Owen had been surprised when he realized he wasn't dead. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he slowly was able to see lights in the distance. It didn't take long for them to be close enough that he realized he was looking at his core space. His constellation burned brightly and while he did have some experience to assimilate, there was not enough that he desperately needed to start cycling it.

He did his best to force himself to wake up, but nothing he did seemed to work. He thought back to the last several seconds he remembered and shuddered. The scythe had dug deep into his shoulder, but Quinn had tried to pull back, before realizing that the scythe was stuck. Owen had released all of the pent up energy then. Everything had flashed white, blinding him, but Owen remembered the feeling of the scythe being torn out of his shoulder and his arms being blasted away from his body.

He heard more than saw anything after the bright light and could hear Quinn screaming. Owen tried to console himself with that. Hopefully he had done enough damage that everyone else could make it out safely.

Collecting his thoughts, Owen was about to start absorbing the experience into his core, but he felt a faint shimmer of presence, as if someone was standing directly next to him in his core space. Owen almost jumped out of his skin as Xerxes appeared in place of the presence that he had felt. "Holy fuck, how are you here?" Owen shouted in surprise. Xerxes gave him a warm smile, but didn't say anything. His eyes shot back and forth for a second before he eventually spoke.

"You a have gotten stronger than I ever would have expected. Also, it is nice to see you again." Xerxes eyes softened, as he finally answered the original question Owen had asked. "You took a lot of damage in the moments before sponsors were able to recall those that they had sponsored for more training." Owen looked confused for a second before he seemed to realize something. "So, does that mean that I am currently sitting somewhere in the courtyard?" Owen asked. Part of him truly hoped he was, despite his worry for his friends. It hadn't been long since he had last been on Xerxes mountain top, but it had already felt like a lifetime.

Thinking about his friends, Xerxes seemed to register the shock building in Owen's eyes, before placing a calming hand on Owen's shoulder. "I managed to get away with calling you, your familiar, and Lucas. But before we get into anymore specifics, I will need you to eat this, it is a gift from the Polymath." Owen reached for the small pill that Xerxes was holding, but his hand passed right through both. Scowling Owen tried again, but his hand once more passed right through both Xerxes hand and the pill.

"How exactly am I supposed to eat this?" Owen asked. Xerxes smiled, "All you have to do is swallow. It is currently resting on the tip of your real body's tongue." Owen looked confused, but he did as asked anyways. He didn't notice anything, but Xerxes nodded. "Good, we will talk again once you have woken up." Owen tried asking more questions, especially about Myra and Peggy, but Xerxes faded out of his core space leaving him alone once again.

Since he was by himself now, he decided he needed to use some of the time to map out what his next moves would be. If Quinn had died, then all they would have to do is reinstate the cleaning crews nearby the guild's clinic building. Once that was done, it would only be a matter of time before it was time for them to begin rushing tier 3 gates. Though he would need to speak with everyone for a while about it first. Their current strategy didn't work, out of all of the gates, they had been consistently injured the most during them.

They either needed to train as a group, or go with a larger team, but having as tough a time leveling up as Owen was, it was only a matter of time, before the group size would make it almost impossible for him to level. If anything, Owen needed a way to consistently clear gates on his own, then take people with to help clear them. As he sat in thought, eventually a weird energy started to permeate his core space. It took him barely any time to recognize that it was the pill he had been given by Xerxes.

Focusing on the energy, Owen began cycling his core, he barely made any progress before it felt like his whole body was being shredded into pieces. Owen wanted to give in to the pain, but he had already noticed what was being fixed, so he pushed through. Down at the bottom of his constellation was where he had done a patched work job on his pathways using his own mana. He had been continuously surprised at how well it held up throughout the several fights he had been in since then. His mana hadn't been able to easily regenerate with the patchwork, but it had been enough.

This pill that he had been given broke apart the stitching, causing it to be reabsorbed into Owen's system, but he hadn't even noticed as he watched his constellation stretch and twist as new energy joined and helped to make the constellation once again whole. Pain wracked through Owen's body as it felt like his very soul was being attacked. But it eventually subsided. Exhaustion swept through him and he sat down while in his core space. He knew he would probably be sweating if he had had to do this in the real world, but he was glad he would hopefully never have to find out.

As the pill's energy began to wear out, Owen could feel himself growing stronger. His mana flow was nothing like it had been before. What had been a trickle had become a stream of energy. As he guided his mana through all of his pathways, the darkness of the void surrounding his constellation, began to brighten. He could see a faint outline of something that had looked similar to his constellation, but without the light and energy coursing through it.

Curious, he charged his mana and then collected his chaos energy into the other hand. He didn't use it, in case he had accidentally summoned his energy in the real world as well. As chaos energy collected from the void, the newly illuminated void space shone brightly as he could see the second constellation humming with power as chaos energy coursed through it at greater and greater speeds. He couldn't help grinning in surprised as he slowly let his energies release back into the constellations. While he wanted to experiment right now, he needed to wait until he fully woke up.

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Several hours passed as Owen spent the time infusing the stars of his constellation with as much mana as he could fit into them. By the time he had started to catch up with where he had been at before being infected with chaos, he could feel his core space growing dim. Focusing on keeping himself calm, he sat down and meditated. Less than a minute passed and he could feel a strong warmth beating down on him from above. Opening his eyes he smiled. He was sitting in a familiar courtyard, with the sun high in the sky.

