Nothing went right since we left the fortress. Mary was distraught by the death of her friend. I barely managed to reclaim the fallen spirit core before the jellyfish returned with the rain. We had to ride hard for Gungale and fight every mudcat spirit beast, gangs of demon hosts, and random troll on our way. Blood and ogre brains drenched my spear as I pulled it free of the latest troll.

"Let's search his cave for any spirit cores he might have hoarded." Mary trotted towards the cave at a sedate pace. Behind us, the troll bled out and stubbornly held on to life. In a few days, he might heal up if a predator doesn't find him first.

"You should do something with Cherelle's spirit core. There are no temples where we're going, and I think she would rather be of use to someone." Mary said.

"If we piled ash around her core, could she eventually reform," I asked?

"If we took out your brain and piled human flesh around it, would you eventually form a body? Cherelle died in the rockslide; her spirit core is no more than her cultivation. It is power without form or purpose. Give it a purpose." Mary said.

Give it purpose; that's possible; I needed a way to reliably counter the jellyfish. Wood and fire alone wasn't a good counter against water and lightning, not by a long shot. Adding those two elements could boost my attack potential to the nascent realm. I needed a hard counter against lightning-like earth or darkness.

We entered the troll's cave, and I could already feel the call of gold.

…

Old caravan wagons spilled their guts over the dirty floor of the troll's cave. Glittering jewels were caked in mud, shiny golden coins were bent from years of the troll stomping on them, and many scrolls were used as toilet paper. Some of the more durable scrolls were locked by formations and tossed aside by the troll. Those treasures that could be opened and explored at another time were tossed in my inventory. What few spirit cores were available barely hit mid-class except for one.

Sitting on a pedestal of bones and worship was a black spirit core. It was no larger than a marble but easily lord class, but its specific rank was uncertain. The fluctuations of qi were erratic. At times it was at the beginning of the lord class, and at others, it was higher than Earl. For all, I knew it could be even stronger. So what was it doing locked up here in a troll's cave?"

"Are you going to try to add it to your cultivation?" Maddie asked.

"No, it's too powerful to be helpful in that way. I would need a high-class dark spirit and then a high-class light spirit to balance it." I said.

"If you don't need it, then we should destroy it. Nothing good comes from messing with dark powers. Prophet protects it's the strongest dark force I've ever felt." Emily said.

"So, you do have a plan for advancement. I was right." Maddie cheered.

"My initial plan was to collect a high-class spirit from each of the 5 natural elements and merge them with my cultivation. Through their power, balance, and synergy, reaching into the nascent realm without an assist from a higher power is theoretically possible." I said.

"Ok, so that's why you want to help the Barony. You want the high-class earth and metal spirits in the mine. If you claim them, then all you would need is a high-class water spirit." Emily said.

"It’s good to know you're not helping us out of a sense of duty, you’ve fallen in love with me, or worse of all out of heroic altruism,” Maddie said and made a disgusted face. “A political maneuver to place yourself into position to gain the power you require to advance is very noble of you,” Maddie said.

“That won’t mean a thing if we’re always on the run from the jellyfish. You know where they come from, don’t you? I can taste it in their qi.” I said.

“The Gemini Ghost Empire is spreading its influence. It's shaking up the power structure of the triad, and other forces are moving to either consolidate power or take it. All the while, heroes are leading triad legions into demon-infested territories. The world as we know it is changing.” Emily said.

“The blood spirits would have never invaded our lands before. Our gods would strike them down, but the heavens are at war gods have fallen to the triad, and others have been broken into shards.” Shadbak said.

“Yes, we’re in a volatile world, and power is changing hands left and right. We can’t turn our nose up at a situation like this just because the power might be distasteful. After all, there is no form within this spirit core. Its only power.” I said.

“That’s right, the longer a spirit core is outside of its physical body, the less of itself it remembers. A powerful lord class might maintain their mind for years if they prepare beforehand, but this thing is ancient.” Mary said.

“Is there anything left of Cherelle?” I asked as I held up her marble-sized spirit core.

“She might have distant memories of her first time carrying a foal, her disastrous first-time mating, and some of her friends. To be suddenly ripped from sensation and bottled up into a disconnected bead with no sensation can drive even lords mad. Her death was sudden and brutal.” Mary said.

