Esofy sits on her couch, sipping a cup of Fuchy wine, named after its golden color. She enjoys the warmth the drinks bring; it helps her forget the cold, the creeping ice encroaching around her feet.

"Maybe I should get married, settle down, and have a child of my own," Esofy voices her thoughts. Tanafyam has been a delight to mentor, but the funny-looking child is way too diligent; just as, if not more so, than Alysara.

Esofy tries to imagine her own little Alysaras and Tanas running around, but the image just won't come to her.

"Lionr is so lucky..." Her friend is married – to Chozu, Alysara's aunt, no less. Married and expecting a child.

Who could possibly connect to her, though? Who can understand what she's been through? There's just no one for her.

Esofy breathes a heavy sigh and takes another sip of the sweet and mildly citrusy beverage... it may help her forget the cold, but the shadow of loneliness remains in her heart. She doesn't want to sleep tonight – not with the nightmares – which is why she's staying up so late. Deciding to take a late-night bath, she walks under the shining moons; Fydrao, the red moon, is shining full and radiant, the closest of the three lighting her way in vibrant crimson.

Esofy arrives, strips, and settles into the bath waters to soak, staring up in the sky. Myrou smiles warmly in her eternal pose, sitting cross-legged and bare to the world. Yashyo, the watery blue moon, is almost halfway hidden in darkness and sits low on the horizon, as if her waters are feeding the sea. Kygloo is timidly peeking out from behind Fydrao, the furthest moon and always the shyest one; it is because of Kygloo that green is associated with shyness.

"I'm not sure I can continue doing this…” Esofy whispers to herself, “The danger, the life and death struggle." And yet she must: Tana needs her, even Alysara needs her... Chyzu needs her, that happy-go-lucky woman who never seems down and always has a smile on her face.

As if answering her thoughts, Chyzu leans over Esofy from the edge of the bath behind her, her face covering the moons as her blue, braided hair hangs down.

"Mind if I join?"

"Can't sleep either?" Esofy responds, nodding.

"Yeah, my thoughts won't let me; they’re racing too fast." Chyzu undresses, flicking her silky tail with a weird twitch.

Chyzu notices Esofy raise an eyebrow.

"It happened when I was eight," Chyzu explains and slips into the waters. "I was playing around a house that was being constructed; it was after work, so I thought I'd be safe. A windstorm blew in suddenly and blew over a section of wall, and it landed on my tail and broke it. I've had this twitch ever since."

"I always thought the weather was unpredictable, the storms always arriving suddenly and disappearing just as fast. Though, now with [Sense Mana] I can sense them a few days ahead of time.” Esofy has no idea what to say, but she feels she has to say something. “I am grateful, but... in a way, it took the mystery out of it.".

"Aly really changed things. Or perhaps it’s that things have just started happening around her?" The conversation trails off awkwardly. Chyzu isn't her normal cheery self, and Esofy doesn’t know how to deal with it.

"Why did you take a ‘Nurturer’ evolution? You don't have any children, and you've turned down all advances." What am I saying?! Esofy admonishes herself, mentally smacking her head against a wall for the insensitive question she blurted out just to break the silence.

Chyzu gives a small smile, then looks up at the moons wistfully and touches her two Kyhosa; a pair of water gem earrings with water gold and a water silver ring decorated with fine water gems. "I guess I wanted recognition? I was the fifth child and never really had much. I was always sidelined, always overshadowed by my older siblings who often got my parents' attention. At first, I joined the Kheshamos, but I always felt that something was missing."

Chyzu falls silent for several moments, the quiet getting heavier and heavier until Esofy finds a question: "Until Alysara, right?"

"That girl... only sometimes participated. She is so focused on her studies and training that she hasn't ever been – and still isn't, even though she sees so much more than we can – able to see the world how it really is," Chyzu says with a tiny smile. "But yes, there's something about her; her will to live, her drive, something that breaks us out of this mold we are in and shows us what we can become."

They share another moment of silence, contemplative now rather than awkward, before Chyzu asks a question.

"What about you? What has you up this late?"

"The Everwinter Slime brought back memories of that Aydomr attack from years ago. This time not even Alysara could free us… so what about next time? I just don't know if I can keep doing this." Esofy answers truthfully in a shaky whisper.

Even the wind falls mute while Chyzu is deep in thought, staring intently at Esofy.

"It is frightening, yes, but you've charged into battle against the monsters just fine. I think what you are most afraid of is losing control," Chyzu finally says, looking Esofy in the eyes.

"Losing... control?" Esofy asks, confused.

