One hour later, they were hiding in a side alley in the most influential part of town near the palace. For the umptieth time, Res tried to persuade Orson to stop his mad plan. “We are one hundred meters away from the palace grounds. Do you want to kill me?”

Orson displayed one of his fearsome mad smiles. “They can’t span the entire city with the power tracker. Where wouldn’t they use the power tracker?”

“Yeah, you are right. But are you for real? Sneaking into the house of an ambassador?”

“That is the only place in the city, the elite palace guard isn’t allowed to enter. Besides, the ambassadors have free rein to use aether as they wish. No one will think twice about the aether usage. It will be another bodyguard cultivating to the higher stages.”

Res realized how bad the plan was with every word. “Look at all those bodyguards. Do you think they would let me in?”

“You have already shown me your awesome abilities. You can fly and this is the only villa with a flat roof. Calm yourself. You are hyperventilating.”

“For good reason. If I am captured, I would fall under the jurisdiction of their country. Who knows what the punishment for breaking into an ambassador’s house will be? Also, I don’t fly. I am more of a drunken goose jumping off buildings.”

“My boy, you make this more than it is. You have to tell me one day how you cast spells as a brain core. I will distract the guards now. You won’t get a second chance.”

Res felt like the maw of a lion closing in on his neck as he stared at the looming outline of the luxurious manner. “Bro, I like that Orson guy more and more. He is right. Grow some fucking hairs on your balls. The effect of the wyvern leaf won’t hold forever, mind you.”

“Now even you are on the plan. I hate my life.”

He checked his dark clothing for the fourteenth time and took in a deep breath. Orson was staggering around the arched entrance to the villa and shouting obscenities. Orson’s dumb plan actually worked and tens of guards were cursing back. With all their focus on Orson, Res took a last deep breath.

“Jason, are you ready?”

“Ready as I will be, captain.”

“Ok, on my signal. 3,2,1”

Res pushed aether into his legs and jumped. The wind blasted into his face and his spine was compressed, but his flight path was true. He felt how Jason readied his aether for a soft landing, but Res realized that he would rather keep an ace up his sleeve. So, Res gathered all his focus and released the tiniest shred of aether. He received a grunt of acknowledgment from Jason and landed silent, if not graceful. The gamble had paid off. With a mental nod of thanks, Res scurried over to roof ledge and looked down at the windows.

“Bro, five to the left and three down. That’s the one.”

Res’s adrenaline levels began to rise higher and higher. This was the most dangerous part of their plan. He couldn’t cultivate on the roof as it wouldn’t take the elite royal guard long to connect all the dots. Instead, he needed to infiltrate the manner. Luckily, there was a window open to some sort of storage room. Res pulled a rope contraption off his special belt and fastened several straps. Orson had told him that the transparent rope was made out of spider silk, so he handled it with the greatest care.

“Bro, you are a fucking ninja, man. I should call you Leonardo or Donatello from now.”

A glance at the entrance revealed that he had no time for banter. Orson had already been driven off by the guards and everyone was returning to their posts. He attached the hook to the chimney and began to rappel from the ledge. All of a sudden, a murmured conversation started under him.

“Bro shit. There are still two guards under you.”

Res tried to keep calm and cling to rationality. “I am safe. I am safe. I am … ” During his frantic self-assurance, Res hadn’t realized that he had reached the window that was open.

One of the guards under him stopped the conversation “Did you hear that?”

“No. What was it?”

“Never mind. Probably my imagination. Who would dare to break into the property of the princess of Osma.” Sweat was pouring in rivers off of him. It wouldn’t have surprised him if the guards had looked up because they thought it had begun to rain.

“Bro, we have been bamboozled. Now there is no turning back though.”

“Orson, that asshole. I bet he is rolling with laughter by now.”

He pushed open the window and crawled into the room. The guards hadn’t stopped their conversation and Res sighed in relief. Yet, when he took another step into the darkness of the room, he felt the soft resistance of an expensive carpet. When his eyes adjusted to the lack of any moonlight, he could make out a giant four-poster bed in one corner of the room. Next to him stood a giant mirror and various powders and paints were arrayed on a small cosmetic table. The final clue to his location was the delicate, yet ornate, jewelry crown propped up on a cosmetic table.

“Shit bro. You are a hundred percent in the princess’s sleeping chambers.”

When he strained his ears, he could hear soft breathing coming from the four-poster-bed. His adrenaline levels rose to new heights and he felt himself hyperventilating. The fear built up to such heights until something in him snapped. All his doubts were blasted away by a sense of calm and indifference.

“Jason? I don’t care if I die today. Let’s cultivate.”

