Alex was aware that taking some time to review the results of his last experiment would yield better results, but he ultimately wasn’t a researcher or a crafter. He’d done things the slow way enough, and for now, he just wanted to see if his instincts were right about what that last test indicated.
Speed didn’t have to mean imprecision, though. Alex’s mana remained entirely under his control as it split into four points and pierced each of the spheres. His previous attempt had worked from the outside of each sphere before going toward the center, immediately destabilizing the spheres.
He had wanted to see if he could focus on the linking sectors first, thinking that if he morphed those sections all at once the structure would remain intact.
The near-instant failure quickly disproved that idea, and the speed with which it happened led to Alex wanting to try the opposite strategy. His mana penetrated the component spheres, quickly reaching the center of each one. From there, he sought to steadily expand the mana, Refining the aperture in thin layers as he went.
This attempt quickly proved to be a better strategy, with the apertures remaining stable as he went. In many ways, this strategy was the exact opposite of his last. Alex moved slowly, not letting himself rush forward for results as he struggled to keep each of the apertures refined at the same rate.
Regulating four miniature orbs of mana to slowly expand at slightly different rates took an immense amount of effort, and soon sweat began to bead on his forehead. Alex refused to falter, though. He tightened his will, refusing to make even a single mistake. His mana seemed almost joyful at the work, going along with the commands and lightening his burden slightly.
Alex faltered not because of his method, but because of that feeling. His mana type resonated so strongly with everything that he was doing, that it actually broke his focus as he couldn’t help but wonder why the effect was so strong.
The aperture, naturally, shattered as soon as his focus slackened. The precision required might be within his grasp, but contemplating Refine suddenly took precedence.
“Damn, I thought you had it that time,” Alex looked up to see that Anthony had walked over.
“I think I’m close,” Alex replied, “I made it a bit past halfway, that time.” Probably sixty percent of each sphere had been Refined when he lost his focus.
“What made you lose it?” Anthony asked, “I wasn’t looking when the aperture broke.”
“I got distracted,” Alex admitted, “My focus slipped enough for me to make a small mistake and it all fell apart.”
Anthony frowned, “What distracted you?”
Alex grinned slightly, “My mana type. All of this practice has been giving me a better feel for it.”
“You figured something out?” Anthony asked, then he paused, “Why that was important enough that you let the aperture break?”
“It’s not like I decided to let the aperture break,” Alex replied, “Give me a minute.” His voice was clearly more excited than annoyed.
Anthony didn’t respond, letting Alex focus on his thoughts.
Alex had been repeatedly surprised by the seeming utility of his new mana type for crafting. It was a field completely outside of his normal interests, leaving him confused as to why a mana type that matched him so well could depart so far from his goals.
He’d spent some time thinking about Refine but had admittedly been too preoccupied with other things to focus on it as much as he should have. Instead, he’d become more familiar with his mana type by using it. This led to him developing a great feel for Refine but no real deeper knowledge of his own mana type.
Normally, he’d be quite happy to talk through his thoughts with Anthony. This felt a bit different though. Putting aside that mana types were obviously quite personal, Alex also didn’t necessarily want another perspective on this. He wanted to figure things out himself, and potentially use the experience to deepen his understanding of Refine.
Why had his mana reacted so strongly to that specific situation? In previous attempts, he’d been able to tell that his mana was well-suited for the task, but there hadn’t been anywhere near as much feedback. What set this apart from previous times he’d used Refine on the apertures?
Could it be related to his choice of apertures? His attempts with the lower-quality apertures had pretty clearly been experimentation. Sure, he’d tried to succeed, but he hadn’t really expected much. This last attempt had been the first time he’d believed he could succeed, and the amount of effort he’d put in had naturally increased.
That effort was clearly important. As Alex thought it through, he decided that his intent was more important than the aperture itself. His choice of apertures was important, but it was the choice to pursue successful Refinement, not the quality of the aperture.
That was an important conclusion, but also a pretty obvious one. Alex could’ve figured that out without any eureka moments, of course intent was important. That wasn’t literally the first thing he’d learned at the Academy, but it was pretty far up the list. Still, it shouldn’t be the only factor.
