As I walk back to my den, my mind replays the despair swiftly followed by hopeful joy that took over Bares-claws’ expression when I revealed that he indeed had some serious flaws to his Energy-channels – but that they should be correctable. I showed him how to work on fixing them and then gave him an Energy Heart attuned to water – the element which seemed to be best accepted by his internal matrix.

  He received the gift with grateful determination – I sensed that he was still rather overwhelmed with everything that had suddenly changed for him. I’d imagine that for a samuran, it would be overwhelming enough to suddenly go from just another Unevolved, even if one who seems to have gained the respect and deference of his fellows, to the assistant of the leader of the whole village. And then to be given hope and the means of chasing his own Evolution in the not too-distant future….

  I understood it when he wasn’t able to do more than pour out his gratitude and promises to do his best to follow my instructions. I suspect I could ask him to do anything short of killing himself and he’d do so gladly. Not that I intend on taking advantage of his gratitude, of course. Not any more than I would take advantage of the Bond which still lies between us.

  But I cannot dedicate all my time to Bares-claws, as much as I would like to. Unfortunately, I have other responsibilities, and with the conflict with the red leader – what even is her name? – most likely going to erupt all too soon, and my own departure also in less than three months, I have limited time to accomplish them.

  Primary among my responsibilities is planning for my departure, among which is trying to figure out a way to embed at least some of my Skills in Cores. That’s a possibility which I only became aware of when encountering the artifact that Flying-blade brought with her, a remnant of a distant time when a powerful Enlightened Pathwalker had reaped a bloody harvest of conquest across the forest.

  With no other urgent tasks – for now – demanding my attention, I’m determined to do my best to discover the secret to her success, even if my purposes are far more about peace and growth than death and destruction.

  Greeting Kalanthia as I get to the cave, I don’t linger. Before getting started on my experimentation, I have another task to do, one that needs regular attention.

  Heading down into the depths of my cave system, I create a temporary hole in the thin rock wall which covers the secret to my den’s excellent Energy density. Dropping down the hole to land lightly next to the stream of Pure Energy, I gaze at the bank of Energy Hearts in the course of formation.

  It took a bit of experimentation, but the row of hemi-spherical slots lining both sides of the Pure Energy channel are a testament to the method that I’ve been able to develop to almost industrial standards. Now, up to seventy-three Energy Hearts are in production at any moment in time. Of course, it tends to take between one and two weeks for the Energy Heart to fully solidify, but since the village only demands about ten to fifteen Energy Hearts per week, broken into fragments to pay the Unevolved for their efforts, that means that I’ve still been able to stockpile plenty of them.

  Fortunately, the Pathwalkers and Warriors have been convinced to come to the den and meditate in its heightened Energy levels for their rewards instead of absorbing Energy Hearts – that way we keep the ‘costs’ down. Though Tarra and River do use the odd Energy Heart fragment in their potions, at least those tend to be very small fragments so a single Energy Heart goes a long way.

  A bit more than half of the extras have been put in my Inventory and fill a good number of slots by this point. It’s fortunate for me that I have so many now. They’re too useful for helping my companions to Evolve to not want to have access to a good number. And who knows whether I’ll be able to get more in Nicholas’ world? The other half have been put to one side for now – when I leave, I’ll show the samuran or samurans I intend to be given access to that area. Whoever that will be.

  I sigh, my heart troubled even as I step forward to start infusing the most liquid Energy Hearts with water mana – if that’s the element Bares-claws most identifies with, it would be stupid of me not to make sure there are a good few Energy Hearts he can absorb. To do this, I hold my hands just above the surface of the pool of Pure Energy, then push my water mana into it. The hardest bit of the task is to stop my elemental mana from transforming into actual water – although it doesn’t ruin the Energy Heart, it does make it weaker as past experiences can testify.

  Getting close enough to feed my mana in but not actually touching the Pure Energy is also a significant challenge; one that I haven’t failed, fortunately. Though I suspect that the effects of the Pure Energy wouldn’t be quite as detrimental this time as before and I do know how to heal them, I’ve got too many other tasks to do to waste time on healing myself because of my own carelessness.

  I have definitely done a significant amount of experimentation over the last six months or so since I built my den with Kalanthia’s help. I’ve tested everything. At least, everything that I could think of.

  The ideal slot shape seems to be a sphere – that’s the one where the Energies within appear to be strongest with each fragment holding up to ten times the amount of Energy that a similar fragment from a cube Energy Heart does. But a sphere also takes the longest time to solidify by far – those two factors are probably linked.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I found that a hemi-sphere was a good compromise. It takes only a little longer for the Energy Heart to solidify than in a cube slot, and its Energy level is significantly higher than in that same slot. Not as high as in a spherical slot, but probably only about twenty percent or so less.

  It’s not as efficient in terms of space, but I’ve done my best to offset the slots so I can fit more in than if they were just in a straight line. The slots themselves are carved from the stone of the channel itself which is excellent in its resistance to the Pure Energy so I don’t have to worry about the slots being eaten away in time.

