Alex worked to figure out what he was looking at, he immediately noticed that it was just normal Body Guidance. Was that relevant? Would quantity beat out quality? Either way, this was a ridiculous benefit, an unlimited amount of something that most people would hardly ever receive.

No wonder it would be taken away if he didn’t manage to get an Epic Achievement at any tier. Why would the Trialbringer care to sign a blank check for any but the very best? If anything, Epic was generous. He should receive an Epic Achievement at Tier 2 just for forming a Mythic Mana Body. The Achievement would be Legendary at Tier 1.

Of course, Mana Body Achievements had time limiters. If you spent more than a year as an Aspirant you would find the Achievement decreased by one level when you got it. It was the reason why people didn’t spend a decade at the peak of Tier 0 working incrementally towards a Rare Mana Body. If you didn’t have the talent to do it quickly, hard work would struggle to catch up.

That wouldn’t matter when he was receiving constant Body Guidance. The amount of time you had increased at each tier, and the other boons he’d received would mean that he shouldn’t fall behind on mana control.

“Well?” Muhammad prodded, cutting off Alex’s racing thoughts.

“Huh?” Alex nearly jumped. He’d forgotten about the other people who were present for a second there, “Sorry, I just read it for the first time.”

“And?” Anthony prompted. The Imprinted seemed happy to take the back seat and just watch, but he supposed they were getting the information they wanted either way. Alex felt that it wasn’t particularly relevant to them, anyway.

“Body Guidance,” Alex replied, “I can receive Body Guidance at each tier until my Mana Body reaches Mythic quality.”

“Without limit?” Becca gawked at him, “You’re just guaranteed a Mythic Body at each tier?”

“Yep.” Alex forced a grin through the exhaustion and discomfort, “Looks like you guys are going to struggle to keep up.”

“Sure,” Becca replied, “But that doesn’t fit the pattern of the other rewards. It’s all once or twice and then it just immediately goes to unlimited?”

“Body Guidance focuses on improving what is already present,” Mr. Stirling spoke up from next to them, “Alex will still need to create his own Abilities and Enhancements, they’ll just all be improved to a ridiculous degree. Even that still requires work on his end. Body Guidance is incredibly useful, but he’ll still have to work hard and constantly improve if he wants to form a Mythic Mana Body.”

“I was able to reach that standard at Tier 1 and I am close again at Tier 3,” David added, “It gives several benefits.”

Alex felt that they were trying to rationalize the reward to themselves as much as everyone else. Body Guidance was almost as rare as a true Mana Baptism. He’d been handed the keys to his ascension. Forget dreaming about one day catching up to the city’s strongest at Tier 3, he would surpass them.

The nausea stuck around, despite his attempt to think positively about the situation.

“You’ll probably want to use your Skill Guidance to improve your mana control,” David mused, “As things stand, you aren’t capable of improving the aura I designed even if you’re shown a way to do it. The Trialbringer won’t correct your mistakes, so you’ll need to leave it alone for now.”

Alex’s eyes turned to his Abilities and Enhancements tabs at the mention of the aura. He’d known to expect the Enhancements tab, despite David’s status in the memory not showing it. The Abilities tab wasn’t a real surprise, but it was a rare sight on a Tier 0 status.

Abilities:

Aura of Desperate Inspiration: Inspiring others to save yourself.

An Aura Ability that forcefully ejects nearly all produced mana from the body. Improves the physical attributes of all surrounding allies. Improvement varies depending on how inspiring the Pathwalker is at any given moment.

Well, that explained why no one was commenting on the aura. He wasn’t very inspiring at the moment, it was all he could do to stand up and talk. The “Desperate” in the name also seemed completely antithetical to the mana type it was based on. David’s path was not one that involved acknowledging when he was in a desperate situation.

The ability would be incredibly weak for the amount of mana it was using, but it had been made inefficient on purpose. The goal was to use the mana, not to form it into something powerful. It meant that his aura wouldn’t be a cheat code ability that would win trials for him, he just hoped it would still prove useful at times. Hard Mode trials would be a challenge if he and his friends were all going in at level zero. Skill and coordination could only make up so much ground against attributes.

It could also be completely useless. The mana type it was designed around had leadership and concealing the truth as core tenets. Alex wasn’t particularly good at either, having little part in team strategy whenever their group went into illusory mock trials.

Hopefully, his swordsmanship was great enough. Seemed like a high bar, but Alex did like pushing himself.

The thought process was a reminder of how the vision had lured him in and then granted him unwanted insight. Alex held back a shudder as he moved on to his Enhancements. The others were still talking about his Achievement, but he didn’t pay too much attention. He just wanted to look over his status and rest.

