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Lydia couldn't sleep. She lay awake on her bed, listening to her roommate snore, with thoughts about the previous day running through her head. And oh boy, was there a lot to think about.

James had found out that he wouldn't be participating in the Mid-year competition. Normally, the masters of each affinity would watch the tournament and grade students on their performer, regardless of if they won or lost, but apparently Pure Elementalists had their own test. It made sense too, considering their lack of magical spells, although that knowledge didn't make James any happier. And they couldn't even train with a weapon because they had to devote all of their time to training.

Lydia wasn't going to do the competition either. Her Midterm project was to invent something original, her first real test as a Weird. But instead of figuring out a design for an exploding sword, a way to convert cuteness to fuel, or some other crazy and out-of-this-world idea, she was constantly distracted and unable to focus. They were supposed to solve a problem that interested them. What did she want? To fix her friend's problem. But that wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

Lydia got up from the bed and walked downstairs to her workstation. Eventually, she would create her own personal laboratory, but that was quite a way off. For now, the small one with the equipment provided by the school would suffice.

"What am I going to do?" she wondered. "No ideas about what to do, and I need to figure out a solution soon or else I'll fail my project. Hm."

She considered her options, namely about James' problem. He had, when pressed, explained that it was incredibly difficult to grab and maintain a hold on each element, like picking up water with a bare hand. That was why it was so hard to train different spells because Pure Elementalists couldn't easily maintain control over the fundamental base of the spell, the actual elements themselves. "There's something we're missing," she thought, twirling her Holoform pen in her hand. She had used it to sketch out several ideas, but these were quickly crossed out and erased. "What was it that the Librarian had said? 'Concentration is key?' What the hell did that even mean? He made it sound really important, but it only makes sense in relation to mental strength, but it was kind of a random concept...

The Holoform clattered to the floor.

"THAT'S IT!!!" Lydia shouted, before realizing that her roommate was still asleep. She blushed, picked up her pen, and started madly scribbling notes in the air around her. "James said that he can't maintain control over the different elements, which is why he can't train Pure Elementalism. With what the Librarian said, I would bet on my life that it's because he doesn't have the focus. If you were to train for years and years normally, you would probably develop enough focus to create basic spells, but what if there was a way to specifically increase a person's mental strength? Fact- if one is able to train a specific aspect of a skill that impacts the entirety of that skill, then that skill will grow stronger. Pure Elementalism requires a massive amount of focus and mental fortitude. Conjecture- if one trains specifically to increase their mental strength, then their Pure Elementalism will increase at a rate proportional to that training because they will be able to better control each individual element."

She sat back, exhausted. One of the Weird's powers allowed them to connect the dots and create theories based on existing facts and conjectures, but at this stage, it used a lot of energy. But she also was filled with determination, now that she had at least an idea of what to do.

The next day, she went to the library again, this time alone because she didn't want to bring James' hopes up yet. She brought up a basic map of each room and, not fully knowing where to start, began to search for books on mental processes, and research on affecting one's concentration. She was trying to gain an overview of the topic; by learning as much as she could, she would be able to refine her idea into a creatable model. Unfortunately, the books were not being as helpful as she had hoped.

"UGH!!" she cried after several hours of searching. The Arcane Glows that had been circling her scattered before coming back to rest on the table. "Nothing in here is very helpful! I get that I need to increase mental concentration, but none of these books really explain how to do it efficiently. There's something missing, something that would allow me to create a method to actually train concentration, not just study it."

"You indeed are observant. A wonderful trait for any Weird, and one that they must develop early in their careers to be successful."

Lydia jumped and spun around. The Librarian stood behind her, calmly shelving books. She shivered, realizing she hadn't even heard him come in. "What do you mean I'm observant? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Research into the fields of cognitive science is severely lacking, compared to the other marvels that have been discovered. You very well may be the first Weird to consider the implications of successfully increasing a person's ability to concentrate, and are smart enough to realize that, in all of the studies present in the library, there is some important component missing. Something that led to the downfall of each experiment."

"Wait. How am I the first one to discover this? The universe has existed for billions of years, someone must have looked into this problem."

The Librarian raised an eyebrow and put down his books. "Are you so sure about that? Mental magic does not exist, and the 3 primes each study their own field when they have free time. And the dragons each work with Composite Elementalism, which doesn't require high levels of focus and concentration." He smiled. "Pure Elementalism is very much so the only study of magic that would be interested in this sort of work. Pity then that they are so rare, and that most lose their drive well before they even complete their studies."

