Book 2: Chapter 12: Gains

  The camp was quiet now. Empty tents dotted the ground, cold firepits smoldered, and Alex looked around at it all, his mind already worrying about everyone despite the fact they might not have even left the Dungeon’s preparation room yet.

  The soft hush of wind threaded through the grass and nipped at Alex’s skin. It was far too quiet for Alex. There was no clamor of drills and no panicked yelping from Tom-Tom. No off-key singing from Garret. No philosophical mutterings from Peter. Just dead space. Alex felt like an elderly parent whose kids had run off to college.

  There wasn’t much he could get done just standing around doing nothing. Alex had possibly a whole week to wait for the rest of them to get through the dungeon. That was seven days to practice his skills, work on the [Demon Asura Style], spellwork, and cultivate as much as possible.

  Everyone will be much stronger after the dungeon. I can’t just be sitting around waiting, twiddling my thumbs.

  With a long sigh he sat cross-legged on the flat stone slab in the training area behind the chieftain’s longhouse, his shirt discarded. His palms were open on his knees, fingers twitching slightly as he guided the ambient aether around him, slow spirals pulled in by will alone.

  The [Three-Fold Condensing Spiral] spun around his body like a storm funneling inward. Aether flowed in from the trees, the soil, the faint stars above, all was siphoned, condensed, compacted, layered into muscle and bone, and spirit. His body tingled with pressure. His breath steamed in the air, though the night wasn’t cold enough for it.

  “Are you going to try for the [Nine-Fold Condensing Spiral] this time?” Obby’s tone was short and clipped. The stone had started talking to him again, but Alex could tell that the sentient rock was not happy about it. He was still being a petulant child throwing his tantrum, just far more passive than aggressive.

  I don’t think so. Nine braids are just too much. Even with my higher willpower, I just don’t think I can manage it. That wasn’t a lack of self-esteem talking, this time, Alex was being honest with himself. To say that learning how to create and handle three aether braids was taxing, was like saying kobold trap crafting technique were ‘unrefined’. It was technically a true statement, but it didn’t grasp the true depth of the idea.

  Nine wont be happening for a while yet.

  “Fine, play it safe and easy. Meat sacks don’t ever wanna risk it for true power. All that peak tier energy, doesn’t even try to take it.” Obby slunk a little deeper into the recesses of his soulspace. It was almost cute, if it wasn’t so damn annoying.

  There’s other things to do. Just ignore him. He thought to himself.

  After he had gotten into a rhythm with his gathering technique, he went into his bracelet and pulled out the other two gifts he had gotten from Sylvaris. The scroll containing magic theory, and the tea the elf said would help his cultivation.

  Both of these items he had been saving, as he knew that he wasn’t ready for them before. Looking at the items with his aether sight showed a level of energy concentration that was just beyond him. Had the kobolds been smart enough to to break open his storage bracelet, or force him to empty it, they most certainly would have taken those items first.

  As an Adept Tier entity, Alex felt the aether inside them as much as he saw it with his ability. The potent concentration of aether matched what he felt in the Kobold Chieftain. It was thicker than Alex’s own, like comparing dense fog to a light mist.

  Given that fact, he knew it would be useful in his cultivation in the same way the Essence Fragments were. It would accelerate his aether gathering, maybe even boost his body attunement. He just wasn’t sure by how much.

  Those essence fragments are seriously good. I kind of regret not buying more for myself now.

  Obby once again butted in to correct him.“That would have been a waste. Essence fragments are a clean path to Adept Tier, but they are not as effective once you enter that stage. How much do you think you can get from a fragment now?”

  He thought it over, thinking about the amount of energy his body contained now and how much was packed into the fragment he absorbed. Could it push him through another 10% of his body attunement?

  No, not even close. I’d get 1%, maybe. It would take ten times as many fragments now. And that’s just to start, after that first 10% bottleneck, how many fragments would it take after that? A hundred? Then what, a thousand?

