Becca’s stare was the most obvious of a few signs Alex had received the past few days that she wanted to talk. He still didn’t love the idea, but it was clear that he needed help to handle Inspire. Holding onto ego and trying to manage alone would be stupid, and it would also be suspicious. After a few days, she seemed to be approaching her limit with his avoidance.

Becca had known him for years. If anyone could notice when he wasn’t acting like himself thanks to magical influence, it was her.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Alex asked. While he was talking to Becca, they weren’t alone. Anthony had dragged his father along to help him with a problem with his Mana Body idea, but Jess, Muhammad, and Mrs. Stirling were still outside.

Becca frowned at him, “In late December?” The temperate domain surrounding the tower had insulated them just as effectively as the city itself. They’d never actually experienced an Illinois winter before, as they’d never left the city. Alex hadn’t considered the weather, but he wasn’t too worried.

“Could be fun,” he smiled, “it’s not like there’s a storm out there.”

Becca didn’t look convinced, “I guess.”

“Here,” Mrs. Stirling waved her hand, and two coats were created. She handed them over to the two of them, and smiled at them, “Don’t wander too far.”

The plains of Northwestern Illinois weren’t safe. This far from New Chicago it was possible to stumble upon monsters, and the planetary tier-up only made things worse. Aspirant trials overflowed every fourteen days, making it impossible to tame the countryside fully.

The presence of the Stirling Tower changed that. Any nearby monsters would be drawn in, and then vaporized with extreme prejudice. Alex had seen the spire atop the tower light up a few times while practicing his swordsmanship outside. The rainbow glow that surrounded the tower would briefly change to a pure red, funneling a large amount of mana to the top of the tower.

It was too fast to track, at least at Alex’s tier, but the firebolt was more than sufficient to keep the area surrounding the tower safe. They could venture out even further if they wanted, but their current distance was enough to talk without anyone listening.

“Couldn’t we have just talked next to the tower?” Becca’s complaint wasn’t accompanied by chattering teeth or other signs of how cold it was, but that was because she’d positioned Alex between her and the wind. Nearly half a kilometer away from the tower, the climate was completely natural. It wasn’t snowing, but the December weather was far worse than any winter they’d experienced in the city.

Alex had to admit that his idea of going on a walk wasn’t the best. The wind wasn't at the level of a storm, but it was enough to make sure they were uncomfortable. The temperate environment in the city hadn’t given them much experience with the cold.

“It’s nice that the trials aren’t this cold,” Alex noted. He was struggling to find the right words to start explaining his problem with Inspire. Becca was the person he was most comfortable confiding in, but was it fair to place that responsibility on her?

Becca pressed into his back as a particularly harsh gust flew by, “You avoided my question in the trial.”

“I learned some stuff during the Grand Guidance,” Alex replied to her prompting. It was a bit of a relief to have her push him, “Inspire is influencing me more subtly, beyond just the impulses. It’s messing with me, amplifying arrogance and stuff like that.”

He couldn’t see Becca’s expression but was worried when she didn’t immediately respond. The silence extended for a few seconds, and he was about to break it when she spoke, “Did the guidance help you resist?”

“Yeah,” Alex replied, “It’s easier now, which I think is why I’m talking about it instead of coming up with an excuse to train instead.

“Explain.”

Alex normally didn’t love being bossed around, but accepted her command, “Well, it’s like the compulsion preventing me from panicking. The mana is too subtle for me to notice what’s happening, but I can identify thoughts that aren’t quite right and ignore them.”

“So in the trial today, your arrogance was the mana type?” Becca sounded relieved, if anything.

“Yeah. I appreciate you and Jess pointing it out,” Alex said, “I might not have noticed if you didn’t.”

“Can you turn around?” Becca asked. She stopped walking as she spoke, “Talking to your back is awkward.”

Alex did so, immediately feeling relief from the biting wind thanks to his coat.

“So you can resist the influence?” Becca asked. Now that he was facing her, Alex could see the worry on her face much more clearly.

“Yes,” Alex responded decisively, “I’m confident as long as I notice when something’s wrong.”

Becca’s smile was more relieved than happy, “Well, we thought that it might be that. I was hoping that you were just taking some time to process things, but I guess I’m just glad that you can resist it.”

“We?”

