"I'm sorry to push you like this, but we're going to be leaving soon, so I need your decision. Are you guys coming with us or not?" Tessa asked point blank, looking between the members of the hero's party.

"I think we should." Jennifer immediately proposed, turning to the others. "They have resources, the ship is way faster than walking, we don't have any concrete direction ourselves, and I'm honestly sick of camping in the middle of nowhere. We'd have real beds!"

Georgia frowned. "I- wouldn't mind joining them either. I don't think it's necessary, but it isn't a bad idea… we could at least try it out for a bit and see."

Travis sighed. "I'm just not sure what the point would be. It isn't like you guys need our help. We'd just be freeloaders."

"It never hurts to have more people to help." Tessa pointed out. "Our methods draw attention to us, and inevitably that attention is going to get us in trouble. We're prepared to handle it, but the more people we have on our side the better."

"You want us to help you kill people?" Sophia sneered.

Tessa shook her head. "We want you to help us defend ourselves. We aren't seeking these people out, we're simply advertising what we have. They are the ones who choose to use violent means to take it." Sophia just grunted bitterly and looked away.

Travis sighed. "Well, despite our disagreements, it's definitely a good idea for us to join you. I still think we aren't doing enough for the reverse to be true, but… well, that's your decision, I suppose."

"Are you sure?" Tessa asked, glancing pointedly at Sophia.

Sophia let out a frustrated sigh. "Yes, we're sure. Even if I disagree with your methods, I do see that you're good people just trying to do your best. I wish that didn't include killing people, but I won't pretend you're evil because of it." She explained, though she still didn't look happy about it.

"I suppose we can work with that." Tessa muttered, before shrugging. "Besides, we never claimed to have all the answers. Maybe you're right and we're taking things too far. But until we find a better solution, this is our only choice."

Sophia grunted in understanding, Travis letting out a relieved sigh and turning to Tessa. "So, this is it? We're just… a part of the crew now?"

"I'm sure Victor and Debbie would love to put you through some hazing rituals, but yeah, this is it." Tessa chuckled, sticking her hand out. "Welcome aboard."

*

"This is bullshit." Chris grumbled as he watched Andrew, Greg, and Victoria do push-ups on the deck. After they'd finished their little meeting, Victoria had given them all the system so they could start earning points, except when she got to Chris, nothing happened.

"Don't be sour." Greg's other self rolled his eyes.

"You aren't even doing your push-ups right." Chris retorted.

"Look, I had a similar issue when I first tried to Awaken." Greg explained. "The smoke doesn't mix with magic, so I had to make my body 'real' for it to work. Maybe you have a similar issue? I know you aren't smoke, but you have that whole 'meat puppet' thing going on, right?"

Chris frowned. "I do… I wouldn't know how to go about changing it though."

"Well, it took about a year of total isolation for me to figure it out." Greg shrugged, before pausing. "Hopefully you don't have to do that."

Chris grunted. "You're still doing your push-ups wrong."

The ship was currently heading to pick up the rest of Greg's friends while the other four they'd picked up got settled in their new rooms. Chris and the other two had rooms as well, but they didn't have any stuff to put in them, so no setup was required. "Ugh, I'm not used to being this weak." Victoria groaned, rolling over on her back after finishing her last push-up. "I can't feel my arms."

Andrew grunted in agreement. He'd had a bit of a brush with weakness when he was reborn as a goblin, and then during the first week or so as an elf, but it still felt weird to him. Feeling sore from doing simple push-ups… Andrew shook his head as he flexed his aura. Thankfully he didn't have to deal with that. "So, we just keep doing these tasks and getting points?"

"Yeah, but don't spend them yet." Victoria warned. "You don't have cultivation in this World, so I'm not sure how spending points to Awaken would even work."

"I can test that out." Greg offered. "If I ruin one body, it's not that big a deal."

"You sure?" Victoria asked.

"Oh, yeah, bodies are nothing to me." Greg waved dismissively. "I can pop them out like that." He snapped his fingers.

"I'd offer myself, but my bodies can't use your system." Chris grumbled.

Victoria rolled her eyes at him, before turning to Greg. "You need ten points to Awaken. It says it still works, but I'm not sure if that means it'll be my version of Awakening or yours."

"Gotcha." Greg nodded, rolling over onto his back and starting to do sit-ups. "Just need to complete a few more tasks." He paused mid sit-up. "Wow… I suddenly feel like a self aware video game character."

Victoria snorted. "Tell me about it. But existentialism is bullshit, so get over it."

"Ha! Fair." Greg laughed, before continuing his sit-ups.

"What are they doing?" Georgia asked, stopping next to Chris.

"Tasks." He replied simply.

"Tasks?" She frowned.

"Just some friendly competition." Greg interjected, shooting Chris a warning look. "You want to join? The record is forty-four push-ups in ten seconds, and we're on to sit-ups."

She frowned. "Who's timing? Do you have a clock?"

"I have an absolute sense of time." Chris replied.

"Which is why he isn't competing." Greg added.

"Uh-huh…" Georgia nodded. "I'm good."

Greg shrugged. "Suit yourself."

They watched for a moment as Greg's other self rapidly performed sit-ups at quadruple the rate of the other two. "This- doesn't seem like a fair competition." Georgia commented with a frown.

"Life isn't fair." Chris replied. "Besides, they'll get better. Victoria has already increased her speed by twelve percent."

Georgia blinked. "How can you tell?"

"I have an absolute sense of time." Chris repeated.

"Ah, right. Because you're the foundation of the Multiverse." Georgia nodded.

"A manifestation of the structural foundation." Chris corrected. "And it probably has something to do with that, yes." Greg elbowed him. "What? I already told her that part."

"You aren't- you're not actually serious about that, are you?" Georgia asked hesitantly.

Chris paused. "Do I look serious?"

"Very." Georgia nodded.

"Huh. Interesting." Chris muttered, before turning back to watch the others.

Georgia blinked. What the hell was that supposed to mean?!? He had to be fucking with her! "You must think you're so funny." She growled.

"Not particularly, but as long as you're amused." Chris shrugged.

"I'm not amused at all!" Georgia protested.

"Ah, pity." Chris sighed.

"Urgh!" Georgia grunted in frustration, turning and stomping off.

Chris glanced at her as she left, before turning to Greg. "Better?"

"I honestly think she might stab you, but I don't think she's worried about you being some kind of Multiversal monster anymore." Greg replied, suppressing a chuckle.

"Good enough." Chris shrugged.

"Good timing too." Greg added. "We're here."

"Let's go get them then." Chris replied. "I want to talk with this Narita."

*

Greg had warned everyone they were coming, so they were all ready and waiting by the time they arrived, stepping onto the ship the moment Greg opened the side up. "Finally!" Debbie exclaimed as she rushed on board. "I'm never staying behind again!"

"What, you didn't enjoy game night, every night?" Carlos asked with a chuckle.

"Maybe if you didn't cheat all the time." Debbie grumbled.

"It's called bluffing, and it isn't cheating." Carlos retorted.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I see we've picked up some guests." Narita commented as she caught sight of Travis and the rest, frowning as she got to Andrew, Chris, and Victoria. "Strange guests." She muttered.

"We can talk about that later." Greg interjected, giving her a look. "Let's get everyone settled and on our way."

Greg had changed up the ship a bit, so there was some confusion as to where everyone was supposed to go, but Greg managed to get everyone settled and they were shortly on their way. Then Greg, Narita, Chris, Victoria, and Andrew gathered together in the lower sitting room. "Okay, so… There have been some developments." Greg began.

"I can see that." Narita commented. "These two were born this morning, while this one doesn't technically exist." She gestured to Andrew and Victoria, then Chris. "If you're trying to prank me with your clones…"

"No prank." Greg shook his head. "I- well, see, Chris woke up in this room, and we were all there, sort of trapped, so he started waking us up, we found out we were connected, we found out we could use that connection, I brought them here… that didn't actually fix the problem though. We actually just had to go back to sleep, so the whole thing was kinda unnecessary."

Narita blinked. "What?"

Greg frowned. "There's this room- I'm just going to repeat myself here." Greg sighed, turning to the others. "One of you want to try?"

"We appear to be manifestations-" Chris began.

"I don't like that word." Victoria interjected. "Can we call ourselves avatars?"

Chris frowned at her. "Fine, avatars of the foundational-"

"I wouldn't say they're foundational." Andrew muttered. "They're everything. The ingredients… building blocks?"

Chris sighed. "Avatars of the building blocks of… creation?" The others shrugged and nodded in agreement. "Why we're connected, we don't know, but we are. There doesn't seem to be a real reason for it. But inevitably, because we are, we're here."

"You're what?" Narita asked, still looking very confused.

"You know how Greg is made of-" Victoria paused. "Well, everyone is made of physical substance, but Greg seems to take it a step further, doesn't he?" Narita nodded slowly, wondering what she was getting at. "Well, I'm made of magical substance in a similar way. Andrew is made of aura, and Chris is a World. Smoke person, energy person, aura person, World person."

"Okay, let's back up." Narita pinched the bridge of her nose. "Where is this room?"

"Who knows?" Chris shrugged.

"We didn't have any access to our abilities inside it, and time was practically frozen." Greg explained.

"A controlled space…" Narita muttered. "Are you all fragments of this World's god? That happens every now and then. Lost gods running around… usually turns into a chaotic mess, but if you can cooperate… Of course, only one of you could connect with the Core, unless you somehow merge, but then you wouldn't be you." She paused. "Though you would be rather powerful. But that's common among story based Immortals. Weak Worlds, powerful abilities."

"I- think you're misunderstanding something." Greg replied hesitantly. "They aren't from this World."

Narita raised an eyebrow at him. "And why would you say that? You know, Worlds can be surprisingly diverse. You never know how many ideas contributed to their formation, stories similar enough that they're attracted to each other. Different universes, one with advanced technology while the other still struggles with stone spears and clubs, one with aliens, the other with elves and goblins, but still part of the same World."

Greg blinked. "But-" He remembered the bundles of connections they'd seen. He'd been sure they led to different Worlds… "Huh."

"How different can the different sections of a World be?" Victoria asked, leaning forward. "Because magic isn't a thing in my World. We deal with Cultivation."

"Different words for the same thing." Narita waved her hand dismissively. "Cultivation, magic, abilities, powers, the names are interchangeable but the effect is the same. How does your system work?"

"Well, we Awaken and then we assimilate Runes, which we meditate on to form and fill our cores. There's three types, Spirit, Essence, and Qi, and-" Victoria began to explain.

"Stop!" Narita exclaimed, looking pale. "That- you-" She turned to Greg. "How the fuck did you drag someone here from a different World?!?"

"We're connected?" Greg offered with a shrug.

"Not across Worlds you aren't!" Narita snapped. "That's- you can't do that!"

"Technically we've done it three times." Chris commented.

"We're doing it now." Andrew added. "I'm still in two other Worlds."

"Two?!?" Narita asked incredulously.

"I call them Beast World and System World." Andrew replied.

Narita buried her face in her hands, making a pained noise. "This- this makes no sense! You can't- this doesn't happen!"

"But it did. Why? Who knows. But freaking out and denying something that is clearly real doesn't help anyone." Chris stated.

Narita took a deep breath. "You're right, you're right." She breathed out and refocused on them. "Okay. Connected. Across Worlds. Ava-" Narita froze. "Wait. You're a World. You're Body. You're Soul. And you're…" She stopped on Andrew, not wanting to accept the idea that entered her mind.

"He fucks with cores." Greg explained, mistaking her pause for confusion.

"That's- That's all of it." Narita muttered. "Every facet of reality… World, Body, Soul, and Spirit."

"Not sure about those terms, but didn't we already say that?" Chris replied. "Building blocks or whatever. Physical side, magical side, structure, glue."

"More like major structure, minor structure." Narita replied, gesturing between Chris and Andrew. "Worlds define the system, the Spirit defines the individual."

"What's the difference?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Glue is a part of it, but the core also describes what abilities the individual has." Narita explained.

"Wait, I thought the World determined abilities." Chris frowned.

Narita shook her head. "No, the World determines what abilities are possible, but the core deals with the specifics. It's- well, major structure and minor structure. The World determines what's possible, Body and Soul provide the ingredients, and Spirit determines what is."

Chris sat back with a thoughtful expression. "So… I need a core."

"You think that's it?" Greg asked.

Chris nodded. "I have a body, I have energy or magic or soul or whatever, I have the World, obviously. What am I missing?"

"A core… checks out." Greg nodded. "How do we make it happen? Andrew?"

"I can copy cores after studying them for a bit." Andrew replied. "I need aura for it though, and I don't even have enough to see an inch beyond my skin at the moment."

"How do you gain aura?" Chris asked.

