“Yeah,” Muhammad replied, “I’ve managed to isolate the necessary traits for the attribute Enhancements and the sight Enhancement, but I can’t get the two adjustments to work together. The Mana Body I’m using for an example is an older one, so they didn’t use the attribute Enhancements.”

Alex nodded in response. He had copied a pre-built Mana Body design so all he’d needed to do was draw the design and detail the reason behind each choice to a sufficient standard. That was significantly easier than what Muhammad was trying to do, but improving your mana control was not a simple task. His friend was forced to design a Rare Mana Body that he would be able to create. “So you just need to figure out the runic layering so that you aren’t choking out any of your Enhancements. Let me take a look.”

Alex went over what he’d learned about Mana Body design over the years in his head. According to Instructor Martinez, Mana Body design at Tier 0 could be compared to writing sentences, for the most part. They were sentences made up of esoteric symbols with supernatural meaning, but that wasn’t that different from using fancy penmanship. You were also writing them by pushing around a mystical force with your mind instead of using the point of a pencil. Still, the similarities existed even if there were differences. Any Tier 0 runic array used in an Enhancement was a sentence written in runes that gave the mana sent to it a specific command.

Alex thought it was kind of a tortured metaphor.

The Heart Rune was where things got difficult, and the metaphor went through even greater agony. If runes were like words normally, the Heart Rune was one word that was supposed to convey multiple sentences worth of information. This was achieved by layering the runes on top of each other. It was similar to if you wrote a lowercase c, and then wrote a lowercase o over it. No reader will recognize the c as part of your word because it’s completely covered and no longer legible.

Instructor Martinez’s questionable metaphors aside, this meant that any Heart Rune would need to possess traits of each rune used in it. This didn’t sound too difficult, but each rune had specific defining traits that needed to be present. It would be like drawing an uppercase A over an uppercase H. You could pretty easily tell which two letters had been used. Sadly, if the defining trait of both letters was the bar in the middle, the design still wouldn't work.

Maybe the metaphor did have its strong points.

Muhammad was struggling with this problem, the defining traits of two of his chosen runes interfered with each other. At this point, he could find different runes, which would be difficult for a Tier 0 who didn’t have access to runes outside of the library. His other option was to displace the runes slightly, allowing both defining traits to be present. This displacement would disrupt the flow of mana coming out of the Heart Rune, but adjusting other arrays to account for that was fairly simple, in theory.

“I see the problem; your sight rune, and your Sensitivity rune overlap,” Alex stated as he looked over the blueprint. “Give me a second to see what I can figure out and then I’ll try to help.”

Any Heart Rune needed a method to draw mana from the rest of the body into it, which it would then use to power effects. These two runes, the absorber and the distributor were the basis of Heart Rune design. Any other effects you wanted to include in your Heart Rune would have to be layered on top of them.

For Alex’s Rare Mana Body, he would need to inscribe his absorption rune, his distribution rune, and then a different rune for each soul attribute so that they would unlock at level one. The problem with this design was that the attribute runes conflicted with the normal absorption and distribution runes that graduates used. To fix this, Alex needed to use different absorption and distribution runes that were significantly harder to inscribe. Alex, Anthony, and Becca were the only three students in their year who managed to receive the certification for this blueprint.

Muhammad’s planned design would stack seven runes, and the lesser attribute runes that would unlock his soul attributes at levels one, two, three, and four didn’t stack well with his sight Enhancement. This meant that he would likely need to displace the runes to make things work, but that wasn’t a matter of drawing out different ideas and then running with the one that worked. Muhammad needed to figure out the correct design and then write up an explanation for why that design worked. He had to earn it, according to Instructor Martinez.

Just saying “all of the defining traits are prominent” wouldn’t cut it for that, he’d need to describe each rune and explain why he had chosen the placement of each defining trait. For the sight enhancement, he’d need to show how the distributor would send mana through the enhancement heart to the linked conversion array in his eyes.

Instructor Martinez had told Muhammad that a design was possible, and Alex was pretty sure that Becca had figured it out, but Muhammad needed to find and explain the design himself. Truth-telling enchantments were truly the bane of students everywhere.

