Chapter 617 - The Second Lesson

When I leave Sweatbox, I notice several new names in the challenge rankings, particularly in Tier 4, where it appears a few competitors have made a strong push.

In first place of Tier 4 in the Run challenge, there is a new participant named NotNoname. An interesting coincidence.

The same goes for Target Gauntlet, where a new participant is listed. Unfortunately, that person is in second place, just behind Sset, who holds first. Their alias is Emanon.

Finally, in the Current challenge, a new competitor has completely dominated the second-place score, doubling it with ease. The difference is so large it hardly seems fair.

This individual uses the ominous name: You should have told me.

***

Me and the Vice Director face each other again in the same training hall she has reserved for the two of us only. It is the second out of the three lessons I have paid for.

“Where is your bond?” she asks and ignores the peck from her owl.

“Probably walking around the Academy. Do we need him?”

“Yes, call him here, please.”

Another three pecks from her bond.

Hoo, hoo! Lulu calls as well.

“I guess that means we don’t actually need him,” I note.

She returns my gaze and refuses to answer. Instead, she begins raising her mana, and I raise mine to the same level she did.

“It is fascinating how quickly you can channel your mana for someone at a level like yours. You are around level 310, right?”

She starts walking around me, and that huge pointy hat with wide sides covers parts of her face.

“You likely have a trait that helps you, possibly passives, I suspect, are arcane.” Her mana clashes against mine for a second, and she nods, “Possibly two, but this is a wild guess without you confirming.”

“Who knows,” I answer.

“That’s true, who knows?” Her mana surrounds me again, as if attempting to choke out mine, and I continue to clash against it.

As if deep in thought, she continues, “Most of your ability to channel it quickly and relatively safely comes from your talent. It is simply something you are naturally good at. The way you move your mana feels ancient, almost as if it belongs to a much older era. Very curious.”

I shoot back at her, “What is the difference between Potency, Restoration, and Amplification mana upgrades?”

“It is something you should know very well as an Assistant Professor.”

“I want to hear your thoughts.”

“I see,” she nods and then turns to her bond, “Lulu, can you stop limiting my mana?”

The same as before, the owl hoots and waves its tiny wings, and the Vice Director’s mana rises up drastically. I sense she is trying to compete with me this time. She is raising and channeling mana as quickly as possible, to the point it even strains her. But I match that speed easily. At times, I even surpass her, but only until I reach the bottom of my mana, and her larger pool shows. She continues past that point.

As before, it is a weird feeling to release mana so freely without worrying about killing someone. But that feeling is not bad, it is the exact opposite.

"I can tell you chose the attribute upgrade correctly, and Amplification suits you best," the Vice Director says, and her mana keeps clashing against mine. She does not explain anything about the way to move mana, and prefers more or less to let me come to the conclusions on my own, while she directs me toward them.

She deploys multiple measures. She even uses some items, techniques, and her skills, things meant to show me how someone skilled would go about countering an Amplificator. Some of the things she uses are things I had not even thought of.

"You would probably do well with both Restoration and Potency," she pauses, "but I think Potency suits you more than Restoration. Amplification, however, is your true match. You rarely find a talent capable of handling that much mana without destroying their body.”

“It seems like it.”

The Vice Director nods, “Potency is more refined. Instead of increasing the amount, it increases the effect. Same mana, more impact. Think of it like sharpening a blade rather than swinging a heavier one. A skill used under Potency strikes harder, pierces deeper, and lasts longer. But the cost is that it’s much harder to control. Even a slight miscalculations get amplified, and the margin of error narrows. It rewards precision and punishes recklessness.”

She deploys an array that has five points, and mana of a strange frequency starts bouncing between them. With each bounce, the frequency changes and sends ripples. When these ripples crash against each other, the frequency changes again. It has an incredibly irritating feeling to it and clashes with my mana, disrupting it. It does not even use much mana, and it does not affect me that much, but for some reason, it is incredibly irritating, that is the best way I can describe it.

Just as if someone were to keep throwing small rocks at a soldier in heavy armor for hours.

The Vice Director notices my reaction, and out of all the disruption methods she shows me, this one seems to have the most effect. I notice a flash of satisfaction across her face.

“Restoration?” I ask.

“Restoration doesn’t make your attacks stronger or give you more to spend. It just makes sure you’re never empty for long. Think of it like having an endless number of projectiles. You’ll never match the raw force of an Amplifier or the sharp edge of Potency, but you’ll still be casting long after they’ve burned themselves out. It rewards patience and resourcefulness, and punishes waste.”

“I see. So, Amplification for quantity, Potency for quality, and Restoration for recovery. Of course, only if you go about it optimally and pick the right one for you.”

She nods. “Exactly. And each suits a different kind of person. Amplificators are engines, brute force overwhelming finesse. Potents are surgeons, precise, elegant, ruthless. Restorers can’t be burned out because they don’t stop burning.”

“Sounds boring and too "wordy". Which one do you think is the best?”

