It was beautiful - no, more than beautiful. It was awe-inspiring.

I let out an involuntary hiss of adoration, unable to stop myself. The sign of my victory - of the Coreless’ newfound faith in the Great Core - rested in front of me in all of its glory.

And it was glorious.

There, in the middle of this section of the Coreless’ many-nest, was a giant snake - me. Like many of the other snakes that I had seen (and caused to explode), it was carved from a block of stone. None of them, however, even came close to it in size.

The stone-snake rested in the center of the area, placed on a platform that was slightly higher than the ground around it. The fake-snake rose high above the crowds of Coreless around it, large enough that it could be seen from anywhere in the area. It was coiled upon itself, with its head raised to stare towards the edge of the many-nest where the wooden not-sinks floated. The snake’s mouth was opened wide, fangs bared, tilted slightly forward.

More importantly, I could see a likeness of the Great Core embedded in the fake-snake’s head.

Only the light of the Great Core was missing - otherwise, it would have been perfect.

I wanted to fix that. I needed to fix that. And I might have had a way, I realized.

Throughout the day, my mana core had slowly been refilling, renewing itself from my most recent failure to create a [Little Guardian’s Focus].

After seeing the glory of the great stone-snake, I knew the reason for those failures. I understood why so many carvings of wood and stone had shattered into pieces under the strain of my newest ability.

The [Little Guardian’s Focus] wasn’t meant for such insignificant things.

It needed something more.

Heedless of the potential danger that falling held, I flung myself from my perch on the Coreless-that-had-once-been-trapped’s shoulder. Her hands reached out to catch me, just barely missing, and I hit the ground with a jarring thump. I hissed in pain, but a bit of battered scale-flesh was not nearly enough to slow me down.

Not right now.

I slithered forward, my group of tiny Coreless - and one not-so-tiny-Coreless - following behind me. They chattered away, with hints of [curiosity] visible from a few of them when I swept my fangs through their Totem links.

The fast-spot that clung to my ore-flesh sped my journey, letting me slip between the legs of passing Coreless. I bent myself side-to-side, dodging heavy feet and fumbling limbs with ease. My Coreless didn’t have such an easy time, forced to wait for a path to open in the crowds. I left them behind; they would catch up eventually.

Many slithers later, the crowd began to thin. The great stone-snake rose before me. I slithered closer, eager to imbue it with the [Little Guardian’s Focus]. Eager to help it become something more.

I climbed the stone-snake’s coils; the surface was polished smooth, and carved so finely that my scale-flesh could only find purchase in the gaps between individual scales. Another hiss of admiration spilled from my lips, accompanied by pride in how far the Coreless had come.

It almost seemed like just yesterday that they were disgusting, horrible abominations.

They had come so far. If I could produce fluids from my eyes like the Coreless did, I thought, I might have done it at that moment. I was so proud of them.

The Coreless began to clamor around me as I found my way to the stone-snake’s head at last, forced to slither across the entire length of its body to reach my destination. I pressed down against the Great Core’s likeness gently. Carefully. Reverentially.

My mind fell still, at peace.

My mana churned.

It rose from the depths of my mana core, forming into a vast number of brilliant blue threads that twisted against one another. A great, forever-moving pattern formed, the complex weave of mana that was the basis of [Little Guardian’s Focus].

Underneath my scale-flesh, the stone-snake began to glow. It started faintly, just a hint of blue light invading smooth gray - a tiny change, hardly noticeable.

It didn’t stay that way.

Flashes of [alarm] pressed against the edges of my awareness, light touches that seemed insignificant in the face of the beauty of [Little Guardian’s Focus]. I pushed them aside, watching as the pattern changed again, reaching the point where the pattern had failed in every other attempt.

Unlike those other times, the great stone-snake only glowed brighter, its fake-scales covered in a thin skin of mana-light. It did not shatter under the strain.

[Little Guardian’s Focus] changed again, tendrils of mana ripping free from my mana core and finding a home in my scale-flesh. The brilliant blue threads invaded my light reservoirs, imprinting themselves on the blessing that was [Illusion Spark] and coming away changed.

Real-light and mana-light mingled, forming something new - and then sinking deeply into the stone-snake’s fake-flesh.

The air around the stone-snake began to warp, twisting upon itself, before the altered fake-flesh swallowed the light entirely. For a brief moment, I was bathed in darkness. Then, with a disorienting quickness, the light returned.

The stone-snake had changed. Gray stone-scales, previously marked only by the glow of mana-light, had shifted into a deep and glossy black - the same glossy black that I had gained when I first received [Illusion Spark]. Underneath me, the light of the Great Core became clearer. I nearly collapsed at the sight.

If it hadn’t been for [Clinging Grasp], I probably would have.

So beautiful.

Yet, despite that, the [Little Guardian’s Focus] was not completed. The pattern shifted again.

To my surprise, it began to draw from [Mana-Life Conversion], forcing half of my remaining mana to twist itself into the far more difficult to control life essence. That didn’t seem to matter. Just as with [Little Guardian’s Totem], [Little Guardian’s Focus] was an ability that required skill far beyond what I had. It didn’t matter.

It was a blessing from the Great Core - and so, urged on by the Great Core itself, both mana and life essence moved. The life essence gathered together, forming into a complex pattern without my guidance.

I focused on it, doing my best to commit the pattern to memory, hoping that I would be able to replicate it some day.

The Coreless began to shout around me, waves of [alarm] skimming against my senses, just as my remaining life essence and mana met. They twisted into one another, forming a braid like coiled snakes, before pouring out of me.

Underneath me, the stone-snake’s false-Core began to glow with even greater light. It shimmered with the brilliant blue of mana, lit with a glimmering golden undertone that made it all the brighter.

Earlier, I had seen the giant stone-snake and thought it to be beautiful. It wasn’t anymore. It was beyond that.

Now, it was perfect.

As my scale-flesh became consumed with exhaustion and my head drooped against the newly-created [Little Guardian’s Focus], I let the light of its false-Core flow over me.

It wasn’t the Great Core - but it was still similar, in a way. Its light wasn’t the Great Core’s light - but it was still comforting, in a way. It had no real power - but it was still awe-inspiring, in a way.

It was something that I had missed, even if it wasn’t quite the same.

Around me, the [alarm] of the gathered Coreless had shifted into a mixture of both [curiosity] and [wonder].

Letting the Coreless’ chaotic thought-hisses flow over me nearly unnoticed, I curled upon myself, idly chewing the tip of my tail. All the while, gleaming light shone down upon me like a divine benediction. It washed over me, warming my scale-flesh with its presence.

It was comforting.

Later, I would try to find out what the [Little Guardian’s Focus] could actually do - but for just a moment, it would have to wait.

For just a moment, I slipped into a peaceful slumber, dreaming of home.