Of course, if Muhammad cheated, he could receive no Achievement at all if the Trialbringer determined he’d received too much-unearned assistance. Even worse, if he didn’t understand his blueprint well enough and screwed up his Enhancements, he could blind himself. If he did a particularly poor job he might even overload his eyes with mana and create an imbalance with explosive side effects. Creating an explosion inside of your eyes was not an element of a long, happy life, so no one could complain about the strict standards for emplacement rituals and mana disbursements.

Well, no one should complain at least.

While looking over Muhammad’s blueprint, Alex didn’t take long to find the issue. The Sensitivity and sight runes shared the defining trait of a blunted arrow that would direct the distribution of mana. With Sensitivity forming in the brain and his sight Enhancement’s conversion array located in the eyes, those arrows needed to be pointed in very similar directions. If he displaced either arrow enough to make them distinctly separate he would direct the flow of mana away from the head. With the mana being sent to the wrong location, the Mana Body obviously wouldn’t function.

Alex was surprised at how easy the solution was, no wonder Becca had snapped at him when he entered the soundproofed area. What he’d mistaken for passion was frustration as she tried to get Muhammad to find the answer on his own, without basically telling him outright and forcing him to return to the drawing board when Instructor Martinez found out. Becca was just a good friend, who didn’t let her frustration show and tried to help instead of berating Muhammad.

If Becca hadn’t managed to get Muhammad to see that he needed to place the Heart Rune in his neck, Alex didn’t know how to pull it off.

Most Aspirants defaulted to placing the Heart Rune either on the heart or in the stomach, as those locations were at the center of the body. Placing the Heart Rune on the heart was just too obvious, and the fact that it was normally correct made it easy to overlook the possibility of moving it around.

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For Muhammad, his problem was coming from both runes using an identical arrow to direct mana. If he separated them enough to make them distinct while the Heart Rune was over his heart, the mana would be sent to his shoulders. If he separated them enough while the Heart Rune was in his neck, the mana would still make its way up to his brain.

It was common for Tier 0 runes to use incredibly simple methods to direct mana-like arrows. This exact problem had even come up in class a few times, but most students simply opted for preexistent arrays like the attribute enhancements that the rest of the group planned to imprint. Muhammad was the only one who needed to worry about making a new design and had tried to resolve things the normal way instead of the easy way.

Muhammad still had a full week to figure it out, and Alex was confident he’d see the solution once he wasn’t so frustrated that he was only looking for the complex answers. Half of the books laid out on the table were about redirecting mana by placing runes in the body, but each rune required would sap some of the mana projected upon reflection. Muhammad would need to somehow gain a few points of Connection before he would have enough mana to power his enhancements if he used that fix.

“You figured it out,” Muhammad stated upon seeing Alex’s bemused expression. “Becca figured it out after a few minutes and you just needed a glance. How am I missing something that easy?”

What Alex wanted to tell him was that the problem was that he wasn’t looking for an easy answer, he was looking for a hard one. That felt like it would be safe, but if Instructor Martinez disagreed it would all fall apart, so he had to find something else. “Uhh, I think we should take a break. How long have you been staring at and thinking over these runes this morning?” The best way Alex could think of to fix this was to get Muhammad’s mind off the topic and come back with a fresh mindset later.

“Since I woke up five hours ago,” Muhammad snapped. Then, realizing his tone had crossed the line into rude territory, he took a deep breath and massaged his temples. “No, you’re right. I’m not even making progress right now. Maybe a break is what I need.”

“I agree, a break would be nice,” Jess stated.

Becca looked like she wanted to argue with this decision, but a look from Jess silenced her. Muhammad and Alex had a habit of avoiding work until the last minute, or trying to at least. Jess was Becca’s ally in the fight against their procrastination, and Jess taking the boys’ side was enough to convince Becca to stand down.

“I saw a kid swing at a red dummy today,” Alex said.

Jess and Muhammad both winced in sympathy, Becca had never gone through that training hall rite of passage, instead listening to their instructors' advice and skipping the experience. “I haven’t seen that in months, a new batch of kids got released for practicing on their own?” Muhammad asked.

“No idea, I didn’t ask him,” Alex replied, “just gave him the talk about being careful of the red dummies and practicing the way he fights.”

Becca gave him a suspicious look, “I get the feeling there’s more to this story.”

“Of course there is.” Muhammad snorted, “Alex always practices the fun stuff.”

Alex smiled, he was a little embarrassed over the story, but not enough to not tell his friends when the group could use something lighthearted. “I pulled off a full slashing spin that ended in a roll, among other acrobatics. Didn’t even notice the kid staring at me until I left.”

