After breakfast, Pax organized a meeting with Incedis and his crew. He also invited Titus, Tomis and Turgan to attend and represent their groups. Tyrodon brought a blank crystal up from the power room that allowed any of the managers to manifest their heads and participate in the conversation. Solani 2-nine decided to join and represent the other base managers.

  As they got started, Pax found he hadn’t been the only one with a list. An energetic discussion ensued, as they all took part in planning how best to increase their own power and eventually advance the rebels, too.

  Pax had been relieved when Incedis volunteered to handle getting permission for him to visit Langley and his crew. Pax had planned to just head down first thing after breakfast, but realized another run in with Lieutenant Lancaster might stir things up again.

  His friends agreed they needed to avoid ruffling any more feathers until they’d reached an agreement with the committee. Still, Pax had pushed for the others to help him choose a deadline to give the committee. They couldn’t waste much more time.

  Incedis had suggested giving them a week before pushing the issue, especially considering how much work Pax and his friends still had to do on their own. Pax thought it was too much time, but glancing at his list, he had to admit he had a lot to get done on his own.

  They also agreed they’d help any of the rebels that came to them on their own, despite their ultimatum to the committee. Anyone in the base showing off new elements and companions would pressure the committee and help their cause.

  The newest companions had already made a big splash in the base, and Incedis thought the committee wouldn’t be able to resist the pressure from the troops much longer. They planned to confront the committee a week from tomorrow. A Sunday morning confrontation sounded perfect. And it would give them the day off to spread the word of new plans to the troops.

  Incedis had agreed to inform the committee about the deadline when he told them about the Glitterflare hive find. He also agreed to work with Rin, Tasar and Kurt to handle the coin and negotiating aspects of the issue, since he still had a stockpile of coin for Pax he needed to turn over to the crew. As far as claiming any of the new Glitterflare resources for themselves, Tyrodon had taken samples when they were up there and would let them know which were useful to him when he finished experimenting.

  Since Amil had the least on his plate, Pax had put him in charge of making a schedule and ensuring the Wand of Sanctuary got passed around in an equitable fashion. Everyone agreed Amil would hand it back to Pax every evening so he could get maximum use of it and condense his sleeping time. Tyrodon had been excited to get up early again to work on the new runes. His eyes had widened with even more ideas when Pax had mentioned attempting a new development spell, too.

  His discussion with Tyrodon boosted his urgency to get to work. As soon as he left the dining hall after breakfast, Pax jogged down the hallway to the training rooms with Talpa and Whisk. The planning session had made it clear that one of the bottlenecks to a lot of their critical objectives was him finishing the advancement of his secondary elements and figuring out how to share the ability with others.

  Pax took a quick look at his secondary path totals. They hadn’t changed much from all the gains he’d made during Incedis’ training in the Wilds.

  ***

  Secondary Paths of Understanding: (Hidden)

  Lightning: Level 1 - 46/100

  Ice: Level 1 - 56/100

  Nature: Level 1 - 53/100

  Magma: Level 1 - 36/100

  ***

  At least he’d gained a few points in his confrontation with the committee. Projecting the secondary elements into physical forms while in the middle of a confrontation had helped him gain a better feel for each of them, even if it was just a small one.

  Widespread success in this endeavor might still be a way off, but if the war lasted too long, or at least when they had to face the beast hordes again, giving secondary elements to all the mages could be just the thing that tipped the scales.

  Add to that any new runes he and Tyrodon could discover and teach to the rebel crafters? The possibilities were immense.

  Plus, the rebellion finally had a way to power a new influx of devices. With their own city walls to defend now, an influx of beast cores would be available to power a crafting revolution. The rebellion had raw recruits showing up with shovels and basic clothing. Creating powerful equipment for them would increase their potential many times over.

  Which made it even more important for Pax to advance his new set of elements.

  As he walked into the eight-sided lobby with doors to the training room, he stopped and stared. It had changed a lot since they’d first come here. The rebels had completely replaced the dusty and disused lobby with a clean and professional area. They’d installed a brand-new reception desk that still smelled of freshly cut wood.

  “May I help you?” A young woman not far out of her teens looked up at him with a polite smile.

  Pax stopped, nonplussed, not realizing he’d find someone here. He should have expected it though. The mages here wouldn’t have left the valuable training rooms unused in the last month.

  “Would you like to reserve a training slot? Since you look new, I’ll explain. Every mage in the base can use up to three one-hour slots a week and only one a day. If you’re willing to train from midnight to five in the morning, those slots are up for grabs with no limits, but there won’t be anyone here to help you.”

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  Pax noticed she flicked a quick glance at his wrists, probably to see his tattoos, which were well covered by his vambraces.

  “Depending on which element you need, we have a few slots as early as tomorrow.”

  “Um, I’m actually here to train in the ice room.” Pax turned and motioned toward the room with a spiky star-shaped carving over the door.

  She looked confused and started to say something. Then she shook her head and took a breath. “I’m sorry. That room isn’t open.”

  “Really?” Pax let out a groan. “I was told the ice room was working, just not the other secondary elements yet.”

  “Oh.” Her frown deepened. “I think it’s powered, but no one is allowed to use it.”

  “Oh, then that’s fine.” He let out a breath of relief at the misunderstanding. “I’m actually the only one allowed to use it.”

  Her head was already shaking, mouth opening to object.

  “Watch.” He interrupted her, held up his hand and cast a small Ice Mirror in front of his hand. “See. I control Ice. Plus, I’m the Commander in charge of the altar for this entire place. So, I’m actually allowed to do whatever I want here.”