“I’m going to merge her and the dark spirit core with my spear and turn it into a staff to channel my power,” I said.

Using up some of my rare paper on this wasn’t going to happen, so I decided to use the wall and try out one of my earlier projects. I took out a piece of wood covered in starlight formations with a tiny low-class core resting at its tip. A small, powerful tip of plasma sprouted from the stylus’s tip. There was a lot I had to do in a short time the jellyfish might catch up to us, more trolls could come, or the demon hosts could attack again. So, I began to write formation after formation on the wall to develop something that could merge the three items into something useful.

Darkness wasn’t something I knew too much about. Anything that hinted at darkness was covered in so much red tape and triad allegories that I didn’t know what a lot of the dark formations did. Or, more precisely, I didn’t know everything that the dark formations did. To make matters more complicated, my dark formations were in bits and pieces.

So, for good measure, I had to piece it all together with the starlight formations with pieces of the triad and winter nights. I produced seed from my spear and took all the qi with it. My weapon rotted away on the cave floor.

Maddie watched in fascination as I worked. Emily had dutifully scouted the cave with Shadbak and Lucio while I worked. Experimenting with Maddie looking over my shoulder made me feel uncomfortable and horny, a bad combination when working with unknown forces.

“Is there something I can do for you?” I asked.

“Where did you come from? You can’t be triad,” Maddie said.

I turned, made the triad symbol, and returned to my work.

“No, that doesn’t make you triad; if that was the case, then anyone could be,” Maddie said.

“Are you going to test me on your holy book? I assure you I use it far more than you do.” I said.

To be more precise, I gutted it for all useful information and ignored the religious crap. But, unfortunately, I still had to read some of the religious crap while I used it.

“No true worshiper of the prophet would use such a crass term as used to describe the baptism of the sacred symbolism. When you read the holy laws, you are washing the unclean ways of the world from your mind. You should have said you’ve enlightened yourself more than I have.” Maddie said.

“Is this what nobles learn to get by with minimal religious brainwashing?” I asked.

I had the foundation down for my staff; I just needed to integrate the spirit cores. That was going to be particularly qi intensive. I held up my seed and let it sprout and simultaneously covered it in the formations as it grew. While the sprouted vines encircled the spirit cores, I planted the roots in the ground and slowed the integration process. Half the plant immediately burned to ash while the other half grew fangs before rotting.

I disconnected both parts before the integrated qi spread to the whole plant. Then I burned the discarded parts and grew 5 seeds. From there, I burned the rest of the plant and grew the new seed in the ashes. 4 of those seeds sprouted and attached to the dark spirit core while the last one connected with the Cherelle’s core.

“I’ve never heard of a wood user doing something so alien. Are you from a demon sect? No one else would dare work with dark qi.” Maddie said.

“If I had membership in a demon sect, this would be much easier. But, unfortunately, my resources are limited. As for the wood users, I’m just using nature to my advantage.” I said.

Once again, the seeds mutated, and I had to cut them off. Using dark qi was much more dangerous than I thought. If just a little could mutate these plants so much, then I didn’t want to touch it myself until I knew more. Would a light spirit core work as a counterbalance, or would the two cores fight? I didn’t have a light spirit core in the lord class, so it didn’t matter.

The sapling bonding with Cherelle’s spirit core adapted on the third generation and no longer needed to be burned and regrown. All the formations on it glowed just fine, and I couldn’t see any flaws in its design. That gave me the mental freedom to grow a fifth sapling for the dark core. From that point on, I grew the seeds from Cherelle’s sapling and pollinated it with the other five. After generation 6 and adding a sixth sapling, the mutations slowed down.

“Is taming the dark really that easy?” Maddie asked.

I swallowed a pearl of God shard blood and felt my bone-dry cultivation recover. The fact that she thought this was easy pissed me off. I upped the saplings to seven for generation seven. Even dividing the power produced by the dark spirit core into seven wasn’t enough to stave off mutation for long. I needed more qi, and a little blood wasn’t going to do it. The troll might help me out with its regeneration.

“Fuck no, I’m cheating more every time I try the experiment again. Half these formations redirect the dark qi in less destructive ways, but the damn trees are still mutating out of control. I’ve been at this for hours, and I’ve only slowed down the mutations. We’re about to be on the eighth generation, and I’m burning through resources I need for my ascension into nascent. If my children try the same path as me, I will have the spirit cores prepared ahead of time. Because this is bullshit.” I said with more frustration in my voice than I wanted.

