I flexed my spirit and Foxstepped onto the bench behind Kene and Meadow, then back to the point I’d been standing before.

Even without opening my third gate for space and time, the teleport was easier and smoother than I’d ever experienced before, and far less draining.

I allowed Briarthreads to explode out around me, then pulled them into my spirit. I spun Pinpoint Boneshards, empowered my suite of sensory spells and examined the park, teleported into the air and ran with Immovable Locks to stop me from falling, leaving trails of echos behind me.

Once I’d finished testing out all of my spells, I flicked the portal open to Dusk’s realm and reached for the Emperor’s Tree with Harvest Plant Life, then reached within myself.

I had two ascension treasures left, and two gates with which to use them. I picked up the petrified omnieye egg as I walked towards the gate to my time mana.

I drew power from my life and death gates into my time gate until it was overflowing, then drew more power from the tree until it was shedding out, four times more power than my gate could hold.

I brought the power down on my time gate, and smashed the omnieye egg against the gate at the same instant.

A thin crack ran along the surface of the egg as the gates shuddered and cracked open, just a peek.

With some effort, I wedged my fingers into the gap of the egg, leaned one leg on the opening gates, and shoved.

The egg shattered into bits in my hands, the fallen pieces sinking into the foundation of my mana-garden, while a pulse of white light shone out from the inside, like a divine yolk.

The light was caught up in the sudden flow of new power that emerged from my newly opened third gate, and spun through my mana-garden, sinking into the foundation as well. The grass all across my garden began to look greener, and even the tiles of the beastgate looked a little more polished.

As it happened, my mana senses grew stronger, richer, and more finely detailed. It wasn't as dramatic as ingraining an entirely new Analyze spell, but it was noticeable. Ascension treasures were no joke, it seemed.

A part of me expected the surge of strength that was flowing through me to be accompanied by pain, but even as the mana density within my first and second time gates increased, there wasn't a single whisper of pain. Within the beastgate, the yellow on the barrier to third gate faded away, leaving a shimmering blue of my spatial mana as the only obstacle left.

I picked up the orb that Kene had chosen as my reward for returning the spatial ring and turned it over in my hand. I still felt bad about taking it, since it was clear that the family was down on their luck, but it was too late to undo the choice now. I walked over to Foxstep and nestled the orb down in the roots of the tree, then connected to my Pointer Moss and Transivy and drew on their power, reinforcing my spatial gate until it overflowed.

I threw the power at my final, unopened third gate, and as smoothly and easily as a key turning in a lock, the new stage of spatial power flowed through me. The power reached the teleportation core, and the blue-gray stone melted, sinking into my Foxstep spell. The tree branches speared upwards, the damage from my spiritual injury smoothing over as it grew. At the same time, the roots reached deeper into the soil, expanding it and improving it.

Unlike the truffles or even the omnieye egg, there was no dramatic change, but rather simple growth. The power bound up within me had grown, improving and refining the spell.

As the flowing power of my newly opened gate reached my gunated mana, the new beastgate opened, and third gate power rushed down out of it as well, reinforcing the other two beast gardens. Within the garden itself, I could see two mounds of dirt, and then a wall of mist.

I drew myself within my beastgate, and examined the now unsealed archway to third gate.

Despite the fact that it was the result of a spellbinder bond turned up to the extreme, a part of me had hoped that it would allow me an extra spellbinder bond, or perhaps would allow me to change my shape, like a beast.

I could feel… something… radiating off of the arch, but it wasn’t a bond, and it was already set and determined. It felt like the tattoo itself, the one physically on my body.

A tiny part of me was disappointed, but I buried that part of me quickly. I still had accomplished quite the feat of magic.

And it seemed like third gate would allow me to select more than three spells, which was excellent. Given how hexagonal the tiles and garden was, I was guessing that it would hold six, once I pushed the mists back.

A sense of calm and stability flowed through my spirit as the gates opened, and my power stabilized. I was a full spellbinder now, not just someone halfway there. My staff would need upgrading before it could begin resonating with my third gate mana, but that would have to wait until my spirit was fairly recovered.

The density of my power had gone up a considerable amount with the enforcement, and it felt like thick honey compared to the weak tea that had been my second gate mana. It wasn’t as absurdly potent as the power that Ivy had radiated, or even as strong as the assassin’s, but as a starting point for third gate, it was certainly above average.

Meadow nodded contentedly, then turned to Kene.

“How about you, dear, are you ready to advance?”

My eyebrows shot up, and Kene made a so-so gesture with his hand.

“I didn’t realize that you were ready to advance to fourth gate?” I said, though it came out more like a question than a statement. Kene glanced at me and shook his head.

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“Do you remember what I said about compacting the soil of your mana-garden being more important as you grow?” they asked.

Dusk chimed out her agreement, saying that he was ready for his first set of steps. I had no idea what she meant.

“Uh,” I said. “Sure. Let’s pretend I do.”

“It may be easier to show him,” Meadow suggested, pulling out the bottle of potion again.

This time, we entered Kene’s mana-garden. In the center of their ungated mana was a blooming rose with dark petals, shedding an alchemical power into their spirit, making it more suitable for use with a cauldron. Above the rose was a mass of dark power, wrapped in chains of light, which I took to be the hag.

The chains speared off of the power, though, striking dead center on the entry to Kene’s mana types, down into the soil, and up into the sky, higher than my eyes could see.

On the wall around the ungated garden, I could see a ring of spellwork crafted out of tiny beads of an elaborate, larimar-esque stone, glowing the soft blue of Siobhan’s magic. I assumed that was how Kene called up their aura.

“Come on,” they said, not looking at the hag or the script, instead heading into their life gate. I followed, and we passed through the neat rows of plants – their spirit was far more neat and orderly than my own. I did note that in the grass, smooth blue gemstones created walking paths that circled around each spell, allowing us to examine them from all angles, before continuing to the next gate.

