I wasn’t looking where I was going. That was fine. I had three, very capable teammates leading the way, so I could happily take my time with the blue screens detailing my advancement.

  [ Rank Up!

  Your Spirit Attribute has risen by two Ranks.

  Your Vitality and Agility Attributes have risen by one Rank.

  Your Gravity Aspect has risen by two Ranks.

  Your Path of Burning Starlight has risen by one Rank.

  Spirit: Silver IX

  Vitality: Silver X

  Agility: Silver VIII

  Gravity: Gold I

  Path of Burning Starlight: Silver VIII ]

  Gold again. Not just in my Power Attribute but on my Gravity Aspect as well. I’d need to think about not just another new Augmentation but also some more Affixes too. Something to look forward to.

  “Here you go, Ross.” Cerea handed me one of the cloaks she had brought in her Dimensional Storage. “You probably want to hide that exposed core of yours. And your tail, Khagnio.”

  “Right,” I said, accepting it and wrapping it around me. “Thanks. How does the... the blackness feel, Khagnio?”

  He grimaced again. “It’s weird. If I focus on it, I feel glum somehow? I don’t know. I think I need to talk with a professional. Someone who knows what this shit is.”

  That was a little concerning, though I supposed it was good that it wasn’t worse. Would I be feeling something like that since my mana core had some of the dark strands too?

  It reminded me to poke at my mana core as we made our way through Ring Three.

  I couldn’t pull up any further information about it. Typical. The Weave was so lacking in any sort of guidance. It relied on the caster to experiment and figure out most of what it provided on their own, or perhaps with the help of others. Definitely not with the help of the Weave itself.

  [ Path-bound Core: Ignition Charge

  Stellar Ignition rate: 1/day.

  Ignition Charges remaining: 1 ]

  I frowned a little. It had shown an error back when my core was ejecting an avalanche of mana. I supposed my body had literally transformed into volatile magical energy that had been ripping itself apart so…

  Right. A little was as disappointing as it got. The relief at surviving was a lot, lot greater.

  For now, I focused on actually figuring it out. Back in the dungeon, it had said something about empowering Gravity. I wanted to test that again, but there was only one charge remaining for the day. Did I really want to just confirm whether or not it would repeat the same trick with Gravity as last time?

  Or did I want to see if I could use it on a different Aspect?

  I focused on Illumination this time. As I did so, something strange happened in my core. I wasn’t worried about the way it pulsed constantly. It felt like the more it whirred and spun, the more it struggled against some kind of bind. It tugged on memories I wanted to stop recalling, especially when I was trying to focus. Glum, Khagnio had said. Ugh.

  Ignoring the sensation, I concentrated on what I needed to achieve. The chaos in the dungeon had made feeling anything very difficult, even aside from the fact that my body had been converted into a pure vessel for mana.

  But this time, I could sense it. The core within my torso, the one embedded in the wound that Zoltan had delivered, was whirring even faster. It was such an odd sensation, like I had a turbine inserted in my sternum and it was sending pulses of energy throughout my body, the frequency of which kept growing faster and faster.

  “You alright?” Cerea asked with quiet concern after my body twitched for what had to be the sixth time in as many seconds.

  “Uh, yeah…” Even my voice came out strange, like I was speaking through the spinning rotors of a table fan. “Just testing out my new mana core.”

  “Oh, right! Tell me more!”

  I tried doing so, even as I tried to concentrate on directing the energy. It was strange. Having completed Threaded Reinforcement, I felt a very similar situation like what had happened during the mana implosion take place once again. Just more contained, this time.

  The familiar white cracks of Threaded Reinforcement spread throughout my right arm until the fractures had joined up and the entire thing turned white. Visibly so. The glow even attracted intrigued looks from Khagnio and Ugnash. Meanwhile, I was just trying to get used to the sensation of my arm feeling like it was now made from cold glass. Cold fluid glass, not rigid.

  But I had to focus. Ignition Charge. Illumination Aspect. Go.

  Last time, I had tried using Gravity to protect myself in the dungeon during the collapse. That had been my driving motivation, the priority that I had focused on entirely. I figured that was what had made the Ignition Charge modify Gravity in such a way that I could make things orbit around me.

  What in the world did I want Illumination to accomplish right now? And if I could affect what I got via these Ignition Charges, then I needed to think in terms of longer-term benefits, same as with my Affixes and Augmentations.

  Wait, could I bypass Manifestation with this too? That seemed a little broken to consider.

  But right that moment, when we were kind of in the gloom because of the time of day—it was sometime deep into the night—I wondered if I could create a light that could come along with me. A personal lamp that wasn’t dependent on me using Imbuement on either myself or a targeted object.

  The mana turned brighter and brighter. Then I saw it condensing to a single point. Felt it concentrating into a ball about the size of my eye.

  [ Ignition Charge

  Ignition Charge empowers Aspect of Illumination. Charges remaining: 0.

  Illumination: Sprite ]

  [ Rank Up!

