The next few days went by quickly as Alex focused entirely on training his mana control. With fresh motivation, he didn’t slow down even as the days started to blend together. Improvement became his sole focus, and attributes allowed him to perform at a high level for hours every day despite poor sleep under unfamiliar skies.
The morning would begin with moving to the next gravesite, where the group would set up a sentry rotation that let them work on excavating the site. Jess and Anthony had started with no experience digging by hand, so they grew far more efficient as the days went on. Even without Alex participating, they were able to open up every hut before dinner easily.
After dinner, Alex would slow down a good amount on his practice, only finishing off any apertures that wouldn’t fit in their bags before the next day.
It was good luck that they’d managed to find the first few gravesites without much issue, allowing them to locate the eighth, final spot on their eighth day. Instead of staying put, though, they just kept on moving, reaching their second destination.
Now, they were at the first gravesite, a group of huts that they originally hadn’t even realized the purpose of. They’d all agreed to complete a full loop, verifying that the sites were arranged in an octagonal shape.
Realistically, it was a waste of time. Jess and Alex were both fairly convinced after paying more attention to the trajectories, while Anthony had grown only more certain. Still, they’d done it anyway. Double-checking didn’t cost them anything and none of them were well-trained in this area.
Of course, now they had to make their way back to the eighth gravesite, with nothing to show for a few hours of jogging.
Before they left, Alex couldn’t help but look over the first set of huts they’d found, a bit more than a week ago.
For all that he’d progressed an incredible amount these past few days, reaching Tier 1 and improving his mana control skills significantly, it didn’t feel like it had been long at all. The days were blending together as he trained, with where he’d started mattering significantly less than his destination.
These structures, for all that they were identical to all of the other groupings, were a good reminder.
He’d made a lot of progress since the last time he was here. And he was going to make even more before this trial was done.
The thought brought a smile to Alex’s face, “Let’s head back. Might as well get some work done before the evening.”
Anthony and Jess both agreed, and they set to retracing their steps.
That afternoon, Alex started to grow frustrated. His progress, which had been slowing as he started to Refine more than ninety percent of each aperture, seemed to have crashed to a halt with his last three attempts.
The last parts of the aperture, roughly five percent of the total mass, felt completely impossible. As far as he could tell, he wasn’t making any mistakes, the apertures would just fall apart once he neared the end.
Obviously, there were some imperfections in his technique, but they were so minute that it felt unlikely that those were the cause of his problem. If they were, it was possible that he would need an unrealistic level of control over the mana to complete the aperture. For the first time in days, he was beginning to wonder if he could succeed before the end of the trial.
His improvements in control had finally plateaued in the past day. The remaining flaws in his Refinement technique were minor, barely noticeable to his senses. Removing them would take a significant amount of training, with how his progress had slowed it might take weeks just to crest that level.
And that was before considering the finite nature of the apertures. He couldn’t afford to spend weeks burning through them, he’d run out quickly now that they weren’t resupplying daily.
This meant that he’d need to start using other methods to train, which would likely lead to less efficient practice.
With that on his mind, Alex turned to his favorite problem-solving technique.
“Anthony, can you watch me Refine this next aperture?” Jess was currently on sentry duty, but at this point, she was pretty relaxed about the job. She turned to face Alex while Anthony walked over.
“What’s the problem?” Anthony asked, “I haven’t been paying much attention, but it seems like you’re pretty close.”
Alex was about to respond but realized that his phrasing sounded a lot like complaining that things weren’t easy enough. He took a second to try to find a better way to say it and ended up just leading with the basics, “I’m going to start another attempt. Can you watch and see if I’m making any mistakes near the end?”
“Sure?” Anthony seemed a bit confused by the request but nodded his assent. Jess returned to keeping watch without commenting.
With Anthony in position, Alex got to work on another aperture. Hopefully, the extra set of eyes would notice something that he had missed.
Refining the aperture progressed smoothly for a few minutes, with Alex feeling freed to focus on continuing to Refine instead of watching himself for mistakes. The actual difference was marginal at best, but having Anthony track his progress let him focus more on continuing to Refine and less on making note of each mistake.
As he reached the point his last attempts had failed, Alex felt confident. He pushed forward, so close to a successful Refinement that the thrill of victory was already creeping into his mind.
And then the aperture shattered.
“Damn,” Alex frowned.
“That’s odd,” Anthony said, “I didn’t notice anything go wrong. You just reached a point where the aperture fell apart.”
“I didn’t either,” Alex nodded, “That’s how my last few attempts have gone. Either the mistake is so small I can hardly notice, or everything goes smoothly, and the aperture breaks anyway.”
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“So it’s a problem with your technique?” Anthony asked, his expression made it obvious that he was confused by the problem.
“It’s either that,” Alex agreed, “Or my control has to be perfect.”
“Neophytes don’t have perfect mana control,” Anthony dismissed the idea, “It’s impossible to reach that level with our Sensitivity attribute.”
Alex almost argued the point, wanting to remind Anthony of his ridiculously high attributes, but quickly realized he would be wrong. He had incredible attributes for a level ten, but he was being compared to level twenty-fours at the peak of Tier 1. Almost every Neophyte would invest in Sensitivity because of how important it was for improving their mana control.
“So you think it’s a problem with my technique?” Alex asked.
“I don’t see what else it could be,” Anthony nodded, “I didn’t notice anything that would cause the aperture to break when it did. I noticed a few mistakes earlier that led to nothing, so it would have to be a really sharp increase in difficulty. The required precision wouldn’t be possible until you’re Tier 2, I think.”
That made sense to Alex, although it wasn’t really what he wanted to hear. Knowing that he’d gotten this far with a flawed method, which he would now have to deviate from, left him more annoyed than anything.
