Time passed. How much, Irwyn struggled to estimate. It was at least weeks, possibly months. With no day and night cycle as well as the distractions, it was hard to even estimate the flow. Occasionally, he would think about how Waylan and the others were faring without them, but not too often. He had been extraordinarily busy.

Besides countless hours of crafting and experimenting with his spellcraft, Irwyn had been carving. The pillar's soothing had indeed helped greatly with his recovery between each, and Elizabeth assured that with Soul growth too, for all Irwyn couldn't feel the difference. He had re-carved Light and Flame, each close to his new Star, still planning to merge them into Starfire as soon as possible. Though that would not be before they moved on, it seemed. Just as he was about halfway recovered again, the pillar suddenly crumbled, vanishing in between breaths.

"I think that is our cue," Elizabeth glanced at him through the glaring empty space where the pillar had been.

They have not talked as much as he would have expected. But then, she theorised it was one of the effects of the strange Trial. It affected them, both physically and mentally. Despite the borderline isolation, Irwyn never felt loneliness or anxiety. No lingering fear nor worry that could afflict his mind. Same went for the needs of the body - Irwyn had not eaten anything the whole while, yet felt not a pang of hunger, or other needs for that matter.

"Did you get back to three?" Irwyn asked as he stood up.

"Just barely. I presume that has triggered the end."

"So… a whole continent of monsters next?" he pointed towards the arch leading into the next chamber.

It had been open the entire time, but they were not so foolish as to enter unprepared again. Irwyn had progressed greatly while waiting for his Soul to recover in between carvings. For one, Empyrean blood, had been successfully upgraded to accommodate his Concept of Star, turning up its efficacy manifold. Irwyn estimated that with it active, he could draw mana between five to fifteen times faster, depending on how much of his mind he was willing to commit. Optimal was likely somewhere around eight, giving him enough leeway to actually use that much magic.

Other old spells had also seen much advancement. His Indestructible starflesh as well as his ever-present barriers were finally full-fledged Concept bearing creations. Much experimentation had revealed to him that unlike intentions, there was no apparent limit to how much willpower and magic he could pour into a spell through a Concept. Merely diminishing results. Too much mana and it would become progressively harder to maintain the magic with lesser and lesser increase to its power. Too much focus spent on fine adjustments and the improvements became increasingly minute as well.

He had also made progress with multi-Concept spells. Namely, that they hardly seemed worth the effort as things stood. Using two Concepts instead of just one did not automatically make a spell better. They both needed to directly complement each other rather than conflict. For example, if Irwyn tried to use Star and Flame to burn something at the same time, they would clash, actually producing lesser results than using just Star.

On the other hand, if he used Light to deliver a Star spell by using that semi-prismatic blend he had figured out in the previous part of the trial, the spell could actually strike significantly faster than it otherwise could have. Also became relatively harder to use, which made the technique situational when he needed speed more than saturation or control. But it was definitely useful to know. Perhaps better use cases would arise in the future when he had more options.

One area that had stymied him was the mind. For a very long time, he had been enhancing his capacity for thought with mana by using a simple spell like Dervish had once taught him. As he had progressed, he had kept adding intentions, eventually making it permanently active with nine. Always a worthwhile trade, since the increase in capacity outweighed the cost by orders of magnitude. The problem was getting something that worked with a Concept.

Irwyn had done some… questionable things that would have almost certainly killed anyone else in that pursuit. Not ever burning meant that he had dared literally try setting his thoughts on fire with Flame or drowning his brain in piercing Light. Making a small Star overlap his brain and more. While it had all failed to injure him, he had not found any way to make his mind faster with the three Concepts he held.

He had consulted Elizabeth, who agreed that he would likely need something more supportive to enable what he had in mind. Perhaps his current three were simply not suitable for the task, or he just needed a bout of inspiration. Also, while she had her own options mostly planned out, Irwyn still needed to figure out his eight remaining Concepts. Next was merging his current three into Starfire. As for what came after… Irwyn had ideas but hoped for more insight before he needed to actually make that choice.

"Presumably, it will be something else," Elizabeth said. Perhaps thought acceleration was not that much of an issue, given the whole inner monologue had taken him just a second of real time to process. "It would be strange if we were tested on fighting hordes twice in a row. Be prepared for anything."

"I suppose it would be too easy to just recast the same spell," Irwyn admitted. Though he had gone through the effort of redesigning it with his new Concept. He expected the potency would be noticeably better, if he ever had the chance to use it again.

