I stared at the pulsing golden orb floating above my palm, frustration etching deep lines across my forehead. Another failed attempt at modifying [Auric Vision]. The Skill flickered off, returning my vision to normal, leaving only disappointment behind. This had become much more of a problem than I had ever suspected it would. The Skill completely refused to cooperate with anything I did; it simply wouldn't budge, no matter what I did. Nor would it accept any outside influence. I couldn't force something else to orbit it the way I had with [Fell Gaze], which had ended up creating my newest Spell, [Gaze of Bane].

  I slumped down to a seated position in the middle of the training room. The taste of defeat was bitter ash in my mouth. I couldn't think my way out of this predicament, nor could I muscle my way out of it. There was no easy or obvious solution to get me from point A to point B. I reached into my [Inventory], pulling out a bottle of water. I had taken the time to stock up on things that could be useful and stuffed them into my [Inventory]. I know how a month of food and water in there, along with some other things that might come in handy like a tent, pitons, and rope. I sighed as my mind drifted away from the problem I'd been chewing on and working over for several hours now.

  "There has to be a way," I muttered, clenching my fist. "Some connection I'm missing, some angle I haven't considered." Another sigh built up within me, waiting to be expelled. My brooding over my repeated failure to change the Skill was interrupted by a chiming sound that rang out through the room, followed by the crackle of an intercom.

  “Aiden, you done? Mind if we come in for a bit?” A familiar voice called over the intercom.

  "Sure," I called back, it sounded like Victor over the intercom. A moment later, the door slid open, revealing Victor and his squad as they filed in quickly, the door sliding shut behind them. It looked like his whole squad was here, Victor himself as well as Matt, Dave, Alex, and Sophia trailing Victor.

  "How's it going?"

  I shrugged, not bothering to hide my frustration. "Not great. Working on one of my Skills. It just won't do what I want it to." I explained as vaguely as I could. I didn't mind revealing small pieces of what I could do, but I still wanted to hold back most of it. I didn't trust the Banner or its personnel fully yet. So far, they had dealt with me fairly and in good faith, but that could change in a heartbeat.

  Victor nodded, his face thoughtful. "Sometimes, the hardest battles are the ones we fight against ourselves. Or our abilities, in this case."

  I grunted in acknowledgment, appreciating that he didn't press for details. The rest of the squad spread out, taking up various positions around the room. Matt and Dave began stretching, while Alex pulled out a data pad and started tapping away at it. Sophia, the quiet one of the group, leaned against the wall, her sharp eyes observing everything.

  "We've got another dungeon to clear," Victor continued. "Thought you might want to join us. Could be a good distraction from your... current frustrations."

  I considered the offer for a moment. Part of me wanted to stay and keep hammering away at the problem, but I knew that sometimes stepping away could provide unexpected insights. Plus, I had to admit, as a whole, their squad seemed to be fairly skilled. It hadn't exactly been fair to pit me against them one on one the way they had been for the assessment. Most of their number had been at a lower level than me, which meant there had been a simple gap in raw power, rather than a gap in skill.

  "What's the situation?" I asked, pushing myself to my feet.

  Victor's lips quirked in what might have been a smile. "Small dungeon forming a little ways outside the city limits. The analysts are marking it a Grade 2 dungeon. So, somewhere around level 18 plus or minus. Could be as low as 15 or as high as the low twenties, with the boss likely being a level or two higher."

  I nodded, feeling a familiar tension build in my muscles. The prospect of action, of testing myself against real threats, always brought a mix of anticipation and unease. Directly alongside a dose of excitement, I still wasn't sure I wanted to look at it too closely. "Alright, dunno how that works for my contract with the Banner though."

  "Director Giffle read me in on your deal with the Banner, just the pertinent parts," Victor explained, shrugging. "He said you could assist with whatever missions you want, but that on missions that aren't offered to you specifically, you get a normal split like me and the rest of the squad."

  "Eh, count me in then, nothing better to do since I'm not making much progress here."