Becca blushed a little, “Well, I was worried that you were avoiding me, and I asked Jess about it. She and Muhammad had also noticed, but they both said it had to be because of the emplacement, not anything I did.”

Alex felt like an asshole, “I’m sorry, it definitely wasn’t your fault. It just took me a few days to sort myself out enough to talk to you.”

Becca nodded, “Well, it was pretty obvious once I talked to the others. You’re not really the type to shut us out and try to figure everything out yourself. Even with your sword mana type plan, you talked to us about it even after we told you not to do it.”

Huh. Alex hadn’t noticed that, but she was right. He’d been isolating himself while searching for solutions, paranoid about nebulous consequences instead of doing whatever it took to stop Inspire’s influence. That wasn’t smart, but he hadn’t really paused to think it through when there had been so much drawing his attention.

If the Stirlings came up with a better plan to get rid of Inspire, why would he say no?

“You’re right,” Alex nodded, “Which is why I need you to help me notice stuff like that.”

Becca frowned at him, “Are you sure that you only want to tell me? I can’t really point it out if you want it to be a secret, and now that I know what’s happening for sure I don’t think I’m comfortable keeping it from the others anyway.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Alex immediately wanted to disagree, but he was on a roll when it came to disregarding Inspire’s whims. He discarded that impulse easily. She was right, and besides, hadn’t he just worried that it was unfair to tell only her? His hesitance to tell her felt increasingly artificial, as he thought back over his own actions.

Inspire’s influence was no joke, but neither was a Grand Guidance. He’d realized that keeping things to himself wasn’t a smart solution amid the Guidance, only to allow himself to be convinced it could wait afterward. Now, thinking over his actions again, it was easy enough to see how his thoughts had been altered.

It was incredible, how easy it was to spot when he had to justify any excuses out loud. Some platitude about doing it later or not wanting to hurt the mood wouldn’t be enough for Becca, so it shouldn’t be enough for him.

“You’re right,” Alex replied, “There’s another thing, but I’ll tell you with everyone else.”

Becca gave him a disgruntled look, “You’re going to leave me in suspense like that?”

“Would you rather I just didn’t tell you?” Alex replied, “I didn’t want to just surprise you with it after we came out here to talk.”

Becca frowned at him, and Alex relented easily. He felt bad about making her think that he was ignoring her because of something she did, so it was hard to say no, “Well, when I work with the impulses in trials, it lowers the timer on my mana sink.”

“Wh-”

“Not that severely,” Alex hastily continued before Becca could panic, “I’m only down around six hours, haven’t checked where I’m at after the last trial.”

“And you just didn’t mention it?” Becca asked, “Alex that could be a serious problem. What if you just lost a large amount of time all of a sudden? How much do you have left?”

Alex opened his status to check so he could answer the question.

Name: Alex Moore

Level: 3 (Tier 0)

Mana Body Quality: Legendary

Mana Type: Inspire (Rare)

Achievement: Tier 0 - Unique (Realm)

Attributes:

Strength: 12 - Power: 9

Agility: 12 - Speed: 9

Perception: 11 - Sensitivity: 9

Toughness: 11 - Durability: 9

Capacity: 18 - Connection: 74

Abilities:

Enhancements:

Notifications:

Mana Sink Duration: 10:23:48:16

“Looks like just under eleven days,” Alex replied, “I lost less time this last trial, actually. The Guidance must have helped.” He hadn’t managed to connect with the Ethereal Plane and manipulate his soul, but that didn’t mean the experience was worthless.

He didn’t understand exactly what could’ve changed, but having more time could only ever be a good thing.

The duo set out for the tower. Alex felt refreshed. It wasn’t like all of his problems had gone away, but the weight on his chest felt lighter for having talked to someone about them. Inspire had been leaving him isolated, making him think that he had to handle things alone.

It was an odd methodology for a mana type that placed so much importance on other people. Alex understood the mana’s goals far more than he had before, and that knowledge made things more confusing. Inspire was trying to make him a suitable host, which effectively meant making him more like David.

He’d always thought of David as New Chicago’s greatest hero, but there were other legends as well. He’d even met them. David’s greatest Achievements were both things he’d done alone, but Alex had never really considered the man a loner. He’d always had Plato around if nothing else.