Possibly annoyed by something I have no idea about, she doubles up on that disgusting method of disruption. I continue to defend against it while watching for other attempts she is making sneakily.

All her attempts are very practiced, all as if she is following protocols she has set. She tests me, then deploys two or three methods while keeping some in reserve. She watches my reactions and adjusts accordingly, testing me again. It all feels like it is designed to face stronger opponents as well, something deeply ingrained in her.

After whispering something to Lulu, the tiny owl lifts up and starts circling around the two of us. I cannot detect it yet, but there is something building up around us.

The Vice Director turns to me again and says, "None are the best. If you are asking about the most common, it is difficult to say with confidence. People without much knowledge usually go for Potency since it sounds the best out of the three. Restoration is the most common for people who like to fight melee and need a steady upkeep of mana to activate their skills. Amplificators are… not as common. Even the ones relying on large scale attacks early on often pick Potency. Plenty of them pay for that, as the increased need for precision causes them trouble.”

“That sounds unforgiving. Single wrong choice that can ruin you entirely."

"Yes, that's how the system works."

"Have you heard about mana that is black in color?” I ask.

Her eyebrow lifts at the question, and she thinks for a moment. “Never. Have you not mistaken it for Primordial void energy or one of the Fragments?”

“It’s possible,” I nod. “What primordial energies do you know other than the common five, and what Fragments?”

Still circling around me, Lulu hoots and then flies back onto the shoulder of the Vice Director. The field they have been constructing activates fully, pressing in on me.

Instantly, the flow of my mana becomes sluggish, as if moving through thick mud. My control weakens, and every attempt to manipulate it feels delayed and strained, like a weight dragging against my will.

Relying on my control over mana, I start pushing against it, trying to grasp how it is happening.

A notification dings as my [Perception] levels up. But that skill should not worry, I will make sure to use it in skill combinations as well.

“Assistant Professor Gwyn, before I answer, may I ask you a question or two?”

“Sure.”

“You have no formal education, be it from the Academy, be it continental, family based, guild-based, or knowledge passed to you by a master, correct?”

I notice a pattern in the way this field is slowing down my mana and observe how it crashes against Mana Wavelength Tyrant, the passive that takes control of surrounding mana and increases mine. Even now, the Vice Director has not come up with a proper way to counter it other than overpowering it. I understand her stubbornness and desire to find another method. But it almost feels like she looks down on overpowering the passive and is instead trying to find some more “skillful way.”

There is nothing wrong with crushing something head-on if it solves the problem.

I think about my answer before telling her, “I mostly learned on my own and came to my own conclusions. Of course, I am not shameless enough to claim it was all me. I did have a lot of help as well, but I never tried to listen too closely and instead picked the things I liked and wanted.”

“So there has been no one you used as a goalpost, measured yourself against, or tried to follow their way of doing things?”

“I probably did subconsciously sometimes, but consciously I would say no.”

“May I be so shameless as to ask you why?”

“Why not? Because I can do better than any of them.”

Finally, I grasp what she has been doing and expand my mana outward, fluctuating it in the exact way needed to counter her field. It does not break what she is doing, instead, it counters it by using the channels her field is not covering, then expands through them.

Satisfied with the result, I look back at the Vice Director. “Why would I copy someone who, in the end, failed to reach the goal I have?”

“Thank you for answering. As for the primordial energies, I assume you already know the common five: lightning, kinetic, void, gravitational, and thermal. Other than those, I know about two more, stellar wind and binding primordial energy.”

“Interesting. Does primordial stellar wind energy not sound strange?”

“It does.”

“I see. And fragments?”

“Fragment of Eternal Fire, Fragment of Eternal Wind, Fragment of Endless Night, Fragment of Eternal Ice, Fragment of Everlasting Wound, Fragment of Eternal Hunger, Fragment of the first Sun.”

“I did not expect the last three.”

“People usually have such a reaction. There are likely only a dozen or so primordial energies, but dozens of fragments. A lot of them are incredibly weak and nearly useless, while some are incredibly powerful.”

“What are the fragments actually?”

“I would recommend you ask Professor Elian about that. As far as I know, there are a lot of theories, with none confirmed as correct.”

"Never mind then."

"Yes." With that single word, her mana begins to withdraw.

When the last of it fades, I check the time. She has kept to the exact duration we agreed on, down to the second.

And I thought I might get a freebie from a fellow mana enjoyer.

She leaves first. I stay behind, slide down against the wall, and sit on the floor. My mana rises again, and I move it as she did, almost absentmindedly, while thinking through faster ways to counter her approach.

In the end, the conclusion is simple. The only difference between us is time. Given a bit more of it, I should be able to face her comfortably. She is like me in some ways. At her strongest with preparation. But I am more combat oriented, while her strengths lie in suppression and support.

When the room starts beeping and forces me out, I leave reluctantly and continue thinking through what I learned, especially about the primordial energies and fragments.

***

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