It took Hera only four days to unlock the skill. The entire training program was very similar to what happened on the first day. Kale would ask about spells that she could maintain for a while, then he would replicate them and start to make small changes as examples. It took Hera close to a full day of training to begin to notice the difference between the mana in each spell, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Changing a spell that had already been cast proved to be much more complicated than she imagined. Making the spell was like baking a cake. She set everything up, mixed all the ingredients, picked a tray, and then placed it all in the oven. Trying to alter a spell that was already active was like trying to change the shape of a cake that had already been baked without cutting or breaking it.
Even so, little by little, she understood what she had to do. For the skill to work, she had to trick her spell. First, she put some mana around the active magic and acted as if she would cast a spell again, but it was just a surface layer. The mana in the ongoing spell would think it was part of this new spell and change accordingly. As a result, she spent a fraction of the mana she used to make the spell to change how it behaved. If the alteration was bigger, more mana would be spent, but the mana cost was still lower than if she was creating something new. According to Kale this was a way to do it, but at higher ranks, she would only need to spend more mana if her intention asked for more than what the spell already had. What finally allowed her to unlock the skill was turning her dancing light into one of those spinning light globes from a club. The type that created several colorful rays and shot them out everywhere.
"Very good, girl. I expected you to take longer," Kale clapped his hands when her skill triggered.
"It's weird that you know that I got the skill, you know," Hera replied, forcing herself to remember that he was just a simulation made by New Dawn.
"I know, but there are an obnoxious amount of sensors in these rooms. And when you get the skill, your spell's mana fluctuates in a specific way."
"Does that work with all the skills? Like, can you tell what skills someone has just by looking at them?"
"Probably, if you are really good at that. But would have to remember and compare each skill with each individual change, so I doubt anyone would waste their time to do it," Kale shrugged.
The ASZ turned off, revealing the grey panels again. The beautiful scenery by the cliff had vanished, and only Kale remained.
"Well, this is the end of the training program. I would love to say that we'll see each other again, but it doesn't work like that. The only way for us to see each other will be if you manage to find a skill that I helped develop the training program for, and they don’t put the trainer’s name in the catalogue for some reason. Still, it was fun," Kale said with a big smile.
"You know. I kind of feel bad now. Doesn't this mean you are going to die? Or be locked away until I come back?"
"Girl, I'm not alive. Everything that you see here is a computer program. I have no emotions and no sense of self. I'm just data. Yes, I can pretend to be happy or sad, yes, I'm fun to be around, and yes, I'm incredibly handsome. But at the end of the day, Me going away it's just like closing a browser tab. There is absolutely nothing that will be affected. All these goodbyes and me saying 'it was fun' were programmed messages to make this look more personal. Just like this speech."
"Ok, ok, I get it. I get attached easily, ok?" Hera turned around and left the training room in a huff. Still, before opening the door, she glanced back to see Kale one last time only to see him waving with a large smile.
When Hera left the guild it was earlier than usual, and Silah went running to meet her. Because of all the training, they weren't able to spend that much time together. In all fairness, everyone had mostly split off at the moment. Bonnie was helping Ogryn translate some spells from runic to formula and vice versa. Blue and Alex kept going to the Wooly plains to unlock the [Battle Frenzy] skill, and Helena was alone at home working on a new idea that she had yet to tell anyone. Even Shane and Mylo were busy organizing all the information they had about Shane's lead.
When she got back home, Bonnie was there making some snacks for the afternoon and Silah rushed to the kitchen to help. The blacksmith had gotten into cooking during the past week. Hera sat in front of Helena in the living room and told her that she got the skill. The mage started interrogating her about all aspects of the training and the skill and asking some oddly specific questions before looking away, deep in thought. Hera did her best to replicate what she saw during the training. However, she didn't have the sensors or the ability to make her spells be just like Helena's, like Kale did with her. Only when she tried to replicate the program that she realized how helpful it actually was. During the training, Kale would show her versions of her spells with the different mana flow marked in a different color. But doing that now was impossible even after she got the skill.
After some discussion and even weirder questions, Hera turned to Helena, "Ok, I get that this is an interesting skill, but half of what you asked has nothing to do it with. What’s going on?"
"I was thinking about that skill. It gave me some ideas."
"Like what?"
"Well… what if I can shape my mana to be… aggressive? Like, to attack what's inside my body," Helena said in a hushed voice.
"You want to teach your mana to attack the parasites?" Hera asked.
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"Either teach it or force it to do that."
"Lena… that sounds dangerous."
"It's no more dangerous than going to a room with monsters at my level. I trust that I can defend myself somewhat, but if we are going to the 7th layer, then I'll need to be able to do things on my own. If I went now, I would just be dead weight."
"Lena, I don't like that idea. Besides, I gave you that flame mana shard, didn't I? If that doesn’t work I can get you another item that regenerates mana automatically."