Muhammad burst out laughing, “You told the kid to drill his sword forms and then jumped around like a little kid on too much sugar? Imagine what he was thinking, man. Do you think he bought that those were your forms?”

“He’s a teenager, Muhammad, not a kid.” Jess said, “I doubt he’s that gullible.” Jess and Becca were also smiling at the story, but they were a bit more restrained. Potentially because some version of “Alex did something over the top,” was a common story for the group.

“Alex would’ve believed it, though.” Muhammad replied, “That’s what makes it so funny.”

Alex’s smile dimmed slightly, mainly because it was true. He didn’t argue the point as Jess and Becca started giggling. Sure, he’d had his head in the clouds a bit too much back then. He’d grown up and figured out his swordsmanship over the years.

“Instructor Mark wasn’t a big fan of how I handled the kobolds,” Alex said before detailing how he’d approached the fight and how he let the spearman get him into a dangerous spot more than once. The goal of practicing was to make sure students didn’t get into situations like that since fighting low-tier monsters close was a bad sign for how you’d handle the higher-tier ones.

Normally, Alex could dispatch monsters as dumb as kobolds easily, but he’d taken things a bit too casually.

“Serves you right.” Jess snorted, “Don’t pull crap like that while we’re out adventuring or I’ll just leave.”

It was a reasonable point, adventurers tended to die in large numbers. Combat trials were meant to be hard, and even well-trained Academy graduates made mistakes. Being sloppy out of arrogance was an easy way to get yourself killed, it risked your team just as much as yourself. Alex, Becca, Muhammad, Jess, and Anthony planned on forming a team and had a good composition for ascending the tiers. They were some of the Academy’s best students and had the city’s resources to give them a head start. That still wasn’t enough to guarantee success.

Jess’s statement was fair, but also harsh, and the good mood vanished just as quickly as it had come, “fair enough,” Alex replied, “I know it was a bad call. I’ve just gone through those simulations enough that they’ve gotten a bit boring. I’m looking forward to graduation.”

Jess sighed, “No, that’s reasonable. I know you and I don’t look at adventuring the same way. That was a bit rude of me.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Becca said, “Alex messed up in training and you told him to keep his head on straight when we head out for the real thing. That’s completely reasonable.”

Alex and Muhammad quickly agreed with the sentiment, but the mood was still doused. Muhammad looked back down at his books but jerked his head away before he could get drawn back into the frustration. “My mom managed to create a new enchantment yesterday. It’s a seven percent efficiency improvement on the current enchantments the city uses for lighting. She’s submitting it to the city council today.”

“Seven percent?” Jess asked, seizing the change of topic, “That’s incredible.”

“How did she make that great a breakthrough?” Becca asked.

Alex was also shocked by the number. New Chicago had existed for nearly 160 years, with the Trialbringer having arrived 80 years before that. Humans hadn’t come close to figuring out the full rules of the new world around them during that time, but they’d gotten very good at a few things. The enchantments that ran on the city’s mana to improve living conditions were among the most researched. A seven percent improvement to one of those enchantments was the type of breakthrough that you rarely saw.

“She thinks she can get it to work on unattuned mana eventually, but she already got a Rare Tier 2 achievement for it.” Muhammad was excited as he spoke, “If the city council approves the enchantment, she’ll take over the city’s lighting enchantments, which will give her a lot of mana to work with. She might even find a way to reach Tier 3!”

Alex wasn’t sure about reaching Tier 3, there were only seven Imprinted in the city for a reason. It sounded like Mrs. Ayad had figured out something important with her mana type if she’d managed to make such a significant improvement, though. All of the city’s main enchantments were run by individual Tier 2s who were able to use their attuned mana to create better enchantments than the competition.

It was a very big deal to get one of those spots.

“What changed from her last enchantments?” Becca asked, “If I recall correctly, she was a bit behind the current enchanter running the lights, so this is a really big leap.”

“Oh!” Muhammad grinned, “That’s actually really interesting, she shifted the position of the…” he trailed off, realization dawning on his face. Alex grinned at his friend.

“I have to put the Heart Rune in my neck, don’t I?”

“Oh thank god, I was worried I was going to spend the whole day waiting for you to get over the redirection runes,” Becca confirmed.