“Aw, shit,” Rory muttered as the lion prowled out from the Null Window, sniffing around before fixing Rory with its gaze.

  Son of a bitch.

  Examining it instantly, Rory was at least relieved to see that the lion that had appeared was strictly a tier six, unlike the lion from the fifth stage of the trial that could withstand planet-shattering strikes.

  Auroral Lion

  Level: [60]

  The living embodiment of the concept of the Auroral lights, it treads through the heavens as if unbound by the shackles of gravity.

  Several things stuck out to Rory at once. First, the description offered almost nothing useful. Second, there was something odd about how its level was denoted; it was entirely unique compared to how even alpha variants or territory alphas showed their level. Last, and perhaps least important, was its appearance. While the lion appeared similar to the lion from the trial, its mane shimmed with less star-like brilliance.

  It’s only level sixty, so it shouldn’t be that bad…. Wait, where’d my gear go?

  Only just noticing, the gear he’d been wearing when he’d challenged the trial had all vanished; he was entirely unarmed. Not just that, a weight like a wet blanket descended upon him, cloaking him in what he figured was meant to feel like a cloistering suppression.

  Except.

  Except the suppression that had descended to settle upon his shoulders seemed to slip off as if finding no purchase within him.

  What the-?

  Frowning, Rory’s mind raced a million miles an hour as he attempted to figure out what it meant, an answer appearing a heartbeat later as he considered the context of his gear missing.

  Oh. The tenth trial. It’s the same premise as the fifth: beat a ‘boss’ monster using only what you’ve learned, except now the stakes are far more real.

  His missing gear made sense with that justification. As for why the suppressing feeling had seemed to slip off almost instantly? It had nothing to do with Rory being special or capable of overpowering the effect of the trial.

  No, if Rory had to guess -which he was- it was because the suppressive effect was meant to limit the ability usage of those who faced the tenth and final stage of the trial. Except, Rory didn’t have any prominent abilities to strip from him in the first place.

  At least, that’s what I assume is going on.

  If he had a combat ability, he could have tested his theory by attempting to use it, but Rory didn’t; thus, the hypothesis stayed just that—a hypothesis.

  While in theory, the fact that Rory never relied on combat skills, to begin with, gave him an advantage in a battle of freeform magic, it didn’t change the small little factoid that he still wasn’t good at using freeform magic.

  Alright, think quickly because Mr. Detroit is getting impatient over there.

  The lion was beginning to paw the ground, the same telltale signs the lion of the fifth stage had shown that it was about to attack.

  Splitting his mental threads in two, Rory set his secondary mental processes to piloting his body on autopilot. The beast suddenly lunged forward as he dipped and dodged out of the way. With his secondary thought process focused entirely on keeping himself alive, Rory diverted the entirety of his primary train of thought to rapidly concoct a path to victory.

  If this is still a part of the trial, then there is a chance that the trial will facilitate the use of magic relating to what was learned.

  Seeing the logic, Rory attempted to bend gravity as he had in the fifth stage, instantly tossing the plan to the side a moment later.

  Nope, the physical forces are back to being way the hell out of reach.

  So, no nuclear explosion punches.

  Pity. Not that I’d survive tossing one out, but still, it’s the thought that counts.

  With the ability to manipulate the physical laws so far beyond what a tier-six could realistically manipulate, Rory dismissed everything from the first few stages as nothing but lessons on how the physical aspects of the universe worked, meant more for those who didn’t have the luxury of knowing knowledge from a now extinct universe.

  A claw ripped through the air, several ghostly colored afterimages trailing as the phantasmal auroral talons slashed several red lines across his chest.

  “Asshole,” Rory grunted in sudden pain, having not expected ghostly afterimages to inflict damage.

  Also, how does that even connect to an aurora? You know what, forget it.

  Trying not to be distracted by thoughts of why the lion’s magic worked the way it did, Rory focused on the lessons from the second half of the trial.

  Hmm. I might be able to work with that.

  The first stage of the second half of the trial had been all about understanding the different states of Pneuma and how it grew more potent with each stage. While the later stages wouldn’t be helpful in the moment, Rory felt like with how much he’d gained in his innate understanding of Pneuma he could maybe refine the latent Pneuma into grade-one Pneuma, gaining more bang for his buck with any magic he did use.

