Greg spent what had to have been a full hour explaining what strategy was and why it was a good idea to use it to the ferals before he was able to get them to agree to think of anything beyond ‘hit it till it dies’ level shit. Admittedly some of their power sets didn't lend themselves to much else, but for Gregory and Bianca in particular, they could do a lot more to support the group. Gregory could push and pull the others out of danger, while everyone could duck in and out of Bianca’s subspace to avoid attacks and reposition as long as she was there to open portals for them. Eventually he managed to get them to settle on making Brutus the main damage dealer, while Henrietta and Gigi distracted and otherwise hindered the enemy, since they were facing a challenge similar to the one he'd taken with the squad earlier. Gregory would focus on keeping Henrietta safe, Bianca would team up with Gigi to enhance her mobility, and Greg would use Meredith's form to heal Brutus, keeping him in the fight as long as possible.

The end result was… decent? Eventually they lost, obviously, but they ended up lasting a good bit longer than Greg had thought they would with an entirely novel approach, as despite their initial resistance, once they got into the fight, the ferals dedicated themselves to their roles, Gregory keeping Henrietta mobile as she sent stunning blasts of electricity into the creature, Bianca sending Gigi all over the battlefield to dart in and jab at any weak point the creature showed, while Brutus just beat on the thing and Greg took more of a back seat role, focusing on healing and using his smoke to alter the battlefield, only occasionally throwing in a telekinetic attack if he saw a good opening. It was honestly kind of weird for him to not be the most physically powerful person on the battlefield. Brutus was a freaking beast and Henrietta and Gregory were both at least as strong as his scorpocroc form, so there was no need for him to put himself on the front lines, which was… interesting. It definitely gave him a new perspective on how he could make use of his abilities.

After a brief discussion on how the challenge had gone and what they might be able to do better in the future, Bianca stored Greg's body in her subspace and he moved his focus back to the squad’s base, spending the rest of the night putting the finishing touches on the underground section and starting on the alternate escape routes before getting some sleep. Then, after a brief period of catching up with Tessa, the two of them made their way to the training complex together, since she and Lapodala had talked and agreed on having their training at the same time as Greg's. Which, of course, meant that for the first time Greg was comfortably early to his lesson with the Archmage.

The Archmage raised an eyebrow as she appeared in the room to find Greg getting some practice in with his force spell. “I see you took my advice.”

Greg blinked. “Advice?”

“To give yourself a task to complete before our lesson?” The Archmage elaborated.

“Oh… no, I talked to my girlfriend about doing her training at the same time, and she's a lot better at keeping track of time than I am.” Greg explained.

The Archmage cocked her head. “If that works best for you, then I suppose I won't argue. In any case, did you remember to hit your mana limit?”

Greg nodded. “Yeah, it was rough.”

“Rough?” The Archmage asked curiously.

Greg grimaced slightly. “Strengthening my mana pool is… difficult, for me. I did it three times and I just-” Greg cut off with a shudder.

“Three times?” The Archmage frowned, knowing he didn't focus solely on strengthening his mana pool. “How- what is your mana limit?”

“Six and a half? Maybe a little over? I don't know, figuring out how much of a mana pill you used is hard.” Greg replied with a shrug.

The Archmage's eyes widened. “Your mana limit is six and a half?!?”

Greg paused. “Yes? Is that weird?”

“Is that- of course it's weird! The largest initial mana limit I've ever even heard of was three! Six and half is- is- do you even understand what this means?!?” The Archmage exclaimed, looking shaken for the first time since Greg had met her.

“I- no?” Greg answered tentatively.

The Archmage took a deep breath to calm herself. “Right, of course you wouldn't. Allow me to explain. A mage's mana limit can always be grown, but the rate at which it grows is determined by their initial mana limit. In general, a mage can expect to double their mana limit within a year, but it would take ten more years to double it again, and a hundred years further to double it once more, and so on. Having a mana limit above two is enough to receive a scholarship to almost any university, and those with mana limits close to three are fought over! If anyone ever heard of your mana limit… deans from across the galaxy would personally hunt you down and offer you their entire female lineage to get a hold of you!”

Greg looked pale. “I-I'm going to have to use thirteen mana pills a day?!?”

The Archmage scowled at him. “I believe you are focusing on the wrong thing. Your starting point is more than what our most gifted mages would reach in a year. The average mage could take decades to reach your initial mana limit!”

