The cold night’s air of the empty warehouse brushed against Gale’s sweat. Essence flowed through the pathways, extending into the weapon he held. The blade stretched to spear length. A swipe to the side, then twist into a spin. Immediately, the Weber blade contracted back to its original form as the movement translated into a stabbing lunge.

“Guide, demonstrate the next sequence.”

[Acknowledged. Initiating motor control.]

His body moved on its own. The blade swung again, this time following a different pattern. His pathways lit up at different threads of his arms, shown through the HUD.

[Essence: 81/150]

This much essence should last a couple more hours.

More lines marked the warehouse’s concrete floors as he practiced the movement multiple times. Craters marked where he had lost control of his body and launched himself into walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. The logic of orientation and gravity was completely thrown out the window whenever he decided to fight or practice.

Chunks of concrete sliced off from pillars, showing the rebar underneath. Shipping containers bore holes from his thrusts. Muscles burned, but the burn made him smile even more.

Swing, spin, translate to spear. Thrust, sweep, inwards, translate to sword. The sword was no longer a sword. It became both a spear and a sword as each movement flowed into one another during translations and transitions.

“Guide, analysis of current form.”

[Form analysis: Extension rate improved by marginal amount. Essence efficiency shows minor optimization. Recommendation: Focus on transition points between forms.]

Gale concentrated on the middle movement during the translation. He needed to have essence ready in the input before the movement was finished and then push it through in the same key as the end of the movement.

A couple of days ago, he had launched himself when he slipped into an uncontrolled spin. The pillar broke, and the ceiling shook. Surprisingly, the warehouse didn’t collapse.

If that was the case, learn through effort and fire. That’s what the books called it. I think.

Weber swung again. Input essence into the translation before the movement ended. Weber lengthened into a spear, but it shuddered and dissipated. Movement ended.

There was something off in the transition.

[Analysis: Essence pathway received input too early. Multiple pathways incorrectly primed.]

His body moved on its own again. The blade swung. Input essence correctly primed, threads in his pathways lit up before the movement ended. Gale noticed two of them were different from what he had primed. The movement ended, and in the same key, the essence instantly flowed through the pathways, and Weber extended into a spear thrust. Movement ended.

He sighed. How was he supposed to get that kind of precision? He was just human after all. Wait, no. The system called him a Dainv. He wasn’t supposed to be human. Stop thinking like a human, Gale!

If he put too much essence in, movement was done. Not enough, done. Put enough in, but into the wrong pathways, then efficiency loss happens. It was a different kind of difficult compared to talking and writing notes he didn’t understand in his notebook.

“Again,” he said to the warehouse.

He repeated the sequence again. Weber swung, translated into a spear and a thrust. He focused on these 2 movements, practicing the transition points. Each cycle brought on different mistakes. The wrong pathway caused the translation to be slow. Not enough essence input made the translation not even happen.

For a couple of hours, he repeated the same thing over and over. And over time, the other mistakes smoothed out. The hardest part was the key timing. It was always one key too early or too late.

[Essence: 72/150]

His essence meter dipped below fifty percent. The blade extended to a spear, cutting the air in silence, then snapped back that it seemed to no longer be blade or spear. Gale spun through the movement, allowing his body to flow with the weapon’s changes rather than forcing the movement. For a brief moment, everything aligned perfectly. Essence pathways, blade’s translation, his own movements, and the most important thing was the key timing.

His concentration slipped. Weber stuck halfway between sword and spear. The essence pathway didn’t know which input to take. A small force of uncontrolled volatile essence launched him into a pillar, separating him from the weapon.

[Alter crashed]

Gale stood up, dusting his hoodie and pants. “Guide, time?”

[Current time: 0547 hours. Sunrise expected in 43 minutes.]

Another all-nighter. His third this week. Class would start in about an hour at 7AM.

Adrenaline in his veins started to dissipate. Exhaustion took over his muscles as Gale laid down on the cool concrete, spreading out his arms and legs while staring at the ceiling.

His head turned to look around. Everywhere had sliced up concrete and craters. Would anyone care about all of this in an abandoned warehouse? Hopefully, it didn’t look that bad. Nothing a little spit and shine can’t fix. Probably.

“Guide, status report.”

[Physical condition: Suboptimal. Muscle fatigue detected. Sleep deprivation affecting performance metrics. Recommendation: Rest period required for optimal functionality.]

The Guide wasn’t wrong. His hands were even trembling while holding the Weber. Dark circles had taken up real estate under his eyes. Even maintaining his regular class schedule had become a challenge. Hasn’t spoken much to Andrew as well. What’s the deal with the “hi, how are you”s anyway? Adults are weird.

But he couldn’t just stop now. Not when getting that new skill felt so close. Dainv Combat Mastery was the next required small step to punching the tide right in the face.

Gale got up, walked to the fallen Weber Blade, and picked it up again.

“Guide, show me the optimal pattern one more time.”

