Mistress Deidre Cosgrave was a 17 year old child, and she knew it. She was always the smartest one in her class, but comparing herself to the people she admired, she knew she had a lot to learn. She respected her mother, the city lord, along with those who had experience and guile. One day she would be like them, and people would ask for HER opinion.

Until recently, she had considered her brother Derek an intelligent young man. He was 19, and seemed to radiate a quiet wisdom and nobility. However, over the last year she started to notice things that called that opinion into question. She saw the cracks in his facade. Growing up, she wondered why her mother was always radiating her disappointment with Derek. Now she couldn’t help but see what her mother saw. His flaw was that he always thought he knew better.

Her brother’s voice brought her out of her thoughts.

“Deidre, I found it,” he said with pride.

She shook her head, “This is a bad idea. The risk is not worth the reward.”

Sitting in the observation room, Derek was filtering through the castle feeds to find the dinner that their mother warned them to avoid. Derek had agreed to stay away, but thought watching the dinner was a brilliant counter-move.

Deidre could feel the disapproval from Katerina, their Center Advisor. It was radiating from the corner of the room. Katerina had been in charge of their education and training since they were children. She was always there when they needed her, but still let Deidre and Derek make mistakes. ‘Mistakes are the fertilizer for growth. If you don’t learn from them, you’re not using them right,’ she had told them.

Katerina had not said a word as Derek outlined his plan. And now Deidre looked at her standing by the door, arms crossed in disapproval, watching Derek manipulate the security cameras.

Reassuring his sister, Derek said, “We aren’t doing anything wrong. Besides, this is a secondary observation room. No one will know we were here. I just want to see what’s so special about this commoner that is being raised into nobility. Maybe we’ll even find out something about the Arch-Mage that showed up.”

The holograms in front of them displayed Nero walking alongside a captain and two people that Deidre recognized. One was the head of Gate 7 research. She had seen Nicholas Salvatore give a lecture on essence infusion. The man was brilliant. At the end of the lecture, she had met his wife. She remembered the woman being very exacting. At the time, Deidre noted how Mrs. Salvatore didn’t radiate any emotion other than calm. She wondered what they had to do with the boy they were now escorting to meet the city lord, her mother.

She and her brother watched them sit down to dinner, and Deidre noticed that Derek was focused on the screen like it owed him money. His brow was furrowed, and his eyes never left Nero Walker.

They all watched Nero deflect questions, and push all of the responsibility off on the Salvatores. Perhaps the Salvatores would back his new house? Vera Salvatore was going to act as his House’s proxy. Vera’s husband was a branch head?

No doubt, that was a bold choice. Every word out of Nero’s mouth was both idiotic and careful. He was a very difficult young man to read, just like he was when she and her brother had met him last night.

Deidre felt Katerina approach and look over her shoulder at the screens. Apparently, she was interested in the boy as well. Katerina’s psychic field radiated her curiosity like a beacon.

Derek zoomed in on Nero as the nobles made small talk and probed each other’s personalities. It was obvious that the real conversation had yet to begin. Deidre couldn’t figure out what had her brother so interested, Nero didn’t look like he was even paying attention.

Then she noticed the glass on the table. The dinner party went silent as Nero was casting something. Soon Arch-Mage Jennings was nearly bouncing in his seat with approval.

Deidre looked at her brother, and could see the resentment in his eyes. She thought back to her mother’s prediction and warning. As usual, her brother kept his own counsel, and was ignoring their mother's advice.

They watched as Nero absolved himself of the responsibility of negotiating with the city lord, while convincing the arch-mage and the director of gate 7 research into offering a personal lesson in magic. ‘Did he plan this? Was he using the absurdity of casting at the dinner table as a lure? Was gaining the attention of the new court mage his goal all along?’ she wondered.

Derek was using the hallway feeds to follow Nero and the mages, and they were soon met by Captain Angelton.

“Bring up the dining room. That is the current front of the game. He has retreated from the front and is gaining allies, but he left his proxy surrounded. We need to see why,” Deidre said in a voice that brooked no argument.

Katerina nodded and radiated pride in her student. Derek only sighed in annoyance, and changed the cameras back to the dining room.

They rolled back the recording to see what happened after Nero left. Witnessing their mother being artfully countered, all of them felt a pit in their gut. Vera Salvatore even turned their mother’s allies presence to her advantage. Deidre let out a gasp of surprise as she recognized her mother’s withdrawal from the game.

Derek had a frown on his face and seemed to ask the monitor, “I don’t understand. Did you just let that woman win? You left a fortune on the table. What’s your game mother?”

Katerina spoke from behind the two Cosgrave heirs, “When you find yourself in a position with nothing to gain, you don’t fight for advantage. The goal isn’t to always win, it’s to never lose. Lord Cosgrave won, and she did it by surrendering the enemy’s territory. You have a lot to learn Master Cosgrave, and it’s time you realized that.”

