The king rubbed his temples, trying to alleviate the headache which had been plaguing him all morning. Too much was happening in too many places that he had to pay attention to. Even with his prodigious mind, he was having trouble keeping it all straight in his head.

Currently, he was sitting at his desk, reviewing the paperwork that had piled up during his absence.

For the past two weeks, he’d been diving the ‘Fields of Oppression’ with several members of his harem. As usual, they’d dragged him into the thick of the fighting, nearly collapsing the entire dungeon with their antics. Despite trying to limit himself to only a few hours a day of combat, they just wouldn’t let him hide in his tent and work.

‘Battle junkies, every one of them,’ he mentally groused as he recalled his wife, Marrisa, laughing her ass off while shoving Helen and the others into his private rooms in their adventuring tent.

He could only thank the heavens that the dwarven delegation finally arrived, forcing his harem to cut their adventure short.

There was just so much that he needed to do. His plans for the Tower of Fate were progressing rapidly. That business with the centaurs was finally coming to a head. One of his sons, Prince Benjamin, had somehow gotten it into his head to study fateweaving. And Lord Strattings has finally started investigating the nobles in Dorchester’s surrounding cities. His plans for the Strates were finally coming together.

Every one of these matters needed to be handled with the utmost delicacy if he wanted to keep everything running smoothly.

Not everything was progressing according to plan though. He’d expected Lord Walker to be advanced to the status of a ‘hero’, not a ‘unique’. Although the difference is academic at the moment, in the future, it could end up being a problem. Unique citizens were able to start houses wherever they wanted, while Heroes were tethered to their home city.

The anomaly that was Lord Walker was supposed to stay put. Too many plans required him to act… and act soon at that. By now, the king had expected Lord Walker to already be heading toward the front lines, destabilizing portals and breaking through the kobald’s mirage technique as he spearheaded Dorchester’s army’s assault into the mountain.

‘It doesn’t matter. A plan that is unable to adapt is doomed to fail,’ he told himself.

Firming his brow, he started sending out updates and orders across his kingdom.

—--

“Lord Walker? Are you alright?” asked Academian Quincy.

After Nero’s outburst, everyone was now looking at him with some concern.

Nero, now having pinpointed what was making him feel off-balance, replied, “I’m fine, I think. But can I get down from this platform now?”

Academian Quincy replied quickly, “Of course. Do you need anything? Does utilizing your ability cause you any stress?”

Nero, barely listening to anything after ‘of course’, hopped down from the platform without delay. The moment he crossed the platform’s outer edge, the subtle sense of his surroundings he’d been missing returned. Now that he was ‘looking’ for it, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed when it had been blocked off.

With wide eyes, he looked around the lab at Nick, Quincy, and the various evaluators. Where before they were complete mysteries, just nameless faces watching him during his testing, their judgmental looks causing him to feel isolated and alone; now, they were once again ‘people’, their emotions clearly on display for him to interpret and sympathize with. Even Academian Quincy, whose essence field was tightly controlled, still exuded something of an emotional presence into the ether.

Nero realized it wasn’t so much the lack of being able to feel their emotions, but that without being able to see them in the ethereal plane, his brain was having trouble treating them as ‘real’. It felt like he was surrounded by uncaring robots, and it reminded him of how he used to feel when he was back on Earth. Simultaneously surrounded by people, but completely on his own.

Nick’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “Nero? What’s the matter with you?” he asked.

Nero looked up at his friend, and couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He could actually ‘feel’ the man’s concern through the ethereal plane. Now that he knew what to look for, he could actually ‘see’ the waves of emotion coloring the essence flows.

It was like each person was a marker in a pool. Their presence, or identity, was slowly leaking into the ether… spreading out almost imperceptibly. Yet, no matter how many people there were in a small area, there was no cross-contamination. It was like everyone was operating on their own frequency, and Nero could trace back who was feeling what just as easily as if he were following a trail.

Nero, now finally calming down, replied, “Sorry about that. I just didn’t realize that the platform would cut me off from the ether so completely. I can’t believe how much I’ve gotten used to being connected to everyone.”

Immediately after saying that out loud, Nero cringed. While he had meant that literally, it sounded incredibly metaphorical, and touchy-feely when put into words. Luckily, Academian Quincy was there to interpret Nero’s ridiculous statement.

“The testing platform we were using has an identity filter, if that’s what you’re asking about. We needed to ensure that no outside essence signatures were there to accurately test whether or not you could identify an essence flow with just your perception field. What exactly did you notice, and how did it effect you?” he asked, his inner scientist threatening to come out.

