Alex sat cross-legged on the training room floor, still watching Kazuo’s hands dance through the air. Through his mana sight, he could see the spell take shape like a constellation. There were delicate lines of power that were connected by bright nodes of concentrated mana, which he now knew were the control nodes.

“Each point must maintain balance,” Kazuo said as his fingers pinched together in the air to create another knot of mana. “It says to think of a river flowing between stones. The placement of large or small rocks guides currents.”

[Parallel Mind] was still running, which let Alex split his focus to absorb the teaching while the other overlaid the principles onto his modified ritual circles over his left hand. His mind raced with possibilities and potential outcomes.

“Most here think System skills are the only path forward,” Kazuo said while shaking his head. “But you understand importance of foundation, yes?”

Alex nodded in response. “Could you show me that first pattern again?” Alex asked and leaned forward. “The one with the three nodes?”

Kazuo smiled and was clearly pleased to have someone else enthusiastic about his magic. The mana between his hands twisted together into another intricate pattern. “Node placement very important. Too close, and pressure builds. Too far apart, control slips away.”

Another hour slipped by as they worked through increasingly complex formations until they reached the point that Kazuo had been practicing when Alex first saw him. With control much higher than the older man’s, Alex was able to quite easily mimic the movements of his mana and even find a few small areas where it could potentially be improved.

Kazuo demonstrated different node arrangements where some were dense and tightly packed, and others were spread in wider configurations. Each different variation, though, showed Alex new possibilities and potential pitfalls with his own modified circles.

“Why are you putting more wraps… here,” Alex said as he pointed with a finger at a spot in the air.

“More wraps mean more control and slower flow. Like thread on spool. Tight wraps slow power down. Loose wraps let power flow at same speed but delay travel. “

Alex’s mind continued to work at maximum speed as he thought through the implications. The modified circles had failed because the power wasn’t being controlled properly. But with the nodes integrated at key points…

Sarah appeared at the window occasionally to check on their progress. Once, she spoke through the intercom to let them know that the Hunters were still working with their specialist to attempt to track through the cloth, though there were no results. Several others came and went, most taking note of what Kazuo was working on.

In some of the downtime, as Kazuo waited for his mana to regenerate, they talked of some of the special teams and projects that the HA had established. His group was apparently one where they’d selected small groups to focus on magic without the use of skills. There were others, testing limits of single stat builds and strange class selections, but Kazuo was happy with his recruitment and seemed to wear the fact that he was the last remaining member of his group as a badge of honor.

Alex kept working, and their conversation tapered off as he grasped the concepts and needed to focus more on testing than learning. Unsure of how much time had passed, Alex reached a point where he felt confident in conducting a test. Excitement built in his chest as he stood and accidentally startled Kazuo, who was sitting quietly with his eyes closed, recovering mana.

“I think I’m ready to try something,” Alex said.

“Try what?”

“My magic. But…” Alex glanced at the glass wall, where there were still several people looking at them with passing interest. “I’d prefer some privacy.

“I can turn on the privacy mode.”

Alex nodded and walked to the glass. Sarah happened to be there, watching them. He pressed the button to open the door and spoke with her quietly. “I’m going to test something. We’re going to black out the room. It shuts the cameras off, right?”

“Yes. They have metal coverings that block them off physically as well. What are you working on in there?”

He gave a sly smile. “Kazuo may have helped me find the piece missing to my research. If this works, I think it’ll be fully functional. Is it okay to cast it in there? Will it mess up the enchantments?”

“Do your worst,” she said with a shake of her head. “They’re pretty durable. All of the rooms on this floor were built with this kind of testing and training in mind.”

“All right. I’m going to give it a shot. See you in a few.” He looked around at the faces in the hallway. Some people were looking at them with interest, but none in a way that set off alarm bells in Alex’s head.

I guess I did just give a speech on a new kind of magic. It makes sense they are hoping to see a bit of it in action.

“Be careful,” Sarah said as he moved back into the room.

Responding with a thumbs up, Alex activated the room’s black out function. The glass walls darkened to pitch black and Alex watched as metal shields slid over the cameras with a soft click. The room felt more secure to him now that there weren’t people actively watching, other than Kazuo.

“You might want to leave,” Alex warned Kazuo. “I’m not entirely sure how this will work.”

