After all the cycling and testing Dan did with his diamond mana-type, his core nearly emptied. Filling it took almost no time at all.

  He tested and tested and worked on controlling his mana and getting basic mana techniques to work for a very long time. So long that he almost forgot about Balls.

  Dan became startled and lost the formation he was working on as he heard someone say, “Oi, mate,” behind him.

  “Jesus! You almost gave me a heart attack, Balls.”

  “No need to worry about that, mate. Heart attacks are for the living. Even if you were fully corporeal and ascended a ton of times, no chance of ever having a heart attack. None at all, mate. From what I know.”

  As Balls continued to approach, he said, “Looks like you had it right, mate, and didn’t eat no souls. Or you got away with it. Either way, good on you, mate. I got sick and tired of hiding, I did, so I’m back now, ain’t I, mate?”

  “Yeah. Looks like you is,” said Dan.

  “So, long time no see, mate. What’ve you been up to?”

  “Working on mana techniques.”

  The ghost vibrated and blurred before saying, “I thought you were some big, fancy Tier 17 before you croaked, mate. You didn’t work all this out when you were alive?”

  “It’s a new mana-type. Hard to work.”

  “Oi, a new mana-type, you say, mate? How’s that?”

  Dan said, “I got a small piece of my third revelation. When I got access to mana this time, it changed to something else.”

  Balls laughed uproariously for a long while. “If you say so, mate.”

  “You reckon there ain’t no chance I could hurt you, right?” asked Dan.

  “None at all, mate” replied Balls.

  “Mind if I try some of the mana techniques I done worked out on you then?”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you talk like a right corking weirdo, you do, mate?”

  “Yeah. A couple times,” replied Dan.

  “Well, whoever told you that was right, they was, mate. As for the invoking, go ahead, mate. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  The best Dan could do for a weapon, for now, was cover his hand in a diamond formation he couldn’t really control the shape of. He did so, and punched Balls in the chest. Instead of his hand moving right through the apparition, his punch landed normally.

  “Is that diamonds, mate? Never seen that one before, and I’ve seen it all. You’re a real corking weirdo, you know that, mate?”

  Dan said, “Yeah, it’s diamonds,” ignoring the second part. He walked back a few yards and sent a few diamonds shooting at Balls.

  “Not really impressive and didn’t hurt at all, mate.”

  It took a long time, but Dan could grow a thin string of diamonds out of his hand. Once he finally finished, he lashed it at Balls.

  “Okay, that stung a little, it did, mate.”

  “Give me a second to refill my core,” said Dan as he sat down to meditate.

  “Take your time, mate. I ain’t going nowhere, now, is I?”

  A few seconds later, Dan stood. Balls asked, “That was it?”

  “Yeah. Fills quick here.”

  “That’s because your core’s so small, it is, mate.”

  “Probably,” replied Dan. “Ready?”

  “For what, mate? You can’t hurt me. At my tier, I’m basically like a god to you, now, ain’t I? You should probably be worshiping…owe! Owe! Owe!”

  Balls quickly flew out of the area being pelted with big diamonds and asked, “What the corking crikey was that, mate? That actually caused damage. Look at me. You probably can’t see it with me being incorporeal and all, but I’m injured, mate. Oi! Crikey! Crikey oi! It still hurts! It’s smarting something fierce, mate! Why would you do that to me? What was that?”

  Just like he could with his magma, Dan could force his mana through the old paths of Void Barrage. It battered an area with meteorite-like diamonds. It also used all the mana in his core.

  He tested most of his prior Orbments. All of them but one. Blink worked. After he regressed, he could never get Teleport to work, but he was hoping he could figure it out now. If so, it could be the key to escaping.

  He didn’t think attempting to recall was a smart idea. Some Orbment used in the Game were modified and worked differently than the real ones. That included Bind and Recall. Modified or not, it still had a max range, and he was completely certain he was way out of it, but he didn’t want to risk it.

  With a portal from Teleport, he could look through and see where it went. If recalling worked, and he ended up in a closed-down Game alone and with no way out, he’d be screwed. If nothing else worked, he’d eventually have to try recalling.

  He already decided to call the invocation he just now used Diamond Barrage. It wasn’t a mana technique, but he wouldn’t be able to explain how he did it without explaining the regression. Balls already thought he was lying about everything, so he didn’t want to do that.

  Dan hated lying, but he still said, “Just a mana technique.”

  “Well, good on you, mate,” replied Balls. “It’s a right good one, it is, but don’t use it on me again. I told you there ain’t no way to get frags here. No good way to heal up without those, now, is there, mate? I have enough trouble healing the fingers I draw me doodles with.”

