Sid POV

  “You ready?” Sid asked as he pulled the net taut, hands low, elbows bent. The coarse rope bit into his palms as he leaned back, planting his feet more firmly into the forest floor. He was already bracing for impact, expecting Varun to fall on his first attempt. He just hoped Varun did not miss the net.

  Sid, Rohan, and Pallavi formed a rough triangle next to the tree, each gripping a corner of the net. The base of the triangle rested against the trunk, rope pressed into bark still damp from lingering mist. Their grips were tight, knuckles pale.

  Varun was supposed to run at the tree from an angle, following a loose helical path at the start. That arc would let him position himself above the net before gravity took over.

  Varun paced a few steps back, rolling his shoulders once. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” His words came out fast, breath shallow. He flashed a brief grin in their direction, more reflex than confidence.

  Sid noticed it then, the way Varun’s energy spiked before trying something new. In Sid’s memories, Varun advanced faster than most, and it was not just because of raw ability. He was willing to try new things. Willing to fail. Willing to push skills to their absolute limit.

  Varun was talented. More talented than Sid himself, if he was being honest. But talent alone took no one to the top. Sid had seen too many skilled people stall out because they relied on instinct alone. Progress demanded effort of the right kind. Not blind repetition, not grinding the same motion until exhaustion set in, but work that asked questions. Work that tested limits and learned from mistakes.

  That was the recipe for creating excellence—talent paired with smart work.

  Varun broke into a jog, pace increasing with each step as he closed the distance to the tree. He lifted his leg high, knee almost brushing his chest, and planted his foot against the trunk.

  Sid watched with rapt attention.

  The first step landed cleanly. The second followed, but the angle was off. Varun’s posture shifted awkwardly, his momentum carrying him higher without aligning him toward the net. His next two steps lacked correction; his body still committed to the original line.

  “Move this way,” Sid said, pulling the net backward.

  If Varun would not adjust himself over the net, Sid would bring the net to him.

  For a heartbeat, Rohan and Pallavi did not react. They were watching Varun’s climb, eyes tracking his feet rather than the net. The tension spiked as Sid pulled harder, the net drawing tight between their hands before loosening as the others understood and followed.

  Varun, meanwhile, was still learning the limits of Wall Walk. Compared to his other skills, it lagged, its lower level showing in moments like this. Sid could see it in the hesitation, in the way Varun relied more on momentum than control.

  If they had been somewhere safer, with time to spare, Sid would have told him to wait. To let the skill mature naturally before forcing it. Varun had the talent for gaining a perfect evolution if he was patient.

  But patience was a luxury they did not have.

  A common-rank skill granted twelve points to a single primary stat when it reached its maximum level of twenty. Sid had done the math earlier, back when Varun shared his numbers. Of Varun’s twenty-seven points in agility, twelve came from Dash. Another twelve were split between Wall Walk and Quickstep. The last three were baseline, Varun’s natural starting point.

  A perfect evolution at Tier 0 occurred when someone combined three common-rank skills, each at level twenty, to create their first uncommon skill. The reward was not subtle. Twenty-four additional stat points separated those who took that path from those who evolved with a single skill.

  A sharp cry tore out of Varun before he plummeted downward.

  Sid’s grip tightened as Varun dropped. The net jerked in his hands, dragging him forward as Varun dropped into it. Rohan cursed under his breath as he stumbled half a step, Pallavi tightening her grip just in time to keep the net from slipping further.

  The net caught Varun before he struck the ground, but not cleanly. It sagged too much, absorbing only part of the momentum. Varun’s back still hit the earth, the impact dull and heavy, though nowhere near as violent as when the spider had hurled him aside earlier.

  Rohan reacted first. He stepped onto the net and closed the distance, crouching beside Varun. “You okay?” He placed a steady hand on Varun’s shoulder.

  “Hold it tighter, guys,” Varun said, irritation edging into his voice. “I’m not as heavy as I look.”

  “Angle your steps right, idiot,” Sid shot back. The reprimand came out softer than intended, almost playful. “We had to switch positions to catch you.”

  Pallavi slipped into the gap before Varun could respond. “What happened? Why did you cry out?”

  Varun rubbed the side of his temple, eyes squeezed shut for a moment. “It felt like my head was splitting open. I didn’t expect that, and lost focus.”

  “I had something similar when I first got my uncommon skill.” Pallavi glanced at Rohan, who gave a small nod. “It passed after a bit. Maybe you just need to endure it.”

  “But I didn’t use Dash,” Varun said, confusion flashing across his face. “I only used Wall Walk and Quickstep together. They’re not even level twenty yet.”

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  Sid already knew what Varun had experienced. It was a symptom of overclocking, the backlash that came from forcing multiple active skills together at Tier 0. He felt the familiar tension of knowledge he could not explain. Letting them draw the wrong conclusion here could push Varun into something dangerous.

  “Maybe levels don’t matter,” Rohan said, excitement creeping into his voice. His eyes widened, eyebrows lifting as if the thought had just struck him. “Any two common skills might be enough. You just need to keep using them together, push through the pain, and the uncommon skill should form.”

  Sid’s jaw tightened.

  Varun turned his head toward him. “What do you think?”

  Sid could not dismiss the idea outright without exposing the source of his certainty. “It’s a reasonable theory.” He chose his words with care. “And it’s worth testing.”

  He met Rohan’s gaze, offering a nod that acknowledged the thought without endorsing the conclusion. Then he focused on Varun again.

  “But it would be a waste not to use all three skills together,” Sid said. “They’re all movement-based. The synergy is obvious.”

  He leaned in, meeting Varun’s eyes. “If you’re going to take pain and risk for an evolution, you might as well aim for the best possible outcome.”

  Silence settled over the group.

  Varun studied Sid’s face for a moment, searching for something. Sid kept his expression calm, offering no more than what he could safely say.

  Sid realized that a bit of provocation would help. This was Varun, after all. One corner of his lips lifted. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little pain. Even Rohan and Aditi survived just fine.”

  “Hey!” Rohan jumped to his feet, hands spreading in mock offense. “What’s that supposed to mean?” His tone lacked any edge, and the grin on his face undercut the protest.

  Varun rose as well, squaring his shoulders toward Sid. “You think I can’t use three skills together? Wanna bet?” The challenge in his voice sounded polished, the hostility more performance than truth.

  Sid did not look away. “If you pull it off, you won’t be the weakest one on the team. If you don’t, you stay there.”

  “All right, asshole. Let’s do it.” Varun’s breathing quickened, excitement bleeding through the words.

  If Varun succeeded, the payoff would be immense. A three-skill evolution meant a versatile uncommon skill and twelve extra stat points over the standard evolution route.

  Compared with crystal absorption, the gap widened further. At level twenty-one, Varun would gain sixteen more stat points than Rohan had gained from Mana Web. Sid knew how much that difference mattered at the lower tiers. He had lived it.

  Varun walked farther back than before. He stopped, glanced at the tree, then at the net. Sid saw the calculation in his eyes. More distance. More speed. Less room for doubt.

  Sid, Rohan, and Pallavi took their positions again, pulling the net tight. The rope creaked faintly as they leaned back, muscles tensing in anticipation.

  “He’s starting.” Rohan’s words came quickly, betraying the tension he tried to hide.

  Varun ran.

  His movement was cleaner than before, his feet finding the trunk at a precise angle. He followed a smooth spiral upward, climbing above the net with confidence.

  Sid felt his own tension ease slightly. There was no mystery to stacking skills. Pain was the only real barrier at Tier 0. Enduring the pain without flinching was what separated success from failure.

  Varun stumbled for a fraction of a second, then recovered. His speed increased. Sid could tell Wall Walk and Quickstep were active together, the cadence unmistakable.

  Only Dash remained.

  Sid’s thoughts drifted inward, to the visualization that anchored his understanding of skills. He pictured his soul as a dim sphere of light suspended in darkness, with a smaller version of himself at its core—a sense of self, his mind. Each increase in tier brightened that sphere, expanding its reach.

  His active skills appeared as clusters of stars orbiting the core, each pattern unique. As skills grew in level and rarity, those patterns became denser, brighter, more complex.

  When multiple skills activated together, those orbits collided. Light struck light, again and again. Each impact sent strain through the soul.

  This mental framework was not unique to Sid. It formed the basis of the astral visualization technique taught at the institute.

  Sid looked up just in time to see Varun blur.

  For an instant, Varun was nothing more than a smear of movement against bark and leaves. Sid’s eyes struggled to follow.

  Sid forced his focus, drawing on the staff against his spine until the world sharpened. Varun reappeared, motionless high above them.

  Varun had not stopped. He had only stopped speeding up.

  Gravity took back control from Dash. Now it was stalling his momentum.

  “Get ready!” Sid shouted.

  Varun’s scream tore through the branches, sharp and panicked, then cut off just as suddenly.

  Rohan and Pallavi leaned back harder, tightening the net further. The rope creaked under the strain.

  “Use your skill, Varun!” Sid yelled, voice carrying over the clearing. “Break your fall!”

  Varun would survive the fall itself. Sid knew that much. The problem was the impact. A bad landing could still injure him, and with no healer nearby, even a minor injury could become dangerous.

  Sid’s jaw tightened as he tracked Varun’s descent. Varun had climbed higher than Sid expected. Too high. He had delayed activation, trusting speed and instinct. The result was a longer drop and dangerous velocity.

  Sid’s mind raced through outcomes.

  There was a crucial distinction between gaining an uncommon skill at Tier 0 from a crystal and evolving a skill to uncommon at Tier 0.

  In the first case, the skill forcibly upgraded the soul itself. The sense of self was overwhelmed by the sudden brightness. Migraines, vertigo, and loss of coordination followed.

  Evolution was different. The sense of self adapted as the skill rose in levels. Brightness increased gradually. And the pain was fleeting.

  Sid gambled everything on Varun’s instincts.

  He saw Varun jerk upward.

  Fingers clamped around a branch. His feet found the trunk, planting solidly. The downward momentum vanished.

  Sid felt tension drain from his shoulders.

  The talented jerk had done it.

  Flash Step.

  The famous skill was unmistakable. Efficient, versatile and dangerously effective. The optimal evolution for Dash in this dungeon.

  More importantly, the foundation for Flicker, a rare-rank skill most people never achieved.

  Varun glanced toward Sid before moving his gaze across the trunk, stopping around the midpoint between his feet and the ground. In the blink of an eye, Varun closed the distance between Sid and himself by half.

  The next time Sid opened his eyes, Varun was standing directly in front of him.

  “I win.” Varun pumped a clenched fist once at his side, a sharp, contained gesture of triumph.

  Varun stats before skill evolution:

  Name: Varun Sharma

  Race: Human (Tier 0)

  Traits [0/1]:

  Strength: 4

  Agility: 27

  Endurance: 3

  Vitality: 3

  Perception: 2

  Intelligence: 3

  Willpower: 3

  Charisma: 2

  Affinities: None

  Skills [3/3]:

  Wall Walk (Common)—Level 2

  Quickstep (Common)—Level 7

  Dash (Common)—Level 20

  Varun stats after skill evolution:

  Name: Varun Sharma

  Race: Human (Tier 1)

  Traits [0/1]:

  Strength: 4

  Agility: 29

  Endurance: 3

  Vitality: 3

  Perception: 2

  Intelligence: 3

  Willpower: 3

  Charisma: 2

  Affinities: None

  Skills [1/5]:

  Flash Step (Uncommon)—Level 21

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