"Together?" she offered him a hand as they finally stood right in front of the arch. Wherever it led, their sight was obscured by a black mist - and not the Void kind, as that would hardly stop Elizabeth's sight.

"Together," Irwyn nodded, grabbing on as they stepped through.

Then the world lurched. Unlike last time, they did not actually walk into the next chamber; instead clearly being transported. Irwyn tried to confirm as much by looking behind himself, but his neck was locked in place. So were his limbs, and body in general. He also could no longer feel Elizabeth next to him, his senses likewise restrained and confused by the sudden shift.

Reaching for his magic, Irwyn was immediately disturbed to discover that it also refused to abide to his will. It was still there, just denying any commands. In fact, all the spells he had been running a moment before had dispersed. After a few moments of trying to force it forth, he failed to see so much as a hint of progress. Whatever was happening was clearly part of the Trial. As much was confirmed just a moment later, when the strange yet already familiar voice sounded within his skull.

|| Escape ||

As if that hadn't been obvious. Still, Irwyn was stuck. His raw magical and physical force was clearly insufficient to get him out of whatever vice he happened to be stuck in. Not panicking, Irwyn tried to feel around the room instead. There was plenty of magic all around him, though even that sense had grown dull, imprecise. It was impossible to distinguish any details like he normally would expect to. Thus, he moved on to his elemental senses instead, searching for any notable elemental force. There he found his first hint.

It was just the slightest spark of Starfire. A good distance behind him, hovering in place. Basically just a runaway ember on the brink of fading, but it was something. Thus Irwyn clung to it, the whole of his perception zeroing in on that tiny lighthouse. Which made him immediately note several strange things about it.

First of all, it was not magical. Which likely marked the first time Irwyn had witnessed such. Real, genuine Starfire should only be accessible by the edges of actual stars… or by materially shifting them from the magical kind. Which would require tremendous power and knowledge, something that probably shouldn't surprise him inside such a Trial.

Secondly, while the little fragment felt right on the brink of guttering out, it was maintaining that state in some sort of equilibrium. Either it had an inner depth Irwyn could not feel, or something was keeping it alive. A thought for later. If he wanted to learn more he needed a closer connection.

When Irwyn tried to get an actual hold of the spark, he found himself surprisingly struggling. The lack of magic from both sides increased the difficulty to levels he would have never anticipated. In the past, when he needed to control or douse flames, he would flood them with his mana, subvert them to be magical, and then could easily dominate them like any such spell. The difference to making just the natural element obey his will with nothing to enforce it past sheer affinity… it was like trying to stack crates without hands.

Yet Irwyn was also closer to Starfire, and with no other choice. It was excruciatingly slow, but he gradually learned how to stop the metaphorical sand slipping through his fingers. Minutes it might have taken, but his control got rapidly better with practice. Because Irwyn had never actually done what he was doing, had he? Such direct grasp based on sheer affinity rather than actual mana. A new arm that had lain atrophied for far too long, waking with its first proper use.

He also would have likely gotten it right much sooner if his mind was not so slow. With all magic vanquished from him, that included the spell that he always kept accelerating his thoughts. But eventually, Irwyn had the spark and began to explore, feeling out its surroundings through the dim light it radiated. It happened to be hidden within a nook, not much larger than the small smidge of Starfire itself. All sides except one were solid and metallic, the last being a mercury-like membrane of sorts. It prevented his light from peering through, but was likely the exit.

Nudging his control forward, Irwyn let his spark venture through. As he passed the barrier, he immediately noticed something akin to walls, a straight hallway scaled down to the little nugget of Starfire he held in his will. That left him two directions to choose from. Irwyn tried to see further, feeling through the dim half-reflected light… and the spark suddenly dispersed.

Startled, Irwyn tried to feel what had happened, but within a mere second, all its power seemed to have vanished in his moment of inattention. Before his bafflement cleared, Irwyn felt a new spark manifesting in that little nook. The same as the lost one had been. Inspecting it again, Irwyn realised the issue: The tiny bit of Starfire looked on the brink of collapse because it was. Merely, that little space it hid in was keeping it from falling apart. Once it moved elsewhere, even the bit of light radiating away was enough to finally make it gutter out.

That meant that Irwyn had to be extremely conservative with what little power he had available. Allowing for any loss could break his only anchor. That meant a vice grip over not just the spark itself, but even every smidgen of light and heat that would undoubtedly try to escape it. With that knowledge, he grasped the bit of Starfire again - much faster than before - and set it forth.