  “Got it,” said Dan. “If you can fly, why’d you ask me if I could?”

  Balls vibrated and blurred for a moment. “When’d I ask you that, mate?”

  “When we first talked. About escaping and the wall that goes up past what can be seen.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Oi, I remember, mate,” said Balls. “That’s before we was best mates, it was. If you fly up high enough, you can feel something malicious. Something hungry. If you flew up and got eaten, then I’d know I wasn’t imagining that malicious and hungry thing, now was I, mate?”

  Well, I guess I should be appreciative of his honesty, thought Dan.

  “Hey, these diamonds ain’t dissipating, now is they, mate?”

  “They do after a while,” replied Dan.

  “How long, mate? Most mana-types start dissipating after a few second or a minute or two, now, don’t they, mate?”

  Dan also thought how long the diamonds stuck around was strange. “I reckon these dissipate after a few hours. No real way to tell the time though.”

  Balls picked up a big diamond and whistled. “These are high quality stuff, mate. How much you know about diamonds?”

  “Not much,” replied Dan. “Ain’t they the hardest substance?”

  “Hardest, but not nearly the toughest,” stated Balls.

  “Huh?” asked Dan.

  “Hardness means how resistant they are to scratching. Only a diamond can scratch another diamond. Toughness is how good it can resist pressure or impact. Diamonds are cut and shaped by going at them from certain angles. They can be downright brittle if you know what you’re about, mate.”

  Reckon it makes sense a pirate knows a lot about this type of shit, thought Dan.

  “Wish this was my mana-type,” stated Balls. “See this part? Right here. This dark piece? This is bort. Much tougher than a single-crystal diamond, the majority of what you’re making.”

  After looking around, Balls said, “And black diamonds. Those are much tougher too.”

  As Balls continued looking around, Dan asked, “Any chance you’d teach me what you know about diamonds?”

  After a moment pondering, Balls said, “Why not, mate? But you owe me one if I do.”

  The companions spent a lot of time working on mana techniques. Dan would try and make his mana exit his hand in different compositions, and Balls would explain what it was and what it was good for.

  And Dan would try to replicate, by feel, the type of diamond created.

  Balls would often get bored and wander off, leaving Dan to practice on his own. Sometimes for a while, sometimes for short excursions, but never close to the length of time he had left to hide from the Shining One.

  And time marched on. Once Dan had learned everything possible that he could think of and had gotten all his mana techniques to a place he felt good about, he began trying to get a portal to form.

  He spent a very great amount of time trying to get Teleport to work, but to no avail. It never worked. It never came close to working.

  But he did find out his mana, unlike that of other fully incorporeal apparitions, could affect the physical world around him some, much to his own, but especially to Balls’ surprise.

  Balls made an inordinately huge deal about it and told Dan he was lying about everything, and was clearly able to turn partially corporeal.

  Dan didn’t care what Balls thought. He stood at the giant, forever wall, his fists covered in black diamonds, and began punching.

  Not getting physically tired from effort was strange. He only had to take breaks to meditate and fill his core.

  Reflecting on his revelation did nothing, just as Balls told him it wouldn’t. He still tried, just in case. He could level up and ascend. It’d be easy in this qi-rich environment. But Balls was certain that would screw his long-term growth if he did so before becoming far more corporeal.

  After a very great deal of time punching the same spot on the wall and making very, very little progress, it forced Dan to admit this idea wasn’t too feasible.

  But a very, very little amount of progress was still progress, so he made this a backup plan he’d revisit if all else failed.

  While meditating near a damned after emptying his core, Dan became curious to see if he could absorb it and was surprised to find out he could.

  Refining that apparition went much faster. He assumed it wasn’t nearly as powerful as Kharus.

  That gave Dan an idea. His mana-type could partially interact with the physical world even while he was fully incorporeal.

  After testing all his invocations on a damned and getting no results, even with Diamond Barrage, he concluded that was a dead end.

  As he was refilling his core, Balls approached. “What was that ruckus about, mate?”

  “Just testing stuff out.”

  “Testing what, mate?”

  “Seeing if I could kill a damned and get frags to drop,” replied Dan.

  “What? Oi, I get it. Since your mana-type is some kind of miracle, right, mate? These are all bottom feeders, mate. They can’t drop nothing, can they, now, mate? Got to ascend to Foundation and be at least level 1 to drop a frag, don’t you, mate?”

  That wasn’t how it worked in the Game. But Dan was no longer in the Game, so he took Ball’s word for it.

  “Mind bringing me to another powerful damned?”

