"How do we start," she asked as she drew her sword, her smile bright.

"By sheathing that back," I responded.

"What, why?" she said. "You promised that we are going to focus on this above anything else except an actual emergency. There's none."

I couldn't help but chuckle even as I watched her attitude. "We are, but there are two things to take note of. First, we're going to start with a lesson on how I achieved what I did, so that you have a general idea of direction. Then …" I added, forcing a serious expression. "I'm not sure I'm supposed to say it."

"Is it bad?" she asked, tense.

"Yes, it's terrible," I said, barely keeping a smile down as I reached to the pile and threw her a sword. "This is the sword that you're going to use."

She already had a dubious expression on her face, but it transformed even further when she grabbed the hilt. Her expression of shock finally broke my determination not to laugh, and I fell down chuckling. "Alright, the joke is over. Give me the real sword," she grumbled.

"It's not a joke," I said, but she just looked at me with disbelief. "At least, the sword is not the joke part. Try using the simplest attack you have used. You'll understand what I mean."

Her expression didn't shift until she had attacked once, and even then, her expression turned even stonier. "You're serious," she said as she realized the general gist of the design. I nodded. "But, this is garbage. Poorly balanced, structurally weak, unwieldy. It's not even a sword."

"It's enough of a sword to trigger your skill, which is all we need," I said with a shrug. "That's something you have to deal with. At least, you don't have to start it immediately, as we need to start with a lesson on theory."

That didn't alleviate her frustration in any way. "I had forgotten about that part," she complained. "Can't we start with using this," she said, raising the composite sword. "I promise I'm not going to complain."

"Unfortunately, we can't do that. I need to understand how your skill works, and what perks you have to develop a better approach."

"What does it have to do with the Perks?" she asked.

"It's how I achieved my own upgrade," I said, giving her a summary of how I achieved my own breakthroughs. "As you see, without Analyze creating a bridge to sense mana, I couldn't have done it."

"But, I don't have a Perk like that," she said, looking panicked. "Does it mean that I can't use your method?"

"I'm hopeful that we can achieve it," I said. "We just need to make sure to create a basis. And, even without a Perk, I have some ideas that can be useful."

"Fine," she said. "I have three Perks, one upgraded, two baseline. The upgraded perk allows me to read and react to melee attacks better. One of the normal ones allows me to spend less Health on each attack, and the other increases my mobility."

"Doesn't sound ideal," I admitted without sugarcoating. "But, it doesn't mean we're helpless. Let's start with something simple," I said. "I'll manipulate the mana to match your skill."

"Would that work?"

"Most likely not," I responded. "I would be shocked if it did."

She looked confused. "Why are we trying it if you don't expect it to work?"

"Because there are certain basics I want to try, and it seems like the quick way to test some assumptions," I said, and once again attached the chain to the hilt of her sword. "Now, the same attack," I said even as I pushed mana through the chain, filling the gap.

Luckily, Repair allowed me to control mana just as well, meaning I could do so while using Advanced Observation. She used her vitality attack … only for it to cut through the mana, dispersing it. "Was it supposed to do something?" she said. "It felt the same."

"No. It's just a test. One of many," I said even as I started taking notes on a clay tablet.

"What's this? A spell?" she asked.

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"No," I said, but chuckled. Her confusion was understandable. I was trying to take notes about the way vitality and mana interacted, which was a complicated topic. It was more symbols than numbers. Half of these symbols were esoteric mathematical symbols unfamiliar to anyone without a doctorate on the topic, and the other half, I had invented during my experimentation. "It's a way to record how my mana reacted to your vitality attack as a function of various stimuli."

"Why are you not using a paper?"

"Habit. The paper doesn't keep well on the fourth floor. This symbol, for example, refers to the fluidity of mana," I responded as I continued writing, expecting a follow-up question, excited to share my findings, which turned out to be a mistake.

Eleanor stopped paying attention the moment I finished my explanation, her interest wandering away. Instead, she turned her attention at the entrance, watching the movement of the guards, and the few guild members that stuck around.

I let it pass. She was not someone academically inclined, and trying to force the issue was useless. Instead, I focused on running the experiment repeatedly, asking her to shift to the other swords, trying to get a general sense of what was going on.

