"With your mental palace finished, even if it is rather crude for now, you can now start the most important part, building up your defenses and surveillance."

I listened to Valenith instruct Selene while I fiddled with a piece of Wraithbone I picked up somewhere along the way. We'd reached the temple without anymore complication to my surprise and now all we had to do before going through was to make sure Selene could handle demons poking at her soul and tempting her the moment we went through.

In the meantime I was also running my unused Mind-Cores non-stop to decipher all the Tyranid templates I got. First was the Hive Tyrant obviously which I was intimately familiar by now as I used it as the base of both Selene's and my Symbiotic armor as well as for my bio-sword.

Both have been improving since their first iteration, and I barely understood how and why the structure of cells and such were set up in the way they were. However, with my increased understanding of them, I was able to increase their effectiveness. I wasn't just copying the homework of the Hive-Mind anymore, but making it my own. I also improved on my Combat Form, well not as much improved as entirely new as I changed the base from a Lictor to the Hive Tyrant and made it so I could change its size to fit my needs. It also had all of my own additions, like the Ambull's radiation and heat eating. Excellent stuff all around.

My Humanoid Form also got a nice upgrade as I managed to integrate the best Tyranid nerves into it, increasing my base reaction time and twitch reflexes by a dozen times at least. The bones were still the same even if I had better ones in my stores. I had some special ideas for that one which tied into why I was fiddling with a fistful of Wraithbone.

"You need to build surveillance, to always scan whether your mind has been tampered with, you need redundant memory storages to fix it if such a thing happened but most importantly you need to set up defences around your mind to keep the chance of such a thing happening as low as possible."

Valenith continued his lecture as both me and Selene sat on the floor in lotus position, though that's where our similarities ended. She had her eyes closed and her face pulled into a focused frown. I could tell she was engraving every word spoken by the Eldar into her memory and did her best to follow his instructions to the best of her abilities. Then there was me, holding up my cheek with my right fist as I lazily twirled the chunk of psychoactive rock in my left palm as I didn't even appear like I was paying attention but that was the downside of being great at multitasking, people always thought I wasn't paying attention to them when I was also doing something else.

"Now tell me," he spoke calmly, his hands clasped behind his back, "How did you re-route the river of energy and set up your mind?"

"My mind is in a tower in the center of the Palace, on the top floor and the river runs in through a gate on the walls, running along the walls but not touching any of the buildings," Selene answered quickly, her face still the image of focus.

"Now tell me this honestly," he spoke with a serious tone, "did the effects the energy had on your emotions lessen?"

"Yes," she nodded, "I can still feel it, urging me to rely on it more, to take more of it into me, but it's more like a whisper coming from afar than an insistent devil in my shoulder."

"And you should ignore it," Valenith nodded, "That is good, if you ever increase the size of your palace — and you should as you grow in power — you should aim to keep the river of energy as removed from the core of your mind as possible but under no less surveillance than you'd give to your own mind. Insidious beings could slip through the gate if you show signs of weakness for even a second. Eternal vigilance is the only way to keep yourself as you are."

"Oooops," I said absently as the Wraithbone turned into dust in my palm. Pouring soul energy filled with Smite wasn't the play, it seemed. "Sorry, continue, please."

Val glared at me weakly, but he just sighed and continued instructing Selene. He was rather grumpy at the start, saying that he only promised to give me a few pointers not to turn into a mentor for Selene, but he was easy to convince. His one demand was that I'd sit on in his 'classes' as well. Not weird at all, the secretive space elf giving away his treasured arcane knowledge. I'm not suspicious at all~, but it was still free knowledge of the Psyker powers, so I had no reason to reject it.

"Now," Val spoke, "you can reject me, but I'd like to peek into your mindscape for a moment to see if everything is in place."

"Uhm," Selene looked unsure, "Echidna?"

"You should do it," I said as I pulled another chunk of Wraithbone into my hand with a bit of TK (Telekinesis), "I don't know why but Val honestly wants to make sure that we don't get fucked by the Warp."

"Thank You," his lips twitched at my open doubt of his reasons but he didn't divulge them even if this was the dozenth time I sent a jab like that at him.

"Alright," Selene nodded, "how do I do this?"

"You will feel my presence touch your mind," he said as he too sat down onto the floor right in-front of Selene and stared into her eyes which made me a touch annoyed for whatever reason. "You will feel an instinctive urge to lash out at me. Suppress that urge. It won't hurt me, but as you focus on attacking out of instinct, your mind becomes vulnerable to intrusion. Never let your mind be controlled by your emotions or instincts."

"Understood." Selene nodded nervously as she fidgeted with her hands.

"I will start now," Val said as I felt energy mount up inside him and rush to his mind, I narrowed my eyes as I saw he didn't use any tendrils of energy to connect his mind to Selene's but some sort of resonance that stemmed from their interlocking gazes.

They stayed still as statues for five seconds, with beads of sweat running down Selene's neck before she blinked and slumped back a little. Valenith stood up as he nodded to himself.

"You have excellent self-control," he stared absently into the distance as he rubbed his chin, "And your diligence will serve you well. Your mindscape is well-constructed and secure as it could be with your current power."

"Thanks," Selene breathed heavily as she answered with a tired smile.

