Lexie told her father about Naem's visit when Aiden came home. She, of course, left out the very enlightening conversation she'd had with the Eldritch Lord, at least for now. Something told her that Aiden might not appreciate her talking to Naem about things like that without his being present.

"He came over for cookies?" Aiden asked, seeming confused.

"Yeah," Lexie said. "I warmed up the leftovers in the fridge for him. Was that okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," he said, eyebrows furrowing. "Sorry you had to deal with that. Naem can be a little impulsive sometimes. I'll make sure he doesn't come in here without permission again."

"It was okay," she said. She felt like the conversation she'd had with Naem had opened her eyes to something she'd never experienced before. It was more than worth the inconvenience.

All in all, it ended up being a surprising night.

More surprises lay in store for her near the end of the week.

Lexie was lying on the bleachers when it happened. Her entire body hurt, both from sparring with Cara and from running laps around the outskirts of the gym. Conrad now had her on a strict aerobic and muscle-building regimen that should help build her endurance and baseline strength at the very least. Today had been a three-kilometer run, followed by a rigorous upper-body workout and then she had another three-kilometers to go. Everything hurt and she was lying down trying to recover while the other groups sparred.

But with her eyes closed, she continued trying to sense the active pathways of the fighters.

She was getting better at it. Now, not only could she separate each opponent's mana cloud, but she could also identify which part of their body was currently most active. As she watched Tate's fight she could see it was his legs. He was fast, scrappy, and good at avoiding some of the more fatal blows. He also managed to land a few on Shadow, his opponent for today.

Shadow was still the overwhelmingly dominant one in the fight. He had more mana, more speed, and more strength. He also had a more elegant fighting style that made it obvious that he was well-trained, and made Tate's street-fighting seem clumsy in comparison.

Lexie could sense when Shadow pushed some mana into his sword and slashed the air. The mana pulse it generated hit Tate right in the chest and sent him flying.

Wow.

Lexie had initially wondered why Shadow had picked a sword as his weapon of choice. That was not a great weapon for the AFC because it had to be blunted for the games and just how much damage could a blunted sword do? But when she saw the strength of his mana pulse, and the near-expert way he targeted Tate's weak points, she understood how powerful it was.

Plus it set him apart from other fighters who were either brawlers, or typically picked more blunt force weapons.

The sword was also just super stylish.

Lexie knew when the fight stopped, even before Conrad called out, "What's wrong?"

Her eyes opened in time to see Shadow's frustrated gaze. "I'm not doing this."

"What do you mean?"

He pointed to Tate, whose eye was swelling up as he was holding his side. He had a grin regardless.

"He's getting the shit kicked out of him and he's just smiling. Clearly, he's insane and suicidal and I'm not going to be the one to put him out of his misery. "

Conrad bent to the side so he could see Tate behind Jan and Boris sparring.

"Tate, you good?"

Tate spat out some blood. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Then keep going," Conrad said.

Tate didn't hesitate then. He charged at Shadow who snarled, dodged, and then brought the hilt of his sword down on his back with a blow strong enough to knock him to the floor and make him shout.

Lexie winced, closed her eyes again, and concentrated. She didn't want to watch Tate get his ass kicked again. It was starting to get sad. She did, however, watch his mana and it was getting more agitated, more disjointed. Some of it was dispersing into the atmosphere and Lexie wondered what was going on with that.

Finally, thankfully, Conrad called an end to the match right as Tate was about to completely run out of mana. She opened her eyes and stared up at the roof, trying to process what she'd just seen until a shadow fell over her face.

It was Tate, with a swollen face that was slowly healing.

Lexie was shocked, both by his appearance and by the fact that he was actually talking to her of his own free will.

"Hey friend," he said as he sat by her, wincing when he did and cradling his side.

"Hi," she said uncertainly. "What happened to ribs? Did Shadow hurt you that bad?"

"Nah." He waved his hand in the air. "Some of it is Shadow, but some of it was from before."

"Before?"

"Yeah, I ran into a door yesterday." His eyes darkened, and he added with a harder tone, "A big, stupid, bear-fisted door."

