Seated across from Rin, with their crew and companions looking on, Pax closed his eyes and focused on the coils of mana in his center. With an ease that still excited him from his new skill, Pax tugged on a huge chunk of his light mana while teasing out as much of the ice mana as he could. With barely a hesitation, they both responded. He pushed them toward his hands, watching the bluish-tinted ice mana twine around his bright light energy.

  When he was ready, he opened his eyes to see Rin’s still closed. He used the time to add as much structure to his gathered mana as possible, condensing his braided energy into a tighter and more compact structure. He wanted to easily maneuver around whatever he found when he worked with the mana Rin prepared.

  “I’m ready.” Her soft voice drew his attention.

  “Let’s get this done, then.” He gave her a nod. “Let me in and then hold things as still and stable as you can.”

  She nodded, closing her eyes again. Pax followed and dove into the world of energy that was almost as familiar as his own. She’d been one of the first to let him use his light mana to explore her mana. And she’d always stepped up to give him her water mana whenever he needed it.

  When he saw how organized everything was inside her, he was impressed. It made it even more clear how much her skills had advanced with her own mana and Taming work. He knew she had to be close to new levels with her skills. All of his friends should be close to new levels and if they managed it soon enough, they’d gain another right afterward when they completed the quest. Perfect.

  Pushing aside his distracting thoughts, Pax examined Rin’s preparations. She had gathered an enormous collection of water mana that glistened like a vast, mostly stationary bubble with soft undulating waves within.

  As Magesecond Fenix had instructed, she’d done the same with her air mana, though it was a much smaller bubble. Pax had a harder time making out its almost colorless bubble. Still, he could detect the rushing energy of the air within the transparent area where she’d forced it to gather.

  Pax sent his awareness around each of the collections of energy, examining the surfaces with care, looking for any weak points where things might break down once he got started. But he didn’t find any. Rin had corralled her mana into careful collections with smooth surfaces. Pax couldn’t find any areas where the energy bulged out or weakened her containment.

  When he returned to the small area between the two collections, he knew there was nothing left but to make the attempt to combine them and create ice mana for her. He could feel his pulse race, knowing he was forging ahead with something both new and dangerous in the vulnerable insides of a close friend.

  Pax pushed his Meditation harder as he focused on his breathing until his pulse calmed back down. Only when he felt completely in control did he draw his prepared collection of light and ice mana into position.

  His tight and colorful column of light and ice mana looked nothing like Rin’s water and air. But hopefully, by the time he finished, she’d have ice that matched his.

  Pax clamped down on his mana with every bit of his new skill he could. When it stilled in complete obedience, he teased out a thread from either end of the column, sending them outward toward the two bubbles. He didn’t rush it, keeping the movement even and measured.

  Pax constantly checked with his awareness, making sure the two tendrils of his mixed mana were equidistant from Rin’s two bubbles. He didn’t know if the connection needed to be made at the same time, but it couldn’t hurt.

  They closed the distance until just a finger width remained on either side. Pax resisted the urge to stop the movement and think this through one more time. Instead, he moved them at the same steady pace. His bar of mana was close to connecting the two bubbles like a horizontal straw.

  Both tips of his mana made contact a moment later. Pax split his awareness as best he could, glad of all the mental training working with his Sphere had given him. On both sides, he felt the surface of Rin’s two mana types bulge inward, resisting his.

  And then with a pop, they connected. His light and ice spread into both of them at the same time. As usual, her mana was more than happy to interact with his light, drawing on the energy innate to it. But both her water and air didn’t take to his ice at all and did their best to keep it out.

  But Pax knew he needed to get both her water and air to connect through his conduit. So, he wrapped as much of his light mana as he could around his ice, keeping it out of contact with Rin’s as much as possible for the moment.

  To his delight, it worked. Without the initial aversion to ice blocking things, both Rin’s air and water mana entered Pax’s conduit, the pressure from behind sending them racing toward each other.

  Despite his resolve to keep his breathing even, Pax held his breath when her two mana types reached the center of his conduit . . . and raced past each other. To his surprise, they seemed to ignore each other, as if neither could sense or interact with the other.

  He watched in disappointment as the two mana types used his conduit to flow back and forth between the two collections. It didn’t take long before both bubbles turned into a mix of the two mana types. Still, the two energies failed to interact with each other. Like oil and water, they refused to combine.

  Remembering how his mother used to make mayonnaise out of oil and liquid, he remembered it took a third component, egg yolks, to make everything mix together nicely. Pax was pretty sure if there was a way to force the two different mana types together, Rin would have managed it on her own.

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  Pax needed to add something else to the mix. He needed to be the egg yolk. His light mana with ready-made ice had to be the ultimate tools to make Rin’s disparate energies work together.

  The first thing Pax did was uncover some of his ice mana, focusing on the smaller amount of energy in the center of his conduit. Both of Rin’s mana types tried to recoil. Pax didn’t let them. With a speed and strength that had only grown lately, he latched onto both mana types with his light. Then he applied an unrelenting pressure, bringing the two together with his ice mana there to demonstrate the pattern. The trio of energies really didn’t want to play together.

  Ignoring the rebelling forces, Pax wrapped more and more of his light mana around the other three as he clamped down tighter and tighter. They acted like children being forced to sit still during a sermon, squirming and fighting to break free.

  More bindings of light mana. More pressure. Pax was sure something was changing. But when he looked closer, the three mana types were still separate from each other. He pressed water, air and his ice together even harder.