“Which means I can grow stronger faster than anyone else, I get it, but… I can't, and I mean I can't do any more mana pool strengthening.” Greg shuddered. “I can make constructs all day, but strengthening my mana pool even three times drove me to my limit. I was in tears! Keeping my focus up for that long is just- I just can't.” He deflated slightly, starting to feel pathetic again. Here he was with gifts other people couldn't even dream of having, and all he could think about was the fact that focusing was hard.

The Archmage paused, noticing his obvious distress. “Hm, yes, I suppose that would be an issue. Normally by the time anyone reaches the level you have, they would have invested in enhancing their mind and creating multiple constructs to ease the burden of the investment process. For example, my personal investment can take up to four hours, but by switching between my various mental constructs, no part of me has to spend more than an hour focusing on it, and I could comfortably reduce that to half an hour if I liked. It is rare for an individual to be able to focus on such a single minded task for a significant length of time, and I never expected that you would be in a position that required so much of you.”

Greg blinked. “I mean… My mana limit is pretty ridiculous, apparently. I can't really blame you for not expecting it.”

The Archmage smiled slightly. “I appreciate your forbearance, but in any regard I have failed to adequately equip you for the difficulties you are facing, and that must be corrected. First, you claim you have little difficulty with constructs?”

Greg nodded. “Yeah, they're actually kind of fun. Like a puzzle or something, you know?”

“I suppose I could see that…” The Archmage muttered. “In that case, there are two ways we could handle this issue. Since you have a… surplus of mana to work with, I will only require you to spend two mana pills on strengthening your mana pool for now, while you dedicate the rest to creating constructs. I would also suggest a minimum of two go to your mental clone, as that will eventually solve your mana investment issues itself, but for the remaining two and a half mana pills, we can either double down on your mental clone, which is in my opinion the best long-term solution, or you can work to create a second construct that will surround your mana pool, so that all you will have to do is feed mana into it and it will strengthen your mana pool for you. The problem with this is that the construct would only be as efficient as you were when you first constructed it, which would force you to regularly dedicate mana to improving it, which is only feasible due to your, as you say, ridiculous mana limit, but given the level of distress you appear to have towards the subject, it is worth considering for your own mental health.”

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Greg hesitated for a moment. “I- think I can handle just doing two, so I think I'll focus on my mental construct for now. Though… I wouldn't mind learning about the mana strengthening construct, just in case?”

The Archmage nodded. “Of course. You'll need to learn this eventually anyway, in order to create your spells.”

Greg blinked. “I will?”

“Yes. The final step of a spell, once you have gotten the intent to a level you are satisfied with, is to create a mana construct infused with that intent, so that you can simply pass your mana through it to cast the spell.” The Archmage explained. “This way you can create increasingly complex effects step by step, instead of trying to create it all at once. But we will explore that once you've finished your primary conversion spells. Now, let us start with the basic structure of a mana construct.”

*

“And now I'm just going to focus on finishing my mental construct so I can split my mana investment between two minds.” Greg shrugged as he finished explaining his conversation with the Archmage to Tessa while they ate lunch.

Tessa just stared at him for a moment. “You realize you're the most ridiculous man to ever exist, right?”

“So far.” Greg retorted with a slight grin. “Aaand that we know of. Cause, you know, the universe is a big place and there could be who even knows how many people out there with abilities even more ridiculous than mine. Hell, there could be an entire intergalactic empire full of people like me out there!” His eyes widened and he gasped. “Maybe that's where I'm from! Some smoke alien from beyond the observable universe could have come to Earth hundreds of years ago and had a few kids, because smoke alien, leaving some latent DNA that activated when mana came!”

Tessa scowled. “I cannot even begin to express how much I hate the fact that that is possibly the most reasonable explanation I've heard for why you're capable of everything you are.”

Greg chuckled. “Of course, it still doesn't explain where the smoke alien came from.”

Tessa rolled her eyes. “If it's anything like you, it could have existed since the beginning of the universe.” She paused. “Huh…”

Greg cocked his head. “Huh?”

Tessa shook her head. “Sorry, it just kind of hit me that- you are, most likely, legitimately immortal. And I'm- not.”

