The two tenured professors dug into their lunch as a shipwrecked sailor clings to beach sand. they thanked Altia profusely then dismissed the trio because they still had much work to do on the Essence infusing chamber. It seems that when they pulled it apart and redesigned the control mechanism, Bezzias had a moment of illumination and changed something in the Essence de-crystallizer that would reduce losses of energy by at least twenty percent. Or so said the mathematical model Tinkwezilsky created. It also meant more work and more fiddling as they improved the design.

"It won't be ready for at least two more days," The bat-kin declared. "I think we should move on another set of tests. Tinkwezilsky wants to try your Attribute strain theory. We got a few Anima crystals to use. What do you say?"

Nero grinned. "I'm up to it."

Tinkwezilsky waved a hand. "Bezzias, I'll leave Glom here to help you with the fine parts, his paws are like an angel's. You two, follow me. We need to update the print cards to retrieve your strain values."

They moved to another laboratory, this one with delicate machinery. Nero could see Arbitrii in several stages of disassembly and glimpse the complicated structure underneath. The device used the lifeforce of the user in tandem with ambient energy and the released Essence upon death to work. The number of tiny parts and some thin transparent crystal filaments that directed energy underneath the device's sturdy copper plate was marvelous. No matter how much he squinted or approached, he could always see smaller pieces making up the bigger ones.

"Don't breathe too close to the devices, the moisture in your breath will corrode the components," The gnome warned and Nero immediately jumped back. "You can play with the ones on that workbench though. They are faulty models we won't use or activate on anyone."

Tinkwezilsky was basically telling them to stay out of the way and not touch anything. Nero still went to the workbench to mess with the devices. With that many small parts and the precision craftsmanship, he understood why the device cost almost four times like his new house.

He thought of his parents back home and the war that would soon spill over the frontier. If Coriander took Honeywitch, the other neighbors would dive like hungry maggots to get a piece of their land. He needed to grow stronger. Something tugged at his heart. He was fiddling with an Arbitrium mechanism when that dark feeling washed over him and he punched the device, small sprockets, coils and shards of thin crystal filament flying around. They stuck to the outer layer of his skin, his enhanced Vigor stopping them from drawing blood. Altia used [Potion Toss] on him, the fluid shot from the vial, sending the stopper away and washing over Nero like a refreshing mist. She left the vial on the workbench and hugged him.

It shook the gnome from his work. "What is wrong?"

"I feel powerless, master Tinkwezilsky. I have a hunch something big is coming, and I will be just a spectator."

"Well, if you let me finish this code on the Status cards, we can try to power you up really good. Hold onto him, assistant Altia. Soothe the young man's worries!" He guffawed.

With Tinkwezilsky back to work, she dove into his eyes and asked, "What is wrong?"

"I am worried about our parents. Everything that happened, the knight at the guild, at the gates of the Lyceum, even Valagornif - he misspelled - visit. It all points to one thing. This kingdom will be butchered."

She kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing his head close to her chest. Nero could hear Altia's heartbeat. "Your parents are strong. And resourceful. The war won't start for at least a few weeks. We'll be back home by then."

Nero held her waist and closed his eyes. Altia caressed his hair and hummed a lullaby. Nero didn't fall asleep but he enjoyed that warmth in a dreamy state. But all things come to an end, and good things last even less. He was startled by Tinkwezilsky's cheers.

"I did it. Come here, Nero. Let's try this card on your device. Open your main slot."

Also known as the Class slot. Nero opened it and twisted his arm to check inside. There was no card. He was afraid the [Jester] card would show up or that he had some Class active. It was just him being paranoid. Tinkwezilsky inserted a blank card and the slot closed on itself. The display lit up.

Diagnosis card inserted. Printing data.

After a while, the port opened and the card was ejected. Tinkwezilsky let Nero read it before doing so himself.

Nero [no class t3aaa41d 0/0]

Strength: +3 t3j8dg3u

Vigor +2 t3j7dj55

Endurance +2 t3g91lm6

Agility +4 t3m7pdlo

Dexterity +3 t3j8dfvr

Reason +2 t3g91mpa

Willpower +2 t3g91noh

Perception +3 t3j8dk66

Charisma +2 t3g91ond

"There it is. Gibberish. We have no idea what these numbers mean. Now, we need to modify your Attributes and see if the numbers change."