He did not succeed on his second try, nor on the next several. He was making progress, getting faster and more certain with taking control and maintaining the spark for longer spans. It still felt like a monumental task stood in front of him, but the improvement was quick. The first few steps on a path were usually the hardest after all. And he had ventured so rarely down this one.

Magic and manipulation on nigh microscopic scale. Something Irwyn had truly neglected in his skillset. What was the point of small when he needed to slay bigger and bigger foes? When his magic refused to run out no matter how hard he tried to upscale. The Trial clearly disagreed with his approach, forcing Irwyn to lean hard in the opposite direction. And he had to learn fast. No matter what, he was still within a Trial - a time limit of some kind was likely.

Though the passage of minutes was difficult to gauge for obvious reasons, so Irwyn didn't even try. It took him well over a hundred attempts to finally stabilize the little spark. Another hundred to do so without being completely blind. By the end of that, it was becoming something he could do with practiced ease: Keep the Starfire whole, sent an even smaller - nigh infinitesimal - glimmer of light to scan the surrounds, reabsorb, repeat. Quite satisfied with his progress, Irwyn went on to finally explore where the miniature hallway actually led.

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The range at which he could actually reclaim the little light he dared use was quite small, so he had to make the blob of Starfire make its way along those pathways. Exact distance was difficult to estimate given everything was incredibly tiny, but he knew he had traveled 10 seconds to the left before spotting the next complication: An intersection.

One path led downwards while two others to the sides under varying angles - if Irwyn's sense of direction could even be trusted to accurately determine up or down. Taking the one leading, from his perspective, right with mild dread, Irwyn only needed to wait a tiny bit longer to confirm his mounting suspicion. There was another intersection, splitting off at four more seemingly random angles. It was a labyrinth.

Irwyn wasn't sure whether he wanted to groan or be excited. It probably depended on how sadistic the design would turn out to be. Empowerment or not, Irwyn's mind had been reinforced by his magical nature, so remembering a reasonable layout would not be too difficult. The struggle might be actually mapping it. His pace would be pretty slow if he carefully examined every hallway, but he couldn't really affort not to.

There could be secrets hidden in the seams, more tiny hideaways like the one the spark appeared in. Much more worryingly, there was a real chance the layout would be shifting. Or worse, straight up disobeying geometry. He could somewhat keep impossible shapes in his head when it came to Concepts he innately understood, but it was doubtful that would translate well to actual mapping.

With no other choice, Irwyn buckled in and hoped for the best. Sending the spark forward on a random strut, he committed the places it moved to memory. He made it down two dozen more intersections before the Starfire suddenly broke down. There had been no warning, giving Irwyn pause. His control had not slipped; something had disrupted his hold.

Undeterred, he grabbed onto the new manifested spark and went down a different passage. That time, he only made it seven crossroads before the same problem repeated. On his third try down yet another way, he spotted something new. A series of panes that clogged the hallway in front of him, revealing themselves in the light. A blockade, except for a small gap that would just barely let the spark pass if aimed with perfect precision.

Irwyn was not sure he would actually be able to squeeze through the tiny gap. His control was still improving, or, in other words, remained far from perfect. His perception had also spotted only three such panes in a row, but there could be more. Still, there was no good reason to not try, so Irwyn did.

He made it past two, spotting three more further in. On the third, he made the slightest contact, which instantly dispersed his poor ember. In a very sudden way, actually. Almost identical to his unexplained sudden failures from earlier. Briefly confused, Irwyn quickly came up with a possible explanation. Returning to the earlier area, Irwyn tried to use heat instead of light to scout ahead.

The information he was able to get from the attempt was significantly worse than his previous scouting with light. It was also quite a bit harder, which almost made his grasp on the spark slip, hovering dangerously close to extinguishing again. What it did find, however, was a pane of not-flame distinctly familiar to the one of light he had failed to pass through earlier.

That could prove to be quite annoying, wasting yet more time. To make that less miserable, Irwyn first tested from how far away his heat scouting could actually notice the panes. That way he would be able to minimize the far less effective method of searching without risking running into the traps.

He returned to exploration. Every time he ran into one of those panes, he would mentally note down where it was on the map expanding in his head, then attempt to guide his tiny spark through those gaps. It took a lot of trial and error. He was pretty sure that the more panes in a row he passed, the smaller the gap grew, though the differences were so small he couldn't even be certain with his limited senses. Still, Irwyn persevered.

