“Incredible work, Alex. I’m surprised you managed that on your first try,” Mrs. Stirling said, not showing any sympathy for Alex’s exhausted state. The praise was far more valuable than any pity, of course, but Alex would’ve appreciated being told he had earned a break after all of his hard work. Inscribing the start of his mana veins must have taken hours.

The reality, sadly, was incredibly disappointing, “The weave is fairly stable, but it’s likely going to drift an unacceptable amount overnight if you don’t increase the number of strands. You’ll need twenty, preferably thirty, to keep it in place permanently.”

Alex hadn’t noticed any movement, but an “unacceptable amount” was just a few millimeters at a few spots in the weave. If that shift would only happen overnight, then the change would be imperceptible to his attributes.

Alex wiped the sweat off his brow and looked around at the others in the room. He had blocked out their work, and he was unsurprised to see that Jess was focused on her work. On the other hand, Becca was focused on a book that the Stirlings must have provided.

“What are you reading, Becca?” Alex asked.

“Looking into creating a fire Ability,” Becca replied, not looking up.

That answer initially confused Alex. She didn’t have the Connection to power that Ability, as it would be incredibly inefficient. She didn’t bother explaining, so Alex thought over the situation a bit more.

“You’re considering removing your attribute Enhancements for mana storage?” He asked.

The human body naturally leaked a decent amount of the mana it created over time. This was very good for specifically Alex, as he had far too much mana, but most had the opposite problem. If you didn’t have a mana type, not only did you have less mana, it took more mana to power your Enhancements and Abilities.

Neophyte mages, especially those without mana types, frequently created extra storage to power their Abilities. This storage wasn’t a Capacity Enhancement, and it did nothing to improve that attribute. If Capacity Enhancements were possible, New Chicago had not yet found the secret to their creation.

Most people simply didn’t use their full Capacity, as some mana would leave their body naturally unless something was done to prevent its escape. Storage Enhancements would allow them to benefit from their Capacity by siphoning it into packets that would keep it available for later use.

Trying to seal off your body so that no mana would escape was a quick path to overburdening your Capacity and dying miserably, making this a far preferable method.

Becca just nodded in response to his question, making it clear that she was focused. Alex didn’t want to keep pushing if she was in the middle of something, so he gave up on his quest to avoid his own work. Becca hadn’t made the changes yet, his Sensitivity was high enough that he’d notice if she did.

It was probably something she’d discussed with Mrs. Stirling and would bring up over dinner.

After triggering another Body Guidance, Alex quickly discovered that the initial weave was the hardest part of creating his Enhancement. That structure was strong enough to help keep future strands in place, allowing him to scale back to controlling a more reasonable number.

He probably could have managed two or three despite his exhaustion, but he instead chose to stick to weaving one strand around the already present structure. Body Guidance reassured him that this was stable enough to work thanks to the runes that made the strands compress.

Just weaving one strand with the help of the already present structure made for a completely different task. Not only was it far easier, but the multi-hour journey up his chest and neck went much faster. After less than ten minutes he finished a seventh strand and was confident he could speed up even further as he grew used to the process.

The process was almost relaxing, especially compared to his previous efforts. Alex sat in a fairly relaxed lotus pose for two hours, completing fourteen more strands. At this point, he’d barely passed the minimum threshold that Mrs. Stirling had suggested, and dinner was approaching.

Only reaching a minimum threshold was effectively failing, in Alex’s mind, and he was feeling rejuvenated after a few hours of the easier work. It was still exacting, but the Body Guidance let his focus slack just a bit without worry.

For his final weave, he decided to add three additional strands. He’d come back for more after dinner, as anything less than the thirty that Mrs. Stirling had been confident would suffice was unacceptable, but he wanted to cap off the afternoon’s work right.

The three strands were a middle ground between the initial weave and the work he’d done after, but it was closer to the second. He needed to slow down to maintain his precise placement, but that didn’t make too big a difference.

It was a bit surprising how easily the three strands came together, his work had grown steadily easier as more strands were added. Alex ended up completing the task in barely twenty minutes.

With that work done, it was time to head down for dinner. Becca was waiting for him, but the others had already gone downstairs.

“Sorry for ignoring you, earlier,” Becca said.

“Are you?” Alex smiled, “I’m pretty sure I’d do the same thing if I had an interesting Ability to work on.”