"It happens as I get stronger." Andrew explained with a shrug. "I'm not entirely sure why."

"It's probably your connection with the World. As you get stronger, your connection with the World grows." Narita explained with a frown. "But why do you need a core?"

"I can't get the system." Chris grumbled.

Narita blinked. "The system?"

"That's my thing." Victoria replied. "I created a system that lets people do tasks to gain points, which they can spend to get stronger."

Narita blinked again, before letting out a sigh. "Of course you did." She muttered, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, you people just- ugh, what am I going to do with you." She groaned, burying her face in her hands again.

"Whoa, hey, we aren't children here." Greg protested. "Well, Andrew is, technically, but still. You don't have to do anything with us. You just have more experience with all this Multiverse stuff, so we wanted to get your advice, which has admittedly been helpful. We had no idea about this World, Body, Soul, Spirit stuff. Well, we knew a little… Anyway, we appreciate your advice, but we don't need you to 'handle' us."

Narita shook her head. "Greg, I recognize you're all capable adults, but this isn't a matter of maturity. The Multiverse- look, there's a reason I prefer to spend my time in small, insignificant Worlds. The things some Immortals do to grow their power… if they can find a way to use you, or even worse, if the see you as a threat-"

"Could they wipe out an entire planet?" Victoria suddenly interjected with a growl. "Simply because they don't like the changes happening?"

"That seems oddly specific." Chris commented.

"Remember how I said the system has already gotten a world destroyed?" Victoria replied through gritted teeth. "My- the world I was born in- when I first began developing the system, I spread it to everyone. Thousands- millions of people were using it to better their lives, and… well, you know governments. The powers that be took offense, which made me take offense, and admittedly I rashly decided that if they were going to be dicks about things, I'd make them irrelevant. Then- well, these beings appeared, complaining about chaos and disorder and they- killed- everyone." Her expression twisted bitterly as she spat out the last few words. "My girlfriend, my family, just… gone! For what?!?" Victoria turned to glare at Narita. "Is that the kind of thing one of these 'Immortals' would do?"

"There- are some who- curate the Worlds under their control to- make them more… appropriate for the ideas they wish to propagate." Narita explained hesitantly. "Immortals grow more powerful as the ideas related to their Core are spread, so tailoring their Worlds to make that idea more prevalent helps them grow. An Immortal of Order wouldn't be happy if their World fell to Chaos."

"So they just kill everyone?!?" Victoria snapped angrily.

Narita raised her hands. "Hey, I'm not a proponent, I'm just saying it happens. If you really did what you said you did, in a World and Immortal controlled… I don't agree with it, but I'm not surprised." She sighed, shaking her head. "But this is why you need to be careful! No Immortal is weak and many are scary. A few are terrifying and the strongest of them? They're irresistible! They could end you with a word! With a thought! If you're going to be moving through the Multiverse- no, you simply shouldn't be moving through the Multiverse! I don't move through the Multiverse! Just- find a World you like and stick with it."

"Yeah, that isn't going to happen." Victoria snorted. "Not even mentioning how fucked up some of these Worlds get, you want us to just ignore these Immortals who take lives like they're exterminating pests? No. These people are evil! And they need to be stopped."

"Yeah, I have to agree with Victoria on this." Greg nodded along. "These Immortals sound like assholes."

"I try not to go out of my way to make other people my problem, but- well, I do try to help where I can." Chris shrugged. "No promises though."

"I'm just trying to live my life guys." Andrew groaned. "I don't mind stepping in when I see trouble, but to actively seek it out? That just seems like a step too far."

Narita sighed. "Well at least one of you is sane."

"Andrew… we need all four of us to go somewhere." Chris replied.

"You can't just ignore what's going on here!" Victoria exclaimed.

"I know, I know." Andrew shook his head. "It's just- ugh, Cathryn is going to kill me." He muttered bitterly. "Fine. However, we stay safe in the process! We take Narita's advice, we figure out what we can do, we don't simply rush into things and start looking for trouble!"

"Obviously." Chris agreed. "I'm not doing shit until we figure out how to get me the system."

"Yeah, I'm not suggesting we get ourselves killed." Greg shook his head. "Hell, I'm not even strong enough to deal with this World's problems. We definitely need time to grow."

Victoria sighed. "As much as I'd love to disagree, you have a point."

"You are all insane." Narita grumbled, shaking her head.