“Proper breathing lies at the heart of Gens progression.”
After a hurried breakfast and a quick trip to the Plunderer’s lavatories, Osar had called everyone together to stand in a small group close to the cluster of tables that they had used yesterday to sort their loot. Most of the items had now been packed into the spatial chests, and each of those placed in several tall stacks behind each table. Most of the drones that had been helping them were now absent, called away to the many other tasks Luna was working on throughout the Moon.
“Breath carries the accumulated aether into the Prime Core and through the channels that have spread throughout your body.” Osar had directed them all to sit cross-legged over several soft mats he had spread out on the deck, arranging their limbs so that everyone was relaxed and comfortable. He then insisted they begin their morning with breathing exercises, claiming that all of them needed to practice proper breathing in order to fully maximize the growth and development of their Gens. Although at first it was difficult to get into the right mindset for the exercise, soon the room was silent except for the sound of deep, measured breaths.
“Now,” Osar said softly when he sensed everyone had entered a meditative state of mind. “As you did while unclaiming the rings yesterday, focus attention on a spot in front of you. Imagine each breath drawing from that spot, molding the aether in that space it into a tight ball, and then carrying strands of it into your body as you inhale.”
Everyone followed his instructions as best they could, breathing in and out in carefully measured breaths, forming aether orbs that shook and wavered before each of them. Eric found it was easiest if he followed a certain cadence and rhythm, and soon he felt a restful calm spreading through his body. Threads of clear, unaspected aether began to flow from the floating orb and into his body through his nostrils, with colored strands of aspected aether flowing back up from his pulsing Prime Core to subtly tinge the ball in front of him. Glowing light began to appear around them, haloing each of their bodies with the dominant aspect color of their aether; pale-yellow lightning for Osar, pale fire orange for Serra, and golden magic for Cid. Eric looked down at himself, seeing that his form was outlined by the lavender of void.
“Let it flow smoothly,” Osar said. “Direct it with your mind, spreading out from the bright center that is your Prime, moving outward, slowly, through the channels and small side flows, surging and receding like a gentle tide, reinforcing the channels as it slowly moves forward, strengthening them as it retreats…”
Under Osar’s direction Eric saw the flows of aether as it passed through his core and overflowed into the channels that surrounded its circumference, some large and easily visible, some small enough that they could only be detected as aspected aether washed through them. Eric settled into a comfortable rhythm, not forcing the flows, allowing them to move in time to his breaths. But then he felt Pig’s presence, subtly guiding and pushing, teasing the flows through particular channels, making sure the aether entered certain whorls and networks, saturating them fully before passing on, where otherwise they would have merely passed through the largest channel.
From what seemed to be a far distance from where he sat, Eric could hear Osar as he continued to give directions. “Now let’s try cycling that aether… First, try to direct the flow towards your left arm.”
Maintaining the steady rhythm of his breathing, Eric gently nudged the flows towards the left part of his body. As he started to do so, Pig was there, helping it along, moving the flow faster until they reached a confluence near his left shoulder, where the aether circled what appeared to be a larger space, its delicate flows fluttering gently with every heartbeat.
“Once at the shoulder node, try to describe a downward arc, moving the aether flow past the left side of the heart and then towards the middle…”
The Accumulation glows abruptly died from all three of Osar’s students.
“What?” Osar asked in consternation as everyone’s breathing broke the pattern he had set.
“The open space near the heart just sucks in the flows.” Eric answered matter-of-factly, his eyes still blank as he maintained his inward-looking focus.
“What do you mean sucks in the flows?”
“When the energy flow passes through a tight nexus of lines near the chest area and I try to direct it inward the flow gets diverted into the open Core slot instead.”
When Osar did not answer Eric looked across to where the man was sitting and was surprised to see their impromptu teacher staring intently at him. The Urgan’s broad face was pale and he was visibly shaken, his mouth hanging slack. Eric looked at his two other companions but they gave him blank looks back, both as baffled by the Urgan’s reaction as him.