Nero rolled his shoulders to release some of the tension. “It was weird. When I first got up there, I didn’t feel anything. In fact, it felt comfortable and familiar, which should have been my first clue that something was wrong. But, when the testing started, I started getting this unsettled feeling that everyone was out there judging me. I just couldn’t figure out what you all were thinking. It slowly became more and more important for me to ‘know’ what you all thought about my performance. It was almost like a compulsion or something,” he said, trying to put into words the trippy feeling he’d just dealt with.

Scholar Idrius walked up to join them, asking, “And now?”

Nero smiled at her, replying, “Now? I’m back to not caring at all what you think. Which is also weird, I think?”

Nick seemed like he was about to say something, but Academian Quincy placed a hand on his shoulder and gestured for him to wait. Looking Nero in the eye, he said, “I think this is a symptom of your ability. If we take into consideration the fact that you can naturally interpret essence flows by their nature with just a look, it stands to reason that you can do something similar with the minute traces of essence our centers give off. You probably just ‘feel’ like you already know what we’re thinking, so you no longer care about asking us anything.”

Nero opened his mouth to reply, but then sharply closed it, opting to take a moment to think before he spoke.

Nick, not willing to wait, chimed in, “Nero, have you been constantly scanning people’s essence fields?”

Nero replied, “No? I don’t think I have. It’s not like I really know what people are thinking if that’s what you’re asking. I just kinda got used to ‘feeling’ a person in addition to just seeing them with my eyes. Hey, does this have something to do with how Cathleen can always sneak up on me?”

Scholar Idrius grabbed one of Nero’s shoulders and spun him not-so-gently so that he was facing her. Locking eyes with him, she ordered, “Lord Walker, keep your eyes on me. In fact, put your entire focus on me.”

As she spoke, she took a few steps back so Nero could see her better.

When she was about two meters away, she said, “Now, tell me if you notice anything.”

Nero could feel Nick and Quincy smirking off to his left, but he maintained his focus on Scholar Idrius.

He was about to ask her to clarify what he was supposed to be seeing, when all of the sudden she changed. One second, she looked totally normal, then the next, she was the same person, but also a stranger. Nothing about her physically changed at all, but she ‘felt’ like she wasn’t there.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Cocking his head to the side, he strained with all his senses to try and ‘see’ what was going on. Then, like a flower blossoming, she came back into focus. Her presence once again reasserted itself into the ethereal plane.

Dropping his jaw in shock, Nero nearly shouted, “What the fuck!?! How did you do that? What did you just do?”

Out of all the magical things he’d seen since he’d arrived here in Dorchester, this was the most ‘magical’ thing he’d ever witnessed. Quite possibly it was because he couldn’t understand what he was seeing, or not seeing. He had no idea of how she’d done whatever it was she just did… not even a clue.

Scholar Idrius nodded once as if she’d successfully confirmed her hypothesis. Turning to Nick and Quincy, she declared, “He’s a natural sensor.”

Nero, not exactly happy about hearing another title that he didn’t understand, asked, “And what, pray tell, is a natural sensor?”

Being the ever-helpful font of information that he is, Nick replied, “A natural sensor is someone whose essence signature tends to easily connect with those around him. It’s not terribly uncommon, and usually just means that you’d be good at some of the more social techniques associated with essence manipulation.”

Academian Quincy was rubbing his chin in thought. “I don’t think he’s actually a sensor. I think this is just an aspect of his ability. Sensors reach out, usually due to childhood trauma, or as a result of intense training. Nero’s field isn’t doing that. Instead, he’s just easily interpreting what others are putting out into the ether. It’s like he’s a natural ‘delver’.”

Nick, never one to pass up the opportunity to correct someone, replied quickly, “That’s not a thing.”

Quincy shrugged, not caring if it wasn’t. “It’s as good a term as any other. You have a better explanation as to how he does what he does?”

Nero frowned in thought. He still hadn’t been told how he’d done during his evaluation. Just a few minutes ago, it had seemed so important. Now, he couldn’t care less. While he didn’t mind being a little scatterbrained and unpredictable, he didn’t like the possibility that he wasn’t in control of his emotions.

Trying to get them to focus on the real-world consequences of their theories and hypotheticals, he asked, “So, how is me being able to ‘sense’ people connected to the little freak-out I just had? One minute, I needed to know what you were thinking, and then… nothing.”

Quincy replied, “I think this was a situational event. You had been heavily relying on your other senses, and just not realizing it. When those senses failed you, it must have felt like you’d been blinded. Now that you are familiar with the feeling, I think you’ll be able to handle it much better in the future.”

