The next night spent in Meditation under the imp’s guidance yielded spectacular results, leaving Zahn confident in his magical combat ability once more. Now that the little demon wasn’t deliberately holding back and intended to teach the relevant Skills and Abilities they used during their session, the number of increases kept piling up until the blinking icon in his HUD became impossible to ignore. The distracting and varied pulses of light trying to sneak into his main field of view continued to grow brighter as they nearly pulled him from meditation and progress several times until nearly five in the morning he couldn’t ignore them any longer.

Rising out of his meditative state, Zahn felt his body light and refreshed as if he’d slept for hours and taken some time to fully wake up afterwards. He’d been able to bring the mana concentration in his body down to the lowest tier he could, which greatly accelerated the rate his new Mana Infusion ability grew. He gained a new awareness of his body when the first ranking finished its infusion, making him feel his tailbone at all times and even the knots on the underside of his cheap shirt. The new sensitivity extended to pushing mana around, making him feel the shift in power as if he’d sent a snake underground and it pushed mass aside to slither its way around. He pushed mana down both arms and felt the resistance build like pressure around a tube as the power built, rising so fast he expected to see his body swell like an animation.

“Thanks for your help, imp. Now that you’re apparently done fucking around, I’m actually getting skill levels out of all this.” Zahn tried to remain positive, still feeling that ember of a grudge pointed at the greedy lying demon. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Honestly, I’m a tad surprised.” Iengoris refrained from gorging himself on the weak first-tier mana flow, apparently sated on the feast he’d been getting before. “Even if I wanted to teach you everything I knew, you flat out wouldn’t qualify for picking up over half of it. It’s not only too advanced, you just don’t have the magical presence required for the big stuff. Your regeneration rate is doing you a lot of favors, even if you’re shitting out and wasting power. Even the silly Hearth is having trouble taking it all in.”

Rolling his eyes at the ongoing stream of consciousness coming out the little monster, Zahn opened his notifications to see what had been building up since yesterday. He’d been minimizing each new type of message as it appeared during their full day of magical training, and he’d spent multiple mediation sessions with Iengoris practicing their mana drills.

Congratulations, you have been taught Abilities in a controlled setting by an Adept of the Magical Arts! Your learning curve will improve the longer you sustain teaching under a single instructor.

You have been taught the Ability: Mana Infusion.

Channeling magical power into your body and sustaining the energy over time allows the chance of a body mutating to absorb a measure of that power for later use. Trained experts of using this energy offensively can harden their bodies and repair wounds.

Mana Infusion +1

Congratulations, you have been taught Abilities in a controlled setting by an Adept of the Magical Arts! Your learning curve will improve the longer you sustain teaching under a single instructor.

You have been taught the Ability: Physical Infusion.

By empowering your own body over time, you can push mana into component parts of your own body for greater force and durability. Unlike temporary power storage methods this infusion is permanent, requiring extended periods of time empowering your own body under the correct conditions.

Physical Infusion +1

Congratulations, you have been taught Spells in a controlled setting by an Adept of the Magical Arts! Your learning curve will improve the longer you sustain teaching under a single instructor.

You have been taught the Spell: Mana Diffusion.

Breaking down mana into its weaker form allows the diluted concentration of energy to be more easily absorbed into corresponding spells drawing in power. Casting this spell on an enchantment will increase the size of the area affected, but decrease its potency proportionally. Casting this spell on an incoming attack spell will decrease the power of the attack, but increase its hit area proportionally.

You have unlocked the ability: Spell Channeling.

Casting a spell continuously through greater mana cost and successful concentration checks allows a caster to develop the ability to cast a spell beyond its initial duration. This casting requires increased cost relative to the duration extended, raised exponentially for each Rank the spell has been artificially increased by.

Spell Channeling +1

You have unlocked the ability: Core Communion.

You have delved into your source of power, residing your consciousness in the same realm as your connection to magic itself. You have begun to understand your own magical Core, and how to interact with the precious facet. You have a strong impression that your Core is not fully understood.

Core Communion +1

Meditation has reached level 9! +5

Mana Manipulation has reached level 14! +7

Mana Infusion has reached level 4! +3

Physical Infusion has reached level 7! +6

Mana Diffusion has reached level 9! +8

Spell Channeling has reached level 3! +2

Core Communion has reached level 5! +4

The ongoing barrage of individual increases had grown to such a symphony of pulses and colors that for a moment Zahn simply appreciated the stillness that came with opening all the windows at once. Dismissing them in order, he was happy to see the spell and ability gains that he’d felt were missing from their previous rounds of ‘guided’ meditating. At least the little beast came through, teaching two and a spell. And I grabbed two more while I was at it, everything is working this morning. Finally dismissing the last group of tiny windows clustered together, he acknowledged the skill-ups and turned back to the present.

