Res struck the leather crafters off from the list when he smelled the chemicals. Other occupations like carpenter and tailor didn’t pay well for the work that went into every piece. Not knowing how to help himself in any other way, Res asked Jason: “Do you know what is a good-paying job without much work?”

“You know bro, when I was born into this world, I possessed so much fucking power that money never was a problem. The gifts from all the princesses that were in love with me alone would have paid all my bills.”

“You always talk about worlds as if there are other ones. Do you mean that you are from another continent?”

“No, bro. I am from a place called earth …” Jason drew out the words as if they were magical.

“If I hadn’t philosophized about other life forms, I wouldn’t have believed you. Either you are a ghost gone mad, the evidence points toward that, or you speak the truth. Let’s give you the benefit of the doubt. What are you doing here?”

“Look, I know this sounds ridiculous but bear with me. I was fucking broke and had offered myself as a subject for science. I arrived at some lab I have never heard of and was given a pill. I fell asleep and when I woke up, I was about to be eaten by a fucking enormous tentacle-dinosaur monster. I completely freaked out and flailed around, which made me slip loose from the tentacle grasp. I ran away as fast as possible, but I was in some sort of control room with lots of monitors and rows upon rows of buttons. When I turned around, I knew that I couldn’t run away from that monster, so I pressed random buttons. Before I knew it, I found myself in this world with an enormous affinity for aether. You are actually the first one to hear my crazy story.“

Res’s head was spinning from all the information, but he believed Jason. He tucked his questions away for further meditation and focused on finding a job. Out of the corner of his vision, a price tag caught his eye. In a stall with the sign ‘Kantor Blacksmith’, lay a short sword priced at 60 gold coins on display.

Res couldn’t believe his eyes: “60 gold for such a simple short sword?”

Res approached the owner of the shop who, when he saw that Res wanted to speak to him, snorted out: “No Discounts.”

In his most subservient tone, he asked: “Do you need any hands at the forge?”

The man adopted a faraway look: “Yes, I need a pair of good and sturdy hands to work my bellows. In mi days, the boys had to work for nine hours, but today’s youth only endures six. I wish I would live in the good old days.”

“Do you have anything that isn’t physically demanding?”

At Res’s question, the owner broke out into laughter. “Not physically demanding, he says … physically … hahaha”

He determined that he wouldn’t get any answers out of the shop owner and left. Res liked to think of himself as being neutral, neither happy nor sad. After he had gone through every occupation on the main street, Res was livid. Finally, he stood before one of the last stores and a sign reading: ‘Grannies Alchemy Shop’. He took in a deep breath to calm himself and entered the shop. To be honest, alchemy was his first choice, and he had saved it for last. Alchemists could increase one’s strength through various potions, pills, and powders. He had some knowledge of the arts of alchemy through the palace academy. Alchemy was perfect in every way: you didn’t need to move, you only needed knowledge and you got paid a lot.

“I heard that one basic refining pill costs over five gold coins.”

When he entered, a soft bell rang and a throaty voice resounded through the shop: “The shop is closed. I forgot to close the door.”

“I am actually here to ask for an apprenticeship.” Res figured he could gamble a little and be straightforward. He knew that alchemists weren’t social butterflies and liked if you got to the point. At least the royal alchemist Evudor, the only alchemist Res had seen, was like that.

The voice of Jason resounded in Res’s head: “Say whaaat? Do my descendants have to rely on the help of potions to be strong? They have turned into pussies.”

Res focused on the old woman that had emerged from a backroom and now eyed him. She wore her white hair into a bun and her dark brown eyes bored into his like needles. “No, I don’t need any apprentices. You can go now.”

“I have knowledge of …”

“Stop talking. I know you are a spy from the old geezer and I don’t blame you for it. Let me guess, he wants to steal my phoenix collar pill recipe.”

“No, I …” Before Res could blink, he was standing in front of the closed and locked door of the alchemy shop.

“Bro, fate guides you to become an awesome fighter like I was. Let’s go to one of the martial art schools. I have some savage Jet Li moves I can teach you.”