“No, no. I see the magic.” Kazuo’s eyes lit with interest, but he created more space from Alex by moving to the far corner of the room. “I will stay.”

Alex nodded and raised both hands while deactivating his [Parallel Mind] skill. The knowledge of his test over the last several hours came to his mind, and he focused on them with his full mental stats. Knowing the path he would try first, the one that he thought had the best chance of success, he activated [Mana Thread]. Streams of threads spilled from his fingertips, and he began to weave them into a familiar pattern.

This time, however, he added the control nodes at key intersections. The modified ritual circle took shape and was smaller than the previous two uses of the enlarged spark rune-empowered ritual circle.

If this works, I can finally stop thinking about them as ritual circles. They will be my own.

He couldn’t hold in the smile as the circle took shape and was about the size of a 45-lb weight plate. While he felt he could potentially make it even smaller, he didn’t want to push things too far in his first test and knew that this was still a size range that consistently failed in previous testing.

With the nodes containing the power, this has to work.

Like he’d practiced with Kazuo, Alex created his first circle. Next, he would normally insert the rune, but instead, he added the control notes and could feel the difference immediately, even with minimal power flowing through it.

Where the previous attempts felt like trying to hold water in a paper cup, this felt solid and controlled.

He pulled out his wand and held it tightly in his right hand while his left hand added the finishing touches to the control nodes, ensuring that the mana flowed in the proper directions through the junctions of the spell circle.

As the spark rune fell into place, marking the final step, he couldn’t help but shift his weight to and from either foot. Completing the last stroke caused the spell to hum with power, and he began to funnel his mana into it to set the rune and activate the circle.

The spell activated with a fraction of the previously required mana, something easily achievable on his own, without Valtherion or additional stones, and the spell crackled into existence for the barest moment. Just as before, it was visible to his mundane eye for a brief flash before it settled in the air and hung suspended in front of him.

He lifted his wand and pushed the point of it into the circle, hand shaking slightly, while using [Mana Infusion] to push a standard seven-mana bolt through the wand. There was a horrifying sound of electricity crackling for a bare moment before the enhanced bolt of mana shot across the room and slammed into the enchanted walls. It left a small crater and spiderweb scorch marks from where the lightning branched out from the point of impact.

“It worked,” Alex breathed. He studied the damage on the wall. “Man, their walls are really sturdy. I know that spell was weaker than the one that blew a hole in my workshop by a fair amount, but still… It’s clear they’ve done some serious work on these training rooms.”

He felt his excitement building and knew that he needed to test the circle again. While the success had been solid, Alex felt a need to prove it to himself by performing another flawless cast. A blue window appeared in his vision, but he dismissed it for a moment. It felt like a huge moment for the last several months of work to all come together.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he started to form the same spell circle in the air as he’d done before. But he paused and knew that it would work and felt like he should test something else. He stopped the threads of mana in the air and thought for a long moment.

Would it be helpful to test it on a different circle?

I’ve really only got the Activation Rune and Spark Rune to work from at the moment. Maelis started to teach me about the Barrier Rune earlier today, but I’m not anywhere near ready to start using that. What other options do I have?

If I can’t change the rune, I could change the ritual base…

He worked through the growing list of Rituals he could perform on the fly.

With a nod, Alex resumed his work with the [Mana Thread] skill to build a circle in the air in front of him. He angled it so that it was aiming in a different direction than the bolt from his wand, wanting to see the difference in power for himself.

The base circle was completed quickly, and before he began to add the control nodes, he paused to look at the work through his mana sight. The concentrated heating ritual was one that he’d used to devastating effect against the slimes, though not too much outside of that in combat. It was, however, one of his only rituals that had such a clear directional component built into the ritual circle, sending the energy out in a clear line rather than simply being contained within the bounds.

He tweaked the structure slightly, angling the three triangles to better propel the energy forward before feeling satisfied enough to add the control nodes. It took him another few seconds to write in the rune, moving with deliberate slowness.

The entire way through the process, he was sure to monitor the stability of the circle. It made him giddy to recognize that the control nodes made the structure of the circle as solid as concrete. It felt unshakeable, and even as he activated the spell circle that hung in the air, he looked forward to testing them extensively.

