As Chris, Greg, and Thomas appeared in his room, Andrew got his first good look at them using his aura sense. "Wow… the two of you really don't have cores. Or aura!" He muttered, looking between Chris and Greg. "I didn't think that was even possible."

Greg blinked at him. "So we're just going to gloss over the fact you're a hot elf chick, huh?"

Andrew flushed. "I don't exactly have a choice here." He grumbled. "This is the only form I have that wouldn't get me killed on sight walking down the street."

"I get that, I really do, but… why are you wearing a crop top and booty shorts?" Thomas asked, looking genuinely confused. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just strikes me as an odd choice for someone who isn't comfortable being a woman. Even as Victoria, I usually opt for loose pants and a t-shirt."

Andrew sighed in exasperation. "Anytime I try to pick out clothes better than skinny jeans and a tight t-shirt, Quinn and Alana- well, they make it clear they're disappointed. So given my options, this is what feels best."

"Why would you care if they're disappointed?" Chris frowned.

"Because they're my friends?" Andrew replied, giving him a weird look.

"No, I'm actually with Chris on this one." Thomas muttered. "Why would you wear clothes that make you uncomfortable just to make other people happy?"

"Cause it isn't that big a deal?" Andrew shrugged. "These clothes don't bother me that much and if it makes the people I care about a little bit happier, why not do it? Besides, the bigger issue is the form, not the clothes. I'd be uncomfortable no matter what I wore."

"Alright, I know I started this, but three dudes judging how a woman dresses seems to cross some sort of line, and I think we should just move on." Greg interjected. "You were talking about our auras?"

"Well, the lack thereof." Andrew nodded, glad for the change of subject. "Both you and Chris essentially don't exist according to my aura sight."

"Actually, you aren't there in my energy vision either." Thomas added with a frown. "In the other World, at least."

"How about now?" Greg asked as something shifted and suddenly a core popped into existence inside him.

"Okay, that is freaky." Andrew muttered.

"I don't have my point vision here, you'd need to do it in the other World for me to tell." Thomas shook his head.

Greg frowned at him. "I did?"

Thomas paused, frowning for a moment. "Huh… okay, yeah, your body is there but… your brain isn't working?" He turned to Andrew. "Actually, neither is yours… and of course Chris too."

"Our brains aren't working?!?" Andrew asked incredulously. What did that even mean?!?

"Well… I mean, functionally they probably are, but… huh. Actually this might be something we all have in common. People's brains, or at least the energy that exists where their brains do, give off these… sparks. Everyone does, as far as I can tell, except… us. Our brains are just dark, even mine." Thomas explained.

"That- doesn't sound good." Andrew muttered with a frown.

"Well, it hasn't seemed to hurt me so far, so it isn't bad." Thomas shrugged. "Like, if you were living just fine, and suddenly found out you were missing half your brain, it wouldn't really change much, now would it? It's interesting, but it isn't that big a deal."

"But what if we aren't fine!" Andrew protested. "What if these sparks are integral to some aspect of being a person and we're just missing it!?! Like we're colorblind and can't even tell!"

"Eh?" Chris shrugged. "It doesn't feel like I'm missing anything vital."

Greg and Thomas blinked at Chris for a moment, before turning back to Andrew. "Okay, yeah, this might be a bigger deal than I thought." Thomas coughed.

"We aren't as bad as Chris though, are we?" Greg frowned.

"I could be like color blindness. Some people just have a hard time telling the difference between green and red, others see everything in shades of gray." Andrew replied with a serious expression.

"Guys…" Chris protested weakly. He wasn't that bad, was he?

"I'll have to study this more." Thomas muttered. "Examine what the sparks do in normal people. Then maybe I can see what they aren't doing for us."

The four of them suddenly froze. "Shit, we're going to have language barrier issues here too, aren't we?" Greg cursed.

"Yeah, and I can't even help you learn it, because I can't actually speak it." Andrew frowned. "I have a trait that automatically translates for me." He paused. "I can teach you how to read and write though."

"Well, the system-" Thomas began. "Eh, what my other self said. Again, it doesn't help you though." He gestured to Chris.

"If-" He paused. "What he said." Referring to his other self in Thomas's World. Chris turned to Andrew. "You know anyone I could connect to my World? Maybe this Quinn or Alana?"

