"I never credited luck enough for my discoveries back then, however much I always boasted about the craft," Remos said, sighing. "I was determined to better the Energy Forming caste in some way, but doing so wasn't quite as simple as I'd allowed myself to believe prior to reaching my limit."

Skullius gave him a nod and went back to tinkering with the scrolls. He was infusing the essence of Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz in one of them, his eyes glowing; all of his eyes, in fact. His second pair, the [Legion Eyes], was focusing intently on what he was inspired to write on the scroll. They slowly began changing as Remos continued speaking.

"Before, the height of Energy Forming could only be accomplished either by subduing a creature with a natural affinity for elements and forces of nature beyond that – a Summoner or Tamer's forte, of course." The Mage cleared his throat. "For the rest of us, our limit was simply a Class called… Elementalist. It was the most common within the Energy Forming caste, and its name fooled many into believing that all they could do with it was control fire, water, air, and earth. There were unique ways to do that, true, but…"

"They were unsatisfactory," Skullius finished the sentence for him. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Worse… They were uninspired." Remos' face took on the shape of recollection. "I'd seen many absurdly intimidating forms of elemental manipulation by the time I was 40, and yet, my soul demanded more. I believed there was more – more to the wildly high output of energy man was capable of back then. There had to be a greater purpose for it."

"So, I began hunting Cluster Beasts. I challenged Clusters no one dared to venture into, fighting to near-death with monstrous, unique creatures possessing Classes and Mutations that could not be found among men or beasts on Aigas. I learned a few things in the first year, most significant of all, Stagnant Space. I learned to harness it, to use it for travel. I could even use it to escape from within a Cluster. It became my go-to strategy in case I bit more than I could che—"

The sudden flare of Skullius' Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz quieted him for a moment. Skullius waved a hand, telling him to dismiss the interruption and continue.

"Everything was going steady. I discovered that I could learn a lot more things when I wasn't actively drawing powerful Cluster Generals into a fight for the sake of learning their abilities. I felt I was making good progress from a safe distance," Remos said, and then his face grew taut with tension. "That was, until I met a particularly formidable foe. A half-dragon."

"Half dragon?" Skullius paused and smiled. "Interesting."

"Indeed," said Remos. "Before today, that was the most frightening experience of my life."

Skullius chuckled. That sounded about right. Funny enough, he knew someone else who had encountered a draconian species within a Cluster. Aurolio. The Void User had once offered to trade with Skullius for a horn that he had taken from one of these creatures.

"The creature could create arrays that allowed it to break through the borders of the Clusters. It followed me when I tried to flee and would not stop chasing me, no matter how hard I tried to lose it in Stagnant Space," said Remos.

"But then I stopped. I realized that this was what I'd been looking for. There was danger in the encounter for sure, but the monster possessed just what I was looking for. When I engaged it, I realized that it had a Class naturally attuned to gravity and magnetism, something no living creature on Aigas had – as far as I knew. It used its arrays to channel its powers efficiently, and shockingly enough, those arrays were a manifestation of its cognizance of how little it understood about gravity and magnetism. I had never imagined that I would see that in a Cluster beast."

Skullius got the gist of what followed that.

"You learned the arrays then, right?" he said. "You mentioned before that Elementalists were convinced that they could only control elements. You didn't suppose that was true even before you fought this half-dragon, did you?"

"No. Like any other Class, an Elementalist had the potential to breach into other facets of Energy Forming beyond the elements. It just took a lot more effort than anyone had cared to invest," said Remos. "But I did. Beyond grit, an Elementalist needed a treacherously high output and an object of control – some form of array – to reach the higher aspects of energy. That's how I created the concept of Spells."

"I continued with my research, finding different Cluster beasts and Cluster Generals and extrapolating how they harnessed their unique powers. Some could, most couldn't. But every few I found added to my idea of Magecraft."

"Why did you never study the beasts that were tamed or summoned by Summoners and Tamers? You said they were capable of things Elementalists weren't, right?" asked Soidon.

"Because Summoners draw their summons from Stagnant Space, and the creatures that reside there do not necessarily adopt Aigas' power system. It would be meaningless for me to try and emulate their ways," said Remos. "As for Tamers… I never knew any who had the capacity to tame beasts of the calibre I desired."

"Interesting," said Skullius as Soidon nodded to the answer. "Were there any restrictions when you began modelling Magecraft?"

"Restrictions?" asked Remos.

"Yes."

The Arch-Mage thought for a moment.

"Not so much where restrictions were concerned," he said. "But I did garner the malice from many other established Energy Formers. They attempted to assassinate me after seeing just how many of the commonfolk came to me immediately after seeing a Priest. There were many more who desired to become Mages than Diviners, Summoners, Tamers, or Healers." He scoffed. " You're a threat to the balance, they all called me."

Skullius' eyes – all of them – shimmered at that.

A threat to the balance. Well, wasn't that interesting?

"I see."

That was it. That had to be it.

'Direction doesn't serve one individual, indeed,' he thought.

There was nothing else Skullius could glean from these five – save for perhaps Weaver. And speaking of the Nulliergrapher, it was about time he and the Apostle paid a visit to Red Rage and the others.

Skullius had an inkling that this matter had a serving of opposing Direction attached to it.