Reid breathed deep. He'd lost track of how much time it had taken him to get through the stats he'd progressed thus far - but it was at least weeks. He popped a bit of steak into his mouth and sent all of its nutrients and resources to his stores. He wanted to remain wholly focused on Nyx's lesson, and needed to be ready to drain himself dry to accomplish the task. There was just one more stat to go.

  Perception

  A reflection of an individual's ability to understand the world. Perception improves one's ability to detect changes in their surroundings, detect changes in other individuals, and general attention to detail. Perception is recommended for hunters, explorers, investigators, and custodians. May those of high perception be the watchers of the world, ever vigilant, ever ready.

  "Perception is an interesting stat. It is inherently tied to your understanding of yourself and the world at large. There are a number of things that can increase it, and it's often paired with intelligence. That's because it's all about applying and understanding information - and the implications that information has. Reid, you've spent the past few weeks going beyond power and stat growth. You've learned how parts of your body and mind - both physical and metaphysical - are supposed to work. And whether you realized it or not, you've started to organize that information into the way you think. There are already lessons sitting on shelves in your mind palace."

  "What I'm telling you, Reid, is that perception is the main reason I stopped you from looking at all your stats thus far. Your training gave you a massively improved understanding of the causality of your self. That understanding is measurable, and I'll say it went up damn well. Open it now."

  Perception: 6 -> 32

  Reid was speechless.

  "You catalogued internal processes to gain your most recent perception points, but your earlier ones had sources in your osteal smithing skill. Pull out the king's fang while I talk. That weapon is a great place to work because it's something that isn't you - but you can feel and perceive and work on it anyway. This is going to be your entryway into perception raised from gaining understanding of outside forces. Use the same technique you did on the broken bone knife. Envelop the King's Fang completely with your own energy, until you gain an understanding of how its supposed to be."

  The kings fang appeared from storage, and Reid wasted no time in enveloping it with his energy. His greater and denser mana pool coupled with fine energy control that he was just starting to develop via dexterity. His energy searched and coated and wound itself around the weapon entirely in less than a minute. The same kind of headache that came with wide-application fine energy control was there - and growing. He ignored it.

  Reid let himself take in what he was doing, and what he held. This weapon wasn't him. It would never be him - but he did have energy wrapped around it; energy that he could control.

  Reid knew his skills and energy application when it came to bone, and he knew what bone was supposed to look like. It felt like standing on the edge of a cliff, with everything below covered in thick fog. Progress had to happen - even if he needed to advance while blind. He drew in a deep breath, and took the leap.

  Energy flowed into the king's fang, but it wasn't the kind of rush and entry Reid expected. It felt somewhat like trying to fill a bathtub with a teapot. Drops of Reid's energy bounced into and around the structures. The space inside the weapon was dense and substantial in a way his energy wasn't, and it made his power and ability feel small in comparison. Still, he poured himself into the weapon, watching his energy bounce and flow and bend around the thing's structure until he had a nearly full picture of what he was working with.

  The weapon's internals were simple compared to Requiem or Queen's edge. It housed none of the self-contained systems that Reid's weapons boasted for upkeep and repair. There were no echoes or whispers of any traits at all. Even the makeup of the structure - the supports and thickness and hollows - were a seemingly haphazard configuration rather than a truly structured and intentional work.

  He frowned. Nothing about the weapon was special. It was only the material itself that was richer and denser and gave the thing its F grade status.

  As he stared at it, Reid realized he could make an F grade weapon just like the fang if he simply did it in smaller sessions, and forced his energy to grow and condense in small applications. He would need to grow a weapon like that about a square millimeter at a time, due to the density and expenditure involved.

  It would be inefficient compared to how he'd made his mace, but it would be simple enough that someone who didn't have his level of energy and skill control would be capable of it.

  It would be energy intensive enough that only someone close to moving into F grade would be capable of trying.

  Bits of Win's explanation on smiths and smithing solidified themselves in Reid. He felt the information place itself into a proper location inside the library section of his mind palace, while his energy senses confirmed and reaffirmed the information on how such things would feel and interact with him - and the outside environment.

  The king's fang could never grow because it wasn't meant to - and that made it inherently weak. Reid could smash Requiem against the cavern wall all day, and it would be just as capable of cutting through the king's head tomorrow as it had been at the start of today. If he did something similar with the fang, it would fail and splinter and deteriorate away. Sharpness would dull, and the weapon would break. He could see it now, with his eyes. The hallmarks of an inferior weapon were present on the fang's surface, and the way its weight shifted when he moved.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Time and use would ravage the fang eventually, but the same wouldn't be true for Reid's weapons.

  It was a lightbulb moment. The sensation of his intelligence and perception stats working together elated him - and he could sense bits of other related knowledge situating itself around his understandings filed away in the library. It was like the knowledge had gravity, and it was pulling the other lessons in around itself to make a comprehensive whole.

  Stat changes proved he'd done right.

  Perception: 32 -> 47

  Intelligence: 41 -> 56

  It was 30 points of progress in total, from what couldn't have been more than an hour's worth of work. Or, at least, it felt that way. The snores of both Win and Lycra told him he'd been at it longer than he realized. Still, it was simple and fulfilling work that had rewarded him with 'easy' progress. His headache wasn't bad enough to call it hard.

