Alyssa was working as a receptionist, when Adam and Vivienne came in. Alyssa helped Adam retrieve his book. Since Adam carefully remembered which locker it was in, they did not need to go hunting for it.

They then made their way up to the second floor. Up here they could see a few candidates who had come to study their books in the lounge area during their free time. Approaching the flight of stairs that led towards the third floor, Vivienne noticed that, this time, there were two receptionists that were blocking the entrance to the steps, just like on the first floor.

One of them seemed to recognize Adam and Vivienne as his eyes light up on their approach: "Ah, you are Adam and Vivienne, correct? I will go tell Miss Cathryn that you are here. If she is not in the middle of anything, she should be able to see you immediately."

The man went up the stairs to go alert Cathryn. Adam and Vivienne decided to sit down while they waited. Vivienne was a little perplexed about the whole process. If Cathryn was busy, would they have to wait long before she could start Adam's lessons? This was something they had not gone over before.

While they were waiting for the man to come back down, Adam and Vivienne received plenty of stares from the other candidates. The third floor was off limits to everyone every day except for once a month when lessons were held. Yet it seemed that these two were going to be allowed entrance to the third floor on this day.

In just a few minutes the man came back down. He easily found Adam and Vivienne sitting nearby. "Miss Cathryn is not in the middle of any pressing matters, you may go up to her office for Adam's lesson."

"Do you know if we would have to wait long if she is in the middle of something?" Vivienne asked.

It was the man's turn to hold a perplexed expression. "Only Miss Cathryn would really be able to give you that answer. It is rare that anyone receives supplemental lessons and I don't know how the teachers handle things on their end."

Having finished speaking with the man, Vivienne guided Adam up to the third floor. They went straight to Cathryn's office. Passing by, Vivienne noticed all the classroom doors were tightly locked. Even here, they kept a tight security it seems. All for some books about spiritualists.

Vivienne politely knocked on Cathryn's door. A prompt “Enter” was issued from the other side. Vivienne then opened the door with Adam following at her heels. Cathryn smiled as she welcomed them.

After sitting down in the chairs before Cathryn's desk, Vivienne once again asked the question if they would have to wait if Cathryn was in the middle of something. Cathryn gave a light laugh and said: “That will most likely never happen. The only time that would happen is if something random that the future of the institute hanged upon came up. As it is, it allows me a small time to prepare for Adam if he is announced first.”

Cathryn then turned to Adam, who was clutching the wooden box in his lap. She asked: “Speaking of which, How have your studies gone so far? Do you have any questions?”

Adam was anxious to get right into it. He told Cathryn how he wanted to concentrate on the spirit essence formation before anything else, to which she highly approved. She was impressed that the small boy could make such a good decision. Most would want to grasp at everything they can, dividing their attention among all the information given to them. Instead, he was concentrating on one thing at a time.

Adam spoke of his troubles on figuring out the shape of the formation and the ways in which he has tried to glean it's shape from. Cathryn pondered upon it all. She was continuously impressed by the boy, he had a very good sense of intuition. He seemed to know exactly what he needed to do, but it was too difficult to complete on his own.

Drawing a formation continuously with out breaks is a technique that is rarely used among spiritualists. Most could form the entire formation in an instant so they did not need a method of drawing it. Beyond that, it really did not matter how you drew the formation as long as it was accurate. But this rarely used technique would seem to be extremely beneficial to Adam.

Adam was surprised when Cathryn told him he was spot on to where he needed to be. He feared that he was possibly going about it the wrong way. Cathryn spoke with enthusiasm: “I had completely forgotten about this method until you brought it up! I already have a few ideas to help you. I can prepare a series of metal plates for you next week. Each plate will be labeled with numbers and show you the way to draw the formation from start to finish without breaks. This will be the best method for you to get the shape in your head. As you memorize all the strokes needed to complete the formation, you will need to piece them all together and view them all at once. It will take no small effort on your part, but this should be the best way for you to press forward.”

Vivienne was shocked that Cathryn was going to prepare even more materials for Adam. Adam was just exuberant at the help. Vivienne voiced a concern: “Is it really all right to accept all this help you are giving us? It should be rather expensive to prepare the metal for those plates, right?”

Cathryn just waved her off: “Nonsense. We are not trying to put Adam ahead, but let him catch up to the others. But... perhaps others might get jealous of everything he is receiving.”

Even if Cathryn was rather impressed by him, she should not show favoritism among the students. “Oh, I got it. This will make it relatively fair so no one can complain. Adam will only be allowed to bring one item home at a time! He can choose his book, the spiritual formation, or the metal plates. This is pretty much what he is doing already, so it doesn't effect him at all while others will see limits put in place. It should be perfect.”

Even if it didn't really change anything, Vivienne felt a little better about this. Truthfully, Cathryn was showing a little too much favoritism for Adam. But this was only because she saw the potential inside him. If she had the chance to find the same potential in other candidates, she was also try to foster them more than those with barely a chance to make it.

