“Not bad,” said the headmaster, who appeared next to Arson. Somehow the sensation felt familiar to him. And filled him with trepidation toward the woman.

 

Normally he could tell when he’d felt a sensation before, but her appearance just then had been familiar to his body, but foreign to his mind.

 

“He turned to face the woman, his smile no longer meeting his eyes, he lifted his wrist and said.

 

“Anastasia, play my next full sentence on repeat and don’t stop until she leaves, please. She’s wiping your memory. Don’t move until she stops and gives you answers for Anastasia to be able to refer to.” The woman frowned, and the recording started on a loop, with Anastasia's voice in a mimicry of his own. The AI’s baby voice quickly made the woman frown, and so did the serious-eyed young man before her, smiling as if it was all he could do to stop himself from losing control in that moment.

 

He feared three things in life, heights without the ability to fly, the loss of his memory’s strength, and Mana Bees. All for various reasons.

 

Yet if he had to face any of those fears currently he knew he would, Now only one thing left him with any sort of instability and that was the loss of a loved one. He felt he could handle much of anything, but the thought of days without Jade or Troy, made him want to cry, not because he actually faced it in that moment, but because of the reality that he could lose either one in any moment.

 

Why he was so mad at the Headmaster for whatever she’d done to his memory already was simple, any loss of agency taken from him by the system, he could understand. It was its task to give Cultivators the highest chance at finding their own path beyond immortality. Men and women beside him on their own journeys feeling free to make choices of that degree minor or not in his direction, he’d take a hard pass on.

 

Not strong enough to force the woman to stop, but smart enough to make it annoying to try and continue…

 

The headmaster nodded with a smile of her own. "Are you just going to continue to play that until your watches battery loses all its charge?” Arson raised a single eyebrow in the woman’s direction and spoke to Anastasia again.

 

“Show battery life.” The screen flickered on Arson’s watch, and an unfathomably long number with the title Time Until Next Projected Cataclysmic Event changed so rapidly that the number couldn’t be seen going up.

 

“I thought I was good with you, and I was going to ignore you doing the whole pop-in-and-out thing, but now you done gone and insulted my longevity? How dare, you know what little buddy, zap her one time!”

 

“Calm down Anastasia, we're not going to zap the headmaster for any reason as long as I get a sworn oath through the system that she won’t tamper with my memory while I’m either on campus, or still underneath her tutelage for any reason,” said Arson. Anastasia appeared on screen once more and glared back at Arson.

 

“Calm down, calm down? You know what you get for your calm down,” asked Anastasia. Arson thought for a moment and truly didn’t know why the AI was so angry. Then Anastasia cackled at him briefly, before she was instantly serious once more, which made Arson worry for his Runic library temporarily, and she retorted, only to once more fill him with a simmering rage.

 

“Yeah, I bet you don’t remember, Mr. she-better-give-me-an-oath-to-ensure-that-she-stops, Mr. she’s-wiping-your-memory-don’t-move-until-she-stops-and-gives-you-answers-for-Anastasia-to-be-able-to-refer-to.” The AI once more playing her own mimicry of Arson talking. Arson smiled in shock, a once more familiar feeling of the headmaster’s power filled his body, but brushed against his mind like a foreign substance. The feeling like an unreleased sneeze to Arson’s mind.

 

Something is wrong here, maybe if I… Arson closed his eyes and the Closed Eye Dominion flickered into being. All sense of his mind being tampered with, lost in a final blink.

 

“You can stop Anna, I can see her just fine now.” A literal fog left Arson’s mind and he knew the headmaster’s ability must be powerful if it could influence him to such a degree. The eyes were portals to the soul, any who could connect deeply with those access-ways were truly formidable opponents, and though his Closed Eye Dominion allowed him to see perfectly within his sphere’s current range, many opponents fought well outside his available kilometer.

 

“Well, that is more than interesting,” said the Headmaster. She floated in the air just a few yards away. Now alarmed by Arson’s turning head as she circled him.

 

No first season cycle student of her academy had ever been able to know where she truly was. She’d thought his earlier glances had been luck or AI assisted, but no, this was something else entirely.

 

“I will need that oath, or I probably won’t be able to attend this school,” said Arson. The woman nodded back at him, and knew she couldn’t give him what he needed.

 

“You know that I cannot do that right, it is a huge liability with some of the things that occur here, I’m sorry,” said the headmaster. Arson returned the nod, understanding completely.

 

“Well if you change your mind, I’d truly love to experience your school and what it has to offer, I planned to be here for a fortnight before I made my final decision anyway, I’ll be right here if you change your mind,” said Arson with a smile. He then sat down, crossed his legs and started to practice the breathing exercise taught to him by PRO.

 

He wondered if increasing his mana pool overall would allow for him to return to the levels of mana he was more accustomed to, as well as his regeneration. Rather than waste time and hope that the headmaster would change her mind, he figured many things within his body and Overlay had gone far too long without attention and upkeep.