[Warning: Essence levels approaching suboptimal levels for combat readiness. Continuing training inadvisable.]

“Just one more.”

[Host request declined]

“But I’m the host! I’m the master!”

[Host request declined]

Gale dropped back down on the concrete, sprawling out his body.

“You win this time, ghost voice,” Gale said.

Massaging his arms, he winced at the sore to the touch muscles. And he’d still have to go to school. A short nap would do.

30 minutes was all he needed to run all the way back to Yorkdale.

“Guide, set an alarm for twenty minutes.”

[Alarm set.]

Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Another woman told him to move out of the way and called him a kid. Of course he’s a kid!

Finding the destination, Gale dragged himself into Room 204. 6:57AM, hehehe. Just on time. The class this time was set in a lab with high tables and self-healing mats. Rubber gloves were available in the bin up at the whiteboard, but no one ever seemed to use them.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Mr. Walker entered the room with the biggest smile he’d ever seen from anyone. Then again, he’d never really seen many adults smile.

The teacher’s bowtie bopped up and down as he set up circuit boards at each of the students’ tables.

Andrew waved from their usual spot near the back. “You look… surviving.”

“Surviving. Yeah,” Gale said. Definitely surviving. “Rough night.”

“Studying?”

“Something like that,” Gale rubbed his eyes. That thirty-minute nap did more damage to him than actually just not taking it. His eyes tried to focus on what was in front of him. An array of electronic equipment, from unconnected LEDs to green boards with circuitry, awfully reminding him of the patterns on the walls of the knight’s ship, but less complicated.

Mr. Walker clapped his hands together at the front of the class. “Good morning, everyone! Today we’re diving into the fascinating world of electrical circuits!”

A collective groan rose from the class. The woman in the front had already pulled out her phone, while the businessman two rows over clearly opened a game on his laptop.

Gale tilted his head. Why even come to class as adults if you’re just going to play games?

“I know it’s early! But trust me! This is going to be so much fun! We’ll be building both series and parallel circuits using the small LED bulbs. In the future classes, we’ll be learning how to measure voltage drops and current flow. And then we’ll be learning how to program and how to make bulbs do patterns…”

Mr. Walker’s voice became background noise. Gale didn’t have enough energy for this right now. It’s like the feeling of being with a high energy person when you just want to go back to sleep.

As he was drifting off to sleep with his eyes open, the patterns of the circuit board stared at him. Electricity flowed through those wires. It’s the same with the pathways. Essence flowed through them, switching between paths of least resistance.

“Earth to Gale.” Andrew nudged him. “We’re supposed to be building this thing. Here, I got you a set already.”

Gale pinched his thigh. Everyone around him had already started working on their circuit boards. Andrew beside him had already connected a battery to his, much faster than anyone else and was already threading a wire through the first LED bulb’s wires.

“Right, sorry.” Gale picked up a wire, his tired fingers fumbling with the plastic coating. The red wire went to the positive terminal, black to negative. Simple enough.

Mr. Walker practically skipped between the tables, offering advice and corrections. “Remember, in a series circuit, the current follows one path! But in parallel, it splits into multiple branches!”

That’s when it hit him. The essence pathways in his body; they worked the same way. Some flowed in sequence, others branched off into parallel channels. If he could reorganize them in a way that fits more of his style…

Gale pulled out his pencil, layering Distort over it to mask what he was about to try. Using Alter, he attempted to redirect his essence into parallel pathways, just like the circuit board in front of him.

The pencil started to vibrate.

“Guide, is this safe?”

[Warning: Unstable essence configuration detected. Current pathway layout not optimized for parallel distribution.]

[Recommendation: Release Distort]

Too late. The pencil exploded with a small pop, sending wood and graphite across the class and his notebook. Several students jumped at the sound.

“Don’t worry!” Mr. Walker called out. “Sometimes the bulbs pop when there’s too much current. That’s why we have extras! We have extras for days!”

Andrew stared at his hand, still holding onto the half popped pencil. “That wasn’t a bulb, right?”

“Would you believe me if I said it was?” Gale pretended to smile as best as he could. Not sure if that made it even more awkward.

“Not really.” Andrew connected another wire to their circuit board. “You should get some sleep, man. You’re starting to blow up school supplies.”

Gale brushed away the pencil pieces and whispered silently. “Guide, can I reorganize my essence pathways?”

[Query accepted. Reconfiguration possible. Multiple records available for pathway reconfiguration. Recommend to find safe area to start.]

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

[Host has not asked.]

Gale barely stopped himself from banging his head on the desk. All this time struggling with essence flow, and the solution was right there. He just hadn’t thought to ask. Well, ghost voice, your literal name is Guide.

Mr. Walker interrupted his thoughts. “Now watch what happens when we add resistance to the parallel circuit!”

The gaming businessman was now clearly asleep and the woman he noticed earlier had started playing a game that looked like tetris. These are worse than children in high school. Adults can’t be trusted after all.

“Your bulb’s out,” Andrew said.