It took him perhaps as many as 30 attempts to finally pass through one of those damn blockades. On several occasions, he had gotten all the way to the final - tenth - pane, only to fail at the last possible moment. When he passed through at last, there was a shift. Irwyn felt his restraints loosen ever so slightly.

The difference was small, but it still made Irwyn grin. It allowed him to channel just a tiny bit of magic. It likely still couldn't be projected outside, and Irwyn didn't even try. He gleefully let it flow into his brain, relishing the jump in sharpness. The enhancement's effect was merely a fraction of a fraction of what he was used to, it still made a noticeable difference.

The panes behind his spark vanished while he had been slightly distracted. The first thing Irwyn attempted was path back to a different set. Unfortunately, those seemed to have vanished too. There would be no repeating the challenge he had already beaten. With no other options, Irwyn returned to mapping the labyrinth. The wisdom of keeping a mental map quickly presented itself, as he realized that many of the new pathways would lead to doubling back into already explored territory. Only about half led further in.

It was not too long until he encountered his next obstacle. Only one pane of light, but it was spinning. Not at an even rate either, accelerating and then slowing down in - hopefully - a pattern of some sort. The already difficult challenge made exponentially harder by that simple fact… yet there was only one, and Irwyn's mind whirled far faster than just minutes prior.

After each failed attempt, he rushed back towards the pane, trying to better estimate the movement and the timing. It was hard, demanding that he perfectly matched the pane's shifting speed while the spark was passing through. But he only needed to get lucky once. Just one perfect shot and he would be through.

It took him a while to get that. When he did, more of his power was released. Channeling it immediately into his brain, there was enough for Irwyn to apply two intentions. There was a bit of a conundrum in that as well. Did he need speed or precision? For the moment, he chose the former, ready to switch again if the next challenge demanded as much. Once he actually found it.

Irwyn started running into dead ends. That, and full loops that only led back to where they had started. The area he could search had expanded, yet the number of valid paths to tread was seemingly shrinking. There, surprisingly enough, his map was proving a surprising benefit. The more of the layout Irwyn held in his thoughts, the more it began… tugging at him. Whatever the shape was, there was some modicum of meaning to it. Something related to his affinities enough that his gut was gradually starting to give him hints.

There were several more challenges, demanding increasing levels of precision bordering on the absurd. After the fourth, the panes were no longer visible to light or heat, demanding Irwyn detach a tiny figment of the already infinitesimal spark to scout ahead. At that point, he had enough of his thought speed unleashed that it was manageable.

By the end, it took him over a minute to reach a final hurdle with a new spark, and that was with maybe ten times his initial speed. It was the ninth challenge, occupying what Irwyn was pretty sure happened to be the only 'hallway' that led out of the labyrinth. It was also devilishly complex. Rather than being merely a pane, the obstacle demanded Irwyn would pass the spark through a thick block of hostile not-starfire. At the same time, there was no longer even a tunnel, just a series of bubbles that would open up at the surface, exactly large enough to fit his spark, then sink deeper in.

As far as Irwyn could tell, they then proceeded to dance an unreasonably complex pattern within the block, drifting back and forth, jiggling from side to side, sometimes suddenly halting, only to rush ahead or backwards at far faster speed. An absolutely ridiculous task, even with his magical power almost fully unleashed to bolster his will.

No matter how Irwyn looked at it, the challenge was borderline impossible. The only feasible way it could be done would be if he managed through sheer repetition to perfectly remember the pattern of the bubble's movement and then follow it with unerring precision. Which was made extra difficult by the sheer distance he needed to cross for each attempt and the fact that he couldn't see all the way through the block. As far as he knew, it could be twice or even more as thick as it looked. No, that would take hours. Far more time than the rest of the labyrinth combined.

There was only a single other solution staring Irwyn in the face. His power was unrestrained, at least within his body. That meant that his mind should be able to be empowered by a Concept. Something he had spent weeks contemplating and attempting, yet had still utterly failed at. Taking a deep breath, Irwyn pushed down his trepidation.

This was a trial, but one built to be possible. It was meant to test, but also teach. Put him face to face with death and desolation, then give him everything he needed to just barely scrape his way to survival. A guide with a stern hand, but a guide nonetheless. And the guide had shown him that he should look closer.