With a pulse of his mana, the circle flickered into existence as it activated. Much like the larger ritual circle he’d activated in the woods in Missouri, there was a deafening crack as the pressure within the chamber adjusted from the large bolt of lightning that flashed across the room. He blinked rapidly, and the bolt dissipated just as fast as it had appeared- and the spell circle along with it.

He looked at the empty space in the air with some fascination. “Interesting. So by the energy being pushed out, I don’t need to send a mana bolt through it, but it also doesn’t hang in the air for the opportunity to use it more than once.” Looking past the space that the spell had been, he looked at the wall and felt a smile cross his face as there were even more marks of spidering burns from the second small crater in the wall.

The training room was so quiet that Alex could hear Kazuo’s breathing, and he noted that the older man was breathing quite quickly. Alex, though, couldn’t think of anything other than the thought that played on repeat through his mind.

It worked.

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It worked!

“It worked!” He yelled. Laughing, Alex let himself pump his fist and jogged over to the wall to look at it up close.

Once there, he could see that the damage to the wall was less than he’d thought. There were no branching cracks from the central mark. The only true damage to the wall was a small two-inch wide divot with a one-inch deep chunk of it missing within the radius.

“Damn, they really are tough.”

Alex startled as he remembered the dismissed status window and immediately felt his spirits soar even higher as he looked at it.

Oh, holy shit. A Planetary Title?

He willed his focus to show him more information on the new title.

“Oh…” Alex stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the window before him. Part of Alex wanted to jump up and down and dance a little jig; however, he remembered where he was. Although he had privacy thanks to the blackout function, someone from the Hunters Association was still present, and he wasn't sure he wanted to share this kind of thing.

He looked over his shoulder at Kazuo, and his racing thoughts came to a halt. His mind had been moving toward the strange title, powerful rewards, and the idea that his offered class evolution may have changed, but the look of sheer horror on the older man’s face brought him up short.

“Uh, Kazuo? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Two months these rooms stand. Weapons, explosions, fire magic- nothing leave mark. Nothing. “He pointed at the two spots of damage to the walls. “But your magic…”

Alex’s excitement faltered further. “Wait, really? Nothing’s damaged these walls before?”

Kazuo shook his head slowly.

“Well, shit.” Alex glanced at the wall again. “Think they can fix it? I’d like to test a few more variations, but if it’s causing actual damage to the room…”

“Don’t know,” Kazuo admitted. “Never needed repair before.”

Alex sighed and tucked his wand into his spatial pouch. As much as he wanted to continue experimenting, he couldn’t justify potentially damaging the facility’s equipment. Not when he wasn’t even part of their organization.

“Maybe we should stop for now. I have— uh, some things I need to look at anyway.”

Kazuo nodded quickly several times before they both moved to the exit of the room.

Alex deactivated the blackout function and stepped out of the training room, and forced himself to stay composed. With his increased Willpower, he found it easy to push his emotions down and smooth out his facial features to be totally normal. He saw Sarah sitting a short distance away and made eye contact with her as he approached.

“I take it from that goofy look on your face that it worked?”

Maybe not totally normal then…

“Yes!” He burst out in a quiet exclamation. “Man, better than I’d hoped even.” He pulled out his phone as he flopped down onto the uncomfortable couch next to her. A part of him wanted to dive in and immediately see what he could find on Planetary Titles, but there were other things to do. A thought occurred to him then. “I need to make a quick call to Edwin and have him look into something for me.”

“Sure, go ahead. Reception might be spotty down here,” Sarah said.

Man, I also need to start charging the amulet again and ask Maelis some questions about this stuff. I’m sure he knows more about rank advancement and planetary titles.

A commotion drew their attention. Several other Hunters were crowded around Kazuo, peppering him with questions as they stared at the wall damage visible through the now-clear glass walls. Their voices carried a mix of awe and concern.

“You’re making an impression,” Sarah said with a sly smile.

“Yeah,” Alex said as he scratched the back of his head. “I was impressed by how sturdy those walls were, that’s for sure.”

Alex stood and thought to thank Kazuo one more time for his help over the last few hours, but he stopped short at the sight of a familiar face in the crowd. Jake stood slightly apart, watching Alex with an unreadable expression.

“Jake?” The name came out before Alex could stop it.

His brother moved forward, ignoring the commotion happening behind him. “Hey, little bro. Got a minute?” It was a similar greeting to the one he always gave, though Alex could hear the strain behind the words.

