Everyone was silent as they ate, the crow would occasionally eat off one of their plates. Cronix measured the next line of the array, before imprinting his mental energy inside, and Lapsa was lost in thought.

"Cronix, how many more days until you're finished with the array." Cayden asked, before eating a spoonful of porridge.

Cronix replied with, "Only a few more days."

Cayden nodded, satisfied with that answer.

The rest of the night was uneventful, and passed by rather quickly. The next day was more of the same, with roll calls and the such, except Lapsa was more silent than usual.

There was something on his mind that was constantly bothering him, this was influencing his mental energy and such, as they were becoming more chaotic. This would cause their explosions to be even greater, but the lines to be sloppier.

The crow has been around Cronix long enough to know what chaotic mental energy meant. She flew off from her position on top of a cabinet and onto his shoulder.

The moment she landed on his shoulder, he jumped, and his mind was pulled back to reality. He looked at the crow on his shoulder and she looked back at him with her beady eyes.

"You know, if only you had human eyes, I really can't tell what you're thinking." He mumbled as he resumed his daily working in the kitchen.

The hours passed by, and Lapsa would occasionally go back to being lost in thought, before quickly bringing himself out of it again.

When he noticed his time in the kitchen was done, he sighed, and left, with the crow in tow. When they got back to the room, neither Cronix nor Cayden were there yet, so they waited.

But while the two were waiting on his bed, Lapsa frowned and looked at the crow, "Do you have any idea how I'm supposed to help you reach the core creation stage?"

The crow froze for a moment before she had an idea and flew down to the floor, next to a transparent tablet. She bumped it towards Lapsa.

Lapsa picked up the information tablet and examined it, "What do you want me to do with this?"

The crow flew back onto the bed, and put her head on the tablet, which allowed Lapsa to realize what she meant.

He took the information tablet and pressed it against her head, the tablet activated, and little strands of energy infused itself inside her head.

But the moment that happened, her attitude instantly changed, unlike her previous calm demeanor, it went crazy, and the dark elements around became chaotic.

Lapsa yelped as her talons gripped into his thigh.

It didn't take long for the mental energy that infused itself within her to be destroyed. Lapsa frowned when he noticed this,

I heard from Cayden that Cronix reacted in a strange way when he used the information stone, and now she is too, why?

The crow finally calmed down after the tablet's energy was destroyed, Lapsa winced as she removed both her talons from his thigh, the crow stared blankly at the blood on her talons.

Lapsa held the information tablet, he noticed the small cracks that were already on the tablet expanding, "Damn it!"

"Why so mad Lapsa?" A voice asked, as the door opened. Cayden and Cronix both entered.

"I need her memories, but she goes crazy when she uses the tablet. Now that cracks are bigger."

Cayden had a small chuckle as he looked at Cronix and said, "Birds of a feather."

Cronix frowned, but he didn't say anything to him, instead he asked Lapsa, "What memories do you need?"

Lapsa shrugged, and said, "I don't know, this was her idea."

Cronix sighed, as he thought of a solution, and he scrunched up his face when he thought of something, "Okay we'll try this again, but she's going to be wearing this."

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While approaching the crow, Cronix took off his pendant that was concealed by his shirt, and placed it around her neck, "This is either going to work, or it might damage the tablet even more. Let's hope it works."

Cayden sat on his bed, watching the whole scene play out, but he couldn't help himself from narrowing his eyes at Cronix's actions, "what's a necklace going to do here?"

Lapsa also didn't understand Cronix's actions, but he didn't voice anything out, and Cronix didn't feel like explaining so he didn't.

The only one who sorta had an understanding of what Cronix was doing was the crow herself.

"Put the tablet on her head." Cronix ordered, and Lapsa followed his command, putting the information tablet against her head, but not before he made sure she wasn't on any part of him.

The tablet's energy once again infused itself within her mind, the crow began panicking, but another energy arrived originating from the pendant, both Cayden's and Lapsa's eyes widened, when they saw this.

However the pendant's energy didn't immediately try calming her down like Cronix hoped, but it went to attack the tablet's energy.

Lapsa couldn't feel the pendant's energy after it vanished inside the crow, but strangely, Cronix could, he could feel everywhere the pendant's energy went, and he instantly knew what the pendant was going to do, even if he couldn't feel the energy from the tablet.

