Each of his attributes had increased by at least ten points since the last time he had checked it the day before. The only one that hadn’t increased by that much was his energy, which had instead only jumped by eight points.

Most of the energy he collected seemed to be heading towards his backup core at the moment. George had told them about how it had helped the last cultivator, who had managed to form a backup core. They were all assuming it was going to work the same way for him, which was probably a fairly safe bet, all things considered. However, that did mean, his main core was getting close to being upgraded even without the herbs from the McFadden’s.

Not that he was going to let them go to waste. If they made the process go faster, then so much the better in his mind.

Stepping into the shower, Nate immediately popped the herb into his mouth and began chewing while the hot water poured over him. He had kept the screen from the wrist computer up so he could monitor the effects it had on him, if any.

It started out slow as his body initially worked to absorb the herb. Then the next second he was on the tiled floor of the shower, as a rictus of cramps shot through his body one after the other. The energy was unlike any other he had ever experienced before and felt as though it was attacking his very being.

It pulsed through his body in a flowing wave of agony as it first cleansed his physical form and then began to gather around his core. His parents had been right to tell him to take the herb while inside the shower, as an oily dark sludge erupted from his pores.

Normally, that filth would have started to come out when someone entered the first realm of ‘Core Building’. He was simply doing it a little early this way.

Pressure began to form around his core, pushing on it and compressing it in different ways. Vaguely, he could feel that the sides of his core, which hadn’t been entirely smooth before –it was filled with pits, crags, and mountainous formations– had begun to change.

His new core was still in the same realm, obviously, but it had started to take on a more uniform appearance. It wasn’t even a problem that he had realized existed until that very moment, but it was an interesting one to realize for sure.

Unfortunately, in the midst of it all, he had forgotten to look at the screen on his wrist and hadn’t gotten to watch the change in progress. All he could see now was that his core quality had indeed been upgraded and that the energy inside his backup core had been reset.

Paying careful attention to the oil on the tiles, he slowly stood and reached for the soap. His body felt strangely lighter, and he had to double-check the information screen to see if anything else had changed. There was indeed one he had missed before, a small one. There was now a plus symbol next to his constitution. He couldn’t interact with it in any way, but it obviously had some sort of meaning.

The biggest change though, was the one he had been hoping for the most. The quality of his core was still the same, but the rank had increased from ‘Copper’ to ‘Bronze’. It wasn’t a huge jump in rank, all things considered, but the changes he had sensed when it happened had been huge. Before that moment, he hadn’t even had so much as a hint that his core was so malformed.

It was rather shocking, but it did explain how the different levels in qualities had come to be. It was a natural thing and not something that had been introduced maliciously by a third party.

It turned out to be a good thing that he had woken up as early as cleaning off the impurities his pores had expelled took forever. The oily film the sludge had coated his skin with took several passes from the bar of soap to eliminate.

The hot water had long since started to run cool by the time he stepped out and grabbed his towel.

The first glimpse he caught of himself in the mirror had him pausing and twisting about as he flexed and posed for a few moments. When he first formed his core, there had been no major changes to his body. Instead, they had come as his attributes increased. He had slowly lost the unhealthy look he once had and filled out some. Nothing major. All the changes were minor, but because of his poor initial state, they were still noticeable.

Now though, the last lingering effects of his shattered core had utterly vanished from his face. The dark circles underneath his eyes were gone, and his cheeks had filled out some. The biggest change was with his chest, where the beginning of a four-pack could be seen.

The muscles had been there for a while now, but his lanky, unhealthy frame had been hiding them. That was no longer the case. If Nate was a slightly more vain person, then he would almost say that he currently glowed with vitality.

It was a most impressive change, and he couldn’t wait to see what the core upgrade brought with it.

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By the time he managed to drag himself away from the mirror and get dressed, it was close to the time that he would have normally gotten up. Grabbing his bag and notebook, he trudged downstairs and into the kitchen to get some breakfast.

On the table, he found a small note from his parents. It told him to be careful while they were gone, and that they loved him. It was short, sweet, and to the point. He made sure to leave it on the table, so he would see it when he came home from school later as well.

Nate knew that someday he would get used to having his parents around again, but that day wasn’t today. He had lived without them for years, constantly regretting their deaths and the small part he had played in it. If he hadn’t been in the hospital, then they would have had no reason to come see him and they would still have been alive.