After sorting her thoughts about the metal plates, Cathryn was ready to continue Adam's lesson. “Okay, for the rest of the lesson I will have to ask Vivienne to sit outside!”

Both Adam and Vivienne were a little surprised. “Why?”

“Well, I intend to take the formation out of the box so I can watch Adam trace it out. I will direct him to where he is making mistakes. At this point, it is the only thing we can really do to progress his studies. Since the formation will now be exposed so that I can see Adam's work, it could be dangerous for you, Vivienne. We still have well over two hours left for Adam's lesson, after all.”

Vivienne realized the implications as she remembered the warnings about exposure to formations. And this one was more powerful than the ones in the books too! Adam was a little worried about his mother as she nodded her head. “All right, there was that lounge area by the stairs. I will wait for you there Adam.”

Just as Vivienne got up, Cathryn interrupted: “Those lounge chairs aren't nearly as comfortable as my office chairs. Here, I will place this one just outside for you!”

Cathryn made the luxurious chair levitate a few centimeters off the ground, with a wave of her hand. She then pushed the chair out like it was on wheels. Vivienne marveled at this scene while Adam felt some faint sounds and ripples from Cathryn's use of spirit essence. Cathryn placed the chair next to a window by the offices. Vivienne could watch things outside while she waited for them to finish the lesson.

After Cathryn got back, they got straight into it. Adam felt strange as he took the formation outside of the wooden box. It was always supposed to stay inside the box and never leave. It could potentially be dangerous after all.

After placing it on Cathryn's desk, Adam started to demonstrate the current method he was using to trace the formation. She immediately started to correct Adam. The formation was circular in nature and Adam started by tracing the outermost circle first. The way Cathryn was going to teach him was to form that outer circle in parts as he progressed through the formation. He would start on the outer portion of the formation and work his way towards its center and then back out again. This was the only way one could draw the formation without any breaks.

At first Adam was thoroughly confused by this method. But Cathryn took his finger and showed him how he would draw then entire formation a few times. This allowed Adam to better grasp the general form of it in his head.

They continued in this way for over two hours. It was boring and repetitious, so Adam had to take a few breaks to refresh his mind. With Cathryn's help, Adam started to memorize the first few strokes to draw the formation. Cathryn even put a mark on the formation so Adam would know where to start on his own.

Finally, the full three hours were up and it was time to head back to Madame's. Descending down to the lower floors, everyone's eyes fell on Adam and Vivienne, once again. Adam felt a little prickly from their stares while Vivienne worried that some of these candidates might try to ostracize Adam for being able to receive supplemental lessons.

After placing Adam's book back in locker A-Twelve, they got back in the carriage that would take them to Madame's. Adam had become very tired from concentrating for so long. He fell asleep and took a nap on the way back.

After they got back, Adam tried to relax for the rest of the day. He did not go out to study the formation more, he just went to the first floor of Madame's to play his flute and talk with others.

The next morning, Hansen once again reminded the boys that he was expecting an answer about why they wanted to train in the sword. He would hear their thoughts next week before he started training them.

Adam realized he had not been putting much thought into this. But he thought he already had his answer. “I want the ability to protect my family and friends if the need arises. That's more than enough, right?”

Adam continued to follow his routine for the next week. He would study the formation at the wall garden while taking an occasional break to play his flute or distract himself with random thoughts. He would only repeat the steps that Cathryn had already taught him. This way he would not learn an improper way of drawing the formation on his own.

The ones who would take him to the wall garden remained the same. Though they started asking Helen to help more than Alfred. Alfred would get bored way to quickly and start to distract Adam with more questions.

Adam found his time with Helen a little off. They did not talk too much since things still felt a little awkward between them. But, they were getting more comfortable in interacting with one another.

Finally it was time to go back to the institute, once again, and retrieve the metal plates. Adam and Vivienne left in the morning, like last week. Adam was very eager to find out how these metal plates were going to help him.

This time, Adam did not bother to retrieve his book from the locker. He would not be studying the book until he finished visualizing the formation, so it was useless to him right now. As they ascended the stairs to the third floor, Adam and Vivienne fell under the stares of everyone else, yet again.

After entering Cathryn's office, Vivienne saw a rather large wooden box, that had a strap on it, on the desk. It was like a wooden satchel. Adam was unaware of the box, though. Still, he was clearly excited and expectant for the metal plates.

Cathryn smiled when they entered. “Welcome. Adam, the metal plates I promised you are in a box on my desk. Just stretch out your hand and I will explain them to you.”

Adam stretched his hand out and felt the edge of the desk. Working his hand onto the top, his hand found that box. Excited, Adam placed both hands on the box and tried to move it closer to his seat. He found the box was a little heavy, being over five kilos in weight.

