“Congratulations on the next chapter of your life. I’m sure your mommy would be proud.” The sarcastic voice broke him from his restful stupor.

“Hello to you too Pangu. I see you will be enjoying your promise early tonight.”

“You know it.” The dirt enjoyed his immunity to the fullest.

“Well, my mom was a hulking creature with barely a complex thought behind her eyes. It was eat this, squish that, get dog piled by as many males as possible, and lay eggs. That was her life on repeat. I bet it was at least. I never got to meet her.” He refused to let even a hint of sadness leach into his voice.

They were merely facts. Just because the other races knew their parents, that didn’t mean he would care about missing out on such a thing.

“And you almost pried some sympathy from me and then you went and killed it like a horse with a lame leg.”

Egosum barely managed a rebuttal as he enjoyed the rich atmosphere his soul core held.

It had changed since the last time he looked around.

The density of the energy was leagues above what it once was.

It was like trying to see through a muddy pond when his mana sight flared to life.

“I can tell you noticed the difference. It is all thanks to that little stunt you pulled. Pretty good thinking if I am being truthful.”

The toad rolled his shoulders as he sat under a magnificent cypress tree.

“I appreciate it but I think the proprioception realm is gonna take me a good bit to fully understand.”

Pangu stifled a laugh before chiming in.

“People spend years on it and still never breakthrough. The fact that you are making so much progress in this realm is already astounding. A lot of young masters would be crying if they knew of your success. Pfft, a toad only a year old and already eclipsing them in strength. Iconic if I would be so bold.”

If the soul soil was trying to inflate his ego, it was certainly working.

“I would say less than a week and you will be knocking at the barrier to the permeation realm. That is where the real fun begins. You start changing shit around you and it just stays that way.”

Egosum thought back to one of their earlier conversation and the true difference between changing the world to your will and making the world into your will.

It was the difference between planting a tree to have shade now and letting it die soon after and making the ground perfect to grow that same tree so it would stick around for centuries.

“Great. What kind of breakthrough will I need to make for reaching a whole different tier of cultivation? I wasn’t in much danger against that fish thing, but I know there has to be stuff stronger than that.”

Pangu quietly hummed to himself before responding.

“Not really. It is more a question of the quantity of Qi that you infuse more than anything else. Sure there are a few tweaks but breaking through to the next realm will really let you understand the gap between the tiers.”

An idea came to Egosum as the dirt spoke.

“Are you saying that I might be able to do it even now?”

He waited for it to respond before growing tired of waiting.

“You said I have way more Qi than normal, so I don't see-”

“Hold on.” Pangu cut him off. “You might be able to do it now but the benefit of doing so is that you can have permanent control over an area. Without enough Qi to make that area large enough, you won’t benefit from it at all. It might even hurt you by draining your reserves”

The toad looked around his soul domain with a contemplative look.

“I think I’ll stop if i feel like it is taking too much Qi. How about that?”

The silence was deafening before Pangu spoke under his breath.

“Fine. Don’t listen to the ancient being with hundreds of thousands of years of experience. Whatever.”

The sky began to crack away, showing the black expanses of the universe hidden just behind his core.

They appeared far off and cold in his enhanced eyes. Not a drop of energy was stirring beyond the reaches of the planet he crafted within his mortal body.

His eyes fluttered open as sharp nails dug into his back repeatedly.

There wasn’t enough force behind them to cause damage, but far more than enough to be annoying.

Out of the corner of his vision, Natan was dragging herself over his back like he was a new mountain to climb.

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“What are you doing?” His calm voice received no answer as she reached his peak and curled around herself several times before coming to a stop.

“Hey, can you hear me?” Still no response.

He got ready to move when the caecilian stuck her clawed hand into her mouth with a scrunched-up face.

Clear discomfort wracked her features as she shook slightly.

‘Old enough to have kids but not old enough to stop sucker her thumb like a mammalian.’

“Mama,where….where family……” The quiet words struck at his heart.

His cold emotions ached for the pain in her tired voice.

He grumbled slightly before resting his head back down on the ground.

Hours ticked past before Cinera stirred in the corner.

“What is happening over there?” There was a giggle barely hidden behind her lips.

“Shut it. I don’t want to hear a single word about this. Get her off my back please.” The salamander wandered over and unraveled the knot of a creature that refused to stir from her slumber.

“She is a real heavy sleeper.” Egosum commented as they stared down at her.

“I guess if you find a nice and comfortable bed, it’s hard to wake up.” The grin on her lips only inflamed his nerves more.