Was even that friendship a part of the lie? Alex almost felt bad for the man if he was constantly isolated in the way that the mana had pushed Alex to be for just the past few days. Surrounded by people, but unwilling to ask any of them for help. David might not be as social as Alex, but it still sounded like a terrible way to live.

“I really am sorry about avoiding you,” Alex said, “I’d say it was the mana type, but it feels hollow. I could’ve overcome the compulsion if I tried hard enough.”

“Are you sure you aren’t underselling it?” Becca asked, “Your ability to panic has been blocked this entire time.”

“Well,” Alex replied, “I’m not really trying to break that compulsion. I should’ve been trying harder to talk to you and the others.”

Becca nodded. She didn’t complain about him letting his ability to panic be shut off, which surprised Alex a bit. She took a few seconds before she responded, “I’m worried about how you’ll handle it after the mana type goes away.”

“We’ll figure that out when we get there,” Alex replied. That, at least, was a strategy of the past few days he was willing to stick to. Not everything could be put off for later, but that didn’t mean he needed to start borrowing problems from the future. Worrying wasn’t normally his style, it was time to get back to that.

When they got back to the tower, it was surprisingly easy to bring everyone together. Muhammad and Jess had clearly been waiting for them, just doing some light sparring outside the tower. When Alex said he wanted to explain a problem he was having with Inspire, they both immediately dropped what they were doing to come along.

“Would you like tea, dears?” Mrs. Stirling’s voice came from the walls as they entered the building.

“Sure,” Alex replied. He’d never been a big tea drinker in the past, but it was already growing on him as a relaxing ritual. Sharing a cup of tea in the Stirling’s living room seemed like the perfect environment for the conversation they were about to have.

Anthony made his way down the stairs to join them a minute later, joined by his father. To Alex’s surprise, he didn’t seem annoyed by the interruption.

“So what do you want to talk about?” Muhammad asked while they were in the dining room. Tea wasn’t quite ready, so they hadn’t made their way up to the living room yet.

“Before you answer that question, Alex,” Mr. Stirling interrupted, “Are you comfortable having my wife and I here for what you’re about to talk about? I’m confident that your friends will convince you to tell us if we need to know, and I don’t want to force you to share anything you consider private with us.”

Alex thought about it for a second before shrugging. Even though he didn’t consider it a great danger at this point, the timer problem would need to be relayed to the Stirlings. Becca’s reaction hadn’t been exaggerated, it was a potential danger. Their guardians needed to know about it to best protect them.

“It’s fine,” Alex replied, “Talking to Becca helped me realize that telling everyone isn’t as big a deal as it felt like in my head. You all should know.”

That earned him an approving nod from the man, “Good. I’m glad that you took action so soon after our conversation, I was worried we might have to repeat it in a few days.”

Tea was ready at that point, Mrs. Stirling was capable of expediting the steeping if she wanted. The group made their way to the living room, where Alex explained his problem with the more subtle influences and the risk with the timer.

“I think the timer is more precise than we expected,” Alex stated, “It might be a countdown to when my soul is no longer holding out against Inspire.”

“Isn’t it odd that it was exactly two weeks, then?” Muhammad asked.

“Not necessarily,” Mrs. Stirling answered, “Multiples of seven are all magically powerful numbers, and most magical events are measured in weeks. Tier 3 trial overflow is 364 days, instead of 365, for instance.”

“Are you worried about the amount of time you lose increasing?” Jess asked.

Alex was surprised that hadn’t been the first question, but he had done his best to downplay it. He truly wasn’t worried. Just practicing the meditation to connect with his ethereal side seemed to help.

“While I did the Grand Mana Guidance, I also used Skill Guidance on my soul resistance,” Alex explained, “I was able to get a head start on experiencing the Ethereal Plane thanks to the combination, and that seems to have already helped.”

“It will be a massive boon if you manage it,” Mr. Stirling nodded, “It’s impossible with less than fifty Connection but you’re past that point. The threat your soul is under will help as well, even the best normally take either several Guidances or years of practice to manage it.”

Alex was a bit surprised by how well everyone was handling his explanation. While Jess and Anthony both looked worried, like Becca, Muhammad just had a determined expression.

It was reassuring. His problems hadn’t gone away, yet, but they felt so much more manageable with his friends on board.