Felix didn’t speak to anyone for the rest of the day. It was a blow, no doubt about it. One more thing to add to the list of things that would have broken him when he first arrived, but Felix had changed. The idea of going to his room and moping about now seemed unconscionable. One thing was clear to him. He wasn’t going to sit around taking it easy for a few centuries.

  To Alvara, it might seem sensible, even though his path cautioned him to be patient. But patience wasn’t the only thing he learned from his first gate. He learned to use everything at his disposal. He learned to find unconventional paths to victory.

  If he couldn’t pass his final gate by facing it head-on, then he’d just have to find another way. Even if Alvara thought it could save him centuries, he’d be a fool not to give it his all. If he didn’t make it, then he’d deal with it, but he’d try.

  He wouldn’t throw his life away. He owed too many people too much to do that, but he owed it to himself to try.

  With his plan set, Felix threw himself into the hardest training of his life. He’d thought he’d given it his all when he’d tried to pass his first gate. Deep down, he’d always known that he wouldn’t make it. Now he learned just how much he’d held back because of it.

  He’d started to pack food for several days at a time before entering the Ways. Once there, he would explore every path at every waking moment. Only stopping to briefly meditate and eat before diving back in. At some point, he’d complained to Agrona that the Ways didn’t have a toilet, growing annoyed at how much time he wasted running back to use one.

  Apparently, the Ways had taken his complaint to heart, as when he entered again, it provided him with a little room. It was spartan in its facilities, having only a toilet and a sleeping cot, but it was enough. It meant Felix only had to leave once a week to restock on supplies and take a shower. Any longer and the smell would grow unbearable, even to him.

  After spending a few months in the Ways, Felix realised that the Ways were doing even more to help him. Time had always been a little strange in there, but Felix soon realised that the effect had strengthened significantly. Several weeks would go by inside, while only a week would pass on the outside.

  Felix didn’t waste any of it. Starting from the first gate, he explored every path, no matter how useless it seemed at first glance.

  With every step he took on the Ways, he channelled Memory Garden, absorbing as much as he could. He even managed to do so in many of the gates. The nature of his gates had changed. They no longer sought to bar his way, after all, the path to the final gate was clear. Instead, they served as teachers.

  Sometimes he’d visit a monastery of apes and learn to use their staff. Sometimes he’d sail through storms on the high seas or travel the stars on a merchant ship, striking deals and turning profits.

  None of it was magical, none of it would allow him to pass the final trial. Not when he helped healers by applying first aid on a battlefield, not when he sought ingredients for a herbalist, not when he worked at a tannery cleaning pelts or a cobbler making shoes.

  Felix didn’t let up. He learned everything he could with as much diligence as he could. Every time he left the Ways, he’d make a trip by the library to see if anything was added to his reading room. He’d memorise it before heading back to the Ways. When he had to stop to get supplies or eat, he’d review what he’d learned in his mind.

  The constant grind wore on him. Felix had long lost track of time when Agrona stopped him.

  “You aren’t getting any more supplies until you rest.”

  “Agrona, I can’t you kn–”

  A stifling pressure landed on him. It’d been so long since he’d had anything other than friendly interactions with her that he’d forgotten just what a monster she truly was.

  “Enough. This isn’t a request, it’s a statement. I might like you, child, but I’m a guide at this Crossroad first and foremost. That means I’m not going to stand by and watch you kill yourself from overwork.

  “If you want more supplies, then you will take a day off, now and whenever I tell you to in the future. That means getting a full night's rest, no spells, no reading apart from entertainment. You’ll spend some time with that friend of yours, and you’ll be here for every meal, a full proper meal, no dried meats or hard tack.

  “Is that understood?”

  Her tone left no room for bargaining, and in truth, Felix didn’t want to argue. He couldn’t allow himself time to rest. Any moment he spent taking it easy felt like one he could have spent doing more. With Agrona forcing him to rest, the choice was out of his hands. He didn’t need to feel like he was failing when he took a break, not when the break was forced on him.

  Maybe it wasn’t the healthiest mindset, but it was the mindset he needed in that moment. If he started allowing himself breaks, it would be too tempting. He’d never really be able to push himself.

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  With a sigh, not of frustration but of relief, Felix nodded.

  “Understood, thank you, Agrona.”

  After a proper night's sleep with no help from Invigorating Rest and a little help from a tonic Agrona made, Felix felt more refreshed than he had in ages. He spent the morning wandering the garden, the afternoon perusing the library, and the evening hanging out with Henry.

  Say, why do I always find you in the library? Weren’t you going to be a knight?”

  Henry shook his head.

  “Nah, I don’t have the talent, I’m going to be a mage.”

