After retrieving Caeden from the grasp of his negligent blademaster, Tyr and his entourage returned to his family’s villa to practice.

  Of course, they had to first deal with the awkward matter of trespassing and assaulting the owner of the training grounds. The guards hadn’t been stupid enough to accept Garrett’s blatant lie that it had been a sparring match, though the traumatized blademaster refused to say anything at all on his behalf.

  At the end of the day, it had been a simple matter of paying what Tyr had dubbed ‘the bullying fee’. In Garrett’s case, he had been forced to relinquish handfuls of mana crystals from his spatial ring; it was suspiciously close to a bribe, if Tyr didn’t know any better.

  The hypocrisy of bullying the blademaster and laughing at his humiliation wasn’t lost on him. Their grudge against Soren and his lackeys stemmed from a similar circumstance in which they had been the victims, in a reversal of roles. Tyr justified this to himself as, firstly, he found it rather funny, so it had been okay; and, secondly, he was quite the little narcissist, and thus the foundation of his ethics revolved around what benefited him and, by extension, those he cared about.

  Attacking children just playing in a park for no reason also seemed less justifiable than delivering a light spanking to a lazy adult sleeping on the job, but that may have been his narcissism speaking.

  Fortunately, they didn't have to fly back to the villa. Garrett most likely could have levitated all of them back home, but after breaking so many laws already, the Mage seemed to have learned his lesson for the day.

  Tyr was glad for the reprieve. The exposure therapy he had been forced to endure may have somewhat eased his fear of heights, but he wasn’t in any hurry to take to the skies again so soon. His poor face still felt like he’d suffered from windburn, and after witnessing the hurricane Garrett had conjured up, Tyr suspected the Mage could go far faster if he wanted to.

  Admittedly, it had been somewhat exhilarating, and he could imagine himself flying around in the future. Part of his problem was that he had been completely at Garrett’s mercy, instead of being airborne of his own volition. Of course, until he became somewhat competent at levitating himself, attempting to glide about on his own would be an incredibly fatal experience.

  And so, he was more than happy to walk down the street with his entourage: a five year old clutching a wooden sword, a demonic little girl with an infinite stash of candied walnuts in her pockets, and a sheepish-looking Mage who looked like he was in the middle of questioning all the choices he had made in life.

  Their eclectic adventurer’s party gathered its fair share of points and stares. Tyr was beginning to think it was an abnormal amount of attention, even compared to the usual, when he heard a crier off in the distance:

  “The Young Lord Tyrus Hollan has done it again! Many sightings from earlier this morning reported him flying about the skies, screaming like a wild banshee! Now word has it that he has led an assault upon the Steel Pagoda in a brazen display of magical might! Ten silver for details of this latest exploit! You won’t find the real story on the LatticeNet!”

  “Excuse me?” said Tyr. “Did I hallucinate all of that, or are they spreading weird rumors about me?”

  His head twisted about, attempting to locate this shameless liar. A few of the passersby looked amused at the slander, but none of them appeared to be the culprit. Accursed System Skills…how far off can people hear that from?

  Garrett grimaced and retrieved a crystal tablet from his spatial ring. “I bet one of those guards already talked. I even paid the Silencing Fee. But it can’t be that bad. Let me check out the local communications.” Nodding to himself, Garrett began to slowly trace his fingers down the tablet, evidently scrolling down past a series of messages.

  He kept scrolling. And scrolling. The longer he went on, the more his expression twisted and wrinkled, until he looked like he was sucking on a lemon.

  “What’s that weird look?” said Tyr.

  “Oh, you know how fanciful people can be, especially when they latch onto something new and interesting. They’ll move on to the next thing in due time. You know what sounds like a good idea? A few months out of the public eye. Almost anything you want can be delivered to your doorstep these days.”

  Tyr grasped for the crystal tablet, but Garrett quickly pulled it too high for him to reach. "What are they saying?"

  Elea started cackling off to the side, staring down at her own tablet. Then she started typing on it with her free hand, composing a suspiciously long message. She looked up at him, started laughing harder, started typing faster.

  Tyr stared at her, then dashed in her direction, but she danced away mockingly. No matter how much he huffed and puffed, she always remained just out of reach, typing her libelous manifesto. Eventually he had given up, pretending he no longer cared as he fell back in formation with the others.

  When Garrett seemed distracted by whatever he was looking at, Tyr concentrated the Sky mana within his Core. Instead of teasing it out and letting it materialize as an azure wisp, he forcefully ejected it from the palms of his hands. This makeshift propulsion shot him upward several feet, high enough that at the apex of his ascent he could make out a disturbing image on the tablet:

  A caricaturized version of himself, his mouth for some reason blown up to absurd proportions, flying through the air with a pair of gossamer fairy wings. His skin was green, and he wore a trailing white dress, perhaps to turn this ungodly abomination into a banshee like the town crier had called him.

  He landed back on his feet in a daze, stumbling, his mind spinning. What…is this absolute brainrot? It’s like I just wandered into some random part of the Chinese internet and witnessed their memes. I shouldn’t have looked. Can I sue these people?

