“The stomach pain is back,” Alex said. His voice wasn’t labored, even with the pain growing worse it was far from approaching the limits of his tolerance.

Anthony reacted nearly immediately, moving at speeds that would not have been possible even a few days earlier to see if he could catch the problem before it vanished again. Alex reflected a bit on how outsized the reaction felt compared to the minor pang that was already fading.

“So weird,” Anthony muttered.

Alex had been in several scenarios ranging from unpleasant to moderately injured during his time as a Tier 0 Pathwalker. So far, he’d somehow avoided any serious injuries despite the high level of difficulty in the trials they’d delved into. Even in the Hell Mode trial, he’d gotten off pretty lightly.

Maybe it was because of that ease, or maybe it was just some ingrained response, but having his healer say those words with a confused expression was perhaps the most endangered he’d felt since their first delve.

The feeling fled pretty quickly, as Alex realized that if he was truly in peril Anthony would’ve reacted more strongly. His breath resumed after barely a second, so quick that it would’ve been impossible to notice him momentarily freezing up.

Immediately, Alex had to wonder at the disproportionate response. The pain wasn’t particularly bad, but the way that it had worsened after his tier-up set him on edge. That combined with Anthony remaining confused even when he could see it had triggered something.

Self-recrimination for the second overreaction in such a quick span of time would have to wait, since Anthony began to talk, “I can’t tell what caused it, but part of your stomach lining was decayed. It’s like something burnt through a small part, only for your natural healing to rapidly fix it.”

“I shouldn’t heal that quickly,” Alex pointed out. Earlier, when it had been closer to a pinprick than any real area, he could explain it away as just being that minor an injury. When Anthony hadn’t said anything about it, he’d stuck to that explanation.

Now, it was a bit too much to believe.

“Well,” Anthony replied, “You obviously are healing that quickly.”

The healer was right. Alex’s attributes were too low to explain the anomaly, so it had to be caused by something else.

“It’s probably Refine,” Alex reasoned aloud, “Self-healing should be at least tangentially related to the mana type.”

“That’s my assumption as well,” Anthony nodded, “Have you noticed any irregularities with your mana during the stomach pains?”

“My mana congregates toward the pain,” Alex replied, “But that’s just because of my focus narrowing down to the spot… but it would also explain the expedited healing.” He realized the second part as he was talking.

“You subconsciously direct your mana, and Refine reacts to the imperfection of a wound,” Anthony said, “It’s convenient, but can’t be efficient.”

“Not something I have to worry about, at the moment,” Alex smiled, “It’s not like I’m using all this mana.”

“Still, an Enhancement that aids your healing should be a priority,” Jess stated, “Do you remember the standard design?”

The Enhancement Jess referred to was famously mandatory among Defense Forces Neophytes who didn’t possess a mana type. It wasn’t easy to create, being a full body Enhancement, but the benefits were great enough that no one would argue the requirement. Who would turn down a significant increase in their natural healing speed? Even without a mana type, it could turn debilitating wounds that might ruin a delve into nothing more than a delay.

The reason it was only mandatory for those without mana types was that many mana types didn’t mesh well with such a generalized design. Those with mana types would normally work out their own version unless it was completely incompatible.

The Enhancement didn't seem like an immediate goal for Alex, Anthony’s healing made it less pressing than it would be without a healer in the team. Magnifying his natural regeneration would definitely be important, especially because it seemed to align with his mana type but it wasn’t as pressing as powerups that would help him not get injured.

What pushed this Enhancement from a good idea to a must-have was its second effect. It was more of a happy side effect than an intended part of the Enhancement, but for anyone with a healer in their party, it was likely the more important boon. Healing Abilities would grow more effective when used on anyone with the Enhancement.

When it came to potentially lethal injuries, this could allow a healer to mend an injury that might otherwise have killed the patient. Typically, it meant that the healer didn’t have to spend as much mana on healing. Conserving your healer’s mana was always a good thing.

It was obvious why Jess would bring up such a good Enhancement. The potential synergy with his mana type took it from something he would definitely add to his Body to one of the first Enhancements he’d create.