  Fenix had said it would just happen, but Pax was pretty sure that was for full light mages, not students like him. He refused to quit now. He forced more energy into the connection, this time focusing on the area where his ice mana touched her water and air.

  Like this, you dunders. He pushed at his ice mana, trying to force it to merge with the other two types. Mix together and make ice, just like this.

  He kept up the pressure, adding as much power as he could to it, despite the lack of results.

  And then, with a sudden crack that made his control almost fail, it happened.

  The smallest bead of ice mana formed from Rin’s two types, wrapped tightly by Pax’s light and ice. Pax stared at the small miracle, excitement racing through him. With careful control, he unwound his mana from the creation, giving it room to expand.

  Once free, the reaction snapped out in both directions, creating small strings of ice mana mixed alongside Rin’s water and air. And it really was as simple as Fenix had described, as if the creation of the first small kernel was all Rin’s mana needed, a seed to form her own ice mana.

  A growing drain on his mana finally got strong enough for Pax to notice it through his excitement. To his alarm, he realized the creation of new ice mana within Rin was drawing heavily on his light mana. Which made sense when he realized all of her water and air mana weren’t actually combining. She was gaining a new mana type, and his light fueled the process.

  With a practiced twist that he’d trained to withstand many wild beasts ravenous for more of his mana, Pax withdrew it, but left the pipeline connected between the two collections.

  It didn’t take long for the water and air to return to their respective starting locations once his light mana no longer encouraged the mixing. The ice mana, however, seemed to collect in the center of his pipeline.

  Hoping he didn’t ruin anything, Pax gently withdrew the last bit of his mana while maintaining the conduit. Then he allowed even that to dissipate. With small pops, each type of mana snapped back into its own bubble. And there, right in the middle where he’d been working, sat a small ball of mana radiating the familiar cold of ice.

  “You did it! I can feel it.”

  Rin’s voice jerked him out of his trance, and Pax scanned his advancements as he carefully pulled his mana free.

  ***

  Skill Boost: +14 to Ascendant Mana Integration Level 1 (Legendary-evolved) - 38/100

  Skill Boost: +5 to Elemental Meditation Level 3 (Common) - 111/300

  Improvement to your Path of Understanding Ice: +17. Level 2 - 26/200

  Crew Quest: Part 3: Learn how to unlock secondary mana types for rebel mages - 1/4

  (+1)

  Reward: Each member of the crew who assists will receive a crystal mana battery that can store a single elemental type and be linked to their personal mana storage even while in inventory.

  ***

  Loving how fast the new challenges today were pushing him, Pax opened his eyes to see her reaction. A huge grin stretched across her face, one he couldn’t help matching. She looked at him with so much gratitude and excitement that all the emotions he’d been pushing down swarmed up past his control making his eyes sting.

  “Thank you.” Her voice was soft now. “You actually helped me get ice mana. A third element. Something no one but you has done since the cataclysm cut us off from the magic in this place generations ago.” She let out a disbelieving chuckle and waved at the surrounding base. “Now I’ll never—”

  When she cut off her words, Pax leaned in, wanting her to feel safe sharing whatever it was. “You’ll never what?”

  She glanced around at the others, obviously feeling reluctant. But then gave a small shake of her head and her jaw clenched. “Now, I’ll never be powerless again when someone decides to hurt my family.”

  He smiled at her as their friends nodded in understanding. “But you know that even with two mana types and Eris, you weren’t really a pushover before. This will make you stronger, but you were already strong.”

  A smug grin spread across her face. “You might think that because you don’t know what ice spell I’m adding to my build.”

  That got everyone’s attention, and they leaned forward to hear.

  “It’s called Glacial Pair.”

  When she didn’t immediately explain, Amil swatted her arm. “Don’t leave us hanging.”

  She grinned, and her eyes went out of focus as she read the description to them. “Glacial Pair Level 1. This introductory spell allows an ice mage to conjure two icy arrows, which can be fired simultaneously at a target. Each arrow is imbued with a chilling aura, capable of slowing the target’s movements upon impact. Additionally, there is a 10% chance that upon hitting a target, the arrows will shatter, sending sharp ice shards in all directions. These shards can inflict minor damage on nearby enemies, adding an extra layer of unpredictability to the spell. As the spell levels, its potency and effects will improve.”

  “Wow.” Dahni breathed the word with eyes wide.

  “I know, right?” Rin grinned. “Guess what I’m going to be practicing today?”

  “What about range and cost?” Tasar asked, looking very interested.

  “It does start at medium range, but that should improve as I level up. It also has a low mana cost, but a cool down of 60 seconds. So, I can’t just spam everyone with them during a fight.”

  “Sixty seconds can be a lifetime during a fight.” Bryn nodded in agreement.

  “But I’m hoping that will improve with more levels, too.” Rin vibrated with excitement, hardly sitting still in her chair.

  “This is outstanding.” Amil leaned in with a grin. “Just wait until you see what I’m planning to get with lightning.”

  A sudden smack on Amil’s back made him yelp. He jerked around to glare at Tasar. “What was that for?”

  “You talk about lightning too much.” Tasar raised one eyebrow, his expression calm. “I’ve been wanting to smack you for a while now.”

  A beat of silence followed Tasar’s unexpected statement. And then everyone laughed. Even the companions joined in with their version of snickering.

  Whisk asked, Can I smack him, too? Is this allowed between friends who are annoying?

  Pax laughed harder, barely stopping Whisk in time. When he glanced over at Amil though, instead of looking discouraged, he had a pleased smile on his face.

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