Sid POV

  Sid took a deep breath and submerged his entire body in the pool, lowering himself until his feet met the stone floor. He folded his legs and settled into a lotus position, the water closing over his shoulders and head. Sound dulled, and his teammate’s presence became something distant.

  His intent was clear. He wanted the effect to apply to anyone who looked at the pool, not just a chosen individual. If the pool itself could become the vector, then observation alone would be enough to trigger the effect.

  He had spent a long time thinking about how to evolve the Veil of the Mind’s Eye. The skill was powerful, but its limitations were obvious. Constant eye contact demanded focus in situations where focus was hard to maintain, and the single-target restriction made it inefficient against groups.

  Before he had chanced upon the natural treasure, he would have prioritized removing the constant eye contact requirement. That flaw had already proven costly. Fights rarely allowed for controlled positioning, and even a momentary obstruction could break the connection, deactivating the skill.

  Sid remained seated on the pool floor, allowing the water to obscure his form. He concentrated on conveying intent to the pool—hide, from everything but himself. He pushed that single intent outward, steady and deliberate, attempting to impress it onto the water itself.

  Activating the Veil of the Mind’s Eye proved difficult. Without a visible target, the skill refused to respond. Sid tried again, reinforcing the intent, but there was no feedback.

  He cycled through visualization techniques, drawing on methods he remembered using in another life. Despite repeated attempts, the skill refused to respond.

  Sid pushed himself up from the pool floor and surfaced. The water parted around him without a splash, leaving barely a ripple.

  Varun was waiting at the edge of the pool. He was crouched low, one knee and one hand on the ground, spear angled across his body. “Found a use for the water yet?”

  Sid shook his head and drew in a few deep breaths, steadying himself.

  “Go back in.” Varun’s tone was calm and assured. “I’ll nudge you with my spear if anything dangerous gets close.”

  Sid lingered at the surface, gathering his thoughts. What he was attempting resembled weapon imbuement, a process he had mastered in another life. Back then, shaping a skill into steel had been second nature, guided by experience and repetition. Here, the process felt unfamiliar.

  He forced himself to slow down and return to the fundamentals. Skills functioned within constraints, and ignoring those constraints led to failure. As he reviewed the core tenets, the problem revealed itself.

  There was no defined target.

  The Veil of the Mind’s Eye altered perception. Someone’s senses had to be affected. Trying to include everyone except himself as the constraint was an overreach, even for an Epic skill, let alone the Common skill he was attempting to imbue.

  Sid sank back to the pool floor and adjusted his approach. This time, he defined the target as any sentient touched by the pool’s glow. The skill stirred a little, suggesting partial activation.

  Upon reviewing the tenets once more, Sid recognized the remaining constraint. He couldn’t target more than one person at a time, even if all of them were within his field of vision.

  Sid tried the skill again, this time with the additional condition. The target would be the closest sentient bathed in the glow from the pool. As soon as the parameters locked into place, the skill responded.

  A sharp spike of pain flickered through his head and disappeared, almost making him lose his breath. He recognized the sensation. It marked his advancement to the next tier.

  Evolution theory had been one of the most thoroughly studied disciplines at the Institute. It consumed vast resources, occupying at least half the buildings, funding, and the staff. Researchers treated skills as living systems, mapping how they changed across different individuals, environments and practices.

  Common-rank skills varied little. Two users with the same common skill would perform nearly identically. True divergence began at the uncommon rank and above. Even when evolved from the same base, skills could take radically different forms.

  Varun’s Flash Step was a perfect example. His insistence on stopping precisely where he intended, combined with his Wall Walk skill, had shaped the evolution path. The result was momentum arrest, a feature absent from standard versions of the skill and rarely appearing without near-perfect evolution conditions.

  Sid opened his status window with a small smile. He had entered the ‘Initiate’ ranks and gained an affinity along the way.

  Although Mind Affinity was a rare and powerful affinity, its usefulness depended on compatible skills. Misty Mountain offered few of those. In the Mirage Basin, the same affinity would have been devastating. Still, the Veil of the Mind’s Eye remained the most enigmatic skill he possessed, and strengthening it was always a welcome development.

  Name: Siddharth Krishnan

  Race: Human (Tier 1)

  Traits [1/1]:

  ????: Contract [0/2]

  Strength: 3

  Agility: 3

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  Endurance: 3

  Vitality: 2

  Perception: 13

  Intelligence: 27

  Willpower: 17

  Charisma: 2

  Affinities:

  Mind—Intermediate

  Skills [3/5]:

  Mist Blend (Common)—Level 11

  Keen Eyes (Common)—Level 12

  Veil of the Mind’s Eye (Uncommon)—Level 21

  He rose to his feet and glanced around. The water level had dropped to his waist, exposing more of the pool’s interior. Broken shells lay scattered nearby, their edges catching the dimmer pool’s light.

  Varun was crouched among them, searching for crystals. Unlike before, he did not glance toward Sid at all.

  Pallavi noticed Sid’s movement. Their eyes met briefly, and she gave a restrained nod before returning to her watch.

  “Varun,” Sid called, moving toward the edge of the pool.

  There was no response.

  Sid paused. He might be under the influence of the pool.