  "Alright then, glad to have you along." The grin on Victor's face was mirrored by the rest of the squad. They seemed quite happy to have me along, probably for my fighting strength if nothing else. It wasn't that long ago I'd flattened the four of them during my initial assessment by the Banner. The only person in this squad I hadn't fought was Victor himself. I was sure that a fight would happen one day, but today wasn't that day. "We're not under a time crunch for this one, so we'll do a bit of a warm-up, and then head out that work for you?"

  "Works. I'll work on a few things, holler at me when it's time to go." I said, making my way back to the center of the room. I wondered what I should work on while Victor and his squad were going through their pre-mission routine. I decided to work on [Mana Manipulation]. I had a sneaking suspicion there was more I could get out of it. Much, much more. I'd barely used it since I acquired it, and my control was severely lacking. I closed my eyes, focusing on the familiar sensation of mana coursing through my body. [Mana Manipulation] was a versatile skill, one I'd barely scratched the surface of. As I concentrated, I could feel the energy swirling within me. I could feel [Constellation of Soul] activating as well as I took control of the internal flow of mana in my body.

  At first, I continued the cycle, letting the mana under my direction flow through the channels as it had up to this point. I spent several long minutes just watching, studying the flow of mana as it made its way around my body.

  What would happen if I built it up somewhere? Built it up and ejected it, like a bullet?

  I seized on the thought and began pushing at my mana. It was slow, almost sluggish, but it was moving. Slowly, more and more built up in my right hand as I slowly diverted more and more from the flow. Within moments, I began to feel a burning sensation in my hand, stretching, like a rubber band pulled too far.

  My eyes snapped open as my hand raised, pointed at one of the training dummies that wasn't in use. I gave all the mana built up in my hand a hard shove as my hand began to glow blue from within. I could see the bones almost as if someone was holding a blue flashlight on the other side of my hand. A sharp hiss ripped through the air as the mana coalesced in front of my raised palm. It looked like a small ball, barely 2 inches in diameter. Now that it was outside my body, my control declined sharply, and I found myself fighting to keep the mana from running rampant. I pressed my will down on the mana; it was mine, it would obey me. The small orb condensed, shrinking down as it was compacted under the weight of my will. I could feel myself reaching the limits of my ability to control the dense mass of mana, but now I found I had made a critical error.

  Shit, I have no idea how to fire this thing.

  I shoved at the orb with my will, but it refused to budge, like it was a piece of metal and I was a big magnet. The orb of compressed mana hovered inches from my palm, pulsing with barely contained energy. I could feel it straining against my control, like a wild animal desperate to break free. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I struggled to maintain my grip on the volatile sphere.

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  "Aiden?" Victor's voice cut through my concentration. "Everything alright?"

  I didn't dare turn to look at him. "Uh, slight problem. Created something, can't quite... release it."

  I heard footsteps approaching cautiously. "What exactly are we dealing with here?"

  "Compressed mana. A lot of it. Very unstable." I grunted, my arm starting to shake from the effort of containing the energy. A quick check told me something like half of my total mana pool was now contained in the orb. "Around half my total pool of mana," I grunted out.

  "Shit," Victor muttered. "Everyone, clear the room. Now."

  I heard the squad scrambling to obey, but Victor remained nearby. "Can you disperse it safely?"

  "Working on it," I gritted out. I tried to will the orb to dissipate, to release its energy gradually and fade away, but it stubbornly refused to cooperate. The pressure was building, and I knew I couldn't hold it much longer.

  An idea struck me. If I couldn't release it outward, maybe I could draw it back in. I began to pull at the mana, trying to reabsorb it into my body. At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, agonizingly, I felt the orb start to shrink. It was slow, agonizing work, dragging the mana back in was like dragging sand through my channels. It was moving, slowly, grinding the entire way. My insides felt raw as I reached the halfway point, and my control was able to reassert itself over the orb.

