It was morning once again and Jude was going through his usual routine before going off and meeting Theodwin in the Allur Forest.  Krinn and Wen came to him so he stopped and looked up to them.

Krinn began, “Jude, we’ve decided to join you and help you build an organization.”

Jude was pretty sure it didn’t work that way.  Wasn’t he supposed to decide to let them join?

Krinn continued, “I know you may not consider us your closest allies and have only met us a couple of days ago, but both Wen and I believe that you are more than strong enough to lead a good group!  We also discussed and both of us would like to start off as trainers for your group.  We’ve been out in the field a long time and honestly, could use a break.

“Starting today, we would like to go out and begin recruiting.  The process won’t be easy, but we promise to only get the best!”

This was a lot of information for Jude to take in all the sudden, so he thought about it for a moment.  He liked the idea of starting a group but wondered if he had time to truly lead it.  But if Krinn and Wen were going to take the lead on training, then perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad.

Then an idea popped into his head, “I like the idea, but first there will be a test for you Krinn.”

Krinn was startled a test?  But then he thought about it and it made sense.  Him joining a group and becoming a trainer would require him to be tested.  So he reached for his axe.

“No, not a combat test.  Come here and sit in front of me.” Jude said.

Now Krinn was nervous, he was a Warrior and was uncertain about any other kind of test that didn’t deal with violence.  He and Jude sat down cross-legged in the yard.

“I don’t know how good at this test I’m going to be,” Krinn said.

“Don’t worry, just relax.  Tell me what skill you are best at and what skill you are worst at.  Also, what skill are you currently working on?”  Jude replied.

“My favored skill is as I practice the Jandin axe style.  I’m the worst at under the and I’m working on the as a whole because I’m a tank.”

He was a little nervous so he added, “In case you didn’t know, tanks don’t usually use , we generally stay in the rather than the while we are fighting.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Jude said. “This test is just as much for me as it is for you.”

Then Jude placed his finger on Krinn’s head and activated !  His consciousness spread out and instantly connected to Krinn’s Modicuit!  Viewing Krinn’s Modicuit wasn’t nearly as clear as viewing his own, but Jude was thrilled that it worked!

It took a while for Jude to orient himself inside Krinn’s Modicuit.  Each Modicuit was essentially the same, but since Krinn and Jude practiced differently, it was also lit up differently.  Especially since Krinn’s was Axes.  But since Jude had also ranked up and he decided to start with that one first.

When Jude finally found the circuit category, he found it a mess.  Krinn either didn’t practice it correctly or hadn’t practiced it enough.  This made sense to Jude, Krinn was the older brother and so he focused on protection rather than offense.  was a balanced approach to fighting that also focused on fighting with others.  While was about bolstering oneself and calling the attention of enemies.  It was much better at protecting one’s younger sister.

But for Jude, this area was perfect for his testing.  He had already gained Rank III in all of skills and was very familiar with them.

“Whatever you do, don’t resist,” Jude told Krinn.

Krinn didn’t move or respond, letting his silence answer for him.  When Jude accessed his Modicuit, he felt a very strange sensation, like icy needles piercing through his skull.  Oddly enough, it didn’t hurt.  Just felt extremely strange.  However, his instinct told him not to move an inch.

Jude then began to simulate Krinn’s in general and not just the part of it.  It was clear to Jude that Krinn had made many mistakes in the as a whole, so he wanted to correct it as much as possible.  He did this by sending his own mana through the inputs so that they would start going the correct routes.  Since it was Jude’s mana and not Krinn’s, when it reached the register of Krinn’s Modicuit, it simply dissipated rather than get stored.  Each time this happened Krinn shuttered.

Jude went through this exact same process over and over again.  Slowly but surely the lines in Krinn’s Modicuit started solidifying in the correct paths.  After a few minutes of this, Jude felt satisfied with Krinn’s circuit lines.  He removed his finger and opened his eyes to see Krinn tremble.

“Are you ok?” Jude asked.  He didn’t want to hurt Krinn and hadn’t considered that it might be painful.

