The basics

"Well, it sounds like you already got it. Not that it is really hard. I made this barrier really weak, so it can't be your strength that is missing. Hell, with a millionth of the strength you used to stun me, you could obliterate this barrier. It is only strong against phyiscal power." She kept lamenting about the kind of barrier.

"Good to know, but how do I break it?" John cut her short.

"Jeez, just like you said. Focus your powers in your hand, or whatever you are touching the barrier with and then release them." John was getting angry at her. Didn't he already explain this?

"I told you, I don't know how. How do I focus my power in my hand? Do I have to get a tingly feeling in the center of my back, or what?" She chuckled at that.

"Okay, let me start over. How did you stun me? You send your power into my body to hold onto mine, didn't you. Just do that. Send it into the barrier instead." Great, easier said than done. To stun her, he just thought of activating the skill and that skill did it for him. So if he did not get a skill to break a barrier, he couldn't do it. John sighed.

"I guess there is no way except to come clean to you. I have to explain to you how my powers work so you can help me expand them. You see, I gain abilities seemingly at random." He wouldn't come clean completely, even if he stated he would. Some mystery would have to remain after all. "Once I have an ability, I can channel it. I don't really have energy inside of me that I use for it." He definitely did not want to have her knowing about his mana. Right now, his power must seem infinite to her, and he wanted to keep it that way.

"I just remember the ability and think that I want to use it, and then it happens. Do you understand? So I don't know what to focus on to summon powers into my hand." She nodded, but her expression had changed.

"You are a voidling then. Your power comes from somewhere else. That is very rare. Okay, this complicates things, because voidlings don't learn new things. They just know some things, that is what they do, and everything else is impossible for them. A Bummer. While they are really strong, they are very much less usefull, given how they are limited in their actions. But you said you still gain some new abilities? Maybe you are still growing. Let us hope we can give you some of the basics, or else you would need a babysitter for every task."

John was not happy with this either. Apparently his lie of not having any energy form inside of him now classified him as something different. Shit. So of course her lessons would be for that kind of person. Was there really no way, how he could keep a secret from her, yet regain her teachings?

"Okay, I read about this once, so let's try it. Close your eyes. Don't focus on yourself but try imagining the void. Usually its a big black, purple-ishy glob of energy that is sucking everything in, but you can visualize it however you want." How could he visualize it any other way after she just described it? She was a really bad teacher. "Inside the void is energy. Unlimited energy. Enough energy for Gaia and all the humans on this world at the same time. This is where your energy comes from. This is your battery. Focus on your battery. Connect your mind to the void, to the source of your energy, not the whole void, that would be bad, you know... it would probably swallow you, so only to the energy."

He damn sure was happy he didn't follow her instructions, because that sounded like it would destroy his mind. Instead he tried an alternative. He focussed on the source of his energy. A blue bar and a number. It was primitive, but that was how his power was represented, as a bar, which portrait how much mana he had left. He tried to connect his thoughts to that bar, but the only visualisation he had of it was his character sheet, and it felt really weird to connect your thoughts to a floating piece of paper.

"Now, once you are connected, just plea to the energy to float into the barrier for you. You can't take it inside of you, so you just have to beg it, to do what you want directly. Let it smash the barrier. Is that ok? Can you do that?"

'Can you just shut up? Can you do THAT' John was only one more word away of shouting this at her. Focussing while someone keeps talking was hard. But yes, he could do that. And he did.

Quest completed:

Reward: 100 xp, New skill: Escape, lvl 1, X mp

Escape lets you shatter energy barriers and illusion barriers. The cost are proportional to the strength of the barrier.

Note: This skill may fail, if you do not have enough mana to destroy the barrier.

Note: This skill will become cheaper the higher your Intellect and your Wisdom is.