“Whoooa Bro. Are you on your period? Those were some fucking giant mood swings. Fine, imagine the neurons, stem cells, and blood vessels with all their functions. Then, pull in all the aether you can grab and store it in this idea. It is alright if you can’t succeed on your first try. The majority needs over four hundred cultivation sessions to reach that stage.”

The instant Res felt for the aether, he was crushed by a wave of it that burned away at his mind. He clung to the concept of his brain like a drowning man to a branch. It felt like rats were eating away at his brain. Through it all, he held steadfast to the knowledge Jason had given him. If he were to let go, his head would burst like a grape. The dark abyss of his mind offered him a way out, a way to let go, but Res refused and held on. Aether seemed to engulf his whole being and began to show him concepts.

“The link between Actuality and Possibility lies not in possibilities but in potentiality. Potential is all. Potential is real.”

With a lurch, he found himself back in his body and in the dark. He couldn’t detect movement anywhere near him, but Jason’s voice stopped him from standing up. “Bro, you are a good person and you will need another enchantment if you want to live. This is going to hurt like a motherfucker for me. Imagine it like being dropped into boiling oil while being flayed to death. Do you know how we ghosts die?”

Res felt that Jason’s words cost him a lot. “No”

“Ghosts are created by humans that still want to live, even though they are dead. Every ghost will one day experience such pain that living won’t be preferable to dying anymore. If you don’t hear from me after this, I want you to live the rest of your life without regrets.”

Res felt torn between joy and fear. “Alright. I will wait for you.” Through their link, he could feel Jason’s hope and fear and he answered it with reassurance.

“Bro, this is some deep shit. Let’s do this. We already have a way to flee and move, now we will need a way to attack and defend. Defense is more of a priority because we don’t want you to turn into even more of a glass cannon. I already know a perfect spell that hardens your body with aether. The other option would be steel skin. With steel skin, you could still use your muscles and you could do more damage, but it would leave gaps at the joints. What do you choose?”

“I trust your judgment.”

“Alright, let me show you the knots.”

Res fumbled around with aether strands for over an hour, until he held a glowing masterpiece of knotwork.

“Place it on your throat.”

Res hesitated, as something still felt incomplete about the enchantment. Just like with the pushing enchantment, he still didn’t KNOW hardness itself.

“Hardness. Hardness is relative. Hardship. With joy comes hardships and with hardships comes joy. Should you welcome hardships because you will soon experience joy?”

He tore his eyes open with a gasp and searched the dark room for any danger. After seconds of disorientation, Res felt for the link between him and Jason. Jason was still there, but in such an exhausted state that he couldn’t speak. Outside of the door, murmuring could be heard. A strong female voice shouted something and the door flung open.

When Res saw the woman in the door, he murmured: “Five years of study about why there is no such thing as fate disproven in an instant.” In the door frame stood the woman he had thrown a pineapple pie at. Seemed like she was some sort of bodyguard. Her brown hair was still lustrous and her green eyes held a fierceness that was mesmerizing. She held a razor-thin sword in her right hand and a small lantern in her left. The loose-fitting robes couldn’t hide her curves. When her gaze fell on the kneeling form of Res, she froze mid-step.

“You … You …”

Res couldn’t hold himself back. “Yes, yes. It’s me, your friendly neighborhood pineapple pie seller.”

The reminder at the slight he had done to her, gave her back some of her spirit. “What do you do here. Did you …”

She threw a glance at the undisturbed bed of the princess. “Don’t worry. I was only here to cultivate. By the way, my name is Res. What is your name?”

Res chided himself for giving her his true name, but at the sight of such beauty, he couldn’t hold himself back. The bodyguard woman didn’t take his inquiry well. “My name is Serafina. Remember it well before you stand before the gates of hell.”

In an instant, she activated an aether technique that made her shoot towards Res. With his increased brain core cultivation, his thought processes were now lightning fast. He could see the sword point flying towards him, but his muscles couldn’t react. Instinctively, he knew that it wouldn’t be enough to drop to the ground. Instead, he sent the smallest push of aether into three points along his body: the head, his pelvis and his feet. The aether reacted to his commands and he was shoved to the right.

He could hear the singing blade miss him by a few centimeters. The collision with the wall was painful, but the way the moonlight painted Serafina’s face, made up for the fact. Luckily, Serafina hadn’t expected to miss and her sword was now embedded into the windowsill. In a burst of inspiration, he grabbed the princess’s crown from the cosmetic table and ran at Serafina. She recovered from the shock of not hitting her target and readied herself to receive the charge.

“Wild Hunt!”