“I don’t remember the design,” Alex admitted, “It’s been a few months since I’ve looked at the mandatory Enhancements.” Their team had planned to become Adventurers, so mandatory was a misnomer. Alex would pick up most of them anyway, but he hadn’t seen the need to know them ahead of time.

Jess nodded, “I figured it was unlikely. The Enhancement would be a good safety net in case the stomach injuries continue to get worse.”

Alex winced. He’d been avoiding that thought, “If that happens, we’ll figure something out,” he stated, “Even in a worst-case scenario, Anthony should be able to heal whatever is happening to me.”

Anthony smiled, “That’s what I’m here for.”

They traded a few more comments, but none of them were willing to stress about it when they had so little control of the situation. Soon, Jess and Anthony returned to work and Alex’s sentry duty resumed.

The monsters were not coming.

“I think now that we’re all Neophytes, even the Neophyte monsters aren’t affected by the compulsion,” Alex commented as the group ate dinner.

“Could be,” Jess replied, “I don’t know how actual power level factors in compared to the level in your status.”

They both looked to Anthony, who shrugged, “It matters, but I’ve never heard of a formula or anything like that. We might just be getting lucky.”

Alex sighed, knowing that the healer was right. It would be foolish to think that they were strong enough to avoid any more monster attacks. Even Anthony’s parents kept defenses in places while outside of civilization.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Still, staring at the fields for hours was getting old. Like, really old.

“I’d like to swap with one of you tomorrow, then,” Alex stated, “Need to be more active.”

“That’s fine,” Jess agreed, “I can take the sentry position, I was surprised you didn’t ask to swap during the day.”

“Well, the whole point was that I have a better grasp on my Perception,” Alex frowned.

“We could’ve still swapped out,” Jess replied, “You lose your edge after spending too much time on guard.”

“Then why didn’t we?” Alex asked.

“You never asked,” Jess answered, “I figured you’d speak up when you wanted to rotate.”

Alex didn’t have a good answer, so he just shrugged and worked on finishing off his food.

Without any good wood to start a fire, they had resorted to more of their packed rations. Once they had a fire, they would probably eat a few of the snakes they’d killed, although the powerful monster from earlier would not make it to the menu.

It wasn’t Attuned, but that didn’t make the thought of eating something with a poison-related mana type any more appealing.

Luckily, Mrs. Stirling had provided them with water bottles that she’d personally enchanted. Not needing to worry about a water source was a huge relief and the main reason they’d been able to explore so freely.

After dinner, Alex pulled out another one of the apertures. Anthony would be acting sentry while Jess worked on a Mana Body upgrade. Alex probably should do the same, but his work with the apertures had a draw that he couldn’t deny. He was so certain that it was possible, he wanted to push the limits of what he could accomplish with his mana type.

Before getting to work, he took some more time to examine the apertures. He hadn’t seen anything special before, but his stats had gone through another significant increase today. Maybe he’d find something new.

This aperture was one of the less impressive they’d found. The four spheres were clearly imbalanced, making the whole thing look more like one lumpy sphere than anything approaching the artistic merger of the better versions.

It was fascinating how every single one of the unattuned apertures matched this same design. There had to be a deeper reason, beyond the convenience of the design. Alex would never discover that reason, but it was still an interesting thought exercise.

One that he had to push from his mind as he continued to look over the aperture. The construct was completely opaque, with a completely white coloration that he knew remained present beneath the surface thanks to his previous failed attempts.

White was an interesting color for an aperture, now that Alex thought about it, since white technically wasn’t a color. The mundane importance of that technicality meant very little to Alex, but it also held some relevance to magic. Sensitivity perceived mana using the same colors he was used to, and white’s “technically not a color” status was even more prevalent there.

Alex was yet to come across truly white mana in the wild. There had been plenty of pale shades, but these apertures were likely the whitest mana he’d come across. He hadn’t noticed the oddity at first because these were clearly physical objects, but they were made of mana. It was odd that they looked so different from any mana he’d encountered.

Was that just his own lack of experience? Was there a deeper reason for the aperture’s appearance, that came from it’s design? He wasn’t sure which option he’d prefer. The second was a bit more likely, but it also implied that there was more to these apertures he hadn’t found yet. Something he might not be able to discover without more context.

