It had taken Kai a bit longer than usual to get himself into his domain.

  He didn't know if it was because he couldn’t quite clear his mind or because the process was a tad more complicated now with having a physical body again.

  But he had managed.

  He appeared outside the lake house; Syl and Alicia were sitting around a table out on the decking that spanned the lakeside edge of the growing property.

  Syl had her back to him, but the moment he had arrived, she beckoned him over.

  “How is this place so… big?” Alicia asked them both; Kai got closer. “Master can access his soul space, but he says it's just a small forest grove. It takes him a good hour to enter, and that’s after decades, possibly centuries, of practice.”

  “That’s because Kai… because… huh, forbidden knowledge.” Syl said, leaning back in her chair, thinking.

  “I got stuck in a time loop for around a thousand years; my soul kept growing, but my memories got wiped and my body reset again and again.” Kai said as he took the open seat.

  “Then when the time loop was fixed, I was cast into the void, whatever that is, with no physical body. I had Syl to pull me into this place from time to time, so learning to do so on my own wasn’t actually that hard.” He repressed the memories of what lay hidden within the abyss with a shudder. “I recommend trying a different method.”

  “That sounds terrible.” Alicia said, looking at him with sympathy. “Time loop arrays are sometimes used on criminals. They have a tendency to drive people mad.”

  “The void almost drove me mad. Nothing, true nothing, is incomprehensible. I found it best just to accept it for what it was, nothing. Once I did that, the void was actually quite peaceful… until it wasn't.”

  Alicia looked at him funny; it was an odd mix of pity and poorly hidden curiosity.

  Prattling on about literally nothing, driving you almost mad, might just sound like some of the almost had actually stuck to him.

  “But don’t pity me,” he said. “Pity Syl. She watched the whole thousand-year time loop thing happen. Then she had her memories of all the potentially rule-breaking stuff we discovered scooped out of her head without her even realising.”

  “How are you doing that? It's forbidden knowledge.” Syl said as she stared at him from across the table.

  “The forbidden knowledge seems to be the why and the how, not the what. See, if I were to tell Alicia… Nope, I can’t do it.”

  “How did you figure that out before me?”

  He shrugged, “I don’t know; I overthink things. I’m also used to talking without thinking too much about what I am saying. Maybe I should get the Wise title to go with my Old Soul trait.”

  “I don’t think I could know something and not be able to even share it.” Alicia jumped a little in her seat. “Can I take notes? I’m sure my master will find this all very interesting. As The Sage, he is quite dependable on whom he chooses to share his knowledge with.

  Kai looked at Syl; they both shrugged.

  “Not like there is anything that could potentially harm us; some of the things I plan on discussing might even help your world reach the first tier and beyond.”

  Alicia pulled a notebook from her pack and started scribbling frantically with a weird metal stylus.

  “Syl got attached to me because of everything that happened. I think that too affected this place; she put all this,” he spread his arms wide, “the house, the plants, the lake, all of it together whilst I was still figuring out how to get in on my own.”

  “Why were you sent to Alea?”

  “Why? Did you think Kai was exiled here or something like that? Was that perhaps because he was a bad boy?”

  “It might have been a possibility…” Alicia said sheepishly.

  “Kais actually got a bit of a hero streak; he saved his whole galaxy from absolute destruction. Left his family and everything he knows and loves behind. Did everything he could to save me. As he says, I’m attached to him… in more ways than he realised.

  “That’s why I wouldn’t feel a bit too put out about his soul ring; he gave up more than he knows. No, that ring was part compensation, part reward for what he went through and what he lost.

  “Kai’s world, his whole home galaxy, was barren of magic.

  “His time spent in the time loop and connection to me lead to everything you see around us.

  “He outgrew his home, so he was sent to your world, where he could flourish without negatively affecting those around him or even the system integration itself.

  “Neither of us expected our arrival to be tied to a system event.

  “We couldn’t even understand your language when we arrived, which brings me to this.”

  Syl held out her hand palm up above the table.

