Jiran arrived with plenty of time to unload the produce into the cellar and bring whatever the smiths had made upstairs before Sharaal started cooking dinner. Now that his chores for the day were done he could choose how to spend the rest of his time.

Without permission to use mana, Jiran's options were limited. He could either head to the library and keep reading about the elemental properties of trees and tubers. He could also head to the backyard and work out, or practice absorbing Density from the storm clouds.

The mana practice won out after a short deliberation. Jiran sat cross-legged in the yard pulling bits and pieces of Density from his skin and absorbing it slowly. He tried commanding the Density as if it were already converted to mana inside of him.

He lashed at it with his will. He put himself in a mental state of near-death trying to stimulate desperation and use those emotions to overpower the energy.

After a couple of hours and twenty failures, he was about to be done for the day and go get some dinner.

One more wave. Maybe I can bait the fresh Density with some mana that I've already claimed. I'll try to hold the mana I just caught on my skin and project my desire for more through it. Wait, is this violating my orders not to control my mana? Surely that doesn't count for mana I haven't absorbed into my body, right?

Not wanting to get distracted, Jiran cut off his mind's rambling and focused on the feeling of the Density on his skin. It felt like being covered in dry whip cream, soft, warm, and light. Pulling at the intangible substance with his will wrapped in emotions, Jiran commanded the mana to form spikes. Like he was covered in invisible nails sticking straight off his skin.

Jiran then focused on the feeling of greedily wanting more and pushed those feelings into the spikes of mana. When the next wave came, he was ready. The violent Density crashed into his spikes and washed right past them, another failure.

Why won't it stick? Just combine already! Wait, hold up, the Density in the air is traveling in a wave, what happens when a wave of water hits another wave traveling in the opposite direction? The opposing forces clash and create new waves. If I want them to combine, should I try to match my mana to the wave?

Doing just that, Jiran forced the spikes down into undulating waves that ran across his skin, however trying to match the chaotic Density washing over him was impossible. So he focused on just one arm, then just his right hand as even the arm was too much. Once the waves matched, Jiran felt a connection form through his mana to the ambient Density and he greedily claimed as much of it as he could before the wave ended.

Jiran fell onto his back laughing like a madman at his success. That had been far more effective than anything he tried before, even though he had only managed it for a few seconds he had gathered more than the previous five waves. That had only been from one hand, with practice he would soon be gobbling up Density by the barrel-full.

Flushed with success Jiran made his way to the kitchen for his dinner. Sharaal was quite strict with the timing of meals, forcing one of the other children outside in the storm to come to get him would have been rude. They were already scared of him, Jiran saw no reason to be unnecessarily antagonistic.

Eating was once more a mixture of feelings. Disappointment vied with satisfaction but Jiran stayed vigilant and allowed the healing to progress naturally. After eating Jiran made his way to Samris's study and lightly knocked on the door.

"Come in Jiran."

"Good evening Lord Samris," Jiran said before closing the door. The wards reactivated trapping their voices. Jiran padded across the plush carpet to his usual chair and sat down. Samris finished writing whatever he was working on and set down his pen. Sharp golden eyes locked onto Jiran.

"You manipulated your mana before recovering from your injury."

Jiran froze mid-breath, his eyes caught in the glowing gaze of his lord and savior. With a gulp of saliva Jiran used the excuse he had given himself earlier, hearing his lame words out loud made him flush with embarrassment.

"I thought since maybe the mana never went into my body it might be an exception, I'm sorry for disappointing you Lord Samris," Jiran had never needed to apologize to Samris before, he did not like the feeling. Vowing to do better in the future.

He owed his life to the man before him. Protection, meals, training, wages, and mentoring. It could have taken Jiran the rest of his life to recover from his injury. Yet Samris had appeared right when he needed him the most, saw something in him, and pulled him from an uncertain future. He would pay Samris back for his gifts even if it killed him.

Seeing that his reprimand had been taken far more seriously than he intended, Samris softened his features, giving Jiran a brotherly smile.

"None of that now, Jiran. You have followed my advice to the letter for an entire season. I can truthfully tell you there is no possible way I could have done such a thing when I was your age. Thank you, for trusting in my wisdom.

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"Enough moping, now, tell me what you were doing out there. I could feel some of it, however, piercing those waves completely is still beyond me"

"Yes Samris, I had been attempting variations of the standard methods, then I pictured how waves of water interact with each other. Not wanting my mana to oppose the incoming wave, I tried to match their direction, force, and intent.

