Penelope sighed, then turned around.

  “Where are you going?”

  Penelope shook her head. Her Elf parasite already knew the answer to that question, and she didn’t feel like talking about it while she pushed her way through people to get to the back of the crowd.

  “Okay, so you’re going to explore the campus, but what makes you think that there is anything in there that’s worth anything?”

  Penelope tried to glare at him, but only scared the small woman in front of her.

  Penelope dodged around the crowd, then walked down the alley, ignoring the stronger minty smell in the air. There were more of the blue leaves on the ground in the south west alley than there had been in the north west one.

  “This is a campus to teach mages. There has to be some magical artifacts that they left that I can use.” Penelope walked around to the front of the building.

  “You won’t be able to get past the security.” Jeru appeared in front of her. “Only a teacher can shut them off.” He looked to the southwest, where the city was beginning to react to the dome. “If you set off the alarm, the Authority will come, and you’ll waste a run because they’ll detain everyone until they figure out what’s going on, and by then, the Demons on the first floor will break out.”

  “That’s what happened whenever someone tried breaking in?” Penelope stopped in front of the double doors. She pointed at the golden glow on the columns as she passed by. “What are those?”

  “Those are scanners to check if you’re a Were.” Jeru sighed. “Fine, I’ll give you the tour.”

  The blue Elf motioned at the building. “Welcome to the Dimar Satellite of the University. The place where all Elves on this colony went to learn about magic.”

  The building had tall white columns in front of two impressive double doors. The glass was thick and tinted so that Penelope couldn’t see inside. The etching on the doors hummed as she ran her hands over them.

  The style of the building resembled something old, like it had been made to be a simple building or warehouse and then renovated and decorated with more features. Bigger, tinted windows, magic locks, as well as empty spaces where statues would have fit.

  “Elementals.” Jeru provided. “They would guard campuses, especially if there was a Were attack.”

  “What’s so important about Werewolves?” Penelope didn’t look at the parasite hovering beside her. “You have magic.”

  “It’s not just wolves. There are WereCats, WereBears, WereRats, even WereRabbits.” The blue Elf shook his head. “If you’ve seen an animal of it, then there’s a Were variety.”

  “There are lots of different types of Weres. Why is that important?” Penelope touched the pad on the doorframe.

  “That’s–!” Jeru shook his head. “If you trip the alarm, then you’re going to have to reset!”

  “I can just keep trying until I figure out how to get in.” Penelope glanced at him. “You were saying?”

  “Ugh. Here.” Jere moved over to the pad. “Run some magic through it.”

  “How?” Penelope looked at her hands.

  “Take your Light Magic.” Jeru put his incorporeal hand on the pad. “Then think about the spell, but don’t cast it. Hold it in your mind like you’re charging it. That should be enough.”

  Penelope scrolled through the menus until she’d claimed Light Magic, then put her hand on the pad. After almost a minute, nothing had happened.

  “What happens if I cast the spell?”

  “DON’T do that!” Jeru slashed his hands in front of her. “The building will think you’re attacking it, and the Authority will show up and shoot first.”

  “Okay…” Penelope bit her lip. “So what do you want me to do?”

  “Casting magic isn’t so easy without the system doing it for you?” Jeru clicked his tongue. “You’re going to have to work at it. If this was your natural magic, then you wouldn’t be having as much trouble, but this isn’t your natural magic, plus…” The blue Elf shook his head. “No, that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve seen plenty of Humans use magic pre-awakening.”

  “What are you talking about?” Penelope eyed him.

  “It’s not important.” Jeru waved his hand. “What is important is practicing your magic.” He sighed as he looked around. “We’ll have to practice away from the building. Come here.” The spectral Elf floated towards the rows of trees in the parking lot.

  Penelope followed him to the tree with blue diamond-shaped leaves. “Now what?”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “You have to learn how you’re using magic in order to do it without the system holding your hand.” Jeru floated over to a limb and pointed at a branch that was curved downward, so it stuck out among the rest of the branches. “Focus on this branch as your target. What I want you to do is feel how the magic flows through you and shapes itself to become your spell.”

  “Will this let me cast spells early?” Penelope grinned as she began imagining the different things that she could use magic to create.

  “If you spent twenty years working on this, maybe.” The Elf shook his head. “The problem is that you don’t have any innate magic right now. All the magic that flows through you is because it’s flowing through the mantle, so your mana pathways aren’t even being used. Over time, you could start coaxing them back to life, but that’s something that you have to do throughout a run, not something that you can force at the beginning.”

  “Oh…” Penelope sighed. “Okay, so what do you want me to do?”

  “Cast Light Pulse at this branch. Feel how the magic flows through you. You should be able to run your magic with the system even if you won’t be able to cast something with it.”

