July 16th

It was nearly two in the morning, I noted with a yawn but continued reading through applicants. We'd only set up a minimal qualification for the position with the Seekers, namely having at least three breakthroughs. Even after only a few days, we'd netted nearly a thousand applicants from all over the US, and only sixty were anywhere nearby.

Researchers and teachers needed. Apply with Dantian Seekers. Must have minimum of three breakthroughs and willing to spend full time hours working on energy cultivation. I laughed to myself as I randomly picked another resume. Earl Cox in New Mexico, laboratory technician. Willing to teach, yes. Willing to relocate, no. Why even apply? I asked myself. The jobs were explicitly here in Rolla, we weren't setting up remote sites. If that were to happen, that would have to be sometime in the future when we were more capable.

Sighing, I closed the resume and updated the filter to list to people willing to move, instead of just by current job. That at least lowered the list to several hundred people with research type jobs, so maybe I coul-

New energies flowed from that impossible direction once more and I reeled from the sensation.

A firey energy that burned even brighter than it had previously, air and wood being drawn on heavily as the fire banked itself to earth. Earth that seemed to then crack open, an explosion of new metal energy that melted towards water but also seemed to be forged in the excess fire energy.

Even before I could orient myself to address Zhaohui's presence to ask, the answer echoed directly from the energy around me.

Your world's soul has completed its own cycle, though it remains imbalanced. I shall no longer cycle your world's [energy] for you.

And from the various types energies something pulled back. From fire, water, wood, and earth it almost felt like a pressure that had been holding those parts of the energy let go. The energy around me seemed to shift on its own now, flowing together and converting among the six types. Something I hadn't even noticed it wasn't truly doing. Earth to metal. Metal to water. Water split apart to air and wood. Wood breathed out air and burned into fire. Fire fed on the air and burned out back into earth again.

"Nicole!" Melissa came tearing into the room in pajamas a minute later, eyes wild as she looked around. "What the hell?"

"Breakthough." I answered, shaking my head. "The alien did something else this time too."

"Yeah, last time the alien offered up anything, it was to choke everyone telling us to breathe." Melissa frowned.

The pressure that had grasped all the energy was still there, just barely on this side of that extra dimensional direction, if Weston was right. It seemed tied up in the presence Zhaohui still maintained.

I hadn't done this in a while, but neither had the alien actually openly offered a word to ask back. I cycled my energy out of my body, overflowing heavily as I focused on repeating that one word back at him. Focusing on what I knew of my energy, and the energy around us. "What energy?"

Melissa gave me a quizzical look.

I frowned. I was missing something. I'd used multiple times the energy I'd had to ask this time than I'd had when I had successfully parroted back Initiate's Realm. If anything, it should have been easier.

I focused on a different question, one I'd had a previous answer on. Throwing all the energy I could overflow from my breakthrough, pulling absolutely everything I could. "What is the Initiate's Realm?"

And still I was missing something. I scowled. "What is the strength of the world's soul?"

Something seemed to shiver through Zhaohui's presence, coming in from that direction before I felt the answer. So he was still answering, at least.

Your world's soul has completed its own cycle, though it remains imbalanced. I shall no longer cycle your world's [energy] for you.

It shivered and echoed through my own energy, causing my chest to actually hurt a bit. Where my second breakthrough was. The breakthrough that had happened yelling back at the alien, months ago. It had seemed to heal and deepen from being as shallow as it originally was, but...

This time, instead of pulling deeply on the greatest energy output I could, I instead pulled from the small overflow that was coming from that breakthrough specifically. It seemed to spill from my grip in that same other direction even as I directed it in the manner I could actually use. "What ẽ̵̼n̴͉̒e̵̦͘r̶͔̔ğ̴͎y̴͝ͅ?"

Every one of my breakthroughs suddenly seemed to constrict as if I'd choked and all of them higher than my second started to trickle backwards into it, cutting off the normal backflow to my dantian.

Blackness coalesced from that pressure and built a form I'd only seen in a video. "Oh shit." I breathed out painfully and Melissa looked at me, then towards the figure that had appeared. Her eyes widened and she jumped forward to put her own body between me and the alien.

"You would harm the balance of your body asking questions you do not need answers of." He didn't truly speak, but the sounds he made were backed by an overwhelming power that became understanding as it thundered across me.

My breakthroughs seemed to scream in protest as energy tried to cycle within me, but still flowed out my second breakthrough heavier than it should, very little making it to the next breakthrough. The energy that resided in my eighth breakthrough was slowly lessening as it flowed down the split to the lower points.

And then the flow of my energy stopped all together as something crashed against me, freezing my energy from flowing at all. "You may fail or succeed to repair your body and soul afterwards. Instead of receiving answers from this one, you will instead indulge one's curiosity."

I barely grabbed onto Melissa's shoulder as all my strength left me in one moment. She caught me, and I felt for the first time in months real pain as I was squeezed too hard. I cried out and Melissa let go as I fell to the couch.

"What did you do to her?!" Melissa screamed, seemingly torn between staying between us and just flat out attacking.

