Waking up, it… It felt amazing.

My thoughts were faster, clearer, and more numerous.

But what was the most astonishing thing was this image I had in my mind. A sphere in the middle, glowing pure white. A mind was swimming in darkness, circling it.

I took hold of the mind, and through a blue string, I connected it to the soul sphere.

Woah!

It felt… that one time, Kamos smoked a green thing with his friend; it gave him heightened senses, stronger focus, and greater mind capabilities. This was the same.

It feels like I can do anything by just thinking about it!

I focused on three things using my vision: Hambara snorted loudly; Laressa moved a lot in her sleep; Somani had a small smile on his slumbering expression.

I increased the things I’m focusing on, but…

Somani gritted his teeth, making a loud sound. I felt it; his brain was starting to hurt.

I still pushed forward. I  observed Somani’s innards, saw the microscopic composition of his mother’s hair, and…

Somani’s eyes shut open. Holding his skull, he started to groan.

I immediately stopped my experiment.

‘Grandpa?’

‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing. You can go back to sleep, Somani.’

Somani nodded, closing his eyelids. Feeling his brain activity, I knew it would be hard for him to go back to sleep. Still, Somani tried to.

I should be more careful. This skill might hurt his brain, and I doubt I could fix its complexity and my current capabilities.

I also wanted to see how many bone arrows I could create, but feared awakening Hambara, so I put it off for now.

‘Grandpa, I can’t sleep.’

‘Do whatever you want. I’m going to train our skills.’

Somani got up and sat on the sofa adjacent to his mother’s. He stared at her, and… stared more.

Hm…

I started with [Mana Manipulation]. I shaped the small strings, made them intertwine, and tried to compress my film. The difference was immediately noticeable; the shapes were easier to create, and even more complex formations weren’t off limits.

I even controlled two strings at once. I made one into a triangle, while the other one was a rectangle.

What if…

‘Somani, I’m doing some experiments, so this is going to hurt a bit, okay?’

Somani nodded, not taking his eyes off his mother.

I made two strings into a rectangle, then I made them share a line. Holding their shape, I created two more—Somani gritted his teeth—and connected them, then another two, and I got a cube.

‘G-Grandpa! I-I can’t take this anymore!’ Somani seemed to have trouble forming the thought.

I released the strings, making the kid wheeze for air.

His pain tolerance is way less than mine.

After that, I tried to create more 3D shapes—simpler ones so as not to hurt the kid too much.

I played with more shapes, trying to find when the pain started to hit.

It seems I can do three distinct things at the same time before the pain starts.

‘Grandpa, will this pain I’m going through make me stronger?’ Somani asked after going through a few cycles of pain and relief.

‘Why?’ I wanted to know if he still had the same convictions.

‘Because I want to protect my mother, and… take revenge on those who took my father away.’

Hm… so killing his mother wasn’t necessary in the end. It even grew his purpose from revenge on the magus to those who killed his father, the empire.

‘Yes. Extremely so.’

‘Then you can hurt me more, Grandpa. I won’t whine anymore.’

‘Don’t come crying later.’

‘I won’t!’

An idea had been going through my mind. I created the outline of a human figure using strings, forming a bulbous head connected to a stem with two stick-like hands and legs.

Somani bit his lips, drawing blood, while his nails dug into his palms. A moan escaped his mouth.

I was impressed by the kid’s resolve.

I made the creation raise its hand before releasing it. Somani immediately slumped into the sofa.

‘Good, Somani.’ I genuinely praised the kid. As someone who experienced pain regularly, I knew it wasn’t easy. I actually was also hurting, but didn’t show it as I was more used to it than Somani.

‘I-I… No! I can still take more.’

‘Don’t worry, Somani. This is the hardest part.’

In the end, I calculated that I could do three tasks at the same time without too much effort, at four, the pain started, and at five, it got unbearable for Somani. I could take six, but Somani would be dysfunctional.

Before the upgrade, I could do two tasks with some difficulty, maybe three if I pushed myself, and now with Somani, three isn’t difficult, but it’s the limit without incuring pain.

I decided to call each separate task I could do as 1 Brain Power, or BP for short. Before the skill evolution, I averaged 1.5 BP, and now, I reached 2 BP. My MaxBP increased from 3 MBP to 4MBP, maybe 5 if Somani increased his pain tolerance.

Either Somani’s brain is 0.5 BP, which I doubt is that low, or the whole is worse than its parts, meaning that with my 1.5 plus Somani’s probable 1, we should get 2.5BP; a 0.5BP is being wasted somewhere.

In the end, my stats were: 2 BP and 4 MBP. I wasn’t the best at math, with Kamos having barely studied, while Somani didn’t have that much time. Still, I’d say that the increase wasn’t bad for only one host.

If I get another human host…

I then worked on [Soul Manipulation]. Tearing a piece of my soul, I found that controlling it wasn’t any easier than before. Although when I split it, shaping two pieces was easier than before.

I shaped the soul pieces into different things. I still struggled with even simple shapes, although I had gotten better, and the level-ups seemed to help a bit.

[Manima Senses] was the same. Shaping the sphere of vision wasn’t easy, but making multiple points of view was less difficult than before.

Hm… is it because I don’t need more brainpower to form these skills, and instead, I need more levels?

My Mana film wasn’t that spent, so training [Forced Mana Regeneration] focused more on taking control and moving the Mana particles, than shoving them into my film or core. This skill was the one where I noticed the most difference. I could focus on many more of these particles and take control of bigger quantities.

Now, I can probably regenerate a fully drained film in two hours.

It still was too much time, but if I managed to get more hosts, I could have infinite Mana.