Then, I ran the whole set several more times, this time after putting her into that enclosed room and pumping it with various densities of mana, trying to understand how the density affected it.

"That's it," I called her.

"What do you mean, that's it? You can't be serious," Eleanor said.

I sighed in amusement. "I mean, we have to stop for a while, so I can do some rudimentary calculations and understand how your attacks react with vitality, compare it with my own attacks, and see if I can get a generalized relationship."

"Sounds complicated," she said.

"Well, you're not wrong," I said, which was an understatement. For all intents and purposes, I was trying to invent a whole new technological path, which was the kind that ordinarily took centuries. Without the System allowing me to skip some critical steps, I could have never had even a hope of succeeding.

"What do I do in the meantime?" she asked.

"I don't know. The calculations would probably take several hours, and there's nothing you can work on —" I started, only to pause as a wild idea occurred to me.

I wondered if it was possible to sense mana without Essence. At face value, it sounded absurd, but maybe it wasn't a waste of time. After all, Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Intelligence, Perception, and Wisdom; every single of them correspond to things that exist in the human body. Even Charisma did, after a fashion.

Was it possible for Essence to be the only exception? Well, yes, but it was still worth the effort. But, if that was the case, was it possible to leverage it somewhat? Maybe I could reverse-engineer meditation somewhat, at least in general terms? Would it be possible to break down the concept of —

"Devon," she said as she shook me. "You haven't said anything for the last fifteen minutes. Are you alright?"

"Sorry, I just had an idea," I said, smiling sheepishly. "Sometimes, I do that."

"Anything you would like to share?"

"Actually, yes. Meditation," I answered. "I have an idea. It has a low chance of working, but we can multitask."

"But, I don't have the skill," she said.

"I know, but I'm not entirely sure the skill, or the stat is necessary. After all, farmers don't have Strength, but it doesn't keep them from lifting rocks, right?"

"If you think it'll help," Eleanor said, quick to accept the modified plan. "Now, what do I do?"

"Let's start with something simple. I'll set the crusher, and also create four pipes, mana only flowing out from one of them. Just close your eyes, and try to point one whenever you feel something."

"Why four pipes?"

"It's a classical blind experimental setup," I said. "That will allow me to statistically establish that you're not making a random choice."

She shrugged again. "You're the expert," she said, showing her disinterest in the finer parts of the experimental design. "Anything else I need to do?"

"No," I said even as I made the necessary additions to the crusher, and created the setup. She sat cross-legged on the ground, her eyes closed, trying to calm down.

I smiled as I watched her fidget. She could easily sit down and handle a meeting, but meditating meant she had nothing to distract herself from it. Her brows furrowed in concentration as she tried to force herself to meditate.

"Take deep breaths, and don't focus on the act too much. Just let your mind wander while counting your breaths," I said. "Meditation is not a competition, but an inner introspection. There's no hurry," As I spoke, she opened her eyes, looking at me suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

"It's weird," she said.

"It can be at the beginning. But, spend enough time, and it'll get more familiar."

She smiled. "No, not the meditation part. Focusing on the inner self, staying calm, vague instructions… And, since when are you telling other people not to hurry?"

"Well…" I said as I avoided her gaze, finding myself blushing. "I might have been repeating the way my therapist guided me during my sessions, back before the Cataclysm."

"And, did it work?"

"It wasn't completely useless," I said, though even that was a generous description. Eleanor's chuckles showed that she realized the same, but she still closed her eyes, which was all I could ask for. Then, after a few seconds, she opened her eyes. "What now?"

"Do you mind answering a question? A personal one?" I nodded. "Why do you mention the pre-Cataclysm world so much? You're the only one that I know that mentions it regularly."

"That's not the correct question," I said. "The real one is, why is everyone so determined to act like the System existed for centuries rather than three years?" Eleanor's eyebrows furrowed once again, but I could see that my statement didn't resonate with her. "Just chalk it to me being nostalgic," I said instead. "For now, let's focus on your meditation, and let's see if we can surprise Maria with it."

"Good point," she said as she closed her eyes again, leaving me to ignore that niggling question and focus on the practical problems.