The library was a small underground chamber several kilometers away from the main camp. Solera walked through the rows of shelves, without any idea about how to find what he was looking for.

The library was overwhelming. All the books and scrolls gathered here could not be fully read even if Solera devoted a decade to the task, and this was probably not even a large collection. Channelers and summoners had to be very well-educated, but Solera was a cultivator. He had read things in the past for recreation, but had never devoted serious time or effort to it. Now that Solera could see the vast mountains of texts, the idea of learning about channeling seemed like a mammoth task.

“Need some help?” A voice sounded out from behind Solera, causing him to turn around. It was a young man with sculpted muscles and a confident smile, hardly the type of person Solera would have expected to see in a library.

“Uhh… I’m looking for stuff about channeling.” Solera smiled embarrassedly. “Circulation mantras.”

The man looked at him for several seconds, as if he was studying Solera. “Looking to learn about channeling? Just the basics?”

“Yeah.” Solera nodded his head vigorously.

“Okay, follow me. I’m Edric, by the way?” The young man introduced himself as if he was asking a question. After a moment, Solera realized that Edric was expecting him to say his own name. “I’m Solera.”

“Nice to meet you.” Edric glanced back as he led Solera to a bookshelf in the corner. “Which channels are you looking to strengthen? Or do you just want a full-body mantra?”

“Uh…”

“Full body, then. This book is old, but it was written by Peng Xianting, a very renowned eastern channeler who was born in the third millennium and lived for five hundred and thirty years. It contains three centuries worth of her studies on channel circulation.” Edric flipped through several pages before handing the massive tome to Solera.

“The full-body circulation mantra she creates is in the seventh chapter. It’s a standard circulation mantra, but we’re not allowed to give out better ones willy-nilly.” Edric smiled apologetically. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Solera mumbled, staring at the huge book in his hands. Maybe he should stick to cultivating, after all. Actually, he hadn’t controlled in a while. He had heard that control improved power purity, so maybe he would go practice that instead.

“If you’re looking to improve your channels… ah… hm…” Edric ran his fingers along the books in one of the shelves. “you should practice conversion mantras as well. They make channels more adaptable and sturdy to different kinds of power, while circulation mantras only improve the channel size and brute strength.”

Solera nodded slowly. In channeling, there were two types of mantras: channeling mantras, which moved power through the body’s channels, and conversion mantras, which converted power into earthly energy such as fire or lightning. Circulation mantras were a subset of channeling mantras which moved power around the body in a cycle, much like how the heart pumped blood throughout the body in cycles. They were used mainly for training, which is why Solera wanted one.

“Can you convert anything? Fire, lightning, wind? Lasers?” A small smile appeared on Edric’s face as he asked the last question.

Solera blinked out of his thoughts, flustered. “Ah… no. No, I can’t. I mean, only healforce.” He stammered, realizing at the end that he had to keep up his charade.

Edric blinked. “Healforce? That’s an advanced mantra. Unless there was a more basic one found that I haven’t heard about… hm…”

Solera felt it was best to maintain his silence.

“Well, the three basic conversion mantras are in this book.” Edric handed Solera a small pamphlet. “Wait, do you know the mantra alphabet?”

“Yes.” Solera nodded. He had learned it when he was very young. Actually, now that he thought about it, it was the reason his child self had decided to focus on cultivating. That alphabet was too damn large!

“Alright. Well, if you need anything, I’ll be here for the next, uh, four hours.” Edric nodded pleasantly at Solera and disappeared into the maze of bookshelves. Solera sat down and flipped open the large tome, and began to read.

With the naked eye, anyone can see the superiority of man to all other living creatures of Land. We are the race chosen by the Ancients to-

Solera’s eyes began to glaze, so he quickly skipped to the next paragraph.

It is the existence of a soul which separates man from beast, and the existence of a body which separates man from spirit. Man is the pinnacle of creation, a hybrid creature of Land and Sky which contains the best of both worlds. This collection of three centuries of my research focuses on the soul, without which channeling or any access to power would not be possible. In it, I-

Solera turned several pages to the end of what he realized was the book’s foreword.

Without the above people, this book would never be possible. But without your generous donation, this book would even more so have never been written. Thank you so much for your support, and remember to take a gander at my other works, Power Diffusion Dynamics in Miasmas, Longevity Training: A Channeler’s Perspective, and-

Solera remembered Edric saying something about chapter seven, so he flipped through the pages to look for it. A sharp noise shot out as a page tore from his flipping, causing him freeze up in fear. He had just torn a book! These were extremely valuable!

But after several seconds, nothing happened. He resumed flipping through the tome, but much more carefully this time. After half a minute, he was able to locate the chapter introduction.