  The statement drew a strange look from Felix.

  “Weren’t you just behind Aster and Lara in talent?”

  Henry shrugged.

  “That just means my body is able to absorb mana at a decent rate. Doesn’t actually mean I can be a martial artist. Didn’t you see me training in the gym a couple of times? How do you think I’d do swinging a sword around?”

  Felix would have winced if he weren’t so stunned. He’d never actually considered that their affinity for mana wasn’t the only thing that determined if you could be a martial artist.

  “I’ve never really thought about it, but yeah, now that you mention it, I can see why you wouldn’t want to go down that route. What’s your affinity anyway? I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned.

  Henry looked visibly uncomfortable at the question.

  “I’d rather not say.”

  Felix stared.

  ”Oh, c’mon. You must be sitting next to the guy with the strangest affinities in the Crossroad. I already told you about my conversation with Alvara.”

  ”Sigh, fine. Just don’t go sharing it around.”

  Felix rolled his eyes.

  ”I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but since the girls left, you’re the only person I talk to aside from the guides, and I’m pretty sure they can tell just by looking at you.”

  ” Yeah, yeah. Fine, just don’t do something stupid like yelling it out in surprise or something.”

  Henry checked to see if anyone was around before leaning forward and telling him in a low voice.

  ”It’s holy.”

  Felix had to bite his tongue from doing exactly what Henry had warned him not to do.

  “For real? I didn’t think that was a real thing. Is it like in the stories?” Felix asked with wide eyes.

  ”Yup, flashy light-based attacks, glowing weapons, a smattering of nonsensical healing. All there. And before you ask, I don’t know. No one’s ever told me about priests or paladins in my family history. I’ll have to look into it when we finally leave.”

  “Really? You think it’s true that the affinity came from the gods?”

  ”From the books the library’s shared on the topic? Yes. Mana takes on cues from other mana to know how to behave. Take a normal cup of water to a planet where everyone thinks water is supposed to float, and soon enough, it will start floating.

  “Thousands of years of gods adding light effects to every spell they cast to make it look impressive to their believers, and it’s no wonder you ended up with a weird light affinity. Apparently, on some of the old divine worlds, the sunlight still has a healing effect.”

  ”Well, at least it’s a versatile affinity, maybe you can branch it out into light magic so you have something to fall back on if you ever end up on one of the worlds that are more hostile to the gods.”

  By the time Felix returned to the Ways, he felt like a new person. As time continued, Agrona would keep forcing him to take the occasional break. It was the only reason he noticed the change that swept the Crossroad.

  The closer they got to the end of the year, the more tense everything became. Henry told him about more and more duels, until he stopped because it had become commonplace. People who once spent every meal together now looked at each other with suspicion.

  To Felix, the tension was hard to understand. He saw no reason to pick fights with other people when their only real opponent was the final gate.

  It wasn’t the only change he noticed. All the martial artists started to look older. Instructor Grendel had explained over a cup of coffee that their bodies were forced to grow to accommodate the mana they kept pushing into them with their training. It was a sign that they were at their physical limits. After they stopped growing, they’d finally be able to break their first limit and officially become martial artists.

  They weren’t the only ones who changed. While it took more effort to see the changes in the magi, their eyes revealed the truth. Those aspirants who gave up on becoming Travellers could still be found laughing and enjoying themselves. Their eyes were filled with joy. It was strange how they’d almost become invisible to everyone still trying to be Travellers.

  Those who kept progressing on their path held a different light in their eyes. They looked at the people around them like they were evaluating their danger level. You could almost see the challenges that forged the steel in their gaze when you looked long enough.

  It was strange to see them. Felix had long noticed the change in his own gaze. He’d seen the changes in Lara and Aster before they left, too. Yet those who gave up on their path seemed not to notice the change. While a Traveller could spot another with a single glance, no one else could notice.

  When he started looking for it, he could see the same glint in the gazes of the guides, different, more tempered and solid, hidden behind years of experience, but when you looked closely enough, it was there.

  Unfortunately for Felix, even with his erratic and infrequent departures from the Ways, he couldn’t avoid trouble forever. On occasion, he’d run into members of Eugene’s old friend group. At first, they remained distant, but as time dragged on, the way they looked at him changed.

  Eugene still avoided him, but he’d started to hear murmurs from Eugene’s friends. It started with whispered snide remarks made so softly that they could barely be heard. But time made them bold, and soon whispers grew into open mocking.

  That was when Felix made his first mistake. When he thought back on it, he knew he should have confronted them the moment it started. He was so caught up in his own affairs that he didn’t consider the consequences of ignoring it.

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