Goblin Andrew blinked at his status page.

[Restful Deep Meditation: 21]

When had that happened?!? He'd gotten it to nineteen just a few days ago! He didn't expect to get it to twenty until the end of the week, let alone twenty-one! He hadn't even done anything! It was nineteen when he went to bed, then when he woke up and started practicing he'd suddenly gained two levels! Sure, his other self had been using it in school, which he hadn't realized was a possibility, but- Andrew paused, blinking for a moment, before letting out a sigh. Right. Skill level was based on expertise. Since the system was so game like, he'd automatically fallen into an experience based mindset. You practice, gain experience, and level up. But that wasn't how skills worked in this world. Well, it was, because experience in and of itself was a representation of practice, which increased expertise, but the focus was different. You didn't need to practice. You just needed to get better. And since his understanding of how meditation worked had expanded… Did that make him better at it? Well, obviously. According to the system at least. A full two levels better. Yeh.

Still, now that his meditation skill was in order, Andrew was finally ready to create his inner sight skill! It turned out his games with the other kids gave him a significant amount of experience due to his Swift Kick Counter skill, so he'd leveled up earlier than expected. He'd had to stop playing until he could get his meditation and study skills over twenty. "Alright, let's do this." Andrew let out a breath, taking up a meditative posture as he pulled up the system and selected the option to merge Restful Deep Meditation and Concentrated Examination, opening a long list of options. More than he'd expected. It seemed that with four skills involved, there were quite a few ways to combine them. Andrew jumped to the bottom of the list.

[Willful Self Examination - +7 Will, +5 Intellect, +5 Energy, +3 Sensitivity

Intelligent Self Examination - +3 Will, +9 Intellect, +5 Energy, +3 Sensitivity

Energetic Self Examination - +3 Will, +5 Intellect, +9 Energy, +3 Sensitivity

Sensitive Self Examination - +3 Will, +5 Intellect, +5 Energy, +9 Sensitivity

Mindful Self Examination - +5 Will, +7 Intellect, +5 Energy, +3 Sensitivity

Insightful Self Examination - +5 Will, +5 Intellect, +7 Energy, +3 Sensitivity

Deep Self Examination - +5 Will, +5 Intellect, +5 Energy, +5 Sensitivity

Considered Self Examination - +3 Will, +7 Intellect, +7 Energy, +3 Sensitivity

Concentrated Self Examination - +3 Will, +7 Intellect, +5 Energy, +5 Sensitivity

Perceptive Self Examination - +3 Will, +5 Intellect, +7 Energy, +5 Sensitivity

Contemplative Self Examination - +4 Will, +6 Intellect, +6 Energy, +4 Sensitivity]

Andrew frowned as he considered his options. He hadn't expected to have so many choices… he focused first on Contemplative Self Examination. That was the one he'd figured he'd be picking. An extra point to all the involved stats. However… Andrew looked through the list, pausing at Insightful Self Examination. This… it balanced out his Will and Intellect, which was already imbalanced due to being a goblin and steadily getting worse. Even his navigation skill would add to his Intellect, leaving his will even further behind. He glanced at Willful Self Examination, before shaking his head. That would definitely help balance things out, but he didn't think it was worth ignoring all his other stats to do so. Insightful Self Examination seemed like the best bet.

Andrew hesitated for a moment, looking over the list again, just making sure this was what he wanted to do, before taking a deep breath and nodding firmly, selecting Insightful Self Examination. Andrew froze for a moment, before sighing as he relaxed, shaking his head. It almost bothered him how anticlimactic the system was. No flashing lights, no sudden rush of knowledge, just a simple selection and done, you have the skill. Not that he particularly wanted there to be some kind of event every time he gained or merged a skill, it was just… it felt weird to suddenly be more powerful without any real indication of it.

Lack of fanfare aside, Andrew had a new skill, and it was time to get to practicing it. Andrew focused on the skill, feeling the familiar nudges as it guided him, showing him how to actually use the skill, or at least what he was doing wrong, which at this point seemed to be pretty much everything. He'd expected the inner sight skill to be an extension of his meditation, but the moment He'd tried to settle into his meditative state, the skill had practically smacked him over the head to push him out of it! He wasn't supposed to let his mind drift, he needed to be focused. The meditation had made him aware of his body, given him a sense of distance, of perspective. Now he needed to study it.