It might not have been something that he could control, but over the years since their accident, he had gradually taken on more of the blame.

Nate was staring up at the sky, munching on a piece of toast when Angie’s car arrived with both girls in the back. Brushing off the crumbs that had fallen on his shirt and lap, he jogged toward the waiting car and slid in beside them.

“How are things this morning?” He asked them happily.

Lindsay glared at him suspiciously. “There’s something different about you today. Are you wearing makeup? No, I don’t think that’s it. The effect is similar, but it is far too fine for any makeup that I have seen.”

He rolled his eyes and settled into the car seat while she stared at him. Sitting beside her, Angie had quirked her head and was slowly nodding.

“Linds might be insane for thinking that you would use makeup. But she is right, there is something different.”

Nate tapped his chest with a grin. “My parents stopped by the McFadden’s last night and picked up the first shipment of core enhancing items that they had promised to provide. I used the first of them this morning while I was in the shower, and it cleaned up my skin a fair bit, is all.”

He couldn’t exactly tell them that he had already managed to improve the quality of his core. Being able to improve his core from just one herb was just a little too odd.

Both girls immediately leaned toward him and then looked at their own skin. The rest of the ride to school was taken up with talks about different herbs and alchemical items the girls could use to better take care of their skin. It wasn’t a topic that Nate was particularly invested in. However, enough of his adult self-remained that he was perfectly fine participating whenever he had a relevant thought.

He could easily see how this sort of conversation would have bored him to tears in the past. It still wasn’t really doing anything for him truthfully. Yet, he did consider the two females’ friends and could participate in things he had no personal interest in.

School that day started out much like the one before. They were stuck in their orientation class with Mira for the first half of the day, reviewing everything and going over a few new items as they came across them.

The entire school day passed quickly. The three of them learned more about their mediation arts and the expeditions. Soon enough, they were back in the car and headed to Angie’s place, where they were going to get some training in.

The girls had invited him while they were all eating lunch and he had, of course, said yes. No one was waiting for him at home, and the thought of going back to the empty house was not something he was exactly eager to do.

He had done it in the past, and it wasn’t truly a problem for him to do. However, it always reminded him of living in his parent’s old house on his own as he waited for death to arrive. Falling down the stairs had taken care of that particular problem for him, but the sense of loneliness remained, especially when he was alone.

At least, they lived in a different house this time around. That would have been a step too far for him.

Needless to say, he had jumped at the chance to stay out of the house for a little while longer. Besides, getting some more practice in was never a bad thing.

As they drew closer to her house, Nate remembered what had caused the early end of their expedition and abruptly changed their conversation.

“What are your parents going to do about Donovan? Anything?”

Lindsay shook her head. “I’m not sure. My parents haven’t really told me anything. All I know is that he was already on thin ice with the licensing bureau, and this was apparently the final straw.”

Angie glanced forward and ensured her driver wasn’t listening before responding in a low voice. “I know a little more than her, it seems. Apparently, there is a little more to the story than we initially knew. It is true that Donovan was mad at them because they refused to go on the expedition. However, the real reason for his grudge is because of the attention their refusal brought to his company. Attention that it could ill-afford with what happened while they were out there.”

Nate smacked his forehead with a soft groan of realization. “That’s right, the party he did bring out there was a total wipe. He was the only one to survive or something like that. I know it’s a dangerous job, but surely losing an entire party would normally draw additional scrutiny. If it happened while he had already had all those extra eyes on him… What do you want to bet they found evidence of every wrong deal he’s ever done?”

She nodded. “There is that, but I meant more that he had done something on that expedition in particular.”

“Like what exactly?” Lindsay wondered; her brows scrunched up in confusion. She was being a little slow on the uptake this time around. The way she had been brought up ensured she was a little more innocent than the average teenager in random ways.

“Are you saying that they think he might have killed… or at least sacrificed his entire team?” Nate asked in a whisper that barely carried to both their ears. He could remember watching as a cultivator had betrayed his comrades in the dungeon, using them as fodder for his own escape. Had that been Donovan, or someone else?

Angie shrugged and waggled her hand back and forth. “I don’t think there is any evidence to support the theory, none that has been found anyway. However, it seems to be one that is gaining a lot of traction among the people at the Licensing Bureau, from what I hear.”

Their conversation slowly petered out from there as her house came into view, and then a minute later the training pavilion.