As a reward for achieving Tier 3, you have been granted access to the Map!

Amanaris-space looked much like tether-space, except at the center sat a malformed piece of matter, similar in material to his tether but looking completely different. As a Tier 1, it had been a completely smooth sphere without any details on it at all. It had become misshapen after reaching Tier 2 and now there was a slight hint of texture to the surface as rich brown stone mana emanated from it.

He senses Amalia’s own tether-sense sitting tight on him, watching him closely.

“What are you looking for?” Ranvir asked, leaving his spirit.

“I’m determining how long it takes before Amanaris completely dissolves the katapetra and then how long it takes before it returns to calm.”

Ranvir nodded and kept quiet. He could sense a slight grittiness within Amanaris-space that he assumed to be the remnants of the katapetra and he couldn’t imagine it was easy picking up on it from outside. It took a quarter flare before Amanaris had calmed down.

“Alright, can you distribute your points and then channel your mana for ten seconds?”

Ranvir nodded, “My full power?” he asked as he sorted the ratio in his head and started divvying up between Mana: Draw and Perception.

Amanaris

***

Name: Ranvir

Age: 3 Years Old

Element: Stone

Tier: 3 (20)

Level: 0

Statistics:

Mana: Draw - 90

Perception - 10

Abilities:

Stone Throw - 21

90 Draw, Ranvir thought as he lifted his hand and began pulling mana through. He sensed Amanaris reaching through something as it started. It felt closer to when he reached beyond space to get at a pocket-space but deeper. Then the clumsily shaped stone at the center of Amanaris-space began emitting a soft golden-brown glow. Someone with a 3 to 1 to 1 ratio like Kasos suggested only has 160 at peak Kistios.

He didn’t manage the mana, he simply let it flow through him. Even then he felt his control shake and ripple, the mana streaming unevenly from his fingers. At first it gushed forth like water, then clumps started appearing, some landing at his feet, others shooting off into the distance.

Ranvir grit his teeth and drew in his brows down in concentration and the flow slowly evened out. But that wasn’t good enough. He could see it turning to stone before even touching the ground. He’d decided when he first began training with Amanaris that he would continue focusing on manipulation over generation.

Breathing slowly and deliberately, Ranvir dialed the flow back slightly. The mana slowed down a little but started landing and soaking into the ground. Slowly, it twisted at the surplus of energy it was gaining. At first, the soil simply shed the grass in it, then slowly hardened and took on a gray sheen before fully changing into rock.

“That’s good enough,” Amalia said, causing Ranvir to turn his attention towards her. Their eyes met. Her head was slightly cocked and he immediately tell that she was scrutinizing him. Slowly, Ranvir realized his eyes were shedding a brighter purple light than the brown glow from his hands.

He blinked twice and lowered his hand. Turning back to the rock he’d made, he could see the beginning of some sort of sign on it. It sort of reminded him of the glyph for obsidian.

“That was well done,” Amalia said, once more breaking his concentration. “Slightly above expectation, though if I’m honest, I’m more curious about how you’ll do when reaching the higher Tiers and moving out of Kistios. I suspect we may only then see effects from your soul injury.”

Ranvir nodded in agreement. Though his Fundament was much recovered, he could attest that severe wounds, like the one he’d taken, took years and years to heal from. Thankfully, he was feeling a lot stronger now, even though he wasn’t experiencing the nearly daily changes he had in the beginning of his retraining.

“Now, do you think you could destabilize the knot?” Amalia asked. “Or do you need to see how the hammer works?”

“I can figure it out,” Ranvir replied, examining the knotted heart at the center of the fold carefully. Then he drew on his tether carefully and hit it with a sledgehammer, ripping loose strands that he followed all the way through the knot, freeing them and creating space. Folds were similar to the pocket-spaces that Saleema made, if less sturdy. Frightening as that was. “Should go in a quarter flare or so.”

Amalia nodded and led the way out of the fold. Once they reached the outside, she made sure that they stood well clear of silence portion of mana as the fold began unraveling. It began slowly, but rapidly picked up speed. Like kids pulling at a loose thread in a sweater and suddenly walking around with their stomachs out.

Mana ripped into the surroundings, buffeting Ranvir, Amalia, and the trees. Any nearby animal had sensed the fold’s destruction and run away long ago. Predominantly, air, stone, nature, and space mana suffused the area. It sunk into every root, stone, and puddle of water. The wind picked up speed for a few moments, setting the nearby forest to howling before fading.

But the space mana vanished instantly. The moment it appeared, Korfyi swallowed it like dry soil took rain.