The Breakthrough

The sudden voice that reached him caused Wesley to blink suddenly, his mind waking up as it seemed he had almost fallen asleep while he had been sitting here and staring at the fire. Sleeping with his eyes open was a brand new level of dedicated that he was more than a little amused that he'd reached.

Still, all the same he glanced over to where the speaker was to see Gustave approaching, the older fellow coming toward the fire. "Or were you quite asleep right then?" the man continued, a faint smile on his features, as it often was.

Wesley shook his head. "No, I was just really deep in thought, sorry," he murmured, but didn't make any commentary about where the group had been earlier this evening. "What brings you by?" Wes continued, mostly just figuring to make conversation and nothing else.

However as Gustave drew closer to the fire, he took a seat on one of the logs that were situated outside that would certainly be used for fuel in the fire at one point or another. The old fellow's smile didn't fade at all as he let out a small breath of relaxation at getting to sit down.

"Merely just checking to ensure that no one has thought to sneak off in the dead of night. I can't imagine that anyone would, but we need to make sur ethat such isn't happening, you see," Gustave answered. "Seems that you've gotten enough sleep earlier in the day then?"

Wesley couldn't help a small smile at the thought of his near-death experience and subsequent rest following counting as actual sleep in any circumstance. But all the same he supposed he couldn't discount it, either. "I guess so."

Silence fell between them for a long moment, before Gustave reached into his uniform pocket, and from within, he pulled out what appeared to be a rather thin, tattered and well-worn book from within. "Perhaps some material to help you sleep," the man offered, handing the book over to him.

At the gesture, Wes arched a brow, not entirely sure what the man was getting at, but all the same, he reached over and accepted the book from Gustave's hand. "What is it?" he asked simply as he looked at the cover, noting that there was nothing written on it. Or rather, there might have been at one point, but there wasn't anything on there anymore.

"An interesting book written by someone who studied the Frameworks and Skills in their time. Whoever they are, their name has been lost to time. And a bit of sun, rain and more than a few mugs of coffee," the old man added, gesturing to the back cover which quite clearly had a coffee ring upon it.

Gustave's smile faded only slightly, the kind old man nodding to Wesley. "I think that you will find this particular book far more interesting than anyone else might. For the rest of us it is simply a bit of reference material. For you, I believe it would be closer to an instruction manual," the fellow spoke, his tone quiet.

Wes arched a brow before he turned the cover, using the light of the fire to begin reading the first page. "Within this book is my completed study upon the Frameworks and Skills that each possesses," Wes read aloud, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Few are interested in any Skills except their own, and so I do not imagine that any but myself will gain knowledge from the words written."

Wesley blinked, frowning as he looked up toward Gustave, still holding the book on the page he'd been on. "So this guy, or girl, or whoever did a bunch of research on all of the different Skills and the Frameworks and everything?" Wes asked, looking to the older gentleman. "Why isn't this something we have access to read?"

"Much like is written- very few are eager to learn about something that they cannot have. There was no need to have the information in a public document when hands-on experience is far more important. But as I mentioned, I feel this will become far more helpful for you than any other," Gustave continued.

The older man then stood up from his seat, looking back at Wesley. "If you wish to read it all, I would recommend pages eighteen and thirty-three," the fellow continued, before giving the younger a small nod of his head. "Good evening, Wesley," Gustave spoke as he turned, making his way toward another one of the camps.

Wesley's face held a look of mild distrust as he watched the old man begin to make his way to another grouping, before he looked down to the book. "Page eighteen, eh?" he asked allowed, beginning to flip the pages until he reached it. "Life Framework - Lightshaping. Wait, what?" he asked aloud, glancing toward Gustave, who was no longer paying attention to him.

His gaze went back to the book, reading the information as it was gathered before he murmured under his breath, struggling to read by the light of the fire. Yet as he read more of the page, his eyes steadily widened. "Okay... well... let's try it," he spoke quietly.

There was no one else but himself here, and the only sound was the fire crackling in front of him. All the same, the ability for Wes to hear his own voice was still of a comfort. He exhaled slowly before closing his eyes, focusing in on the Life Framework that lingered within him.

The Elemental Emulation Skill was able to allow him to copy what he had seen others do, even if it was quite a bit slower due to it not being an innate talent, but the versatility alone was powerful. But if this book really had all of the Skills in it...

As he focused, Wes began to feel the area getting brighter around him, and it didn't take long at all for him to be able to clearly see the book and its contents. He swallowed slightly as he did so, before he looked above him. A small orb sat floating above him, like a lamp, giving off light.

"That's... awesome," he breathed, unable to stop his own good cheer as he looked then at the book, flipping rapidly through the pages to get to page thirty-three. "Time Framework - Acceleration. That's... what Jay does. Okay," he breathed before he began to pour over the page.

He read through it a few times, before he began to switch his mindset for the Framework. Above him, the light dimmed, although it didn't fade entirely, and he could tell that working with more than one Framework at a time wasn't going to be easy in the slightest.

But despite this, the fire began to steadily cackle more and more slowly compared to him, and he couldn't help but to swallow in response as he looked on at the flames which now seemed to be moving in slow motion compared to him. "Holy shit," he breathed quietly under his breath.

Now he understood what Gustave meant. If he had the light, and he was moving this much faster compared to everything, there was actually a way for him to be able to read everything like this.

He frowned slightly as he looked up toward where Gustave was still out there, visiting the other camps. "I wonder why he memorized this book and everything in it?" he asked aloud, even if there wasn't anyone around to answer him. It was weird that the fellow knew the book as well as he did.

But that was neither here nor there, at the moment. Flipping through a few pages until he got to the Space Framework page, he flipped a few more until he got to the entry regarding what hew as after- which was the Watershaping. The flames began to speed back up, and he realized that handling three different Frameworks at once just wasn't going to be possible for him yet.

All the same, eventually he was able to get enough of the understanding of the Skill to douse the flames, plunging the relative area into a darker light, not counting the one over his head. He could barely contain his excitement as he made his way back to his little earthen hut. With the Life Framework still active from his use of the Lightshaping, using Earthshaping to seal off his doorway wasn't difficult at all.

He exhaled slowly as he sat down on the bed, and once more began to focus on doing what he had done before in order to use the Time Framework, and accelerate himself. The bugs chirping outside began to steadily slow down as he focused on it, and he couldn't help a giddy feeling rising in his stomach.

This was what Gustave had said- this was basically now a manual for him to learn all of the other Skills... and with some practice, be able to put them together into combinations that were dangerous. This Acceleration on its own was incredibly powerful... but he hadn't even heard of Lightshaping before.

"Okay... what else is in here..?" Wesley spoke to himself as he began to flip through the pages, adrenaline and excitement pounding in his ears.