  “Okay…” She bit her lip as she pointed at the branch. “Light Pulse!”

  Penelope couldn’t feel anything as she cast the spell. She looked over at Jeru even though she knew the answer.

  “If you know what I’m going to say, then why are you thinking about asking me how many times you'll have to do this?” The blue Elf folded his arms across his chest.

  Penelope nodded and turned back to the tree. “Light Pulse!”

  Jeru watched her continue to throw magic at the tree until she depleted all of her mana.

  “Now what?” Penelope rubbed her head. “I’m still not feeling anything.”

  Jeru shrugged. “You could always go into the Dungeon like you’re supposed to.”

  Penelope looked in the direction of the Dungeon, then back at the Elf. “Is it going to be worth it to start now?”

  Jeru shrugged. “I learned a while ago that the runs that went the deepest were the ones where the looper did it their way. Trying to mimic someone else’s style ended up frustrating them to the point that all of them gave up before they were able to replicate it.”

  “You’re the one with the body. All I can do is annoy you.” He looked over Penelope. “What do you want to do?”

  She thought for a moment. “Go ahead and restart it. I want to try this a few more times, and it’ll be faster to restart it than to wait for my mana to regenerate naturally.”

  Jeru snapped his fingers, and blinding light washed over her.

  Penelope went straight to the tree and tried to feel the magic. After the seventeenth attempt, she was getting to the point that she could cast the spell and hold onto it for a little while. It wasn’t the most helpful skill considering that she couldn’t charge a spell, then walk through the barrier, but if a monster moved, she could hold off on releasing the spell until she targeted it again.

  “I think you’ve hit a wall.” Jeru shook his head after she’d expended all her mana for the fiftieth time. “You’re getting better at control, and your aim has improved, but you’re still not able to run your mana without casting a spell.”

  “Are you sure there’s no way to get into the building without being able to use mana?” Penelope looked over at the doors.

  “You have to be able to channel your magic into the reader so that it can verify who you are. Because I’m linked to you, it’ll recognize me and let you in, but that’s only if you can channel your mana.” The blue Elf shrugged. “I don’t think that this is a control problem. I think it’s a physical problem for lack of a better comparison. You just don’t have the natural magic capacity to try this right now. Maybe once you clear the first floor.”

  Jeru sighed. “If you want to keep trying it, I’ll keep resetting it for you, but I really think you should try something else before you get frustrated.”

  “What are we going to do about water?” Penelope took a deep breath. “I could take water as my element, but then we wouldn’t have any heat to cook.”

  “There are two items on the first floor that let you use water spells and two items that let you use ice spells.” The blue Elf winced at the rage inside Penelope’s mind.

  “WHY. DIDN’T. YOU. SAY. THAT. EARLIER?”

  “You didn’t ask.” Jeru shrugged.

  “You’ve been keeping a tight lip about everything I’ve been asking about, and now you’re hiding behind me, not asking a question?” Penelope shook her head. “We’re going to have to make some ground rules, because this one-way mind-reading thing isn’t going to work if you keep being cryptic and withholding information you know I want.”

  The blue Elf started to speak.

  “No.” Penelope wagged her finger at him. “Don’t give me the whole ‘I’m trying to make you think for yourself’ speech. I can’t figure this thing out if I have to worry about you sabotaging me just so you can feel superior.”

  Jeru opened his mouth.

  “Don’t try to deny it. You’re frustrated that you can’t do anything, so you’re exerting control the only way you can. This might be a game to you, but I’m the one who dies out there. So how about you start working with me like we’re a team instead of like I’m your video game character?" Penelope huffed as she finished speaking.

  After a moment of silence, Jeru risked getting cut off again.

  “Can I speak now?”

  Penelope nodded.

  “I’ve been reluctant to embrace you, and I admit that I could be a lot more helpful. The first floor is the only place where I will reliably know more than you, and I’ve been making it last longer than it would if I had been working with you.” He sighed. “For that, I apologize, and I will try to provide more information when you are looking for it.”

  “Thank you.” Penelope took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. “What do you think I should do now?”

  Jeru thought for a moment. “I think you should join Oakley’s team on the next runthrough.”

  Penelope shivered. “Anything besides social interaction?”

  “I think you can make better time, but the water and ice items are on 4G through 4I besides the one at 7A.” He shook his head. “There’s no way that you get those items off one of the groups unless you can be faster than they are.” Jeru looked over Penelope. “You know that they’re going to join the fight as soon as they can if you get that close. And if you send them west, you lose the wand.”

  Penelope nodded. “Then I guess I’ll just have to get faster.” Penelope took a deep breath. “Alright, reset me. Let’s do a Dungeon run and see if I’ve improved.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Blinding light engulfed her as time rewound.

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