“Did you…get it…yet?” Caeden asked, gasping for breath.
Tyr ignored this paltry attempt at a distraction. He wasn’t even tempted to glance over to the duel between Caeden and Garrett. Cae-Cae obviously had no chance, even with the tutor only using a tendril of Sky mana to control a floating sword. Still, there was a hypnotic rhythm to their back-and-forth, the clacking of wooden blades a song that had distracted him too often in their past sessions.
Much to his annoyance, Tyr had been banned from engaging in any sort of swordsmanship himself. There were workarounds for Pacifism, but he was still unable to infuse mana into objects. Without that ability, he couldn’t practice any elemental techniques with the blade. Since Garrett was officially his Mystical Arts tutor, there was no real argument Tyr could think of that would convince the man to teach him mundane proficiency with a sword.
Not that he hadn’t tried, of course. Multiple times.
On the bright side, he had gotten an easy level in both [Dancing] and [Singing] from observing some of their past sessions. Weird, but Skills tended to have a lot of low-hanging fruit at the lower levels, just waiting to be plucked. Anything that broadened his comprehension could trigger a breakthrough to the next level.
Still, he yearned to get over this initial learning curve for magic.
Back when Tyr had plotted to inspire Caeden through mutual rivalry, he had failed to account for how little his five-year-old cousin cared, and how much he did. His anecdote about becoming a National Master in chess in order to spite his friend perhaps spoke more about Tyr’s personality than it did the average, well-adjusted child.
Yet his obsessive hatred of losing had yielded some excellent gains.
[ Status ]
Name: Tyrus Hollan
Age: 3 years
Race: Human (D)
Bloodline: Vision of the Omniscient (D)
Attributes:
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 11 > 12
Constitution: 3
Will: 12 > 14
Perception: 7 > 8 (16)
Charisma: 8 (16)
Skills:
[ Gaze of the Dominator ] - 4 (Sealed)
[ Mind Palace (Rare) ] - 4 > 12
[ Singing (Uncommon) ] - 26 > 29
[ Mana Manipulation (Uncommon) ] - 14 > 27
[ Focused Mind (Common) ] - 29 > 49
[ Dancing (Common) ] - 19 > 24
[ Identify (Common) ] - 16 > 21
Most of his time over the last month had been focused on training his mana control and reading. Without Class or Profession Skills to guide his mana into specific techniques, he had to learn freeform manipulation first in order to engage in any of the mystical arts.
Healing was off-limits, for example. Until his control improved, any attempt to harness his internal Life mana was likely to cause him to erupt into a mass of tumors. Trying to use it on other people would end up even worse. Once mana generated from his Core left his body, it was only slightly easier to manipulate than ambient energy with no innate attachment to him. An injection of foreign, out-of-control Life mana into an unsuspecting guinea pig would result in some serious body horror.
Hopefully his first General Skill evolution would speed things along.
Blocking out all external distractions, Tyr focused once more on the Mana Core within his chest.
As he had seen with Caeden’s Water orb and Mother’s Panacea-Type Heal, a rough sphere was considered the most basic shape for concentrating energy. This meant that Tyr had spent an annoyingly long time attempting to manifest ugly globules of mana.
The benefit of his excess mental energy was that he could technically sit around all day creating one orb after another. Most people would experience fatigue from the constant, intense focus, but for Tyr, it was merely a bit tedious.
His Core, not his willpower, was the bottleneck that limited how much he could practice. Training aids such as mana generators or crystal reserves were available, but Garrett apparently harbored some old-fashioned notion that one should focus on controlling and expanding their internal reserves first.
Sky mana was easiest for Tyr to manipulate into the required shape, though its environmental presence was thin so close to the ground. Several imperfect azure orbs orbited above his head, trembling as they resisted his efforts to maintain their form. Materializing them had drained all of his Sky mana, and they were already shedding energy at an alarming rate.
Before they could disperse, he focused his attention on the solid swirl of Crystal within his Core. Under his direction, it liquefied and surged down the spiritual channels in his arm. As it flowed down to his hand, he focused on directing its size and shape according to his desired specifications. A moment later, a translucent marble popped into existence, then floated upward to join the orbiting system of Sky orbs. Unsightly bulges marred the surface, like glass blown by a complete novice. Tyr let his annoyance at its imperfection wash over him and vanish, unheeded.
Next came a tiny, flickering sun forged from Solar mana. It lasted only a few seconds before imploding into a small shockwave of heat. His attempt at harnessing his minor Moon affinity was even more feeble, immediately collapsing into a cluster of fading moonbeams.
Dream and Mind mana remained resistant to his efforts. Dream Mana hated existing within physical reality and vanished without a trace the moment it left his body. His Mind mana, as far as he could tell, was just as stubborn as he was. It became more malleable when he was in that half-conscious trance state before sleep, but that just meant that it would stir slightly and laugh at his efforts to direct it into anything meaningful.
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Holy was also difficult to properly harness. It was an aberrant Mana type, sealed behind divine permission. Without a patron god or the ability to Chant Words of Power, freeform manipulation of it was all but impossible.
Manifesting Death mana was apparently out of the question. It was more volatile and dangerous than its diametric counterpart, Life. As one of his weakest minor affinities, he doubted he could do that much damage if he manifested it. However, whenever he floated the idea to others, they started wagging their fingers and lecturing him on not playing around with unholy magic. At least until he was older, Leon had finally conceded.
Yet Tyr was loath to waste the reserves in his Core. It would expand and grow more dense from use, so letting that mana sit around unused was an intolerable waste. There was an upper limit to the amount he would naturally regenerate before it was capped out.
