Morgan stared at the Heesporian plum and the wrapped package containing Randon’s Core Cake. Issa had said he should wait until he was at the threshold of a new tier before using one of the two Core improvement treasures, but he couldn’t decide which one to use. Would one of them be enough to take him into the next tier? His Core had been sitting at base nine now for a few days, even with half a dozen hours of cultivating each night after he and Bronwyn finished their daily sparring, so he felt it was time to break into one of these treasures.

“Which are you going to use?” Olivia asked, sitting across from him, her own crystal “core breaker,” as she’d called it, resting in her hands—she’d also gotten her Core to rank nine.

“I think I’ll use the plum. I don’t know if it has the longevity or potency of this cake, so I might as well see what I can get out of it.” That said, he put the cake away in his ring and lifted the plum for a good sniff. It smelled like pure sugar to him. “I suppose if Bronwyn can get her Core to nine, I could give my other one to her. We need all the advantages we can get, right?” He glanced to the side where Bronwyn sat, some twenty yards off, silently cultivating.

“That would be very generous—my understanding is that treasures like these aren’t commonly come by.”

“Yeah, well, let’s see what happens. Here goes nothing,” Morgan said, lifting the plum to his mouth and taking a bite. He wasn’t prepared for the burst of Energy that exploded from the pulp as he chewed, flooding his pathways and rushing directly to his Core. He gasped and had to brace himself to keep from falling over. He still held most of the plum in one hand, and he knew he’d need to eat more of it, but he was overwhelmed by the surge of pure Energy causing his Core to throb and spin at a tremendous rate.

“Everything alright?” Olivia asked, tentatively reaching out a hand.

“Fine, fine. It’s just a lot of Energy in this thing. I’ll have to process it in bits,” Morgan grunted.

Olivia nodded and sat back, contemplating her crystal again. Morgan turned his mind inward and watched his Core, and it became clear to him what was going on: a massive influx of pure Energy had flooded the spinning arms of his vortex Core, and, as it spun, his Core was slowly processing part of that Energy into void-attuned Energy and letting it drift into the dark heart of his Core.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, applying the pressure of his will to increase his Core’s spinning and absorption rate. When things equalized, his Core gave a satisfied pulse and then resumed its regular, sedate rotation, significantly brighter than he remembered it being. He took another large bite of the plum, reckoning he could finish it off in two more bites, and began the process anew.

By the time Morgan was processing the last bite of the plum, he felt like his Core was ready to burst out of his body, it was so dense with Energy and violently spinning. Sweating and shaking, he focused on his Core, pushing with all his might against the flaring, whirling maelstrom around his void Energy, trying to equalize the two forces. As the pure Energy slowly converted to void Energy and bled out of the spinning arms, Morgan noticed a glorious heaviness and depth to his Core that hadn’t been there before. He smiled at the feeling of potential and power that radiated from the center of his being and couldn’t help the satisfied chuckle that rolled out of his throat. When he opened his eyes, he had a notification waiting:

***Congratulations! Your Core has advanced to: Vortex Class - Improved 1***

He called up his Energy status and studied the numbers:

Core:

Vortex Class - Improved 1

Energy Affinity:

9.2, Void 9.2

Energy:

7934/7934

He’d put more points in intelligence and will when he’d leveled, but his Energy had increased significantly from the Core improvements, alone. “Nearly eight thousand Energy now,” he said softly.

“Wow, nearly two thousand more than I have,” Olivia said, and Morgan opened his eyes to see her sitting in front of him still, her crystal empty of light now, but she, herself, cloaked in a shimmering aura of blue flames.

“You broke through?” He asked, stretching his neck and then turning to his storage ring, looking for the scroll he’d gotten so long ago in the Crucible, the cultivation manual for his vortex Core.

“I did,” Olivia replied, watching him closely as the scroll appeared in his hand. “What’s that?”

“When I was in the Crucible, I got this as a treasure. It’s a cultivation method for my Core, but it's improved, so I was only able to learn part of it with my basic Core. I’m hoping I can absorb the rest of it now and gain some insight into cultivating more Energy.”

“Oh, that’s quite fascinating.”

“Here goes,” Morgan said, pulling open the scroll. Where before, when he tried to pull the scroll open, it had stuck partway, now it unfurled completely, and he could see the dense System runes on the whole thing. As usual, after he stared at the runes for a while, they started to shift and glow and then stream into his eyes, and understanding began to spread through Morgan’s mind.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the skill: Vortex Core Cultivation Drill - Improved.***

“It’s so strange,” Morgan said, “Now I feel like I understand my cultivation drill a lot better, but the knowledge is just there, you know? Like I’ve known it all along. It’s so weird how the System can just write things into our minds.”

“Yeah, the level of control and power the System wields is hard to fathom. Think about how it created Fanwath from four separate planets. In our wildest dreams, humans never expected to do that with technology. We were happy to start figuring out terraforming.”