It could be a matter of intensity. Refine was a mana type born from a commitment to hard work and constant self-improvement. If it would consistently provide a boost when he was pushing the limits of his mana control, it would be incredible.
It shouldn’t be quite that broad, but the strength of the effect might be relative to the level of intensity. He’d have to explore the possibilities later.
It was possible that what he was working on was also factored in, but he wasn’t sure how that would work. His experiences with Inspire had introduced him to the idea of mana having a will of its own, but there was no chance his mana was the same.
Then again, maybe it was something related to that. His mana wasn’t independent of him, but he would be lying if he claimed to understand the specifics of what that entailed. Was there something he was missing?
“Anthony, how much have you talked to your parents about mana types?” Alex asked.
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“A decent amount,” Anthony replied, “What are you wondering about?”
Alex laid out the situation and what he’d been considering. He focused on his confusion regarding the joyful feeling as he’d worked.
“No clue what’s up with your mana feeling happy,” Anthony shrugged once Alex was done explaining, “Shouldn’t be too unique, though. My mana does something similar when I’m healing people.”
“Makes it easier?” Alex asked to clarify.
“Healing is super complex,” Anthony explained, “You have to focus on the details since a rush job could result in slight mistakes that cause more problems down the line. Restore helps fill in the blanks, making it far easier for me to heal on the fly.”
Alex nodded. Naturally, he wasn’t the only one who was just better at tasks that aligned with his mana type. With Alex’s mana being a bit more abstract, he had the added difficulty of figuring out what exactly that entailed. If the empowerment was a bit stronger than he expected, well, he had an Uncommon mana type. At least his connection with Refine was far more harmonious than his experience with Inspire.
When it came to the reaction he felt from his mana, that would probably be something they’d have to ask the older Pathwalkers after leaving the trial. Alex wasn’t worried that he’d come across some hidden negative effects, he was confident that this wasn’t dangerous. Maybe relying on instinct was a bad idea in some cases, but he didn’t need someone more experienced to tell him that positive feedback from his mana type was a sign to keep doing what he was doing.
Alex ended up musing over Anthony’s words for long enough that the healer ended up speaking again, “How close do you think you are to Refining an aperture?”
Alex frowned, “It gets harder as I go. I don’t think I would’ve gotten that far with one of the bad apertures.”
“That bad?” Anthony asked, “It looked like you were doing fine.”
“I stumbled a little, and it fell apart immediately,” Alex replied, “I basically have to be perfect once I reach the halfway point.”
“Well, good luck,” Anthony grimaced, “You’re clearly making progress, so don’t worry too much about the apertures. Jess was right that we can only take so many with us.”
Alex was a bit surprised by that since he’d already come around to Anthony’s way of thinking. He wasn’t going to argue in favor of limiting his access to apertures, though. Instead, he decided to make sure that he wasn’t being wasteful while he improved. What exactly that meant would depend on how many more they acquired.
Instead of starting on another aperture, Alex returned to his practice. He focused on his most recent method of aperture Refinement, creating small orbs that he slowly expanded in the air in front of him.
It was undoubtedly easier without an aperture to work with, but that didn’t make the practice useless and he soon sunk into his work.
He was broken out of his trance-like state by Jess saying his name, “Alex, can you take the next watch for me?”
Alex opened his eyes and glanced over, “I’m nearly done with this Enhancement,” Jess explained.
The initial urge to say no so that he could keep practicing was quickly quashed. Alex was not going to let the others do all of the work. The other two deciding that he could sleep the full night to be well-rested for his Refinement practice was already more special treatment than he really wanted from his friends, even if it was for good reason.
So he took the watch and made sure to get a shift that night.
The next morning, Anthony led them to the next gravesite in pretty much a straight line. The theory that it would be to the Northeast proved accurate. Interestingly enough, there were also some obviously larger hills out in the distance that Alex could make out at the edges of his vision.
“It looks like the graves are arranged in a polygon,” Anthony stated as they reached the next set of huts.
“A septagon, maybe?” Alex asked. It was the prime number that made the most sense to him. The basic knowledge of arrays he possessed made it obvious that prime numbers should be important anywhere that the Trialbringer had reached.