  Garrett laughed and offered him a begrudging thumbs up. “See, I knew you were better at controlling Sky mana than you were showing this morning. You just need the right incentive.”

  Apparently, the System agreed a little.

  Mana Manipulation (Uncommon) 12 > 13.

  Still in a state of shock, Tyr couldn’t muster the will to respond. Instead, he summoned his Endless Notebook and started on his next selection as they walked. Hopefully no one noticed how red his face was.

  Earlier that morning, Tyr had picked up a treatise on [Mind Palace] called Architecture of the Mind by an anonymous monk. Despite attempting to utilize [Focused Mind], he was too distracted to actually retain any of the introduction.

  So far, [Mind Palace] was an exercise in frustration. Most of his morning had been consumed with attempting to manipulate the Mind-lacquered Hut within his imagination, to no avail. Experimenting on his own had gone nowhere, though he had still managed to level the Skill to 4, along with having brought [Mana Manipulation] up to 12 in the first place.

  According to the System Compendium, such early boosts came easy as one explored the basics of their new Skill, but repetitive tasks offered diminishing returns. Figuring out what was ineffective increased his comprehension of the technique, but failing the same way over and over again accomplished very little.

  Such was the reality of taking an advanced Skill as part of his foundation. Anyone who had evolved it from [ Meditation ] would start with an intuitive grasp of the basics, with the Skill already at Level 50. Without the benefit of that pre-existing comprehension, he would have to figure out the technique from scratch. His next lesson with Father should prove helpful in spite of the man’s antics, but Tyr was already eager to get a head start.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Beyond the free levels, there had been at least one additional benefit to his experiments. Some of his usual hyperactive mental energy had been drained away for once. Not enough to cause him an exertion migraine—more like the exhaustion from grinding chess puzzles or studying opening theory for most of the day.

  He had fully recovered his mental energy within a couple hours. Now he could swear that his thoughts felt slightly refined—denser, more responsive. A subtle difference, possibly a placebo, but he made a note of it either way.

  The System Compendium warned not to get too obsessed with beginner gains. Going from zero to one is easy and makes a noticeable difference. But the increments become more difficult and require more unique insights as you try to progress higher.

  By the time he was done pretending to read the introduction, they had reached the courtyard of Tyr’s family villa.

  “Well, Caeden, unlike some of your previous tutors, I intend to fully use my time for the betterment of my pupils.” Garrett offered the young man his most charming smile. “Since you have Air and Lightning affinities, you mostly have the components of Sky Mana. Many of the same cycling techniques can be used for Sky and Air, though Lightning is more fickle.”

  “Wow,” said Caeden. Then he began digging the toes of his boot into the ground. “I’m not sure my family can afford your services, though? I’m the youngest, and some of the others also have Class and Profession tutors and…”

  Garrett ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “Not to worry. I’ll do this free of charge.”

  Excuse me?

  “You’re really no trouble,” Garrett continued. “After all the time I spend wrangling Tyr like some stubborn housecat, it’ll be nice to have a loyal, attentive student to balance him out. What’s your level in [Mana Manipulation], if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Oh, I’m only at 44. It’s slowed down a lot recently, but maybe with your help I can reach the first threshold!”

  Tyr’s shaking hands dug into his Endless Notebook, only relaxing when he remembered that it was a gift and deserved to be treated nicely. He stored it in his spatial ring and began to seethe hands-free.

  44? He’s at 44? Don’t tell me this kid is some sort of Mage prodigy. No, it’s fine. I’ll surpass him quickly. In fact, shouldn’t I be the one to fulfill our revenge against Soren Goldtouch? Was I not just as humiliated?

  While Tyr fantasized about his inevitable triumph, their group wandered over to the gardens on the left side of the villa. A pair of meditation mats lay on the ground from his earlier session with Garrett, before they had taken to the skies. The aromatic bouquet from the exotic flowers and small trees along the plot of land helped ease some of the tension from Tyr’s shoulders.

  He settled into place on his mat, with Caeden assuming the lotus position on the other. Elea stood off to the side, mostly staring at her tablet, sometimes looking up at Tyr to laugh and shake her head.

  “It’s even made it to the discussion pages on Empyrea!” she exclaimed.

  Peace and serenity. I am one with the universe. All mortal concerns are nothing but the passing wind, to be noted and dismissed within the same breath. Peace and serenity…

  Garrett’s voice broke through his mantra. “Tyr, you look like a tomato right now. Look at Caeden beside you. Boy looks like an ancient monk in comparison. Take after your older cousin.”

  Caeden nodded, a peaceful smile at home among his strong, handsome facial features. “It’s actually pretty easy. You just have to—"

  “Proceed with the lesson, Garrett.” Tyr’s voice was as cold as death.

