“What do you mean by old rules?” Rachel asked, her voice calm after silently listening to the conversation unfold.

  Amelia responded, “That ‘two-month rule’ was based on the longest recorded time dilation—until now. Nova just shattered that record spending nearly seven months inside a portal.”

  She sighed, then added, “What do you think will happen in the next few days?”

  “A change in the rules,” Samuel said with a frown.

  Amelia gave a quiet nod.

  “I see,” Thomas muttered, exhaling slowly. “If we’re unlucky, we’ll barely manage a Blue portal before we’re stuck teaching for weeks... and then back to training.”

  “Exactly,” Victor agreed. “I suggest you don’t waste any more time here. Focus on getting stronger.”

  Jack paused, considering everything, then glanced at Rachel, Thomas, Samuel, and Amelia.

  He asked, “Do you want to leave?”

  Samuel didn’t hesitate—he nodded immediately.

  Rachel glanced at Victor, who gave her a subtle nod, a quiet signal of approval. Taking a steady breath, she followed suit.

  “I’ll leave,” Thomas said, nodding with quiet resolve.

  And then there was Amelia. She didn’t need to think. If Jack was going, she was going too. Her path had already been chosen, and she was determined to see it through—wherever it led.

  With everyone’s answer clear, Jack inhaled deeply, then turned to Victor.

  “If we’re leaving then we’ll need a way to communicate with each other” said Jack, mulling it over for a short while he added “We can use your mansion to stay on contact.”

  Victor nodded, clearly approving. “Perfect. If you need help—leave them a message. If you enter a portal—leave them a message.”

  Then, his tone sharpened.

  “If anything happens… you leave them a message. Understood?”

  Feeling the weight behind Victor’s words, Jack nodded solemnly. He could sense it—the recent events had worn on the man. But he wasn’t worried. Victor had faced far worse. A man with that much experience in navigating emotion wouldn’t be broken by it. Not now.

  “We’ll need to take care of a few formalities before we can leave,” Jack said, turning to the others.

  They nodded in understanding, but Thomas raised a question.

  “How long will it take?”

  “No more than a few days,” Victor replied, his tone lighter, lifted by the clarity the group had just found. “After that, you’ll be free to go.”

  Samuel stepped in, cutting straight to the point.

  “Any idea where we should go?”

  The question hung in the air, drawing the full attention of Rachel, Thomas, and Amelia. They all looked to Jack, waiting. He paused, thinking carefully.

  “You should head to Altura,” Victor said from the side.

  Jack turned to him, curious.

  “Why Altura?” he asked.

  “I have friends there,” Victor explained as he walked toward a nearby shelf. “They’ll be able to help you. And… all the high families that had branches in Altura are gone. You’ll have a much easier time starting out there.”

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  He pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, jotted something down quickly, then handed it to Jack.

  “Go there if you need anything,” he added.

  Jack accepted the paper with a nod. “Then Altura it is.”

  As they laid out their plans for the future, far away in Quarath, Nova had just finished assembling a fully functioning forge. He stood in front of his work, arms crossed, and nodded in quiet satisfaction.

  “This turned out better than I expected,” he muttered.

  But as he glanced at what remained of his funds, his expression shifted into a grimace.

  Gold: 79,417

  ‘One hundred thousand... too expensive,’ he thought, ‘but it’ll be worth it.’

  Turning away from the forge, he made his way back to the complex’s main entrance. The moon hung high in the sky now—they had already been there for at least half a day.

  As Nova approached the main entrance, the fire torches outside cast flickering light across the area, illuminating the surroundings in a warm, golden glow. He couldn’t help but shake his head. “Feels like I’ve traveled back hundreds of years,” he muttered.

  His gaze swept over the site, and soon he spotted Hector resting nearby, overseeing the work. Nova made his way toward him.

  “How’s it going?” Nova asked, his eyes still scanning the entrance, eager to catch a glimpse of the progress and assess whether the place was habitable yet.

  Hector, already aware of Nova’s approach, turned his head and gave a small smile. “They’ve cleaned several rooms, and the smell isn’t as bad as it was. We should be able to get some rest inside tonight.”

  Nova nodded, a quiet acknowledgment, as he approached the entrance. He paused, taking a deep breath.

  ‘Doesn’t smell that much.’

  Entering the building, he took in his surroundings. The debris that once littered the floor had been cleared away, and the clothes and bloodstains that had marred the place were gone. The floor tiles, while far from pristine, were clean enough that they wouldn’t leave dirt on your shoes. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a vast improvement.

  “Good enough. I need a bed now.” A silent yawn slipped from Nova’s lips as he moved deeper into the building. He glanced around, noticing several workers still cleaning and tidying up. It made him wonder just how much Shira was paying them for all this effort.

  He approached a middle-aged woman who was sweeping the floor and smiled at her.

  “Where’s the nearest clean bedroom?”

  The woman looked up, surprised to find the man she’d seen directing the others when she first arrived. She straightened slightly and replied politely, “It’s two doors on the right, sir.”

  Nova nodded his thanks and made his way to the room. As soon as he stepped inside, he breathed a sigh of relief—finally, something pleasant in this place. The room was simple but clean, and for the first time since he’d arrived, the air didn’t feel stale.

  Satisfied, he collapsed onto the bed, pulling the Lightning Basics booklet from his Inventory. Flipping it open, he immediately saw the same line that appeared in every other booklet he owned. He muttered under his breath, “Does he ever get tired of writing this?”

  Shaking the thought away, Nova settled in and began reading intently, the weight of exhaustion starting to fade as his focus sharpened on the text before him.

  To control lightning is to command the fury of the skies. You will need to endure pain—the kind that comes from within, the kind you can’t escape. Your nerves will scream at you to stop, but if you do, you’ll never truly control this element.

  Lightning is rage, destruction, and life. To command only one aspect of it is to remain mediocre. You must control all three to unlock its true potential.

  If you master one-

  Nova’s eyes narrowed as he read on, already knowing what was coming next. He smirked and muttered to himself, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He had heard this all before—master one, master them all, and blah, blah, blah.

  Without wasting another moment on the repetition, he skipped ahead, eager to find the practical steps for actually practicing with lightning.

  His eyes scanned each line carefully, reading and rereading them multiple times, unwilling to miss a single detail. But the deeper he got into the process, the more his frown deepened.

  The initial steps didn’t seem too difficult. All it required was the ability to sense the Mana particles of a specific element in the air. It was the easiest method, the booklet made that clear—but it also came with a major caveat. If you stuck with this approach, you’d never achieve perfect control over the element.

  The reason, as the booklet explained, was that lightning-type Mana wasn’t as abundant as water or air Mana. It was scarce, typically present only in small quantities. In combat, you would need to be near a lightning zone—an area rich with lightning Mana—to use it repeatedly. But, as the booklet pointed out, how often would you find yourself in such a perfect location? The answer was clear: rarely, if ever.

  So, the booklet continued, there was another way—the real way—to control lightning.

  The process involved shaping Mana itself, changing its very attribute to suit your needs. You had to master control over the Mana, not be a slave to it. The key to this was imposing your Will on the Mana, bending it to your command.

  ‘Was this how I made Mana enter me the first time? Using my Will?’ Nova thought, and the realization slowly began to dawn on him. ‘It makes sense... Will—taking control of intangible forces through sheer force of willpower.’

  But then, a question nagged at him. ‘There’s a question, though. How did Darius and Alaric control fire? Was that through the first method?’ Curiosity clawed at him, but he quickly shoved it aside.

  Now wasn’t the time to get lost in questions. He had more pressing matters at hand.

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