“Hey, Mary, do you think you could support two people on your back? I have an idea that might help my beloved’s frustration,” Maddie said.

“I don’t want to have sex; I want to figure this out,” I said.

Before Mary, I didn’t know horses could smirk. “Does this count as a threesome? I’ve always wanted one, but stallions are so picky about who gets to fuck them in the ass. There are hardly any stallions named nobody.” Mary said.

“There is a secret about gardening and nature that you should know. If you climb on Mary with me, I’ll tell you.” Maddie said.

I sighed and took my clothes off; she might know something that I hadn’t thought about. Maddie stood barefoot on Mary’s rump while I climbed naked into the saddle.

“This is called reverse cowgirl.” Maddie turned around and lowered herself slowly until her ass was in my face. I pushed my tongue into her cunny and licked away my frustration.

I looked up as Maddie leaned forward and rested her hands on Mary’s rump. Mary brushed her tail aside, and Maddie let out a giggle.

“What a naughty mare, but it is a threesome,” Maddie said and balanced herself with one hand before slipping the other to help Mary out. “You’re so hot, Mary; if I wasn’t a fire type, I couldn’t do this to you.” Mary swayed and stretched out her back legs.

I returned to licking Maddie until she was good and wet. Then I took my tongue north to her twitching moon to give it a lick. She shivered before I grabbed her hips and slipped inside. Her pussy was tighter than even Emily’s, but Emily was wetter. This wasn’t a loving fuck; I was frustrated as hell and spending without end. So, I rammed her as much as I could from a sitting position the stirrups helped. Finally, I stood up in the stirrups, grabbed Maddie by the hips, and pounded her.

Maddie hugged Mary’s rump while I gave her no mercy. I took out my frustration on her pussy. Cherelle’s death, my inability to fight the jellyfish, and my endless spending on this project were gobbled up by Maddie’s love tunnel.

“Best threesome ever,” Mary said as I came.

After we finished Mary off together through quad forearm deep fisticuffs, I felt better. The problems hadn’t gone away, but some of the tension had. Somehow including Mary had helped more than I thought it would.

“I’m ovulating,” Mary said.

Maddie and I exchanged a meaningful look. “That’s good to know, Mary. I’m sure Drue will be thrilled.” I said.

As a precaution, I did not let any of my sperm anywhere near Mary’s marehood. Some lines shouldn’t be crossed sentient pile of ash shaped like a horse or not. Helping a grieving friend masturbate was one thing; impregnating her was another.

“Maddie, you mentioned a secret before,” I said quickly.

“Right, time is needed for plants to mature. You will eventually reach your goal by spending resources, or you can slow down.” Maddie said.

I nodded slowly. I needed something to absorb and lessen the dark qi to give my saplings time to absorb it. Well, I did have a perfectly good troll outside. Its regeneration could prove helpful if I put just a little dark qi into the troll’s flesh then have my saplings absorb it. I might need fewer generations if I adjust them this way.

Mary helped me drag in the troll’s living corpse. It was only mildly savaged by wolfen. However, after returning it to the cave, its guts began to suck back into its asshole. That’s where the wolfen and buzzards started devouring it.

The flesh lived even without the brain. It was like trolls were too stupid to die.

I cut off an arm and began my experiment. The troll’s flesh turned out to be highly resistant to mutation. I made progress by using it as a mediator between my saplings and the dark core I began. Less of the troll flesh was needed with every generation to approach the dark core. Hours continued to flash by, and the rest of our party hadn’t returned. Finally, I fitted the dark core with Cherelle’s core, and my staff formed glowing with pulses of dark, fire, and wood qi. I waited for something to happen while my staff acclimatized itself to its power and formations.

It was when the staff’s power leveled out, and I grasped my might weapon that my tunnel vision finally expanded. Before I could take a step towards the depths of the cave, a dart pierced my neck. Suddenly, I felt numerous dark qi signatures appear as my spirit sense returned to normal. My legs felt weak, and I saw the dark-skinned elf approach. I lifted the staff, intent on destroying her, when my hand fell limp.

Rage filled me like never before as the world went black.

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