I direct the mana carefully, managing to control a steady stream from my Core. The days of pulling a chunk out of my Core and then barely being able to keep up as it shot through my internal matrix are long gone.

Well, I say long gone. I mean two days ago, really. It was only yesterday that I even managed to direct the mana at the damaged ends of my internal matrix as well as pull it out of my Core in a vaguely controlled manner. Now, though, I’m feeling pretty pro at it. As I feel a wave of pride, I swiftly push it away – pride goes before a fall and I really don’t want to fail at this right now.

With the steady stream of controlled mana from my Core, the damaged end of my matrix grows at a speed I wouldn’t have believed possible a few days ago. Good thing too – I sense I’m running out of time.

I’m almost done. It seems crazy to think, but most of the loops and intricately woven designs that were destroyed by the Pure Energy are back in place, humming and vibrating golden in the way that the rest of it hums and vibrates. The only ones left to do are the few that actually don’t loop back on themselves. I hadn’t realised, but all around my matrix are threads that just...end. Some are longer than others; the ones I’ve been working on are the longest of all, at least twice as long as the ones in other parts of my matrix.

It’s like when I push mana through them, the threads grow out to where they were damaged...and then they grow longer. I only realised it when I was working on some threads at the edge of where my matrix was damaged – with some undamaged Energy channels to compare to, it became obvious. I don’t know what the effects of extending these fibres will be, and I’m rather curious to find out, but not now. Right now, I need to just finish sorting out my internal matrix so I won’t have to find out what happens if I don’t make a choice about my Lay-on-hands Skill.

In the end, it’s taken me the full three days to sort out my internal matrix. I realise that my initial estimates would have been way off if not for my Energy manipulation Skill increasing rapidly through the Initiate ranks. More specifically, if not for that two percent per level increase in Energy control within my internal matrix in addition to the increased Energy efficiency I’d gained in the Novice ranks.

When I see on my status screen that I’ve finally got rid of that penalty to my mana regeneration rate, I actually stand up and whoop loudly. Fortunately, I’m almost home alone so I don’t disturb anyone.

Kalanthia has only been home to sleep recently, too busy introducing Lathani to the world of being the biggest, baddest predator in the forest. River is out with Sirocco and Bastet who decided to also take the cubs out. Apparently, now we have more of a pack, she feels more confident in teaching the cubs in a field setting. Or forest, rather. I’d felt a bit bad about not responding to her invitation to come with them, especially since me staying back meant they felt uneasy about leaving me alone.

While I feel pretty safe in this cave, I can’t deny that I’m rather vulnerable while meditating, so staying back here alone is probably a bad idea. River wanted to be the one to guard me, but I managed to convince him to let Fenrir take his place. The fact is that River and Bastet are the closest of my companions to evolving, so I’d rather they’re the ones out hunting.

It’s not like Fenrir is all that disadvantaged – he’s curled up around an Energy-Heart anyway. Seeing as Bastet is within a few percent of evolving, I suggested that maybe she’d like to do the same thing. She wasn’t keen on the idea – seemed uneasy. I’m not sure why, but I remember Kalanthia being wary about giving Lathani too many Energy-Hearts. Maybe it’s something to do with that?

Either way, I know Bastet wants to evolve and get stronger; if she’s choosing to go hunting instead of curling up around an Energy-Heart, I’ll accept that it’s because that’s the best choice for her. I’m finally starting to realise that perhaps I don’t know as much as I thought I did….

Anyway, back to my task. Having finally fixed my internal matrix, I eagerly open up my notifications. I’m a little disappointed that I haven’t got any sort of achievement for what I’ve just been doing – isn’t fixing the damage Pure Energy wreaks on an internal matrix worth anything? Then again, I suppose it was self-inflicted. That said, I got an achievement before from surviving the experience...maybe I shouldn’t be greedy.

Heading directly for the message which I’ve seen twice before now, I quickly make my choice, refusing to second-guess myself. The reluctance with which the System responds speaks, I think, to how long I’ve delayed making a choice which should have been made practically on the spot. Just because it allowed me to decide later doesn’t mean I was supposed to take a week to do so.

Curiosity piqued, I dive into my Core space, wondering what is going to happen there as the System makes its changes. Before my wondering eyes, I see the golden lines rearrange themselves. The lines in question are primarily in one of the areas of particular intricacy.

It’s an area I’m not surprised represents the Lay-on-hands Skill – since I’m pretty sure this is proof of my theory about the areas with concentrated lines being my Skills. The lines are smooth and relaxing to view, though there are a few bends and curves which are oddly sharp when looked at from a certain viewpoint.

The lines are being smoothed in some ways, sharpened in others. It’s hard for me to identify exactly what’s going on, and it’s happening fast enough for them to blur anyway. Once it finishes, I find that the whole design is bigger than it was before, taking up about half again the space.

Drifting closer, I look at the design from multiple angles. It’s...not as different as I was expecting. When I’d picked to evolve the Skill, I thought that it would mean it would change completely. While I watched the lines shift and move, that looked like exactly what was happening. Looking at the result of the evolution, however, proves that my assumptions are not quite accurate.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

There’s a core of the Skill which looks almost like a smaller version of what had been there to begin with. Only...it fits with the outer layers as well, and those are quite different. They also connect into the rest of the matrix differently. Hmm, interesting.

Figuring that I’m not going to find out much more just by looking at my internal matrix, I pull out of myself and go into my notifications. Sure enough, there is the expected message waiting.

Skill Evolution!

