Lucian woke early in the morning and immediately set to work. He was excited to explore the new Tile, but he couldn't shirk his duties in the meantime. Lucian opened the bridge to his Core when he stood, allowing the Psyons to flow through his body naturally, without controlling them. A surge of energy shot through him, and he felt as if he'd taken multiple five-hour energy shots.

Raijin slumbered deeply in the corner of the dimly lit shack while Lucian pulled out the pots of brained skins. He tried to stay quiet, not wanting to startle the little rabbit awake. Even though Lucian felt that it was friendly, he still wouldn't risk waking it suddenly if it could be helped.

It only took a few hours to stretch the hides and sew them together for smoking. He set up four of the teepee-style fires on the [Vorikan] Tile before performing his exercises for the day. There were still a couple of hours until noon, and he planned to commit his afternoon hours to exploring the [Orelia] Tile.

The day's training proceeded more smoothly than the previous. He managed to stabilize the small path that he'd created going to his index finger. Once he'd learned to activate or deactivate it at will, Lucian attempted to funnel a small amount of Psyons directly to that location.

He felt the effects almost instantly. The skin on his finger hardened, and he had a feeling that if he struck a block of wood with full force, the wood would shatter before his bone.

"Not that I'm willing to try that out..." Lucian chuckled while staring at his pointer finger. The solidity of the bone, skin, and even the nail had increased tremendously. If he could extend this ability to his entire arm, he would be able to throw a punch with all his strength without having to worry about broken bones. An image of a bullet bouncing off his palm played in his mind.

"Ha, one superpower at a time, Lucian," he told himself. It was great to be confident, but being arrogant would get him killed.

Lucian trained in Psyon circulation and pathway memorization for a while longer before shifting to regular exercise. He still insisted on spending a half-hour working out with the Psyons restricted, feeling that it would limit his gains if he relied on them to maintain his energy and supplement his strength.

His body was already changing. The excess fat and skin that had covered his chest and arms were completely gone, leaving behind hard, chiseled muscles. Lucian's stomach had also begun to thin out, though he was still a bit on the pudgy side. Still, at the rate that he was improving, he would be back in his former peak condition within weeks, maybe even surpassing that.

Lucian could only chalk up the rapid changes being the cause of the [Initiate] Microlink. He still wasn't sure what the impurities were that Ed had spoken about, but he was under the impression that they had been holding him back. The smell of the vile, black gunk still clung lightly to him, and he shuddered at the memory of shoveling the mess into the void.

His exercise hour quickly ended, and he checked on the smoking hides before turning to face the new Tile. Lucian decided he would enter through the waterfall behind the children's graves, and he made his way over when he was sure the fires under the skins would burn themselves out.

"Ed, can you tell me anything about the [Orelia] Tile or planet outside of its description?" Lucian asked as he peered down the dark tunnel behind the waterfall.

[No]

Lucian sighed. The original description hadn't changed after opening the Tile, and he had very little information about what he would find inside. With a deep breath, he jumped down into the shallow stream and walked into the tunnel. He should only be thirteen meters from the center by his calculations, but the tunnel turned down, and he couldn't make out the end.

He walked down the steep, slimy slope of the tunnel, keeping his hand on the hilt of his knife in case he ran into something dangerous. Lucian wasn't sure if using the sheath's electrical properties would be a great idea while he was standing in the water, but he decided to rely on his shock resistance being higher than anything that could live here. He took one more cautious step...

And his feet slipped out from under him.

"Ahhh, shit!"

His ass hit the steep, slimy waterbed, and he slid deeper into the tunnel. As he fell deeper and the light from the surface disappeared, the moss began to glow, giving off a green fluorescent light. He tried to grab onto the walls or the soft ground beneath him, but nothing happened aside from pulling up handfuls of the green moss.

Suddenly, he was no longer sliding, and he found himself falling through the air. His feet slammed into a solid rock surface before he could slow himself, though he only felt a heavy, jarring impact thanks to his increased endurance. The fall didn't take long, but he knew that he'd dropped at least seven meters.

"Fuuckk," he groaned, rubbing his sore legs.

It didn't take long for his eyes to adjust to the dimly lit area. Much to his dismay, Lucian found he was standing in a much smaller tunnel than the one he'd tumbled out of. Water poured from the cavity above his head, splashing and forming mist at the bottom. The sound of the water was deafening in this enclosed space, and it put Lucian on edge.

"Where do I go from here..?" Lucian asked, seeing that he could only choose from one of two directions to walk. The tunnel was tight, and he would only barely be able to walk through without turning sideways. It looked as if it circled, and he couldn't see a destination on either side.

[Error]

"That was rhetorical, Ed," he sighed, stepping away from the waterfall and hoping to find an area clear of the thick mist that it was creating. There was no way for him to climb back up. The moss came off into his hands when he grabbed it, and even if he focused his Psyons, he could only jump five meters. "Well, there's no turning back now."

Lucian once again placed his hand on the dagger's hilt and proceeded left around the bend.