Andrew paused, before getting up and starting to move. He flexed his hands, shook his legs, twisted and turned, and did a few little hops. "Huh." That was… interesting. Once he'd gotten his inner sight skill going, he realized he didn't really need to maintain it. Just like he didn't need to focus on the teacher to listen to the lesson in school, he didn't need to focus on his body to be aware of it anymore. He simply was. He could see his muscles contracting, his lungs expanding, his heart beating, everything in his body moving about in a synchronized ballet. And he could feel he had… well, not control, but influence. It was simple for the muscles and lungs, obviously. Moving and breathing were things he'd already been aware of. But his heart beat? He couldn't stop it, but he felt he could slow it down or speed it up by influencing a number of minor processes he'd never really been aware of before. It was like… the inner sight didn't give him more control, it just made him aware of everything he could control.

"Trippy." Andrew muttered, shaking his head. This was going to take some getting used to, but he could get to that later. He turned his focus to something else, specifically his Energy. The thing he'd gotten the inner sight skill to see and control. It was… sitting right there with his core. Literally surrounding it, actually. Which he guessed made sense? There wasn't really anywhere else for it to be, right? Except anywhere it wanted, but if it could be anywhere, then why not have it gather around the core? Still, it gave him a weird sense of deja vu, since inspecting his energy using inner sight was a whole lot like inspecting his core using his aura sense. Once he made that connection, the two just sort of clicked together and…

[Insightful Self Examination: 22]

"Huh." Andrew was getting a lot of surprises today. As it turned out, not only was inner sight a lot like his aura sense, controlling his Energy was a lot like controlling his aura as well. He received a General Skill called Energy Control in the mid twenties after a few moments of experimentation, which he decided was confirmation enough that the two worked on similar principles. To be fair, they were both essentially formless substances that he could only control mentally, so the connection between the two made sense.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Speaking of connections… Andrew focused on his core. There was a weird synergy between his aura sense and his inner sight skill. His aura sense obviously didn't grant him inner sight, and his inner sight didn't grant him aura sense, but they both dealt with seeing and influencing things normally unnoticed, so the use of one helped with the use of the other. However, when he used them together- well, they were both passive abilities, so he wasn't technically using them, but when he focused both on his core, he saw it with a clarity he'd never had before. The core contained everything that was him. Or at least, everything that was his goblin self. Studying it gave him an implicit understanding of his physical and mental attributes, including behavioral influences, as well as his connection with the system. Andrew paused at that one. The system was a part of his core, an integral part of how he interacted with the world, just the same as his arms or legs. Andrew found that strange. He'd thought the system was a part of living in this world, but if it was a part of the core…

Andrew turned his attention to the other connection he'd noticed. Well, it wasn't so much a connection as a… gap? Portal? Hole? Point? Whatever it was, it could barely even be said to exist, but through his expanded awareness of his aura due to his inner sight, he'd found it and he sent some aura into it, finding… his other self. "Okay, that's weird." Beast Andrew muttered, shaking his head as he was walking to his next class.

"What is?" Cathryn asked, cocking her head.

"There's a connection between me and… well, me." Andrew explained. "Like, I can reach my aura through and interact with his core, and vice-versa."

Cathryn frowned. "That's… neat? I guess? But what does it do for you?"

"No idea." Andrew shrugged. "I just figured it out. No idea what it means. Though if I had to guess…" His aura ability was all about aura and cores. He used his aura to find and manipulate cores. That's what it was for. So if he could send his aura over, then the most likely explanation was that it was so he could move cores between this world and that one, which… if the system was a part of his goblin core… did that mean he'd be able to use the system in Beast world? It was likely, yeah? If you thought of the system as the goblin's ability, then he'd already proven that having the core gave him the ability. That's how he got his wind manipulation ability. The question was how the stats of the system world would translate to Beast world… He'd need to experiment with this at some point. With an expendable core. Maybe he'd pick up an ant core again and try to send it over to his goblin self… It was hard to deny the usefulness of flight and a carapace. Yeah, he'd do that once he got back home.

*

Goblin Andrew had to wait about five hours for Beast Andrew to get home, plus however long it took him to find an ant, so he spent the day practicing controlling his Energy and considering his future plans. He had three more levels till his Class Advancement, and he planned to skip a new skill next level in order to rebuy Concentrated Examination at level nine, before combining it with Walk at level ten. Since his Concentrated Examination wasn't likely to get much higher than it already was, he should probably focus on getting his Walk skill as high as possible. He briefly checked his skill list and found it was already in the thirties, so with some dedicated practice, along with his new inner sight which gave him a much better idea of what his body was actually doing, he could probably get the skill to a decent level before the merge. He'd at least get it to forty, if not sixty.