Still, it was far better if Anthony was right. Controlling mana with precision beyond his ability to track was all but impossible, improving the method with which he Refined these apertures was relatively easy.
Alex took a deep breath, doing his best to clear his mind. His progress going this smoothly was already incredible, it was foolish to expect everything to be easy.
“Alright, I guess I’ll figure out something else.”
*****
The next day, Alex was feeling frustrated by the lack of progress he’d made on designing an improved method. He felt like there had to be an obvious change he was missing, but couldn’t seem to find the solution. Anthony was a good sounding board, but similarly clueless when it came to crafting-adjacent activities. Jess was a bit more knowledgeable on the topic, but most of her understanding came from conversations with her mother.
Alex’s attempts to Refine apertures didn’t have much overlap with high-density construction, sadly, and Jess’s ideas didn’t prove particularly useful either. The kind of precision that went into large arrays was simply too different.
Aware that frustration would only stymy his efforts, Alex proposed a bit of a break to explore their surroundings further. Between the team’s efforts to work with Alex, and their trip to the first site, they hadn’t finished opening all of the graves at their current location, but they still had several days to work with.
At this point, there was only one obvious place to search. The center of the octagon. They set out only a few minutes after breakfast, all excited to see if there was anything to be found.
The first thing the group noticed was a hut, indistinguishable from any of the others from a distance.
Well, there was one obvious difference. This structure stood alone, while all of the other sites had been groupings of nine. The confirmation that there was something at the center, something new at that, energized the group. They didn’t sprint the last part of their journey, but they definitely sped up after seeing their destination.
Around 150 yards from the hut, they slowed to a stop on Alex’s warning. At this point, it was obvious that the last grave was the same size as all of the others. The fact that it was alone was the only physical clue that it was in any way special.
Alex hadn’t called a halt because the hut was alone, though. Instead, he’d done so after noticing a near transparent film of mana that surrounded the hut. The film, which couldn’t be anything but mana-based defenses, stood several yards out from the structure.
“Wards,” Alex explained, “They’re faint, but you might be able to make them out from here.”
The film blended into its environment fairly well, difficult to distinguish from the ambient mana. It would’ve been difficult to notice if not for the environment being distorted incredibly slightly on the other side. It was almost like a window. On Earth, Alex might not have managed to notice the barrier.
Or maybe it would’ve been far easier to notice in Earth’s more mana-rich environment. Alex was far from experienced, so he couldn’t say for certain which was true.
When he’d first entered the path, Alex had been told by David Alvarez himself that the ambient mana in the environment wasn’t as homogenous as low tier senses made it seem. As his Sensitivity attribute had risen, especially after reaching Tier 1, he’d started to be able to sense those differences in his surroundings, but they were still incredibly faint. It was a bit like being able to see the wind.
The others couldn’t make out the wards, so they continued their approach, now far more cautious and on the look for any defenses.
“It might be best for us to leave,” Anthony cautioned, “Any defenses that have lasted this long have to be Tier 2, and very well-made.”
“It’s just a barrier ward,” Alex disagreed, “I would have noticed if we crossed any other wards, so we’re safe as long as we don’t trip this one”
“We can’t break past a Tier 2 ward,” Anthony reminded him, “Even if it’s decayed significantly, we’re barely Tier 1 and have no Abilities to help us with infiltration.”
Alex frowned, “So we just turn around without even looking at it? The barrier doesn’t look particularly strong, It should be significantly weakened after all this time.”
“Alex, stop,” Jess demanded, “Anthony and I can’t even see this barrier. With how it’s integrated into the ambient mana, it might be able to draw on the ambient mana to attack us.”
“That kind of ward wouldn’t have lasted so long,” Alex disagreed, “Monsters would’ve triggered it frequently enough for the defenses to decay.” Use of ambient mana in arrays would cause erosion, which was why New Chicago drew on the mana of its citizens instead.
At the scale of an array that covered the entire city, or even just a large chunk, even an incredibly well-designed array would falter in minutes. For a smaller ward that only drew on the ambient mana when necessary, it would probably be able to persist for a while before decaying.
After 30,000 years, any array that was still around would have to be self-contained. That was why Anthony was so certain the hut’s defenses were well-designed. There would have to be no mana leaking from the wards into the environment, a masterpiece that would be beyond even Attuned craftsmen.
“We don’t know that,” Jess insisted, What if someone managed to acquire a mana type that allowed them to filter the ambient mana?”
“That’s ridiculous,” Alex frowned. Jess wasn’t wrong, but it seemed too far-fetched. If mana types that could filter ambient mana were easy to come by, New Chicago could solve most of its problems overnight.
“Wards that are still active after this long are ridiculous,” Anthony countered, “There’s clearly something special about this location, and we don’t have the power to mess around with Tier 2 defenses we don’t understand.”
The group had stopped walking as they talked, all of them staring at the barrier Alex had noticed. Alex wanted to see if they could make out any additional details, but the others couldn’t seem to see it.
“So you’re both uncomfortable with approaching further?” Alex asked.
“A Tier 2 ward created with the ability to retaliate could kill any of us, and we don’t have anything to mitigate the defenses.” Jess stated, “I understand that it looks weak, but this is too dangerous.”
Alex sighed, and then took a deep breath instead of replying. It felt wrong, leaving what was clearly a special location unexplored. He didn’t want to abandon what was definitely the most important of the sites. Putting aside whatever they’d find inside, it was certain to grant a sizable boost to any rewards they gained after the trial.
That didn’t matter, though. His friends were right, risking death for some treasure was stupid. Even if he wanted to go forward alone, it was unfair to the others to try. If the wards attacked Alex, they’d charge right in behind him to help.
“Alright, I guess it’s back to the apertures.”