It doesn’t take fate to know even an oak would shatter under enough pressure. Karma is balance. Life is balance. The opposite of action is rest. Is there any better fate than taking a vacation with friends?

~Morrigan, The Mysterious Goddess of Fate

After the fallout, story after story reached Crow’s ears. Shocked didn’t even mildly approach how he felt, and he knew he’d been used. Details didn’t escape him, and using the effect to find the cause, it was a simple deduction. It irritated Crow but didn’t necessarily upset him. At the very least, he trusted his seniors enough that he knew they didn’t make those decisions lightly.

Because of the council meeting, they sent Crow away—a vacation they called it. It’d been a while since Crow was allowed to leave Oiche, so he went with his friends to a place called the Subterranean Shores. It was a massive underground lake with sandy beaches and a mystical atmosphere—one of the best-kept secrets of the Druid people.

Towering mushrooms arched over the lake in places, and they were at tall as some of the trees within the forests around the Maddox ancestral lands. However, the underside of these mushroom caps shed bluish light over the entire cavern. Looking up toward them, Crow felt like he was staring at small moons. Within the water were plants that covered the bottom, and their glow was augmented by the water.

Lightning Fae had built nests above the mushrooms, and they flew above the water at crazy speeds. These provided additional light and entertainment. These fae were the size of his thumb and humanoid in shape, and their intelligence was not much higher than an insect. Apparently, they gravitated toward certain people either because of their affinity to lightning or their nature.

Mara swam against the waves, another mystery of the cavern, and the fae would land on her shoulders and head. Her affinity to lightning was strong, so she was like a magnet. She roared at them a few times but soon found they sped up her rate of absorption several-fold when she cultivated with them around.

She wasn’t in nearly as bad of shape as Otto. Those fae clung to him created a carpet that would have hidden his body even if he was naked. They left him alone when he went underwater or hid out in the small caves that counted as rooms in the local inn.

Crow laid down on the warm sands, heated by the thermal channels that ran beneath the ground. He stared up into the otherwordly scene above and to watch the fae dancing through the sky. Mushrooms swayed with the cold breeze that flowed through the maze-like tunnels. The waters lapping the shore were calming white noise, and for the first time in years, he let down his guard and relaxed. Truly, his mind blanked without stress or worry. In the deep recesses of his mind, he felt he had to rescue his mother. However, at this moment, he knew the reality of getting to her before his father was infinitesimal at best. And he still needed to resolve his curse.

Gavin had almost completely finished the design on his back. Each new scar added continued to reduce the burning sensation in his chest. Crow was so used to the pain that he hadn’t noticed at first when the burning had faded. It was so subtle that until he accidentally activated his Source, he hadn’t realized it. It was like having a dull throb that wouldn’t go away, and afterwhile he’d just become numb to it. Some days were better than others, so when it ebbed, he hadn’t paid much attention. In retrospect, not much had changed, but he could handle cultivating mana a bit longer than usual.

Martial cultivation had reached a saturation point. Qi was building up in the void that was his Sacral Chakra. Vaguely, he felt Song Lin had come with them because of this. Sure, she was here to protect them, but every morning she’d check his Qi. That wasn’t unusual, but she never left his side while they cultivated.

Sighing, he stretched out his arms and felt the tension in his shoulders loosen. He let his mind drift while not thinking of anything. Staring off into the depths of the ceiling and watching the dancing lights. “Vision? Sight? Light and color? How does it all fit in with cultivation? Could I see beyond the physical? Eyes use light to see, but could I use other elements? Water Sight, what would that do? Fire? Wind?” His crazy mutterings caused his eyes to unfocus and think of an idiotic idea. Opening his Source, he allowed his mana infused with Night Fire to cycle toward the meridians near his eyes. Body strengthening allowed for strengthening of his sight, but could it be modified?

Tears beaded in his eyes and turned to water vapor, forcing him to keep his eyes closed. It was through his eyes lids that he caught a glimmer of varying shades of reds, blues, and greens. Heat! He was seeing the heat of the things around him. Even in the depths of the cave, he could make out couples moving about secretly. A bright flash appeared in front of him, and he quickly dispelled the mana. Blinking a few times furiously, he managed to see what was standing on his chest.

One of the Lightning Fae landed on his chest. It looked like a human female, only she had purple skin and white hair. The transparent wings glittered with light that intensified as she moved. She did not wear any clothes and had full-sized breasts that matched her body, but the place between her legs was blank. Her eyes were clear like crystals, but he could see the lightning contained within. Everything he’d read claimed that elemental fae held no intelligence or not much more than a small animal. These were creatures of instinct, which Crow felt had something to do with karma and elemental resonance. It was just a thought, but it had a ring of truth to it.

