Jason, Emi and Nik were floating in meditation, cross-legged, over the water of the River Furan. They were upstream from Saint-Étienne, beyond the reach of Jason’s domain. He had found that when contemplating his essences, trying to expand his power, it was best to be outside the places his power was strongest.Nik was now gold rank, while Emi remained in the upper reaches of silver. She focused on magic research over throwing herself into combat, so her progress was slower. The lower-rank training methods that relied heavily on combat had not been the best fit for her, slowing her growth. A more contemplative approach suited her well, especially with the plethora of guidance available to her. To no one’s surprise, it was Farrah and Clive who had helped her the most. One of the trickiest aspects of advancing through actualisation of the self was translating personal revelation into specific power. The older gold rankers had been useful teachers in this. They had taught the younger generations how to effectively contemplate metaphor during meditation as a pathway to advancement.Jason found this easier with some powers than others. His Hand of the Reaper ability was quite straightforward, being a Dark essence ability that reached out with shadowy hands to manipulate the world around him. Nik and Emi opened their eyes as golden light radiated from Jason’s body.[Hand of the Reaper] has reached Gold 6 (100%)[Hand of the Reaper] has advanced to Gold 7 (0%)Jason looked at his hands, flexing his fingers. In the beginning, his abilities had advanced so quickly. Going through silver had felt like an eternity, even though he had reached gold swiftly by most standards. He admitted to himself, though, that he had become so focused on the cosmic aspects of his power that his core abilities had been rather neglected. (...)