Andrew frowned. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that-" He paused, before letting out a sigh. "Let's just let our other selves have this argument for a moment. That way we aren't repeating ourselves."

"Fair." Chris agreed with a shrug.

"Is there any way we could get this translation trait?" Greg asked in the meantime. "I can do something similar with an implant, but it's kinda janky. Like using translation software, you know? Which… well, is essentially what it's doing, I suppose."

Andrew frowned. "The trait is tied to my race… my elf form, actually. If you could copy my form, maybe you'd get the trait too? Though I'm not sure how I feel about you running around looking exactly like me."

"Don't worry, I can handle that." Greg assured him. "Can I get some hair?"

Andrew shrugged, plucking a hair and handing it over. Greg dissolved it using some smoke, before turning into a copy of Andrew, then slowly adjusting his features back towards his original appearance, until he looked like an elf version of himself. Then his form solidified again, a core popped into being, and Andrew had an idea. "Hey… could I- would you mind if I stole one of your cores?" He asked. "I mean, you kinda make them like they're nothing, and I could use a male form in this World."

"Wouldn't that have the same issue of us looking like each other?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I was thinking you could adjust the appearance to look more like me…" Andrew explained.

Greg paused to consider it for a moment. "I think that'd be okay? Just- well, let me gather enough smoke for a second body, just in case." He still wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of Andrew fucking with his cores. He didn't want to die because he didn't have a backup. "Now, how do I tell if I have this trait?"

"There should be a tab- oh, you'll need to activate the system first." Andrew explained. "Just- uh, focus on actively performing a task, like observing someone or walking. Not just doing it, but doing it with an intent to improve or to be aware of how you're doing it."

Thomas reached out and smacked Chris upside the head. "Hey!" Chris protested.

"You started it!" Thomas retorted. "Plus, it worked. I got the Swing skill."

"You deserved it!" Chris growled, reaching out to smack Thomas in return.

"Yeah, yeah, but that still doesn't mean you should get to hit me!" Thomas protested as he dodged.

Then Greg smacked him upside the head. "You are an idiot. And hey, I did get the trait! Convenient, though it does sort of make me feel like a hippie."

Chris turned to Andrew. "So, now that that's settled, you think Quinn or Alana would be willing to connect with my world?"

Andrew frowned. "I dunno… Jade seems pretty attached to you after that. Are you sure there isn't some sort of brainwashing going on?"

Chris hesitated. "I don't think so… the shift did seem a bit sudden though. However, she also essentially got an entire different life shoved into her head, so that's a factor as well. The shift doesn't actually seem so bad if you consider that. Why wouldn't you be close with someone you knew so well?"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Andrew hesitated for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head. "Okay, you can ask Quinn. Not Alana though. She doesn't need to be a part of all this." He wasn't going to make her deal with the world shaking implications of who and what they were just so Chris could learn a language. He had to tell Quinn because she was responsible for him, and she was already dealing with some pretty big secrets because of him, but Alana was just a friend.

"I'm going to need some points." Thomas muttered. He'd started studying this new system, and he'd found it was surprisingly easy to merge with his current one. The stats cost a single point to raise, just like his other system, he could buy a skill point for ten points, and he could even increase the level of his skills for one point per level, though just like with his other system, he could only put so many points in before it stopped accepting them. Even better, he only needed to spend a point to increase his level! Though he had a feeling it would get more expensive as his level increased. However, what he was really looking forward to checking out were these traits, pre-packaged abilities much like what Rune Beasts had in his World. If he could find a way to copy them with his system and take them to other Worlds… Well, the possibilities were endless.

"There's a gym nearby we can use." Andrew replied. "You want to see if you can turn into an elf as well?"

"I was actually going to see if I could just buy the trait." Thomas explained. "My system merges with this one rather nicely, so as long as it's aware of the trait, I believe I could buy it using points… Honestly, I'm beginning to think my system is a bit of a cheat in this World. Did you know that one point is equal to one attribute? As in, you could raise your attributes by twenty to thirty points a day, just by keeping up with your daily tasks!"

Andrew's eyes widened. "Seriously? That's- wow."

