Todd has to admit, he’s feeling a little cramped. He sits back, with the wall pressed behind him and his legs folded up beneath him. Joe lounges, leaned back up against the bed behind, and with Todd’s cultivation manual in his hand. Randall, taking up an unfortunately large space, has his eyes closed as he breathes in even, mesmerized cycles.

“So it’s like plumbing,” Joe asserts.

“Or a circuit board.” Todd offers.

Joe furrows his brow, and Todd can almost sense the tiny spark of Cosmic energy which the taller man uses to connect with the manual. “Circuits aren’t three dimensional, Drips.”

“That’s… I mean they can be,” Todd stops as Joe gives him a look. “But yea you’re right. You’re right.”

At its most basic level, the root of the Limited Promise Cultivation technique is nothing more complicated than directing the flow of Cosmic Energy and making a figure-eight on the inside of the body. Loop the energy out into the arm, the leg, whatever, loop it back. The complicated bit is that a single loop is neither efficient, nor extensive enough to infuse the body well. A person has two arms, to legs, a head, after all; so the second step of the technique is learning to maintain five loops at once. Precision is critical: that current of energy must flow evenly and orderly through the whole body, or else eddies in that energy will swirl out of control.

“This is hard,” Randall grouses.

Todd rolls his head like it’s a matter of shaking sympathy out of his ears. “You gotta figure this out if you’re gonna tackle the advanced steps later,” he insists.

“Which is what the lines are for?” Joe asks.

“Your foundation channels,” Todd confirms. “You’ll see more about them the further you get into the crystal, but just think about it as an extension of step two.” Todd places his right index finger on his left shoulder and then traces it down to his left wrist. “Five loops, one per limb – or head or whatever.” Then he slides his finger down further, so that the tips of his index fingers meet. “But you’ve also got fingers, so split out each arm loop five times, and toes so that’s another ten.” He touches his cheeks under his eyes with his middle and index finger split. “Two eyes, and a mouth. And then everything’s got smaller parts all up inside you.”

“Uh huh.”

“It starts to add up.”

Joe considers that a moment. “Okay, so why do I need a different energy highway for my pinky finger and my ring finger.”

Todd shrugs. “Part of it’s about fine control. I think. Part of it’s like, you want to put down the biggest branches first, and then it’s easier to fill in the little branches later.”

Humming an approval, Joe touches his stomach, then traces a line up his shoulder, down his arm and to his finger. He looks up questioningly.

“Yea, but you can’t just draw a line. It’s following something.”

“Like an artery.”

“I don’t think so. And I don’t think it’s a nerve either. I think it’s something else.”

“Huh. And how many are there?”

Todd winces a bit. “Seventy five. I think.” He rubs his nose. “Finding each of them is… I mean it’s almost more of a state of mind than like, a map or – a topography, you know? You got to get yourself to that, I don’t have a better word, but like, resonance.”

“I don’t have to do all that, do I?” Randall peeks open one eye.

“I think most people don’t really get that far,” Todd admits. “The Limitless stuff is all just for laying the groundwork for something else.”

“Which is?”

“Beats me. I’m kind of overloaded with new stuff, that’s half of why I invited you guys over.”

“And the other half?” Joe grins, then slowly raises his palm up and taps gently against the bedframe.

Candra is laid face down on the narrow mattress. Her cheek is squashed against it, puckering her lips as her back slowly rises and falls with her breath. Todd is acutely aware of the wet outer gi jacket and pants, splayed out underneath the falling water of the alcove: over-clothing she is distinctly not wearing underneath his bedsheet.

“No, dude. It’s not like that,” Todd says nervously. He makes a point not to notice the round profile of her hip, and the thin fabric draping over it. He refuses to see her hair curling as it spills over her face, tracing the bridge of her nose down to tickle in the hollow beneath her eye. He shakes his head. “Goddammit, man. Why do you have to make this weird?”

Joe snorts, turning towards Randall. “How’s it coming Toast?”

The boys had discovered, to their early disappointment, that Todd’s private room produced only a limited amount of ambient Cosmic Energy. It was more than enough for one lone cultivator, but for two? Or three or four? They had realized right away that they would need to take turns; to focus on technique first, and then go back to their own rooms to put it into practice.

“I’ve got two channels done,” Randall mutters. “But it’s sloppy. I’m getting like, turbulence. My loops feel choppy, and like hot like a sunburn.”

“Probably have got some spillage. Maybe you tried to carve too shallow or too broad.”

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Joe puffs out an aspirated breath. “You mind if I have some…”

Todd fishes through his wicker basket for a wheat lump and tears off a doughy knob of it. “Sure,” he replies, handing it over.

“So if we master this…” Joe bites and chews. It takes him some time to swallow. “Cultivation technique, it actually puts us ahead of the game.”

“I think so. I can’t imagine everybody figures it out so early on.”

Joe makes a sour expression. “While we’re waiting on Toast here, I wanted to see what the rewards look like.”

It’s a good enough distraction, so Todd pulls up his quest menu.