  “Oi, mate, of course.” Replied Balls. “There’s one near…well, I was going to keep her a secret, wasn’t I, mate? But seeing as how we’re best mates and all now, I guess I should introduce you.”

  “There’s someone else in here with us?” asked Dan.

  “Oi! Yeah, mate. You’ll see. This way.”

  As Dan followed, Balls said, “I was on my way to visit her when I heard you first speak, mate. She’s real shy, she is, mate, but she’s kept me sane with me being in here for so long and all. If it weren’t for her, I would’ve lost my mind long ago, mate.

  “Before you came, I wouldn’t exactly say she was my woman, but I’ve been thinking on that, I have, mate. Me and her, we’re more than friends. A lot more. Oi, we ain’t had no ceremony or nothing, mate, but…we’re together. We’ve basically tied the knot, we have, you could say.”

  Dan followed in silence for some time. Balls suddenly stopped, turned, and said, “She’s not far, mate. I’m asking you to mind your manners and be respectful, I am, mate. Treat her like a lady.”

  “I always treat ladies respectfully,” replied Dan.

  “Good on you, mate. She’s not for dipping your balls into neither, mate. She’s for talking to and humping. How do I look, mate?”

  It took Dan a moment to work through what he was just told before he could get out, “You look fine.”

  “Thanks, mate.” Balls turned and continued onwards a short distance before coming to a part of the wall that had partially crumbled.

  “Walla,” said Balls, “this is my best mate, New Guy Dan. New Guy Dan, this is my…oi, Walla, I told Dan we’ve basically tied the knot and that you’re my exclusive gal. I hope you don’t mind, me taking our relationship to the next level without consulting you and all.”

  Balls was talking to a part of the wall that if Dan squinted his eyes and got creative could vaguely kind of look to be female shaped.

  “No,” said Balls. “Really? With him looking? That’s crazy, Walla. Indecent, it is. It does rizzle me dongins thinking about it though, it does. You’re a very naughty girl, you are. Oi. Okay. I’ll ask.”

  Balls turned to Dan. “Walla wants me to hump her real quick. I hope you don’t mind, mate.”

  “Uh…I’ll just head back that way for a bit then.”

  “No!” loudly exclaimed Balls. “She wants you to watch, mate. What’s that? No! Really? You just met him. I didn’t know you were such a dirty floozy.”

  Balls turned back to Dan and said, “She changed her mind, mate. She wants me to watch you hump her now, mate.”

  Dan was taken aback with surprise. It took a moment for him to get out, “Naw.”

  “What’s that? It’s fine, mate, I don’t mind. She wants it, and I’m not sure why, but just thinking about you humping my lady-wife really rizzles me dongins, it does. Go on. Give her a whirl. Start humping, mate. Really give it to her nice and good, if you would, mate.”

  “Naw. You two go ahead. I’ll just walk back a little this way.”

  “Oi! You too good for my lady-wife, mate?” asked Balls.

  “No, sir, I ain’t.” Balls vibrated and blurred for much longer than usual.

  Dan added, “Like you done said, that’s your wife.”

  Balls vibrated and blurred more, worrying Dan.

  Dan said, “It wouldn’t be right. She’s your lady.”

  While still blurred and vibrating, Balls snapped out, “I thought we were best mates, mate! What was all that talk about owing me one if I taught you what I knew of diamonds? Just more lies from you, mate?”

  Dan was incorporeal. He couldn’t interact with the wall. He knew he should just pretend to hump the wall to make Balls happy. The last thing he wanted was to anger or antagonize the only other thing that could talk trapped here with him.

  The situation was ridiculous, but if Balls had been alone, truly alone, for an extremely long stretch of time, Dan could understand the ghost’s current state of mind.

  His state of mind don’t matter none. I reckon a man’s got to draw a line somewhere, thought Dan. I’m God’s champion. I ain’t humping no wall. And I ain’t never humping a friend’s wife, even if she is a wall.

  “I do owe you, Balls,” replied Dan. “I owe you a lot. But I ain’t humping your lady-wall.”

  Dan didn’t even see the attack that killed him.

  Time kept marching onwards. Dan screamed in endless torment as it did so. And it marched onwards. Never stopping. Never ending torment. Eternally.

  Once again, he tried fighting his way out of it. Ending it. It didn’t work. But he never stopped trying. He never quit. And he never would. He was nothing if not obstinate.

  Time marched onward. Onwards eternally.

  Then, part of Dan’s soul lit up.

  Reckoner: Execute great vengeance upon all those enemies and defiers of God and His will.

  Dan stopped screaming. His torment stopped.

  He was no longer one of the damned. Again.

  Blood and Qi book 1 is on audible. BJ Harrison did a amazing job.