  I finish infusing the liquid Energy Hearts which have only been there for a few days and move onto one that is ready to be harvested.

  I feed a hint of earth-magic into the slot which accepts it eagerly, the positive consequence of the bond I have formed with the earth-magic in this area. It takes little more than a nudge for the slot to loosen its grip on the Energy Heart itself and then push it up just enough for my fingers to be able to grip the edges. It’s big – the diameter of the Energy Heart is about fifty centimetres.

  Again the size is something that was an experiment. Too big and it took too long for the Energy to crystalise. Too small and the Energy we got out of it wasn’t worth the wait even if it took a shorter time to be ready. This size is, as far as I’ve been able to determine, a happy medium.

  Lifting it, I can tell just from the weight that this is an earth-aligned Energy Heart. Having done this process so many times, I can say with certainty – no scales required – that Energy Hearts vary in weight according to their alignment. It’s not by much, but earth is the heaviest, quickly followed by metal and then water. Air and fire are, of course, the lightest with lava and flesh in between the two extremes.

  The last two were very much experiments and so far, the only two who have proven capable of using the lava-aligned Energy Hearts are myself and, surprisingly, Happy. Which, I think, bodes well for her potential second Evolution – she might gain both earth and fire Shaping abilities to add to her metal one.

  Flesh-aligned Energy Hearts have proven to be the opposite – Tarra has demanded more since they, unsurprisingly, make any of her potions to do with healing or damaging the body more effective. And they seem to have a healing effect on the bodies of anyone who absorbs them, improving the regeneration rate of any injuries which makes them popular choices for rewards for the more dangerous tasks set for villagers to do.

  Honestly, it’s probably the loss of my Flesh-Shaping Skill which will be most missed in the village when I leave. Perhaps one of the healers who I’ve…absorbed into the village will prove able to grasp some of the basics. Assuming I trust them enough to try it. Certainly, none of the others I’ve shown it to have been able to gain the skill, not even Tarra or River who are more familiar with the internals of bodies than anyone else previously in my village. There seems to be some obstacle which stops them from grasping it and learning the Skill. Or maybe samurans simply can’t learn Skills in the way I do.

  Lifting the Energy Heart out, I tuck it into my Inventory – as much as the village might need them, so might I. But the next one I prepare is for the village.

  After returning the now-empty slot to its original shape, I reach over it, grab a metal handle and lift. The plug of Energy-infused and strengthened rock lifts with the handle – for obvious reasons since the handle is embedded within it – and a gush of Pure Energy spills into the slot.

  The glimmering and glittering Energy pulls at my gaze like nothing else, beckoning me down to submerge myself once more in it…but I resist. With the extra points I’ve gained in Willpower since I last did this task, I find it even easier to resist the temptation than before.

  Once the slot is full, its surface now at the same level as the stream of Pure Energy, I push the plug back into place.

  The currents continue moving in the pool of Pure Energy before my eyes, the shifting not entirely as would be expected from water, yet not completely dissimilar, either. It rather reminds me of snow compared to rain – movement which usually follows the pull of gravity, yet sometimes flies upwards in the face of it as a gust of wind grips it.

  I close my eyes to shut out the mesmerising shifts which threaten to distract me, and pull my flesh-magic to the tips of my fingers. After feeding a chunk into the pool of Energy waiting, I push myself to my feet and continue down the line.

  By the end, I’ve managed to harvest twenty-three Energy Hearts which are ready. I set ten aside for the village and put the other thirteen in my Inventory. I also stir a few Energy Hearts – the fire, air, and water ones. Interestingly, being stirred at least once during the course of crystallisation actually increases the potency of those elements while it decreases the potency of the other elements – or doesn’t have any effect in the case of flesh-aligned Energy Hearts. It does lengthen the time of crystallisation, but only by a day or two, so the time is worth it.

  Climbing out of the tunnel is easy enough and I am soon back in the main cavern of my den. It looks a lot more homey by this point – Joy’s tapestries cover most of the rock walls and there are hide rugs and cushions all over the floor which were brought by various Pathwalkers and Warriors to make their meditation more comfortable. There is even a bit of a snack bar to one side next to a fireplace which I keep burning most of the time – it has a chimney which directs any smoke a good distance away from the den. Currently it’s in use with a Warrior covering a chunk of meat between his claws with various dried herbs available on the snack bar.

  He freezes as he looks at me, clearly wondering whether he should be here.

  “It’s fine, Rolls-a-bone,” I tell him with a chuckle walking over and grabbing a handful of berries and another handful of nuts for myself. “That’s what they’re here for.”

  I can leave if I am disturbing you, Honoured Tamer, he offers sounding rather anxious. Is this increased formality a result of the recent battles? I hope not – I’ve only just got the majority of Evolved samurans to call me either Tamer or Markus.

  I flick my fingers in dismissal.

  “It’s fine. I’m going to my room anyway. Enjoy your snack!”

  Thank you, you too, the Warrior answers sounding slightly awkward. I try to ignore that as I head to the room I created for myself off to one side of the cavern. Time to experiment.

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