“No, I’m fine,” Krinn said with a smile.  “I’m better than fine!  and are now Rank III!”

“WHAT?!” Wen exclaimed, “How the cosh did that happen!?”

“I don’t know, it was like cold spikes were in my head, then a rumbling of power could be felt.  Then I got a notification that they were both Rank III!” Krinn said.

“Stand up here and show me!” Wen demanded.

Krinn and Wen performed a few moves with the skill.  After they were done Wen said, “Well, you still suck at but you are clearly Rank III.”

Then she turned to Jude, “What the cosh did you do to him?   And can you do it to me?!”

“Do you have the Skill Master title?” Krinn asked. “I heard that only skill masters can train people past Rank III.  But I’ve never heard of one Ranking up skills lower than Rank III.”

“Actually this is a skill from my unique job.  And I’m not done, so come back and sit down.”

Krinn was clearly excited so he eagerly sat back down.  Jude once again placed his finger on Krinn’s forehead and activated his skill.

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This time he went straight to the , but quickly realized that there wasn’t much he could do.  wasn’t ranked high enough for him to clearly see inside Krinn’s Modicuit.  Before he had relied on his own experience in the to guide his actions.  But since Jude didn’t have the he didn’t know enough about it.

Instead, he went off to find the area of Krinn’s Modicuit.  Inside here, Krinn had already gotten Rank III in and Jude decided it was passable.  Instead, he bolstered the other two skills that were still Rank II.

By this point, he didn’t have enough mana to attempt to access the knowledge stored inside nor was he sure what it would do if he accessed it rather than Krinn.

Removing his finger Jude said, “I’m out of mana, so I’m done for now.  Later I would like to try something else.”

“But what about me?” Wen asked eagerly.

***

Jude was excited that had ranked up to Rank III.  This, in turn, unlocked ! He would need another Rank III skill to unlock , but he was still glad to see as it was more interesting to him. Unfortunately, he had just used all his mana with Krinn and needed to meet with Theodwin, otherwise, he would have delved wholeheartedly into it.

While he headed off to the Allur Forest to meet up with Theodwin, Krinn and Wen had also headed out to start recruiting people to their new group.  This was when he remembered something important!

Jude slapped his head, “Ugh, we forgot to pick a name for our group!”

Elsewhere Krinn and Wen just realized the same thing!

***

Jude met Theodwin and they headed off into the forest together.  Along the way, Jude told him about the experience from earlier with Krinn.

“That’s incredible!” Theodwin said.  “Just think what you might be able to do with the node we are about to visit today!”

“Yeah, I’m also curious about a crafters Modicuit and how it differs from a combat class,” Jude said.

“I’m sure Ellie would jump at the opportunity!”

“I hope she does,” Jude said with a smile.  He was a little surprised that Theodwin didn’t want to try.  Considering his mission and enthusiasm for it, Jude thought that he would dive headlong into trying it out.  But perhaps Theodwin had secrets or maybe it was an issue of privacy.  Jude wasn’t sure.

Theodwin had been very forthcoming with everything else and Jude decided to let the man have a few secrets.

They finally came to a part of the forest that felt like a clearing, yet was still covered by trees.  These trees were much taller and their canopy was very thick.  The dirt was not even visible with the number of roots that covered the ground.  These roots didn’t allow any other type of brush or plant to exist, which gave the area a feeling of a clearing yet not being one at the same time.

“This is where I’ve found the first node,” Theodwin said.  “I found it by using this enchanted device that I devised with the help of some friends.  With it, I can track the world’s mana.  Where the mana is strong, there is not always a node, but the possibility of one is much greater.”

Jude saw the device in Theodwins hand, it looked a compass combined with a sun dial.  Bright runes flashed on its surface.  What those runes meant, Jude had no idea.  At the moment the device was flashing in several different colors, apparently indicating that the world mana in this area was thick.

“The way I determined that this was an actual node was with this device,” Theodwin pulled out another device.  “This device can pick up on the fluctuations in the world mana.  I believe that these fluctuations are what control the various operations that dictate things like spawning. 