Stretching, he looked at all of his previous injuries he smiled as his body felt like in was in peak condition instead. Doing a quick stretching routine, he felt himself limbering up, his body feeling like it hadn't been moved in weeks. Taking a quick glance around, he didn't see anyone nearby, so he decided to test out his newly repaired strength. Taking out his simple spear, he charged mana into the edge and smiled and the metal spear heard vibrated faster and faster as mana covered its every surface. Sections of the spear head began to grow a faint orange and he smiled as he let go of his control over the mana, letting it disperse in the breeze.

Waiting for a minute or so, he began to charge chaos into the spear, it experiencing a similar reaction as it began to vibrate with power. Next he tried to imbue his body with mana. He moved through several of the movement routines that Xerxes had had him do when he had first come here. As he slowly moved from one pose to the other, he began to pick up the pace while continually infusing more energy into first his legs and then the rest of his body. The movements became frantic as he moved faster, imbuing more mana into himself than ever before. When it felt like he had reached the crescendo, he sat down and focused on the movement of energies inside of his body.

He had been worried about trying to use something like relentless fury again, while he didn't have the skill, the patchwork he had created in his constellation would've caused him to lose too much mana for it to be worth the mana drain. During the fight with Quinn, he had had to resort to imbuing sections of his body in short bursts, rather than the continuous flow of energy he had been used to. Now that his constellation was healed, he began trying to regain the skill in earnest. Focusing on the flow of his mana, he slowly guided it throughout his entire body, despite it wanting to continue the frantic pace. Muscles flexed as his body was forced into a fight or flight response, but that was just the beginning.

His mana began to run rampant as his control slowly started to slip, but he pulled on his other energies to help keep the mana flowing as it was supposed to. HP and chaos spiraled around the mana crashing through his pathways, but he felt himself ready to burst with power. Opening his eyes, he felt like he could've beaten Quinn with a single punch. The whole world seemed to shimmer as he moved and after several seconds of meditating on what he wanted the skill to do, he got the system notification he had been waiting for.

*Congratulation, you are among the first ten people on your planet to create your own skill. You have gained the title, Amateur Skill Creator, this title grants +5 to perception and +5 to mana*

*You have created a skill, what would you like to name your skill?*

Owen was confused. So far, every skill he had ever gained had been named. Some even had people's names in the skills. Had he created his first skill that someone could now gain, that would have his name in it? He wasn't a big fan of the idea especially after reading the skill description.

*You have embraced the energies of the universe, fusing both chaos and mana into your body. While normally there would be those satisfied with this combination, you chose not to settle. Using your vitality to help bind the skill, you have created something that is truly your own. This skill allows the user to imbue their body with any energy they have on hand boosting all physical stats by 25%. When imbuing all energies, all stats increase by 80% for the duration of the skill.*

Owen spent some time thinking about a possible name for the skill. A couple names came to mind like Chaos Body or Chaotic Dance. Neither really sold him, so he looked at the description of the skill once more. Deciding he couldn't come up with anything better, he looked back at the prompt to name the skill. Entering in the name he picked, he just hoped there would be a chance to upgrade it in the future.

*You have named your created skill, Energetic Embrace*

"Congratulations are in order," Xerxes said, sending a shiver up Owen's spine. He had still been running his new skill, which meant his perception stat after all his bonuses was over 57, but he still hadn't heard when Xerxes had gotten close. Still happy to see his old master, Owen turned to him and pulled him into a hug. Xerxes seemed surprised for a second, but eventually returned the hug. Instead of making the attempt to look human, like he had when Owen was first training in Xerxes' realm, he kept his actual appearance on display.

Owen was even happier to realize that it wasn't as distracting as it had been when he was first here. The idea of a talking monkey was too reminiscent of several movies he had watched and so he had been unable to actually retain any of the words. Now he looked fondly at his master and without knowing the proper etiquette, he gave his master a small bow.

"No need for that, we are technically disciples of the same teacher now, are we not. You have also met the Polymath." Xerxes didn't say it as a question, btu Owen nodded all the same. "She no longer has the chance to tell you now, as she has received a lot of backlash surrounding her interference in the mortal world, but she left several messages with me to relay to you." Owen couldn't help but be excited as he listened. "You were asleep for 3 days, which means we have a little less than a month to train you in everything that I have planned. I also have some gates that you are going to clear by yourself. One of the main goals we will have during this training period is getting you to level 40 at a minimum and getting you your second class." Xerxes said as he started walking towards the center of the courtyard.

"Lucas and your familiar have their own training regimen together and will be busy for most of your time here, but we will still convene in the courtyard every morning. Also before you ask, your friend Myra is currently with her sponsor and her sister Peggy has been picked up by another sponsor, so both are doing okay." Xerxes said as they made it to the center of the courtyard. Owen felt the mana coursing through their surroundings at a rapid pace and what looked like constellations began forming in the sky around the courtyard.

A small menu popped up in front of Owen and he read it carefully.

*Would you like to attempt training gauntlet 1? Y/N?*

"Select yes, this is a device used that can be purchased from the guild store for several hundred thousand credits. It helps with the creation of your second class." Xerxes said. Owen still wasn't quite 100% sure he knew what the difference between your class and secondary class was, but nonetheless he selected yes and prepared himself for a fight.

*Temporary level restriction

Temporary stat restriction

First enemy spawning.*