  Alex’s mind swam with the growing number of fragments and dungeon points it would take to essentialy purchase his growth that way. It was staggering. He knew he was in the early stages of Adept Tier, the Gaseous Aether Core Stage, or Liquid Formation stage, as the aether in their core was airy and gaseous in nature, regardless of their element.

  For Mage Core cultivators, that meant the stage that they must begin gathering enough aether to change the energy in their core from a gaseous state, to become truly liquid in consistency. Alex felt like the Chieftain was close to having a Liquid Stage core, but he couldn’t be certain of that.

  After Forming a Liquid Aether Core, one entered what was the Solid Formation stage. Gathering yet even more energy and compressing it into a solid state. This was the Solid Aether Core Stage of the Adept Tier. Meaning it wasn’t even the last one.

  Once a mage had a Solid Aether Core, they would need to continue even further, compressing that into a smaller and smaller area, feeding yet more energy until it couldn’t hold any longer, then be forced to enter a higher energy state, a true elemental core. This was a Late Stage Adept mage.

  I’m guessing it would take thousands of fragments to push me through the stages and into Magus Tier. There’s no way I’d be able to get that sort of wealth, or conquer that many dungeons.

  “Exactly meatsack. Buying core stages is things that Sects and Kingdoms do, those with massive amounts of wealth gained by taking it from others. Remember when we talked about why kingdom’s don’t take slaves through dungeons to farm them? That’s the type of thing The System is trying to stop.” Obby’s voice was becoming slightly less aggravated now, the little stone was always passionate about explaining things to Alex in way to lord over him. “Not that monarchies won’t still try. It’s honestly better to have one Adept mage in the middle stage, than have ten in the early stage. So resources can and will be funneled to a few individuals.”

  He chewed on Obby’s explanation for a moment and then nodded to himself. So not much different from my home world, got it.

  Either way, he knew he wouldn’t be able to just purchase power. Not now, maybe not ever. So he had to use the resources he was able to get his hands on. Which right now, meant using the generosity of Sylvaris’ gifts.

  It had been quite some time since Alex had brewed tea himself. Sylvaris and Celeste always did it themselves during his time with them. More than likely as effort to not have Alex ruin valuable resources. Or in Celeste’s case, the cranky ass woman didn’t want Alex to make the tea in a way she wouldn’t like.

  Despite this, Alex was able to get a small pot of the tea going. Dried Mana-root, as it turned out, was the most bitter thing Alex had ever tasted. He cursed every elf in existence for having discovered the stuff even as he took another sip of the caustic substance.

  This is worse torture than the training he made me go through for three days.

  His stomach rioted against the liquid that he poured inside its confines like a beast that upset at a guest intruding on its cave. He kept himself from throwing up the stuff just long enough to begin feeling its effects.

  The moment the energy inside the bitter concoction began to break down and enter his body, He could feel the tension and pressure around his aether gate at his neck began to loosen. Like a vice loosening a few notches and letting an executed man breathe just a bit more.

  There was a noticeable increase in the gathering rate of his [Three-Fold Condensing Spiral] from the effect of the tea. Even more than that, he could feel the immensely tightened grasp with which his body held onto his aether, to also loosen a bit.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Once it was able to more freely move about, Alex could feel the energy distribute around his tissue and organs differently, more evenly. It seemed the natural inclination of his body was to prioritize certain parts or systems. Like the body cutting off blood flow to extremities when its trying not to freeze to death, his body appeared to focus on one part of himself or another even during his breakthrough to Adept Tier.

  The Mana-root tea was helping to alleviate that problem as well as giving him a boost to his aether gathering. It was a change that Alex very much welcomed.

  He downed the rest of the tea in his cup, eager to get the full benefit of the substance.

  Minutes passed by as he sat and cultivated in silence. Focusing on the movement the aether in his body, Alex was able to determine that the energy very much preferred filling his bones and organs first, then his muscles, tendons and other tissues, finally his skin was the last to get the aether he gathered, absorbing the scraps left behind.

  Another oddity was also discovered by Alex in this time. Some of the aether in his body was doing something new. A portion of the gathered energy was being pulled towards his soul gate, in his head, and then disappearing from his body.