With a wave of Katerina’s hand, Derek and Deidre’s chairs were pushed aside to make way for her to reach the console. Manipulating the controls, she switched the cameras back over to Nero. He was in the arena, having his lesson.

“This is who you should be concerned about. Did you see how the boy presented himself as a joke? But look at the facts. He walked into a room with the weakest position possible. He’s a new noble, with no backing. Yet, he leveraged his pieces perfectly, spoke nothing but riddles, and left with converted allies. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to believe that his successes are accidents. Did his plan begin when he found out that he would be a noble? Or was it last night, when he declared as an independent?” She said.

Manipulating the holograms to show the captain examining the explosion. She focused the image on the splayed and broken limbs of what was once a military training dummy.

Katerina took a step back from the console, as if to clear the area so the Cosgrave heirs could see clearly. Crossing her arms, she said, “This Nero Walker is not an enemy to target. He is an obstacle to be avoided. I agree with your mother’s play. There is no reason to fight unless we manufacture one.”

-----

Arch-Mage Jennings and Nick reeled in their laughter. Adopting sheepish expressions, they exchanged looks. Their silent conversation resulted in Jennings taking the lead.

“Nero, we’re sorry for laughing. I assure you that we weren’t laughing at you. It’s just that your question was very amusing. It’s because of how you cast. You see, everyone is taught to cast using their center to form the spell forms, then isolate the flows of essence to do what the spell requires,” he said in what he hoped was a kind and considerate tone.

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Nero nodded, and rubbed his chin in thought. Turning to Nick, he asked, “It’s like earlier when you had me use my center to ‘activate’ or ‘bond’ with my clothes. I don’t know what you call it. But that was me using my center, right?”

Nick replied, “Yes. That’s your center. Normally, that is how a person casts spells. I don’t know where you got the idea to just manipulate raw essence like that. Didn’t the books mention flows? Instead of letting the essence move as you guide it, you seem to grab hold of the essence and force it to do what you want. In addition, you used ambient essence to create spell forms. That’s just madness, the only reason it didn’t explode was that you were using air. What made you think of that?”

Nero looked at the two in confusion. “I was casting a spell in the air, you think I’d try to use earth or water? The spell form would just crumble apart when I added the essence components. I would use water to cast in water, and earth to cast in the ground. I can see how using your center probably makes things easier. Wait…. Is that how you stamp? You just ‘will’ the pattern into existence with your center?” Nero asked.

Without waiting for a reply, Nero pulled from his center and created a standard light spell. Instead of creating it with air, then feeding the component essences of light and air, Nero ‘stamped’ the image of what is was supposed to look like into being. The spell form appeared, and starting sucking in the light and air flows from the essence all around them. Almost instantly, a ball of light appeared.

Shocked gasps came from both Nick and Jennings.

“Did you see that?” Jennings said in a loud voice, apparently talking to Nick.

“I saw it. I saw it. He did a pattern stamp on his first try. In fact, he imparted it so strongly that the essence leapt to fill the inputs. I didn’t see any flows being directed, did you?” Nick replied as he leaned forward and seemed to concentrate on the floating light.

Nero was ignoring the two old men as they went back and forth. His focus was on the pattern, it was losing it’s ‘permanence’. When he first created it, he felt the world almost lurch. It was like he was demanding that the pattern exist, but with every second passing his demand was turning into a suggestion. Nero watched as the essence stopped flowing toward the inputs. Taking control of the essence flows, he coaxed them into place, and he watched as the spell form kept up the conversion from the light and air into a ball of light. Yet, the spell form was still weakening. He needed to add another flow, one which connected his center to the spell form in order to feed its identity. It’s existence was predicated on his will.

While the mage and researcher were arguing over the little ball of light, Captain Angelton had come over to observe Nero’s spell. As they had their lively debate, Nero was focusing on his findings.

As his smile grew, Nero watched with mad delight as the ball flickered and changed. He played with adding heat and using an intent filter to add hydrogen. He was feeling the world warp to include his wishes into reality.

‘This is what being a mage is. Not forcing essence to do what I want, or convincing it with a nudge. Magic is imparting my will on reality. The building blocks of that reality are all around me. I am the architect. I create the shape with my very being, and the world places the blocks. I will it, and reality is rewritten!’ Nero thought with wonder.

An idle thought popped into Nero’s head, and he opened his identity.

Name

Nero Walker

Level

6

Race

Human

Growth

84%

Tier

1

Condition

100%

Age

14

Center

48%

Body

1

Mind

1

Soul

1

Confluence

10

Stars

2

Pillars

0/0

Nero watched as the percentage counter for his center ticked down. He thinned his connection to the spell, he didn’t need to use so much to keep the spell going. He found a nice balance, and realized that if he was careful, a spell could be held for about a minute per percentage point.

While he had his identity open, he noticed his growth. He was still looking at a level a day, more or less. That was 100 times faster than the books characterized ‘fast growth’. That was interesting, but it wasn’t his focus. As he reminded himself about priorities, and his intention to be a super mage with a traveling tower, he saw his growth go up by a point.

