Kolt sat cross legged across from Micro, his eyes shut and his hands together. The night was much too cold for Kolt to keep himself from shivering more and more with every gentle gust of wind that passed through the dark forest, but his will to concentrate was impressive to Micro.

“You're very disciplined for someone your age...” Micro remarked while circulating his energy throughout his body.

“The old man's son couldn't sit still for ten seconds...”

“Is that part of the lesson?” Kolt asked, opening one eye to glare at Micro.

“No, sorry.” Micro nodded.

“I won't try channeling any energy through you, because I'm not sure how, but I might be able to help you see it.”

“See energy?” Kolt asked.

“Is energy that weird magic you guys use?”

“It’s not magic. It's hard to explain, but I guess it'll make more sense once you can see it.” Micro explained.

“Just pay attention to what you sense around you, sounds, smells, feelings, anything at all.”

Kolt nodded, and Micro began to release his aura. Mindful not to let his aura encompass the frail boy in front of him, the energy around him grew like an invisible wind.

“Do you sense anything yet?” Micro asked.

“It feels like you lit a fire between us.” Kolt answered.

“I don't hear anything. It feels... heavy.”

“What do you see?” Micro asked.

“I don't see anything.”

“Hmm...” Micro thought for a moment while inspecting the boy once again.

“You don't have much energy in your body, but you do have some. It should be possible...”

Blue suddenly appeared atop Micro's head, looking curiously down at the boy. She hopped down to his shoulder, then whispered in his ear.'

“This looks interesting.” She said with a chuckle.

“But he's basically blind. What’s the plan?”

“He's not completely blind.” Micro replied softly.

“It seems like most people have a little energy in their eyes.”

“Well it's going to take a lot more energy than that before he can see it with those sad little eyes.” Blue said, suppressing her giddy laughter to avoid disturbing the boy.

“That does make it more interesting though. Let's see what happens.”

Blue jumped down behind Micro and began to feed him energy, and the aura around Micro began to glow. It was difficult for Micro to keep it constrained to the area immediately around his body while the pressure around him rose, but he continued diligently while minding Kolt's reactions.

“Are you sure you're doing it right?” Kolt asked with a skeptical tone, sweat beginning to drip from his face as he struggled to remain seated.

“I think so. Just focus on your eyes.” Micro replied.

“Energy is hard to see, but there's a lot of it in front of you.”

“Okay...”

Fearing Micro was wasting the boy's time, he resolved to push himself further, unleashing all the internal energy he had stored in his core at once and attempted to keep it from simply exploding outward. The more he practiced controlling raw energy without the assistance of Core Cards' teachings, the easier he found it to manipulate, but Micro was unsure how much energy he could control before it would pose a risk to the boy in front of him.

“You can do better than that!” Blue suddenly shouted before increasing the amount of energy flowing into Micro's core tenfold.

“Ah!” Micro yelped as the energy overwhelmed him.

Micro managed to erect a large shield around himself to contain the explosive energy before it reached Kolt, but realized too late that his core was now under immense pressure. He felt his soul shaking within his core as the storm of energy swirled around like a tornado. The bricks of the ethereal garage that contained his soul began to loosen in the raging torrent of energy he struggled to contain, unable to release it safely for fear of reducing the young Kolt to dust.

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He wished he could tell Kolt to run, rather than patiently sitting, unaware of Micro's dilemma, but there was little time before Micro would have to choose between letting his core be slowly destroyed or unleashing his excess energy.

He then attempted to retract his shield slightly, and realized it was still possible to condense the energy further. He was unable to see through the energy around him, but he could sense that it was still safely contained within the shield. Retracting it even further, his core began to feel hot. Though he had no time to meditate, he felt the fear of the dog's soul beneath his own, while the bricks and shingles of the garage cracked and shifted.

Sensing the limits of his stamina, he did his best to condense the energy within the shield surrounding him until it was only slightly larger than his own core. His ears were ringing and his vision was blurred, but he pushed a little more. Finally, he felt the energy safely within the confines of the rings of water and fire that continued to protect his core, and he took a deep breath.

“Oops.” Blue laughed beside him, looking up at his chest with a wide smile.

