Alex woke up only partway through the car ride, while his friends were all still asleep. The Stirlings immediately noticed his wakefulness, but their conversation didn’t stop immediately. Mrs. Stirling was more than capable of obfuscating noise, so his inability to make out the topic wasn’t a surprise.
He was immediately struck by a sense of mild discomfort. It was far from unbearable, but it was constant. It was almost like having a weight on his chest, but the weight was on his soul instead. He immediately identified the source, his new mana type was spread across the exterior of his soul. He could feel it, not quite a part of his soul.
He could also feel that it wanted to be part of his soul. It was pushing, desperate for entry which he instinctively denied.
It was a bizarre feeling, and his memories of mana types from the jumbled visions told him that it shouldn’t be like this. Mana types were… not this. They were a part of your soul, not an external parasite.
The visions weren’t a particularly useful source of knowledge about mana, it seemed. His memories of them were fractured, where the advanced runes and ritual knowledge that had flitted through David’s head were beyond his understanding without years of study.
As far as he could tell, the Rare insight was acting as a filter, with mana gaining the type as it exited his soul near where the mana sat. It was almost too bad that only a portion of his soul was covered, as more aspected mana would mean more power for his aura.
As soon as he had the thought, he changed his mind. He didn’t want any more of his soul blanketed by the mana than needed to be. If it could just go away, that would be even better.
“Alex, dear, how are you feeling?” Mrs. Stirling asked him, she spoke quietly to avoid waking up his friends.
Alex was struck by what an odd situation he was in. Putting aside the Achievement and mana type for a second, he looked around. The group’s first trip out of the city was originally supposed to be their first adventure, going by foot to the same trial that they were currently driving to. It wouldn’t exactly be foraging out into the frontier, monster sweeps and high-tier adventurers kept the roads clear, but it would be a start.
Now, they were all stuck in the back of a van, with Anthony’s parents up front driving. Alex understood that the van was so that they could sleep, instead of needing to jump, but it was still a weird realization that their first adventure had turned into a quirky Stirlings and friends cross-country road trip.
He smiled at the funny thought and decided to downplay the pressure, “Not too bad, the mana sink and the aura make it so that I’m perfectly healthy despite the amount of mana entering my body.”
Mrs. Stirling didn’t buy it, and just raised an eyebrow at him, “It’s like a weight resting on my soul,” Alex summed up, “It wants in, but my soul instinctively rejected it because it’s too alien. Does that make sense?”
“What you’re describing is similar to a soul attack,” Mr. Stirling replied, “They’re rare, but not unheard of. Did the Trialbringer mention anything about soul dysphoria in your notifications?”
“Yeah, what is that?” Alex asked. He’d never heard the term before, although it was obviously terrible from the name.
“It’s an imbalance, where the soul no longer represents the self,” Mr. Stirling replied, “It happens when the form of your soul deviates.”
Alex frowned, even seventy-four Connection wasn’t enough for him to get a perfect image in his head of his presence in the Ethereal Plane, but the knowledge of himself was instinctual. His soul was a near-perfect duplicate of himself, lacking the Mana Body that now ran through him.
“Do you mean that, if the mana type gets into my soul, it’ll change what my soul looks like?” Alex asked, “Make my soul taller than my body, or something?”
“Not quite,” Mrs. Stirling replied, “Your soul and body don’t necessarily have to match. Soul dysphoria is caused when your soul no longer resembles your state of being. If you were untiered, this would probably just lead to an existential crisis and severe mental imbalances. Now that you’ve started to become a magical being, it can get rather gruesome.”
Alex nodded, “So if the mana gets into my soul, which the mana type is actively trying to do, it would cause partial discorporation?”
“That’s one possibility,” Mr. Stirling nodded, “I assume the Trialbringer phrased it that way?”
Alex read off the prompt in response, wanting to hear the man’s thoughts.
“Well, it’s not good news,” Mr. Stirling sighed, “You’ll notice that it didn’t give an exact time until the problems arise. I imagine that’s because it’s not definite. You’re expected to hold out for at least two weeks, but it’s a matter of will. You have to continue to resist.”
“How will reaching Tier 1 help?” Alex asked, “I thought the problem was my Capacity, it’s not like becoming a Neophyte will make my soul more powerful.”
“The Trialbringer claims that it’s a solution. So it’s a solution,” Mr. Stirling replied, “With what I’ve heard from David about his Candidate status, I wouldn’t be surprised if it just removes the mana type as a reward for beating the time limit it set.”
Alex nodded, moving on to the question that he was really focused on, “How is it considered my mana type if it’s on the outside of my soul?”
“I suspect it’s not completely outside of your soul,” Mrs. Stirling replied, “You were vague, but I assume that part of the vision resonated with you?”