"Yes, you are afraid that you can't control what happens to and around you. I saw how you looked after the superstorm; you had this same look. It was completely out of your control. Isn't that why you took [Sense Mana]? Even going so far as to drop a good skill?”

Esofy opens her mouth to reply, but Chyzu shushes her and keeps talking. “When you say it took the mystery out of the weather, what you meant is that now you have to prepare for the weather. If there's an ice storm, you have to prepare, find warmth, knowing that it's out of your control. Before, you could just accept it as part of the world and say to yourself that there was nothing you could do, but now that you can prepare for it, it hurts that that’s the only thing you can do."

Esofy sits there, shocked; she has never considered it, but it makes so much sense. Chyzu moves closer, her generous bosom coming closer and her tail swaying along with her hips. Esofy finds herself wrapped in Chyzu’s embrace, the other woman’s tail with its odd twitch suddenly seeming rather cute as Chyzu whispers in her ear.

"You don't have to always be in control, Esofy. You just need someone to share uncertain times with, and maybe together you… we can find a way."

Esofy returns the hug and manages to unscramble her brain enough to reply.

"I have some Fuchy wine back home; want to share a drink?"

"I would love some." Chyzu smiles, a genuinely happy smile this time.

* * * * * * * * * *

Tana swings his sword, practicing his edge alignment. After the morning exercise, he practices his skills. He qualifies for the three hundred rankings, but he is still behind Alysara, who is now in the four hundred rankings.

Next year. Tana promises himself. Next year he'll duel Alysara in the Kheshamo tournament, which means he'll have to get into the four hundred rankings too.

"Tana!" Esofy calls, "Your parents are here." Tana sheaths his sword and walks to the two standing women.

"Tanafyam, I know you want to be a Kheshamo, but you need to learn an art or craft," Momara Folor says, the tall orange-haired woman looking down at him with her green eyes. "Since you haven't made your choice of craft despite being given years to think about it, you're going to be working with me as a carpenter for three days of the week."

Three days? That's half the week! Tana will fall behind… or rather, even further behind, he won't be able to catch up to her if he has to do this.

"But—" Tana tries to protest but is cut off.

"No! You need this! You're already ten years old, time’s up now, you have to learn a craft. You will not be going into that place again, at least until you show a competent level in your craft," Momara Folor says sternly. By 'that place' she means the dungeon.

It will be years before Tana is that good; he will never be able to catch up. The image of Alysara in his mind shrinks, getting farther and farther away.

"Tana," Esofy kneels down to his level. "I know a craft too, and you know how strong I am. If you don't like carpentry, you can try sculpting with me. I know bamboo sculpting, stone sculpting and clay sculpting, so at least one of them should be fine for you. It may even help you in battle."

"How?" Tana asks, confused.

"It will help you understand the anatomy of others, so you can better understand your opponents."

Momara Folor looks annoyed, but an art is an art and no argument can be made against it.

"Then I want to learn sculpting!" Tana says with determination.

"You still need to dedicate three days a week towards it, Tanafyam.” Momara Folor warns him. “And no going into that dungo or whatever you call it!"

* * * * * * * * * *

Uloru brings her smithing hammers down on her large weapon; a good warrior needs to know how to forge their own weapons.

"Watch the temperature, Uloru," Her master says, watching over the careful process. "You have to keep the heat consistent so the core will bind properly." They've done many tests with the slime cores over the past few days, figuring out the best way to retain their properties, before attempting the real thing.

Uloru's new hammer is easily five times larger than her previous one, which makes adding monster materials easy. Pure dark platinum, one of the heaviest known metals, saturated with dark mana to aid Uloru's gravity Bond.

Uloru has to constantly use her Bond on the weapon so that its weight doesn't break the furnace. The Size Core is embedded in the top middle, light glinting off it like a jewel. On the hammerhead's sides are gravity essence gems, the only two that have been found so far to help with Uloru's weight manipulation. The pole of the hammer is three times Kadona's height; it has to be that tall to be proportionally correct since the head is the size of an adult's torso. On the opposite end is a long pick meant for piercing attacks.

The two warriors spend two days forging nonstop, only taking breaks when the massive weapon needs to be reheated. They work together, shaping the weapon; Uloru does most of the work, and only when her forging skills reach their limit does Kadona take over and provide the needed touch of a master smith.

On the dawn of the third day, the forging of the hammer is complete, so they take it to an enchanter and pay for her services.

Size Shifting Hammer:

(Enchanted)

This hammer can freely change its size and amplifies any gravity spells cast upon it by 135%.

Uloru wills the hammer to shrink, spending a couple hundred points of mana to reduce its size to that of its predecessor and its weight to something vaguely manageable, then gives the heavy weapon a few test swings, her [Massless Weapon] straining and gaining a level.