At least his weekly sessions with GranGran usually exhausted his Dream mana, but it would recover long before their next scheduled meeting.
Fortunately, mana cycling techniques existed. They were the equivalent of exercising by digging a hole and filling it back up again. Not exactly efficient, but it was better than nothing. Since internal circulation was easier than external manipulation, all he had to do was rouse the energy within his Core and send it throughout his spiritual channels. This network intersected with his blood vessels, with his Core acting like a heart, pumping his mana through the circuit.
Tendrils of black Death, golden Holy, and purple Dream circulated throughout his body, joined by a stubborn trickle of clear Mind. More complex cycling techniques existed that forced his Mana into turbulent, complex routes, but he was determined to master the basics first.
There was another reason behind his multitasking beyond improving his [Mana Manipulation]. His first General Skill was on the verge of a breakthrough, and he had a specific evolution in mind.
Deep breath. One last pulse of his Core drained the last dregs of his reserves. Hints of azure, yellow, and diamond fused into a bright green orb. This unstable concoction joined the orbiting constellation for a few seconds before it, too, imploded.
Focused Mind (Common) 49 > 50. First threshold reached.
Tyr shouted and pumped a fist at the notification. His trance state completely broken, the constellation of misshapen orbs dissolved into motes of light. The clacking of wooden swords faded away as the others noticed his breakthrough, before resuming a moment later.
[ Congratulations! Focused Mind has reached level 50. Choose your Skill Evolution: ]
- [Focused Mind II] (Uncommon). A general qualitative improvement to the base Skill. Allows for greater concentration on a task and filtering of external stimuli, leading to a flow state.
- [Perfect Memory] (Uncommon). All information consciously stored with this Skill can be instantly recalled without effort or distortion. Some exclusions apply, such as eldritch knowledge, advanced Words of Power, and other metaphysical concepts resistant to comprehension.
- [Split Focus] (Uncommon). The base Skill can be applied to multiple simultaneous tasks. Mental strain scales exponentially with the addition of concurrent splits.
- [Foresight] (Rare). Allows for greater inductive reasoning based on current knowledge, enabling the user to fall into a probability trance.
Though the first option wasn’t actually terrible, he had no use for it. A deeply devoted Scholar or Crafter may find the option appealing, but he was neither. If he was displeased with all of his available choices, he could retain the Skill and try for a different one next threshold. Since he already knew what he wanted, and it was available, he dismissed the general upgrade.
[Perfect Memory] was also an easy no. His memory was already quite excellent, and the Skill’s limitations made it all but useless for him in the first place. Even more damning, his [Mind Palace] already overlapped with it. At least, in theory. His progress with that particular Skill was excruciatingly slow, but he had an entire lifetime to work on it. In the long haul, the redundancy was simply too inefficient for that route to have any appeal.
[Split Focus] was the clear winner, even if [Foresight] teased him with its Rare tag. The added mental strain was no real issue at the moment, though exponential scaling could quickly go out of control depending on how fast the difficulty ramped up. Yet it was the obvious, recommended choice for any future Mage. Complex freeform techniques and multicasting all but required a specialized Skill such as this one.
[Foresight] was a trap. During his research, Tyr had read about this option, though he hadn’t thought it would actually be presented to him.
Despite some synergy between his Holy affinity and Divination-Type Skills, he couldn’t imagine himself becoming an Oracle. A single General Skill was hardly enough to predict the future with any degree of reliability. It was a dedicated Path that required a slew of investments, including a matched Class and Profession, to boost accuracy and insight.
Pass. Even if I’d make a stellar Oracle, I’m not dedicating myself to a Path that still loses to a butterfly flapping its wings. And maybe it's a flawed argument, but if I want to see what happens in the future...I can just wait.
[ Focused Mind (Common) Level 50 has evolved into Split Focus (Uncommon) Level 50. ]
Will 14 > 15.
As expected, with it came a new Achievement.
System Prodigy I (Common). You have reached the first threshold in a General Skill before unlocking the Second Gate. +10% Learning Speed. +1 to all attributes.
A vague warmth spread through his body and mind from the sudden comprehensive boost. Most importantly, it bumped his Constitution to 4. That particular attribute was incredibly stingy, and though its effects could be subtle, it may have been the most important at all. Many people would disagree with that assertion, but the increased lifespan alone granted more natural time to boost every other attribute. Time in the market beat all other investment strategies.
The buff to Learning Speed was also an enormous boon. According to his research, it should have a multiplicative effect with other cognitive boosts. It was the main reason he had dedicated himself to leveling up [Focused Mind] above all other concerns for the past two months. The quicker he received such training amplifiers, the better.
Tyr rubbed his palms together, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
Three more days until his next session with GranGran. He had reached the first threshold faster than she had anticipated. Part of that had been because of one of her promises. It had served as the perfect motivator.
Most of their past sessions had been focused on utilizing the unique nature of the Dream Realm in order to help with his [Mana Manipulation]. Technically, anything he imagined was possible within his dreams, and so he could create magical constructs and explore various methods that were beyond his capabilities in the real world.
The major problem was the unreliability of such methods. Maybe he could imagine himself flying through the air or creating buildings with a thought, but there was a world of difference between imagining doing something, and being able to actually do it. There was always the risk that everything he learned was actually completely wrong, instilling bad habits that he would have to unlearn in the future.
There was also the unreliability of Lady Dementia to take into account. She thought that he was Leon half the time, that he was some enemy Mage from her past a quarter of the time, and the remainder was incomprehensible madness.
Well, nobody’s perfect, right?
He was…mostly sure…that she would keep her promise, even if he had to remind her what it was:
GranGran was going to teach him Astral Combat.