Lexie didn't know what to say to him so she simply blinked at him in confusion and waited for him to get to the point.

He gave her a wide smile. "Anyway, how are you doing? You didn't bring cookies today. That's interesting. Also, that was cool what you did to Cara the other day. I wanted to tell you that."

"Uh-huh." Lexie wasn't buying it so she just crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you want, Tate?"

He attempted to look offended. "Who says I want anything? Maybe I just felt bad for being so rude to you before. Maybe I'm just being nice now."

She raised an eyebrow. Even then, he couldn't hide the sarcasm from his tone. "Do I have to remind you that I have 80% EQ?"

"No, but you sure do love to bring it up."

Lexie didn't respond to him and he finally sighed.

"I need a teensy weensy, but kind of major favor from you."

"There we are. What's the favor? You want me to make a card for you?"

He frowned. "No, why would I ask that? I'm a mundane. Mundanes can't use cards."

Not yet anyway. Lexie shrugged. "So then what is it?"

He glanced behind him. "I'll tell you after class. I just want you to keep an open mind, alright? And remember that we are friends." He gave her a meaningful stare and said the word like it was a threat. Lexie couldn't figure out if he said it like that because he'd never had friends before and genuinely didn't know how odd it sounded or because he was threatening her with his friendship. Either way, strange guy.

"Lexie," Conrad said from the other side of the room. "Your break has been too long. Get back into it."

She sighed, sat up, and got on her feet. Time for more running.

Lexie wasn't the most athletic person in the world but she wasn't unathletic either. Mostly, she just hated how boring running was. Feet just going clop clop clop and staring at nothing. Feeling the breath tighten in your chest for no reason. It was even harder than sparring.

But as she ran, she got an idea. She wondered if distance affected how well she could feel other's mana clouds? She'd never tried before but this felt like a great time to attempt it. She closed her eyes, and as her body fell into the rhythm of jogging, she let her mind reach out. When she was close to Jan and Boris, it took her no time at all to connect to their mana cloud. Maybe because they were less guarded. And when she meditated a bit more, feeling a twinge in her temples, she could sense a pathway in Boris' leg, shifting and twisting together to enable him to reflexively dodge a kick.

She did it! She could feel his pathway!

Almost immediately her feet tangled and she went down.

"Oof!" she exclaimed as she caught herself on her elbows at the last minute.

"Don't run with your eyes closed, Lexie," Conrad said wryly.

"Nice save, though," Cara laughed while avoiding Lane's attack during their spar.

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"Thanks," Lexie said, getting back to her feet to continue her run red-faced.

After she was done running, she noticed Cara was now sitting down and drinking water. Lexie approached her and beamed. "Hey, Cara."

"Hey," she said. "What's up?"

"Do you mind if I hold your hand for a bit?"

Cara's eyebrows raised and her smile turned uncomfortable. "Lexie, you're pretty cute and all but I don't–"

"Not in that way," Lexie clarified. "I just.." She didn't know how to explain it in a way that wouldn't creep her out. "I'm trying to get a sense of who you are."

Cara blinked at her silently and a blush crept up Lexie's neck.

Yeah, way not to creep her out.

"Like your inner self," she continued, aware she sounded even more insane the more she talked. "I wanna get a sense of your powers as well."

"You can get a sense of my powers by touching me?" Cara sounded like she wasn't sure whether to be disturbed or fascinated.

"Something like that." Since Lexie could sense the other girl's reservations, she added, "I need it to help me craft a card. It might also help me make a card for you that would help with your balance."

"You can do that?"

Lexie wasn't sure and she hadn't at all planned on doing that, but she had no choice but to give the other girl a little white lie. "Sure."

Cara sighed. "Fine. You're lucky that you're so damned likable Lexie or I would be supremely creeped out right now."

"Thanks." For once, she was glad for her charisma points.

She sat and took Cara's hand. Then she closed her eyes and started and meditated. It felt strange to do this with another person, but at the same time, the black hole method was natural for her, almost intuitive at this point.

