Theodore sat on top of the ant queen's corpse, panting. Well, not really panting since he didn't need to breathe, but the motion felt right. Natural. Something to do while his mana center settled from nearly exploding.

The queen was ridiculously massive. Big enough that sitting on its thorax felt like sitting on a small hill. A hill made of quasi-dimensional chitin that still flickered at the edges, reality not quite sure if it should exist or not.

Around him was... well.

Theodore decided not to think too hard about what was around him. Or what wasn't around him anymore.

[Kaleidoscope] had done its job. Maybe a little too well.

The sword was sealed again, wrapped in those soul-fragment cloths that looked like pieces of night. It hummed against his back, pleased with itself. Swords shouldn't be pleased with themselves, Theodore thought. That was probably a bad sign. But whatever. Problem for future Theodore.

His mana channels ached. [Dimensional Siphon] had kept him from running dry, but pulling that much mana that fast was like forcing a river through a garden hose. Everything hurt in that special way that meant he'd pushed way too hard and would probably pay for it later.

The dimension was quiet. Sittering, screeching, vibrations through the ground except, everything was quiet, and he—

"Congratulations."

Theodore didn't jump. He was too tired to jump. Seraphina stood next to him, having appeared from nowhere like she always did. She surveyed the landscape curiously.

"Your training ends here," she said. "For now."

Theodore blinked. That was unexpected. "Already?"

She turned those unsettling eyes on him. "You've absorbed too much too quickly. Skills, spells, experience. The human mind isn't meant to adapt this fast. You need time to acclimate before you break."

"I feel fine," Theodore lied. He felt like someone had put his brain in a blender and hit puree.

"No, you don't." She sat down next to him on the queen's corpse, which was weird. Seraphina didn't really do casual sitting. "Tell me, what do you think of the System?"

Random topic change. Typical Seraphina.

"It's... useful?"

"Useful," she repeated, sounding amused. "That's one word for it. When I was young—truly young—the System was different. Smaller, simpler."

Theodore filed that away. The System had been different? Younger? That implied it grew, changed, evolved maybe.

"Skills were basic things back then," she continued. "Run. Jump. Strike. None of these elaborate constructions you have now. [Parallel Processing], [Slime Manipulation], etc—these would have been impossibilities. The System has grown fat on complexity."

"That sounds like a good thing."

"Does it?" She picked up a piece of ant chitin, studying how it flickered between existing and not as it shifted between dimensions. "The System makes you lazy. Dependent. You cast spells through its framework instead of understanding the fundamental forces. You rely on skills instead of technique. You're babied."

Theodore wanted to argue, but... well. She had literally just watched him almost die to ants because he'd gotten too dependent on having infinite mana through [Dimensional Siphon].

"True spells," she said, "cast without the System's hand-holding, are superior. Far more flexible. More powerful. But also more dangerous. The System protects you from yourselves."

"That can happen?"

"I've seen it happen. Quite messy."

Of course she had.

She stood, brushing off her dress even though nothing had stuck to it. "When you return, we'll continue. But first, you must stabilize. Let your new power settle. Learn to be comfortable in your skin again."

"And then?"

"Then I'll strip something else away." She smiled, and it wasn't a nice smile. "Your mana was first. You learned to survive without it, learned to think differently. Next time, perhaps I'll take your skills. Or your senses. Or your form. Each limitation teaches you to exceed yourself."

Theodore really didn't like the sound of any of that.

"Wait—" Theodore started, but she was already gone. Or he was. Hard to tell. The dimension was folding, reality reasserting itself, and suddenly he was standing in Seraphina's tea shop.

Senna was there, glaring at him like his existence personally offended her. "You're back."

"Yeah."

"You smell like dead ants."

Theodore looked down at himself. She wasn't wrong. Quasi-dimensional ant guts had a very specific smell. Like ozone mixed with copper mixed with something that didn't have a name because it didn't exist in normal reality.

"Where's Seraphina?"

"Gone. She'll return when she feels like it." Senna moved toward the door. "There's a bath upstairs. Use it. You're disgusting."

She left him standing there, dripping interdimensional ant fluid on the probably-priceless carpet, wondering how much time had actually passed. Days? Weeks? Months?

Theodore headed for the bath, already dreading what she'd come up with next.

Taking away his skills sounded particularly awful.