“So, why doesn’t your intrepid master join our little magical naps? I’d think he would be demanding you teach him the same stuff you’ve just started showing me.” Zahn found his mote of bitterness still leaking through, even though the demon had already done him quite the favor with the lessons. Something about this guy, I just can’t shake it.

Iengoris himself glanced over at the randomly distracted Player before favoring him with an answer. “My dubious lord requires his sleep, Meditation doesn’t give him the same bonuses as you. And, even though he doesn’t try for physical infusion like you are, he still runs out of mana trying to carve out appropriate-level paths. He usually practices just before sleeping, it wears him out.” The little imp hopped up on his perch, spinning to settle on a hotter section of coals for the best heat source. “So? How are your gains?”

Zahn debated telling him anything for a moment, “What, don’t you get messages about what Skills and shit I get from you? Doesn’t teaching go both ways around here what with magic helping and all?”

“Eh, sort of,” The demon wobbled a paw side to side. “More like, I get told you’re starting then I just watch your reaction. Helps with these new eyes, lets me see what’s up on the inside. You’re definitely getting some growths, and I mean in levels not organs.”

The Player stretched his legs as he strode around the backs of the couches, another thought from weeks ago percolating back into his mind. “That reminds me, actually. You might even know the answer. Why is pushing mana into your eyes something new or noteworthy? We’re even doing full-body infusions, how has ‘seeing mana’ not come up yet? It’s so simple.”

“Well, yes and no.” The little demon’s voice still grated, and it spoke slowly as it rolled answers around its mouth. “See, everyone who practices physical infusion does empower their eyes, it’s just not the same. The organ of an eyeball has a certain structure, see? You found the right combination to let light and mana play nice inside that organ. Quite the trick. I know a fella, name’s Xiulleaca, he’s a master of wind and can give himself ‘wind vision’ and see the breath of whatever he’s hunting. Popular with city-based Warlocks, I think he has over a hundred summoners in the current era. Basically, if you see a silver-eyed imp that could fit in your hand, some city boy Warlock is stalking you.”

“Probably charging the back plate of the eye,” Zahn mused to himself as he ignored the demon. “Light hits the molecules and they bend, maybe light reflecting off mana bends too. Or maybe it’s new bending molecules made out of mana? It’d explain why there’s a new glow, if there’s physical objects giving off light within the eye, letting you see magic like reflections just stuck in the eyeball.”

“So do all you Players just have intimate knowledge of the weirdest shit, or what?”

The little demon’s question was interrupted by its master, Ethan opened the door with a yawn to see the pair already awake once more. “Muh. Never gonna get used to that. Ready?” He stretched his way over to the wash closet, mumbling to the room in general. “Sounds like the rain stopped. It’s fight day.”

The morning sun seemed eager to make up for lost ground, quickly baking away the remaining mud into caked earth that broke apart into the white and yellow sands Zahn had become so familiar with. He felt the change as it dried, his steps briefly gaining solid traction before the dirt dried further and he was back to struggling with each pounding step. He ran hard to trigger Sprint as often as he could, with the ongoing mana infusions keeping his body stronger for longer and able to push himself further than the days before. Spending just over a day in downtime practicing magic and mana manipulation had paid off in physical rest, and the Custom felt ready to take on the duels he’d be facing later that day. Trying not to see them as fatal fights, he tried to combine his attacks with his magic tricks in his head as he worked to exhaust himself.

Ethan bent his pupil to the weights once they’d finished their morning run, and after a brief recovery period Zahn was actually able to lift and move them to get their exercises in. Pumping iron standing under the sun felt a bit like being in a prison, but his Warlock guide still encouraged rep after rep as they worked out their limbs. Still working on smaller weights, Zahn tossed the toys aside after each set just to feel their vibration through the ground. The thumping felt similar to using Earth magic, and he sent random pulses of mana through his feet each time he got the chance. Watching the colors of blue spread out and disappear continued to provide inspiration for his casting of Diffusion, which was essential to his current bodily fortification.

“Well if it isn’t the blind leading the blind.” An unwelcome voice broke in from behind, forcing the Players to deal with Burnato for the first time in weeks. The large thick remained grinning and cocky, flexing his arms as he monkeyed at the pair. “I’m looking forward to today’s matches. My boys have been practicing on the fire beasts, and nobody’s afraid of your little mouth-shot kid. They’re gonna tear you apart.”