  It still wouldn’t make him any ‘better’ at magic; it would only add more oomph to things he could already do. In essence, if he was going to take thirty seconds to attack, he may as well add another two seconds to make the attack more potent.

  Locking the idea in, Rory considered what he’d learned from the seventh stage, figuring each of the three learning stages of the second half could potentially be useful for his current circumstances.

  Whoa!

  Flipping backward several times with acrobatic skill a gymnast of Earth would have envied, Rory narrowly dodged several light beams that seemed to zigzag through the air like drunk wasps, fading as the lion’s mane lost some luster.

  As skilled as Apostolos was with solar magic, Rory figured he would have been having a rather fateful duel against the Auroral Lion like two sides of nearly identical coins duking it out.

  I think I messed up that analogy, but whatever.

  Forcing his primary thoughts to focus once more, Rory considered the lessons of the seventh stage.

  I’m not sure how a better understanding of how Pneuma can blend and weave together into different forms is all that helpful here, as it’s not like I’ve got any magic that uses several types of Pneuma at once.

  Ready to move his thoughts toward the lessons of the eighth stage, Rory stopped himself as he realized that, in fact, yes, he did have a form of magic that did precisely that.

  Just not in the way he’d considered.

  It can’t be… It can’t be that easy… can it?

  He knew he’d been missing a piece of the puzzle. Still, there was no way it just happened to be that the missing puzzle piece had effectively been handed to him on an educational silver platter.

  Could it?

  Dodging another attack from the lion, Rory held his hand out as a green, three-dimensional model of his crafting knife appeared floating above his palm. Focusing briefly, the model suddenly filled out, appearing for all intents and purposes like the real, genuine thing.

  Well, yes and no.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Two things had become apparent at the same time.

  First, it turned out that Rory hadn’t been missing one puzzle piece toward making his ‘projection’ magic -the name still a work in progress- work. He’d been missing several.

  When he’d used the two overlaying skills and tried to fill them in with Pneuma to project a physical attack or object, each overlay attempted to completely fill itself in. It was inefficient to the max; it was as if you had a multiplication problem and wanted to double the answer, so you doubled both multiplied variables. Your final answer would be many times greater than the intended doubling.

  Filling both overlapped projections to the max already doubled the cost compared to a regular spell. Then, considering they took up the same physical space, it caused all that excess to push and press against each other, wasting even more, like pouring water into an already filled cup and letting it overfill.

  In simpler terms, rather than simple three plus three, it had turned into three cubed as far as Pneuma expenditure went.

  What he’d done differently was that he’d modified the concept slightly using the lessons from the seventh stage of the trial. He wasn’t exactly weaving two different Pneuma types into a more advanced conceptual form; he was simply weaving two ‘halves’ together, one projection carrying the ‘inner’ form of the knife, the other holding the ‘outer’ and by fusing the two together as a singular form, he was left with a proper manifestation that didn’t take a bajillion times more Pneuma.

  It was still more costly than it should have been in theory, but it was better than before. It would finally allow Rory to maneuver around his rather shit skill at manipulating freeform magic if he formed an image within his Mind Palace first.

  As much as Rory wanted to revel in the breakthrough, he was still in the middle of a battle. Thankfully, his secondary mental processing had done a swell job of keeping him from dying during his contemplations. Briefly focusing both mental threads toward the fight, Rory flung the knife as hard as he could at the lion, who proceeded to swat the dinky knife aside.

  Or it had meant to swat the knife aside, the blade exploding in his face as the projected weapon destabilized upon contacting the lion’s auroral aura.

  Auroral aura. Say that ten times fast.

  Jumping back like a startled cat, the lion eyed Rory, which gave Rory time to split his thoughts once more as he focused on the eighth and final academic stage of the trial,

  Pneuma states. Pneuma weaving, and finally… Pneuma superimposition? I’m not really sure what to call it yet.

  Making sense of the academic stages and the practical stages of the trial was what the fifth and tenth stages were all about. Yet, Rory found himself floundering for a moment about how he could use the lesson of the eighth stage to his advantage. Pneuma could be in two places simultaneously, ignoring physical space’s general confines. Rory felt there was more to it than that, but the Trial of Space was likely meant more as an introductory course to how things worked rather than some advanced concept class.