As we have covered, the soul is like a muscle which moves in eleven different dimensions. Mantras are specific contractions of the muscle which either send power into different sections of the channels or convert it into one of countless energies. Just like muscles, the soul improves by straining and exercising itself. Here, it would be better to broaden out the metaphor from a muscle to an entire body; the channels are the muscles within the muscle, and

Solera laughed and started flipping again. “Muscles within muscles,” he repeated to himself. The words had raised an old memory in his mind. “I was so strong, even my muscles had muscles!” Vinoh flexed his singular arm to Solera to prove his point. Back then, he had not been as sickly as he was now, although he was by no means at tip-top shape. Solera’s face fell as he thought about Vinoh’s disease again. If his father died, he wasn’t sure how he would react.

After a few moments of brooding, Solera returned his attention to the text. The mantras were easily discernible; they had their own, strange alphabet which very much resembled the patterns Solera had seen on talismans in that the characters were boxy and conjoined to each other.

The mantra was fairly simple, without any complicated symbols. Solera stared at it, memorizing the formation.

Power flooded out from his Lake and into his channels. It circulated throughout his body before going back up through his neck and into his head, where the Lake was located. He could feel his channels thrumming with power, but also slight stabs of phantom pain in his head.

Solera gritted his teeth and stopped. It seemed like his channels had healed, but he was still feeling pain in his forehead, where his Lake was. He could remember a faint memory of that same pain when he was a child trying out channeling. Had he always felt this pain when he channeled?

Yes, yes he had. Solera scratched his head, a frustrated look on his face. This type of pain was not the pleasant pain he got from exercising. It was a tearing pain, like his head was being slowly peeled apart. He could easily ignore it, as he probably had back at Fortress Hickory and the other battles when he had been forced to channel large amounts of power, but the pain probably signified that the circulating was doing more harm than good.

This was the reason why Solera didn’t channel, he re-remembered now. It had just been too long since it had happened that he had forgotten. With a sigh, he placed the book back on the bookshelf. The circulation mantra was clearly a very simple, standard one, one that had passed millennia of testing. The problem was not the mantra or his execution, it was him.

He had no choice, though. Now that he had revealed the extent of the power crystal’s abilities, he had to keep up the act. Solera took the book back out of the bookshelf and walked out.

Macaw was laying in Solera’s bed, a dim, bored look on his face. His eyes flickered over to Solera as he entered.

“Hey!” Solera knitted his eyebrows together. “What are you doing there?”

“I’m trying to sleep.” Macaw responded with a slight smirk on his face. “Don’t bother me.”

Solera was very annoyed, but didn’t know what to say.

“Put up with me for a bit, kid.” Macaw sighed, his eyes scanning the ceiling. “I overpowered too long against a guy who had no business being a footsoldier.”

“Overpowered?” Solera asked, confused.

Macaw raised both eyebrows and sighed again at the ceiling. “You know what that is. Burning your cultivation and your channels for a few moments to be stronger.”

“... Oh.” Solera knew what that technique was. He had used it back at the Genbu assault when a man had been trying to snap his neck. It was also a circulation mantra, but it was used to heighten a person’s strength, speed and durability. If used for a few seconds, it only fatigued the body and the channels a little bit. But if it was used for much longer than that, huge damage could be dealt to both a person’s cultivation and channels.

“I didn’t know it was called overpowering.” Solera said. “Skadi didn’t call it that, either. He just said channeling power through the entire body.”

“Yeah, well, I’m right.” Macaw closed his eyes.

“Wait a second!” Solera grew angry again. “You were just changing the subject! Sleep in your own bed!”

“Nah. Too nasty from… nah.” Macaw mumbled, and went absolutely still. Solera’s eyes bugged. He thought seriously about dumping some water on Macaw’s head, but then it was his bed which would be taking the loss.

Solera fumed for a few moments, then walked over to the table and sat down, brushing several of Chip’s papers aside. Guinness was, as usual, snoring away in his bed, but Chip was nowhere to be seen.

He flipped open the mantra pamphlet. Unlike the tome, this one had very few words. It was just a compilation of various conversion mantras. He could see thirty different mantras for flame and an entire page dedicated to various kinds of wind, but the more exotic channeling techniques for things such as healforce or kinetic push and destruction tendrils couldn’t be found.

Solera wasn’t looking for those, anyway. Something basic was all that he needed to make his channels more adaptable to different forms of power. He selected a low-power fire mantra, perfect for cauterizing wounds. This one would be useful for the doctors.

He performed the mantra as quickly as he could. As he did so, his mind felt like it was making strange contortions. The power in his channels seemed to vibrate along with it. The moment he shot the power out of his channels, it would collapse into whatever it had been converted into. He could only hope it was flame.

Bursts of light shot out of his hand, lighting up the entire room for a brief instant. He sighed. He had definitely failed.

“Hey, quit it, will you.” Macaw mumbled. Solera ignored him and tried again. Another flash of light, but a different color this time. The room lit up again and again for the next half hour until Solera collapsed back into the chair, his Lake nearly drained of power.

He groaned to himself. Just like when he practiced control, his mind was feeling very drowsy. Now, he realized it was because the Lake would drain itself of power as he channeled and controlled. His eyes drifted over to his bed, where Macaw was still trying to sleep.