Her sword warped like a living being and came down on him. When the gleaming sword cut his skin, Res threw himself against the sword and pushed away from it. His enormous mass compared to the sword made it fall out of her grasp and land four meters away. Her face wasn’t that of a fangless tiger, instead, a deadly calm overtook her entire demeanor. He had no delusions of beating her in a fight, instead, he had calculated flight paths. When the moment was right, he let the ornate headdress sail through the air until it landed on Serafina’s head. She was so confused by his action that she did nothing as Res jumped onto the windowsill.

In passing, he whispered: “I would exchange the princess’s crown for one of your smiles any time, madame.”

With that, Res pushed off the window. The only problem with his dramatic exit was the fact that he lost his balance and landed head first on the lawn. Despite the general alarm his appearance caused, he escaped. As he was half jumping, half flying to the meeting point with Orson, he felt like he missed something.

“It is not the expensive rope that I left. It is … I miss Jason’s comments. I would have never thought I would say it one day.”

As if a higher power had heard his thoughts, his wish was fulfilled. “Ohhhh I knew that you liked me, no homo. You forgot to say no homo.”

Res felt a weight lift off his chest. “Jason, how are you?”

“Fine. I have to admit though, the temptation of leaving was great, but I thought of my bro and I can’t leave you alone. But a part of me died at the sickly sweet prince act you pulled earlier. The way that you gave her the crown, instead of just leaving. Uggghhh. I can’t think of something that is more cliché. You left a trail of caramel behind you, so abhorrently sweet was it.” Res’s face reddened in shame for the first time in eight years. “Bro, the worst thing is: It worked.”

His mood immediately lifted. “You think it wasn’t too over the top?”

“Bro, I am sure. You have that girl on a fisherman’s hook. You need to reel her in little by little. That ‘Good morning my lady, I am your white knight’ act works like a charm on tsundere.”

Res would let the different unknown words Jason used to go, but this time he couldn’t hold back. In the remaining fifteen minutes of jumping over rooftops, Jason told him about the world of ‘Anime’. When Orson’s apartment came into view, his hands began to sweat at the thought of landing.

“Bro, why don’t you try the new enchantment? You will need to guide aether to the spot with the goal to protect. Better do it to your entire body and don’t let go no matter what.”

Res changed his trajectory to the main street and infused his body with aether. All the while shouting: “ Protect! Protect! Protect!” in his mind to give the aether intent. His entire body seized up and he couldn’t move a muscle. Even his eyes stayed open as the ground came closer and closer. Yet, he knew that if he let go of the aether now, he wouldn’t be able to push off the ground in time. So, Res pumped more and more aether into his body. When he impacted the ground, he only felt a brief jolt and some dust in his eyes.

“Yeahhhh baby. That was sick. You took that fall as if it was nothing. That was rad.” Jason shouted in wild celebrations and Res had to grin. He released the aether and feeling came back into his body. From the point of impact, a literal path of destruction lay in Res’s wake. ”Bro, you have carved a fucking piece of the cobblestone road away with your body.”

Res’s head spun with the possibilities as he made his way to the apartment’s entrance. He walked up the stairs and gave three short and three long knocks. The door opened and Orson was grinning back at him. Res had prepared hundreds of different accusations and evidence, but Orson’s smile shouted: ‘I am guilty’. When

Orson shut the door behind Res, he asked in an innocent and too casual tone: “How was it?”

He responded in the same tone. “Nothing special. I broke into the sleeping chamber of the princess of Osma.” Orson choked on the tea he had made himself. “When I finished my cultivation, a female bodyguard, a mid-A-Tier, walked in on me. I defended myself and fled.”

Now Orson was having a coughing fit. After he had calmed the coughing, he laughed in his booming baritone. “Damn boy. You are a special one. I only had an inkling of who was in that villa. I thought it was some unimportant cousin of a royal house, but not a princess. You handled it fine, though. Was the bodyguard around the same age as the princess?”

“I don’t know, but I suppose.”

“Then you were right with your power estimation. Those kinds of bodyguards are called retainers and they grow up with the one they need to protect. She was even a high A-Tier. Next time, you will need to win against her, you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“By the way, what did you gain from completing your foundation?”

“I somehow can think so fast in certain situations, but my muscles won’t react.”

“That is the reason why brain cores are shitty fighters. They can see the enemy, but their muscles won’t react in time. Instincts let muscles react without delay. You know what? You have the tools to remedy that. But right now is not the time to talk about it. You should sleep after all that excitement. We have a long day of training in front of us tomorrow. You can take my bed.”

Res gave a thankful nod to Orson and let himself fall into the simple bed. Before any thoughts of betrayal or doubt could cross his mind, Res was asleep. Orson looked at the sleeping form of the paradox-boy as he had named him.

He scratched his stubble and murmured. “A brain cultivator without the limitations of brain cultivators. I will create a monster, but if that is what it takes to take down the elite palace guard … So be it.”