  He quickly shifted his consciousness to look into his soulspace to find out what the hell was happening.

  Uh, Obby, is this good or bad?

  “Yes.” Was all the answer that the little pebble offered.

  What do you mean yes? Look at that.

  Alex didn’t really have a body in his soulspace, but he mentally pointed anyway. He was talking, of course, about the pulsating, beating ball of scales and flesh that hovered above the shattered remains of his mage core.

  The aether energy that was being pulled through his soul gate was steaming directly into the draconic Wyrmblood heart. For what reason, or what it was doing with it, Alex had no god damn clue. But it was stealing his energy, and he didn’t like that.

  This thing is going to slow my growth by at least… 5%, 10? You said this was a good thing for me to have, so what the fuck?

  Streamers of aether formed in his soulspace, taking shape of the lanky one-eyed figure Obby had chosen as his “body”. It still made Alex shiver just looking at it. Regardless, the thing’s mouth opened and jittered about as Obby replied.

  “I said I couldn’t see all the information on it. But yes, draconic constitutions are very powerful and considered high grade. Whatever it’s effects are, they will be very powerful.”

  So then why is it eating my energy?

  “Good question meatboy. The answer is, I don’t know.” The lanky figure-thing that was Obby raised a long arm, splaying out its much too slender fingers in a signal not to interrupt, which is exactly what Alex was about to do.

  “I don’t know why it’s gathering energy because I don’t know what its effect is. It might be that it requires storing energy for its effect to work. Instead of using your personal aether reserves, it taps into its own.”

  Oh… well that’s actually pretty damn go-

  “Or, it could be cultivating the energy to grow in power and then attempt to take over your body and re-establish the draconic race on this world.”

  Alex narrowed his eyes at the sentient-rock-made-slender-man-knock-off.

  “Fifty-fifty really.”

  Hell no, how do I get rid of it?

  “You don’t. Well, at least you can’t. Not right now anyway. You aren’t capable of that. Someone much stronger than you might be able to do. But they would be contending with the remnant will of a dragon here, not some lowly early stage Adept Tier mage.”

  He felt his fists clenching tightly in the real world. This better be fucking good Obby. Or I’m holding you responsible. No more wisdom upgrades, no more skills lessons, and no more cool nickname.

  “Well now you’re just going too far. Give it time, I’m sure you’ll learn to love your draconic roommate after awhile. “

  He swung a mentally constructed fist through Obby’s mentally constructed body and exploded it into aetheric mist. It gave no satisfaction. No cathartic oomph!

  The three braids to his gathering technique still spun behind him as Alex returned his consciousness to the real world. He poured himself another cup of the Mana-root tea and swallowed it down in two gulps. He wasn’t sure which was more bitter at this point, the tea, or his mood.

  “Let’s just keep moving along, nothing I can do about it now, apparently.” He gave a telepathic side eye to Obby, whom ignored him.

  The scroll Sylvaris had given him entered Alex’s hand next. He unlatched the scrolls clasp and slowly began unraveling its contents. He knew it was knowledge and writing on spellcasting and the magic of this world, Aetherios.

  As he began reading though, Alex was forced to realize just how little he understood about the magic of this new realm. The information on the scroll in front of him was complicated to the point he began to wonder if the translation ring he wore had some kind of limitation after all.

  Focuses, Intent, elemental balances and ratios. Spell pattern fractals and theories. It was all in the scroll, but there was no way Alex could understand all of it yet. Just skimming it over gave him a headache, and he hadn’t even tried parsing its actual meaning yet.

  “He want’s me to learn all this? That elf is crazier than Celeste, for sure.”

  “I can help with some of it. Not to mention that this will give you a further leg up on your skills. Aetheric knowledge is connected to basically all crafting skills after all.”

  “Okay, okay,” He took yet another drink of the tea, which he was still uncertain whether it was actually battery acid or not, and settled down to try reading Sylvaris’ ‘homework’.

  Time blurred.