Nero nodded, hoping that would prove to be the case. “OK. But, what exactly was it that Scholar Idrius did just then? How did she make herself disappear in my senses like that? It was like she was there, but she wasn’t.”

Scholar Idrius, her voice still maintaining that calm scientific tenor, replied, “I merely cut myself from the ethereal plane. Think of it as isolating myself from the essence around me.”

Nero shivered at the thought of how that would feel. He’d come to feel almost ‘hugged’ by the world around him, and the thought of cutting himself off like that made his skin crawl.

Nick chimed in, “There are massive downsides to that technique. While it is a viable method for hiding oneself in the ether, it also removes a person’s ability to interact with essence. No magic, no protection. It is a technique that strips a person bare of their fields and leaves them at the mercy of the world around them.”

Nero nodded, imagining that it was much like a person pulling their identity into their body, and losing the protection of their essence field.

Coming to an obvious conclusion, Nero asked, “So, that’s obviously not what Cathleen is doing. Which of course begs the question, what is she doing to hide from me like that?”

Nick shrugged as if he had no idea.

But Academian Quincy replied, “I’m guessing she’s infusing her field with a desire for people to not pay attention to her. It’s a technique used for infiltration and hunting. It’s not all that difficult to do, but it does require a better than average skill level in ‘essence field control’.”

Nero tried to wrap his head around this most recent revelation. It was like a whole new field of study, one that he’d been aware of, but put off learning about. People’s fields were their identities given form, and control of them could probably do any number of crazy things.

He’d stopped bothering with telekinesis and had for the most part been focusing on his perception abilities. Maybe that had been a mistake? He should probably put some more effort into determining everything that his fields can do.

The evaluators took the lull in conversation as an opportunity to present their findings. For whatever reason, it was Connie who ended up being pushed to the front of the group.

After quickly glaring at the other evaluators behind her, Scholar Connie staggered forward and said, “Pardon the interruption, but we’ve finished the report for our initial findings.”

Nero, semi-interested in what she had to say, looked up at her with a smile.

Scholar Idrius and Nick both looked at her expectantly, while Academian Quincy simply asked, “Anything of note, or outside of our projections?”

Connie, while referencing something that looked suspiciously like a computer tablet, replied, “Lord Walker is confirmed to be able to identify essence streams. He also is confirmed to be able to manipulate them individually. There was minimal identity leakage during the manipulation tests. We were unable to determine how he can do it, but we can confirm that he is doing it. We’d like some time to go over the data, and determine how best to proceed.”

Nero asked, “What do you mean ‘proceed’? Didn’t this prove that I can do… whatever it is you say I can do?”

Academian Quincy chuckled and replied, “Yes, it is enough to get your provisional title. However, there are still some tests we’d like to perform.”

Nick, feeling excited about the idea of further testing, asked, “Are you going to try and isolate his field strength numbers? Or are you more concerned about his application density?”

Scholar Connie replied quickly, “I believe we should first focus on tracking his essence dispersal rate. If we can determine how he can interact with essence flows without tainting them with his identity, then we can possibly recreate it in the lab. From there, we could revolutionize the field of mechanized casting.”

Scholar Idrius, while nodding along, added, “That’s a good point. If we could remove the identity bleed, we’d be able to run a shield generator as if it were lossless casting. That would change the face of modern warfare as we know it.”

Nero, not even remotely understanding the connection, asked, “Can one of you explain what exactly it is that you are all so excited about? Better yet, explain to me why what I’m doing is so special, because I’m getting a little fed up with being the only one not impressed with myself.”

Nick, as usual, stepped up to translate. “Nero, we’ve explained to you how most people see and interact with essence, right?”

Nero replied, “Yes. Most people see it as clouds, or more like intersecting fog banks. And I see it as individual streams. I get that part. But, I’m still having trouble seeing why it matters.”

Nick, not discouraged, said, “It matters because you are able to pick and choose which stream you want to interact with. That’s not normal. Remember how when you first started doing magic, we couldn’t understand how you were using the ambient essence to cast your spell forms?”

Nero nodded, paying close attention to what Nick was saying.

Nick continued, “Well, that’s because people can’t really do that. Essence streams and flows are brought into spell forms by their included inputs. The creation of a spell form determines which essence streams are brought in to fuel them. The fact that you can manually determine what streams are being connected into the spell-form allows you to change what the spell does with alarming versatility.”

