It was a busy morning for the trio of players while they moved about the city to get the last of what they needed.

Henry was busy chasing down money that was owed to him by different merchants. He was using his Temple to carry heavy stock between places. He only bothered to approach the merchants he knew didn't have a cart of their own, so the discount of having him do it would be appealing. He'd built up a bit of a reputation among the masons and miners across the city, he was almost sad to leave his growing business behind. In the last few days he had increased his productivity ten fold, using the opportunity to try and train his skill to avoid spirit shock. It was so painful for him to move through the city that his endurance had gone up by 2 points. He also committed to stealing as much garbage as he possibly could. He wanted to gain every last point possible, and he figured nobody would miss their garbage. Some people even gave him a tip for the service, thinking he was the garbage man.

By the end of the 4 days, he had enough essence to tier up with plenty left over. He also kept 4 gold just in case he needed some money.

Another thing he had to do was retrieve a commission he'd already paid for. There was a popular synthetic leather that alchemists liked to make. It had no special properties aside from the strength of cast iron. It didn't weigh anymore than regular cow leather, and it was still just as flexible. The most appealing thing was that it was cheap. He commissioned a custom rib and belly guard out of the iron-leather. It wouldn't protect against everything, but it would definitely help.

He also kept a mundane steel short sword in his Temple for when he needed it. They'd already decided that Henry would play more of a support role in the event of combat. He didn't have as much experience, and he definitely didn't need the battle essence as much. The blade would be reserved for emergencies and showboating only.

The troop was leaving at noon. They would take a ship to a small town outpost north of the city, then they would travel by road the rest of the way. Captain Maraque's ultimate contingency plan in the event of an emergency was to have Henry store the princess in his Temple. It was a risky idea, since they didn't know Henry from a bar of soap, but it was a viable plan. If anything happened to her after he took her in, they would know where to look after all. The captain didn't think it was worth the risk of that happening on a boat. He wasn't sure where they would come back out. It wouldn't do to have the princess fall to her death right after being rescued. The other risk to travelling by sky was the vulnerability. It was too easy to spot them, even if they cloaked the ship.

There were ways people could locate or see magical signatures. Something like a flying ship with a cloaking spell would stand out in the emptiness of the sky. If they travelled along the ground, the intense signatures of the land would overpower and wash out any signature of their cloaking spells.

It wasn't lost on Henry that the captain was extra concerned about them being tracked. The mission seemed rushed in a way that implied some level of urgency. He still carried the concern that they were in over their heads.

At the end of the day, if things went wrong they would just respawn in the last Tavern that they visited. The risk wasn't too high for them, it was mostly the guards they were travelling with that he was concerned about.

He was the first to return to the Tavern. They were going to meet there for one more drink with the innkeeper before they left. She'd insisted they say a proper whisky goodbye, and they weren't about to refuse her.

“Off on your way soon, honey?” She asked him, pouring him an ale.

“Soon enough,” he said with a smile. He'd gotten used to the intense feeling of fear she evoked. “It's about time to see what's outside those city walls I think.”

“Because that worked out so well for you last time,” she teased.

“Very funny. Things will be different this time. I'm stronger now,” he said proudly.

“I can see that,” she said smiling. “You’re ready to push through your first barrier if you ask me.”

“Can't hide anything from you,” he said, tapping his nose.

They chatted for some time about Henry's plans for the future. She had a surprising amount of advice about Temples. He felt like an idiot for not thinking to ask her sooner. Everything she told him was written down on his personal site. He hadn't even given his friends the link yet, so he had time to organise it all. His heart was racing by the time she finished explaining what a Temple Forger was. He needed as many books on material physics as he could get his hands on. As long as he understood the atomic structure of something, he would be able to construct it out of essence. There was a little more to it, but that was the base of it all. He could be a Temple Forger himself with enough study, and then he could make anything.

She taught him that his control of his Temple was akin to a mastery of the art. He tried not to give too much away, but the Praetorian was smarter than he could hope to be. She told him to be careful about who he showed his skills to, echoing the same advice as most people that he told.

He was disappointed when his friends showed up, since it brought their conversation to an end. Still, he learned a lot of really useful information.

They had their final drink with the innkeeper, earning a wish of good travels from her. When they did, they all got the same notification.

BOON:

* You have been granted a boon by an innkeeper!

* You gain +10% to essence gain until this boon is replaced.