Alex puzzled over this new realization for a few minutes, trying to decide what could explain the irregularity. He couldn’t come up with anything, but he also couldn’t think of any ways that the color of the aperture might interfere with his goals. It was potentially important, even if he couldn’t see that importance, but spending more time contemplating it wouldn’t accomplish anything. It was time to experiment.

He extended his mana into the largest of the component spheres, immediately getting a feel for the parts of the mana that needed to be Refined. There was significantly more feedback than when he was a Tier 0, his improved mana already showing its worth. If before he’d been working to Refine the apertures, now he was working to Refine the apertures piece by piece. The extra detail and ability to compartmentalize the process made success significantly more likely.

It’s unattuned nature made the mana easy to Refine, and there was surprisingly little that needed to be purged. The creator’s signature could be found throughout the mana, but it was faint. Alex knew it shouldn’t be hard to remove that signature, allowing for the aperture to be used by another.

He made his way through the structure slowly, a small amount of excitement coursing through his system as success felt inevitable.

Instead, the aperture shattered as he worked on fixing the second of the component spheres.

There hadn’t been any warning, that Alex had noticed. One second it was stable, the next it was gone.

Undeterred, Alex grabbed another and went to work again. This time, he tried to work a bit more slowly. He hadn’t let the excitement take hold during his first attempt, but he hadn’t been overly cautious either. If there was a problem that required him to change his method, he wanted to see what caused it.

This method seemed to be working well, but nearly halfway through the second component sphere, the aperture shattered.

Alex frowned.

When he just stared at his hands, where the small fragments of aperture were steadily dissolving and rejoining the ambient mana, Anthony spoke, “Any idea what went wrong?”

Alex almost snapped at him again but held back this time. He took a deep breath, working to clear the unhelpful frustration from his thoughts so he could be productive.

“No, Anthony, I don’t.”

“Want to talk it over?”

Honestly, Alex did not want to do that. He wanted to figure it out himself. This was his mana, and it was his project.

He also knew that he could be a bit dumb sometimes, when it came to being unnecessarily prideful, “Sure.”

“How far did you get?” Anthony prompted.

“Nearly halfway through the second sphere, both times,” Alex answered, “It’s like something is preventing me from getting further.” His earlier experiments had also failed to progress past this point.

Anthony nodded, “The apertures are stable on their own, so it has to be something about the changes you’re making.”

“You think?” Alex snarked “Knowing that I’m doing something wrong doesn’t help me figure out what I’m doing wrong.”

“Grab the good apertures for me,” Anthony didn’t meet the testy statement with any banter of his own, probably for the best.

Alex did so, laying them out on the grass in front of him. He was facing Anthony, but the healer was still keeping watch, so he didn’t look over.

“What are the obvious differences between these and the ones you’re experimenting on?” Anthony asked. Alex saw the point of the question immediately. Lower quality apertures were generally less stable, and he might be able to identify what he was doing to destabilize them by studying what they looked like when made properly.

“Well, the symmetry to…” Alex frowned, looking up from the apertures to stare at Anthony, “How long have you had this figured out?”

“Had what figured out?” Anthony asked, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Seriously?” Alex asked, “You basically led me right to it.”

Anthony turned around at this, looking down at the apertures in front of Alex with a slight frown, “The symmetry problem is obvious. Getting the apertures out wouldn’t make a differe… oh.”

Alex grinned at the realization that it actually had been a coincidence. He’d at least managed to figure out his problem first, “When I refine the individual spheres of the aperture, I’m making them even less symmetrical. The component spheres no longer have matching mana signatures, causing them to reject each other.”

“Clearly it’s not immediate,” Anthony nodded thoughtfully before turning to glance over their surroundings again, “There’s a threshold you reach where it’s too destabilized.”

“The solution is pretty obvious,” Alex sighed, “But it’ll be a bit tough to pull off.”

Alex’s initial thought had been to slow down, but that had been going in the wrong direction.

“Can you manage that?” Anthony asked, “The apertures are small, but not that small.”

“Can one of you just say it so I can get back to practice,” Jess opened her eyes, clearly drawn out of her own work by their conversation.

Alex grinned at her, “Well the solution is obvious once you think about it. I’ll have to Refine all four spheres at once.”