You have gained a Skill evolution to your Skill: Lay-on-hands. Lay-on-hands is now Flesh-Shaping. Previous Journeyman level understanding of Lay-on-hands has been conserved and incorporated with Flesh-Shaping. Automatic knowledge of how to heal unfamiliar damage has been removed. Full rank has not been conserved due to the wider applications of Flesh-Shaping. Journeyman 1 → Novice 5.

Flesh-Shaping: Use mana to affect flesh. Greater applications of mana will lead to greater effects. If using this Skill on a being, the being must either consent to or reject your attempts. In the case of a rejection, you may still succeed if your Willpower is high enough or your mana is plentiful enough to overcome theirs. Beware: if your Will or Power should prove lesser, you may suffer a backlash.

Close messages? Y/N

I stare at the message, feeling a mixture of emotions. The drop in rank is a bit of a blow. I’d worked hard to bring Lay-on-hands up to where it was. Although is it?

Looked at another way, as long as I’m still able to ‘enter’ my target’s body and working with their bodily systems is more efficient, then I haven’t lost much. I doubt I’ll maintain the Journeyman benefit of five percent mana efficiency when channelling healing that I’d earned at the Skill’s last upgrade, but perhaps I can gain that at a later upgrade? And since I hadn’t been too happy with the increase in power – or lack of it – at each rank-up of Lay-on-hands, I could even look at this like I’ve gained a second chance.

Of course, that’s all predicated upon the hope that I can still heal myself and my allies as I could before. The description says that automatic healing properties of the Skill have been lost but that my Journeyman understanding has been conserved. Hopefully that means that anything I’ve already done is repeatable. I guess I’ll have to find out how much of the Skill is automatic compared to included within my ‘Journeyman level understanding’. My heart sinking within me, I hope that I haven’t just made a mistake.

I try to remind myself of the reasons for why I chose Flesh-Shaping. The very vagueness of the description indicates to me just how many different ways in which I could take it. Basically, what I understand is just that I can use Flesh-Shaping to, well, shape flesh. That’s so much bigger than Lay-on-hands which was geared purely towards healing bodies. It didn't matter how much mana I dumped in an area – if it was fully healed, I wouldn’t be able to make any more changes. I had tried, wondering whether I might be able to enhance my body in some way. No good.

However now...what if I could strengthen my bones? Or make myself grow claws on demand? Heck, could this even be used to enable me to transform into a beast? My imagination starts going wild and I have to pull it back forcefully. I need to experiment. See what it can really do.

But honestly, even if it just means I can heal my companions and hurt my enemies, it will be better than what I had before. If all I’ve lost is the ability to just dump healing magic into a wound and let it do its own job, then that’s not so bad – I’d shifted mostly away from that sort of thing a while ago. I only use it in the middle of combat when I don’t have the concentration to focus on directing the magic. And with my newly improved party, hopefully I’ll be less and less in the actual thick of combat.

It would allow us to actually take down some beasts which might otherwise seem impossible. Frankly, I don’t think we would have won against the salamander without it. The thing was a tank, its bulk meaning that most of our strikes were just shrugged off. Without Bastet keeping it occupied and bleeding, River would probably have been taken out next. That would have left me alone, and my damage dealing capacities certainly wouldn’t have coped. I’d have had to make a really lucky strike to open an artery in its neck or something. However, with the combat application of Flesh-Shaping, we could bypass all of that and hit it directly in its brain.

That octopus beast in the salt cave is another example of something that might suddenly be possible to deal with rather than the impossible target it had been before. And what if I don’t aim to kill? What if with the salamander I’d grown something into its spinal cord before, rendered it paralysed? With it helpless, I might have had a better chance with Dominate; the salamander certainly wouldn’t have been able to hurt Bastet even if I still hadn’t managed to convince it to give up.

Of course, it will probably require me to be up close and personal – right now, at least. In the future, who knows? There’s no longer any requirement to touch the subject in the Skill name, nor does it say anything about contact in the Skill description. How to wield it at range is something else, but after fixing both my Core and internal matrix mostly by myself, I’m feeling a lot more confident about learning how.

I am a little wary about this ‘backlash’ which I could apparently be exposed to, though. Is it as simple as the magic I’m using being used to damage me instead? Or could it be that the flesh-shaping I’m trying to perpetrate on something else would instead be perpetrated on me? I shudder a little at that thought – giving myself an aneurysm doesn’t sound very fun.

I’ll just have to do my best to prevent myself from being put in that position. I guess that what I did with the salamander was overpowering through force of mana – I just kept throwing magic at the defences until they shattered. Increasing my Intelligence so I have a better mana pool would be a good idea, in that case. Or increasing Wisdom – if I have a good enough regeneration rate, I’ll replenish my stocks as soon as I burn through them.

That said, at the moment I earn almost six points per minute, which still means I earn less than one point every ten seconds. When throwing magic at the salamander’s brain, I wasn’t exactly keeping track, but from how quickly I ran out of mana when healing Bastet afterwards, I must have burned through a good fifty to a hundred mana in less than a minute. I’m going to need a lot more points in Wisdom to improve my regeneration rate to that degree. Perhaps a goal for the future.

Alternatively, I could try to work out how to use my Willpower to overpower a creature’s defences – I’ve got the twenty percent increase from Kalanthia which means that that stat is more effective point for point than any of my other stats. I’ll have to practise, though – I don’t want my first attempt to come in a life and death battle. Then again, all my other discoveries have happened in those sorts of moments…

Once more, I have to rein in my runaway thoughts. Time to find out how this thing works.