Thinking some curses to himself in his head, Solera looked at Chip’s bed. Chip was never around, so if Solera slept in it for a few minutes, there would be no harm done. Without any further thought, he flopped onto the top of the bed and closed his eyes.

“Get out of my bed, Solera.”

Chip’s smooth voice trickled into Solera’s ear. He mumbled to himself for a bit before his eyes shot wide open.

Chip was standing there, flanked by Alda and a middle-aged man who, judging from his muscles, was probably much older than he looked.

Solera nervously got out of his bed, shooting a look at his own bed. Macaw was looking at him with an amused expression on his face. Solera’s mood went from horror to disgust, and then to anger in an instant. Macaw! He would get him for this!

“No need to be angry, Solera. I’m not mad.” Chip went over to the table and readjusted his papers. “I just heard that you made use of some of my healforce pills.”

Solera looked blankly at Chip. Chip looked back with an inscrutable expression. Realization dawned on him after a few seconds. Chip... wanted to take credit for his work!

No, that wasn’t it. Chip was offering him a way out of his predicament! But he was taking credit to promote his own services at the same time! Solera stared at Chip with a mixture of fear, astonishment, and admiration. This guy… he was far, far too intelligent.

“Sorry.” Solera mumbled. “I… I reacted too quickly.”

Chip smiled at Solera. It was a satisfied smile, one that made him feel unsettled.

“It’s no big deal. If you wanted to help so badly, there’s a lot of other things you can learn.” Chip nodded to Alda, who walked over to Solera, before talking to the other man.

“Solera, if you wanted to help, you should have just said so.” Alda told him, a hint of reproach in her voice. “I went out of my way to talk to some channelers here about tutoring you further in your channeling. But it turns out you just took a pill! We have a limited supply of those and Chip can’t make too many at a time. Like I told you, there’s better things for you to be doing.”

Solera coughed awkwardly. It seemed like playing along with Chip had its side effects.

“Solera.” Chip said, causing Solera to swivel his head back around to look at him. “This man beside me is an injured medic. He could teach you about the subject, if you want.”

“Hello. My name is Luthor.” The man extended his hand to Solera, looking him over with glassy blue eyes. “I’m a medic for Captain Zekira’s battalion, but I have been injured, so I’m just sitting around for the next month or so.” He shifted his shirt slightly so that Solera could see the bandages underneath. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Uh…” Solera looked back at Luthor. He didn’t particularly want to learn about the intricacies of healing, especially when he could just channel the power from his crystal. Besides, this man looked a little fishy.

“No? That’s too bad, then. I’ll be on my way.” Luthor bowed his head slightly, then shrugged at Chip. “Any other way I can pay?”

Chip ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ll think of something.”

Luthor nodded and left, taking Alda with him. Solera stared at Chip with some anger on his face. He knew that Chip was trying to manipulate him into handing over information about the power crystal again!

“You didn’t need to do that for me. I don’t want to owe you anything.” Solera snapped, then walked over to Macaw to kick him out.

“Agh- all right, I’ll go, I’ll go.” Macaw got up, wincing as his feet touched the floor. “Hey Chip, got a nice racket going on for yourself over there.”

Chip didn’t respond. He was sitting in the chair, writing something down on one of the papers.

“What about that exo… that exo-whatever. We could really use you down in those tunnels.” Macaw said as he put on a shirt.

“No.” Chip answered very bluntly.

“Seriously, that thing might make you stronger than an immortal. What if I died because you didn’t save me?” Macaw was lacing his boots on now. He was speaking casually, but even Solera could tell that he was probing Chip.

“Then die. There are reasons I can’t display my strength right now.” Chip tossed down his pencil and rolled up the paper.

“Hm? Something about that family you said you would tell us about, but won’t?” Macaw laughed as he put on his coat. “Good bed, by the way, Solera. Can I use it again later?”

“Nope.” Solera walked up to the table and grabbed his books, taking care not to make eye contact with either Chip or Macaw.

“It’s useless for you to know about me. Maybe after we’re safely back in Eden.” Chip said as Macaw walked into the tunnels.

Solera climbed into his bed, flipping open the boring tome again. He was still angry at Chip, but he said nothing. Chip could read Solera better than Solera could read, so he was certain that Chip already knew what he was thinking. If Chip had anything to say, he would say it.

For a few moments, the only sound in the room was Guinness’s snores. Solera waited to see if Chip would speak to him or not.

“Do you feel that?” Chip turned around, his eyes scanning the ground.

“Huh?” Solera responded, confused. That was not anything close to what he expected Chip to say.

Chip’s hair melted into the black oil of the exosuit. The liquid flowed down his face to form a black helmet which completely covered his face. Seeing Chip’s actions, Solera immediately reached down to the foot of his bed for his sword.

Like a striking snake, a tendril of semi-solid oil shot out of Chip’s arm and speared into the ground. The ground ruptured, breaking open to reveal a tunnel beneath them. Chip’s spear, which had stabbed through the Vigor’s talisman, retracted just as a tiger leaped out of the tunnel towards Solera.