  "YES! Two for one! I told you Perception and Intelligence go hand in hand. Great damn work. What you did just now is part of the path to more easily seeing the true quality of weapons and materials - even without identify. After we get done with the rest of your base training, I want you to try doing the same thing with rocks - yes literal rocks. Work to understand them, what makes them up, et cetera. It'll be tedious, but they're easy to come by here and they should be easy to study. Now, don't stop. It's time to do your metaspace portion of perception"

  Reid laid down, once again, with instructions to picture a location within himself. The perception metaspace represented your ability to decipher the why behind things - and also your attunement to feel changes in energy and the environment around you. Nyx's comments on progressive ease of metaspace creation proved themselves to be true, and Reid found himself chasing down glimpses of a room in what felt like seconds after Nyx finished her explanation.

  In no time at all, his metaphysical self stood in a new room.

  His fifth metaspace.

  He took a moment just to breathe with his metaphysical eyes closed. This was the fundamental accomplishment he needed to progress, and he'd done it. He was here. This room was the finish line, at least for the initial race. It was proof that he'd accomplished what he set out to achieve with Nyx. Proof he was capable of making it happen.

  Reid opened his eyes, and took it all in.

  The room's layout was simple - just four walls, a high ceiling, and a door. On one side, a wall full of screens showed twenty different graphs and visualizations. On the other, there was a fully sci-fi-movie looking lab, with countertop equipment that Reid both understood and was perplexed by. The third wall was blank, and the fourth sported a door that Reid couldn't open, no matter how hard he tried.

  Nyx popped into existence and pushed to share the stat with him. Reid's mouth hung open at what he saw.

  Perception: 47 -> 87

  "All god's tits, Reid. That was fast. And really fucking good" She swept her head around the room, and her gaze lingered on the door. "You just made a giant leap in your ability to understand the metaphysical and the physical with this one, and the stat gain reflects that. In G grade, most of your understanding will be about your own energy and the world. As you grow, though, you'll be able to better perceive and understand the energy in things around you. This is a wonderfully solid foundation for all of that. Really great work."

  Before Reid could ask her any questions, Nyx faded from view. Her voice seemed to come from where she had just been standing inside the lab.

  "There are two more steps for you before we reach your reward. Reassurances - and tests. Get up, and wake your friends."

  #

  #

  Win's face was twisted with concentration. Reid watched and echoed Nyx's words as the massive, intricate design formed and grew. Thousands of roots led into a deeply cragged set of bark on a thick trunk. Even more branches and leaves filled out a beautiful and fine canopy that pointed itself at Reid. Or - maybe at Nyx.

  "Good, Winnie. Now Reid, push some energy out like you did to the king's fang."

  Reid followed the instructions, and watched his energy get sucked away into the roots of the tree. The construct seemed to flash with vibrance and further solidify as it absorbed his energy. Win still concentrated, but let herself smile.

  "Marvelous, dear. You could have better leaf coverage, but it's plain to anyone how much you've managed to grow. Remember that you are forever a student in the eyes of the cosmos. Gifts are never an excuse to be laggard, and you will need your wits and your aptitude at their best. Few at your level would be able to do what you have. Going back to basics and relearning fundamentals is one of the most difficult challenges a person can endure. If we're being honest with ourselves, getting your power forced into G grade by that collar may have helped you fix some flaws in yourself. Dismiss the tree."

  Win nodded and the mana construct vanished.

  "Top marks for you, Winnie. You now have the tools you need to circumvent a few of your collar's restrictions. With a bit of effort, you could temporarily crack into F grade - for healing or... other things. Whether you choose to continue hiding down here or not, I hope my lessons help your path."

  Win looked conflicted, and her mouth moved silently while she failed to speak. She swallowed - then bowed.

  "Uhhh, Nyx says she's giving you a curtsy. She told me to do it too, but... I'm not doing that."

  The tension broke on Win's face as her mouth pulled up in a smile.

  #

  #

  Reid turned the crystal in his palm - the 76th one Nyx demanded to inspect. This one was a mass of wiring that all connected between three points that looked like inverted funnels.

  "You've taken my lessons well, little oyster. You pass with full marks. Understand that while your skill aids you in learning, it is your passion that will see you succeed. That is why my instruction came the way it did. I know dozens of scholars and inventors and theists that were able to change society, and they only had a fraction of your desire."

  "I hope you never lose your love for this - it is bright in a way few things in the cosmos can ever hope to be. May these tools and your understanding lead you to the future you wish for - or give you the power to create it."

  Lycra's smile was proud, and tears welled in his eyes. He looked bashfully to the floor, then gave Reid a hug. "Thank you, Nyx."

  "You're welcome. Now, a final message for both of you. My aid goes beyond teaching. If we can all get to a beacon, together, I can renegotiate your contracts as an arbitrator and get you back most or all of the points you exchanged for their framework. You just need to have Reid touch you while you activate the thing."

  Lycra looked like he might actually cry.

  Win gaped, then collected herself. "How?"

  "Winnie my dear, you may have signed a contract, but those aren't nearly as solid as they may seem. Some are weak, and others have outright holes. There's a clause in most that-" Nyx's voice went hoarse. "... sorry, dear. Just know that I can piggyback your connection to get you out from under it, and even if it doesn't pay you back properly, your future gains will all be yours."

  Nyx's attention turned to Lycra. "And for you, little oyster, depending on where we all end up, I may even be able to fulfill your dream of getting you into a tutorial. Chances of that are low, of course - but that is the level of help I'm offering in perpetuity, on top of what you've already learned from me."

  Lycra embraced Reid with another hug, and Win joined in as well. He wasn't sure exactly how Nyx felt what he experienced - but he hoped she could feel this.

  When they finally separated, Nyx gave another round of goodbyes, then sent him over to a quiet area, and had him lay down.

  "Alright, Reid. It's time for your final exam."

  Next chapter is (unsurprisingly) titled "Final Exam"

  Character Cheat Sheet: