Morning fog curled around the training grounds like a silent mist of memory. Kaen stood barefoot on the dew-soaked earth, facing Vane with eyes sharp from lack of sleep and mind sharpened by resolve.
Vane tapped the edge of his blade against a nearby tree—just once. The sound echoed unnaturally long, as if time had paused to acknowledge the coming moment.
"You're getting cocky," Vane said. "So it's time for a reset."
Kaen raised a brow. "You think I've plateaued?"
Vane smirked. "No. I think you're rising too fast. So fast that you haven't learned to look down. You'll fall. Or worse—someone will push you."
He walked a slow circle around Kaen, dragging his finger through the dirt. "That's why I'm giving you the Three Trials. A rite I designed for myself. If you fail, I take back my offer. If you survive, I teach you something even my master didn't know."
Kaen nodded, his heart thumping harder than it had during any sparring session. "What are the trials?"
Vane crouched and tapped three points in the dirt with his blade.
"Trial One: Comprehend. You will be locked in a room and given a Nen ability that is alien—no known origin, no visual demonstration. Only a description. Your task? To understand it enough to replicate or counter it within two hours."
Kaen's mind lit up. A pure mental challenge. He could handle that.
"Trial Two: Construct. You'll be forced to invent a brand-new ability under pressure—original, useful, and stable. If it backfires or fails to manifest clearly, you fail."
Kaen's smile flickered. That would be difficult. Creativity under stress was his edge—but instability could cost him aura, or worse.
"Trial Three: Control. You will face me. Not at full power—but close. You're not expected to win. You're expected to survive ten minutes without collapsing or using abilities recklessly. If you lose control, if your Palace spirals, the trial ends."
Kaen drew a slow breath. "When do we begin?"
Vane simply pointed toward the forest. "Now."
⸻
Kaen followed Vane through the woods until they reached a small stone building he had never seen before—half-buried in roots, with a single metal door and no windows. Vane opened the door and gestured.
Inside, a table. A candle. A scroll.
And silence.
Kaen stepped in, and the door shut behind him.
Trial One: Comprehend.
He unrolled the scroll and read carefully:
"The ability creates a field where truth becomes perception. It activates only when the user believes a lie to be real. Within the field, that lie manifests as fact—temporarily overriding physical law for anyone who hears and accepts the lie."
Kaen sat down, stunned.
What did that even mean?
He read it again. Then a third time. Then closed his eyes and projected the concept into the Mind Palace.
Immediately, a room formed—not clean and orderly like his others, but warped, shifting, filled with fragmented sentences floating in the air.
He visualized the Nen user: someone delusional, perhaps, or utterly convinced of a falsehood.
And then it clicked.
It was a lie that became real through belief.
Not reality bending, not conjuring. It was a conditional Specialist ability that hijacked a listener's logic. If the user believed something strongly enough—and convinced someone else—it temporarily bent their perception. And Nen, being fueled by belief and intent, reacted accordingly.
Kaen's eyes opened.
He raised his hand and shaped aura into the air.
"Right now," he said aloud, "gravity pulls things upward. I believe it. You believe it. And so… it is."
A stone lifted from the table and floated upward for three seconds—then fell.
His aura snapped back into normal flow.
Kaen smirked. "Trial One: passed."
⸻
Vane waited outside. When Kaen emerged, sweaty and smiling, Vane gave the faintest nod.
"Next."
They walked back to the clearing, where a fire pit was lit and aura crackled like heat waves in the air. Vane tossed Kaen a headband.
"Put it on. It will restrict Ren. You'll be forced to use only 40% of your aura."
Kaen obeyed.
"Trial Two: Construct."
Vane held out a stone and shattered it with a flick. "Invent something. Doesn't matter what. But it has to be yours—something that could only come from your mind. Ten minutes."
Kaen dropped into a meditative stance.
Inside the Palace, he turned inward, rifling through unfinished designs and forgotten dreams.
He remembered a childhood idea: a way to store decisions.
He whispered, "What if my aura could remember my plans better than I can?"
He shaped the aura around his body into small orbiting glyphs. Each glyph held a short Nen command—a conditional directive.
He defined three:
• If opponent attacks left side, rotate counterclockwise and dodge.
• If Gyo fails to track aura, auto-switch to En pulse.
• If aura drops below 30%, trigger fallback defense shell.
The glyphs shimmered like floating runes.
He stood and declared, "Tactical Echo."
Vane tested it immediately.
He struck with a left feint—Kaen's body moved reflexively.
Gyo failed—En replaced it instantly.
Then Vane slammed his aura hard, pushing Kaen into a drop—but as his energy dipped, a reflexive defense wall activated around his arms.
Kaen gasped. "It's working."
Vane nodded slowly. "That's a good ability. Efficient. Reflex-driven. Complex. And most importantly—yours."
Kaen removed the headband, aura rippling back into his full form.
He didn't even need to ask what was next.
Vane's aura flared, and the trees around them bent slightly.
"Trial Three: Control. You've got ten minutes. Show me you can handle chaos."
⸻
Vane attacked with blinding speed. Kaen activated Ghost Step, narrowly avoiding the first barrage. His aura field shook. Each of Vane's strikes forced Kaen to use different parts of his Palace—dodging patterns, auto-deflection, partial illusions to misdirect strikes.
At minute four, Kaen's Prediction Field faltered.
At minute six, Vane faked a feint and landed a strike to Kaen's ribs.
Blood in his mouth. Dizzy. Still standing.
He tapped into Echo Scribe and replayed an earlier version of Ghost Step at 30% power—just enough to dodge a sweep kick.
Minute nine. Vane finally said, "Enough."
Kaen dropped to his knees, gasping.
"You passed," Vane said quietly. "All three."
Kaen looked up. "That was the hardest thing I've ever done."
Vane extended a hand. "Good. Because from here on out, it only gets harder."
Kaen took it, and for the first time, Vane smiled.
⸻
To be continued in Chapter 4: Echoes of Memory