"Master, my skill leveled up!" Uloru beams a smile and swings the hammer enthusiastically.

"Hey, don't break anything in my shop!" The enchanter yells and shoos the pair out.

"Now you're ready to smash just about anything!" Kadona gives Uloru a thumbs up.

* * * * * * * * * * *

I look over my completed armor, a thing that could never be made by the smithing know-how of the Runalymo. In fact, it took a lot of experimentation and pieces of memories from my past life, pertaining to late medieval armor, to get it somewhat right; even then I had to reinvent several techniques where my memories of the armor technology were lacking.

The breastplate is made of overlapping parts, to help me bend my upper body. The shoulder plates are also made with overlapping plates to give more mobility to my arms. The gauntlets cover my fingers in tiny overlapping plates to fit more like gloves; the mana metal is thinner for my fingers, and my range of motion isn't restricted much.

A metal skirt flows down to just above my knees. Every joint is covered with yet smaller overlapping plates, so not a single weakness exists. The leggings and greaves are made just like the rest of the armor.

The entire piece is made with speed and agility essences to provide extra flexibility, and responds to my will to become even more flexible when I want it to, further increasing my range of motions while wearing this armor. With five enchantment slots, one went to flexibility, one went to storing the armor in a belt of dark steel – much like my sisters’ Kyhosa – two went to a speed boost to provide a bigger bonus and the last slot went into a force-dispersal enchantment, just like how my sisters' Kyhosa is made. It is for this reason I did not add any beauty essence, as the light attuned essence cannot be stored in a dark attuned storage item.

The armor, just like my dagger and spear, did not become a magic item, and I don't need it to. If all goes well, I'll never have to rely on my armor anyway, so it’d be wasted as a magic item.

While my third mind was working on my armor, I played with my sisters, catching up on the weeks we missed. My second and fourth minds practiced sparring at Chyzu and Esofys’ dojos, sometimes at the same time, and my fifth mind worked on spell crystals. More specifically, I was making devices to make spell crystals. Storage crystals, healing crystals and large devices to make spell cannons – the spell crystals that effectively charge powerful spells like casters can, just without the bonuses from class, skills, and race.

I practiced my music and [Tailoring] and helped at my parents’ shop with my fourth mind when it wasn't doing anything else. I made Dad an ice anvil so she can try to forge the fire mana, and I oversaw yet another airship prototype being made. Tusile is really trying to make the best one she can.

"You not only found a way to make devices that can make spell crystals, but you also found a way to make better mana batteries?" Tusile asks excitedly.

The new batteries make use of the empty spots in the MM force; this method holds way more mana, it’s like comparing acid batteries to lithium-ion batteries. My old way of making batteries technically worked in the same fashion, making cavities within a mana crystal, but these are way more advanced. It's like a sponge being used to store mana versus using a bottle, they both get the job done, but one holds a lot more mana.

"Yes,” I decide that explaining those details is probably unnecessary, “although both technologies require making mana steel."

"Which you can do now?" Tusile asks, somehow looking even more excited.

"I can, but it is quite mana-intensive."

"And you say you've figured out mana wiring?"

I nod. The channels that mana travels along in spell crystals work by aligning the MM force valleys so that it forms a ‘road’, but lining up the fields correctly requires a relatively large distance between the individual sheets of mana metal, and also requires the ‘walls’ of the channels to have the particles arranged in a specific manner, resembling a honeycomb.

This technology can also be used as a mana filter. By using the repulsive function of the MM force a mana filter prevents the opposing element from entering the filter. Additional steps would have to be added to filter out the non-opposing mana types, using different elements opposing the undesired elements until only the intended element is gathered.

There is a problem with this method, however: the pressure in the channel can't get too high, otherwise the mana will be forced closer to the walls of the honeycomb and get locked in place when it slips into a higher ‘valley’ in the MM fields.

With my new ability to form mana metals, and plenty of practice, I think I can try creating mana crystals more quickly. I can properly see the crystalline structure if I enter my state of focus and, with time, place the mana particles exactly where they need to be to form a spell crystal. It'll take several hours of effort, but I should be able to do it, and it certainly beats taking a few days to make each crystal.

Also, I have one more thing to accomplish before going back into the dungeon: I have to get either [Multitasking], which will synergize with my multiple minds, or [Persistant State], which will help me get vastly more powerful because the state of focus improves all other breakthroughs for a skill. Which do I need more? Utility or power?

Right now, more power is what I need, since we'll be facing off against a Heroic-tier monster. Besides, with my three new minds from the Diadem of the Lonely Princess, I think I can hold off on [Multitask] just a little bit longer.