"Isn't your system just a cheat in general though?" Greg pointed out. "Most of these Worlds have a standard method for gaining power, but your system substitutes it with its own method to get around that. So instead of cultivating or eating high-energy food or leveling or whatever you have to do in Chris's World, you just spend points."

"Sort of an 'I reject your reality and substitute my own' type thing." Chris nodded in agreement. "Which is why I have issues because I am my own reality… so I can't accept yours. Maybe." He narrowed his eyes in thought. "No… it's that you can't affect my reality, because this body has nothing to do with it. My reality…" He opened a portal to his world. "Is in there." He turned to Thomas. "Do you think you could try giving the system to my world, instead of me?"

"I guess?" Thomas frowned. He wasn't sure how though… Usually he had to touch people to give them the system, but how could he touch a world? Just put his hand in? He placed a hand through the portal and tried willing the system over. He felt something happen, but there wasn't any awareness of a new system user, so he wasn't sure. "Anything?" He asked, turning to Chris.

Chris was frowning while staring off into space. "Well… it did something." He muttered. "It sort of feels like my World just got a new set of rules. I'm just not sure what they are… and I don't seem to have a system either." He frowned.

"Huh… weird." Thomas shrugged, before turning to the others. "Shall we head to the gym then?"

*

It turned out Thomas could buy the One with Nature trait, it was just a little expensive at a whopping sixty point total, more than he could make with a few daily tasks. Thankfully Andrew and Greg were more than willing to lend him the difference so he could join the ranks of people who could communicate in this World. In return, he gave them the points they needed to buy the trait in his World, though he had to strip the Nature affinity and enhanced healing abilities before it would actually work. It seemed that the system couldn't figure out how to make the Energy related abilities work in a different World, but since the translation was purely mental, it worked just fine. Or maybe there were enough similarities between it and the various Spirit translation techniques he'd encountered that the system had put enough together to make it work. Either way, it worked, and it also reduced the cost to just twenty points.

They then returned to the apartment, where Greg spent some time dissolving water until he had enough smoke to make a second body, which he remolded into an approximation of Andrew. Andrew practically jumped on the core the moment he made it real, yanking it out and pulling it into himself. The moment he did, his other core jumped on it and quickly devoured the new core, startling Andrew, but he breathed a sigh of relief the moment he checked his forms page, seeing the new male form sitting there.

"That was uncomfortable." Greg muttered, turning the now dead body of Andrew's lookalike back into smoke. He'd felt the thing die, and it was more disturbing than he'd thought it would be. Even when his other selves were real, they generally turned back into smoke before they actually died. This time… he'd felt the life just drain out of him.

"Sorry." Andrew coughed, flushing awkwardly. "I got a little excited. But look!" He shifted into his male form. "It worked!"

"Sure did, buddy. Now please change back." Thomas replied in a slightly pleading tone, noticeably avoiding looking down. "Those shorts were not meant for a male form."

Andrew glanced down, before flushing and changing back. "Sorry. I'll have to go buy some new clothes, I guess."

Greg rolled his eyes before tossing him a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, before pausing and tossing him some underwear as well. "There. You're welcome."

Andrew grinned happily, before pausing. "Wait… damn it, I'll need to talk to Quinn first." He sighed. "She's already not going to be happy there's three strangers sitting in her apartment, let alone if we make it four."

Greg shrugged. "Well, at least you have the option now."

"Where is this Quinn anyway?" Chris asked with a frown.

"In a dungeon recording a delve." Andrew replied. "She's a Dungeon Streamer, so she's either gone all day exploring a dungeon or cooped up in her room on her computer. She should be back sometime around dinner though, so maybe an hour or so?"

"Hm." Chris nodded. "How likely do you think it is that she'll accept my offer?"

Andrew frowned. "Hard to say. On the one hand, she has a sort of dangerous job, so the safety net of getting pulled back to your world if anything happens would probably be pretty attractive. However… She seems to have some sort of past and she can be really private, so I'm not sure how she'd feel about you going through her memories. She also seems like she wouldn't like the idea of you- well, anyone having power over her."

Chris's expression twisted slightly. "Are there any other options? It's going to be hard for me to do anything if I can't understand anyone."

Andrew shook his head. "No one I'd feel comfortable bringing into this. If I actually knew the language, I'd say you could use me, but-"

"Fuck!" Thomas suddenly cursed. "Why didn't I think of that?!? I know the fucking language, so why would you need Jade?!?"