"So you are saying there's a connection!"

"Did I ever deny it? If I recall, it was my words that brought you back here, in such a hurry to research that you've been overthinking everything. Calm down."

Lydia clenched her fist. "Don't tell me to calm down! If you know so much, just tell me what I'm missing!"

He waved a finger at her. "Knowledge is power, you know that Lydia. I've already given you two pieces of information and one piece of advice. You will need to first puzzle out more for yourself. Come back when you have the right questions to ask me. I'll be waiting patiently." He turned around and, picking up his books, vanished into the shelves.

Lydia went back to her research, still fuming, although now she knew that Elementalism was somehow related. With that thought in mind, she went and found a book that summarized uses of each of the 200 elements. "Hm, let's see..." She decided to put her goal into perspective as she was working, so she would be more efficient with her research. "I'm trying to help Pure Elementalists increase their abilities and control by improving their mental concentration. I know it has to be a device or training tool of some kind because all of the current methods are either too slow or unsuited for their specific needs. And I know that elements are connected somehow." She first looked for every element that dealt with mental signals or impulses, finding that although there was a metaphysical element that dealt with thoughts, it was more along the track of inspiration and imagination, rather than concentration.

So, she turned her attention to thinking about what exactly training mental strength would entail. "James had often compared it picking up water with his bare hands. He has to focus on every little element in order to cast a spell. This means that he has to be very aware and in tune with the details while also maintain control over the bigger picture. It's almost like he's thinking about two different things at once, just a lot more complicated. But what to do about that? The Librarian has said I was overthinking things, so let's slow down. What's the simplest way to go about this? Hm..." Suddenly she shot up. "Mr. Librarian, I need to ask you a question!"

"Hey, have you seen Lydia recently?" Delta, James, and Algon were sitting in Salthor's, having just finished a nice lunch.

Algon tapped his chin. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her at all in the past 3 days. I couldn't even get a hold of her using my amulet to see if she wanted to have lunch with us."

"Me neither," James said. "I hope she's ok."

"She's probably fine," Delta said, kicking back his chair. "I think she still has her Mid-year project to work on; she's probably just working on that."

"You're most likely right," Algon conceded. "Hey, are you going to the Darkessia after this to work on your Dual Pistol technique again?"

"Of course!" Delta laughed. "Why wouldn't I? It's awesome! James, are you coming along?"

James sighed. "I have to, you dingo; I'm the only one that can program the training room. Let's go before I change my mind."

They got up to leave, but James' amulet began to buzz, indicating that someone was calling him. "I wonder who's calling me."

He answered and all 3 of them got blasted back by a massive voice.

"JAMES? JAMES! OH THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PICKING UP! I FINALLY CRACKED IT! IT TOOK ME A WHILE, AND THE LIBRARIAN WASN'T EXACTLY BEING OBVIOUS, BUT..."

"Ok! Calm down Lydia. What the heck are you talking about?"

She hesitated. "It's a bit of a secret. Could you come over to my workshop? Like right now?"

"Um, sure. We'll be right over..."

"NO! Just you. I'm not sure if this will work and I specifically need your help and no one else's."

James glanced at Delta and Algon. They shrugged, obviously having no idea what she was talking about.

"You go," Algon said. "We'll be fine. I've learned at least a little bit about the Darkessia, and if worse comes to worst, then Delta can just shoot at targets for once."

"Alright, if you're sure."

James headed off to meet Lydia in her workshop, which was located in her room. She lived in the Sky Realm, which was a dorm located high in the clouds. The building on the ground was actually a stable for the constructs that ferried students to their rooms. The first time James and Delta had seen it, they had been completely in awe of how flipping cool it all was, even after Lydia pointed out that their dorm was equally as amazing.

When James got up there, he found that Lydia's roommate was gone, and everything was incredibly messy. "I wonder what's going on? Lydia's normally pretty tidy."

"HELLO!"

James nearly jumped through the roof. "Holy hells Lydia! Don't sneak up on me like that. And could you PLEASE fix your volume?"

"I'm sorry. I'm just absolutely ecstatic because I'm almost finished and it will be amazing and wonderful and I definitely think you'll enjoy it very, very much!"

"Ok. Are you feeling alright?"

"Me? Oh, don't worry about that, I can personally guarantee that I'm almost about to collapse from exhaustion but that's nothing to worry about right now because you are going to be extra especially fine in a short while!"

"You're kind of scaring me a bit Lydia. What's going on?"