"This one will let you continue to bleed your soul through your body if you would like, Initiate." Zhaohui's 'voice' seemed almost amused, yet it didn't hurt me anymore to hear it.

I couldn't cycle. Probably for the best if I'd done something to myself, but the alien was the only one stopping me from hurting maybe? "What's...your questions?" I coughed out, still in phantom pain. I could still feel the pathways of my energy frozen and constricted. It was more than the pain of using everything up like I'd done before, instead a maddening sensation of nothingness pressing from senses I had already become used to feeling through.

"You created interest in yourself when you opened a [meridian/breakthrough] with your soul to speak, and then further when you offered of yourself to others in awakening. It is unfortunate to see you failed in continuing that path, and now attempt its vestige." Zhaohui's statement shook, and somehow one of the words seemed to overlap each other. I failed a path?

"One sees your world and still sees your hand guiding the multitude, even those who do not need you to define a path for them. Yet you obviously have not the strength of soul to reach to others nor have your disciples made it around your world to instruct. And those who you personally awakened," the air in front of him flickered, showing my parents, Brent, and Mike before fading again, "are not enforced upon your path either. One is curious as to your method of providing orthodoxy." His not voice asked.

"Orthodoxy?" Melissa asked even as she stepped backwards to continue covering me. I felt like an invalid, trying to grasp something I didn't have anymore. "Isn't that a church thing?" The alien didn't respond.

I wasn't providing religion, I was-Oh. "You want to know how we're providing training to everyone? Do you even know what the internet is?"

"This one would not need their curiosity sated if so."

I fell back against the couch cushions, still not certain this was even happening. If it wasn't for the pain I already felt, I'd assume I'd fallen asleep and was dreaming. I ached.

"This." Melissa grabbed my tablet from the couch, staring at me before waving the tablet at the alien. "Anything you put on one of these, we can make available to anyone else in the world." Worry lined Melissa's face as she looked back at me again.

"A secret tome?" Zhaohui focused on it. "It has no [qi/energy], a mortal creation?"

I could vaguely feel a sense of pressure, next to nothing compared to what was already freezing my energy, but it floored Melissa, making her fall down at my feet.

"And it does not respond to demands. One is impressed with those who shall serve in this Lei Zhaohui's ranks." The alien stated then turned his consideration on me. "If you swear to this Lei Zhaohui now, this one will realign your soul and body in return."

Even with all my energy suppressed, even knowing I'd probably badly screwed myself over, I still shook my head. "No." I grit out, trying futilely to push back against the pressure now.

The alien vanished. And whatever pressure he had been holding against me vanished as well and my senses roared back along with the pain of my breakthroughs beginning to run in reverse.

"What the fuck?" Melissa asked as she staggered back to her feet, before realizing. "How do I help, what do I do?"

I shook my head again. My energy was flowing out of my breakthrough, one much lower that my maximum now. Was the damn alien taunting me with what I'd done to myself?

A fair bit of the energy had flowed out of my eighth breakthrough now and I could feel the edges of my energy now pulling back from that direction. Directions.

"Nicole? Nicole, do I call 911?" Melissa asked.

"No. They can't. Fix this." And I had a bad feeling that my breakthrough unravelling would be bad in general too.

It seemed like playing tug of war with broken arms as I grasped the energy still overflowing from that breakthrough. Energy fought itself, built up momentum wanting to continue to push even as I held the path it took closed, pushing it once more in the path it should be taking. Against the flow of energy falling back down from the higher breakthroughs.

Six higher breakthroughs trying to shove back down towards two smaller breakthroughs and the only thing even barely helping was my dantian was still cycling power upwards. But it felt like a stalemate, again two flows of energy pushing against each other. But I only truly had control of one this time.

"Not enough...energy." I managed to get out, still with my eyes closed and focusing. How long could I keep pushing it back before the breakthroughs actually fell without any energy in them?

A crack like shattering glass and I felt energy bloom against my face before quickly fading. Then again, and again as something fell on my skin. "Pull it in Nicole! I know you don't use external energy, but fucking pull it in!"

Another shattering crack and this time I gave slightly, enough to grab and pull in the energy as I breathed in. A few more and my energy had built up enough coming from my dantian to shift the contesting energies upwards into my third breakthrough.

From there it was a winnable fight, Melissa timing geodes to my breaths as I fought and built momentum back. By the time I broached my eighth breakthrough again though, everything felt thin and weak. The flows of energy within me cycled almost listlessly.

I opened my eyes again, realizing I was half covered in shattered crystal.

"You OK?" Melissa asked, and I sat up.

"Maybe, but only thanks to you." I leaned forward and hugged her, receiving a very light hug back. "Without those geodes I don't think I would have had enough to push it back again."

Melissa's hug grew stronger, but it didn't hurt. I held on for a moment before pushing back. "I don't know if I really fixed it though."

She sat back, staring at me for a moment. "You still feel stronger than me. And not seven breakthroughs stronger."

"I don't know." I looked at my hands, carefully cycled, then closed them in a tight squeeze. Energy flowed and overflowed. It didn't feel like nearly enough.