That was fascinating, and made me wonder what lay under the surface of their bond. It wasn’t just that Kene could use Siobhan’s defensive aura, of that I was certain.

When we entered Kene’s third gate, I could see four spells growing in smooth rows, two larger ones, and two smaller shrubs.

The density of their mana was good – the treasure they had taken to improve it, alongside the power of the drops of destiny, had done almost as much for them as it had for me.

Their mists had been pushed back, but not to the wall. Instead, they looked strangely… solid. Almost like bricks forged of mist, instead of the normal stone walls of the garden.

I frowned and touched it with my hand, only to meet resistance.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“You’ve heard people use the terms early, mid, and either late or peak of a gate, right?” Meadow said.

“Of course,” I said. I’d used them myself. It wasn’t perfect, but gauging how far from completion that area of the mana-garden was could be a useful tool.

“Third gate is where those terms move from general descriptions to far more real ones,” Meadow said. “It’s also where advancement begins to get… Strange.”

I suddenly remembered Orykson asking if I knew how to advance, and my response being ‘good enough until spellbinder’, or something like that.

“Basically, I’m left with two options,” Kene said. “Quick and easy, or slow and hard. The quick option is for me to just gather up my mana and punch through the wall. It wouldn’t even be hard, and then I could keep expanding until I hit the second wall of mist.”

“I’m guessing that has a downside, or else you would have done it already,” I responded.

“It doesn’t increase the power of the gate at all,” Meadow said. “It gives you more mana, but not denser mana.”

“The hard option is to compact my foundation with a lot of effort, though some things can also help, and then, using my hands, I carve out a set of steps that go under the wall. That also shatters the wall, but it triggers the release of denser power into my garden.”

Kene paused and sighed.

“And it’s what I’m going to do. I need rapid advancement to stay ahead of the hag, but I also need quality advancement. You can’t go back and dig out the steps later.”

That… explained a lot, actually.

The War Root and Spriggan had clearly both been fourth gate, but both had been weaker than third gate mages I’d encountered in the past.

At the time, I’d found it strange, but written it off as the power of draconic legacies and well built spells. It hadn’t been a perfect explanation – I’d seen elementals with that strength – but it had been the best I could come up with.

That probably did explain some of it, but this was the rest.

“So when you made the so-so gesture…” I started.

“I’m ready, in the sense that I’m prepared to begin digging. I’m not ready in the sense where I can break through,” Kene finished.

“How did you know this? Know you weren’t supposed to just break through the wall?”

Dusk gave me a funny look and told me that it was just common sense. Even Meadow gave me a somewhat confused glance.

“Mal,” Kene said gently. “There are advancement guides. You can find them at the library. There are also accounts of people who worked their way through Spellbinder.”

“Hm, sounds like nonsense,” I said jokingly, trying to cover the fact I had never thought to look at it.

Advancement had been easy, and when I hit a problem, I just asked Meadow.

I coughed and we returned to the real world once again.

“Dusk, how are you progressing?” I asked the little spirit.

She stood up on my shoulder and proudly announced that she had already begun digging, and her dominion was expanding nicely. Not only that, but her ability to channel the spells of those within her was developing quickly. She wasn’t sure on its combat potential yet, since it took time to focus and connect, but she was confident in out of combat uses. She had even learned to thread together several bird spells to improve her flight.

I gave her a quiet round of applause while Meadow and Kene congratulated her.

“Excellent progress for all three of you,” Meadow said contentedly. “And how’s Siobhan?”

Dusk waved, and the enfield bounded out of nowhere, hopping up to sprawl across Kene, Meadow, and my laps. Meadow put her hand onto Siobhan’s stomach and closed her eyes, then Meadow let out a surprised noise.

“She has already dug out her first set of stairs,” Meadow said. “Quite impressive. She’s also done quite a bit with her form.”

I reached out with my own mana senses and after a moment of searching, found what Meadow meant.

Siobhan had forgone most of her ability to bind a new form in order to bond to Kene. It wasn’t entirely unlike how Dusk had to shrink her dominion in order to bond with me.

But forgoing most still allowed her some.

Siobhan had been able to condense a sphere of energy inside of her body, which pulsed with the same energetic types as her mana. It reminded me of the knots of power running through Ivy’s body, but focused in a single spot, rather than spread throughout the body.

“A beast core,” Meadow said. “Not uncommon for beasts choosing to pursue more magical arts, rather than physical ones.”

Siobhan wiggled, and I scratched under her chin.

A moment of inspiration struck me, and I focused on my arm, where the shimmering gray, rainbow, and black tattoo of the beastmark lay.

Sure enough, there was a small knot tied in my energy, which radiated with the same . It wasn’t even a quarter of the size of Siobhan’s, but it was still an extra reserve of energy, not unlike a beast core. A beast tattoo, then.

“Now, on the topic of energy,” Meadow began, pulling me from my thoughts. "You should decide if you’re going to bond the intersection of your full gate spells.”

“And if so, to space, or time?” Kene added.

“Do I need to decide now?” I asked, a little bit of concern creeping into my voice.

“No, but it should be sooner, rather than later,” Meadow said. “You’ve balanced out your spirit almost completely, but your life and death gardens have a head start of two months. Even not using it, that much time isn’t nothing.”

Tomorrow would be the night of the meteor shower, and even as I turned the thought over in my head, I felt a pulse from the winds of fortune, urging me to decide now.

It wasn’t pushing me to bond, nor was it suggesting I shouldn’t.

But it wanted me to choose one way or the other.

I wondered at how much skill Thea must have, to be able to read the pulses of the winds so well. I couldn’t even untangle why I needed to choose now, only that I did.