The brain was connected to the Soul, translating between the essence and the body. It was the origin of mortal cognition, a balance between biological and mystical. One day, Irwyn would doubtlessly shed the mortal half of that equation, but that was far, far away. So, for the moment, he paid attention. Looked deep and then deeper. His ability to sense his own soul was still relatively rough and unpolished, but the brain still shone like a beacon to it. He just needed to find something. A detail or a secret that would unlock the puzzle. And the more attention he paid, the more apparent it became that the connection was not equal across the brain.

Just like blood vessels had a closer bond with the Reservoir, Irwyn began noting a similar pattern inside his head. When looking from a distance, it all looked to his spells like one whole of gray matter, sure, but when viewed from close enough, the brain revealed itself to be anything but. A day ago, Irwyn would have neither the inclination nor the ability to gaze near enough to realize that. The Trial had just taught him better.

Desir would know what he found as neurons. Irwyn did not know the name, but he perceived them all the same. Infinitesimal points from which will sprung, present by the millions and billions. And between them, pathways through which consciousness flowed. Irwyn just barely managed to see them. That was enough. He immediately knew what he needed to do.

He started with just one. A single neuron, enveloped with Starfire. Anyone else would be causing themselves permanent damage with what Irwyn was doing, yet he did not burn. Then he infused it, Star. Concepts existed on a scale of investment. Diminishing returns the more that he invested… yet they could also be scaled down. So much so that despite being a Concept, the toll it took on Irwyn was smaller than that of even a single-intention spell. That was the lesson of that labyrinth. Precision. That even the smallest nook of magic was worthy of his attention.

One by one, it would be arduous work. Irwyn immediately realised that it was simply not realistic to manually amplify that entire network. Yet the trial had taught him something on propagation in the previous chamber, a lesson he had contemplated further in the downtime. Instead of empowering each individual neuron, Irwyn crafted something that would instead draw on his mana to split and spread across those pathways he could just barely notice.

He did not let them be unleashed just yet. Instead, he systematically went across his brain, placing these seeds in thousands of spots. Already, with just a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of them empowered with his Concept, he was starting to feel a slight difference. It took him maybe fifteen minutes of painstaking effort before everything was ready. Then he smiled and spoke:

" Never again still Constellation of will

"

His mind blazed with pure, unrestrained cognition. The Concept spread like a wildfire, igniting his will into heights Irwyn never could have imagined. A contagion of thought. Each neuron took up a bit of his willpower to maintain, then returned that investment thousandfold. His brain shone to his magical senses like the very stars, sprawling across the night sky.

He had never felt better. More awake. More aware.

The spark in the labyrinth had been allowed to disperse in his distraction. Irwyn drew at it again, able to maintain the new one with such trivial ease it was almost unimaginable he had recently struggled to do so. Rather than a minute, he easily let the spark reach the final challenge in less than ten seconds. Then dove in with contemptuous ease.

The 'sudden' jerking movements still had delays. Split split seconds in between to react. That may as well have been full minutes at the relative speed Irwyn perceived them with. It was so easy to keep up. Make tiny microadjustments for the space between his tiny spark and its doom. Like juggling in slow motion.

The 'box' turned out to be at least five times longer than he had originally seen, the waltz within the bubbles proportionally harder and longer. A trap, obvious in retrospect. Had Irwyn attempted to brute-force this final hurdle, he would have squandered hours without making any real progress. It would have held him hostage until he was either forced to learn the labyrinth's lesson or ran out of time. With his Concept-induced willpower, it was astoundingly easy. More annoying than hard.

The moment Irwyn passed through the last bit of the hurdle, he found himself falling. Not the spark but his real body. With the enhancement to his cognition, the plunge took a subjective forever. Long enough that he tried everything he could think of and still failed. His magic remained restrained, unable to leave his body, and any of the internal detonations he thought to try were suppressed before passing through his skin. He curiously felt the labyrinth he had just solved seemingly dissolve out of reality, though that did not help his situation any.

The landing was thankfully quite soft. Occurring after just a few seconds, that had still felt like an eternity and a half. A moment later, Irwyn felt his restrictions fall away. Bursting out with a flare of Starfire, he pushed himself onto his feet, ready for battle as he looked around. It was pitch black, so he also needed to provide his own illumination in the same breath. There were no enemies though. Just a dome good distance overhead and four close walls around him. Not that there was much visible of the architecture, given what covered it.

A thousand puzzles, layered over one another in the small room. Peeking out of every surface and sinking into each wall. Irwyn had his work cut out for him. Though he could not quite suppress his excitement. What else would he learn?

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