  Your Illumination Aspect has risen by one Rank.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Illumination: Iron X ]

  I barely even realized that I would now need some sort of breakthrough to get Illumination ranked up higher. My attention was focused on the effect of the Ignition Charge. The little orb of light leaped right off my arm, leaving it looking and feeling completely normal, before zooming around my head. I actually had to stop. So did everybody else.

  “Aw, adorable!” Cerea said.

  “Cute,” Ugnash grunted.

  “Did you just make your own sprite?” Khagnio asked.

  “Um…” I blinked rapidly as the little orb flitted too close to my eyes. “I think so?”

  “This is really cool!” Cerea said as we resumed moving. We were getting closer to the Preserve to Ring Two. Not that I was really paying attention. “So your core has an Aspect that essentially creates a new Affix for your actual Aspects separate from the Affixes you already control. You see how it’s connected to the dungeon, right?”

  “Connected how?” I asked, as I tried to pet the restless glimmering orb.

  “Remember what I said about dungeon cores possessing Aspects that are essentially Unique? It’s the same situation here. Your core has a Unique Aspect that creates Unique Affixes for other Aspects. Just temporarily so, by the looks of it.”

  “Yeah, temporary.” I stared at the big, fat zero next to my remaining Ignition Charge status. How annoying. “Wish mana cores could be upgraded or ranked up like everything else.”

  “They can evolve,” Ugnash said. “It’s difficult and not very common, but it’s known to happen, and some people actually target doing so.”

  “Some crazy bastards do.” Khagnio gave me a sidelong glance. “I suppose you qualify, mageling.”

  Kind of funny how even after awakening my core, I was still mageling to Khagnio. I shook my head with a little sigh. Some things just weren’t something to progress in.

  Since I didn’t have any charges remaining, I couldn’t play around with Ignition Charge any further just then. It wasn’t a bad thing since we were walking through the Preserve before long, and we would be reaching the Adventurer’s Guild shortly afterwards.

  I smiled at the little sprite-like light orb flitting around me. It obviously wasn’t an actual sprite. I realized I never got around to asking about Enrico and the others at the temple, so I was still somewhat ignorant about them, despite living next to them for so long. I’d need to change that when I got some time.

  My little summons easily kept pace with me, occasionally drawing looks from passers-by. When we met some Se-Targa in the Preserve, they clapped delightedly when the sprite flew over to greet them before returning to me.

  It was cute.

  Although, my mind was trying to think of practical applications for something like that. The more I concentrated on it, the more I felt a strange connection between myself and the creature or spirit or mana-being or whatever it was. At first, I thought it was simply the will with which I was commanding it.

  But then, I realized it felt more like a tether of sorts. A constant connection, like a spiritual link between me and the mini-sprite.

  A line of mana.

  Now that had significant potential. In fact, as we moved through Ring Two, I found a more secluded spot where I could test it out. It turned out exactly as I imagined. I focused on Imbuement and on the line of mana between me and the mini-sprite.

  The tiny creature brushed along the length of the street I had indicated. Wherever it touched, a line of light glowed into being, left there even after the sprite returned to me like I had used Imbuement on the street itself, despite never having touched the area or sent mana there directly via other means.

  “Awesome,” I murmured.

  “What is?” Cerea asked.

  “I can use my little mini-sprite as an extension of sorts.” I tried to explain what I had just done. “So I don’t need to touch things personally to use Imbuement.”

  Cerea’s eyes had widened. “So your little summons can do it for you. Alright, that is fantastic.”

  I nodded enthusiastically. “Isn’t it? Now I just need to test if I can do it for all my Aspects, or if it’s just with Illumination since I got this thing by using Ignition Charge on it.”

  Sadly, I didn’t get the chance to experiment further. The Adventurer’s Guild was coming up. I could see it in the near distance. We needed to take some time to talk about our strategy for how we were going to broach the topic of opening up a Nether Vein. Or at least, unearthing one. I didn’t know enough about it to know whether it was closed or open.

  All along our trek, I had noticed little fallouts of the tremor. Fallen carts here, cracks in buildings there, even a broken wall or two. Zairgon had definitely felt the Nether Vein’s awakening.

  My sprite disappeared in a bit while we were discussing. It felt like it had lasted an hour or so. I had to note the time for all the Ignition Charge effects.

  When we reached the guildhall, we didn’t go inside. Instead, we went around the back, ignoring everybody out on the grounds sparring, fighting, fooling around, and all the other madness. We took a set of short spiralling stairs up to the second floor of the guildhall.

  I had never been to this section of the Adventurer’s Guild. It looked… way too normal compared to the insane fish-market crowd that the lower floor entertained all the time. Just a few hallways and offices, with some benches here and there for people to sit on. We entered the room at the far end of the hallway, the one with a placard that read “Evaluator”.

  “Goodness me,” the rather plump Rakshasa wearing large spectacles said as we entered. “You’d think a man of my stature would receive advance notice of visitors, but no.”

  “Save it, Dahath,” Ugnash said. “We’ve got important things to discuss.”

  Dahath, the supposed Evaluator, was sitting behind a large desk filled with so much crap, I didn’t even bother trying to pick one out from another. He had just a tiny bit of free space in front of him, probably for signing papers and the like, and that was it. Now, that free space was taken up by meaty arms as he leaned forward in interest.