Gale looked down at their circuit board. The LED had indeed gone dark. He reached for a replacement, his hands tremored slightly as he took one out of the bin.

“Seriously, when’s the last time you slept?”

“Tuesday, maybe?” Gale squinted at the tiny legs of the LED, trying to figure out which way they went.

“It’s Friday,” Andrew said.

“That explains a lot,” Gale said, focusing on the LED.

Mr. Walker appeared beside their table. “How’s it going over here? Oh, trying the parallel configuration! Excellent choice!”

This man has too much enthusiasm for a class that starts at 7AM.

Mr. Walker’s voice rose enough so that it even woke up the businessman sleeping. “You see, class, Nikola Tesla revolutionized our understanding of electrical resonance! His work with parallel circuits in the Tesla coil designs…”

The words blurred into the background again. Gale’s head dropped forward. Before his head hit the table’s corner, his head immediately snapped back up. No table was going to get a free hit on him.

Andrew nudged him with an elbow. “Just thirty more minutes. You can do this.”

Gale rubbed his face, trying to force his eyes to stay open. The circuit board in front of him swam in and out of focus. The red and black wires twisted like essence pathways.

“Guide, analyze this circuit board for essence pathway ideas.”

[Analysis complete: Common circuit board. Threat level: Minimal]

Gale fought the urge to roll his eyes. Of course, the combat AI wouldn’t care about circuit theory. And what do you mean threat level minimal. It’s a circuit board. Why does everything have a threat level?

This stupid AI. It’s not as smart as the one from the book he read before, where it solved problems that littered the hundreds of worlds.

“Most unhelpful helpful assistant ever,” Gale whispered, half expecting a reply and getting none.

The circuits on the desk pulled at Gale’s attention again. He let his essence flow through his body, imagining the configuration in his mind. There has to be something that he could do while in this class. The essence circulated through the channels, flowing faster into a high frequency that seeked for a skill to release. However, he hadn’t set a specific skill to activate.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

LEDs exploded across the classroom. Students yelped and ducked as bulbs shattered. Andrew’s circuit board sparked and went dark.

“Fascinating!” Mr. Walker clapped his hands together. “This is exactly what happens with overcurrent in parallel circuits! Though I must admit, I’ve never seen quite such a synchronized failure before…”

He scratched his head, bow tie slightly askew. “Well, perhaps this is a good time to end class for today. Remember to read chapter seven on impedance matching for next Friday!”

Students packed up quickly. The businessman jerked awake at the commotion, finding shattered LED bulbs in front of him. The man bagged his laptop and left the room immediately.

“Hey,” Andrew said. “A bunch of us are getting together this weekend for a science study group. We’re covering chemistry and basic electronics. You should join us.”

What the hell is a study group?

“Yeah, okay,” Gale said. “Where and when?”

“Saturday at two, campus library. Third floor study rooms.” Andrew grinned as he shouldered his backpack. “And maybe get some sleep before then?”

“I’ll try,” Gale said.

“Try your best.”

Mr. Walker whistled as he collected the ruined circuit boards, seemingly unfazed by the mass destruction of his teaching materials. “You know, Tesla himself had many unexpected results in his experiments! Sometimes failure teaches us more than success!”

Gale gathered his things, putting his notebook and the half pencil into his backpack. He followed Andrew out the door and into the hallway.

Outside the classroom, a group of students’ conversation was louder than the ambient chatter of the halls.

“I swear this building is haunted,” one woman said. “Remember when all the computers crashed at once last semester?”

“Maybe it’s some kind of electromagnetic anomaly,” another said.

“My cousin’s roommate said there used to be occult experiments here in the seventies,” a third voice said. “You guys think its gotta do with any of that?”

“Seriously though,” Andrew said as they walked. “You look like you’re about to collapse. At least try to rest before the study group?”

“I’ll try,” Gale replied.

“See you tomorrow then? Remember, 2pm!” Andrew said.

Gale nodded.

“Alright. Get some rest. See ya.” Andrew waved as he left through the crowded hallway.

“Guide, status report.”

[Warning: Host physical condition critical. Sleep deprivation affecting cognitive function. Combat readiness causing continuous essence usage. Immediate rest required.]

“After I test the pathway reconfiguration,” Gale muttered, walking like a zombie through the crowded hallways.

[Negative. Current condition renders pathway reconfiguration unsafe. Probability of critical failure: Inevitable.]

Gale took a step and stumbled. Mr. Walker caught his arm.

“Steady there,” the teacher said, “Have a good rest of the day, young man.”

He nodded at the teacher and then went the opposite way from where Andrew went.

“Guide… what’s the minimum rest period needed for safe essence manipulation?”

[Calculating… Minimum 16 hours’ sleep required. Recommended: 26 hours for optimal function.]

Gale checked his phone. Friday, 9:15 AM. If he went home now and actually slept…

I’ll try, he had already told Andrew. “Actually, yeah. Let’s try this time.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep