Commander Keldorn wasn’t particularly content to see Brian; it wasn’t anger over his non-Aestari origin, but rather exuding irritation over the interruption to his meticulously planned training schedule.

"So, I suppose the higher-ups did not want to bother with you and instead sent you back here. I hope you are worth it. Dominion abilities can become quite formidable," Darion exhaled heavily. “Follow, you need to catch up.”

Trailing behind Darius, Brian's gaze darted around the vast open room. He spotted Jax, who was moving his hands vigorously and yelling things Brian couldn't make out.

When they exited the open space and entered the hallway, Darius started talking. "Your affinity for dominion allows you to tap into some of the strongest powers that govern our planet, they are also the most dangerous and the hardest to control.”

“So, fundamental forces, like gravity, nuclear interactions and such?” Brian asked.

“Uh, Yes.” Darius was taken aback, his anger diminished slightly. “If you can understand forces, then you may have a shot at this after all. To progress, you will study the energy or force you wish to control, learn its properties and how to manipulate it. After that begin with small-scale applications and gradually progress to larger, more powerful displays of the chosen force.”

As Darius finished his instruction, they entered the academy’s library. The library, if one could call it that, was a modest room roughly the size of a classroom. Bookshelves covered every wall from floor to ceiling and it was furnished with a large table in the middle, surrounded by ten chairs.

Brian noticed Sophia and Kael, each immersed in a book. Sophia was sitting at the head of the table, directly opposite the door, while Kael sat closer to the center.

Sophia caught Brian's eye, tilting her head slightly and offering him a quick wink. She was careful not to draw Darius's attention.

"You will stay here, in the library, until you're ready to attempt manifesting your valtite."

Brian snapped his attention back to Darius, "Yes, Sir. I’ll get to work right away.”

He left the room immediately after, leaving Brian alone in the library-like silence. His task was clear: learn.

Without wasting any time, Brian moved to the shelves, where the spines of the books instantly caught his attention. Whoever had made these books was a very meticulous person. Each book had its title clearly visible on its spine, boldly printed. But instead of the usual alphabetical arrangement, the volumes were organized in a progression of complexity, laid out in a sequence that bespoke the optimal path of learning. Not that Brian had any idea of the order of the aestari alphabet. He suddenly realized something – he could read it – the very language he had been conversing in with the aestari.

The books were so well laid out that he found what he needed almost instantly; ‘The Dominion Affinity: Energies and Forces Explored, Volume I’. However, there was another piece of literature that he wanted to tackle first: ‘A Novice's Guide to Valtite Affinities, Part I.’ He pulled the hefty book off the shelf. It was much like the books he was familiar with, with two notable exceptions. It was perfectly square rather than rectangular, and the cover was made of metal.

He slid into the seat next to Sophia, setting his books onto the table. However, due to their unusual metallic covers, they landed with a clatter that was louder than he had anticipated. The unexpected sound echoed throughout the otherwise quiet room. Distracted by the sudden disturbance, Sophia and Kael lifted their heads and stared at Brian.

“Sorry,” Brian whispered.

“No need to worry. Glad you're back,” Kael said with a perfectly controlled tone.

Brian slowly pulled the chair out and settled into his seat. “So, why isn’t Jax here? I saw him out in the gym.”

“The man picked up a book riffled through the pages so fast they became a blur,” Sophia looked confused as she recounted the event. “Then he said that he was more of a hands-on person, and left.”

“He’s a character,” Brian flipped to the first page. “I’ll let you get back to your studies.”

“I actually just learned what I needed to know, I’m going to the gym.” Sophia smirked.

“Wow, so fast?” Brian said

“Done as well.” Kael added

“We didn’t stop while you were out sightseeing,” Sophia teased.

“Yeah, I was busy raising my reputation.” Brian Joked.

"I’m off to practice. Oh, and read fast! Try not to get too far behind," Sophia said as she closed the door behind her.

Brian had thought his days of prolonged study were well behind him. He'd once considered pursuing a PhD after completing his Master’s degree, but the ratio of effort to benefit didn't seem quite right. However, Sophia was right, he was already playing catch up, so he set those thoughts aside. But Sophia had also given him an idea: Read fast.

With the assistance of his Oculus Core, Brian quickly leafed through the hefty tome on valtite affinities, finishing it in under five 'minutiae'. He made a mental note to get more familiar with aestari units of time. Yet, aside from the book's title, he found he couldn't recall or comprehend anything he had just read. Despite the speed of his eyes, his intelligence - or maybe his wisdom stat - seemed to lag behind. It was the same sensation you might get when your eyes skim over a page, but your mind is preoccupied with drafting a shopping list. You reach the end of the page, only to realize you've retained nothing.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Brian started again from the beginning, he wasn’t going to finish in five minutiae, but he was flipping through the pages faster than usual. It took some effort to keep his eyes from getting too far ahead, but he was starting to get a feel for it. The ease with which his eyes traced the unfamiliar script was creepy. He didn't even know the name of the language he was reading, for goodness' sake.

Having successfully read and understood the first book, Brian was satisfied with his new knowledge. Not only had he learned about the six different affinities, but he'd also drawn insights on their relation to each of his six stats. Essentially, his stats didn't represent his body's growth but rather how his valtite was modifying his body.

