[ The more Adrian talks and asks questions, the more aware Jayce becomes of the fact that he's not actually that good at... not talking about any of this, at least not in a way that isn't inviting more questions.

Somewhat defeated, he shakes his head, releasing his scarred wrist. ]

The connection just isn't inherent to everyone in our world. That was part of the impetus of our work. [ He grimaces slightly. ] The workaround we devised is what Viktor started to explain earlier - an amalgam of technology and magic. We used a runic system to communicate with the arcane, powered by a conduit - for our purposes it was a type of crystal capable of channeling energy from the arcane.

[ And an unseen cost. A glance at Viktor, then down at the ground again. ] Viktor could teach me all the runic sequences he knows, but I can't draw on the energy to do anything with them on my own.

[ So, it's unlikely that Adrian could teach him anything, even if he were the ideal instructor. That's probably for the best, he tells himself. ]