“I found another video,” Kalden said as they walked down the stairs into his basement.

“Seriously?” Akari didn’t bother to hide her shock. “When?”

“A couple weeks ago over break.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” They hadn’t talked much at school, but he could have taken two seconds to mention this.

“Because I know you. And I knew you’d spend the whole break fidgeting anxiously until you watched it.”

Was she that obvious? Kalden’s comment filled her with a strange sense of warmth, though. Maybe they really were friends after all.

“Still,” Akari said, “you could have shared the content—told me what to practice.”

He gave an apologetic shrug. “This one’s more theoretical. You’ll see what I mean. It’s about aspecting.”

That got her attention. Pure mana was better than nothing, but aspected mana could have made quick work of those arkions back in Hexember. Emberlyn had proven that when she’d strangled the matriarch with her ice Missile.

“So,” Akari said as they entered the office, “you went on the dark web all by yourself?” She kept her voice deliberately casual, hoping she didn’t sound too insecure.

“I figured I’ve seen you do it enough times now. Plus, you took care of the hard stuff when you first set things up. All I had to do was be careful.”

She considered that for a moment. “You know, even a video file can carry a trojan—”

“I ran it through a scanner first,” Kalden said. “The same one you used. And yes, I double-checked the extension to make sure it was a real video. I also checked the metadata. The codecs matched the other files in the series.”

Huh. He’d actually been paying attention.

“Also,” he said, “it had the same uploader as the other videos.”

“Apprentice?”

“That’s the one.”

Her heart raced as she lowered herself into the plush leather chair in front of the monitor. Talek. She’d missed this.

“Apparently this video is number eight in the series,” Kalden said as she opened the proper folder.

“Guess that’s good news.” Akari double-clicked the file to open it. Before, she’d worried they would never find the other videos. But if the Grandmaster had finished recording this one, then videos five through seven must be out there somewhere.

She increased the volume on the computer, and they fell silent as the video faded in from black. As always, the Grandmaster stood in a dojo, wearing a tight-fitting black T-shirt.

“Welcome back,” he said through his voice modulator. “Today, it’s time to talk about aspecting. That’s right—the topic you’ve all been waiting for. After this video, I’ll have you shooting balls of fire from your hands, healing your wounds with a thought, and soaring through the skies.”

As he spoke, the video switched to stock footage of various artists performing the feats he described.

There was a short pause before the Grandmaster spoke again. “Just kidding. I’m not teaching you any of that.”

Damnit. Kalden had warned her, and she still fell for it.

“But I will tell you why. And I’ll give you enough theory so you won’t embarrass yourselves when you meet your next teacher.”

Next teacher? Akari didn’t like the sound of that, either. These videos were all she had. Sure, she planned to reach Silver, but that wouldn’t be as simple as walking into the badge office and asking for an upgrade.

“I won’t be teaching you a specific aspect today,” the Grandmaster said. “But I will help you build a stronger foundation—stronger than ninety-nine percent of my students. This foundation will let you learn any aspect. Far beyond the choices from your local high school.”

Akari’s eyebrows shot up at that.

“You see, once you aspect your mana, you can’t take it back. It’s a decision that no one should take lightly. And yet, people do it every day. Teachers tell their students they can’t wait. Some are lying, but most are simply ignorant themselves, echoing what their own teachers told them years before.”

His voice became more passionate as he spoke. After a while, Akari stopped hearing the modulator and only heard the man behind it.

“Every day, students like you make lifelong choices at a young age. Or worse, their parents make those choices for them. They permanently alter their bodies and souls with little to no research, and many of them go on to regret it. Choosing the wrong aspect will give you an unstable foundation. And without a strong foundation, you can only climb so high.”

After a moment, the Grandmaster seemed to deflate. “But I digress. You didn’t open this video to hear me ramble about the world’s problems. You came here to learn about aspecting.” He spread out his hands in front of him. “As a professor, most of my students come to me with aspected mana. It’s too late to help them. I hope that’s not the case for you.”

The video faded to black after that. She expected it to fade back into the dojo like it always did. Instead, the screen remained dark, and several illustrations popped into view. The six drawings formed a loose circle, and each one represented a common aspect. Fire, water, air, stone, metal, and wood.

“Our ancient ancestors believed these six aspects made up the entire world. They were wrong, of course. They didn’t know about molecules or atoms.”

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The screen zoomed out farther to reveal even more aspects. Gravity, ice, light, shadow, sound, and restoration.

“New artists emerged over time, and they proved that aspects had very little to do with the so-called building blocks of our universe.”

The screen pulled farther back, revealing even more abstract concepts like space, time, knowledge, and dream. More hovered beyond the screen’s scope with unreadable labels.

“That’s because aspects are ideas, and ideas begin in the minds of humans.”

A humanoid figure formed in the center of the image.

“Our bodies exist in physical space. Here, they move around and interact with other matter and energy. I can reach out and touch fire. I can even taste it if I want to. I don’t recommend this, however.”

He cleared his throat. “My astute viewers will note that mana is not native to the physical realm. It only enters this realm through the doorways of our souls. The world beyond is called the Ethereal, and it’s the source of all mana. Mana artists can’t see this world with their eyes. We can, however, sense it with our thoughts. If you remember the video on Silver Sight, we can perceive the mana inside other people’s souls.”

Akari didn’t remember that video at all. Thanks for rubbing it in, Grandmaster.

And . . . Silver Sight? That was the first time the Grandmaster had mentioned a normal rank. Maybe you had to be Silver to see mana?