Alex nodded again, that was exactly what happened, “So the insight that my soul accepted is acting like an anchor?” That felt right. Alex was already starting to get a hold of the instinctual sense provided by his Connection. It also explained why the mana wasn’t washed away in the Ethereal Plane.
The only reason he hadn’t gone through a False Enlightenment was David’s work, he realized. The man had somehow used the link to stabilize things like this, instead of forcing the full mana type into him. Was this why his insight was Rare, instead of Epic?
“That’s an accurate description,” Mrs. Stirling replied.
The conversation fell into a bit of a lull, where Alex wasn’t sure what to ask next. Soon, his thoughts turned to the good things he’d gotten out of this situation. His Achievements tab was loaded with rewards he could redeem.
Wanting to distract himself from the violating presence of Inspire, he opened the tab. With a 14-day timer ticking down in his status, he would have to plan out how to use these rewards quickly. No point in wasting any resource available to him.
The Skill Guidance was interesting. Before today, he’d planned on using the Minor Guidance on his swordsmanship and the standard Guidance on his mana control. David’s path of pure focus was interesting, but not for Alex. He wanted to be an incredible swordsman as well as a mage.
Now, neither skill seemed important compared to other options.
“Can Skill Guidance be used to improve my ability to resist compulsions?” Alex asked.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Before either Stirling answered, a Trialbringer prompt appeared in front of him.
Mental resistance and soul resistance are both valid skills that you can receive guidance for. It is recommended that you trigger the guidance while actively resisting a foreign influence for maximum effect.
Alex’s next question had barely formed in his head when the answer appeared.
Foreign insight is considered a dangerous foreign influence. Using Skill Guidance to improve your soul resistance while resisting foreign insight will maximize the potential gains.
Alex had meant to ask the Stirlings, but they’d waited to answer after seeing that he was reviewing prompts.
“The Trialbringer answered your question?” Mr. Stirling asked.
“Yeah,” Alex replied, “Apparently using skill guidance on my soul resistance will be very effective, right now.”
“I would normally advise that you use Skill Guidance on primary skills, instead of defenses that are only useful against the occasional enemy,” Mr. Stirling stated, “But in your current situation, I strongly recommend improving your soul resistance. It might even help you resist the parts of the mana type that don’t suit you for longer if you fail to reach Tier 1 fast enough.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Alex nodded.
“Prodigy status seems very useful, at least,” Mrs. Stirling smiled at him reassuringly, “Even David has only received direct answers a few times.”
Alex assumed that he’d received an answer for the same reason he’d received a mana sink. The question was directly relevant to his ability to rise through the tiers, so the Trialbringer took a personal interest. Most questions would not be so readily answered.
The next few tiers were all Mana Guidance, which wasn’t very helpful. The Minor Guidance from reaching Rare wouldn’t do much for a Rare mana type. The two Mana Guidances from his Epic Achievement were upgraded to Grand Mana Guidance, the highest version of the reward, from his Cluster Achievement. The problem was that forming another mana type would increase his Connection further, exacerbating his second biggest problem.
His Legendary and Planetary rewards didn’t stack, so he only received one Mana Baptism each tier. It was hard to get upset about that, though. A Greater Mana Baptism was the second best type of baptism and would offer him various benefits. Normally, the potential to gain or improve a mana type in the perfected version of a density surge would be the most attractive bonus. In Alex’s situation, the permanent attribute boosts were more enticing.
He’d have to use that soon.
Mythic and Realm were similar. A single instance of Body Guidance from Mythic would normally be a great reward. He’d heard from higher tiers that Body Guidance was the only reward that directly assisted you with forming apertures. Unlimited Body Guidance meant that in the future he could sprint to the peak of Tier 3. Where others had to struggle at level thresholds while they formed apertures, he would possess a ridiculous cheat code.
All in all, an incredible haul.
As he thought over his rewards, Alex immediately realized that he would be unable to use several of them at Tier 0. David had stated that he had no way of improving the aura Ability, and he didn’t doubt the man on this. His chances of reaching the level of mana control and knowledge it would take to create other Enhancements or Abilities that didn’t interfere with the aura were slim to none. This made Body Guidance useless for now.
He decided to review his initial thoughts about Mana Guidance. Maybe he could use it to improve his understanding of Inspire.
Mana Guidance may be used to increase understanding of an individual’s insight. High levels of the reward should not be used on foreign insight until your Soul Resistance is at a higher standard.
That was a bit foreboding. Did the Trialbringer think that gaining additional understanding of Inspire would make it harder for him to resist the insight? He immediately discarded the idea of using one of his Grand Mana Guidances out of curiosity.