Chris blinked. "Huh… can I connect you guys to my world? For some reason I get the impression it wouldn't work. At least, not in the way it usually does."

"Why not?" Greg asked, cocking his head at him.

"Because we're equals." Chris replied with a shrug. "The connection to my world is innately one of inequality. It doesn't make sense to me for you three to be vulnerable to it. I also wouldn't expect Thomas's mental manipulation to have much effect on any of us, or Andrew's core manipulation, though that one's rather obvious for the two of us."

"Is this another one of your feelings, like with the doors?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. But again, it's a good feeling." Chris shrugged.

"Still probably something we should test out." Thomas commented. "Just to make sure."

Chris waved his hand, opening a portal. "Suit yourselves."

Thomas eyed the portal for a moment, before nudging Greg. "Go for it."

"Eh? This was your idea. You do it." Greg retorted, pushing him towards the portal.

"Andrew?" Thomas tried next.

"All you." Andrew shook his head.

Thomas's expression twisted as he eyed the portal again, before letting out a sigh. "Fine." He grumbled, before stepping through the portal.

Chris blinked. "Huh."

"What?" Thomas asked nervously.

"Nothing, I just- well, I own your body now, but… it's kinda like I own an object, not a person." Chris explained. He then turned to Greg. "Want to try next?"

Greg paused, before shrugging. "Sure, why not?" He agreed, stepping through the portal. "Anything?"

Chris frowned. "I think I got your core?" He offered tentatively. "I got something but it isn't your body or energy. Also, no mental connection again."

"My core, huh?" Greg muttered. "Interesting. Do you think you got Thomas's core, too?"

"Probably? I've never separated the three, but it'd make sense." Chris shrugged. "You already own your physical substance, so I can't own it. Thomas owns his energy, so that's off the table as well. I assume for Andrew I'd get his energy and body, but no core." He turned to Andrew. "Feel like testing it to make sure?"

"Eh? I don't think it's necessary." Andrew shrugged. "Your theory makes sense. Plus, if you suddenly yanked my body away, you might send me to a different World again, and I think we have enough on our hands already."

[I'm ho~] The door suddenly opened as Quinn got home, singing out a greeting before freezing as she caught sight of Drew standing next to a portal and a strange, horned man. [No!] She cried in horror, rushing towards Chris. [Stay away from her, you demon!]

"Eh?" Chris turned to her in surprise, before a flying side kick sent him flying across the room and out the window in a crash of glass.

"Quinn, wait, it's fine, they're friends!" Andrew frantically tried to explain as she grabbed him and began carrying him towards the door.

[Don't worry Drew, I'll keep you safe. Whatever mental compulsion-] Quinn began, before freezing as another portal opened across the door and Chris stepped out with a frown.

"That was rude." He chastised her. "And you ruined a perfectly good window."

"Don't worry, I got it." Greg waved, sending some smoke over to the window and fixing it up. "She thinks you're a demon, by the way."

"Why would she-" Chris began.

"Horns." Greg replied.

Chris sighed. "Horns. Right."

Quinn had backed into the kitchen, watching the three of them warily as she pushed Andrew behind her. [Drew, don't worry. I don't know how they managed to get through the spatial defenses, but someone will come to check out the disturbance at any moment. All we need to do is hold them off for a minute or two and we'll be safe.]

"Quinn, listen!" Andrew insisted. "I'm not under any sort of mental compulsion! These are my friends! They're safe! I promise!"

"Dude she's not going to listen to you." Thomas shook his head. "Anything you say to defend us is just proof we mind fucked you."

"Should we just leave for now?" Greg offered. "Let Andrew explain everything and come back when she's calmed down?"

"I suppose." Chris shrugged. "We can hide out in my world for a bit, no problem."

"You good with that Andrew?" Thomas asked.

Andrew sighed. "Yeah, I can handle this. It's probably best if you guys leave for the moment anyway, if the authorities are coming."

"Alright, have fun." Greg waved, and the three of them stepped through the portals which closed behind them, leaving no evidence they were even there.

Quinn blinked, turning to Andrew. "Andrew?"

Andrew let out a weary sigh. "It's complicated."