"It would be easy if I had my equipment with me. Most of it gives some minor Attribute bonuses. Oh, my boots. I can remove them to lose one point of Agility."

He removed his [Elven Boots], lamenting the stitches holding the gashes the monsters made during his mad delve. They ran the diagnosis again, and the value for Agility changed from +4 t3m7pdlo to +3 t3j8dmd0.

"That's not very useful. I expected the lower order digits to remain the same but all of them changed," Tinkwezilsky said. "Well, onto the part you were expecting. Let's burn some Anima crystals."

He picked up the blank cards he coded and the trio returned to the lab. Bezzias and Glom were still reassembling the upgraded Essence Infusion Chamber.

"Back so soon?" Bezzias asked.

Glom checked his pocket watch and corrected his colleague, "They were away for three hours, professor Bezzias."

"We are going to test the Attribute strain using the blanks I prepared. This is our baseline test and with one point in Agility. Notice that the other Attributes do not change, and it means they are independent. Now let's burn some cash."

The gnome took a key from his coat pocket and went to a corner of the lab. There he slid a section of the wall, revealing a secret panel that led to a safe. With the key, he opened it and removed a velvet pouch. He brought them back and laid them on the table.

"Here, we have eight Essence Crystals grade I to III. Let's use them one-by-one, Nero."

"Okay. Do you mind if I swap those grade III for some of the lower grades that I got here?"

"That's..."

Tinkwezilsky's face said he was about to reject the idea because Nero couldn't profit from the experiment. Before he finished, Glom spoke.

"Otherwise we won't have a way to tell if the grade affects the strain or not. It is better to first test with all the crystals of the same grade."

"There's no problem in doing that," Bezzias told his opinion. "The crystals would be lost anyway, and I am sure young Nero means to use them with assistant Altia. We might even ask her to do a series of readings so we can have a back-to-back analysis."

"That would be wonderful," Altia replied.

Nero took the pouch of crystals Huron gave him as a wedding gift. The crystal from the goblin was inside too. He opened and removed all six grade I crystals and traded them for three grade II and two grade III. "This will increase our data points by more than ten percent," He added with a smug smile. He could divide!

"That is fine. Now that we have your readings, you can start using the crystals," Tinkwezilsky agreed.

Nero shook his head. "No can do. We need to measure the strain and test the theory that one can manipulate one's own strain by exercising. Is there a road I can run laps on?"

The gnome took the grade I crystals with him and they left the building. After finding a group of benches in the shade of a tall tree, Nero left his bag with Altia and started to run laps around the campus. His meager agility of +4 may seem slow but he was faster than any unaugmented person. Nero would run three laps around the whole campus, return to the tree, measure his Attributes with a blank card, use an Anima crystal, measure again and another three laps. The rest of the day and a good portion of the night went like this.

But the payoff was something that made Nero proud. Of the nine crystals, he earned eight Attributes. In order, he got Agility, Agility, Endurance, Willpower, Agility, Endurance, blank, Agility, Endurance.

The blank crystal, the one that would be the level up also brought a very curious message.

Anima infusion initiated. Processing upgrade. Weighing Attribute strain. Global strain below the minimum. Higher strain below the minimum. Upgrading energy adaptation. Processing level up. Error. Level already at the cap. Dispersing Anima through exhaust vents. Aborting.

"Your theory about strain has merit. The odds of only one crystal giving a level were less than two percent," Tinkwezilsky congratulated Nero after getting the last card with what they hoped would be the strain code. "I'll have to spend some time decoding the information on these cards."

"Yes, excellent work!" Bezzias cheered. "We here locked in a lab get so involved in chasing after our own imagination that we seldomly stop to look at the broad picture and ask what else are we not noticing. Your fresh insight made it possible. Imagine how much the nobles would invest if it is possible to postpone the advancement of their scions to utilize more of lower-grade Anima crystals.

"I say we celebrate our first day of discovery together by having dinner together. My treat."