  He reached down inside, fingers brushing against cool stone before closing around a pair of pebbles. He tossed one toward Varun. It missed, but the sound drew an immediate reaction.

  Varun spun in place, short sword drawn, his posture tense as he scanned the cavern with sharp, hurried movements.

  His eyes swept across Sid’s position multiple times, even as Sid raised his arms and waved deliberately. There was no recognition.

  That confirmed it.

  Varun was under the influence of the Veil. As the closest sentient outside the pool, he had become the primary target.

  “What is it, Sid?” Rohan’s voice came from behind him, echoing through the cavern despite the low volume.

  Varun looked up at Rohan, eyes widening as he searched his face, his attention snapping away from the pool.

  Sid did not wait for Varun to put the pieces together. He climbed out of the pool in one smooth motion, boots leaving the water before Varun could realize that Rohan could see Sid when he couldn’t.

  The skill imbuement had fallen short of Sid’s original intent. He had hoped to hide the pool entirely from anyone touched by its glow, to make it something that slipped past the mind without registering. That was beyond his current skill tier. The result was a narrower interpretation of his intent, hindering anyone who tried to make use of the treasure rather than discover it.

  Still, he considered the attempt a success. Gaining a rare affinity was not something to dismiss lightly.

  “When did you climb out?” Surprise crept into Rohan’s voice as he stepped closer, boots scraping faintly against the cavern floor.

  “Just now.” Sid’s eyes stayed on the cavern entrance while he spoke. He kept his gaze trained on the tunnel entrance, noting the way shadows shifted deeper within. From experience, he knew danger had a habit of arriving just after success.

  “What happened to the pool?” Varun asked, peering past Sid’s shoulder.

  “It’s right there.” Sid shifted to his left so that Varun’s line of sight was clear. The glow from the pool was weaker, its edge pulled inward. “Can’t you see it?”

  “No.” Varun’s tone hovered uncertainly between a statement and a question.

  “Leave it for now.” Sid moved past Varun toward the backpack filled with crystals. “We need to get out of here fast. I think something’s coming.”

  “I haven’t finished collecting all the crystals yet.” Varun’s protest lacked conviction.

  Sid checked the backpack, getting a quick estimate of the contents before closing it and swinging it onto his shoulder. There was no water on his clothes or boots, and he was glad for that. Walking around in soaked clothes would have been uncomfortable and distracting.

  Varun fell in beside him as they headed toward the wall. He glanced at Sid a few times, clearly wanting to ask something, then thought better of it.

  “Get ready to pull him up,” Varun said when they reached the wall, looking up at Pallavi and Rohan.

  He waited for their response, then stepped forward. He placed his palms against the stone and bent slightly at the hips, positioning himself to support Sid’s weight.

  Above them, Pallavi gripped Rohan’s feet and began lowering him upside down, until Sid could reach up and grab Rohan’s arms. Once they were secure, Pallavi would pull both of them up together.

  They had tested this method before. It was faster than building a scaffold and kept them exposed for less time.

  Sid climbed up Varun with practiced ease, planting his boots firmly on Varun’s shoulders. The stone wall was cold beneath his palms as he straightened his legs and leaned into it, steadying himself while waiting for Rohan to descend.

  “You’re heavy,” Varun said through quick breaths. Sid felt Varun’s body shiver under the strain.

  “Then it’s a good thing we didn’t go with your idea earlier.” Sid kept his tone light.

  Rohan reached him moments later. Sid shifted his grip from the wall to Rohan’s hands, tightening his hold as Pallavi pulled. The rough stone scraped against his boots before he rolled onto the tunnel floor beside Rohan.

  “Why are we running?” Pallavi asked between breaths. She looked exhausted after dragging two grown men up at the same time.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Sid said as he rose, forcing his legs to cooperate. “I’ve a feeling we’re in danger. It’s from my skill.”

  The mind affinity treasure held no value for the rest of the team. None of them possessed compatible skills to gain the affinity. Sid also had no intention of disclosing his mind affinity skill from the black crystal.

  Too much had already deviated from his memories. He suspected the ambush that had killed him in the future was tied to the other black crystal skill—Return to Origin. Until he understood what black crystal skills truly were, he would not share details about them, even with his teammates.

  Rohan formed a ball of Mana Web in his palm as Varun joined them with a soft thud, hauling the backpack full of crystals onto the tunnel floor.

  “Let’s go,” Sid said, nudging Rohan and Pallavi ahead of him into the tunnel, making sure Varun was the last one to enter behind him.

  They moved through the passage at a steady pace. After several dozen feet, Rohan slowed and glanced back. “Anything chasing us?”

  “No. I think we made a clean exit.” Sid’s voice was calm again, the one he used when things were under control.

  “What was that pool?” Varun asked. His tone was curious, but there was an edge to it, as if he suspected Sid was withholding something.

  “I have a theory,” Sid said. “But let’s discuss it once we get back to safety. We also need to check what skills we got from the lair.”

  Sid could not see their faces in the dark, but he sensed their shared anticipation. Fifty skill crystals without fighting a single monster was no small gain. It was more than the camp usually gathered in a week.

  Once again, the dungeon had proven that fortune favored the bold.