“Jad-Os… all of you…” Osar managed to mumble after a moment spent to regain his composure. “It is not proper for me to even ask, but… will all of you please show me your Gens Schema?”
It took some instruction before they could all do so, but soon each of the Terrans had their Gens Schema displayed in a full body-sized window in front of each of them. Unlike their status sheets, the schema appeared as a pattern of channels and lines very similar to the circulatory system of blood, heart, and lungs of their normal biology, traced over a cut-out representation of the humanoid form. Unlike a two-D picture, the schema was constantly in motion, where each Prime Core was an analogue of the heart, sending out a steady pulse of aether into the wide-reaching tendrils of the Schema with each breath. Most of the network was black and inert for most of them, although tendrils of copper-colored lines were reaching out from all their Prime Cores. Serra had the most extensive and advanced network of colored channels, one front almost reaching her left shoulder with a single long conduit traversing her arm and reaching her left hand.
“Never has there been three open Core slots for Foundation Stage adepts this early.” Osar muttered distractedly, closely examining the displayed schemas, moving from one to the other restlessly, shaking his head in unconscious denial. He indicated a blank spot in the network of lines that symbolized Eric’s schema with a black-nailed finger.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Always the second core slot opens no earlier than High-Copper Tier, which you just reached apparently,” His finger then moved to another space, this one directly across and at the same level as the second one. Together the two empty slots formed a triangle with the filled primary slot at the apex. “The third slot opens only after reaching Mid-Bronze Tier at the very earliest. For not just one but all of you to have three open practically from the start…” The Urgan’s dark eyes were wild, pupils dilated.
“What does us having three open core slots mean exactly?” Serra had opened her own Gens Matrix, studying the confluence of lines and nodes carefully, noticing that there were subtle but distinct differences between hers and the other Terrans.
“It means that you can immediately place your Cores, finishing the Foundation Stage faster than anyone I’ve ever heard of…” Osar said, almost whispering, his fingers stroking his chin fronds as his mind worked furiously through the implications. “If it were me, I wouldn’t merge the cores yet, but just having the slots filled immediately gives four ability slots to fill… You all can begin evolving your abilities faster, reaching mastery much, much sooner than any being has a right to.”
Osar tore his gaze away from the schema’s, looking at each of them directly. Eric clearly recognized envy and bitterness in their comrade’s gaze. The big man licked his lips, clearly biting back harsh words, before sighing deeply and visibly deflating.
“It is clearly unfair,” Osar muttered to himself as he stepped back from the displayed schema’s, indicating to everyone that they may dismiss them. “It’s a cheat for sure… but also not their doing or fault…”
The three Terrans just looked at him, waiting, not knowing what to say to help or comfort their friend.
“Ifni help me!” Osar finally said, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration and holding his head for a few moments. Then the big man straightened and squared his shoulders.
“Mes Jakobin,” He began, bowing slightly, a wry smile on his face. “It seems I was mistaken when I said you needn’t worry about getting your second core yet… If you like, I think it would be beneficial if we took a look at what we have at hand and see if there are any for all of you cheating bastards!”
Still shaking his head and muttering, Osar led them all from the meditation mats to the table where they had unloaded their trove’s Beast Cores. Tapping a small device set on the table, Osar called up a list of all the cores they had available, arranged by type and tier.
“I didn’t expect to have to speak on this matter so soon,” Osar said as the Terrans gathered around him. “But your abnormal Gens progression has forced me to it!” He said the last with a smile that tried to take away the bitter sting in his words, but Eric could hear it loud and clear.
He smiled back pleasantly at the Urgan, and hoped the man’s feelings would subside over time: Eric had an idea about the enormity of the advantage their being able to slot three cores immediately gave them all, and he figured that Osar had grounds to feel a bit resentful.
As long as he didn’t let those feelings fester too long.
So, Eric kept quiet and smiled as he listened as Osar gave an explanation of how the addition of two new cores would impact their builds.
“Obviously, the type, tier, and aspects of your chosen core are important,” Osar was saying. “But the order you place them also has an effect.”