Greg froze. “Oh. That.” He'd pretty much been avoiding thinking of the implications of his immortality for a while now. “I- guess it kinda sucks, but… there's not much we can do about it? I don't know, it feels more important to focus on the time we do have than to worry about the time we won't, particularly since I'm fairly certain mages live a lot longer than normal. Though I guess it could be an alien thing too… something to ask the Archmage, I guess.”

Tessa smiled, though her smile had a sad edge to it. “You're right, we should focus on the time we have. It's just… you do remember that you're terrible at being single, right?”

“What? I'm great at being single!” Greg protested.

Tessa gave him a flat look. “Greg, you could barely resist sleeping with Meredith.”

“Oh, yeah, huh.” Greg muttered, frowning slightly. “Would you count that as terrible at being single though?”

Tessa rolled her eyes. “Yes, because only single you would be tempted by her. As long as you have someone to be loyal to, you're good, but when you don't have anyone to be loyal to… I'm worried.”

Greg sighed. “That is unfortunately a very reasonable worry… I feel like I'd do better now? But that could just be because I can't imagine sleeping with anyone other than you at the moment.”

Tessa froze. “You- can't?”

Greg grinned at her. “Nope. There are some benefits to this all or nothing thing.”

Tessa flushed. “Oh. Um, but still, we- should probably talk about what you should do if- that ends.”

Greg sighed again. “I guess. But what even can I do? Because it isn't like I'm going to jump into a new relationship the moment you're gone. I'll be in like… mourning and shit. Probably wish I was dead for a bit, honestly…”

Tessa grimaced. “That's- you're right, that wouldn't work. I don't think I would want it to work. I just- ugh, I don't know. I- I don't even know if I want you to be just fine without me! I like being important to you… but I also don't want you to suck without me.”

Greg cocked his head. “If it helps, I'll only be shitty to myself? I'm pretty good at not letting my issues affect other people.”

Tessa scowled at him. “Why would that help?!? You're the person I actually care about shitty things happening to!”

Greg frowned. “Oh, right, duh.”

Tessa shook her head. “Maybe this was a dumb idea. Who knows how you'll change over the years? It's probably better to just not think about it.”

Greg considered it for a moment. “No… I think it's good to think about it, I just don't think it's a good idea to think we can solve it, because ultimately, if- when- if you go, it's going to be a shitty, shitty time, no matter what. But by thinking about it, we can at least prepare for the shittiness, you know? It's like the difference between having a dog randomly hit by a car, and watching an old dog slowly deteriorate over the course of a year. Yeah, it's going to suck when the old dog dies, but it isn't going to hit as hard as the dog that got hit by a car, because you were prepared for it. Or, probably a less insulting example, the difference between bracing and not bracing for a punch.”

Tessa snorted. “I was going to comment on the wisdom of comparing your girlfriend to a dog. Particularly given the life span comparisons you could draw as well…”

Greg grimaced. “Yeah, probably better to just not go there.”

Tessa nodded. “Agreed.”

“Anyway, how'd your first lesson with Lababa go?” Greg asked, changing the subject.

“Are you even trying at this point?” Tessa grumbled. “And it went pretty well, I think. We talked about which spells and enhancements I should focus on, and given the nature of my mana, she thought it would be best if I focused purely on strengthening my mana pool and learning spells for different physical enhancements, since the leap from changing my shape to changing my strength or speed or durability is fairly simple.”

“That sounds good…” Greg agreed. “Though I think there's something to be said for the permanence of an invested enhancement, you know? Like, with a spell, you have to choose between strength, durability, and speed, and maintaining it is going to drain you, while the investment is just there you know? Not that I don't trust Lama mama, it's just I think her focus is more on getting you to the point of increasing your maximum power, and I think survivability is an important factor to consider as well, you know, considering our previous conversation.”

Tessa smirked at him. “We actually did talk about that, and my shapeshifting already gives me more survivability than the majority of mages, particularly once I deepen my understanding of my own biology. The ability to fix my own organs will do more for me than years of physical enhancement. But it's sweet that you care.”

Greg coughed. “Ah, well, you know… I love you?”

Tessa smiled. “I love you too. Now, don't you have somewhere to be?”

“Oh, shit!” Greg jumped to his feet, rushing out, only to rush back a few seconds later to give Tessa a quick kiss. “Seriously, I love you.”

Tessa laughed. “I know. Now go!”