Cronix tried to grab the green gem of his pendant, but the crow was struggling way too much, "Guys, help me restrain her!"

Cayden was the first to react, pouncing on her like a predator, but the crow was a step away from the Core Creation stage, their brute force couldn't stop her, so with a flap of her wing, Cayden was sent flying.

Lapsa was more strategic, taking a page from Cronix's book, he grabbed his own formations and threw them at her activating them along the way, but that did basically nothing.

While their attacks were happening Cronix noticed another problem, the crow was manipulating the dark elements around the room, and if one of them accidentally activated the teleportation array, they were screwed.

So while the other two boys tried to find a way to restrain the crow, Cronix had to split half his attention to keep the dark elements away from the array.

Cronix eventually was able to come up with an idea, he sent a strand of mental energy containing his will, towards the pendant, and while it did take some of his attention away from the dark elements near the teleportation array, it was worth the risk, if it could stop everything.

Thankfully, the strand of mental energy hit the green gem, and through the green gem, the energy inside the crow received the message.

The energy treated Cronix's will like a law, and followed his command, ignoring the tablet's energy, and instead focused on calming the crow down.

Cronix was able to relax when he saw the crow calming down, and although the cracks on the information tablet was more evident, it was able to receive a copy of the crow's memories.

Lapsa grabbed the information tablet and placed it against his head, but the memory left him unsatisfied, "This... What could we use with this?"

Cayden also frowned when they saw Lapsa's reaction, so he grabbed the information tablet, and placed it against his head, his frown only deepened.

Cronix was pushing his bed to the side to make sure the array was 100% okay, when Cayden patted his shoulder and passed him the information tablet.

He didn't question anything, and placed it against his head, when the memory was done, he mumbled, "Focuser bead?"

Cronix's eyes narrowed as he looked at the crow, "Why are you showing us this?"

The crow looked at all three of them, then she flew on Lapsa's shoulder and pecked on his ear.

"Lapsa, explain." Cayden calmly ordered, after they saw the event that caused the crow to be released in the first place, they were more than a bit confused as to why they were seeing this.

Of course none of them actually thought the crow was going to betray them, but they needed the context on why she was showing them this now of all times.

"I asked her if she had any ideas on what would help us help her reach the Core Creation stage since we're doing that today, and, well, this happened."

Cronix frowned, and began pacing around the room, mumbling, "Why is she showing us this... Does she want us to let her report on our activities? No, she knows that we won't do."

After pondering on the topic for a few minutes an idea hit him, "Maybe it's the focuser bead abilities! She showed us that it helps the consumer focus better, and that leads to an easier way into reaching the Core Creation stage, maybe that's what she's trying to convey, that's how we help her."

The crow cawed and flew onto his shoulder, pecking his horns as if to confirm what he was saying.

"So we have to help her focus, how do we do that?" Cayden asked.

Cronix smiled and there was a twinkle in his eyes as he said, "That's simple, we use our mental energy. Like how magic can be used to strengthen the body, mental energy can be used to sharpen the mind. It's easy!"

"There was another thing her memories shows us," Caydens eyes were also now sparkling, and he said, "Although it's faint, I can hear Ortan saying, when someone reaches the Core Creation stage, the Ayuna family's slave seal doesn't work anymore!"

Both boys began to look at the crow, like she was their knight in shining armor.

"What are we waiting for, let's help enter the Core Creation stage!" Cronix exclaimed walking to the door, but Cayden stopped him, "We can't rush, we need a plan, so first we have to find a secluded place."

Lapsa frowned, "Wait, why can't we do it here?"

"It might mess with the teleportation array, we don't want to take that risk." Cronix explained, "As for a secluded place, we can do it in the cemetery, almost nobody is around in that place, and if you give me an hour I can set up energy sealing arrangements right now."

"Wait, Cronix, shouldn't we still take the time to plan more things out, this could become a huge hassle if anyone finds out." Cayden reasoned.

But Cronix was not having it, "Cayden, we don't have much time left for anything, we've have to get everything prepared fast, and there really isn't anything left to plan out."

"But..." Before Cayden could even say anything more, Cronix was outside the door.