Zahn felt part of his stomach flop at the news and tried not to release the ongoing spell keeping his mana diffused. Focusing on the re-adjustment and trying to keep a straight face almost made him wait too long to reply, struggling to find an answer that would make the idiot leave. “Okay.”

The fifth position Gladiator’s smile slipped, its corner drooping. “What do you mean, ‘okay’? Your favorite attack is useless, you worthless shitstain. Nobody is afraid of you, and you’re going to get beaten into the fucking dirt. You will never-”

“Are you done?” Zahn straightened up and interrupted his rant, getting in his face. “I get it, I really do. You’re big, you’re strong, you’ve raised big strong boys and you can’t wait to see them succeed. What a great dad.” He stepped closer, standing almost chin-to-chin with the muscly man. “What I don’t get, is what you think you’ll gain from trying to bully me. We both know the pre-match fights are a sham, nobody is even going to pretend there’s stakes when they watch, and everyone knows I’m going to make your boys hurt. So go ahead, be useless. Try and bully me around. This time next year, you’ll still be sitting around coming up with useless bully tactics while you shit in a pot, and I’ll be shitting in a real toilet and not thinking about your miserable ass at all.”

Burnato’s glare could have melted steel, with his chest heaving at every breath and red creeping up his neck. A small notification appeared in Zahn’s HUD before shrinking itself, trying to update the Player about their new reputation status. He fumbled for words in his rage, stuttering out a combination of ‘you’ and ‘little’ several times before visibly stopping himself from attacking. Straining with both hands at Zahn’s neck, the blustering staring contest went on another few breaths before the hulk growled and stepped back. “I. Will enjoy. You dying. You. Wretched. Cunt.” Enunciating each word carefully, the Gladiator stepped back on each pause as he fixed the Player a death glare. “Just. Wait.”

Ethan stepped up to Zahn as the high-ranking fighter turned away, watching him leave before dropping an arm over the other Player’s shoulder. “Bravo. Now he’s just even more pissed off, but at least he’s gone. What makes you think you’ll get out of Riviana within a year anyways?”

The Custom shrugged off his arm and returned to the weights, flexing as he pumped them. “I don’t. What I do expect, is Players integrated enough of their amenities into cities and the high-end places have toilets. I know the Adventurer's Guild did, even had a working shower.”

“Sounds nice,” the blond fetched another set of weights and began lifting them to either side. “Why did you leave?”

Zahn grinned as he panted, trying to recall the exact order of events. “Well. I got kicked out of magic school. Then got kicked out of my NPC clerk job. Then got sent on a mission to die. Wasn’t exactly my choice.” Remembering his adventure, the obvious percolated into his skull once again. “Though, I don’t know why they went so far just to kill me. I mean, we were travelling together for over a week and nobody just offed me. There were plenty of times, y’know?”

“They didn’t know you were a Player, right? Maybe they didn’t want suspicious circumstances on their records, so they went somewhere crazy to get rid of you and your body?”

“Yeah, maybe. I mean, at least one knew about my Player status but apparently she didn’t say anything.” Thinking back to the Dungeon crawl, Zahn was confident she’d been keeping their identities secret even while not telling him anything useful. “I really can’t figure if she likes me or hates me. Like, forgives crazy shit but never bothered to tell me anything worth a damn. Passive-aggressive much?”

Ethan laughed, dropping a weight as he grabbed his gut. “Yeah, really. She let you die, bro. That’s kinda one-way no matter how you want to cut it. Hot girl lets loser geek die, but shock there.”

Zahn threw his weight, missing the Warlock by several feet. “I never said she was hot. And you’re a way bigger geek, I didn’t really get into any of this shit until college.”

Ethan’s laughter turned into a cough, bending to retrieve his weights. “Yeah, true. But I’ve met Sasha, she was a crazy bitch back in the day. No offense.”

Shrugging, Zahn eyed his lost weight with a frown. “No idea what I’d be offended about. I bet I can move that thing.” Tracing a circle with his hand, he pushed mana into the cast the same way he prepared to channel Diffusion. “Shift,” he intoned softly as the Earth spell activated. Green lights swam like a river under the drying sands, rippling the surface slightly as they moved and carved a path to under the fallen projectile. As the path found its target, the spell became a moving current that pulled the weight and all the sand between them towards Zahn’s hand. He waited with a smile as the mound built around his wrist, until the hand weight finally found its way back into his grip.

“You’re a fuckin’ nut,” Ethan muttered as he watched the display.

Zahn stood up and shook off the weight, his smile growing wider. “It’s kinda great, to be honest. Best fetch ever.”