  A sudden breeze picking up all around them. Above them The stars shimmered brightly as particles of light around one of the twin stars were pulled down into her waiting hand, where they came together and condensed into a perfect crystal sphere that glowed with a faint inner light.

  “Is that the skill?” Alicia asked, unable to hide her eagerness.

  “No, if I wanted to give you just the skill, I would have made a skill book. I can’t actually do that anymore, but this,” Syl pinched the sphere between her fingers, “this does the same thing; this is knowledge. All that’s needed for the system to acknowledge the skill within you and so much more.”

  “All language, past and present, written and spoken,” Alicia said, her awe writ large on her eager face.

  “More than that, all forms of communication, past and recent. Watch,” Syl released the orb to float above the table where she left it.

  She stated, gesturing with both her hands towards Kai.

  “You dare!” he cried, fighting back a fresh wave of embarrassment.

  “What was that?” Alicia asked.

  “Sign language from his home, he didn’t know it a day ago.”

  “I guessed that much; we have our own visual languages. What did you say to him?

  “I asked if he would like me to show you all the lingerie he likes.” Syl said, grinning.

  Alicia turned the same shade of red. “What do you mean by 're-recent'?” She stammered; she too turned a light shade of pink.

  Disappointed Syl tsked, “It's all past and current as of about a month ago, give or take. It’s more than enough for the skill, and it's the system-curated omni-level skill that will actually update with any new languages as they are created. One level above pinnacle, two above divine, it is the highest possible level.”

  “You’re telling me I have a skill that is the highest possible tier?

  “Pinnacle is technically the best, but that is based on being the best there is or ever was, not the best there could possibly be. Omni skills are just all-encompassing by their nature, so the system ranks them higher. Don’t forget the system likes to put things in terms we can comprehend.”

  Kai wasn’t too fussed about the details of skill levels; he was just surprised he already had a skill that was around, if not the highest, level. Shame it was a utility skill.

  “How do I-“ Alicia said she hadn’t taken her eyes off the sphere of knowledge that still floated where Syl left it.

  Syl waved, and the sphere shot across the table, shattering into a thousand pieces as it crashed into Alicia's forehead. All the particles were released, creating a cloud that was rapidly absorbed into the poor girl as she cradled her head against the table.

  “You could have warned her about the headache.”

  “Why waste my time? It's not like she could have prepared herself.”

  Alicia's head popped up; her nose was bleeding, and she was grinning fiendishly. “That was intense.”

  “You get the skill?”

  Alicia drummed on the table, ‘Naturally, Master Thanric is going to be so jealous…’ Her hands stopped drumming.

  “What was that?” Kai asked, curious about the odd form of communication.

  “Code that thieves and bandits use.” Alicia looked at Syl. “Can you do that… that knowledge condensation whenever you want?”

  “I believe so…”

  “Can you not give it to my master, at least not for a while? I know it is selfish of me, but… I think you should… but still I would like a little time to-”

  Syl laughed, “Oh, don’t worry; while probably I can, it's a very valuable bargaining chip. I would be foolish just to go throwing it around. Best that he thinks he needs to earn it.”

  “You know, the master would probably give you anything within his power for this skill; he's The Sage for a reason; his pursuit of knowledge is legendary on Alea.”

  “How about this: I won't offer the skill to him unless he offers us something we absolutely need… or you decide it's time.”

  “Damn, I had hoped I might get myself a dragon mount.” Kai joked.

  Alicia blinked. “He has connections with the dragons; they’re elusive, and I do not think they will be interested in the skill; they like their dragon tongue too much; they might even get upset if there’s a skill that can allow others to…” Alicia's eyes went wide.

  Kai gave Alicia a look that asked why she paused.

  “Syl, with this skill, should I be able to use the more… the more magical languages, like the dragon tongue, like High’viairen?”

  “I don’t see why not. You saw how Kai stumbled into the thick tongue. Might take some work to speak a new language with intent. But it’s certainly possible.”