They went to Bezzias' mansion first so Nero could wash the sweat from running and afterward, everyone got on Lamuril's horseless carriage, the five of them. It would be cramped with five people until you realized Glom didn't really take much space. The squiig sat between Nero and Altia as the two youngsters had a small enough frame to allow the junior researcher enough space without squeezing him.

Dinner was at a restaurant run by dragonkin. Their cuisine favored meaty dishes and hot spices. Nero was in doubt about two things. First, what Bezzias was going to eat, and second, how Glom would sit with them but when the hostess took them to their table, a smaller table was attached where a seat should be, with a small chair. Glom just jumped on the platform next to it and sat down. His eyes were at the same level as everyone else. He also noticed all chairs had a groove for tails and the norm was to always reach your seat from the right.

Bezzias ordered a dish that was more pepper than meat. While the bat-kin favored fruit, it didn't mean he couldn't enjoy some grilled ribs. During the whole service, Nero was silent and brooding while Altia told the story of the trading card space and Glom of his new course plan. Bezzias and Tinkwezilsky approved of the idea and vowed to vote for Glom's course. Oblivious of the conversation at the table, Nero kept to his thoughts.

"The black card, what is its illustration?" He asked more to himself than to the others. Only when all faces turned on him did he notice his Freudian slip.

Altia dropped her fork, surprised.

Glom quickly raised a paw and waved, "[Wind Barrier]"

"How do you know it has an illustration? No cards have them," Bezzias asked.

"Except the uniques," Tinkwezilsky completed for his comrade. "Which means you saw one."

"Yes. Even though I shouldn't have said it out loud, I've seen one," Nero owned his mistake and spoke the truth. "But before we move further with this discussion, answer me. What is its illustration?"

"It is a forest clearing," Bezzias answered. "And in the middle of the clearing, there's a small hut."

"The forest is dark and the vines make it look impassable. We have no idea what it means," Tinkwezilsky explained.

"Oh, and there's smoke coming out of a tiny chimney," the bat-kin added. "Now, what did you find?"

"Would you let me see the one the Lyceum has? I might be able to read it."

"Of course! I'll arrange for that tomorrow," Bezzias promised.

"I guess it is my turn, right?" Nero gave a wry smile as the attention of the three teachers. "Please keep what I say here. No publishing this information, it could be fatal to me."

"We understand very well, Nero. You are among friends. Speak freely," Glom reassured him.

"Unique cards have some properties which can only be seen by people that can use them. I've found one in the Goblin's Den. They also require an extremely hard achievement. Mine was killing the boss alone at level zero."

"Seems like it was catered to you," Bezzias said. "What category of card was it?"

"A Class. Without requirements," Altia replied after giving Nero a reproaching stare. "And he equipped it right away."

Tinkwezilsky drew one of the diagnosis cards. "It says here he has no Class."

Nero smiled. "One of its properties is not displaying anything in either the screen or the output."

He then explained the properties of his [Jester] Class. How he can equip and switch any tier I Class.

"Hey, Bez," Tinkwezilsky was already somewhat tipsy on his wine. "If he can switch Classes, let's make him a [Gadgeteer]. Then he can use [Sketch] to make a drawing of the card for us."

"Fantastic idea. We'll do all of that tomorrow!"

Nero [0/0]

Strength: +7 (+10 with clockwork blade, +8 when blocking)

Vigor +6 (+7 Brigandine)

Endurance +7 (+8 Mufffler)

Agility +11 (+12 Elven Boots)

Dexterity +4 (+5 inside a Dungeon, Goggles)

Reason +3 (+4 Clock)

Willpower +3

Perception +4 (+6 inside a Dungeon, Goggles)

Charisma +4

Class: [Jester]

- Special: Ignores tier I Class level requirement.

- Special: The Jester has no Skill Slots.

- Special: Allows the Jester to equip and unequip a tier I Class and Skills to bind to that particular Class. All Attribute bonuses are halved while the Class is equipped. A Class card is bound to the Jester upon activation.

- Special: No Class information will be displayed or shown.

Equipment: [Rending Clockwork Blade of Regrowth +1], [Self-Cleaning Brigandine of Regrowth], [Dungeon Goggles], [Elven Boots], [Hot Muffler], [Dungeon Clock], [Spiked Clockwork Shield of Regrowth +1]