  Whether there was more to it than his initial assumption, even his initial assumption about Pneuma Superimposition was challenging to use in direct combat, as the trial no longer allowed the easy use of magic or manipulation of the forces involved as it had during the first nine stages.

  Well then, keep it simple, stupid.

  Mentally shrugging, Rory dismissed thoughts of the eighth stage, agreeing with his intrusive thoughts. If trying to force the lessons of the eighth stage to apply to the current battle made it more difficult, then there was no point. After all, he’d benefitted enough with the sixth and seventh stage lessons.

  Time to get this show on the road, then.

  Coalescing his multi-processing thoughts into a singular thread, Rory focused entirely on the battle against the Auroral Lion. Affixing an image formed in his mind to his Mind Palace, Rory set to work. Sticking his hand out, a green three-dimensional blueprint appeared of a long pole with a curved blade at the top.

  Sorry Apostolos, the scythe may be your weapon, but I’m still the one who made it in the first place.

  Unlike the dinky little crafting knife that he could project in only a few seconds, gathering the Pneuma needed to project an entire scythe would take much longer. Playing defense, Rory dodged, rolled, and leaped out of any attacks as the three-dimensional blueprint slowly began to fill out. Stalling for time, the complete weapon took nearly ninety seconds to appear, even when utilizing his projection technique to speed along the process. While he could have manifested it twenty or thirty seconds faster, he’d purposely slowed down to refine the grade zero pneuma up a step to grade one, doubling its overall potency.

  For someone like Apostolos, the extra time needed to refine the Pneuma would have likely been less effective than simply attacking with frantic abandon; taking an additional two or three seconds per attack when he could already spam magical attacks would lower his potential damage capabilities, even if each spell hit twice as hard.

  The same couldn’t be said for Rory, who would take ten to fifteen seconds to conjure even a basic offensive spell.

  Waiting for the scythe to finish manifesting into reality, the last few seconds felt as if they were taking an eternity, but holding out, Rory clutched his hand tight the instant he felt the projection was complete. Smiling viciously, Rory ignored the pounding in his head or the fact that he felt lightheaded, focusing instead on the radiant warmth of success.

  “Whatcha think of me now?” Rory taunted as he similarly twirled the scythe to what he’d seen Apostolos do. It wasn’t half as smooth, but it got the message across. Roaring in anger, the lion charged him as Rory rushed forward, swinging the scythe in a downward cleaving arc. The two titans of battle neared each other in a heartbeat, and Rory could feel his blood pumping in his ears. The lion clearly felt similar as its eyes seemed to scream of a need to slay its foe, the winner bound to be decided by primal physical contest.

  Or that’s what Rory had wanted it to think. Swinging the scythe downward, Rory let go as he tossed himself to the side. Unfortunately, he was unable to enjoy the look of surprise that flashed across the lion’s face as the scythe detonated inches from its still open maw, with enough force to toss Rory entirely across the arena, easily over a hundred meters before crashing into the side wall.

  “Didn’t expect that now, did ya’ fucker.” Rory cackled as he slowly pulled himself up. Had a normal human collided so powerfully against a wall as hard as he had, they would have been left little more than a red splatter. However, it had been quite a few years since Rory had transcended well beyond such frailty. Thus, besides some aching bones, he’d come out of the exchange with minimal injury.

  The same couldn’t be said for the lion from what Rory saw. Dusting himself off, Rory limped toward the site of the explosion, the ground scorched by the raucous power of the detonating scythe.

  Was it the most honorable of plans? No, but then Rory wasn’t a wanna-be chivalrous knight. He was a conniving little Architect who had to claim victory any way he could, lest his weak, frail body crumble to a single hit.

  Yeah, right.

  Snorting to himself in amusement, Rory witnessed the Auroral Lion turning into blue motes of light that seemed to swirl around the arena before sinking into the compact earth beneath his feet.

  “Guess that explains the weird level thing,” Rory muttered. The lion had never really existed; it was just a conjured being that was nothing more than a physical manifestation the trial had created for the sole purpose of the tenth stage.