In addition, since the stats were essentially expressions of valtite, each one had three primary impacts: one related to the body, another related to your manifestation, and the last tied to one of your resources, be it vitality, vigor, or valtite. Taking a familiar stat, endurance, as an example, it not only elevated his vigor—giving him more stamina points—but it also increased his body's ability to endure difficult situations, akin to willpower in RPGs, effectively reducing the damage received. Lastly, a higher endurance stat is supposed to increase the ability to sustain the valtite manifestation for longer periods of time, or in RPG terms, spells would have longer durations. Similarly, each of the remaining five stats carried their own set of three distinct impacts.

Brian continued to study and internalize the information, allowing his untrained potential, his free stat points, to be utilized. As he read another book, a point was added to his intelligence, and another point flowed into his wisdom. He then restrained his untrained potential again, but the experiment had been successful. He noticed a slight improvement in his reading comprehension, attributable to his increased intelligence, and an enhanced ability to make connections with new information, thanks to the boost in his wisdom stat.

He moved on to the next, more specialized set of books. "The Dominion Affinity: Energies and Forces Explored, Volume I. Why do I get the feeling that these concluding volumes are going to feel like a university-level quantum physics course? Let's dive in!” Since Brian had the quiet library all to himself, he stretched his limbs, and decided to fetch volumes II and III while he was up. Finally, settling next to his tower of books, he laid out volume I and embarked on his literary journey.

Let's see what kind of crazy powers are in this bad boy, he mused. The book covered different energies like kinetic energy and quantum energy. Brian nodded along reading about light beams, then paused at sonic booms. Huh, this must be different from Serdna's music manipulation. His skills probably come from another affinity.

Volume II explored more exotic forces like gravity and time. Brian cringed a bit thinking about time travel and all the problems it could cause. "Definitely not for me. This seems way different than Shinmu's troublesome time jumps anyway." He shook his head and moved on.

Reaching Volume III, a section on void energy caught his eye. Manipulating void energy allowed absorbing and redirecting attacks, bending space, and opening portals.

"Now this sounds promising," Brian mused. It reminded him of aikido, using an opponent's energy against them. Void energy sounded like a literal representation of that.

The first book appeared to be the memoir of three decimators who all had a Dominion affinity. So, I’m heading down this rabbit hole now?

The decimator had generously detailed their exploration of void energy with extensive precision.

"Well, it’s only natural. Being a decimator is no walk in the park. Surrounded by these dense books, what else could they do but document their experiences?”

The book revealed a rigorous training regimen and trials to harness void energy. A method to the madness, now that’s my style, Brian thought with a chuckle.

Void energy mastery required years of rigorous practice, deep meditation, and unparalleled patience. It was noted that most of the decimators who had successfully controlled this daunting force were seasoned veterans, having dedicated a significant portion of their lives to its mastery.

Tales whispered among the decimators spoke of the risks tied to hastening the training process. It was said that void energy, when improperly controlled, had a consuming nature. It could envelop the unprepared, devouring their essence from within. A significant number of decimators, enticed by the allure of fast-tracked power, were said to have fallen victim to this peril, their bodies taken over by the very energy. Despite these cautionary tales, the potential power that the void promised often proved too enticing for some to resist.

The rapid ascension in power often led decimators to overestimate their control over the void energy. Using powerful abilities without sufficient experience resulted in dire consequences. The author noted that no decimator has attempted to wild void energy beyond the flicker level.

“Wow, they were pretty much playing Russian roulette with cosmic energy…” The author had progressed to the later stages of the second tier in void manipulation before they stopped recording their experiences. Going further seemed to rely on one's capacity to endure the backlash of void energy.

‘DING’ Proficiency Increase Detected: Valtite Linguistics now at 'Trace' level. Communication amplification in process. Linguistic increase confirmed. Interspecies dialogue efficiency has improved. Gain in comprehension and communication speed confirmed.

Oh so this is the crazy ability that lets me understand this crazy language. Great, now I can talk to monsters better. Mandrix is sure going to be happy. The upgrade to his Valtite Linguistics ability came as a surprise, but sure enough, he noticed a significant improvement in his reading comprehension.

After countless sols, Brian finally pushed his chair back and stood up. He had found another book titled 'The Adventures of the Void Decimators' that he very much wanted to read. However, from its description, it seemed to be more of an entertainment read than instructional material. He hadn't finished 'The Dominion Affinity: Energies and Forces Explored, Volume III', nor had he started a more advanced book he had found on his chosen energy, 'Void Energy Conversion and Flow by Aetherial Encephalox'. Nonetheless, he was satisfied with what he had learned so far.

"Looks like dinner's a no-show,” Brian murmured. He suddenly realized he had skipped both lunch and dinner. Yet, he wasn't actually hungry. He understood that food was meant to restore vitality, and sleep replenished vigor. His studies had shown him that as a person's constitution and endurance increased, their body became more efficient at extracting the necessary energy from food and rest, reducing the amount needed for a full recovery of vitality and vigor. Interestingly, strength also played a role in slowly regenerating vitality, and dexterity did the same for vigor. This didn't imply that a sufficiently high stat could eventually eliminate the need for food or sleep. No one had ever achieved such a level of godhood. There was a limit; beyond a certain point without food or sleep, one's resources would start to deplete, and the regenerative capabilities of strength and dexterity alone couldn't compensate for the loss.

On the other hand, Valtite could be replenished through a type of meditation. However, since Brian wasn't currently using it constantly, his intelligence stat and sufficient time had been enough to replenish it completely so far.

So, in the end, vitality, vigor, and valtite were somewhat similar to the mind, body, and soul. Even though he wasn't particularly hungry, mental exhaustion was a real concern. He needed sleep – after all, he didn't have a 10% endurance boost.

“Alright, nexlum, the training floor it is!"