  “Oh, it’s Ugnash’s group.” Dahath rubbed his hands together. “You were heading out to Eversight dungeon, right? You folks must have an excellent haul.”

  “We can worry about the haul later. We’ve got more important things to discuss. You felt the tremors, didn’t you?”

  Dahath frowned. He was no longer leaning forward. “Don’t tell me you were behind that?” He blinked, his eyes big behind his thick glasses. “Oh, hold on. You were in a dungeon. What in the Pits did you do there to cause something like that? You’ve got a lot of people buzzing all over Zairgon. You even made the bastards below stop drinking for ten whole minutes!”

  Khagnio hissed out a chuckle at that, elbowing me a little sharply. “You see, mageling. You made the thugs stop drinking. I might just have to call you an actual mage now.”

  Dahath’s eyes landed on me. “You did that?”

  That was the signal for me to step forward. “I want to negotiate the profit share rate between the Adventurer’s Guild and our party.”

  “We don’t negotiate,” Dahath said. He eyed my badge. “You should know that, Silver-ranked that you are. What you bring forward gets evaluated and then you get—”

  “A one-time payment based on the guild’s evaluation, blah, blah, blah. I know. What I’m saying is that’s not going to cut it this time.” I tapped his table to emphasize the point. “We’re not going to demand unreasonable terms or force you to bend over backwards. We just think we need to make sure we’re getting what we really deserve.”

  Dahath sputtered a bit because of the multiple implications, not least of which was the idea that the Adventurer’s Guild was underpaying. I absolutely wasn’t saying that, but it was also an easy reading from what I had stated.

  “There are policies to be maintained,” Dahath said. “Rules that need to be—”

  Ugnash interrupted with a growl. “Don’t try to lie, Dahath. You know the Guildmaster is perfectly willing to buck convention when needed, and so are you. I’ve done a different deal with you, one that didn’t adhere to the structure the guild likes to tout.”

  Dahath scowled mightily. He didn’t reply though. Thanks to Ugnash’s revelation, he couldn’t even deny that he had the authority to make deals on behalf of the guild.

  “My terms are this,” I said into the silence. “Sixty percent profit share between me and my party members and the guild. Guild gets forty, we get sixty that we’ll—”

  “Sixty percent?” Dahath’s eyes bugged behind his glasses, making them look even more enlarged than normal. “Are you crazy?”

  “Fine, fifty percent.”

  “The Guildmaster will kill me! You will single-handedly ruin the very idea of getting special deals outside of the public structure because the Guildmaster will be so furious, she will—”

  “Alright, alright. Forty percent.”

  Dahath mimed a very convincing look like I was physically strangling him. “You cannot be serious! This will bankrupt the guild!”

  “Okay, now you’re being really hyperbolic. And I’m deadly serious. Don’t you remember I got a thirty-percent profit share on the Greater Brillwyrm? And that I did it in front of everybody?”

  Khagnio sneered down at the Evaluator. “That’s right, Dahath. Mageling here almost bullied the Guildmaster herself. The Pits do you think you’re doing trying to cut chunks off what we rightfully deserve.”

  Apparently, since outrage was quickly losing effectiveness, Dahath switched tactics. “Please, please!” Somehow, he was even managing to draw out a few tears in between his artificial sobs. This guy was insane. “Have mercy! I’m just a salaryman. If I make a terrible deal here, the Guildmaster will socially execute me. Think of my family! I’ve got two children—a little boy and tiny girl! Newborn!”

  “Alright, alright, geez.” I sighed. “Final offer—thirty-five percent profit share. That’s the lowest we’re going.”

  “Thirty-five percent?” Dahath looked like he was about to faint. “I simply cannot!”

  “Well, sucks to be you then, doesn’t it?” I turned to my friends. “Come on, guys. I think I know a place that will actually appreciate what we’ve got to share.”

  “Wait! Hold on. You can’t seriously be thinking of going to a different guild or something, could you? That’ll get you banned from the Adventurer’s Guild.” Dahath ignored me and scowled up at the rest of my teammates. “Even if the new human doesn’t know that, surely you three would.”

  “We do.” Ugnash crossed his thick arms, which had the nice effect of emphasizing his overly bulging muscles. “So what does that tell you about why we want the deal we do?”

  Dahath took his sweet time grumbling to himself, but then eventually sighed. “Alright, fine. The Guildmaster won’t be pleased at all, but if you’re forcing the issue, you’ll be the ones drawing her ire, not me.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I was tempted to blow the guy a raspberry, immature though that would seem. “Just give us the papers to sign, please.”

  Dahath opened his drawer and started looking for the right documents. “So what in the Pits did you find—and do—for all this fuss?”

  “Papers first.”

  He grumbled some more, but presented the documents. We signed, then returned them. Only when Dahath had put down his signature did I finally talk.

  “You want to know what’s going on?” I asked with a smile, now that the deal had gone through. “It’s nothing much. We just decided to unearth the Nether Vein.”

  Dahath froze for a long while. I wasn’t going to lie, the flabbergasted look on his face was really, really satisfying.