  She watched, speechless, as he gave her a friendly wave before turning toward the ice room.

  “My boys Talpa and Whisk will hang out here while I train, alright?” He didn’t wait for an answer, pulling out two handfuls of snacks for his friends and asking them to watch the door, so no one interrupted him. He didn’t hear another peep from the receptionist.

  “Finally ready to get this done?” Solani 2-nine asked him in a cheerful voice when he stepped into the ice training room.

  Pax gave her a firm nod. “If you think I can finish my first level of ice today, I’ll stay in this room until I do.”

  Solani’s eyes widened before turning thoughtful. “Obviously, most students in the past took their time, usually advancing about five to ten points per session. Of course, they could only sign up for half-hour sessions. With the number of students we had, getting frequent slots wasn’t possible. But you’ve got this place to yourself for as long as you need it. Eventually, you’ll only have to share this room with Rin, the lightning one with Amil and nature with Dahni. But not the magma room until you help other mages get as far as your friends.”

  “The other three rooms are up and working?” Pax felt a flare of excitement at the ability to switch up his training when he got too cold. He’d been bracing himself for having to work with only ice today.

  “Almost,” Solani said, popping his hopeful plans to alternate with magma when he needed to warm up. “The others should be done by tomorrow or maybe another day, depending on how much of a power drain restoring the base defenses is.”

  “Well, defenses obviously come first. And if I can at least get my ice leveled, I can start working with Rin on hers. Plus, Tyrodon will be excited about investigating ice runes. Anything I learn with the two of them will help when I get working on the other three, too.”

  “That is a wise way to prioritize.” Solani gave him an approving look. “Also, once we power each of the other rooms to test that everything functions correctly, we’re able to turn them back down to a standby mode that uses very little power until one of you is ready to train.”

  Pax gave her a satisfied look. “Well, thanks for all the work you and the managers are doing. None of this would be possible without you.”

  Solani looked pleased, reinforcing how the ancients must have taken the managers for granted. Pax vowed to remember not to do the same.

  “Now, do you have a recommendation for how I should start?” He steeled himself and suppressed a shiver at what he knew was coming. “I’d like to prioritize progress speed, no matter how difficult it is. If there’s a way to do this faster, I’ll push through whatever it takes.”

  “Whatever it takes?” Solani gave him a skeptical look that made him even more nervous.

  Still, he nodded.

  “Well, we’d normally start with simple exercise manipulating your ice mana. But like we did when you were in a hurry last time, I can escalate it right to simulated combat at a level of difficulty just greater than what you can handle easily.”

  Pax narrowed his gaze at her. “You could have started easier last time?”

  “I didn’t really know you.” She looked like she would have shrugged if she’d had shoulders. “You were basically an intruder, and I wanted to see what you’re made of.”

  Pax found he couldn’t really argue with that. “And now I’m asking for you to be tough on me.”

  A wolfish grin spread across her face as she nodded. “Are you ready? Take off and store your armor and strip down to the minimum to maintain modesty. This is about you and ice mana, not what bonuses all your stuff has.”

  Pax quickly followed her instructions, already shivering in the chilly room.

  “And I’d recommend Meditating for a few minutes and summoning as much of your ice mana to the surface as possible. Remember not to mix in your light mana, either. It will give you more control at the start, but will slow your overall progress with ice by a significant amount.”

  Pax blew out a breath to stiffen his resolve before moving to the center of the room and following her instructions. It didn’t take him long to delve into his core and tease out the threads of icy blue mana.

  In fact, it felt much easier than even working with his light mana had become. Like reaching his hand into a bag and pulling out a specific color of ball, it took almost no effort at all. Perhaps the managers were right about how amazing his Ascendant Mana Integration skill was.

  When he’d pushed the ice energy toward both of his palms, he opened his eyes and got to his feet. “I’m ready,”

  Solani 2-nine’s head had disappeared, and she sent attacks before he finished speaking.

  Small but sharp shards of ice came flying from the walls, thankfully aimed at his torso and limbs. Pax had a long moment of indecision. Should he test his new mana skill and see if he could deflect the incoming attacks at a distance before they hit him? Or would it be better to start slow and use his ice mana to create protective patches against his skin to protect himself?

  He paused too long, underestimating how fast the ice shards were flying. One hit the side of his leg a split second before his generated patch of ice appeared to block it. He yelped and drew on his Agility to move faster and dodge the others right behind it.

  There was no more time to think, only respond.

  It was immediately apparent how much improvement Pax still needed while using only ice mana. Without the extra control his light mana added, he was clumsy. His Ascendant Mana skill made it much more responsive to his controls than it had been in the past. But his accuracy and precision hadn’t improved nearly as much.

  As more and more of the shards struck him, Pax used too much ice mana while forming the small shields he fought to place in time to block. He made the deflective patches too thick or large. When he finally got one formed in time, his placement was often slightly off, allowing the attacking shards to land on his vulnerable skin an inch or two away from where he’d placed his blocking patches.

  Still, his control of ice mana improved quickly, just not fast enough to avoid a lot of pain. The ice shards didn’t hit hard enough to draw blood despite how much it felt like they did. Score one for his endurance.

  Still, it didn’t take long for so many to hit him that the hum of stinging pain from one blended into the other. It made his entire body feel like a swarm of insects had stung him all at once.

  He groaned and kicked himself for giving Solani 2-nine free rein to torture him as long as she wanted today. Maybe he should have limited her to an hour or two?

  Here are twenty more chapters to keep you up even longer:. #sorrynotsorry :)

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