"Hera, my mana pool is well over 50 thousand. That's not just because I kept training, but because the spells I use are very mana heavy. A mana core that size is way too expensive, and the ones you can get won't charge mana fast enough for battle," Helena sighed.
"Fine, but if you figure anything out, I'm calling Risli before you try it. That's not negotiable," Hera replied.
"That's actually a good idea. I haven't talked with her about this. Do you think she would be able to help with the spell?"
"Well… maybe. There are some things that she can do that are a bit unusual for healers," Hera nodded.
"Like what?" Helena asked.
"Not my place to say, but she can do some potions and some different spells to maybe help."
"Do you think we can drop by there now?"
"Well… it's not that late. She might still be up."
"Let's go then," Helena got up from the chair.
"Are you guys going somewhere?" Silah and Bonnie walked into the living room from the kitchen.
"I think we should tell them. Bonnie can help figure it out, and Silah would help a lot to hold you down if it gets to that point," Hera suggested.
"What do you mean to hold her down?" Silah asked with a confused expression.
Helena stopped to think for a moment and then explained the whole situation to the two.
"You know. Ogryn could help a lot with that too," Bonnie said.
"That is a good idea. I mean, if you add up him, Risli, and us, we should have about 500 years of experience," Hera nodded.
"Well… the more, the merrier, I guess. But I'm not really excited about the idea of more people doing tests on me," Helena sighed.
"Then we can go. Let's stop by the mage's quarters and then go to Risli's," Silah said.
"No need. I just texted Ogryn, and he agreed to help. The people here are really eager to reply to texts," Bonnie pointed at the time between messages.
A few minutes passed, and the elderly mage arrived at their house since it was on the way to Risli's. Helena started explaining the situation, despite knowing she would have to do that once more when they arrived at the shaman's house. Risli was busy at the moment. She was brewing a potion and couldn't stop or her work would go down the drain. Everyone agreed to wait for her to be done while Hera helped the old dwarven healer with her potion.
About one hour later, the shaman was done with her work, and they all sat around a table for Helena to tell her story. She started by explaining what the wall was and what happened during the break, then about the Wendigos and how she ran away and hid from them. The story seemed well-rehearsed like she had told it several times already. Even so, speaking of that wasn't easy. More than once, Helena had to stop and take a breath while her hands were shaking.
After that, she explained what happened with the parasites and all the procedures people already tried. Ogryn and Risli had more questions about both the creatures and the affliction while trying to figure out a way to help. They had some ideas, including a ritual spell that Risli could cast as part of her legacy to weaken ailments. For the first time in a long time, Helena felt her mana pool recovering. Unfortunately, that only lasted for a moment. Despite being weakened, the parasites were still just barely able to keep up with her mana regeneration. This meant that the little mana she recovered was still there, but she couldn't recover more.
It felt like a step in the right direction, but this was the limit of Risli's spell. It would last only for a week, but the shaman could use it again after the effect wore off to keep the parasites at bay. This helped Helena understand a bit more about her mana and try to test her ideas. With Ogryn around, they discussed some options, and Helena explained what spell she wanted to create.
"My idea is to make my mana poisonous by itself. I'm not sure how that can work, but I imagine that if my mana deals damage to the parasites on its own, I can get rid of them," Helena explained.
"I understand that, and it is an interesting concept. It would be like poisoning yourself to push them away," Ogryn nodded, already thinking about how the spell could work.
"You know nothing. If you use poison, it will only make things worse. If those things can grow depending on what you feed them, giving them poison may make them more resilient. If we are going that route, we need to do something different. Maybe using fire, or something that most organisms can't adapt to," Risli cut Ogryn off.
"I kind of agree. Poison is very fickle. If we hit them with the wrong one, they might become much stronger than we hoped," Hera said.
"Then, what if we make something that burns them? Using Lena's mana as fuel. Most things can't adapt to fire quickly, right?" Bonnie turned to Risli.
"As far as I know, that is correct. But I don't know what it is like in the other rooms," Risli was looking at books, trying to find something that could help.
"May I give a suggestion?" Ogryn asked the group, receiving a nod as a reply, "Naka asked me to come up with a way to stop someone from casting spells without harming them. We tried a few approaches, from disturbing the magic in an area to remove someone's control over their own mana. One of the most simple approaches we currently have, and something that we have yet to figure out, is a way to make someone leak their own mana. The idea is for no one to be hurt, but we already have a rough idea of how to make someone lose their mana while hurting them. One of the words we used to describe this spell would be ‘burn’ as in ‘it will burn their mana’."
"That… seems to be right on the money," Helena had a surprised expression.
"Well.. yes, but if we create that to hurt someone, it will probably hurt you more than the parasites," Ogryn explained.
"I don't care. Let's see if we can figure this one out before Shane wants to leave. I want to leave here with my mana again," Helena replied with a sad voice.
Hera could only imagine what it was like losing her mana completely. Lena already spent more than a full year dealing with that, and Hera wanted nothing more than to help her friend return to her glory days.