  The first day passed in a flash of sunlight, foul refreshments, warmth, and grit-teethed endurance. The second, went by through sweat, hunger, and hallucinations thanks to the vivid images Obby projected in his sight while explained esoteric magic concepts that he had no hope of remembering.

  The third, he drained the last dregs of his Mana-root tea, letting it burn out inside him like a torch reaching its final flare. The extended cultivation session left him gasping, the stone beneath him cracked and slightly scorched from his gathering technique, and the experiments he conducted while studying the scroll.

  Alex collapsed backward onto the grass, staring at the sky. His body buzzed from energy absorption. His limbs felt like iron, heavy and stiff. His chest was tight with exertion and adrenaline. The kind of exhaustion that didn’t feel bad precisely, just the sore feeling after a long day at the gym.

  He idly wondered is this Mana-root would be considered this world’s version of steroids. Would he be kicked out of cultivation body competitions? But that was just idle daydreaming.

  He breathed in. Out. In.

  And let his mind wander. He thought about stats. Not numbers on his status screen, but the feeling in his body.

  Strength; he was solid there. Fast, too. His agility had grown by leaps and bounds, no pun intended. But there was more room. More potential in the way his body could move, not just react.

  Vitality was… survivable. Enough, for now. He wanted to improve that even more, it not only meant a sturdier body, and faster healing rate, it would increase the sheer amount of aether his tissues could absorb and hold.

  Wisdom had reached that breaking point, finally and Obby had changed after that. The little rock no longer needed to be connected to in the same way. He manifested now with his strange aether construct, translucent, flickering like a firelight shadow. He still had Obby’s bite, but now he floated lazily through Alex’s soulspace with something close to smugness.

  “Wisdom,” Obby had said earlier that day, branchy, slender arms crossed, words creepily echoing like it came from a cave, “is finally in style.”

  Alex smirked at the memory. Then the smile faded. He turned his thoughts inward again.

  His [Demon Asura Style] felt close, like it was on the edge of something sharper, deeper. Each time he fought, each time he practiced, he felt the pressure build. Like his bones were stretching beneath his skin. Like a scream held just in the back of your throat, ready to break free.

  It wasn’t physical, not completely. There was an emotional root to it, wrath and restraint, and a strained balance between them that he had to figure out. He had touched on it, just briefly in the dungeon in his fight against the Warden. It was what let him finally execute the [Descending Demon Fist].

  A mental click brought up the information for his Martial Style from his status screen. It had been awhile since Alex had looked at, all the way before even he entered the Dungeon actually.

  He could feel the next tier coiling underneath the surface, waiting to be drawn out. He was close to completing the advancement quest, that was obvious. But he could feel there was to it than that. He would be able to reach the next Tier of the Demon Asura once he understood how it connected to him. The moment he truly aligned his will with the form, it would bloom.

  But for right now, it wasn’t time. Not yet.

  He sat up, slower this time, legs stiff. His body groaned with power instead of pain. He could feel the changes. Aether ran smoother, faster. His punches would land heavier. His bones were denser. His reflexes tuned to that strange, sixth sense that came with cultivation.

  One step deeper into the cultivation world, toward completing his trial and earning his place in the Heavenly System. That is if he wasn’t able to escape it before that happened.

  He looked out over the Kobold’s camp. It was still quiet, still empty. He assumed most of the Kobolds would be down in the tunnels, performing their strange feast celebrating his friends descent into the Dark Den. Up on the surface, things were still.

  Except—

  He froze. Something was… off.

  The shadows near the tree line weren’t moving right. The wind didn’t carry a branch the same way twice. A flicker, a shape that held too still in the dark for his liking.

  He narrowed his eyes. He didn’t posture, didn’t enter a martial stance. Nor did he reach for a weapon. He just stared back, and the shadow, or whatever it was, faded into the trees. Gone.

  Alex exhaled slowly, the tingle of aether still warm in his blood and on his breath. He was a fast learner, and there was one lesson he learned very early on after arriving in this world.

  It was never quiet for long.