They cheered and had another drink with her. The last thing they did before heading to the pyre was make an official Tavern registered adventure party. They needed at least 3 people to make one, and it gave them access to certain Tavern merchant services they couldn't access before. It was decided that Henry would be the party captain, since Maraque already thought he was anyway. They also thought it would be funnier to have their lowest level player captain their party. They knew his plans to tier up before they left, so he was about to be the strongest anyway. They thought it would be a shock to other players if their team captain was a conundrum.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Hamish was the only one that could be bothered to think of a name for their team, so Henry had to resign to being called the ‘Hollow Henrys’. The others thought the idea was hilarious, so he was outvoted immediately.

With a bitter-sweet goodbye to their favourite innkeeper, the Henrys made their way to the pyre.

Before they went up to the ship, Henry found a place to hide away. He had one more stop to make to his Temple.

When he twisted into his realm, his palms were already sweating in anticipation. He made his way to his core’s island. It felt more appropriate to stand in front of the glowing ball for some reason. It was a little ritualistic, he thought. From what the innkeeper had just taught him, a ritual was exactly the kind of thing his Temple would respect. She told him he was in complete control of the place, but in some ways it still had a mind of its own. The Temple Realm was a world of its own, but it still belonged to the greater collection of planes of existence. She'd dropped the word life-core more than once. Apparently there was a power higher than anything out there. The idea gave him the shivers.

His core felt like it was vibrating with the amount of essence it held. He could feel how close it was to bursting, but he got the impression that wasn't what would happen. He cupped his hands around the glowing ball. It was always difficult to get close to the thing. He felt a little too aware of his own shortcomings, and it was hard to think about. It wasn't his first time though, so he pulled it close to his chest. It hummed with anticipation, so he started channelling his essence.

Tier: 1

Essence to next tier: 500,000 / 500,000.

There was a burst of energy from his core, he had to hold on to keep from falling over. It wasn't a burst of essence though, it was more like the energy that came from his screeching force spell. The essence never left his core. It imploded in on itself instead. For a moment he felt weak and breathless, but the essence eventually bounced back to fill out his core.

It came back different somehow. It was thicker than before, and moved with more deliberate purpose. Once I settled, he let it go and dropped to his knees. He didn't feel weak, but euphoric instead. As the feeling oozed through his body, he melted into the dirt. It was indescribable. He felt his Temple like never before, and it was stronger than ever. He could already tell there was a difference within himself. He let out a long breath he didn't know he was holding, and he felt his weaker self drift away. He could feel every part of his body individually, and the reinforcement they now had. Eventually, the feeling of euphoria faded to a subtle bliss, and he stood to dust himself off.

The world even looked different to him. He moved the air and watched the wind blow his saplings. He could see it in slow motion and at a regular speed at the same time. It was like using Hyper Focus, just without any of the drawbacks. He could even feel the increase to his stats, even if no number had changed. One of the best parts was his magic pool. Without even looking at his character sheet, he could already tell he had a much higher capacity.

He floated freely into the air, feeling more connected to his Temple than ever. Taking it all in, he smiled. Things were going to change around the place soon, and he was standing to understand where to begin. His HUD was screaming at him with a bunch of changes, so he checked his menus.

The Henry:

Race: Demisis

Age: 32

Level: 5

Tier: 2

Essence: 164,676

Health: 408%

Stamina: 408%

DiHexan: 780 / 780

Strength: 55

Dexterity: 55

Perception: 71

Endurance: 65

Creativity: 70

Core Powers:

* True Temple

Powers:

* Overgrowth

Skills:

* Retreat to Temple

* Hyper Focus

* Hyper State

Overgrowth:

* Increase the growth rate of biological things.

* DiH Cost is variable depending on application.

Race: Demisis [Demai/Human]

* A Demisis is a hybrid of 2 species of humanoid, sharing traits of both parental racial abilities.

Racial Traits:

* Demai are automatically granted +4 points to their perception and endurance stats each level, along with a +25% increase to fluid stat growth for both stats between levels.

* Demai are automatically granted +40 to their DiHexan pool each level, along with a +20% increase to fluid DiHexan pool growth between levels.

* Demai suffer a -40% reduction to fluid stat growth for their creativity stat, along with a -4 to their starting creativity stat. [TRAIT NULLIFIED DUE TO RACE]

* Humans are automatically granted +5 points to their creativity stat each level, along with a +30% increase to fluid stat growth.

* Humans are automatically granted a +4 increase to their dexterity stat each level, along with a +25% increase to fluid stat growth.

* Humans suffer a -120 reduction to their DiHexan pool, along with a -40% reduction to fluid DiHexan pool growth between levels. [TRAIT NULLIFIED DUE TO RACE]

The ‘Fragile’ Henry:

* Armour: -21% reduction to damage. [-15% physical, -6% all damage types.]

* Damage: +100% damage output.

* Boon: +10% essence gain.