“The connection was unstable and I could only manage it on one hand. The transfer rate of Density was roughly one hundred times greater than any of my previous attempts using the standard methods."

"One hundred times greater? With a flimsy connection? That certainly sounds promising. When you claimed the Density, did it cause any damage or create any instabilities? What about converting it to mana, was there a bottleneck or negative feedback?"

"Nothing that I noticed, it was a momentary success. It will not be easy to repeat, the most challenging part was detecting the fluctuations in the ambient Density while simultaneously matching my mana. Honestly, I'm not sure how I even did that."

Jiran rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he failed to fully explain how he had achieved such a thing.

Really though, how did I do that? That Density is not like waves at a beach where I could reasonably predict when they will crash into the shore. It's more like a series of tide pools all interacting with one another chaotically. Not only did I sense the random movements, but then matched them with my own mana.

Goosebumps covered Jiran's arms as he thought about going outside and trying again. An unexplained phenomenon, a technique that even Samris had never heard of. Developing his own magic. The excitement in the room was palpable.

"Preposterous" Came a voice Jiran had never heard before. Like a curtain being withdrawn, a shimmer in the air revealed the oldest man Jiran had ever seen. He was standing in the corner of the room behind Samris's desk.

Jiran shot to his feet in surprise, instinctively he dropped into a low combat stance, ready to jump in any direction.

"Decent reflexes child, but unnecessary. My name is Lenton Filibree, I am no threat to you. You may resume your seat. I have three questions for you, and you shall answer them truthfully."

Jiran's gaze flickered to Samris, seeing no concern or shock on the man's features Jiran relaxed. Not having caught up with the rapid change of events, Jiran stiffly bowed to the elder in respect, giving himself time to think.

I've never even seen someone with so much gray hair and wrinkles. If Mireg is a grandma and has one wrinkle with no gray hair, then this guy must be well over a hundred years old. Maybe even one fifty, how long can someone live with freaking magic flowing through their veins!?

An old guy showed up out of nowhere, spectacularly, by the by. Now he has questions for me. Is this the tutor Samris told me about? Well, you can't get a much better teacher than an ancient whitened wizard, right? Questions, right, focus up. Let's nail this interview and bag us a wizard!

Jiran's focus sharpened like he was in a life-or-death fight.

"As you say, Elder Filibree," Sitting down as instructed, Jiran patiently waited for the elder to speak again.

"Elder? That's quite the tongue you've got calling a young man like myself Elder. No manners, no manners at all. Tell me, boy, why do children have no manners?"

Seriously, that's got to be a trick question right? Children have manners, I just showed him proper manners. At least they were proper for the Empire. Is that the catch, manners depend on where you are and who you're talking to. If I had known he doesn't like being called out for being an old fart I wouldn't have said it. So lack of information.

"Ignorance," Jiran answered. Without knowing the honorifics he preferred, Jiran assumed it was probably best to just speak plainly.

"Acceptable reasoning, now answer me this, what is the meaning of life."

Here we go again, seriously what kind of question is that!? Scholars have been arguing since the dawn of civilization about the meaning of life. How can he expect me to know that? Is he just digging to determine my mindset, or does he want a serious answer here?

Jiran, with furrowed brows, fell into deep thought in front of the two men. They shared a look while he was distracted, a gleam of excitement in the old man's eyes and one of gentle mirth in the other.

I should take this seriously. Regardless, my answer will be colored by my own perspective. I should try to ignore any of Brandon’s memories here as they probably won't be applicable.

Life in this world is brutal, the Empire only exists because nothing has killed it yet. The emperors protect us with indomitable might. The village was protected by Skandor and now Feylon is protected by Samris. Without those protections, the world, life, would devour us in days.

To make matters worse it's been proven in multiple studies that beasts will actively seek out prey of equal tiers, and rarely go out of their way to fight lesser foes. The same even holds for humans. The higher the tier, the more restless one becomes, eventually drawn away from civilization to fight and die in the wilds.

What's the point of it all? Power is needed to survive every day. Fighting increases your power, but then you're eventually forced to go die for the very power you needed just to survive. It's just a never-ending cycle of conflict.

"The meaning of life is to struggle, anything else is death" Jiran spoke with finality.

"Ohh, surprising for one so young to come to such a dark conclusion. A good answer though, very good. To give up is indeed to accept death for yourself and those around you. To protect others one must rail against the wilds. Plants, animals, insects, the very air, oceans, and ground are all in eternal conflict."

"Last question Jiran, what is the true nature of Density?"

Jiran almost laughed. Such an easy question saved for the finale?

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out"