“Did my new skill attract you, little gal?” Crow asked.

The little fae cocked its head sideways and gave him an indecipherable look. Within those crystalline eyes, Crow saw the lightning spark brighter. Was this thing really trying to communicate?

“Are you saying I can use lightning to infuse my eyes?”

The little fae tapped her lips as if thinking and then nodded. What the hell?

“How?” Crow asked, not sure if that was within her ability to explain.

She turned and looked up, her eyes flashing, and then several fae came rushing down from the sky. Before long, there were around a dozen or so of the fae standing on Crow’s chest. These ones didn’t have the same sparkle in their eyes. The leader pushed one forward, and this one held out her finger. Then she user two pointer fingers and touched them together before pointing to her eyes and drawing circles around them.

Hesitantly, Crow reached out his finger and touched the little fae’s finger. It turned into a spark of lightning and entered his body. He could feel it moving through his meridians in the same pattern as his regular cultivation, but those weren’t what he used to create his heat vision. The problem was the heat vision was limited, and he couldn’t maintain it, but that was probably because Night Flame was too powerful.

Moving the spark of lightning up toward his eyes using the same meridian paths he used previously, but found the pattern was wrong. Fire was softer and undulating, but lightning was all sharp edges and explosive. Adjusting the design, so it flowed through the meridian points around his face and eyes, his eyes started to glow. It wasn’t enough.

Another fae stepped forward, her finger out. So Crow repeated the same steps again and again until all that was left was the leader. It was enough. The change in his eyes was both something he felt and, strangely, could see. Those golden flecks in his eyes lost their yellowish tint as if they were impure to begin with. They practically shined now, which made his eyes shine like emeralds. Those who know him well would notice their new subtle glow, but those that didn’t would find them enchanting.

Opening his eyes—or focusing again, he found everything had turned a bit brighter. He could see into the darkness almost as clear as day. Even better, when used with Mana Sense, he could literally see mana within things. Like the fae before him, she was practically a spark of life. It was only at an early completion, so the mana sight didn’t reach far. However, the enhanced vision seemed to be permanent.

Unsure about how to stop cycling the lightning behind his eyes, the leader of the fae walked up to him and tapped his eye, and then mimed something that he vaguely understood. It appeared she wanted him to strengthen his optical nerves with it or store it?

Moving the electricity he was currently cycling toward the back of his eyes, he felt the cords connected to his eyes draw the fae’s lightning current into them. The vibrations within hurt at first, but after several breaths time, the pain settled. Inside he could feel the current entering his nervous system. Crow was afraid that it’d decay over time, but he found that his nervous system seemed to support it. Possibly even strengthened it.

The little purple girl looked at him and smiled, and moments later, dozens more landed on his chest, and all held out their fingers. This time the leader pointed at her navel region, and Crow laughed. The ones she called over did not have any life to them. They were all controlled by this one—a queen perhaps. So he had no aversion to tapping their fingers and cultivating the pure energy inside them. It didn’t even activate Soul Burn—that was how pure it was.

His meridians were widened and strengthened by the fierce lightning mana. It practically exploded within in his Sacral Chakra region. Previously, it felt like an infinite void that couldn’t be filled, but now he could sense potent and pure energy within.

“What did you do to me, little thing?” Crow muttered, trying to understand the changes happening inside of him. At first, it was like he took a good medicinal pill, but it was nothing special. However, he wouldn’t complain about solidifying his foundations either. “Maybe I should give you a name. Hmm… how about Lily?”

The little fae smiled and nodded her head excitedly. She looked around sheepishly and then put her finger to her lips before she flew off. It was a strange experience, and he wondered if she really was a queen.

“Interesting…” Crow muttered, feeling the entire situation was rather strange.

Someone grabbed his foot before he could think about it any further and then tossed him through the air. He flipped a few times before splashing into the water.

“Ha!” Mara shouted as he came up sputtering. “What are you staring—ahhh!”

Otto had grabbed her and threw her into the lake right beside Crow. Everyone could hear his bellowing laughter and looked over to see the two people in the lake wrestling and trying to dunk each other.

“Stop using your Source, cheater!” Crow growled as he came up for air and swimming to shore before walking off down the beach. Leaving everyone behind. He wasn’t mad, but it reminded him too much of his recent arena battles. Reminded of things he’d lost and worked hard to get back, which annoyed him.

No one stopped him, but Mara looked a little guilty. Still, she laughed it off as she swam to shore and thought about how she could make it up to him later.