I didn’t train Biomancy, afraid it’d awaken Hambara, so instead…

I activated three skills and trained them simultaneously.

I was forming a Mana string into complex shapes, while shaping soul pieces into basic configurations, and altering the shape of my vision.

It was difficult, extremely so, needing almost 4 BP, although there were three tasks.

Somani almost tore his hair out from the pain, so I ended up training only two skills with 3 BP.

‘Grandpa, could we stop? I want to return to sleep?’

I had to rely on my own brain power after that, cutting the blue connection between Somani’s brain and me.

Hive Mind is a great skill.

That was my conclusion.

***

Somani managed to get a few hours before his mother awoke him. She was the first to wake up, and before doing anything, she decided to wake her child.

Somani at first refused to get up, but upon seeing his mother’s face, he shot up.

Argh.

“What is it, sweety?” Somani’s mother asked, concern evident on her face.

“…Nothing, just some head pain.”

“I told you to sleep on the couch, but no, why would you listen to your mother. Next time, you’re on the couch, and—“

It was then that Hambara exited his room, making Laressa shut up as she fearfully looked at him.

Somani got excited at seeing the adventurer and rushed to hug him.

“Good morning, Uncle!”

“Full of energy, eh, kid? Let’s see if you still have the same vigour for your training. I’ve got something special for you today.”

Somani deflated at that.

***

The day went as usual, but with the addition of Somani’s mother. They had breakfast. After that, Hambara left them and headed outside. Somani immediately got into doing chores, but his mother stopped him. Instead, she did the tasks on her own, while Somani slept his mind pain off.

Hambara returned with the sword he had given the blacksmith on the first day, awoke Somani to the distaste of his mother, then made him climb to the ceiling with him.

“Honey, if you don’t want to join him—“ Laressa whispered into her kid’s ear. Somani cut her off

“Don’t worry, Mom. Uncle Hambara is training me.”

In the end, Somani’s mom joined them on the roof.

“As I’ve said, kid. Today is different. As you may know, if you want to get a good class, you need to achieve all the conditions to unlock it, just like skills.”

At that, Hambara looked at Somani’s mother, but the woman was just observing.

Hambara got closer before whispering into Somani’s ear.

“Does your mother know of your skills?”

‘Say, no.’

Somani shook his head.

Hambara gave him one long look before backing off.

“Anyways, as you know, I have the Mana Blade class.  My deceased father told me the requirements for this class’s predecessor [Mana Fighter]. After evolving it at level 100, I got this class.”

Laressa’s eyes shot open at the level before she took a step back.

“I-I’m sorry. I-I was disrespectful. I d-didn’t know.”

Somani looked at his mother with worry, while Hambara sighed.

“You don’t need to worry, Laressa; you did nothing wrong. I would’ve done the—“

Somani ran towards his mother and hugged her; she returned the hug.

“Mom, Uncle is strong, but he wouldn’t hurt a bug.”

“Somani, you shouldn’t call the mister, uncle. Be respectful.”

“Laressa, I’m serious. No need to worry, and Somani can call me whatever he likes. I’m…”

Hambara hesitated. He looked up at the sky for some reason.

Laressa strengthened her hold over her son.

“M-mister, if I may ask, why are you helping us?” Laressa asked after a while.

Hambara lowered his gaze, looking in the direction of the white walls.

“…I’m closer to you guys than you think, that’s all I can say. Let’s say our goals align.”

***

Laressa decided to head back down; she said she wanted some time for herself.

“Okay, kid, let’s continue. My father made me train hard to achieve all the requirements for this class—his class, before class selection at 13. Now, I’m willing to share this class’s requirements with you, and help you train for them, but…”

Here we go.

Somani gulped; he clearly understood the importance of a strong class.

“This is for your sake, but I need to know what skills you have. I need to know if the skills you have are compatible with my class.”

Hmm…

I pondered what to reveal to Hambara. The man had been nice to Somani, and I knew that some humans were good just for the sake of being good, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t doing this in hopes of getting my skills.

Seeing Somani’s hesitation, the man spoke.

“You don’t have to reveal to me how you got them. Just what you have. Of course, you still don’t have to tell me anything, but then I won’t share my class’s requirements. For your sake.”

This… what’s in it for him?

In the end, I decided to tell Hambara the truth, but partially.

This offer is too good to give up on just for secrecy.

I took control and spoke on Somani’s behalf.

“I have: Heal, Identify, and Swift Mana Regeneration.”

I was getting better at lying, but that didn’t mean I could outright lie to an adult human, so this was the best I could come up with—half-truths and half-lies.

 Lying needs knowledge, which I lack.

I’d been offered [Heal] before, so I somewhat knew what it did. Hambara already knew that I had [Identify], but [Swift Mana Regeneration]… it was a gamble.

I remembered the description of [Forced Mana Regeneration] and knew how strong a skill it was, so I couldn’t tell Hambara about it.

Why didn’t I just tell him I had two skills?

One reason. I wanted Somani to train with my full aid, and that couldn’t have happened if I had restricted Mana regeneration so that Hambara didn’t get suspicious.

It was a gamble and…

“I… I don’t know what to say. This [Swift Mana Regeneration], if I’m clearly understanding its name… it could make you get a hybrid class, maybe a very versatile and strong tank one. Have you evolved it yet?”

I shook my head.

“Then don’t. You have to get the optimal upgrade for it, and if you did… You could get a better class than mine.”

…it paid off.

I’m getting better at deceiving humans.

“Hear me out, kid. The information I’m about to tell you is very important, so don’t share this for any reason, except for your life. Am I clear?”

I nodded solemnly.

“My class’s prerequisites are as follows…”