  Alicia drifted off into her own thoughts.

  “What’s High’viairen?”

  “A lost language of power. I’m sure Alicia will teach you when she figures it out… if you’re nice to her.” Syl said, smiling to herself.

  Kai didn’t want to think what Syl meant by nice. He was always nice, but he had a feeling Syl meant nice, not nice.

  “Alicia, come back to us; we've got a lot to get through.” Syl spoke up after a few seconds.

  Alicia blinked. “Sorry.”

  “Alicia, What is the system? What do you believe? What has that master of yours taught you?” Syl asked like a teacher trying to establish what they were dealing with, “Be brief.”

  “The system? It allows people to gain power, skills…”

  “What if I said the system doesn't do anything like that? Do you know what your world was like before the system?”

  “Some. Master says Alea was in a golden age of peace and prosperity before the system.”

  “Did people still have power? Could they still use skills, magic?”

  “Not everyone, just the nobility, the truly exceptional and educated.”

  “Exactly, everything that is possible with the system was possible without it. You see, the system is just a tool, an aid, an equaliser.” Syl lectured, “What happened when the system first integrated with Alea?”

  “The age ended; civilisation, as it was, fell. The people learnt how to level, developed skills, and terrible magic. The nobility tried to maintain power for themselves, but empires crumbled, kingdoms shattered and nations disappeared. A lot of knowledge was lost. Master calls this an age of ignorance and stagnation…”

  “Yeah, the system was set to eliminate my entire planet's population; only around two percent was predicted to survive. It tried to compensate by… Let's just say that it’s one of the reasons why I ended up in a time loop. Modern civilisation is probably going to be the first thing that goes when people get out of the tutorial.“

  “You do not seem at all upset.” Alicia said once again, looking at him with doleful golden eyes.

  “We fixed things as best we could. But it’s not like my world was in a golden age.” Kai let out a long sigh. “The system assessed my world; civilisation was teetering at a breaking point, and my people were facing self-extinction. The sad fact is I actually agree. The system's probably a good thing, especially if it brings true magic to my world.”

  Syl reached across the table and took his hand. “You will go back someday.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I’m assuming all this system talk has something to do with why you told me not to level.”

  “Alicia, when you levelled up for the first time, everything was automatic, even your stat allocation?”

  Alicia nodded.

  “What the system did was assign your accumulated essence based on how you gained that essence. What skills you used, how you moved, what weapons and gear you used, and to a lesser extent, what stats you desire. That’s why people who act more physically boost their physical stats and people who use more mana?”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Their magical stats.” Kai offered.

  Alicia knocked her agreement again.

  “While this is great for people who don’t know to assign essence without the system before it naturally deteriorates and is lost. It can actually be bad for you if you do it too much.

  “The multiverse is full of people who fall into the trap of having stats, skills and abilities that don’t actually suit them.

  “Worse, their cores can become unbalanced and unstable. It can be nearly impossible for them to refine their cores, to compress them. As these two steps are vital for reaching the first tier, they find themselves halted, unable to level any further.”

  Alicia was back to scribbling in her notebook.

  “Kai, that room we arrived in was full of people ranging from level sixty up to eighty. Only that Caradin guy had refined his part of his physical core.

  “Everyone there except Alicia should have both of their cores refined and be partway into compression.” Syl tapped the table, getting Alicia to look up from her notes. ”How long ago was Aleas's integration?”

  “About nine centuries, I think.”

  “And do you know the highest level that’s been reached?”

  “It’s rumoured Caradin is reaching ninety, but the master says it's not true.”

  Syl scoffed, “Thanric’s more powerful, and that’s without any refinement. No, I wouldn’t be surprised if that slimy man was the source of those rumours. I’ve got the feeling he is going to be the root of a lot of problems.”

  “You could examine them?” Kai asked, remembering the (???), he got for almost everyone that had been present.

  “No, but I was able to get a feeling for their power based on aura. Caradin wasn’t even trying to suppress his. Don’t get me wrong; it was pretty weak; he was just pushing it out while everyone else maintained theirs, so it felt strong.