Enhancements:

Attribute Boost: Sensitivity

Unlock Sensitivity at Level 1

Attribute Boost: Power

Unlock Power at Level 1

Attribute Boost: Durability

Unlock Durability at Level 1

Attribute Boost: Toughness

Unlock Toughness at Level 1

The attribute boosts were all quite straightforward. And completely useless. Alex’s Mana Body was not living up to the “Legendary” descriptor.

Inspired Heart: A heart that yearns for greatness.

Unattuned mana drawn into your Heart Rune will be better suited to Inspire Abilities and Enhancements.

Now this was useful. Alex’s soul produced Inspire mana thanks to his insight, but it didn’t only produce that type of mana. Because of how poorly suited he was to the mana type, most of his mana would remain unattuned. It would still be usable in his aura, but it would be significantly less powerful than pure Inspire mana could be.

Once he had opened apertures he would be able to alter them so that the mana which flowed out only matched a specific mana type, or even remained unattuned. Sadly, as an Aspirant he was stuck with a vague link across his body and soul which produced mana seemingly at random.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

With a Connection of one, this was very noticeable, as mana would tend to enter the physical plane in small amounts at a whim across the body. It was why all Tier 0 Heart Runes needed to draw in mana, there was no way to guarantee it would arrive where it was needed. The amount of mana was consistent, at least, but it was a reminder that Manaless beings weren’t designed for magic. It took a lot of hard work to make things function properly.

With Alex’s monstrous Connection, it was accurate to say that mana was pouring in across his entire body every second. A Tier 0 draw rune couldn’t draw in this much mana, but what was drawn in would empower his aura. It would be a marginal difference at first, but as his Capacity and skill rose he would be able to change things around to take full advantage of his Heart Rune.

Or, he could tear the ability out of his body piece by piece and come up with something that didn’t hurt to look at. It was good to have a clear goal in mind.

“Have you read the rest of your notifications yet?” Becca asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to indicate that she was talking to him. The Imprinted had explained that they’d been going over his new Prodigy status, and then explaining what that entailed to his friends. Alex had completely tuned all of that out, and he was startled a bit at her question.

He immediately felt a bit embarrassed at the overreaction, but answered anyway, “No, I went over my Abilities and Enhancements first.”

“Aren’t you curious about the Competition and the world upgrade?”

“World upgrade?” Alex asked, confused by the question. Didn’t it take two Unique Achievements to reach Tier 3?

He remembered the terseness of the Stirlings after he entered the path. That made much more sense now that he knew the world would be upgrading to Tier 3 soon, it had just slid right off his back in the middle of everything else.

“Your Realm Achievement was enough,” Muhammad replied.

“How long until the upgrade?”

“It’s happening tonight,” Becca answered, “Just read your notifications.”

Overwhelming Connection was gained as a result of a Mythic Achievement. Prodigy’s situation will be assessed to determine if further assistance is needed to allow Tier ascension.

Alex’s next notification was not at all what he expected to read, “It says that since my Connection is so high as a result of a Mythic Achievement the Trialbringer is going to assess if I need further assistance to tier up.”

David smiled and nodded, seeming unsurprised by the news, “Read me the notification.”

Alex was taken aback by the command but saw no reason to deny it. He read it off verbatim, hoping that David would explain.

Luckily, David obliged, “You saw it in the earlier notifications, but people who get Legendary and higher Achievements receive special treatment. We’re considered to have a real chance at reaching Tier 5, and creating gestalts is the primary purpose of the Trialbringer’s Path. If an obstacle arises that makes it impossible for us to progress, the rules get bent.”

“How so?” Becca asked.

“I don’t normally delve with a team, the Trialbringer adjusts trial difficulty so that I have a chance of clearing them as an individual.” David replied, looking over the shocked faces of Alex and his friends, “I’d prefer if you didn’t spread that around. Every time rewards like that get leaked we see a surge of deaths from talented combatants.”

“You aren’t worried the rest of us will try to get Legendary Achievements?” Jess asked.

“I imagine it’ll happen naturally if you’re tagging along with Alex,” David replied, “That’s how Alice got her Legendary Achievement, Hell Mode trials offer Legendary to teammates who contribute enough to the clear. If you all decide to attempt a Hell Mode trial, you have a chance at Legendary Achievements should you perform adequately.”

There were gleams in a few eyes at that, most notably Muhammad, “I strongly recommend you don’t attempt a Hell Mode trial,” Mr. Stirling added. He shot David with a withering glare that everyone noticed, “David only did it when he was at the peak of Tier 1 with two mana types supporting his power. Alice nearly died in the attempt.”