With some hesitation, quickly overcome, Osar gestured and presented his own Gens Schema for everyone to see. There was a gasp of astonishment from among the Terrans as the full extent and complexity of Osar’s network of cores, nodes, and aether channels was revealed.
Studying it closely, Eric could now see distinct similarities and differences between the Urgan’s schema and his own: For one, the Prime core was different, smaller in size, but somehow denser, glowing with pale yellow light. Secondly, the complicated network radiating out from it was arranged in vastly more complex patterns that spread out to cover every centimeter of the Urgan’s body representation, most of it colored a bright silvery-blue although certain portions were still black and inert. Thirdly, Osar’s two other core slots were empty; appearing as conspicuously blank spaces in the midst of the entire convoluted network. Eric peered closer, seeing that each empty core slot had several smaller slots radiating from them.
“You getting all this, Pig?” Eric asked his AI, wanting to make sure he had help remembering so he could maximize the way he developed his own.
“I am recording and analyzing everything, sir.” Pig assured him almost impatiently. “I will have a recommendation for optimization once all pertinent data has been received.”
Hellfire! Had Pig just told him to shut up and listen? Inwardly shaking his head and smiling, Eric returned his focus on what Osar was saying.
“I am at what is called the Tempered Stage of Gens development, having passed the Foundation Stage, where all of you currently are, by merging my original three cores and creating a new Prime Core,” Osar pointed at the glowing sphere in the middle of his schema, before gesturing to indicate the network of lines. “My Gens is at the Least-Expert, or Least-Steel level, which you can sort of figure out by the color of the aether channels all over my schema. No, don’t pull up your own schema’s just yet… I’m just going through this as an example.”
Osar then pointed at the leftmost empty core slot on his schema.
“This is the Gate Core slot, which is where the next core goes after they slot in their Prime Core.” Cid raised his hand, but Osar waved it down. “No, you cannot immediately fill up the other slot… the Gate Core is always next.”
Surprised, Cid lowered his hand, his question answered before he could actually ask.
“Filling up your Gate Core will give you a Gate ability, which is much like the Prime ability you received when you placed your Prime Core, except Gate abilities are usually linked to the mind while the Prime is usually to an adept’s sight.”
Seeing all three Terrans nodding in understanding, Osar continued. “The important thing to note at this stage is that placing a Core in your Gate slot triggers a variation to your Type and the ability choices in your various Trees.”
“Meaning our choice of core will have an impact on the abilities we can choose.” Eric said, rubbing the stubble along his jawline. “I assume the core’s tier and its aspects will also have effects on our overall builds?”
“Yes Jad-Os.”
“Will the new Core’s aspects be added to those you can use to trigger aether-dependent abilities?” Cid asked. Eric looked over and saw that the man had pulled out a flat piece of wood and several pieces of paper and was scribbling furiously. Perhaps it was a concentration thing, since Eric knew the scientist’s AI was capable of recording everything for him.
“The Gate Core’s aspects will not affect your Gens yet, except if those same aspects are also present in your Prime, in which case they will add a one-point increase per two points found in the Gate core.”
Eric inclined his head as he thought what Osar said through, nodding when he caught the big man’s meaning. However, upon seeing their looks of concentration, Osar, just raised his hands and continued.
“My friends, this all sounds complicated and all, but the main thing I am trying to convey is that choosing your initial cores will have profound implications for not only your current builds, but also your Gens development as you go through the Stages.”
Having once more captured their attention, Osar dismissed his schema and turned to the displayed list of cores.
“All of you have graciously shown me your schema, which is not something anyone in the Empire actually does willingly, my friends.”
Of course, Eric thought, that was why Osar was so hesitant to ask us to do so. In a universe where might and power was prized, showing someone your schema could expose an exploitable weakness.
“If you would, we can discuss your builds and what you want to eventually become, and we will look through the cores we have together to find the best ones for you all.”
Voicing their assent to Osar’s suggestion, all three Terrans gathered around the list of cores.