Cathryn chuckled before she helped Adam open the box and explain everything to both him and Vivienne. Each of the small metal plates were made out of the light weight metal aluminum so it was fairly durable, but portable enough for Adam to bring home. It's just that there are very many plates making the wooden satchel heavy!

Each plate contained a small portion of the spirit essence gathering formation in Adam's small wooden box. The formation itself was about the size of an adult's palm and the plates were a little larger than that.

Each plate was thin and had raised portions on it's top so Adam could trace the different lines of the formation. The plates were stacked in order inside the satchel. Still, each plate had a raised number in it's lower right hand corner to tell Adam which plate it was in the series and also help orientate the plate.

Where the various lines connected on the plate, there was also a number beside them telling Adam the sequence to follow. It flowed very much like a connect the dot puzzle. There were around ten or so lines on each plate. It was all in a 1:1 scale with the original spirit formation. In fact, if you were to keep the plates stacked and orientated, then take out the metal back plate, all the raised lines would perfectly form the spirit essence formation.

Cathryn then inquired about the environment that Adam studied in. Unsure of her intent, they still told her of the wall garden and how Hansen, Helen, and Alfred would take Adam there. Cathryn then told them of her concerns about the plates.

It was best if someone watched over Adam as he traced the plates. This way, they could ensure that Adam does not make a mistake in his memorization. However, if someone watched over him from start to finish, they might subconsciously form an image of the formation themselves! This could be quite dangerous for them. So Cathryn suggested that for each plate that Adam studied, only two of the three people who normally guide Adam should do so.

In this way, for every three plates that Adam studied, at most Hansen, Helen, and Alfred would only be familiar with two of those plates. If they tried to form an image of the formation themselves, it would be missing a third of it's shape!

For the rest of the time during the lesson, Adam put effort into memorizing the metal plates. The first plate contained what Adam had already learned from the last week of practice, so he could directly started with the second plate.

This time Vivienne stayed as she watched over Adam. They did not pull out the formation from the wooden box this time so she did not have to leave.

While he was being watched over, Adam did most of the work himself. If he figured out how he needed to trace the lines on his own, it would stick much better in his mind, than if someone were to guide him through it one step at a time.

Since Adam now had a guide with numbers, memorizing the lines had become less tiresome then before. It became easier to memorize how he should draw the lines. Towards the end of the lesson, he felt that he had gotten pretty comfortable with the second plate.

When he said so, Cathryn flashed a slightly mischievous smile as she spoke: “Show me.”

Cathryn pulled some parchment and graphite out from a drawer and placed them in Adam's hands. Adam was a little startled by Cathryn's words. “Do you mean, for me to draw it out?” he asked.

“Yes. To the best of your abilities, show me what you have learned.”

Adam hesitated before he started to draw. With the plates, he always had something hard to guide his fingers. Even if he ignored the proper order to draw the lines, he could physically feel the shape of the line. Now he was drawing on blank paper with nothing to guide him. Before, it kind of felt like his fingers could 'see' with the plates, but now they were blind. This blank paper was the exact same as the nothingness currently in front of his eyes.

After a minute of torment, Adam finished drawing as best he could. After he put the graphite down, Cathryn placed the first two metal plates beside the paper. She spoke to Adam: “First, I am going to take your finger and trace exactly what you drew. Then I will trace the metal plates for you. I want you to concentrate on the shape they formed.”

Cathryn then took his finger and started to trace it across the paper. After just the first couple of lines, Adam's face became aghast. He could already tell his formation was misshapen. Ignoring Adam's look, Cathryn continued to steadily trace out his formation. After she was done, she took his finger it traced it on the plates.

After all of this, Cathryn let go of Adam's finger and let his mind stew about the problem. She completely ignored the sour look Vivienne was giving, Vivienne thought this test was rather unfair to Adam.

Adam tried to form a question, but he had no idea where to begin: “Wh-...how?...”

Cathryn answered the boy, who appeared lost before her: “You are relying on the plates too much! Right now, all you have memorized is the order of the lines. You are just following the lines down their path. To truly visualize the formation, you will also need to memorize the exact length and curvature of each line!”

“Even I am unsure of how you are going to memorize the length and curvature of the lines. I have never taught someone who is blind, before. From now on, this will be a large part of our lessons. You will be drawing what you have learned on pieces of paper.”

“I do not want you doing this at home. If the paper is not properly disposed of, it could become a danger to someone. You may try trace your fingers on your hand, a piece of furniture, whatever. But, you must never leave any part of the formation lying about unattended, so don't draw anything in the sand or dirt.”

“I know this is hard and demanding, but it is the only way for you to accurately visualize the formation.”

Adam was silent for a while. He always knew he was going to have to put effort into this. But this may be too difficult of a hurdle for him to cross. Doubt and worry started to show on the young boy's face.