***

Theodore sat across from Seraphina in her tea room, clean now, trying not to look too eager about finally being back in normal reality.

"You survived," Seraphina said, sipping her tea. "Good."

"That's it? Just 'good'?"

"Would you prefer a medal?"

"I mean..."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"No medals. But you did well enough that I'll teach you something interesting next time." She set down her cup. "Have you ever wanted to punch someone through time?"

Theodore blinked. "What?"

"It's amusing."

"That's... that's possible? I mean, I can learn time-related skills?"

"No you can't, but everything's possible if you put your mind to it. Most things kill you, but they're possible." She studied him. "Your friend has been trying to break into my shop."

"Freya?"

"Unless you have multiple friends with fire-based classes and anger management issues, yes."

Theodore couldn't help but grin. That sounded exactly like Freya.

"She's also training with your grandfather now. They're remarkably similar. Both prefer to solve problems by hitting them until they stop being problems."

"Yeah, that tracks."

"Go home. Rest. Let your new abilities settle. When you're ready, I'll call you back." She stood. "Oh, and Theodore? Next time I'll be taking away your form. You'll need to learn to cast as pure consciousness."

"I'm sorry, what?"

But she was already gone, leaving Theodore alone with that terrifying thought and a cup of tea he hadn't asked for.

Pure consciousness? How did that even work? Was he going to be a ghost? A floating ball of thoughts? This woman was insane. He needed a distraction. He'd finally gotten out of the godforsaken dimension, so he checked on his status screen. The numbers were beautiful.

[Healing Touch] has leveled up! – Lvl 13 > Lvl 25!

Congratulations! You have evolved skill: [Healing Touch]!

Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Heal]!

[Heal] has leveled up! – Lvl 1 > Lvl 6!

[Mana Convergence] has leveled up! – Lvl 15 > Lvl 20!

[Parallel Processing] has leveled up! – Lvl 8 > Lvl 18!

[Severing Aura] has leveled up! – Lvl 9 > Lvl 20!

[Mana Control] has leveled up! – Lvl 23 > Lvl 25!

Congratulations! You have evolved skill: [Mana Control]!

Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Mana Manipulation]!

[Mana Manipulation] has leveled up! – Lvl 0 > Lvl 3!

[Mana Reinforcement] has leveled up! – Lvl 6 > Lvl 14!

[Mana Shield] has leveled up! – Lvl 20 > Lvl 25!

Congratulations! You have evolved skill: [Mana Shield]!

Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Basic Armament]!

[Basic Armament] has leveled up! – Lvl 1 > Lvl 5!

[Arcane Awareness] has leveled up! – Lvl 18 > Lvl 25!

Congratulations! You have evolved skill: [Arcane Awareness]!

Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Arcane Sight]!

[Arcane Sight] has leveled up! – Lvl 1 > Lvl 12!

[Slime Control] has leveled up! – Lvl 5 > Lvl 25!

Congratulations! You have evolved skill: [Slime Control]!

Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Slime Manipulation]!

[Slime Manipulation] has leveled up! – Lvl 1 > Lvl 3!

[Swordsmanship (Novice)] has leveled up! – Lvl 21 > Lvl 25!

Congratulations! You have evolved skill: [Swordsmanship (Novice)]!

Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Swordsmanship (Adept)]!

[Swordsmanship (Adept)] has leveled up! – Lvl 1 > Lvl 17!

Congratulations! You have learned a new spell: [Blink]!

Congratulations! You have learned a new spell: [Dimensional Siphon]!

Congratulations! You have learned a new spell: [Eclipse]!

Congratulations! You have learned a new spell: [Kaleidoscope]!

[Basic Dimensional Magic] has leveled up! – Lvl 1 > Lvl 4!

Your class, [Runic Mage], has leveled up – Lvl 12 > Lvl 17!

Your race, [Human(F)], has leveled up – Lvl 18 > Lvl 25!

Your race, [Human(F)], has leveled up – Lvl 25 > Lvl MAX!

Your race, [Human(F)], has evolved! – F > E!

Your race, [Human(E)], has leveled up – Lvl 0 > Lvl 8!

[Opie] has leveled up! Lvl 4 > Lvl 11!