Becca grimaced, and Alex realized that just accepting the apology might’ve been the wiser decision. Before she could reply, he did so, “Apology accepted, regardless. I wasn’t offended by you focusing on an interesting Ability.”

Becca smiled her agreement, “The others aren’t going to start dinner without us, but they went down to prepare the food since Mrs. Stirling could tell you were almost done.”

“Might as well join them, then,” Alex wasn’t sure why their interaction felt so stiff, this afternoon. Had he done something to annoy her? He’d been pretty focused on his Enhancements recently, and couldn’t really think of anything that might cause her to be upset with him.

The afternoon’s work had left him exhausted, and trying to figure out how he might have offended Becca sounded like it would be even more exhausting. Alex was really looking forward to dinner, and delaying it would be rude to everyone else.

Becca didn’t have anything else to say, so the two of them went downstairs together. Alex still felt that there was some awkward tension there, but decided to let it go. She’d talk to him if she needed to say something.

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The Stirling’s dinner time conservation restrictions remained suspended, as the couple wanted to make sure that no time was wasted as the group worked on their preparations.

Almost as soon as they sat down, Alex noticed the wide smile on Muhammad’s face. It wasn’t hard to figure out why the man was grinning, but he asked anyway, “Good day, Muhammad?”

“Got my Mana Body up to Rare,” the archer replied, “I can still make a few improvements to my Enhancements, but I’m almost ready to go.”

He’d been close already, Alex knew, but it was still good news. His friends weren’t attempting anything as ambitious as his Mana Veins, but that was for the best. He didn’t miss the fact that Jess wasn’t matching Muhammad’s excitement. She’d reach Rare in the next few days, thanks to her Skill Guidances, but it was probably weighing on her to be falling behind.

Of course, he couldn’t reassure her without also pointing out that she was falling behind, so it was best if he didn’t say anything about that.

“Great work!” Becca told Muhammad. The rest of them all quickly followed her example.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with that bow, now.” Muhammad grinned, “My Strength should allow me to make full use of it, finally.”

“Actually,” Becca said, “I had an idea I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Sure, what’s that?”

“Well, I was thinking about the limitations on items we’re allowed to bring into trials” Becca explained, “And I realized, just bringing in some highly flammable material shouldn’t be too much. Gasoline, or something like that.”

Muhammad nodded, “And you’re wondering if I could deliver a payload with my arrows?”

Becca’s idea to use a fire spell made much more sense after hearing this. Alex had worried that she wouldn’t be able to create much more than a small flame unless she was incredibly close to her target. If Muhammad could somehow land an arrow that brought a small vial of gasoline with it, she wouldn’t need much more than a spark.

Alex found it hard to believe this wouldn’t count against their contribution or at least their clear quality, why wouldn’t they have done this from the start?

“Is that really allowed?” Anthony asked.

“Preparing for trials is encouraged, but something like this would be only be allowed because Becca would be igniting the fuel with an Ability.” Mrs. Stirling answered, “If you tried to use matches, the Trialbringer would dock contribution.”

“And Becca didn’t have the soul attributes to land a spark from a distance,” Alex mused aloud. They likely could have had Anthony do this after he gained a mana type, but it would’ve distracted from his Legendary Achievement so he didn’t feel bad about the oversight. He’d never even considered playing around with the rules for items they could bring inside.

Becca nodded, “My current mana isn’t even enough to create sparks more than ten feet away, so I spent the afternoon researching some mana storage runes. I think I can do it if you all agree it’s the right decision.”

“What would be the downsides?” Anthony asked.

“My Mana Body would have to be focused on mana storage and an Ability to conjure sparks,” Becca replied, “I’d have to sacrifice my physical boosts, so I might even be a liability in the fights leading up to the boss monster. Even then, it’s unlikely my Ability would win the fight instantly. Undead are easy to set on fire, but they can last a long time even while ablaze.”

Alex frowned, “And the boss would be coming after you with prejudice until it was dead if you managed to set it on fire.”

It would be like the ghoul that had gone after Anthony in a berserk frenzy, but the monster would be both significantly stronger and presumably on fire.

Using Muhammad as a delivery system would also limit the amount of fuel that Becca could ignite. An arrow wouldn’t fly well if they tried to send a large amount of fuel.

“Yes,” Becca agreed, “but I think it’s worth the risk.”

“Undead are notoriously weak to fire,” Muhammad mused, “But I think the plan needs work. What if we just work together to create fire arrows?”