Micro smiled back, but was still unable to divert his attention from his damaged core. He closed his eyes and retreated to the world of energy where his core resided, and was alarmed to find that it had all but dissolved in the roaring sphere of raw energy he'd accumulated. Through the chaos, he could only make out the shape of his soul, and was relieved to see the shape of a dog sitting stoically in the passenger seat.

“I wonder how he got in there...” Micro wondered to himself, then set to work reconstructing his core.

“Oh well.”

Simultaneously rebuilding his core from scratch and keeping the shield around his energy from destabilizing proved more challenging than the previous two times he'd formed a core, but the energy was so dense that many of the impurities and imbalances he normally found in it had already dissipated.

“So the denser the energy gets, the more evenly the elements are combined...” He thought aloud as he worked.

“I suppose it would be easier if I only needed one type of energy to work with...”

As he used up more and more of the energy in the construction of his garage-shaped core, it became easier to contain the remainder, and his work proceeded more quickly. However, by the time he was finally able to release the shield and allow his core to contain his soul by its own power, he was surprised to see that it no longer shone with a green glow.

“I wonder...” Micro approached the garage, entering it tentatively while taking in the sight of its amber walls. He could feel a big difference in the power in the walls now, and he wondered if he’d be lucky enough to rebuild his core if such an accident happened at a higher level. While trying to dispel the anxiety which such thoughts brought him, he noticed a small scratch on the door of his soul, then understood how exactly the dog had kept itself safe during the storm.

“You're quite smart.”

The dog smiled back at him, content to stay seated within the truck, so Micro continued to the back.

He summoned an Amber Core card from his storage, the Spirit Vision Skill, and held it over the bed. He slowly lowered it onto the bed's surface, not releasing it from his grip, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that the suspension of his soul seemed able to handle the weight of the card. However, as he released the card, an intense pain shot through every muscle in his body, and he immediately took the card back out without any of its knowledge passing into him.

“Oh well.” Micro shrugged.

“I'll figure that out at the temple.”

When Micro awoke, he was surprised to see Blue looking at him with a scary expression, somewhere between anger and frustration.

“You went and got an Amber Core before I did, and I'm the one who helped you do it?!” She pouted.

“Enjoy this fleeting victory, Micro.”

“Thanks, Blue.” Micro replied.

“The boy did well, by the way.” Blue added, turning away with a short breath.

“Oh, wow...” Micro replied as he looked at Kolt.

Though Micro could barely see anything in the dark with only one good eye, observing the energy around Kolt made it clear that something had come of his idea, other than his sudden ascension to the Amber Core stage.

Although his energy was still flowing freely throughout his body, the amount of energy had increased by several times. Furthermore, even though Kolt's eyes were closed, he was clearly looking around at the world and perceiving something.

“What do you see now?” Micro asked.

“There was a flash, and then all these lights appeared everywhere!” Kolt explained excitedly.

“Those lights look like a tree, and there's a lit-up version of you there...”

“Very good.” Micro smiled.

“You're looking at the energy of the world. It's useful at night. Try looking at yourself.”

Kolt looked down at his hands and gasped.

“This is inside me?!”

“It seems like there’s at least a little bit of energy in most things.” Micro replied.

“Wait...” Kolt said more quietly as he looked back and forth between Micro and himself.

“How come you have so much more?”

“I've been cultivating longer.” Micro shrugged.

“Your next task is to form a core, though I don't think I can help you with that. You'll need a lot more energy to work with first, and it’s pretty dangerous. Take your time with that.”

“So I'm not a cultivator yet?” Kolt asked.

“Sure you are. See what you can do with the energy first though. It gets easier to use the more you use it.”

“Okay...” Kolt mumbled, opening his eyes for the first time in a while, only to squint them again. He nodded his head, then yawned.

“I think... I'll rest a while...”

“Sleep well.” Micro waved.

“Thank you, by the way.” Kolt said quietly.

“For back at the camp, me and my sister...”

Micro only nodded in reply as Kolt made his way clumsily back to the camp where his sister slept.

“This should be interesting.” Blue chuckled.