“I…I…Okay. I got something for you.” He shook Natan vigorously, finally waking her from her from her restful sleep.

“Glad you’re finally up. We need to start moving out. It's probably already a few hours after sunrise.”

The amphibian blinked crust from her eyes as she stirred.

“I can’t. I’m dieting. Needa look good for my man.” She pushed her clawed hands over her face.

Egosum clapped his hands together straight in her face, shocking her from the strange musings she insisted on.

“What? What’s going on? “ She covered her head in terror before finally looking around. “Oh right, um, morning?” The pair shook their heads before addressing her.

“We need to get a move on. We are losing daylight the longer we stay in the hole.”

Natan quickly grabbed her stuff and followed them through the tunnel to the surface.

“By the way, I heard Cinera was pretty popular back in her school days. Maybe she can give you some tips to talk to some guys. Bet you it would really help.”

She gave the toad a sharp look before giving the caecilian a cramped smile.

“Would you really? I have been so worried about that. You know I haven’t really talked to many people besides you guys. I mean, like no one really. Zero. I was nervous for a while but I felt like I handled it well. He said something about school. How was-”

Egosum carried on as the pair lagged behind him. He moved with a pep in his step he had been missing since he lost his friend.

The incessant speech from their new companion acted as the calming backdrop to the stroll when the air was suddenly filled with a new noise.

He turned to face the concerning development and froze.

“Hey, Natan!” The pair behind him stopped close to his back. She perked up at the sound of her name and looked at the toad. “Have you seen that thing before?”

A large insect, three humans long, and five humans wide quickly approached them. Its wings we clear and rapidly beating against the humid gases of the swamp.

Its exoskeleton was metallic green with dashes of shining blue around its sides.

“Nope. I don’t think so. Looks really mean though, don’t you think?” She watched it intently as it grew closer with a strange fascination.

“Yeah, it does and I think it really wants to eat us.” The rapid flicker of wings on its back carried it to them faster than any other flying creature they had seen.

Its bulbous head showed itself in all of its horrific detail once it got close enough to make out.

Huge kaleidoscope eyes that reflected dozens of copies of the trio stared straight through them like they were mere meat sacks ready to eat.

Its mandibles clacked together repeatedly in excitement as it could almost taste the meal with how close it was.

“You need to hide, now!” It swooped down at them with its insectoid legs reaching for his face like a greedy child grabbing for a toy.

He ducked at the last moment, avoiding the strange feelers by a hair width.

“Lightning support Cinera?” He tracked the beast's trajectory through the air and saw it curved high into the sky. “It’s coming back.

He called his Qi to action and watched it rapidly pick up speed as it dived towards him once again.

His enhanced senses struggled to keep up with the creature when it aborted its attack in the last second of its approach.

A horrendous crack rang through the air as it passed them.

The spell Cinera had been conjuring shattered into a thousand pieces just before it could seek its target.

“Mah,mah,mah. I can't hear!” She shouted out followed by Natan spinning around on the ground.

Egosum’s senses were in disrepair as his hearing rang incessantly and his Qi control fell from his body.

‘What’s going on? I can’t control it. My energy is refusing to move to my commands.’

He tried to bring more and more of the power to his hands only for it to fall back to the ground to no avail.

He looked at the retreating figure of the insect and watched in terror as it turned back for another run.

His stomach twisted as he wracked his brain for a solution. His legs tensed with his natural strength, watching with every ounce of concentration he could muster.

The creature’s clear wings beat with the thud of a charging animal as it got closer and closer.

They were thin and wide, like a sail on a human's boat.

His knowledge of warfare during the olden days between the human empire and amphibians played through his mind.

Back when his people could do little more than splash water into their warships in hopes of sinking the vessels, they quickly learned that those sails meant everything to the crew.

Many warriors died trying to take the huge sheets of fabric out, but it was not in vain.

The ships halted or ran adrift without control.

It was the only way they could move the titanic weapons of war and the insight had won them some of their earlier battles.

He focused on the beast's wings and saw how the two pairs beat out of sync.

He was going to bet everything on ending the fight before the direct combat could even begin.

The creature flew faster and faster as it draped its legs once more to reach for its delicious prize.

Egosum felt the mud beneath his feet and the humidity in the air.

The moment of the clash grew closer and closer each moment.

All in one burst of effort, he leapt into the air with everything he had.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he sailed through the air with the grace of a dancer.

He watched as the creature's eyes tracked him with ease despite the speed they moved at.

He could feel victory within his hands when the insect did something he never would have expected.