Despair started to fill Res’s stomach as he thought about training and being beaten up. So, Res did the only thing that could get him out of the situation – Thinking. He still wanted to stay in sight of the alchemy shop and found a thick wall in the shop’s backyard that was perfect for thinking. With practiced ease, he ran at the wall and heaved himself up.

“Bro, please don’t tell me you insist on being an alchemist.”

“If I don’t find a job until I am hungry again, I will consider becoming a duelist.”

After several seconds of contemplative silence, the former king whispered. “Fresssshhhhh Cake … Fruits … Donnnnuuuutsssss.”

Res was about to retreat into the blissful silence of his mind when a window on the back of the alchemy shop opened. From his vantage point up on the wall, Res could see the old woman who had opened the window and the room behind her. The room was full of herb racks and an enormous workbench with countless alchemy equipment on it. From the lessons in the arts of alchemy he had had in the academy, Res recognized high-grade equipment.

Erlenmeyer flasks, Crucibles, cylinders, thermometers, and a high-grade microscope capable of 200-times magnification. Jason let out a whistle in Res’s mind: “I know nothing about alchemy, bro, but that shit looks like it is expensive.”

“It is. All the inventory must be worth more than 10 platinum coins. She isn’t a clueless herbwoman, she is a master alchemist.”

The old woman didn’t see him as the interior ruined her night vision lighting. Res watched her with rapt attention as she mixed several powders together. Like an expert dancer, the woman crushed, mix, and heat up herbs of all kinds. All the while, a strange feeling emitted from her.

“Bro, holy shit, she is actually a real alchemist, not only an herbwoman.”

“Do aether users have this weird feeling as if the air is being pulled towards them?”

“Yes, judging by the fact that even we can feel it, she is fucking powerful.”

“In my alchemy classes, I heard that some alchemists use aether in a limited fashion but …”.

”Currently, she is pulling in more aether than a low B-Tier fire mage and infusing the herbs with it. Holy Macaroni, she must be a low A-Tier. Not bad as a brain core.”

“How does she do it? How can I do the same?”

“Aether is only potential and you can do everything with it. The basic rule is: The higher your aether concentration within your core, the more you can pull in and use. If you want to understand aether, store some of it in your body. There are thousands of different schools of thought on how and where to store aether. Not one is correct. I knew a powerful aether practitioner who stored her power in her giant boobs. She was a sight to behold. Such enormous beauty that …”

“Wait, don’t get off track. What would happen if I store aether in my brain? Would I die?”

“Baaah, don’t do that. That’s boring. With a brain core, you can only be a scholar at most. Don’t you want to jump to the clouds and destroy buildings? Have you never dreamed of being superman without having a weakness to kryptonite? Wait, you didn’t. Did you want to be an adventurer as a child?”

“No, but I somehow have the feeling that you are hiding some advantages of a brain core. Are there any more?”

“Ahh, it’s nothing. You can do a few spells, but they are all harmless.”

Res was getting annoyed by the obvious belittling of the brain core. “Jason, tell me the truth.”

“Alright, alright, chill bro. As a brain core, you can think super-fast. You can THEORETICALLY cast bigger spells. The only problem is that it would take you ages. Even a simple fireball would take you six hours. Six hours! You can only concentrate on one tiny task if you engage your brain core. Most important of all – It is fucking boring! You have shitty reflexes and you are weak as fuck.”

“I’ll choose the brain core.”

“Wait, wait there are other cool options like a bone core?”

“I’ll choose the brain core.”

Jason’s voice turned whiny. “Please, please, I beg you. Don’t be a brain core. Skin core doesn’t sound bad. Why have I even told you that there are brain cores?”

“How do I start?”

“If you think after that you get smarter, I will have to crush your dreams. If you engage your brain core, you are oblivious to your surroundings. Look at the old woman! You could walk into her lab and kill her without her even realizing something is wrong. Brain cores are powerful, but most of them get killed because they are fucking dumb.”

“Then it’s good that I have you.”

“Bro, you can’t turn me into a guard dog.”

“How do I start?”