Caught up in the excitement, Scholar Connie added, “And not just that! The way you interact with the essence streams is also worth noting. Most people, when they connect to an essence stream, they mix their identity into it, thereby claiming it and gaining control over it. It is required before a spell can call upon a particular type of essence. For example, if someone wants to perform a basic ‘ice spike’ spell, then they must first assert their control of both ‘heat’ and ‘water’ essence streams. Only after they join with them can their spell-form call upon them for the creation of its ‘ice spike’. For simple spells it doesn’t matter all that much, but for more complicated castings, intense study and meditation are usually required,” By the time she was done speaking, she was nearly out of breath from talking so quickly.

Academian Quincy picked up the explanation. “You, however, don’t seem to have that limitation. You seem to be able to grab hold of essence streams and manipulate them without leaving any of your identity behind. It’s a very interesting development.”

Nero, thinking quickly, asked, “Wouldn’t me not infusing the essence streams with my center make my spells weak?”

Nodding, Academian Quincy replied, “Yes, in a way, that’s true. But, it isn’t like you can’t infuse your center into your spells, it’s just that you don’t have to. To be honest, I’m not sure of all the ramifications that your unique talent will lead to. We’ll have to spend some time theory-crafting and testing how to best utilize your ability.”

Nero decided that sounded like a logical endpoint to the conversation, and pounced on it. “Alright, so you guys do that then. Try and figure out some ideas on what I could theoretically do with my ‘gift’ or whatever. In the meantime, am I right in assuming that I am now a provisional unique?”

Scholar Idrius replied, “Not yet. We still have to file everything. By tomorrow morning, it should be taken care of.”

Nodding, Nero replied, “That’s good enough. Let’s get that done, then in the morning I can deal with Cathleen and the guards… mercenaries… soldiers? Whatever you want to call them. Then, by tomorrow afternoon, I want to sit down with the general and get myself an official quest.”

Nick looked more than a little surprised to see Nero stepping up and sounding like a leader. “So, you’ve made your decision on what you’re going to do?”

Nero nodded.

However long he’d been cut off from the world while on the testing platform had reminded him what he’d felt like without his magic. Even though he was playing with essence streams, without the sense of companionship and purpose that seemed to bleed off everyone around him, he felt like the loner he used to be all those months ago.

Now, here in Dorchester, having developed a friendship with Nick, and a slight feeling of belonging among the citizenry, he felt the need to join the proverbial cause of humanity. Or at least, that’s what he told himself.

In a world like this, there was an ‘actual’ sense of community. While freaky, it was also kind of pleasant. But that wouldn’t stop him from looking out for number one.

Firming his voice, Nero declared, “I’m gonna stay here in Dorchester for a while. While Nick and Vera won’t be part of my party, they will always be part of House Walker. I won’t let them fight the kobalds and the density shift on their own. I’ll stick around and do what I can. If I’m able to do stuff no one else can, and if I’m allowed to do it due to my ‘uniqueness’, then I might as well get paid for it. So, step one is getting the Walker adventuring club a quest… Wait, that will be step two. Step one will be forming the club. So, in the morning, if the paperwork is handled, I’ll put together a roster and see what we’re working with.”

Nick, amused, asked, “The Walker Adventuring Club?”

Nero looked at Nick like he was an uncultured swine. “Every adventuring party needs a name. We can workshop it later. Until then, I’m going with the W.A.C.”

Academian Quincy’s smile was wide enough to cause his eyes to squint. “I’m sure it will be quite the successful adventuring party. In the meantime, I’d recommend you head back to the Verina estate and get some sleep. I’ll make sure that we get your paperwork filed for you.”

Narrowing his eyes at the man, he said, “Everything goes through Vera first. If she signs off on it, then you’re good to go. It’s not as if I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust you. So, please, considering how vengeful and petty I am… don’t do something that ruins our budding friendship.”

Academian Quincy’s smile didn’t falter at all. “Of course, Nero. We’ll make sure to prove worthy of your trust. Thank you for going along with our tests. Rest assured, your results are more than enough for us to begin our work on your behalf. Leave it to us.”

Nodding in thanks, he turned to Nick and said, “Let’s go get some sleep. By the way, you’re paying for the teleportation. I left my wallet in my other robe.”

Nick frowned in confusion and replied, “Wallet? Why do you have a wallet? You can pay for things through your link. You have your link on you, don’t you?”

Nero, already a few steps toward the door waved it off and replied over his shoulder, “Nick, I’m dissolving my house and giving you and your wife most of my stuff. You can pay for my damn teleportation. And, on the way, I want some candy. I just had an exam… I’m owed candy.”

Nick shared a few confused glances with the evaluators, but soon shrugged it off and ran after Nero to catch up. He may not always understand what Nero was talking about, but he hadn’t had candy in ages… Vera didn’t like sweets.