‘That’s the secret to leveling. Knowing what you want, and going for it. Learning along the way, and paying attention to what’s important. The fucking self help posters had it right all along. I need to keep my goal in my heart, and keep my eyes open on the journey,’ he thought to himself.

Nero closed his identity, and released his center from the spell form. It started to deteriorate again, but more slowly than before. He was sure there was something to deduce from that observation. However, now was not the time.

Returning his attention to the conversation going on around him, Nero heard Captain Angelton speaking, “… considered a tactical asset. I can’t think of anyone in Dorchester that could serve as a better combat instructor.”

Jennings snorted, “I’d serve just fine, but I don’t want to infect him with my preconceptions. It is imperative that we give as little input as possible. The three of us have to offer enough information for him to come to his own conclusions, without arbitrarily setting limits. Based on his history, this Specialist Howard seems like a fine choice. 5 days a week with you and him at the compound should cover physical and magic combat. The remaining 5 days will be split as needed between the director and me. While you focus on combat, we will focus on the world. Everything from the essence cycle, to theories on the origins of the identity.”

Captain Angelton and Nick were nodding along. They seemed to collectively notice that Nero was now paying attention.

Nick asked, “What do you think Nero? This is your path after all. You need to decide on where that path leads.”

Nero looked up at the three very serious men. “Um… That all sounds good. But I think you’re forgetting about Mrs. Salvatore. She’s off planning my immediate future with the city lord. Until she weighs in, I will agree to nothing. Since I’ve arrived here, she’s had my back. I trust her,” he said quietly, but firmly.

Nick smiled and nodded. Jennings and Angelton shared a look, then gave Nero a nod in approval.

Jennings said, “Following the advice of your house’s chosen steward is a good policy. I’ve been watching her demolish the city lord in the game, she has served your house well.”

Nick chuckled and said, “Vera always gets what she wants. Always. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t even bother to argue, unless it’s for fun. Getting her riled up is… well, that’s not important. But you can split your mind and observe at this distance from the dining hall? That’s incredible. Arch-mages really are the peak of the kingdom.”

Nero piped in, “Look, this was great and all. But it’s been a long day. Nick, I need you to show me how to get back to the dorms, and tomorrow I need to use my stars. I should have another three to go by the morning. I’m thinking confluence, soul, and mind for them. I still don’t really understand the stress part, but they’ll offer the most growth I think.”

Jennings responded with a hungry look, “Nero, would you mind if I observed. I know it’s incredibly rude, but I promise not to interrupt or steal any of the director’s work. I just want to be in the room and observe the essence flows.”

Captain Angelton was lost, he asked, “What are you all talking about? Stars like in his identity?”

Nick just shook his head at Nero sharing his secrets without concern. Turning to the two men, he said, “Nero is letting me measure his growth while he uses his stars. He doesn’t seem to suffer soul-bloat like most people. Because of that, he tends to save his stars. With his ridiculous leveling speed, the origin of which is still a mystery, they have accumulated.”

Nero spoke up, “Yup. And I need to get to spending them. I think I got smarter last time, and I heal really fast now too. Everything is better with just one star. I’m looking forward to the increases. I read that ‘stat stress’ should be considered. Anyway, we’ll talk about it tomorrow. I need to head to sleep.”

Patting his satchel and making sure he had everything, Nero continued, “Nick, I’m sure you want to wait for Mrs. Salvatore, but I just need you to point me toward the teleporter thingy. I’m sure I can get directions on the way.”

Turning to Angelton and Jennings, he said, “It was nice hanging out with you guys. Cap, you got to show me how to do shields some time. And you Mr. Arch-mage will be showing me a lot of stuff. I’ll consider your continued instruction payment for attending my testing. Nick sets the rules, but I’ll allow you to be there in exchange for showing me stuff. Deal?”

Jennings nodded, and said, “That sounds fair. Do you have everything you need on you right now? Or do you have to return to the dining room?”

From the corner of his eye, Nero saw Nick and Angelton smile. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at Jennings and said, “Yes. I have everything on me. Why?”

Nick patted Nero on the shoulder and said with a smile, “Nero, he is an arch-mage. They live by different rules than the rest of us. Remember when you told me that you wanted to be an army destroying, reality-warping… whatever? Well, that would be an arch-mage. I’ll see you tomorrow at 7 in my lab. Sleep well.”

Both Nick and Angelton then took a step back. Before Nero could say anything in response, he saw Arch-mage Jennings wave his hand. Nero’s world turned white and gold, then he blinked and he was in his dorm room, stumbling as the disorientation hit.

Looking around, Nero realized that Jennings had forcibly teleported him directly into his dorm room. Taking a second to let the stunned look fade from his face, Nero tossed his satchel on his desk and kicked off his boots.

Figuring that the bastards were scrying him, he pointed both middle fingers in the air and said, “Thanks for the lift, but you guys are still dicks.”