Thinking of the benefits of inner sight, he wondered why everyone didn't take it. The Shaman already extolled the wonders of magic, plus the fact that simply being aware of your body would be huge for helping you improve your skills, inner sight was almost a necessity if you wanted any form of power. He'd performed a few kicks using Swift Kick Counter and immediately gained a level, simply because he was more aware of how he was kicking! He didn't care how hard it was to get, everyone needed an inner sight skill. He'd need to make sure Corek and Vinek knew, at least for their next Class Advancement, if not this one.

Back on Earth, Beast Andrew was starting to agree. It hadn't happened quickly, but as goblin Andrew got used to his inner sight, the skill had slowly bled over to him as well. He hadn't thought much of it at first, until he'd noticed the strange energy around his cores. It didn't take long before he realized it was his ability energy. He also learned that it could be controlled, much like Energy and aura could, though he wasn't sure what use there was for it. Ability energy just gave people the ability to, well, use an ability. You could also use it to power an enchantment, but that didn't really take any skill… still, it was neat, but that wasn't why he appreciated the skill. No, what he appreciated was the increased control over certain parts of his anatomy during gym class… tight clothing was great for exercising, but not so much for a young man's imagination. He may need to ask Cathryn and Li Jing to put those on again tonight…

Anyway, the day passed and the three of them headed back home, none the worse for wear. Their first day had been… eh? No one seemed to know what to think of them yet, beyond the fact that they seemed to be pretty close. Andrew had heard more than a few people discussing which of the girls he was dating, most of them betting it was Cathryn. He wasn't all that surprised, given that he and Cathryn were generally more… touchy? Than Li Jing and him. Well, they both were touchy, they just went about it differently. Cathryn was more likely to hold his hand or lean on his shoulder, while he and Li Jing were more likely to get into a poking battle or tickle fight. Which was kinda weird, since Cathryn was the one who he argued with all the time, while Li Jing preferred companionable silence. Maybe it was just about different ways of teasing and playing with each other? Cathryn was more mental while Li Jing was more physical. Cathryn wanted you to talk to her, while Li Jing wanted you to play with her. And Andrew… Well, he liked both.

Honestly, with five cores stuffed inside him, Andrew could express himself in pretty much any way he wanted. Which… was one of the reasons he hadn't pushed to do more experimenting with his aura ability. He knew his cores affected his personality. He used that fact to his advantage on a daily basis. However, if he could give each core its own body, then it made sense to split up as much as possible, letting his various selves hunt as much as they could. However… What would that mean for his personality? He only had one human core. Could his human core maintain the relationship with Cathryn and Li Jing without the support of the other cores? He really didn't know, and he was honestly a little scared to find out.

Andrew shook himself from his thoughts as they arrived back home, Cathryn briefly stopping him to give him a hug and a quick kiss before he rushed off to find an ant. Andrew smiled as he wandered around the woods, focusing on his aura. That was the nice thing about having someone who loved you in your head. They knew when you were dealing with something and were always there to help. When he and Cathryn had Bonded, he'd been sure it'd be nothing but trouble, but he honestly wasn't sure where he'd be without it now.

*A lonely loner doing lonely loner things.* Cathryn teased through their connection.

*Hey, I did already have Li Jing, you know. I wouldn't have been lonely.* Andrew shot back.

*But still a loner?* Cathryn replied.

*Oh, definitely. I could have absolutely convinced Jing people aren't worth it and we could have spent all our time alone together! Maybe we'd already have a kid on the way.* Andrew chuckled.

*I think we're stretching the definition of loner at this point.* Cathryn rolled her eyes.

*To be fair, I start as a five in one package, so I don't think I'll ever qualify as a true loner.* Andrew pointed out.

*Truly a party of one.* Cathryn snickered. *But seriously, you know Jing is more dedicated to getting you a social life than I am, right?*

*Yeah, I am.* Andrew replied. *But the truth didn't fit my joke, so I changed it.*

Cathryn snorted. *You're ridiculous. Don't spend too much time out there, okay?*

*Yeah, I'll be back soon.* Andrew smiled. *Give Jing a kiss for me.*

Ants weren't terribly hard to find, so it only took Andrew another ten minutes or so to find an ant hill and take the core of another winged one before heading back. He walked in the door and froze as he found his girlfriends locked in a tight embrace, swapping saliva. Cathryn looked up with a smirk and a wink. "You said to give her a kiss."