  Garrett tilted his head. “You know, humility is a—”

  “All of the current public slander seems to be focused on me. Since I’m so hot right now, maybe I should do an exclusive interview with some of the biggest socialites in Valorwood? You’re actually responsible for today’s incidents, so shouldn’t I make sure the renowned Garrett Hightower receives his due credit in the public eye?”

  “Don’t be like that, Tyr. My kids look at that stuff.”

  Tyr barely managed to keep the snarl off his face. “What do you mean, ‘your kids look at that stuff’?”

  “What do you mean, what do I mean? I’m happily married and have three wonderful children. I guess it just wasn’t really relevant to bring up to a pupil until now.”

  Well, well, look at Mr. Perfect here. “I’m so happy for you, buddy.”

  “My wife is absolutely lovely, too. She’s a diplomat for Valorwood. Do you want to see a picture?”

  Tyr managed to speak through his clenched teeth. "Stop bragging about how hot your wife is to little children and proceed with the lesson, Garrett!"

  Trying and failing to keep a grin off his face, the Mage swept his arms out in a grandiose flourish. "Then let us resume from where we left off. I was explaining the two mechanisms of manipulating mana. Do you know what those are, Caeden?"

  "Internal and external energy control. What your Core is able to make, and the environmental, or ambient, mana that you can use to power your abilities."

  Garrett snapped his fingers. "Can you show us some examples?"

  Frowning, Caeden looked down at the wooden sword splayed across his lap. After a moment, he ran his fingers along the length of the practice blade. A trail of steel followed in their wake, transmuting thin lines of wood into metal. Tyr strained his eyes in an attempt to see how Caeden was manipulating his own mana, and how wasteful his efforts were, but without the proper affinity he saw nothing but the result.

  I need to unseal my Bloodline immediately. These restrictions are so annoying.

  Garrett nodded. “Honestly, I’m kind of impressed. I guess your Mystical Arts tutors aren’t lacking as much as that fool that was supposed to teach you swordsmanship. Well, either way, I mostly wanted to teach you the blade myself, though I’m only considered a Master of Ocean and Sky techniques. That should be enough for your foundation in Water and Air Swordsmanship, though.”

  “Oh, right,” said Tyr. “You’re a blademaster too, and you just never felt the urge to reveal it to me until now.”

  “You never asked.” Garrett shrugged. “The sword, despite being a relatively inefficient choice for a lot of combat, is the weapon of class and nobility. As a commoner, I had to become proficient with the blade in order to have a proper answer to all the duels people kept offering me. Some folk really can’t stand to see others succeeding, can they, Tyr?”

  “Comparison is the thief of joy,” Tyr seethed.

  “So true.” Garrett returned his attention to Caeden. “Now, can you demonstrate for Tyr how to draw in ambient mana? What are you best at?”

  “From what I can see here, Water would probably be my best bet, though I don’t want to damage the plants…”

  “No worries about that. They have plenty of excess mana.” Garrett either summoned a Crystal lens from his spatial ring, or created one out of nothing. He flipped it over to Tyr, who snatched it out of the air. “Put that over your eye. It’s attuned to Ocean mana, so you should be able to see Water through it.”

  Tyr turned the lens over in his hand. His roaring envy died down a little bit as he observed this new curiosity. So, Crystal can do something like that? And they’ve somehow turned them into miniature computers in this world, too. Also, Garrett paid for his bribe with mana crystals. Infinite wealth generation? Maybe I shouldn’t be sleeping on Crystal, either, even if it’s kind of an esoteric affinity.

  His list of topics to research was growing too fast to keep up with. Maybe filling his one of his two remaining slots with a Reading General Skill would be worth it, though he was hoping to reserve them for something special. There was no real rush to immediately know everything, though it was a bit daunting how many mysteries and unknown factors this world contained.

  Shaking his head, Tyr placed the lens over his right eye and looked at Caeden. The boy’s cheeks were flush with pride at all the attention and compliments. Tyr knew that they were half meant to annoy him and trigger his competitive spirit, but at the sight of his cousin’s pleasure, he found he didn’t care that much. It made him happy to see his family happy.

  Curses, how high is this guy’s Charisma! Am I being Charmed?

  Tyr’s stray thoughts were swept away as Caeden began to work. Through the lens, a vague mist of Water vapor hovered throughout the garden. The dark blue motes began to stir, tugged upon by an unseen force, then sections of the mist swirled lazily. More energy trickled from the ground, seeped from the surrounding plants, increasing the ambient density.

  The swirling began to speed up, became a whirlpool centered above Caeden’s head. More and more of the ambient mana was drawn in, until only a few stray motes remained in a twenty foot radius. In the end, it coalesced into an orb of Water the size of a man’s head that floated above Caeden. It shed mana at an alarming rate, most likely due to the inefficiency of the boy’s control, but eventually it stabilized at around the size of a fist. Once it was complete, Tyr was able to remove the lens from his eye and still see the materialized Water orb. Raw mana had manifested into physical matter.

  Mana Manipulation (Uncommon) 13 > 14.

  Garrett began to clap politely. “Very impressive, Caeden! Now—”

  “My turn!” Tyr cried.