Minor Mana Guidance, though, that shouldn’t cause any problems.
Do you wish to use your Minor Mana Guidance to better understand Inspire?
Yes/No
Alex quickly answered no. He wanted to think over things a bit more first. On the one hand, a better understanding might lower his ability to resist. On the other hand, a better understanding might enable him to resist the parts he didn’t like.
Do you wish to use your Minor Mana Guidance to better understand the nature of foreign insight?
Yes/No
The prompt surprised Alex and the Stirlings immediately noticed, “Did you receive another prompt?” Mrs. Stirling asked. He felt the presence of her domain, ready to intervene if his condition worsened out of nowhere. It was comforting instead of stifling, now that he had a better sense of mana.
“Yes,” Alex replied, “I was thinking about how to use my Minor Mana Guidance. The Trialbringer asked if I wanted to use it to better understand the nature of foreign insight.”
“Accept,” Mr. Stirling told him, “The Trialbringer is clearly on your side, here. There’s no reason to squander any assistance it might offer.”
Alex did so.
Immediately, his sense of the physical world faded slightly. It wasn’t quite the same as his experience with heightened Sensitivity, he was still aware of his surroundings. Instead, it felt like his focus on his soul was being significantly enhanced. After a few seconds of adjusting to the sensation, things shifted again, and it felt like he was on the outside of his soul. He stared at the patch of foreign insight, colored a dark orange, which covered his stomach.
This felt a bit extreme, for a minor reward, but he wasn’t going to complain.
He saw the insight which had been accepted by his soul as well. It was highlighted in a lighter orange, and he could see it spread through his soul. The need to be great had resonated heavily, and its presence was pervasive. His entire soul held that orange sheen.
As he stared at the two different forms of insight, he came to a realization about the early stages of the path. Or maybe the Trialbringer fed it to him with actions so subtle he had no way to notice.
Mana Bodies were your body adapting to your soul. Preparing for the great feats it was capable of. Enhancements and Abilities were like instructions for your mana to impact the physical world, as your body grew closer to harmony with the Ethereal Plane.
Mana types were similar but almost inverted. The soul was brought into greater contact with the physical, and it learned. Insight was gained into how the energy it possessed could be used to change the world. A mana type was another set of instructions, but one that existed in your soul.
Foreign insight could be considered a set of instructions inside of your soul that instructed you to do something against your nature. The conflict would tear you apart, as the massive amount of energy the soul could bring to bear was instructed to do one thing and attempted to do something else.
Gaining soul insight was not unlike physical learning. It was best done through lived experience. Failure, success, and emotion, all were key elements of insight. The vision he’d received from David had sidestepped the requirements, and he’d gained a lot of power from the pieces that resonated with him. The man’s experiences had been close enough to his own, or at least his dreams, that he had managed to gain insight through the vision.
His soul had instinctively acted as a sieve, only allowing the instructions that he wanted to follow inside. The rest of David’s mana hadn’t dissipated, instead, he had a massive cluster of high-tier mana pressing against his soul with a link to the inside.
As he came down from the experience, Alex realized that everyone else had woken up.
“What was it like?” Becca asked, an interested expression on her face.
Either that or she was just that interested in what Minor Mana Guidance had felt like. Alex appreciated her either way, he loved his friends but didn’t enjoy being the source of their worry.
“It was a bit odd,” Alex replied, “It was like I was outside of my soul, and got to look at what the insight looks like. It helped me come to a few realizations.”
“What about?” Becca prompted. Everyone else was also listening at this point, learning about magic was interesting enough to distract them just as much as it distracted him.
“Well, what insight is,” Alex sighed, “Insight is like any kind of learning, but it’s your soul doing it. Does that make sense? Higher Connection helps you gain insight because your soul is in greater contact with your body, and the experiences are less muddled.”
Becca wore a thoughtful expression, but Mrs. Stirling spoke up at this, “Alex has so much Connection that it’s like that. For most low tiers, it’s more a matter of getting a lucky break or using a reward well.”
Becca had distracted him, but as Mrs. Stirling became the target for his friends’ questions, Alex drifted into his thoughts a bit.
As he stared at the foreign insight, he was struck by the similarity to the insight his soul had accepted. There was more that could suit him, there, but he’d instinctively rejected a large portion of it. The insight that was inside his soul felt closer to an Uncommon mana type, he assumed that the Trialbringer had given him that information.
The pieces on the outside were enough to approach an Epic mana type. So much power left unused. Could he really let it go to waste?
The group got out of the van and began gearing up for the trial that they’d arrived at. No one prodded Alex to speak, but he wasn’t annoyed by how delicately they were treating him.
Alex Moore had some planning to do.