  “What worries me is that an A-class world like Alea should be far more advanced. Has it actually connected to any other worlds yet?”

  “No…” Alicia paused her note-taking. “There was a system event that, about three centuries ago, Alea didn’t qualify for.”

  “Do you think Bob sent us here to fix things?” Kai asked Syl.

  “Not unless there is… You know a problem that would require his attention.”

  Kai sat back thinking, “What if he knew about this world because he was already watching it?”

  Syl tapped the table, thinking about it.

  “Who’s Bob?” Alicia asked.

  “Bob’s the… Bob is a… hmm, he is Syl's older brother?”

  “Another system guide?”

  “Not exactly; he has a job… Let's just say you don’t want to ever meet him.” Syl said.

  “I have a brother like that, only he turns up to cause trouble or put an end to it,” Alicia said as she turned to Kai, “You do not want to meet him.”

  Syl taped the table again. “As I was saying,. You want to avoid relying on the system when it comes to levelling up. The best thing to do is take the essence you accumulate, remove any impurities you can find, and then assign it yourself.

  “You have much more control over your development. But the real bonus is all the work you put in makes core refinement and compression much, much easier, especially when it's something you learn to do at the low levels. Now Alicia, has Thanric taught you how to find your core yet?”

  Alicia paused. “He told me not to worry about my core.”

  Syl threw her head back. And he is the sage of this world.”

  “He told me I would come to find my core naturally when I reached around level fifty. That it should be powerful enough that it's just obvious.”

  Syl let out a long, frustrated sigh. “Only idiots wait so long. Your cores could be almost unrecoverable by then. Please tell me he has you working on a balanced approach; you had a bow and sword, but your focus is actually support magic.”

  Alicia nodded emphatically.

  “What are your stats?”

  A piece of paper appeared in front of Alicia, but before she could react, Syl just reached over and grabbed it.

  “We need to talk about the way you interact with the system; it makes you vulnerable,” Syl said as she read the paper. “Hmm, two percent deviation… good stat distribution. Nothing catastrophic…”

  “From what you're saying, balance is key. So I’m guessing I shouldn’t min-max?” Kai asked.

  Alicia was still shocked. Syl had just grabbed her stat sheet.

  “Oh, definitely min-max; find out what suits you and lean into it; you just need a good foundation first. But don’t do anything stupid before you learn how to properly build up your cores.

  “Alicia While Kai goes through the dungeon, I will work with you and help you find your core. When you join up with him, you can build up a real foundation. If things go well, the two of you might just be the first to reach the first tier on this planet.”

  “You mean I’ll be able to outlevel my master?” Alicia asked.

  “Alicia, if we do this right, you should level faster than anyone has seen for centuries. I’m not saying it's easy; I’m saying it's better. Learning to do it now will make your later progression much faster. Even with all that information you're so furiously writing down, it will be hard for Thanric to refine his cores. Far too many impurities. But when he does, I imagine his own pace will pick up.”

  Alicia grinned.

  “Now as to why I brought you in here, if you would both look up,” Syl pointed up, “I give you cores, two of them in fact, two soulbound souls.” She smiled.

  Kai looked up. “I promise, I did not think they were just for show.”

  “What gave it away?” Syl said as she rolled her eyes. “Was it all the coincidental flashes and flare-ups each time something significant happened? Or was it when I pulled literal knowledge from one of them?

  Syl gestured, and a copy of the twin stars appeared, hovering just above the table in front of them.

  “Nice, I was worried I’d get a crick in my neck.”

  “These are our cores; mine is this one, she gestured to the one closer to her, “and the one next to him is Kais.

  “For humanoids like ourselves, you would expect to see three distinct cores. The physical core, the mana core and then the main core that anchors everything.

  “The main core is basically you; it is a culmination of your experiences, your memories, and your personality. This core grows and develops as you do. While it is possible to enhance this core using essence, it is not recommended, as doing so would make irreversible changes to who you are.