  "Okay, I've got a handle on it now," I said with a sigh of relief. Note to self, large quantities of compressed mana, very hard to keep control of. I felt like my control had improved significantly with this little debacle, so it wasn't all bad. Slowly, I began to move the orb away from my palm. I could sense that Victor was still around, though he was remaining silent, evidently not wanting to affect my concentration on what I was doing. Slowly, the orb was moving, following where I willed it to move, and I couldn't help the grin that spread over my face. It felt like I had complete control over it now, and within moments, I was having it fly around me in patterns, and changing shape from a simple sphere to cubes, trapezoids and any other shape I could think of. This continued for several minutes until the mana settled into a shape that resembled an arrowhead or a spear tip. Something clicked in the back of my mind as I stared at the shape, and I imagined myself drawing back a bow, with my mana as the arrow. The arrowhead-shaped mass of mana flipped mid-motion, pointing itself at a nearby dummy.

  Release.

  The mana projectile rocketed away from me towards the dummy. It struck with a bang that rivalled the noise of a fairly large rifle, and I felt my control snap off as the mana dissipated, spent. I couldn't help but stare at the two-inch hole it had bored through the dummy. I could clearly see the wall on the other side, and it had even suffered some damage. It hadn't been enough to bore through the wall as well, but it had taken a chunk out of the heavily enchanted concrete.

  I stood there, stunned by the power I'd just unleashed. The smoking hole in the dummy and the damaged wall beyond were stark testaments to what I'd accomplished. My mind raced with the possibilities this new application of [Mana Manipulation] presented.

  "Well," Victor's voice broke the silence, tinged with a mixture of awe and concern. "That was... impressive."

  I turned to face him, still processing what had just happened. "Yeah... I didn't expect it to do that."

  Victor's eyes narrowed slightly as he studied me. "You're full of surprises, Aiden. That kind of raw mana manipulation is rare, especially at your level."

  I nodded, not entirely sure how to respond. Part of me was elated at the breakthrough, but another part was wary of revealing too much of my capabilities. "It's still pretty unstable, Skill or no Skill, I'm going to have to spend time working on it."

  Victor seemed to accept this, nodding slowly. "It's certainly something to work on. But maybe save the experimental stuff for when we're not about to head into a dungeon, yeah?"

  I couldn't help but smirk at that. "Fair enough. So, are we ready to go?"

  "Just about," Victor replied, gesturing towards the door where the rest of the squad was filing back in, looking both curious and cautious. "Gear up, we'll head out in five."

  ——-

  The ride out to the dungeon was a short one filled with banter between the familiar teammates. I remained quiet for most of the ride despite attempts to draw me out. I engaged here and there when I felt I had something to add to the conversations going on around me, but precious little else. I'd never been particularly comfortable with people, and magic and the system hadn't changed that. I had to admit that I had grown more comfortable with the squad as the ride went on, though. Towards the end, I'd been nodding along with most of the conversations.

  The blacked out SUV rolled to a stop. "We're here, game faces on people," Victor announced from the front seat, he'd been the one driving. We all piled out of the vehicle.

  As we exited the SUV, I took in our surroundings. We were on the outskirts of a dense forest, the trees looming ominously before us. The air felt thick with an unnatural stillness, what seemed to be a telltale sign of a dungeon's presence. I could feel the mana in the air, heavier and more concentrated than normal. I could hear the sound of running water nearby. Must be near the Grand River.

  Victor began issuing orders, his voice low and authoritative. "Alex, you're on point. Matt, Dave, support from the rear. Sophia, you're with me in the center. Aiden, where do you want to be?"

  I considered for a moment. "I'll stick near the middle for now. I can move where needed, pull out a few tricks if I have to." I smirked at Matt and Dave. “You guys haven’t seen most of what I can do yet. Well, unless David showed you some of his recordings.” I let out a low chuckle at the look Matt and Dave shared. The two of them had taken the worst of it during my assessment and had barely been able to fight back at all.