  I guess I wasn’t the only thing doing some ‘projecting’… Damn, I wish someone was around to hear that, that was a good one.

  Mentally patting himself on the back for a pun that he was certain was a good one, Rory considered the final attack.

  It had been a clever trick: make a big show of manifesting the flashiest-looking weapon possible, charge headlong in, and then explode the concentrated mass of energy. Had it been a real monster, the explosion might not have been enough to kill it, but as a mere projection, it had done the job. It had been the best way he could deliver such a devastating attack straight to the fake monster; trying to conjure lesser attacks, even with the improvements in his still budding faux technique, would only give the lion opportunities to attack. Better to trick the fake monster and take it out before he could risk himself with barely any time before the siege wave. Even if the chance of the Auroral Lion inflicting any notable damage in an extended battle was only ten percent, that was ten percent too high with the looming wave.

  All in all, not bad.

  Still proud of his success, Rory walked up to where the Null Window stood, examining it.

  “So, how exactly am I supposed to-? Oh, never mind.”

  Appearing in front of him, a display had popped into existence.

  Trial of Space

  Clear Status: Full Completion

  Prize Determinant: Due to [Full Completion] and [Pioneering Success], (1x) Grand Prize awarded

  Grand Prize: Null Window, Minor Accolade

  “Huh…” Rory considered the display information and the implications.

  Grand Prize, suggesting that others can still attempt to clear the trial. Also, the fact that the clear status says ‘full completion’ implies that you could complete the trial ‘partially.’

  As Rory considered the second point, he quickly realized where it was that a divergent point had existed.

  After the ninth stage, I chose to walk through the Null Window. Perhaps if you decided to end the trial without leaving through the window, it would amount to a partial clear.

  It wasn’t something he could test now that he’d already fully cleared the trial, so Rory tossed it to the back burner as something he’d tell Apostolos to consider investigating.

  Also, I can give Apostolos a cheat sheet. It won’t make understanding the individual concepts easier, but at least he will know what’s expected of him for each stage.

  Lastly, the ‘Pioneering Success’ caught his attention. Based on simple context clues, specifically the definition of what being a ‘Pioneer’ suggested, it likely meant that whoever was the first person to clear a trial would be eligible for the ‘best’ reward.

  Which left him with the rewards themselves.

  “Another minor accolade is appreciated after I spent my two accolades picking up Ghost Image. Most importantly, how the hell do I move this thing?”

  As if responding to his thoughts, the Null Window suddenly shrunk inward, continuing for a full minute until a one-inch-long rectangle of the reality-bending object was left.

  “Nifty,” Rory said with a smile as he picked up the rectangle from the sides. He noticed a strange ‘bubble’ or shell of hardened space or air surrounding the shrunken window, like a barrier between itself and the rest of the world.

  I'm going to have to figure that one out eventually.

  Looking back up, Rory was surprised to see where the full-sized Null Window had previously been; there now appeared to be a doorframe of starlight and cosmic gas, albeit utterly empty of anything of interest within the frame itself.

  “So, the Null Window was a one-time reward, but you’ve got something replacing its purpose for the intended use within the trial.”

  It seemed superfluous to Rory, there was no need to keep up with the appearance or thematics of doorways now that Rory had taken the Null Window for himself, but then he wasn’t a damn near omniscient wanna-be cosmic game master. If Eon wanted there to be a ‘door’ them, then that was its prerogative.

  Dusting himself off, Rory placed the shrunk Null Window into his pocket before looking for the nearest exit.

  With that, my final errand has been completed.

  All that was left was to face the Siege Wave itself.

  -Standard Pneuma comes in six grades/stages. You saw the first five, grades 0-4, in stage six of the trial, with grade 5 Pneuma being explored well in the future.

  -With proper comprehension, one can weave Pneuma from one aspect into another or even combine them to create more advanced concepts. This is only generally applicable for higher forms of Pneuma, which cannot be easily 'manipulated' such as forming a fireball offhand.

  -The same 'particle' of Pneuma (it's not actually a particle, but it's the easiest way to describe it) can exist in several places at once, but it requires EXTREME technique and skill that you're not going to be seeing from anyone sub-tier-20.