 

“I see, child. The same goes to you, our doors are open to you, young man,” attempted the headmaster, rising only slightly farther into the air before Arson responded.

 

“Respectfully, Headmaster, the value of knowledge that can be stripped from your mind moments after you’ve obtained it, or just before you leave the school’s grounds when it may be most vital to have, is potentially worthless,” said Arson.

 

“We would never take something—“

 

“Who are we but Cultivators? Knowledge is fathomless in what it can inspire. You say you take nothing vital, I dare say everything is vital, especially in a place like this, but I understand your position, and ask that you take time to consider what having me on your side can do. I’m not powerful, but I can bring good attention to this school,” said Arson. Not aware of the apprehension the woman felt at even being so easily traced through the air as she was by him when he spoke to her.

 

“I will, young man, I will indeed consider it, until we speak again, growth and grace.”

 

“Growth and grace,” spoke Arson with a slight bob of his head in the woman’s direction. She flew off in the next breath, and Arson dared to open his eyes.

 

“Keep me posted on her, or any other potential teachers,” demanded Arson, and Anastasia gave him a nod of her own.

 

“What are you going to do for a fortnight on a random rooftop, little buddy?” asked Anastasia.

 

“Nothing, meditate, maybe try and craft something, kinda sounds like fun, seeing all those towers moving earlier had me feeling like I was about to be involved with so many new things, may not be exactly what I wanted, but I do have an opportunity to catch up on things that I have wanted to for a long time,” said Arson. The first few swipes making him realize exactly how long it had been since he’d opened his Overlay for something other than to reread old notifications.

 

“Sparks, I’m probably missing out on a lot of good stuff by not using this more,” said Arson. There were new tabs for him to click including, Crafts, Celebrity, and even one titled Infrastructure.

 

All of these tabs were locked currently, and with the point values to unlock system aspects being so high, Arson prayed he had enough skill points for a single unlocking, but knew 2 or 3 would be an impossibility without some incredibly dangerous grinding being done.

 

He hadn’t gained a single skill point during the entire twelve season cycles he spent within Endless. The only points gained in almost 13 season cycles, were the horde of skeletons he fought, which had offered a surprising amount of points, but not enough for him to celebrate.

 

Available Skill Points: 210,357.

 

Arson sighed and tried not to grit his teeth at the 100k price tag to unlock the Crafting tab when he selected it, but when his seal triggered a restriction that would cost him an additional 100k to be able to access the tab in any way, he couldn’t help but roar in frustration.

 

“Are you seeing this trash? 100k for the tab, and 100k for a training mode because I’m both not old enough, and the full tab would give me, unfettered instruction, whatever that means. I just want to learn new ways to craft things, is that too much to ask?” said Arson in frustration. He took a deep breath and decided to unlock the tab and the secondary function that would give him access.

 

The tab’s title changed from Crafts to Training & Development. The small lock that had once been there, replaced by a miniature version of his crown. Arson felt tension leave his body at the thought that his points had gone to something that would help him grow, and smiled.

 

Let’s see what we have gotten ourselves into.

 

Arson opened the tab for the first time and he was greeted by 64 boxes in a chess board layout. The four middle boxes were filled in with the runes, for soul, craft, body, and mind.

 

A halo floated just above the boxes, four colors, red, blue, green and yellow, poured from their corresponding rune and flowed into the dazzling ring filled with light. So much that the halo poured out a mixture of the colors like an aurora around its perimeter.

 

“Is that a second ring being formed?” At the edges of the aurora another faint halo of light could be seen forming and Arson could only imagine what that meant.

 

“Where are we going to start? The craft one looks interesting, all red and menacing like that,” said Anastasia. Arson took the suggestion and tried to mentally click the box, only for more boxes to replace the originals.

 

These boxes were all red or various shades of red. Many of these boxes were filled in, but the majority were pink, with the exception of a few. AI, which Arson knew couldn’t be Artificial Intelligence, but learned that it stood for Architecture and Infrastructure, Mana, Schemes, and STEM, which was apparently short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math from what Anastasia explained.

 

He learned that if he hovered over the boxes, summary information was listed about the category, alongside a percentage that Arson assumed was either how much he knew about the subject or the percentage until he rose to a new level within the subject listed.

 

After clicking Mana and seeing his breathing technique listed with the rest of his skills and a handful of additional mana based effects that occurred within his body, he figured the latter of his two options was most likely it.

 

The more individual factors that I learned about a topic, it seemed the more boxes popped up and the deeper the color became for the category? He was going to have to test this more, but only grew more excited for what the training portion that continued to flash whenever he clicked into an actual active topic could offer.

 

He’d followed the chain from Body into Meditation, and selected Endless Breathing Technique, and pressed the flashing training button without hesitation.

 

The pleasant sound of the ocean filled his ears, and a soft voice came into his ears next, instructing Arson on how to breathe, and enter his soul realm, a place he hadn’t visited in so long.

