“You’re telling me that you created these ether cores,” said Nexus, two wooden hands on its hips.

Gaius nodded. “Is there any problem with it?”

The little fellow plodded over to an ether core and lifted it up. The sight of Nexus examining the little globe was amusing to Gaius for some reason, and he had to stifle the laughs that were on the verge of erupting.

Isabelle nudged him in the ribs and said, “Is it usable?”

“No matter how I look at it, it’s just a normal ether core to me. Are you two trying to pull my leg here? Just because it’s wooden doesn’t mean that I don’t mind you two doing that,” Nexus replied.

“It’s really something Gaius made,” Isabelle replied. “Show him.”

“Alright, then.” A small ball formed in his hand a moment later — Gaius had been practicing while returning to the Library. Now, it just took a second or two to create a functioning ether core…although whether it was actually functioning or not was still up to Nexus’ discretion.

“Wouldn’t it vanish after some time?” Nexus asked.

Gaius shook his head. “I was staring at the ether cores I’d dug out from a snowpyre. Isabelle’s words made me think that it was connected to the Abyss, at which point I tried to sense the flow of energy inside those things.”

“Sense the flow of energy?”

“Don’t ask,” said Isabelle. “It’s…scary to have such eyes trained on you. Better that you never experience it.”

As she said those words, Gaius had a feeling that he would be relying on this energy vision of his when he joined the ongoing war. Virtually everyone he was looking at would probably be as discomfited as Isabelle…which didn’t seem to be all that bad if he trained them on the demons only.

“R-right.” The sculpture set down the ether core. “Give me that one and let me check it.”

Gaius rolled the newly-created core over to Nexus, bowling him over.

“Hey!”

He laughed. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”

“What exactly do you think I am, master Gaius?” The sculpture got up and placed the new ether core beside the old one. “Pass me one of the real ether cores, I’m going to do some comparisons.”

“Uh.” Gaius glanced at Isabelle, who coughed nervously. “We might have a problem regarding this.”

“Well,” said Isabelle, “we didn’t really think that hard about comparisons, so we just stuffed both kinds of ether cores together.”

“And I can’t see any difference between those little cores,” Gaius added. “We don’t really know which cores are the original ones, the ones we dug out from snowpyres.”

Nexus glanced up, that little gesture somehow conveying scorn, resignation and disbelief all at once. “Are you serious?”

Gaius and Isabelle nodded together.

“Were you two so busy flirting with each other that basic common sense escaped from your brains?” Nexus asked. “Never mind. Pour them into that chute there. I’ll do the comparison with some of the older cores.”

Before long, small balls were bouncing down the chute. It was a rather nice sight, and Isabelle was even having fun with it…somehow. She would pick up a single ether core, toss it into the darkness, and cup her ear to hear it bounce. This naturally meant that they were taking a lot more time than usual to empty the bag, but fortunately, the sculpture Nexus was occupying had flopped over.

After watching her toss the last ether core, Gaius said, “Should I call Weiwu now? You wanted to talk to him regarding La-Ti, right?”

“Might as well,” said Isabelle. “Go ahead.”

With the green light from her, Gaius tried to reach out towards the Chanter of Innocents. Usually, calling his name was enough to elicit a reply, but for some reason, the great god wasn’t responding to him.

“Odd,” said Gaius, “he’s not responding.”

“Maybe he’s busy with the Crying Abyss,” said Isabelle. “Can you try and leave a message or something? Something that he’d notice once he’s done with his current affairs.”

“What do you think I am, a Display?” Gaius chuckled. “In all seriousness, however, I don’t think that’s possible. We’ll try against later at night, and then right before we leave.”

“That’s probably the best idea, then. But in case we really can’t reach him…”

“There’s nothing much we can do in that scenario,” Gaius replied. “But I don’t think there’ll be any issues for La-Ti for the next few years, at least. And Nakama should be able to make upgrades to his body as and when needed. Don’t underestimate our little sister.”

“True.” Isabelle brushed some hair out of her eyes. “Is there anything else we need to do now?”

“Other than asking Xanadu about whether she plans to join the battle at the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, no.” Gaius ran through the schedule once more. “You can grab a few books and read them in bed after this, no worries.”

“Hey!”

“What, you weren’t intending on doing that?” Gaius asked.

“I am, but you don’t have to put it so bluntly, do you?” Isabelle rolled her eyes. “What are you going to do then? Sleep?”

“That is indeed a good idea,” Gaius replied. “After all, there’s not going to be much time for sleep after this, right?”

“True, but that also means that you’ll be hugging me the whole time, right?” Isabelle flicked his forehead lightly. “In that case, it’s going to be rather hard to read.”

“Don’t make me sound like a child,” Gaius complained. “But it’s nice to hug someone while sleeping. Don’t you agree? Besides, you could read your books once we’re over at the Heaven-cleaving Fortress.”

He let out a yawn, an act that Isabelle herself copied a moment later.

“See?” Gaius asked. “You’re also tired. Running around Heritage can get quite tiring, and we’ve had a rather long day. Best to read books tomorrow or while we’re flying instead.”

“It’s because you’re yawning!”

The two chuckled together and entered the Library of Ancients. Gaius, who was quite tired out from the check-up and everything else, followed Isabelle as she went over to Xanadu, who was patting two children to sleep…on the pile of cushions.

“Need me for something?” Xanadu asked quietly.

“Yes,” said Gaius. “We want to know if you’re intending on joining the warfront…”