“Fine, you can still learn out of your failures and destroy your aether basis. I guess you will have to learn the hard way. On average, the first step takes five years, but I managed it in only one. You will have to bash open all 12 Meridians. If we factor in that I cleared your aether channels, your first gate will open today. After that, you will need intense concentration and regular cultivation to break them. First, imagine your body from a third-person view.”

At a questioning grunt from Res, Jason elaborated: “Third person means from outside. Now try to simulate the feeling you had when the old hag used aether. Can you do it?”

Res did as Jason asked and projected an image of himself in his brain. With the feeling of aether still vivid in his mind, he found the twelve numb spots Jason had described. Yet, no matter how hard he tried to mentally shove, they wouldn’t budge. He inflated. “No, I can’t do it. The gates don’t give in.”

“Bro, you are a genius!” Res could barely stop himself from falling off the wall in fright.

“Ooopsie, sorry. I had to meditate for two hours to find the spots and I was fast. A normal person takes weeks for someone to feel it. Now concentrate on the specific spots where you can’t do it. Tell me when you know with certainty where they are.”

Res retreated into the black abyss of his mind and gave a mental ‘yes’ when he had pinpointed their location. Within the cultivation trance, Res heard the muffled voice of Jason.

“Listen to the cries of the merchants, the barking of dogs, and the singing of the wind. Find the essence of all things and then pull on it.”

After he heard the instructions, Res completely retreated into the black abyss. He focused his whole being on connecting thought and environment, will and creation. The black abyss of Res’s mind turned from nothingness to ideas and concepts. Above it all stood one principal – Potential. He saw the potential hidden in the bricks of the houses, the ants crawling under him, and finally himself. “Living is change”. Res felt the intense desire to take some of that potential and pulled at it with all his strength. Then the world went black.

***************

Granny was pulled out of her work by tingling in her hands. At first, she thought it was distress at another attempt at infiltration from Evudor. Yet, the feeling continued to nag at her.

“Is it because I have been trying for over a year to improve the phoenix body respiration pill? No, I already came to terms that I will never manage it. What is it then?”

When she concentrated on the feeling, she determined it came from her backyard. She went to her open window and looked out. After her vision adapted to the darkness, she spotted the young spy from earlier sitting on her wall. “Get out of here or I’ll get my crossbow!”

When the young man didn’t move, she half-turned to make due on the threat. Out of the corner of her vision, she saw that the young man’s hairs were standing end on end.

“That only happens when … No that couldn’t be … Why is he trying to break one of his meridian gates on top of a wall?” Enormous amounts of pure aether emanated out from the young man. Violent gusts of air and random raindrops manifested as a reaction to the change of potential. “How? … How? … So much aether? … So pure. … So much …”.

The aether channel control necessary encapsulated Granny. A part of her that was not enraptured, noticed that the raindrops had turned into ice. Most fascinating of it all were the boy’s aether channels. They were opening and closing at an astonishing rate. The boy walked on the edge between exploding and absorbing as much aether as possible. It was like being in the show of a tightrope walker from the southerner lands.

The only difference was that this time, there was no safety net for the young boy. A tornado formed around Res and in the clear night sky above him, clouds formed. Granny’s survival instinct sprang into motion.

“That naïve boy pulls in enough aether to kill the whole district. If he were to explode all non-aether users would die due to aether poisoning.”

She slammed down the window and fastened it closed with a piece of rope. Outside, people were screaming in confusion as wooden stalls crumbled and windows shattered. Despite all that, Granny couldn’t pull her eyes off the boy that sat undisturbed on her wall. The aether concentration built to a crescendo and, with a crash, a bolt of lightning arced down from the sky.

When she regained her sight again, she saw the young man lying in her backyard. Without thought, Granny threw open the window and heaved herself outside. The young man was bleeding out of every hole of the human body and she could feel some aether in his brain. Granny looked at the still form for several seconds and then chuckled.

“You opened one meridian without guiding only to become my apprentice? That’s what I call dedication. Who would have thought you possessed such talent? Every other person in this city would kill you after your display. Lucky you that I am not one of them.”

With surprising gentleness, she emptied the contents of a vial in Res’s throat.