“And as we train our mind’s eye, we can see more subtle things like ambient mana gathering around objects. But listen carefully, because this is important. When ambient mana gathers, it doesn’t absorb the physical properties of an object. It absorbs the idea of that object—the remnants of human thought that linger in the Ethereal. Objects themselves can absorb these ideas, and that extends to plants and animals.”

That actually made a lot of sense. She’d always wondered how ice and water were two different mana types, despite having the same molecular structure. It might also explain those abstract concepts like shadow and dream.

Akari shook herself when she missed part of the video.

“. . . and a model proposed by Kaleb Salvatore refers to this place as a web rather than a plane or a sea. This makes more sense to us, because mana doesn’t gather in all places. It starts in the souls of living things, and it extends outward to represent specific concepts.”

Lines formed between the humanoid figure and the surrounding aspects. As expected, the end result resembled a giant web.

“Keeping up so far? It’s okay if you’re not. Feel free to pause or rewind me. Unless you’re watching this video in captivity. In that case, you have my sympathy. Let’s move on to the obvious question—how does an artist turn pure mana into aspected mana?”

The screen zoomed in on the figure and the fire illustration.

“It’s quite simple on paper. We release our mana while in close proximity to our chosen objects. After that, we meditate, focusing on our mana, letting it absorb our chosen properties.”

To illustrate his point, the line between the human figure and the fire grew thicker, as if to show a stronger connection.

“Finally,” he said, “we reabsorb the mana into our souls. Your soul will see this new mana as a blueprint, and it will continue to produce more of the same type.”

The screen faded back into the dojo, and the familiar view of the Grandmaster’s torso. “I know your first instinct will be to meditate in front of a raging bonfire and hope for the best.” He held up a hand. “Do not try this at home. Every aspect has a unique process that’s been perfected over the centuries. Indeed, many arts are a mix of multiple aspects. You know those Missiles the police use to restrain people? That’s a mix of ice mana and control mana. Or how about Shokenese blade artists? They use a mix of metal, knowledge, destruction, and craft mana.

“I know it’s complicated,” he said. “I’d encourage you not to think too hard about aspecting until you’re past the Novice realm. The faster you rush into this, the more limited your choices are. Basic aspects like fire or metal require almost no prior shaping ability. Air and shadow are more advanced, and space and time are some of the most difficult. You would need to master the advanced shaping techniques from Lesson Six to even scratch the surface of these.”

Again, she hadn’t seen Lesson Six.

“I know most of you would prefer quick rewards over long-term gain, but that’s not how I teach. I can’t stop you from doing something stupid, but I can implore you to be patient. As I said before, most aspects evolved over centuries. There were many failures along the way—people who permanently damaged their souls through trial and error. You don’t need to be one of them.”

And with that, the video faded out.

Akari let out a long breath and rocked back in the leather chair. “All theory, huh? You weren’t kidding.”

“It’s good stuff,” Kalden agreed. “But yeah, guess we won’t be learning aspects anytime soon. And based on his arguments, I’m not sure I’d want to.”

In all honesty, she might still take a basic aspect today over more power in the long run. The Grandmaster’s passion was contagious, and she liked the idea of laying down a strong foundation. Then again, she wasn’t aiming for a revolution here. She just wanted to train in peace.

Also, the Golds might have her assassinated if she shone too brightly. Like Maelyn said that day in the tunnels: get too greedy, and you might lose everything.

Then again . . . why shouldn’t she strive for more? What was her life worth if she didn’t try?

They watched the video a second time, then a third. Finally, Akari cracked her knuckles and started her search for the other lessons. So far, they’d avoided the chat rooms except for that first day when she’d asked about mana arts resources. A few people had pointed her toward the Grandmaster’s videos, and she’d taken her search elsewhere.

Now, it might be time for a second round, especially if Kalden knew enough to browse the Omnipedia on his own.

Akari scrolled through the various channels until she found one labeled ‘Trade.’ These rooms were filled with illegal offers, ranging from soulshine sales to assassinations. More often than not, these were clever scams designed to make people part with their debit card numbers. Fortunately, digital file exchanges were less tricky.

The trade channel had a few dozen people online, but most of them were probably bots. Still, Akari typed out a simple message:

“LF Grandmaster’s Videos: 5, 6, 7. WTT: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8.”

Kalden read the message over her shoulder, guessing the last acronym. “Willing to trade?”

Akari nodded. “Probably a long shot. We found the first four pretty quick.”

“Which means someone else could find them too,” he finished for her.

They got several responses in the form of private messages. Most of these looked like bots or boilerplate answers, and Akari ignored them without a second thought.

However, one particular message caught her eye.

“Hey, I have the whole video set if you’re interested.”

Even the username was noteworthy: Apprentice. Wasn’t that the same person who’d uploaded the other videos?

“Sure,” Akari replied.

There was a short pause before the next message came. “I also have some more information you might be interested in. Information about the outside world.”

“I only care about the videos,” Akari typed back. That was technically a lie. The outside world did interest her, but she wasn’t about to follow a stranger down some shady beetle hole.

The next pause was even longer than the first. “Mana arts will only get you so far if you stay in the Archipelago. There’s an entire world beyond that mana wall. I can help you get there.”

“Send me the videos or don’t,” Akari said.

“I have the videos,” Apprentice replied. “I’m the one who brought them here. But things haven’t been easy for me since then. You’ve probably heard about me on the news.”

Akari laughed out loud. “If you’re the Fugitive, then I’m Talek.” With that, she closed the chat window and turned to Kalden. “See, this is why I skipped the chat rooms before. The dark web is filled with a bunch of crazy—”

Another chat window popped open with a single message from Apprentice. Her blood froze when she read it.

“We both know that’s not your real name, Akari.”