She connected her mana to the mana on the surface of Cara's skin, and with a little more concentration, it gave her information about the mana underneath Cara's skin. Like a mirror's reflection, it wasn't an exact image and it was a little murky, but it would work for now. At first, it felt like a lot of information hitting her at once, but thanks to rigorous meditation and black hole exercises, she was good at separating parts of a pathway. She focused on traveling with the mana in Cara's body, trying to visualize what was going on there. It wasn't the full picture. But it was enough for her to notice one thing in particular.

Cara wasn't normal.

Wind moved through her.

It wasn't like regular people. She breathed slower as though she didn't need to inhale air all that often. Her motions were lighter. Her hand moved slightly faster than the average. She was generating air. The wind was inside her and the fact that she didn't know how to control it was what was making her unsteady.

Lexie now understood how to beat her. It wasn't as easy as just slowing her down. She had to either give her too much wind or take it all away.

I must fight with a girl made of wind. I want to win but she's faster than me. If I lose too many times, I might get kicked out of the dojo.

The answer came to her, again like that lightbulb moment that she couldn't explain any other way than the knowledge that had hit her during Naem's visit.

The intent.

It was, Kill her Wind.

Lexie's eyes popped open. Kill her Wind. How beautifully simple.

When she'd studied intent with the Fae, she'd gotten the idea that intent had to be long and elaborate. But the two times she'd perceived something it had been to the point. Kind of like how humans communicated and not like how Fae's did.

Was she…discovering human perception?

She waited for an acknowledgment from the system to tell her one way or another but she didn't get it.

Either way, she was sure she'd just figured out the intent for a card to cancel out Cara's speed. It had only required a short story and knowledge of how Cara's power worked.

After their session, Lexie was excitedly working out a pathway plan on her way out when Tate caught up to her at the door.

"Ready to go?" he asked and she nodded, still half distracted.

They left together. In the parking lot, she thought she heard someone like Jan whisper, "Oh my gosh, is it happening?"

And then someone else like Boris said, "Shh. If they hear you, it'll ruin it."

They walked across the lot, and down the street before Tate finally ventured on to say what he had been holding back. "So, like I said, I need a favor from you."

"Yes, you mentioned."

"And it's the kind of favor friends ask each other all the time."

Why did it sound like he was trying to convince himself? "Yup. Even when they've only been friends for ten minutes. Also stop saying friends, like that, you sound like a psychopath who's never had a single friendship in his life.'

He opened his mouth, then closed it. "Fair point. But I've had at least one."

"Look, you can just stop the preamble and get to the point. What's this favor?"

He gave her a look. His right eye had almost completely healed at this point and so had the bruise so his smile looked almost normal, albeit a tad bit crazy when he said, "How would you like to explore a dungeon with me?"

Lexie waited for the punchline. They were standing on the side of the road, paces away from the dojo and the street was largely empty with the wind whistling through them. Lexie stared at Tate. Tate stared right back at Lexie. Neither of them said anything.

"You're serious?"

"As a heart attack."

Lexie laughed, straight up laughed, in his face.

"Did that last blow from Shadow do something to your brain?'

He frowned. "Ouch. You're mean."

"And you're insane to ask me to raid a dungeon. Like I can't even explain to you the layers of insane you'd have to be to even suggest it."

"I'm not insane," he said, and his sober expression took away any humor Lexie had in the situation. "In fact, this is the single sane choice that I have."

She shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

He inhaled and looked around them, stepping close. "Imagine this was a video game–"

"It is," Lexie said

He shook his head. "No, it's not. But imagine it is. You…you're playing it straight. You're following the rules, building your levels in the system, working within the confines of what you've been taught for the most part. You're playing the game the way the universe intended. And you can afford to do that because you have magic. You're special here, and you essentially have a guaranteed future doing something of note."

Lexie looked down and felt that strange guilt spiral through her again. Tate wasn't even saying it in an accusatory way. He didn't sound happy about it, but his tone was matter-of-fact, with just a tinge of bitterness.

