THEOS

Lowering his sword, he stepped away from Trixie. Once there was adequate space between them, he looked at her with a blank face.

“Hi.” She grinned at him, tucking a loose strand of her curly hair behind her ear.

“Hey.”

“Listen, I’m sorry I stopped you the other day. I didn’t think there was anything weird going on with you. I just noticed that you had figured something out, and you looked very happy about it, and I wanted to know what that was.”

“Right.” Luke looked at her blankly. “Is that everything?”

She glanced at Arya and Spiros, who was making his way to their side of the ring. Her grin slipped from her face. “It is, yeah. Like I said, I am sorry.”

“Okay.” Luke nodded to her, and turned toward Spiros. “That was an amazing fight.”

Spiros glanced awkwardly at Trixie. “Yeah. You want to go next?”

Do I? Luke eyed the sandy pits with apprehension. “No. I didn’t sleep too well, and I don’t think fighting a monster would be a good idea. Actually, I was hoping Arya could answer some questions about mana.” He turned to look at her. “If that’s okay?”

“I can,” She said slowly, “but I don’t know too much more about it than you do. I’ve figured out a few things by myself over the weeks, and I’ve read a few books, but I didn’t understand a lot of them.” She frowned. “Usually an Elder gives you some guidance when you become an Inner Disciple, but with everything that's been going on, none of them had time. With the thief still not caught, they have to go on regular patrols across the province and check in on all the disciples. In case one of them found something.”

“Oh.” Luke said dumbly, I forgot they don’t have phones here. So if they want to check in on stuff, people really have to send letters. Or if you have enough pull, I guess you can press Warriors into your service and have them act as messengers. They fly around pretty fast.

“None of the other Inner Disciples said anything?” Spiros asked.

She shook her head slightly. “I asked a few, but none of them would tell me anything. Apparently it’s not allowed.”

“That’s annoying.” Said Luke.

“I can teach you!” Trixie suddenly offered. The rest of them looked at her in surprise. “Well, you’re all from the Luminous Sky, right? I’m from the Crimson Night Sect, so I doubt word would get back. We’re also all technically allies, and I doubt I’ll get punished for telling you anything. Not in these circumstances anyway. We’re all in a Hero’s tomb! If any of us can get out, then we’ll be too valuable to expel anyways.”

Luke looked between Arya and Spiros. “Okay.”

She grinned. “You three have to tell me about what you know about the Techniques in exchange. Sword, Spear, and Shield. I feel like we’ll all benefit from it, no?”

Spiros sighed. “We can try telling you about the techniques, but it’s not that easy. I don’t mind sharing what I know, but I seriously doubt that you’ll learn anything.” He pointed at the podiums. “If the Hero can’t impart her own knowledge onto you, then I doubt we’ll be able to. It’s better for you if you just keep at it.”

She frowned, and tucked away another strand of loose hair. “I’ve been staring at a podium for a long time now, and I haven’t figured out anything. Even if it turns out you can’t help me, I still have to try. If I never figure them out, I’ll never leave.” She looked each of them in the eye. “Even if I don’t get anything useful from you, I can’t ignore the possibility that I might.”

Isn’t it a little early for her to lose confidence? It’s only been a few days since we’ve been here.

“It’s a deal.” Arya stepped forward,

“Perfect.” She grinned.

“Well, it’s not like I have anything to lose by telling you what I know. I still don’t think you’ll get anything worthwhile from us though.”

“I’ll take that chance. Let’s go to my room. I’ll get you guys started on the basics there.” She turned sharply on her heel, and walked towards a random entryway.

“We can go into each other's rooms?” Luke started walking after her. “Since when?”

“Since we got here. Some lovebirds figured out how.” She glanced back at them. “Don’t worry. It’s not like anyone can just wander in.”

“Still. It’s kind of dangerous.”

“What do you mean? This is great!” Spiros said obviously.

Luke stayed silent in response.

What do I actually mean? Luke glanced around the room. Am I just being paranoid? Even if I am, is that a bad thing? I’m here with virtually all the same people as I was in the Society, with counterparts from some other organizations, but it feels different.

Well. For one, everyone in this room is a murderer. Each and every one of us has blood on our hands. We all killed to be here… and you know what, that is a good reason to be paranoid. I’m not going crazy, it’s just common sense rearing its head.

“Alright, this is me.” Trixie stood in front of a random corridor, stepping through with ease. Then turning back around, she held out her hand. “Take my hand.”

“Gladly!” Spiros grabbed a hold of it, and followed her.

Once he was in, she held out her hand again. Accepting it gingerly, Luke walked in as well.

It’s that easy, huh.

“Do you have to be inside to let the other person in?” Luke asked.

“Yes. Two people can’t go in together. Whoever’s room it is, has to be fully inside, and then you have to pull the other person in. It's pretty secure. I think.”

“Hmm.” Luke grunted non committedly.

It does seem foolproof. So long as I don’t let anyone I don’t trust come into my own room, I should be safe. Unless someone tries to do somethingin the training room, but there's enough people there that no one should be trying anything.

I’ll also have to be careful about entering someone else’s room in the future. I feel fairly safe with Arya and Spiros around that Trixie won’t try anything, but I can imagine being led into an ambush. Eventually. Who knows what kind of trouble people will get into if we stay trapped for long enough.