  “As a rule, the system only ever interacts with the main core to help heal what's commonly called soul damage. But that isn't actually true, as the system can also interact with the main core to do things such as wiping memories or preventing forbidden information from spreading.

  “There are cultures within the system's active universe that reject the use of the system for this reason alone, though it is mostly to maintain a status quo of the powerful repressing the weak.

  “Now,” Syl tapped the table, and the copy of her core dissipated like dust in the wind, leaving Kai’s core to shift place and grow in detail. “Our cores are both unique, but I will use Kai’s to demonstrate because his should more closely resemble your own, Alicia.”

  Alicia nodded intently as she continued to scribble in her notebook.

  “The first thing you will notice is the main core currently dwarfs the other two. That's because, as we told you, he was stuck in a time loop for around a thousand years, so it has grown out of proportion with the rest of him. Its scale and a few other factors are the reasons why it's so hard to examine him despite his low level.

  “If you look closely, you will notice there are areas much dimmer, much less active than they should be; that is the part touched by the system and myself…” Syl paused.

  The image of his core was nowhere near as bright as the core just above them; it allowed him to view it in much more detail than he ever had before. Vast swathes of his core churned and twisted faintly, barely even moving as rivers and lakes of more vibrant energy pulsed through them.

  “My memories weren't actually removed?”

  “If you could reach out and touch those dull areas, you would find them soft, spongy, possibly even brittle. Your actual experience remains, but it’s removed, detached. Similar experiences in the future may form connections that revitalise and help you reconnect...”

  “Can I not use essence to repair things and activate the inactive areas?” Kai asked as he formed a plan, “Remember things I’d been forced to forget?”

  “Experience is not memory. Using essence to reactivate those areas might be possible but also incredibly dangerous. It would change you fundamentally.

  “For now you’ll have to live with imperfect recall, gut feelings and déjà vu.” Syl said once again, reaching out to squeeze his hand.

  His plans of using a bit of essence here and there to get his memories back crumbled. At least now he knew why he felt such a strong connection with Syl. Even before their souls were bound together, he still had the experience of their time together. Which begged a question.

  “Why not also take the experience as well as the memories?”

  “Because it would have turned your core into a fragile shell, that and it’s something the soul controls; it decides when to let go of experience, even the traumatic ones. It's why when people forget, the trauma can stay with them for longer still.”

  “Is this why it's nearly impossible to fix mental illnesses with magic.?” Alicia asked.

  “Depends on the cause of the malady. If it's a kind of soul damage, any improvement magic could do would be akin to a temporary bandage.”

  Syl looked at him hard for a moment. “Kai's main core dwarfs his other cores, but if he concentrates, he should be able to find his others easily.”

  He looked at the image hovering just above the table.

  “No,” Syl said, letting out an exacerbated sigh as she rolled her eyes at him. “You need to actually feel for them, inside yourself. With your ability to already enter your domain, it should be almost instinctual. Look for it; just don’t enter it.”

  Sitting back in his chair, he felt for the place he came to to enter this place. It was so obvious now. It was almost impossible for him to mistake it for what it was.

  It pulsed just like the star he had seen so many times; now it was impossible for him to mistake it for anything else than what it actually was.

  Gelling closer, he felt a few other things; there was a large cloud of energy that surrounded the core, but if he tried reaching for it, it always seemed to just escape his grasp.

  “What was that?” Alicia asked, her voice oddly distant.

  “Don’t distract him; just pay attention to what he is doing.” Syl said, her own voice still crystal clear to him.

  He gave up on the cloud of energy and went closer to his main core, where, like planets orbiting a star, he could just about feel two much smaller cores that were only actually appearing when he knew to look for them.

  Their orbits seemed to oppose each other, each giving off a totally different feeling to the other.

  “Your cores are almost perfectly balanced, but not synced. The way they interact with each other will change depending on how you develop.”

  “I think I know which is my mana core and which is my physical.”