David shrugged the point off, “Very true. Only do it if you’re very confident and at the peak of your tier. As for Alex’s needs, I imagine you’ll receive a mana sink. It’s a piece of technology we’re close to figuring out, but it’s been a low priority. Either the Trialbringer will determine we’re close enough that you can just wait, or it’ll give you one and tell you to get a move on.”

Alex moved to his next notification, impatient to see if he would get something that would let him avoid having an Imprinted staring over his shoulder constantly.

Global Announcement: A Unique - Realm Achievement has been accomplished on Earth. Earth will be upgraded to Tier 3 at midnight as a worldwide reward for this Achievement.

Apparently, the assessment of his situation wasn’t instantaneous. Alex might’ve been surprised by this if he’d not heard about it ahead of time, but instead, it was just another thing to look at. Clearly, the Trialbringer gave a Realm Achievement the same weight as two Cluster Achievements. The Dean hadn’t mentioned the possibility earlier because it was so outlandish.

Global Announcement: A Unique - Realm Achievement has been accomplished on Earth. Earth has reentered the Competition.

The Competition tab has been added to your Status.

Alex was interested in looking at the Competition tab, but finding out about the resolution of the earlier assessment was more important. He quickly flipped to the next notification.

As a Prodigy, you are entered into The Race. The Race is a part of the competition that focuses on being the first individual in the Cluster to reach Tier 5. All who gain a Legendary or greater Achievement during the Arrival period are participants. The first five individuals to reach Tier 4 in the cluster are also participants if they were not already.

The winner of The Race will upgrade their planet to the next tier, no matter what tier their planet is at the time of their Achievement. Additional rewards vary depending on how far into the Arrival this is accomplished.

The Race tab has been added to your status under the Competition tab.

As a Prodigy, you will be entered into additional sub-competitions as they arise.

Wonderful. Alex was torn between being excited at the news that he was going to get even more opportunities to gain power and exhaustion at the influx of information. He’d never heard of The Race until it was mentioned earlier, but it seemed straightforward. Being a competitor planet meant that they would get access to plenty of opportunities that would increase their chances of elevating the planet.

Additional opportunities meant additional Achievements. Maybe Alex would manage to upgrade Earth again himself.

“Do you know anything about sub-competitions?” Alex asked David.

“They pop up now and again. I’ve never gone into one, since they pop up like trials. Too much of a risk.”

“It says I get entered into them as they arise.”

David hummed, “I’ve heard they give incredible rewards, but I’ve never been in a situation where I felt comfortable leaving the planet when one was offered. You aren’t an irreplaceable part of our city’s defense, so you should be able to join them.”

Alex decided that was another thing to worry about later, and moved to the next notification.

Situation assessment complete. Prodigy will begin to suffer from soul dysphoria within a month due to dissonance between mana type and soul. Expedited ascension is required to avoid partial discorporation from backlash.

Prodigy is unable to enter trials without supervision due to high Connection, expedited ascension is not possible without interference. Due to Competition status, interference must be limited.

A Mana sink has been issued with a fourteen-day lifespan to allow separation from high-tier guardians. Prodigy must reach Tier 1 in that timeframe.

14:00:00:00

Before his eyes, the timer started to tick down.

“I received the mana sink,” Alex muttered.

“There’s a catch?” Mrs. Stirling did not miss the tone of his voice. She retracted her Domain now that he no longer required her presence to siphon excess mana, and Alex let out a deep breath. He hadn’t even realized the pressure he was feeling from her presence. Not being able to control mana wasn’t new, but it had been an ugly feeling to finally have the ability and find all of his mana gone before he could use it.

The mana sink was a less brutal siphon. Where the Imprinted had simply taken any mana that didn’t immediately get pushed out by his aura to be safe, the mana sink appeared to know exactly how much his body could take. He was left with a not-insignificant amount, thanks to his seven Capacity.

Of course, that mana would then be vented by his aura, making the difference next to meaningless. Still, it felt far more natural than the previous arrangement. He would take what he could get at the moment.

“I have fourteen days to reach Tier 1,” Alex replied, “If I don’t manage that the sink will expire.”

“How are you supposed to level up enough in fourteen days?” Becca asked, “Tier 0 trials are common, but not that common.”

“Trials tend to be easy enough to find for the right people,” David mused, “But we’ll figure something out. Is that your last notification?”

Alex double-checked before nodding in response.

“It’s time you get some rest, then. You’ll have to move out for delving soon. Dylan?”

Mr. Stirling made eye contact with Alex, and Alex just nodded his agreement. He was asleep in seconds. Magic far outstripped any mundane sleeping aids.