The note said killing isn’t permitted on the pain of death, but it said nothing about torture. Or cutting off someone’s arms and legs. Which now that I think about it, could be a viable strategy. They’ll never get out of here alive. Unless they manage to learn all three techniques without limbs.

As crazy as this world is, I wouldn’t actually put that down as impossible. Still, if things get bad, people will start looking for loopholes. I can’t possibly be the only one who’s realized that while killing isn’t an option for getting rid of enemies, perpetual imprisonment is.

Speaking of, will the Hero keep us here forever? Is it even possible? What if people break into the Warrior-tier or start having babies. Would she keep the babies trapped in here too?

This is insane.

“So Arya? What do you know about mana?” Trixie asked, sitting softly down on her bed.

“Not much. I figured out how to cultivate specific attributes. A friend showed me how to imbue mana into things, but I haven’t managed to do it yet. That’s about it.”

“So you know the important bits. That’s good. I wouldn’t focus too much on any professions yet if I were you. Pick them up when you have no chance of advancing anymore. Right now, it's a waste of time. As for you two, have you cultivated at all since you unlocked it?”

Luke shook his head in the negative, and Spiros did the same.

“I only unlocked it a few hours ago.”

Although, I guess playing around with my Stat Points could count.

“Okay. It’s not super complicated. When you start exercising, you’ll notice that mana is entering your body. It will be different from the mana already in there. The Elders call it Aethereal Mana. How do I put this?” She scratched her chin and looked at the roof.

“If the mana in your body is like water, then the mana that comes in from the outside is like milk. It has water in it, but also a lot of other stuff. It's the other stuff in there that lets you get stronger. Which is why you can’t just use your own mana to cultivate. It's missing all the good white stuff.” She looked between the two of them.

Spiros turned red and looked at Luke, who just shrugged his shoulders in response.

It makes sense to me.

“Now normally, when you start sensing mana, you’ve been at the midstage for a while, and your body has already become saturated with it. So just exercising isn’t enough to get stronger anymore. If the rumors about you two are true, your bodies are nowhere near saturated. What that means is that you can just keep going as normal until you notice that your body isn’t absorbing the mana that’s accumulating.”

“Is that your advice? Just ignore it for now?” Luke looked at her incredulously.

“I mean, yes? I know it’s not what you wanted to hear, but it's good advice. At the stage you're at, your body should naturally be able to absorb whatever mana enters it, and it’s probably best to just let it do what it does. You’ll figure out how to direct the mana you gather into improving certain aspects of yourself almost instantly, but let your body build a good foundation, and then build on top of that.”

“Okay, so let's say our bodies get fully saturated? Then what?”

“You’ll notice the Aetherial Mana entering you, and if your bodies don’t allocate it, it will evaporate. In that case what you have to do is draw it to whatever you want to improve. It’s hard to explain, but the how will make sense once you have it in you.”

“What should I improve, and how should I improve it?” Arya asked suddenly.

“Good question. You have to spread it thin and even. The best thing to improve is just your whole body. Dissolve the Aetherial Mana in your personal mana, and let every part of your body eat it. If you want to improve just your strength though, focus it all on your muscles. But make sure it's evenly spread throughout all of your muscles. Don’t make your left leg stronger than your right. Don’t give your arms more or less mana than your legs. That sort of thing.”

“Why?” Arya tilted her head.

Trixie shrugged her shoulders in response. “Do you really want your legs in the Warrior-tier and your arms in the Mortal?

“No.”

“Exactly. What else?” She drummed her fingers on her bed.

This isn’t as useful as I thought it would be. I’ll probably learn more observing how the Seed is improving my body, than from her. Hmm.

“How do I make talismans?” Luke asked. Might as well get something out of this.

“You draw a symbol on a piece of paper, and then fill it with your mana.” She answered simply. “It sounds easier than it is, but it’s really quite tricky. You have to make it even and and do it in a certain way. It also takes a good chunk of your mana, so you can’t make too many. Oh right, if you expel all your mana, you pass out. So avoid that.”

“What kind of symbols?” Luke's eyes lit up.

“I don’t know. Like I said, it’s not worth spending time learning how to make talismans or brew potions unless you’ve given up on becoming a Warrior. Which I haven’t. Really we only have until we become thirty or so to try, after which no matter what we do, our bodies simply won’t absorb mana anymore. Until then, even if you don’t want to become a Warrior, it’s much more worthwhile getting stronger.”

“Right. What about improving eyesight or hearing and stuff?”

An uncertain look came over her face. “It’s doable, but you have to be careful. Make sure your body can handle the strain, and the best way to do that is just by improving all of it equally. Don’t spend too much mana in one spot either. When I first unlocked my mana, an Elder sent her own into mine, and showed me how to improve certain attributes independently without ruining stuff. With your eyes, you can’t just do your eyes. I mean you can, but not without problems. There’s all these stringy bits going into your brain you have to do at the same time, or things stop working properly. A little is fine, but it really is best to make your whole body better at the same time.”

Luke, Arya, and Spiros glanced between themselves.

“Well, I guess we learned something.” Luke shrugged. “What do you want to know?”