  “Everyone does when they get to this stage; they’re your cores; of course, you instinctively know what they are once you find them. Though an intruder may have to get more invasive to figure out which core is which when they are this balanced.

  “Alicia, however, will have a naturally more developed mana core, so deduction should be easier. If, however, she decided to redevelop her physical core to match or even be superior to the mana core, it again might be tricky.

  “But this is something few will ever have to worry about. It's higher-tier stuff.”

  “Interesting.” Alicia murmured.

  “Now that you have found your cores, take a look at one of them. Feel it out.”

  He focused on his physical core as it passed by. It was like his main core, just a whole lot more stable; the whole thing just glowed a steady, clear blue light.

  “Again, you should be able to feel how the different parts of your core affect you. You should also feel that it's a whole, everything affecting everything else.

  “Your stamina is a combination of your vitality and endurance, but using strength and dexterity works away at your accumulated stamina. Strength and dexterity come together to give you your overall agility, but your endurance dictates how long you can go all out.

  “The thing I want you to both understand is that your stats are just how the system quantifies key parts of your core and roughly what they do.

  “A good combination of different stats is better than an overabundance of one. In fact, focusing on one too much can negatively affect the others. Like if you poured all your essence into strength, you would find you bulk up and can lift and move heavy objects easily.

  “But you’ll also slow down and lose overall mobility and won't be able to apply that power in other ways.

  “Until you learn more complex ways of applying essence to your core so you can compensate, it's best to lay a good, balanced foundation,” Syl finished.

  “Like how having a massive mana pool is pointless if you can't actually do anything with that mana.” Alicia said.

  “Exactly! And it is for this reason I want both of you to apply essence to your core as evenly as possible. Don’t even look at your separate stats; just concentrate on the cores themselves and how they feel.

  “Now Kai, find the essence you have absorbed from killing the two goblins; it should be collecting around your main core.”

  Focusing again, he felt it; it seemed to be just about everywhere.

  “That’s the stuff. Now normally the system will direct this for you, sending it where it thinks you need it. Without the system, you would need to first learn to find your core to level up; it can be hard, but it's not impossible without training.”

  “That’s why when the system came, everyone suddenly started levelling,” Alicia said. “The system aided them.”

  “Yes, they always had the ability but not the know-how. El’viairen typically find this step easier as they find using magic easier, and using your mana core often makes it easier to detect. The same goes for those that train physically, like martial artists. They both exercise their cores frequently and so find them faster.”

  The mention of the martial artist made something click for Kai. “This all sounds an awful lot like cultivation.”

  “System-assisted cultivation,” Syl corrected, “The Sects hate it.”

  “The sects?” Alicia asked.

  “A large faction of the multiverse that rejects the system in favour of traditional cultivation. It’s difficult and dangerous, like driving a car at night through the woods at full speed with the headlights and the instrument panels all turned off. Possible, but only the truly exceptional individuals reach any level of immortality or ascend to godhood.”

  “Okay… few questions like what's a car, but I'll jot them down for later.” Alicia mumbled.

  “Kai, try reaching out, pulling it together and sending it spinning around your main core.”

  It was surprisingly easy; the essence came together to form a slim disc of slowly moving particles orbiting his main core.

  “Now this is technically a form of refinement. You won't have as much essence to work with when you’re done, but what you will have will be cleaner, more potent, and, most importantly, core compression should be much, much easier.

  “Spin the essence faster; work up gradually. You should feel some of it burn up or dissipate when that starts; hold that speed until no more is burning off.”

  He did as he said; the faster he spun the essence, the more it felt like it wanted to rip free of his control. It took more and more of his attention, but eventually he noticed the essence start to diminish slightly, the finer particles just fading away one after another. He also noticed the occasional particle break free and shoot off from the spinning mass. He started to slow things down and hold onto what essence remained.

  “Ignore that; it's just impurities. Dungeon monsters don’t usually have many, but natural or rift-born monsters will be a whole different story. Keep spinning.”