Jess nodded, “You’d have to stay so far away from the boss just to be safe that you’d probably only get one chance to land your spell. Muhammad would be able to fire several fire arrows for the same cost because you wouldn’t suffer that distance penalty.”

“Makes the shot much more reliable, as well,” Muhammad added, “I don’t have a lot of experience shooting arrows with added weight. I could practice, but any shifts would throw off my shot.”

Becca frowned a bit at this, thinking through the feedback she’d received. Alex was unsurprised that no one had objected to her being hobbled for the normal fights. Hell Mode monsters would be a step up, but they weren’t as worried about that part. Becca’s prowess also wouldn’t be missed that much, compared to what the others could do in a melee.

“Why not just have Alex deliver the gasoline,” Anthony mused, ‘He’d be more accurate and he’s fast enough to get away.”

“It would let us bring more of it,” Alex agreed, “I can carry more than an arrow.”

“If you bring too much, you’ll lose credit,” Mrs. Stirling stated, “There’s a line where equipment and consumables to boost your Abilities become items you’ve brought to trivilialize the trial.”

That made a lot of sense, Alex had been a bit confused by the initial explanation because he’d known that guns and explosives had always been against the rules. From what he knew of Earth society before the Arrival, he wouldn’t be surprised if Mrs. Stirling had an exact allowed quantity for them. As soon as the news that any amount of exploitation was allowed got out, people would’ve pushed it to the limits.

The Academy taught students to clear trials under their own power, but they were teaching the skills needed for Aspirant and, to a lesser extent, Neophyte trials. Bringing in some fuel would be overkill for a Normal Mode Aspirant trial. Tier 0 monsters just didn’t justify the expense.

“Going with fire arrows might make the boss go after you, instead of me,” Becca told Muhammad when no one pushed back on the limits to their fuel.

“That’s a benefit, if anything,” Muhammad grinned, “I still have some attribute boosts and I can probably even fit some more Agility into my build.”

“Do we even need Becca to change her Mana Body, at that point?” Alex asked, “It’s not that hard to start a fire.”

“You’d be even more limited in what you can bring,” Mrs. Stirling answered, “Like I said, the item being used to boost an Ability gives you wiggle room.”

Alex nodded, “How limited? Are there any other things we should think about bringing to give an advantage?”

“Tier 0 trials would allow a few ounces if it was used in concert with an Ability.”

The conversation continued from there, but the decision was pretty clear. Fire arrows would be a big boost to their offensive power against the boss monster. With Alex drawing its attention from the start and working with Jess to defend Muhammad and Becca after they set it on fire, they had a good plan for handling a Hell Mode undead.

“This Ability will help cover your lack of damage,” Mrs. Stirling said after they all agreed, “One of my concerns was whether you would be able to hit hard enough against a Hell Mode undead. Alex getting into a test of endurance against a zombie would be a losing proposition.”

“I didn’t realize that was a concern,” Alex frowned, “I could’ve created something more aggressive instead of this reaction Enhancement.”

“I’m not sure you could have,” Mrs. Stirling disagreed, “That vein creation method is incredibly taxing, and you probably would’ve passed out if you had to keep focusing much longer.”

“It was something we were going to talk about this evening,” Mr. Stirling explained, “But Becca had already come to the same conclusion.”

Becca nodded, “If Hell Mode makes us fight an upgraded golem, we might not be able to kill it even with Inspire going at full power.”

Alex was confident that he could still go even further than he had in any of the Hard Mode trials, but being less reliant on Inspire was always a good thing.

Everyone had a few more things they wanted to finish that evening, so dinner wrapped up fairly quickly. Alex got back to improving his Mana Veins right away, going three at a time after his experience before dinner.

He was able to inscribe another thirty-six strands in a bit more than three hours before Mrs. Stirling told him that he needed to take a break, bringing his total up to sixty. Surprisingly, the veins were already solidifying, against Alex’s expectations that he would need nearly twice this number to counteract his aura.

The reason was clear as he opened his status screen again. The Enhancement had “Inspired” in the title, and it seemed that the boost from his distributor rune was finally coming in handy. It would help with his reaction time, but it also seemed to be empowering the runes that pulled his strands together.

Before his eyes, Alex watched as the veins slowly merged into one incredibly thin pathway up his back. It wasn’t immediate, but the vein would likely completely solidify into physical form overnight. His Body Guidance reaffirmed the assumption and the Enhancement had already jumped from a 0% increase to 2%.

That number would be higher by the time he woke up in the morning.