She was looking very jittery and had deep bags under her eyes.

"Oh, this and the funny talking? Don't worry about it it's a kind of a byproduct of eating too much sugar and using my Weird powers without a break for the past couple of days did you know that I found out that I can go without sleep for at least 2 days without losing efficiency?"

"Calm down a bit. Why have you been overworking yourself?"

Lydia looked a bit confused. "Why wouldn't I have been working? The Mid-year projects are due soon."

James raised an eyebrow. "Not for another month?"

"OOH that. Well, first off I had this amazing idea and the way Weird powers work makes it really hard to stop once we start going, it's the reason I'm having so much of a difficult time keeping my talking normalish because my brain's been working on overload for a while and it's hard to turn off. {BREATHE}. But the other reason is I'VE FINALLY SOLVED IT!!!"

"Solved what exactly?"

"THE SECRET TO YOUR POWERS!!!!"

"Crazy Weird say what now?"

"Exactly what I said! I've figured out how to help you train your Pure Elementalism!"

"Really?"

"Oh, don't give me that deadpan look! I'M SURE OF IT!!! And I even got help from the Librarian although he was very mean and made me figure it out on my own first which actually helped me to understand the concept better so I think that I now get where he was..."

"OK Stop Talking and Breathe! One-word answers, got it?"

"Yes."

"The Librarian helped you?"

"Yes."

"How sure are you that you figured out my powers?"

Lydia smiled. "Very. Come downstairs with me."

James followed her to her workshop, which was a complete mess. Holoform drawings were everywhere and every inch of space had different braziers, flasks, and notes. Lydia ignored all of this, however, and led James straight to a black sphere sitting proudly on her lab table.

"THIS is what I figured out!!!"

"It's a ball?"

"Not only that, it's the most amazing ball ever!"

"Please explain this to me."

"Ok, so I started off thinking about what the Librarian had said to me the other day and..."

"Not the whole summary, Lydia." James didn't think he could sit through that.

"Ok, party-pooper. So, you told me that Pure Elementalism was hard because you had to focus intensely on several different things at once right? Well, I've found a way to help you train up your concentration. Behold, the Imager!"

"It's still a ball."

"Oh, come here!" Lydia pulled James over to the table and put his hands on the ball. It was slightly cold and very smooth. "Now, think of something, anything."

James did as he was told and slowly an image appeared on the ball's surface.

"What the heck is that?"

"Um, it's a rubber duck. Something from my home planet," James said sheepishly. "It was the only thing that came to mind."

"Never mind that. As you just saw, this ball can sense what you're thinking and project it. It also has varying levels of sensitivity and can be changed at will. I think that if you use the ball to project an image while doing something else at the same time, you can help train yourself to concentrate on multiple things at once."

James reconsidered the ball. "This could really work! But why didn't you want Algon and Delta to know?"

Lydia sighed. "Although my abilities are pretty strong right now, I have no way of knowing if this type of training will actually work. I didn't want to get their hopes up. But can you try it, for me? I know how important learning magic is to you, even if I don't know why."

James smiled. "I'll do it. Heck, anything would be better than the endless repetition Master Rell is having me do."

"Great!!! Keep an accurate record of your attempts, please! This is also technically my Mid-Year project, so it would be kind of nice if you could act as a test dummy too."

"Will do Lydia."

"Awesome. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get some sleep for the first time in 2 days. Goodnight." She immediately slumped over in her chair and started to snore.

"She must have been really tired," James thought. He picked up the sphere carefully and used a new function that he had recently discovered to store it inside of his amulet. He didn't want to break it anytime soon if it could help him actually train his Pure Elementalism. After lifting Lydia upstairs and putting her on the couch, he left the Sky Realm and went straight to the Darkessia, telling Delta and Algon that he would be busy for a while working on a new project.

After finding an empty room, he pulled out the sphere. When he played around with it a bit, he was surprised to see that, although its function was different, it still felt a lot like Pure Elementalism. It required the same type of concentration in order to make the images appear clear, without any pixilation or fuzz. However, it was much easier.

"Didn't Lydia say that this thing had different levels of difficulty as well? Let's see."

He first tried a verbal command, then tried mimicking using a slider or button, and then finally hit gold with mental instructions. Curious, he raised the difficulty to the maximum and the picture instantly disappeared. It was like he couldn't even form the connection in the first place.

"I think I'd better start at the beginning first. If this works, I'll be able to make it to that difficulty eventuality."