 

He was shocked by what he saw when he entered. The particle ring around the multi-colored sun at the center of his soul realm, was no longer that of a debris cloud in a circular shape. The particles had been pushed so tightly together that a perfect ring was formed, emanations of ice and lightning forming a familiar aurora, and a secondary field of particles could be seen forming at its rim.

 

That can’t be a coincidence…

 

Arson was a moment from starting the exercise but then started to receive calls, one after the other.

 

“Hey, you coming home for dinner, dude,” asked Troy. Arson shook his head.

 

“No, I’m being a bit stubborn and may have gotten into it with the headmaster here,” said Arson, moving on before Troy could inquire more about his situation.

 

“How did the Realm Travelers exam go for you guys?” Arson asked, actually hoping that his friends would be able to join him where he was a quickly as possible.

 

“Everybody passed, Xani is pissed that Micro got a higher score than her, and now won’t leave your little assassin alone, but other than that, we all should be able to join you by tomorrow morning at the latest, after my fight,” said Troy. He looked away from the landscape and toward her hologram at her comment.

 

“My little assassin?”

 

“You heard me Arson, she’s an absolute menace, and you know it. I wasn’t jealous before, but after seeing her fight against that Amorra chick, I know I’d lose to her, just have to bridge the gap is all,” stated Troy with a pointed finger in his direction.

 

“What gap would that be?”

 

“She is obviously smart, skilled, and now very attractive after being trained by you for years,” responded Troy.

 

“Let's not act like you don’t see it,” continued Troy. Arson’s brow furrowed, as he truly hadn’t ever seen it.

 

The young woman once had a grease trap full of hair, and more brown teeth in her mouth than fingers and toes on her body.

 

Now though, her unused core, had refined away many of her body's original deficiencies, and left her rather catching.

 

“Sorry, love, I have a one track mind, and you got that spot filled. What you're saying may be true, but I’ve only ever seen her as a good friend, not to mention it took me season cycles to understand what I felt for you,” said Arson with a smile. The sharp inhalation of breath that Troy couldn’t hold back, confused him further though, as he thought he would want her to know his truth.

 

“What, what did I say wrong now?”

 

“Nothing, but I now know you are probably an emotional blockhead and really didn’t see that you had enamored that girl season cycles ago,” said Troy.

 

“No way, really?” Troy nodded and Arson sighed.

 

“Well that explains a lot, but hey I’m getting a call from Lane, let me call you back,” said Arson, Troy blew him a kiss and he switched Holo-calls.

 

“Hit me with it!” This continued like this until he learned from Lane he was being offered a streamer's contract for BlackHole, the Builders, and as a individual. His small numbers were enough to get attention by the billions, but not nearly enough to be considered realm-wide notoriety. So he considered the slow task of building a following on the Holo-web.

 

“I hear you, but I want you to try the red Jacket for a while, and maybe a few other colors, white, gold, maybe even a deep blue one?” Arson didn’t roll his eyes at Jasmine and was glad when Rob joined their call and discussed their plans for the reopening of the night club Arson destroyed and bought from Mr Kim.

 

“I have a huge meal planned, and Troy got some heavy hitters to both fight and appear to give us some good buzz, but I’m just there to increase traction on the food delivery sales. Honestly, we might be able to break into a new tier of client on this opener,” said Rob. The young man was cooking the entire time he spoke to Jasmine and Arson. Arson even pulled some of the young man’s food from his own spacial inventory and began to eat as they discussed.

 

“Are you sure this is okay, these people are crazy, buddy. I feel like you're mad at me, you mad at me?” Arson shook his head at Khalif. He’d sent the young man to train with Seneschal and Micro, which the bodyguard felt to be more punishment than the reward Arson intended.

 

“Come on man, it's good for you, and I thought you were king of the shadowed Sky. What, are you not going to learn how to fly now, things too difficult?” Khalif looked over his shoulder, his hologram revealing the sight of Micro fighting Seneschal for the briefest moment. A clash worthy of even Arson’s attention being had.

 

“Sparks!” said Arson.

 

“That’s what I’m saying, you got me out here with the king of demons and somebody worthy of being his sparking offspring, bra, you sure you not mad?”

 

“I promise Khalif, I am not mad, I just want you to learn as much as you can. There is a lot more to darkness than just the demonic arts, remember that,” explained Arson.

 

Xani and Arson chatted briefly about what he planned to craft over the next few days and Arson was excited to begin. He had long wanted to start crafting a new skill, and wondered if his idea for potentially his strongest attack would actually work. Instead he thought he would start small, and craft a new shaft and handle for his Scythe, with some added functionality.

 

“Thanks for the ideas, Xani, but I’m going to get back to it. See you tomorrow, and tell Auto I said hey,” said Arson. The young woman gave him a smile, rude gesture, and hung up without another word.

 

“Finally… Lets get started!”