  Victor nodded, a mix of amusement and trepidation in his eyes. "Alright, let's move out. Stay alert, everyone."

  We entered the forest, the canopy above us quickly blocking out most of the sunlight. The air grew cooler, and I could feel the mana thickening around us. My [Auric Vision] activated instinctively, revealing swirling patterns of energy in the air and trees.

  As we moved deeper into the woods, I couldn't see mana directly with my [Auric Vision], but what I could see was the way ambient mana affected auras. It was almost like wind blowing on a candle flame. The mana seemed to all be flowing outward from a single location, judging by the way the auras all around me moved and flickered with its passing.

  "Victor," I called out softly, "the mana is flowing. I think I can track where the dungeon entrance is."

  He glanced back at me, eyebrows raised. "That's a useful trick. Lead on, then."

  I took point, using the flickering auras of Victor's squad like a compass to point me towards the source of the mana, causing them to fluctuate. As we progressed towards the dungeon, hopefully at least, the brush became denser. The foliage that grew quickest, the grass, and other similar plants seemed to have experienced a large growth spurt.

  In the center stood a massive oak tree, its trunk easily fifteen feet in diameter. The bark seemed to shimmer and shift, like a mirage in the desert. Mana poured from it in all directions, spreading out across the forest. It wasn't like the last entrance I'd seen. That had been a free-floating sphere colored purple by the mana density. This was more like a shimmer that covered the tree, as if it had turned the tree itself into the entrance rather than manifesting directly.

  "This is it," I said, gesturing towards the tree. "The entrance is here. I'm guessing all the mana the entrance is pushing out is affecting the local plant life, judging by the overgrowth."

  "That's a fairly common thing to see." Sophia chimed in, "Mana is almost like distilled life energy. In studies the banner has done, we've found that a higher level of ambient mana often leads to increased growth and beneficial mutations in many species of plants. Animals don't seem to get the same effects, though it definitely makes them healthier."

  “Huh, learn something new every day.” I shrugged.

  Victor stepped forward, studying the massive oak with a practiced eye. "Good work, Aiden. Alright, team, standard formation. Alex, can you sense the entrance?"

  Alex, a wiry man with close-cropped hair, closed his eyes in concentration. After a moment, he nodded. "Yeah, I've got it. It's... inside the tree? That's new."

  Victor frowned. "Inside? Interesting. Sophia, any insights?"

  The quiet woman stepped forward, her eyes glowing faintly as she examined the tree. "The mana patterns suggest a pocket dimension. The tree itself is likely just a focal point or anchor."

  I watched their exchange with interest, impressed by their teamwork and expertise. It was clear they'd done this many times before.

  "Alright," Victor said, his voice steady and commanding. "We'll need to find a way to access the pocket dimension. Aiden, any ideas? You seemed to have a knack for sensing the mana flow."

  I shrugged, stepping closer to the tree. As I approached, I could feel the mana growing denser, almost oppressive. I placed my hand on the bark, closing my eyes to focus. The moment my skin made contact, I felt a jolt of energy course through me.

  My eyes snapped open. The world around me seemed to shift and warp, the tree's bark becoming translucent. "Feels like the other entrance, I'm betting it'll let us walk right in," I said, pushing my hand into it. There was no resistance. I could feel the mana of the dungeon trying to latch onto me and drag me inside, the same way it had during the rogue dungeon I'd cleared. Things were different this time around. This time, I had [Mana Manipulation] and [Constellation of Soul]; it was simple enough to force the mana to release its grip on me with a flex of will.

  "Yep, we can just hop in and it'll pull us into the dungeon," I said, yanking my hand free of the tree. My fingers were tingling slightly from touching the dense mana that made up the entrance. "Doesn't feel particularly strong, feels weaker than the rogue one I cleared last time." I had to admit, part of me was disappointed the dungeon wasn't stronger.

  "Alright, final checks, everyone. Better make sure you have it now because I don't want to have to come back out before we're done." Victor announced.