Alex glanced at Sarah, who nodded. “Hey, Jake. Go ahead. I’ll wait here.” She looked back down at her phone, continuing to swipe the screen upward.

They walked back, further down the hallway toward the presentation area where Alex had given his speech earlier. The room felt different when empty of the commotion and buzzing researchers.

“So,” Jake started and ran his fingers through his dark hair. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while now.”

“Yeah?”

“Look, I… Man, I don’t know how to start this.”

There was a long pause, and as Alex looked at his older brother, he realized for the first time in his life that Jake was shorter than he was.

“Alex… I was a dick to you. For years.” Jake met his eyes directly. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, and… I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know that the words don’t make up for all of the shitty stuff I’ve said and done to you, but I’ve… I’ve seen a lot in the last few months. My life has changed a lot, and I think I’ve seen just a glimpse of what you must have had to deal with with Mom and Dad. It sucks, and I had no idea you felt this way. It’s just a shame that it took something as drastic as a System Integration for me to realize it.”

The apology hung in the air between them. Alex studied his brother's face, surprised to find that he felt more detached from the old hurt than he’d expected to be.

“Thanks,” Alex said finally. “I actually appreciate that.” A part of him was relieved to have Jake step forward and be the first one to say something because he knew that he never would have. Another part of him felt a bit awkward and was surprised that Jake could so openly talk about his feelings like that after the history that they shared. “You don’t seem very surprised to see me here.”

Jake laughed. “Hard to be surprised when your little brother’s face keeps showing up on TV. Mom and Dad can’t stop talking about their famous son, by the way.”

“Right.” Alex shifted his weight. “So, what are you doing here? I know you went to work for the HA, but I thought you, Mom, and Dad were all still up in Jersey?”

“I’m a recruiter for the Hunters Association, and a pretty good one at that.” He finished with a winning smile, and Alex still saw a bit of his normal brother there and even felt an odd sensation brush against the outer edge of his awareness. But then Jake leaned against a nearby table and let his shoulders slump forward. “It’s not always easy, though. Lots of talented people out there who want nothing to do with government oversight. Sometimes I can’t really blame ‘em, but…” He shrugged. “Anyway, I moved down here a few weeks ago to go through some training with their recruiters, but I’ll be heading back home in a few months.”

Before Alex could respond, a staff member approached with Sarah. “Mr. Moore? The divination attempts were unsuccessful.” They handed Alex back the small bit of cloth from the sun elves. “We should reconvene tomorrow after everyone’s had some rest. Director Matthews will coordinate another strategy meeting soon to get things moving forward.”

Alex’s hand tightened on the scrap of fabric. The excitement of his breakthrough faded further away as reality settled back in. They still had no way to track the elves. He tucked the item into his spatial pouch and turned to Sarah. “We’ve got to think of a different way to track them.”

He rubbed his hand over his face, and the exhaustion that had fled with the excitement of magical discovery crashed back into him with full force.

“Jake, it was good to see you, dude. But I’ve got to get to bed. This has… literally been the longest day ever. I think we’ll be here for the next few days. Let’s… let’s try to grab lunch or something?” Even as he said the words, Alex felt that they were a bit hollow. While he wouldn’t mind getting lunch with Jake, it still felt wrong, and he wasn’t sure he’d put much effort into actually making it happen. Alex sighed and jerked his head toward the elevator as a signal to Sarah that they should head up to the rooms.

“Hey,” Jake called as they turned to leave. “Answer your phone tomorrow. I might have something I can do to help.”

“What-” Alex started, but Jake was already walking away quickly with his phone in hand.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “What was that about?”

“I have no idea,” Alex said, squinting at his brother’s back. “Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

They headed toward the elevators, both feeling exhausted from the long day. Alex called Edwin and was surprised to find him awake despite the late hour. Edwin responded easily, saying that his trait pulled him from sleep, though at the time, he wasn’t sure why. Alex told Edwin to get back to bed, and in the morning, he could start looking up any information on the topic he’d send in a text.

Alex knew he was being a bit paranoid, but he didn’t want to risk letting anyone hear him talk about a potential enormous breakthrough. Edwin didn’t ask questions, so they hung up and Alex texted him the topics.

Alex: Planetary Titles if you find anything. A few more manuals on the basics of all three kinds of magic: Runes, Rituals, Spellcasting

He slid his phone back into his pocket and took a steadying breath.