"Now for the last part before we can start on how to actually use your powers," Val clasped his hands behind him and raised his chin imperiously, "close that gate and stifle the river, let only the slightest trickle drip through it."

"Eh?" Selene blinked as she straightened her back and put on a serious face again.

"That will be your test for now," he said, "you could consider yourself more than a victim of the Warp if you manage to hold that gate closed indefinitely, but be careful to never close it entirely, a Psyker with no Warp energy coursing through their body is like a starving beast reduced to their base instincts."

"Fasting is good but starving is not," Selene murmured and Val nodded. "Alright."

I silently patted my hands so the remains of the newest Wraithbone didn't dirty them anymore as I focused on Selene. More accurately, how her presence made me feel. Over the next ten minutes, it went from utterly disgusted, to revolt, to uncomfortable, to mild discomfort, to finally to a slight twist in my stomach when I put all of my focus into observing her.

I blinked and a genuine smile spread across my face as I looked at her.

"Did you do something to her?" Valenith whispered to me as he came to stand next to my seated form as we both observed the meditating Selene.

"Why do you ask?" I raised an eyebrow, not remembering anything I could have done to her aside from some teasing.

"It is unnatural to have such drive without mental conditioning. Being able to put one's entire focus into accomplishing a task is a rare ability, rarely found among naturally evolved beings."

"And yet here she is," I shrugged, "and no, I have done no biological or mental modifications on her."

"I see," he tilted his head, deep in thought, "it might be a genetic talent, maybe something her ancestors gained long ago."

"I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of humanity from twenty thousand years ago genetically altering a part of their population to become more efficient worker drones."

"Indeed," he frowned, "I know little of humanity during those times. The tales and songs hold little of the truth from that timeframe."

"It might be better that way," I shrugged, "some things are better left forgotten."

"Did I do it right?" Selene's strained voice reached us, and we turned to her in unison.

"I think so," I smiled. "I can barely feel the touch of the Warp on you."

"Indeed," Val nodded like a somewhat proud teacher, "but the hard part will keep that gate closed as is indefinitely. If you feel you can't hold on anymore, only open it by a tiny fraction of a second and close it back as soon as you did while searching for either me or Echidna."

"Alright," she nodded, blinking as she bit her cheeks.

"I think you will go far if you can overcome this challenge," a slight smile graced the Eldar's stoic face, "few even among my kind have the focus and dedication you showed, if you can keep it up you might make a great Psyker one day."

She nodded, her face slack and her eyebrows furrowed from the focus but she had a slight smile on her lips.

"Alright, come here," I waved her over, "I'll monitor her for now. You can do whatever you want Val. Thanks for the lecture."

"I wanted to study the temple and the Gateway anyway," he huffed as he strode off.

"Now come here." I pulled Selene down next to me by her hand. I made a handful of comfy rugs out of some soft fur I found among my templates. Selene fell down with a yelp and planted herself face first into the rugs.

"Oh," she mumbled, "this is nice."

"Don't sleep just yet," I poked her side, making her jump, "focus on that gate thingy. Come on, sit."

I patted the rug next to me and she settled down next to me with a weak glare.

"So," she drew out the word as she glanced at the side of my face, I still played with a chunk of Wraithbone just like before and held my head up by the cheek, "what are you doing?"

"Curious?" at her nod I held out my hand and showed her the murky greyish white chunk of solidified Warp energy, "don't touch it just yet, try to feel it."

She pulled back her hand and stared at the piece of decayed bone intensely. "It feels... a bit like the energy of the river but rigid."

"An acute assessment," I smiled, "this is Wraithbone, solidified warp energy. The Eldar use it as the main material for anything from weapons and armor to void-ships and buildings."

"What's it good for?" she asked with a bit of curiosity glimmering in her eyes.

"It's the most psychoactive material I know," I said as I held it at the end of my finger and levitated it with an intense stare, I let out a grin, I didn't touch it with a tendril of soul energy, "it is the greatest material to make staffs, psychic swords and psychic armor out of."

"I see," she tilted her head, "and what are you doing with it?"

"I'm trying to purify it," I shrugged. "I want a pure Wraithbone without Warp tainting it, made up of pure soul energy."

"And that's ... possible?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, "no reason it shouldn't be. I can already purify Warp energy, so this isn't much of a leap."

"Wait what?" she stared at me incredulously.

"Wanna feel it?" I raised an eyebrow as I made the tip of my index finger glow with utterwhite light.

"Can I?" she stared at the light.

"Sure," I said, "focus on how it feels. This is what the Warp is supposed to be and what it would be if the galaxy wasn't such a fucked up place."

I poked her in the forehead and let a bit of the energy drip into her. Her reaction was much less intense than Valenith's, probably a combination of less acute senses and not understanding what me having this energy means. She blinked owlishly a few times before she shook her head, hitting me in the face with her hair.

"That felt..." she frowned in thought as she glanced at me extracting her hair from my mouth, "sorry- I mean, it felt... normal, like... nothing."

"Because it's pure," I shrugged, "energy shouldn't feel like anything, but it still has some tastes to it and peculiarities, but far from what the Warp energy has."

"How do you even purify it?" she raised an eyebrow, probably not expecting a straight answer.

"I'm such a pure soul that the Warp can't help but be cleansed of evil in my presence," I raised my chin proudly and she snorted.

"Sure," she rolled her eyes with a smile.