“No,” Anthony replied, “It should be an octagon. We’ve found enough of the sites that I’m pretty confident.” Alex nodded at that, not embarrassed by his mistake. He probably should’ve paid more attention to the angles, but he’d been focused on Refine.
“Do we want to find all of them or head toward the hills in the North?” Jess asked.
If they kept going around, they’d end up pretty far from the hills by the end of their circuit.
“There might not be anything in the hills,” Anthony replied, “I think finding all of the huts, looting them, and then heading for the center of the octagon is our best bet.”
“Going to the center is a good idea,” Alex agreed.
“After we visit all eight,” Jess said, “There’s no guarantee that we’ll find anything there.”
“Fair enough,” Alex shrugged.
“Even if we do find something, it’s hard to improve our loot,” Anthony pointed out, “This trial hasn’t been that exciting, but the loot is incredible.”
“Pretty much perfect for Alex to train his mana type,” Jess agreed, “I think the Trialbringer put us here as some kind of test or reward.”
“I hadn’t considered that,” Anthony said, “It makes sense, though.”
Alex frowned at that, but he had to agree. A pile of apertures wasn’t something he’d be able to find in New Chicago. This was pretty much a jackpot for his training, and if he started to succeed it would also be a jackpot for his team’s financial situation.
“Isn’t it too… easy?” He asked after a second, “The Trialbringer doesn’t give stuff for free.”
“Seems like it does if it likes you enough,” Anthony shrugged.
“Some of the snakes we’ve fought have been pretty far beyond most Tier 0s or early Tier 1s,” Alex pointed out.
“And they’ve stopped coming now that we’ve tiered up,” Jess replied, “We haven’t seen a Neophyte snake in over a day.”
That was hard to argue with. Was this Competition trial just a reward? What was it a reward for?
Alex realized the answer to his question pretty quickly. The trial was helping him improve Refine, so the connection was easy to make.
“How well would you guys have done against the snakes before Hell Mode?” Alex asked even though he knew the answer.
“Poorly,” Anthony replied with a thoughtful nod, “Becca would’ve been dead weight against the one with an aperture, and our attributes would’ve been too low to kill the tougher ones quickly.”
“They probably wouldn’t have stopped coming, either,” Jess nodded, “I don’t think we would’ve made it two weeks unless we managed to seal ourselves in a hut to hide.”
“With the Hell Mode rewards we probably would’ve been fine,” Anthony reasoned.
“Maybe,” Jess shrugged, “But the fights until we tiered up would’ve been rough without Alex.”
“I think it’s a reward for getting rid of Inspire without the tier up,” Alex explained his conclusion, “If my mana type was something else, we might’ve ended up somewhere else on the planet. If I wasn’t here at all, who knows?”
The other two agreed, and Alex found himself much happier with this conclusion than he was with the idea that it was related to his Prodigy status. While he’d definitely needed the assistance of Mana Baptisms to form Refine, it still felt much more like his success than the Realm Achievement.
It made him feel a lot better about the trial, overall. The lack of monster attacks had been confusing him, but if this was an opportunity to practice it made sense. Alex wasn’t going to suggest something stupid like relaxing their need for a sentry at all times, but that didn’t mean that having a better explanation than just, ‘Maybe we’re powerful enough to keep the monsters away’ would help keep him from worrying.
“We still have to treat this like a real trial,” Jess seemed to read his mind, “Relaxing our guard on an unknown planet would be stupid.”
No one was going to argue with that, so the group went back to the task at hand, deciding their upcoming plans. The discussion was one they’d already hashed out, so a decision was quickly made.
They’d spend a day or two at each location, but Alex would spend most of his time working on his mana control. He’d still have a shift as the sentry, both at night and during the day, but when he wasn’t on watch he’d be working on his mana control instead of digging out the entrances.
The system worked quite well for Alex, though he was initially hesitant to leave the manual labor to Anthony and Jess. Ultimately, what convinced him was noticing that Jess was clearly annoyed by his initial disagreement.
“Alex, we’re level ten. This isn’t exactly back-breaking work for us, by now. We’ll be fine” With that, a routine was decided on.
It was time to get back to work.