One last thing to check.

As the elevator let out a ding sound and the doors slid open, both of them moved down the carpeted corridor toward their rooms. Alex put his phone away and willed his advancement window to appear.

Standing at his room's door, he stared at the blue window for a long time, his hand resting on the handle as he studied the display.

His patience had paid off spectacularly. The Epic Rarity seemed to jump out of the window at him, validating months of his research, efforts, and experimentation. It had been something of a gamble to wait instead of accepting the new class earlier, but he was happy that he followed his gut.

I knew it. I knew that if I could just get the spell circles working, something better would come.

He thought back to the Dual Mage class he’d been offered and wondered if it had been the System giving him a hint that he was too ignorant to notice at the time. It was something offered just after combining two different kinds of magic. The runes and rituals were a big step, but he knew the circles weren’t complete, and an Epic class was just out of reach. If he got offered a rare class called dual mage, maybe the System was trying to hint that he should look to the third kind of magic for his final push.

I’m probably just overthinking it. It seems like a stupidly easy solution in hindsight, but I’m glad I ran into Kazuo. I probably would have kept putting off looking into Spellcasting until much later, thinking that it was a frivolous pursuit that could wait until after my own magic was complete…

Sarah noticed him staring at the door as she reached her own room. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, unable to keep the smile from his face. “Everything’s perfect, actually.” He’d tell them all about it tomorrow, but for now, he wanted to savor the moment.

As he entered his own room, his exhaustion returned in full force. But it was a good kind of tired that came from the satisfaction of seeing months of work crystalize into something real and totally unique to him.

Olivia was asleep on the bed, taking up more space than was necessary. He gave a smile and turned off the lamp next to her before moving to the shower. A big part of him wanted to look at the offered class evolution immediately, but he felt it might be more special to do it the next day with the team, similar to how Sam had waited.

Between the new title, the breakthrough with his magic, and the class evolution, the day had brought more progression than he could have hoped for, and he couldn’t wait to look at his entire Status Screen after accepting the class evolution.

Even though he planned to wait for his friends for that, there was one thing that he just didn’t want to wait for. After his shower, Alex sat on the edge of the bed in the dark. Careful not to disturb Olivia, he unlocked his phone and set it on the bedside table, face up, to give himself just a bit of light.

His curiosity about the [Manifest Planetary Title] wouldn’t let him rest.

Just a quick look.

He focused his will and activated the ability, giving a muted noise of surprise as a golden light began to emanate from his skin. The glow filled the room, and he glanced nervously at his girlfriend, but she just shifted in her sleep to face the far wall.

The light concentrated over his chest before coalescing into a shape that pulled away from his body. Alex watched with fascination as a large, golden card materialized in the air before him. It was bigger than his hand, closer to the size of a small tablet, and seemed to radiate a warm light.

The card hung suspended in the air while rotating slowly. It reminded him of some sort of video game power-up, and it screamed for him to reach out and grab it. Its surface gleamed and seemed to shine with a slight bit of reflective pattern on the front as it turned. In the center, Alex saw himself depicted in flowing robes, holding a wand. The artwork captured him mid-cast, as if in the act of weaving one of his new spell circles.

Gingerly, he reached out and plucked the card from the air. He held it closer to his face and looked at the words across the bottom.

‘The Magician’

The surface of the card was solid and sturdy. He turned it over and found the back decorated with an intricate pattern of magical symbols that looked to be much more complex than the few runes he knew.

After several minutes of staring at the card, Alex tried to activate the ability again to see if it had any sort of function. But the card simply dissolved into motes of light once again and rushed back into his chest, leaving the room in darkness once more. The light from his phone seemed so dim and cold blue compared to the warm light of the card.

He stared at his hand before chuckling to himself and shaking his head. Lying down, his mind raced with questions about the card’s purpose.

Another thing for tomorrow.

Feeling exhaustion begin to tug at him immediately, Alex activated [Parallel Mind]. While he knew he wouldn’t rest as well this way, he felt it was worth it to begin charging the amulet while he slept, that way at some point tomorrow, he’d be able to activate the Runic Apprentice and ask Maelis some questions about his recent gains.

He smiled as he closed his eyes and told his other mind they could switch halfway through the night.