Name: Theodore Lockheart Race: Human —Rank: E —Level: 8 Class: Runic Mage —Rank: Apprentice —Level: 17

Skills: Basic Magic Script (Lvl 15), Elemental Mastery (Lvl 10), Myriad Tongue (Lvl 1), Basic Rune Creation (Lvl 22), Swordsmanship (Adept) (Lvl 17), Arcane Sight (Lvl 12), True Perception (Lvl 0), Psionic Resistance (Lvl 23), Heal (Lvl. 6), Mana Bolt (Lvl. 9), Basic Armament (Lvl. 5), Mana Reinforcement (Lvl. 14), Mana Manipulation (Lvl. 3), Rune Inscription (Lvl. 11), Mana Convergence (Lvl. 20), Slime Manipulation (Lvl. 3), Cloning (Lvl. 13), Severing Aura (Lvl. 20), Parallel Processing (Lvl. 18), Basic Dimensional Magic (Lvl. 4)

Spells: [Thermal Lance], [Thermal Release], [Blink], [Dimensional Siphon], [Eclipse], [Kaleidoscope]

Innate Abilities: Sever

Familiar: Opie (Soul Viper) – Lvl 11

Titles: The Unveiled, Aether Forged, Arachnid Bane, Light Touched

All those level ups, evolutions, new spells. He'd worked his ass off for these.

So he was happy to revel in the numbers going up. This training had been absolutely brutal after all. He'd evolved multiple skills, leveled up others, gained levels in his Class due to sealing [Kaleidoscope]. Opie as well had been busy repairing the chunk of his soul he tore off to create the seal, so the little guy had leveled up constantly as well. On the other hand, Theodore had not only leveled up but also evolved his Race due to fighting so many creatures. He was half-step into Rank 3 now.

The mana-related skills hadn't leveled much, which made sense. Hard to level [Mana Bolt] when using any mana at all summoned a horde of interdimensional ants wanting to eat your face. [Mana Convergence] had gotten to 20 though, just from passive use due to unexpected—or expected, he supposed—synnergy with [Dimensional Siphon]. Five more levels and it'd evolve. Maybe he could merge it with [Dimensional Siphon] somehow? They were functionally similar—one pulled mana from the surrounding area, the other from different dimensions. If he could combine them…

Well, it would declutter his status screen for one.

[Mana Reinforcement] had leveled decently. When you couldn't use external magic without becoming ant food, reinforcing your body became mandatory, at least the times when he was forced to. After all, it was that or die. Theodore had chosen not dying. [Severing Aura] though… That had been his bread and butter. Level 20 now. Turns out when you're fighting creatures that exist partially outside reality, being able to cut through anything was pretty useful in tandem with [Sever]. Combined with his new [Swordsmanship (Adept)] skill and it was...

God, his swordsmanship had improved so much. From barely competent to actually knowing what he was doing. Seraphina hadn't been gentle about it either. She'd beaten proper form into him with the flat of her blade. Repeatedly. His face still remembered some of those hits.

[Arcane Sight] was incredible. He could also see the folds in space, the tears between dimensions, the places where reality got thin, etc. It was beautiful and terrifying. That was including all the functions of [Arcane Awareness] which was a strong skill to begin with. All he needed now was some kind of spatial sense to sense literal space around him so he could enhance his perception ability.

[Slime Manipulation] was interesting. General evolution that just made everything about his slime form better. The other evolution options had been... weird. Bestial stuff that would've altered his mind, made him more slime than human mentally. Hard pass on that. He liked his brain the way it was, thanks.

But the spells. Holy shit, the spells.

Four new additions to [Basic Dimensional Magic]. And to think this was supposed to be the BASIC version of the skill? If these were basic, what the hell would advanced look like? It would take a long time, he supposed, given how hard leveling up this skill was.

[Blink] was utility, but incredible utility. Instant short-range teleportation. Longer ranges possible with prep time and mana. Already saved his life dozens of times. [Dimensional Siphon] was also utility, but the kind that broke normal rules. Infinite mana as long as he could maintain the connection. The flow rate was limited, but still. Infinite was infinite. [Eclipse] and [Kaleidoscope] though...

They alternated as his strongest trump card, depending on the situation. Well, aside from his purple fire, but that was its own category of bullshit. [Eclipse] and [Kaleidoscope] were... Theodore didn't even know how to describe them properly. The ant queen had experienced his new sword just once and it preferred death over hiding in between dimensions.

Regardless, these two spells weren't really rankable against each other. Different tools for different problems—

SLAM

Something hit the shop's door.

Huh.

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