“For sure.” Morgan stood and stretched, trying to catalog what he’d learned about cultivating and what he’d already known. It was so strange how it was all jumbled together now. He realized most of the new information had to do with concentrating Energy in his pathways as he cycled and with how to feel and separate out attuned Energies in the world around him.

“Before you wander off, I wanted to talk to you about something, Morgan.” Olivia had a certain tone she took when she wanted to talk about her teleportation research, so Morgan wasn’t surprised when she continued, “I’m making some progress with my research, but the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. One thing has become apparent to me: your particular brand of Energy, void, is unusually well-suited for making intra-spatial connections.”

“You mean inter-spatial?”

“No, I mean intra—within space. I know it’s hard to wrap your mind around it, but what your Void Step spell is doing is creating a rip in the fabric of reality or space that connects you to another point. In the case of that spell, it’s rather short-ranged, and targeting is accomplished visually.”

“Alright, go on.”

“Well, I think I’ve almost worked out a prototype pattern that expands on the Void Step spell. It creates a static portal, though.”

“That’s fantastic!” Morgan smiled down at Olivia, but her smile was a weak reflection of his.

“There’s a lot more to do, and there are some problems involved. We have to find a way to target Fanwath, and we need an enormous amount of Energy. Something like a thousand times what your Void Step uses.”

“Are you serious? That’s a million Energy.”

“Yes, and I’m not sure why my calculations are coming up with that number. I only needed a couple thousand to open the portal from your tower to the gargoyle planet.”

“Probably because of my tower. An extremely powerful mage made that tower, and I’m sure it’s got countless enchantments built into it. It probably focuses the portals somehow.”

“That was my first thought, and you’re probably right. I just don’t know how it worked, but I’ve still got a lot of research to do. I just wanted to give you an idea of where I’m at with the problem.” Olivia looked upset, and it took Morgan a minute to realize she was worried about his, and probably Bronwyn’s, expectations for her.

“Relax, Olivia. It’s always been a long shot in my mind. You’ve already made more progress than I would have thought possible. I don’t imagine there are very many self-taught portal masters in the world. Worlds.”

“Right.” Her smile brightened. “How’s the work with Bronwyn going? Did she get any sign that her Mirage Double is improving yet?”

“It’s hard to tell with a skill like that; with weapons, you can feel that you’re getting close to a breakthrough, but with a spell that just sort of works, it almost feels like a surprise when it upgrades. At least that’s been my experience.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s kind of been my experience too, though some of my upgrades came with levels or class upgrades.”

“Right, same here. Speaking of upgrades, I’m going to work on my Void Step some more. I’ve done enough with my Core tonight.”

“Okay, it’s my turn to cook, so get ready for soup in a couple of hours.”

“Yum!” Morgan looked to the enormous marble door that led to the giant tick and cast Void Step. Reality ripped around him, and then he was standing there, looking through the door at the huge, sulking monster. Was it sulking? It seemed so to Morgan, but he knew he was projecting. The thing just sat there, hunched and glowering, and Morgan couldn’t even tell if it was breathing because it held so still. Its eyes moved, though, which was enough to keep him on this side of the doorway.

Standing there, staring at the monster for the hundredth time, Morgan wondered what the fuck he was doing. He should use his Token of Travel and get his ass back to Issa. Wouldn’t she do the same? “Yeah, right,” he laughed. Issa would never abandon two friends in a hostile dungeon or world, and he couldn’t either. Not without knowing his action would save Issa somehow, and for all he knew, she was perfectly fine, sitting at home, waiting for him.

He turned at looked at his companions. Olivia was quietly reading her book, and Bronwyn was still sitting in the lotus position doing her cultivation drill. He was happy that Bronwyn was more cheerful and less full of self-doubt than when he’d last worked with her, but something felt strange about her whole encounter with the Fae. Was she working for them now? Was she compromised? Where exactly were her loyalties? He supposed he had to give some credit to her and her “queen” for coming to help him in the ziggurat, but still, something just felt off.

As the spell came off cooldown, he Void Stepped over to the stairway, their little camp, then drew his sword and started working through his forms. He’d made it through all of them when he felt his spell was ready, so he ported again, trying to perform his Crane Flutters its Wings the instant he appeared at his destination. He tried to imagine an enemy wizard standing there when he appeared, his sword arcing through the air trailing streaks of Energy. “Take that, you villain!” He laughed again at himself, then cast Void Step, appearing right in front of Bronwyn.

“Dammit!” She opened her eyes and scowled at him. “That fucking spell makes the creepiest noise. I’m just glad I wasn’t watching you because the only thing worse than the noise is how it looks. It messes with my mind.”

“So you keep saying! Get up, student! Time to work on your spear!” Morgan waved his sword in a flourish, a grin on his face.

“It’s cultivating time! We already drilled today!”

“Come on! Let’s mix things up; it’s the best way to learn.”

“Alright,” Bronwyn sighed and hopped to her feet, the long black spear Morgan had given her appearing in her hands. “En garde, asshole.”