"Not to mention you have a powerful father," he continued. "And I'm assuming a network of people ready to teach you and catch you whenever you fall. I don't have that. I don't have connections, or parents or anybody who can help me not get drowned up in this world. I'm a nobody from nowhere. A mundane kid who will most likely become just another mundane adult. If I'm lucky, I'll get to be some [Heroes] assistant somewhere."

"I hear Heroes pay well," she said weakly and he shot her a look.

"Not well enough to put up with their crap," he said. "And even if they did, is that really my best-case scenario? Working for some arrogant ass who sees me as inferior, having people constantly question how qualified I am since my intelligence doesn't show on a screen? I can't be prime minister, or own a company, or do anything of note because I'm unranked."

"You want to be prime minister?"

"No. I would like the option to be prime minister." He took a deep breath. "I didn't leave a humdrum life back on my Earth to get a humdrum life here too. I want to live a life of comfort, power, and importance. I don't want to get picked on by overpowered, privileged assholes for the rest of eternity. So, I can't afford to play by the rules. We all get the hands we've been dealt so I'm not faulting anyone for what I got. But I need a cheat. This is how I'll get one."

"From raiding a dungeon."

"Not raiding. Exploring."

Lexie cocked her head. "I don't understand."

"Walk with me and I'll explain it to you."

"Where are we going?"

"To the train station. You live in Hovelton right?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You know a disturbing lot about me for someone who claims not to have really known I was here. Have you been asking around about me?"

"Don't flatter yourself." His face grew a little hot as he cleared his throat. "It's not like I was stalking you. Didn't Conrad mention it at one point?"

"He didn't."

"You must not have been there."

Once again, Lexie wasn't buying it.

"Anyway, I'll walk you to the train station and explain all about my intentions with the dungeon."

Lexie didn't really have a choice. He didn't look like he was going to leave her alone and he began talking as they strolled.

"Did your Uncle ever tell you what dungeons are and where they come from?"

"And you know my Uncle." She shook her head. "You were definitely stalking me."

He blushed but he didn't deny it this time, clearing his throat. "I was interested in dungeonology for a while, back when I was convinced I wanted to be a delver. Every street rat is convinced that being a delver is the key to making a lot of legitimate, fast money, but usually they just die a quick and often painful death. Anyway, when I was studying to be a delver, your Uncle's name came up a lot." He sighed. "So about the dungeons, what we're taught is that there are different planes of existence at once."

"You mean different dimensions?"

"Yes, but even within dimensions, there are little pocket dimensions that exist, or that can be created by powerful mages who can use them to access a virtual world. Most of these pocket dimensions aren't stable and they cannot last for more than a few seconds at a time. This is because it requires a crazy amount of mana and mana control to be able to do such a thing, not to mention that it also skirts too close to reality manipulation for most people's comfort. But theoretically, a powerful mage might be able to create a pocket dimension for a few hours at a time. Theoretically."

Lexie suddenly remembered something her father had told her, about her mother asking him if he could create a pocket dimension for her. He'd said that she'd heard a rumor about it. And then he'd said something else about a pocket dimension in regards to <Out of Sight, Out of Mind>. Hmm.

"A dungeon is kind of a pocket dimension, but on steroids," Tate continued. "Typically it requires a lot of mana for a dungeon to be created, more mana than most people have, and it requires a lot of mana to keep it running too. Its creation is an explosive process that can cause a lot of damage to the environment. It's why dungeons aren't created here on Earth."

"They're not?"

Lexie was so fascinated by what he was saying that she was kind of disappointed to note that they were quickly approaching the train station.

"No. Most are created off planet and then find their way to Earth through multiple channels. And dungeons aren't created by mages. They're a phenomenon created by a confluence of mana that then opens a portal to a new plane, a powerful pocket dimension that is just as real as this one. Imagine it's like a video game where you can go in and get loot and you can then bring that loot to the real world."

"Logan would love that."

His face turned a little sad. "Yeah. I bet he would. So yeah, that's basically a dungeon. Or at least that's what we're taught."

"I'm guessing what you're taught isn't the complete story."

He smirked. "No, it's not. But hold onto that video game analogy, we'll return to it. For now, let me tell you what a dungeon really is."

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