“The area mana and these fluctuations are what I call World Magic.  It’s the magic that controls the different systems set in place by the .  I’m hoping that you can use your magic and see if my speculations are correct.

“If we can learn how to control the World Magic, we could make leveling easier, medicine more available, and materials easier to find!  Just think of the lives we could save, while at the same time giving everyone a better life!”

Jude nodded and walked across the rooted ground to begin his examination.  Back in Grimwar Caves, he found the dungeon core, but it wasn’t something that was made by the .  It was made by Murl himself.  So he knew that it wouldn’t be the same black lines that the dungeon core had.  But Jude thought that there might be something else that was similar to both the dungeon core and Digital Plane that would make up the theoretical node.

Once he reached the center he sat down. “.”

The familiar screen of magic blocked out everything visible.  But lately he had been trying to ‘filter’ out the mana in the air and he had been having a small success.  It wasn’t much, but it allowed him to touch on what lay beyond just the magic in the air.

Once was activated and he filtered as much of the air out that he could. He saw the tantalizing pulsing lines of magical circuitry.  The magic in the air was very thick, thicker here than anywhere else he had tried before so he wasn’t able to clearly see what they were or where they were going.

Next, he tried out with the Ghost Commanders Eye variant.  He wanted to see everything from above and to also peer through the ground.  Jude wasn’t sure if the world circuitry was below the roots or not, but his would find out!

“Oh,” Jude said in surprise.

“What is it? What do you see?” Theodwin asked.

“The roots themselves are the circuitry!  I hadn’t noticed at first because there are also normal roots mixed in and the circuitry layout is different.”  Jude replied.

“Different?  How so?”

“It’s more natural and organic.  Instead of exacting lines and precise angles, they flow like water and grow… well like roots.”

Jude spent a few more minutes analyzing the area then said, “I’m going to try and connect to it.  This might take a while.”

Jude then aligned his Modicuit towards the world circuitry much like he did in the Digital Plane and the Grimwar Caves but after hours of trying he had no success.   The world circuitry was different somehow.  Jude surmised that the Digital Plane was an existence of pure digitality and circuitry was its very essence so it was easy to connect to.  Murl’s circuitry was most likely a copy of world circuitry but formulated in a way that he, and coincidentally Jude, understood.

This circuitry was somehow the fusion of the world and circuitry.  Jude only understood the circuitry part of it and was lacking something to fully connect to it.  That was when he remembered his experiment earlier with Krinn.

Before he got Spell Analyst, he was able to view his Modicuit and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to view someone else’s Modicuit.  It wasn’t until he got that this ability extended to others.  If allowed him to access the internal circuitry of others, then it was only reasonable to think that would allow him to access an area circuitry or in this case the world’s circuitry.

Again, Jude unleashed his and attempted to connect to the world circuitry.  His range was limited so he had to nearly press his face against the roots.  As soon as the skill made contact it was like he was on a roller coaster!  He hadn’t connected to any of the inputs or outputs, instead of merged directly into the flow.  Of course, with his limited Rank in , he had no way to actually find those inputs or outputs so this was the only way he had to connect with it.

The world mana was raging through these roots like high powered electrical lines.  Jude’s head roared as he was expunged from the world circuitry.  However, he was unexpectedly rewarded.  was now Rank II!

He activated the skill again and now found it much easier to filter out the mana in the air.  But since this was a node site, the mana was incredibly thick and still looked like he was viewing everything through a fog.  But that was still better than barely seeing at all.  If he wasn’t in the node site, things would have been different, filtering out the air mana would have been as simple as a thought.

Now he began to look for the inputs and outputs, but the world circuitry of this node site was quite big.  After all, it was like a clearing in the forest and could easily be as big as half a football field.

Jude spent the rest of the time looking for inputs and outputs and only found a few.  Not enough to actually control anything.  Plus, there was the problem that even if he did find all the inputs and outputs, the range of inside of the node wasn’t large enough to actually utilize it.

It looked like he was going to need to get to Rank III in .