  Active Quests

1. Staying Off the Menu (I) (COMPLETED): Survive the Redburr Crab swarm for 80 minutes. Reward [F – Greed Satchel], Patch: Legacy { Chosen }, Patch: Order { Skillful }

2. Sword of the Defender (COMPLETED: C): Exterminate Redburr Crab (47) Reward: [F-Class Weapon Raffle Token], [Food Ration Token]x1, [F-Nexus Crystal]x2

3. Skill Mastery (I): Water Spear (5/30) Reward: ₦200, [F-Nexus Crystal: Water]x1, [Skill Treasure: Minor]

4. Shuck and Shell (Easy): Clean, Harvest, and Process monster resources. (0/100) (Timed 06:40:06) Reward: [Scarlet Shell Armor], [F-Nexus Crystal]x3, [F-Apothecary’s Primer Manual]

Two of the quests have fallen off his list. The latter one, presumably because Drew had claimed it. The former one had been a success, but it hadn’t any direct rewards, so it likely closed out automatically.

“Okay, let’s see what this looks like.” Holding his hands out in front of him, Todd claims his first reward. The [F - Greed Satchel] appears in thin air in front of him, falling into his waiting grasp. Inspecting the bag approvingly, Todd turns the leather satchel over. Its long strap is adjustable by means of a pair of iron hoops, through which the strap is threaded back on itself. It looks like the thing is meant to be worn over the shoulder and hang down to the waist; wider than it is deep or tall, so that it might fit snugly against the body. A single flap closes over it, secured with a metal clasp.

“Yea?” Joe encourages.

“It’s pretty nice. Real soft.” Todd lifts it so that the light catches the embroidered monograph which decorates the flap. G, it says. He pinches the clasp on either side and it releases with a plinking noise, then dropping the bag into his lap, he draws the flap back.

“What, what’s up. You’re making a face,” Joe asks warily.

Todd presses his hand against the inner wall of the bag, shoving his arm in deeper and running it all the way around the inside surface in disbelief. “It’s bigger on the inside,” he says. Then he lifts his head and breaks out into a beaming grin. “It’s bigger on the inside! This is crazy!”

Joe leans over, and Todd tips the open bag towards him. Sure enough, the wide bowl of the inner volume is four or five times larger than could possibly fit in the space the bag occupies. If Todd couldn’t feel the very real cloth patches inside, he’d say it reminded him of an optical illusion or a hologram in a curved mirror.

Joe makes the symbol of two thumbs up. “Okay, that’s very cool.”

Todd upends the back, spilling the two patches onto the reed floor-mat. Then he claims the rest of his rewards, and they clink to the floor with a crystal ringing. None of these rewards are particularly large. The meal chit is nothing more than a wooden toggle, carved with an intricate geometric symbol. Todd places it to the side. The weapon chit appears similar, but is shaped more like a silvery coin; it goes with the other one. The nexus crystals are more interesting, appearing as two oblong quartz stones about the size of a pinky fingernail. They are illuminated from within by a dim phosphorescence.

“I guess it doesn’t seem like a lot, huh?”

“Maybe, but those crystals are supposed to be pretty valuable. Aefore was talking them up, as an incentive earlier. You know, be good and kick butt and you’ll be knee deep in nexus crystals.”

“Gotcha,” Todd replies. He picks up the crystals, the patches and tokens and puts them into the satchel. After a moment of thought, he reaches back behind him and finds his wooden armor and mercury rod, then carefully fits them into the bag as well. “That’s crazy. It doesn’t even feel all that heavy.” Reverently, Todd hefts the bag up and down with the strap.

“Feeling jealous,” Joe grins. “I even know I get my own too. Still feeling that envy.”

“I get that stuff too?” Randall implores them.

Joe waves his hand in a sort of ‘do you even need to ask’ gesture. He tosses the cultivation manual back to Todd, then stretches his legs out and assumes an upright lotus position. “I am taking that as a sign that you are taking a break, and it’s my turn to Cultivate,” he asserts as he closes his eyes.

Randall seems less upset about being interrupted as Todd helps him collect his quest rewards, gathering up his possessions into his very own [Greed Satchel]. As he does, he removes one of the patches and slaps it against a clean space on the front of his gi. The patch reacts like it’s got living root tendrils of thread, knitting itself fused with the garment.

“I like it,” Todd admires. The Legacy patch has its namesake text in a traditional, decorative but stiff typography. However, it’s bordered in a bold, playful design that evokes a dynamic feel: like the large blocky panel colors of a superhero comic.

As they sit, the two friends chat quietly and at length. It’s funny, Randall seems to be so traumatized during the event, and so enthusiastic after. Todd feels like he’s the opposite. Now that they’ve all survived, he can’t help but dwell on how close they might have come to not.

But it helps that he’s here with his friends.

As the evening turns to night (presumably), the three young men rotate Cultivation and trade pointers. Until finally, Candra stirs. She wraps herself up in the sheet, and sits down on the floor next to Todd.

She immediately dives into the advanced resonance exercises, eager to make up for lost time and challenging Todd on the finer points of his channel work. As the room lights begin to dim, they outpace the other two Cultivators and argue in hushed voices about breathing technique until Randall and Joe grab the spare sheet and fall asleep, sprawled across the floor in protest.