  He buckled back down, getting the mass of essence back up to speed.

  “No, this is important. If you don’t do this next step right, you could lose all that essence. You spinning it has changed its state slightly, making it more energetic, perfect to apply to your cores. But if you let it go, it will break off just like the impurities.

  “What do i-“ The moment he spoke, he felt his control lapse, and he had to concentrate to keep things from going out of control.

  “Just do what I say. I want you to split the essence, having half flow to one core and the other half to the other core. This should be easy; with the way your cores are currently separated, the essence should split evenly between the two. If your cores were orbiting more erratically, you would have to control it more.”

  Syl was right; the moment he thought about it, his other two cores seemed to generate their own gravity, pulling eagerly on the essence it divided equally between the two.

  “Now don’t just let the essence hit the cores; you want to apply it equally. The cores will want to absorb the essence in the state it’s in, feel it out, do what comes naturally, and let your cores drink it evenly.”

  His attention was split between the two cores, but he didn’t let that deter him; this actually did feel natural to him. Spinning had worked so far, so he just did the same thing to his cores. As the essence came in, he spun the cores on a constantly shifting axis, making sure no one area was covered in the incoming essence.

  “Good. “Then there is no more essence to add. Inspect each core; look for high points, wet spots, dips and troughs. Apply pressure, smooth everything out. Then when you're happy, squeeze.”

  He did as Syl said. It seemed easy, a little too easy.

  “And… you are done.”

  Kai opened his eyes to see Alicai scribbling in a second notebook. The image of his core on the table now showing two much smaller orbiting cores.

  He grinned, “How did I do?”

  “Not bad, I suppose, a bit rough for someone who has years of experience to draw upon. When Alicia tries, she is going to have to work a lot harder than you did.”

  He looked at his scores; something didn’t seem quite right.

  “Is that it? “ He asked, “That was a level up.”

  “What did you expect? A ding, music, a flash of light from the heavens.” Syl scoffed, "A level is just a predetermined measure of applied essence. The system just waits till you have enough essence before going to work. Be happy with a notification.”

  “I didn’t get a notification.”

  “You didn’t, strange… Two goblins, even level zero ones, should have been more than enough essence for the system to consider you levelled up.”

  “Why does it take more and more essence to level up?” he asked.

  “Because as you level, your cores grow and it takes more essence to create new layers. Like painting a ball, you need more paint with each layer as the ball's surface area increases every time you paint it. That’s why core compressions are important. You reduce the surface area without losing anything.”

  Syl looked at him as Alicia just continued to scribble more and more notes.

  “You're going to need more essence to figure out why you didn't actually level. Could be our race needs a lot more essence, but that doesn't make much sense. Levels are an arbitrary system measurement. A way of scaling the average system users against each other. Check your stats; you will see some improvement.”

  Kai happily called up his status window.

  Status:

  Name: Kai

  Race: High-Human

  Level: 0.666

  Constitution: Resting, meditating / in domain, wounded.

  Health: 97%

  Stamina: 98%

  Mana: 100%

  Physical Core: (50%)

  Strength 21

  Dexterity 21.5

  Toughness 21

  Vitality 20.5

  Endurance 21

  Mana Core: (50%)

  Capacity 20.5

  Control 21.5

  Conversion 21

  Absorption 21

  Flow 21

  “Ten stat points, not a completely balanced distribution, but I’ll work on that.” He said summarising his gains for Syl and Alicia.

  “What's that?” Alicia asked, her head popping around his blue window to get a better look.

  “Ten stat points. Is that good or bad for two-thirds of a level?” he said, noting a genuine look of confusion on Alicia's face.

  “It's good, I think. But I was asking about this blue… thing.”

  “It’s his personal system inference,” Syl said, letting out a long sigh. “The next thing we need to talk about makes him more vulnerable than I like.”

  “I’m not going to be doing a lot of dungeon diving today, am I?” Kai moaned.

  “We will get there, I promise. A good tutorial would have covered most of this, but we don’t have that luxury.”

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