The burly giant had already turned to the enormous metal weights, but Res stopped him: “Wait. I have an unusual request to make.”

“Right. What do you suggest? Thinking, as you brain cores always do?”

“No, it’s not that simple. You were an elite guard once?”

One could see the pain in Orson’s eyes at the mention of the elite guards, but he replied. “Yes, I was.”

“Can you just fight against an invisible opponent? Use all your best moves.”

Orson gave Res a look that expressed his thoughts about that, but he did as asked. Like a whirlwind, Orson began to wildly punch, block, clinch and grapple with an imaginary opponent. All the while, Res watched him intently while circulating aether in his eyes. Periodically, he would change to another sense like sound and touch.

When Orson began to sweat, he stopped: “Boy, you know that you are not the first to come up with this idea? Do you think you are smart? In a fight, the brain core will not have the power nor the reaction time to react to something unforeseen.”

“I don’t think I am anything. I know that I know nothing. Thanks for the demonstration. First, I will process the data.”

Orson snickered at Res: “You don’t believe me, huh? Boy, you are nothing. We will have a fight after you have ‘processed the data’. You will still have time to change your basis after that.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”, Res answered cheerfully, but sweat covered his brows. If his idea wouldn’t work, Orson would pound him into minced meat. Angrily, Orson stomped off towards his little shack.

“You know Bro, I don’t like agreeing with people, but that dude is right. I see that you want to become ‘The Flash’ and run around in a tight-fitting red full body condom, but that is delusional.”

“I am not sure whether this will even work, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”

“Alright, man. The best speed technique I know is … ”

”Start with the simplest one.”

“OK, that’s reasonable. Try to grab some of the aether and DON’T PULL IT.”

Res reached out to his surroundings and felt for the essence of his surroundings. He felt like he could force the aether to come to him, but that somehow felt wrong. “Bro, what are you doing! Grab it already. Grabbing aether is something any child can do.”

Res thought more intently about the essence of his situation, but nothing worked. The temptation of grabbing the aether forcefully tried to wriggle its way into Res’s mind, but he shoved it away. Instead, he retreated to the black abyss of his mind and he found a new truth in this place without pressure: “Sometimes, it takes more strength to let go than to hang on.”

With mental effort, he let go of the desire to want aether and suddenly, he again was encompassed by this strange force. “Bro, what took you so long? Now try to carefully grab some of it and form a string. Are you good with knots?”

“I know how to tie my shoes.”

“Ahh, man. Alright, you start by winding the end of the rope … ”

After 20 minutes of intense concentration, Res had finally made it work. During the process, he had continuously worked on the piece of rope until he finally held a small knot. When he released it at a small barrel, it began to slowly roll but stopped after a few seconds.

“Bro, see what I said? Lame. Let’s get this over with and change your cultivation basis. No brain core could even match a heart core.”

“Save your persuasiveness for what I am about to ask. From what I know, you can imprint a spell onto any object without a living aether signature. Sure, it is difficult but possible. What are you made of? Are ghosts counted as living beings?”

Jason stuttered around for several moments: “I am made of ghost plasma. It is sticky goo. I see where you are going and I don’t like it. Bro, but that is not cool.”

“I thought you always wanted to be strong.”

“Of course. But … I would turn into an artifact.”

“I don’t want to force you, but what I am saying is that this is a unique opportunity for both of us.”

Jason was silent for several moments. Then, he blurted out: “You know what? Fuck it. Let’s do this.”

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“So, where are you in my body?”

“ahhhhh … everywhere, but your brain?”

“Ok Jason, I don’t know you very well but we will have to work together. When I was in your crystal orb, you said that: ‘we are in this shit together’ and now it is true. From now on, we won’t be two guys in the same apartment, ok? You don’t have to agree, but this is a unique opportunity.”

“Yes, brother” Jason’s serious tone made Res raise his eyebrows. Through their mental link, he sent Jason his emotions of fear, hope, and trust. “Bro, I wanted to tell you that I have come to like you … No homo.”

“Me too.”

“Let’s try the best technique from the start, shall we?”

“Wait, I have to ask Orson first.”

Res shouted over to the shack: “Can I do another cultivation session?”

“Yes, they will have marked this area as safe.”, Orson shouted back in a disgruntled tone.

Content with his safety, Res again turned inward: “Ok, let’s start.”

Jason giggled. “I want to see your face when … Never mind. This will be akin to a tier change, so you won’t be able to rely on any of your normal senses. Your only sense will be your aether sense. You start by grabbing the aether, but this time you imagine a normal paper sheet. Your only task is to fold that paper in half for fifteen times. Simple, right?”

In the back of Res’s mind, a small thought of doubt wanted to wriggle free, but Res squashed it. Manifesting an aether paper within the trance was effortless. “1 Fold, 2 Fold, 3,4,5,6,7”. Folding the paper sheet made out of aether became close to impossible, but he pushed on. “8” Res heard the amused snorts of Jason in the background as Res pushed with all his mental might.

“Bro, chill you … ”

A barrier broke in Res’s mind and Jason was cut off as aether drowned his sense. His entire body felt like it was collapsing from the strain, but Res pushed on. Finally, he finished the ninth fold and released the power. With the release of power, he could hear Jason’s screams of torture.

“Are you all right Jason?”

“Holy shit that HURT. No, I am not. Suppose I did it to myself. The normal procedure consists out of compressing a ball over six hours. At least we saved ourselves some time.” Instead of a folded paper, Res held a ball of energy that glowed like the sun to his aether senses in his hand. “That is aether plasma. A purified version of aether. Most advanced runes are made out of it. Now, try to form the ball into a rope and then weave the left end under …”.

What followed was the endless weaving of aether threads into more and more complicated patterns. Finally, Res held a piece of knotwork beauty in his hands.

“Where should I place it?”

“I have part of my plasma outside of your body near your throat. Place it there.” Yet, Res hesitated. When he looked at the complex knot, he somehow felt like he still missed something.

“Bro put it on your throat already.”

“Wait, I need to … What is force? What is this spell? Why? How? I need to think.” Despite protest from Jason, he retreated into the abyss of his mind. “What is force? Pushing, pulling, pressing. Pushing something away is one reason we live. One force that drives us. We always run away from something. Problems, relationships, everything.”

This new knowledge somehow filled a gap in his soul and he felt whole and ready. Res touched his throat with the rune attached to his hand and all his senses came flooding back. What assaulted his senses first was the steady rhythm of running feet on cobblestone. With a start, he realized that he was not in the warehouse anymore. When he tried to free himself from whatever was restricting him on his waist, it only tightened.

Before Res could cry out for help, the deep voice of Orson drowned out any uncertainty: “Boy, you are awake. Don’t panic, it’s me, Orson.”

The rational part of him realized that he was flung over Orson’s shoulder. In the dark gloom, he saw residential buildings fly past. Despite wanting to ask Orson thousands of questions, he tried to talk to Jason but got no answer. They passed into a side alley and Orson set Res down on a front porch. When Res took in the scenery, he saw that they were in one of the nicer districts of town.

“Boy, do you know what you did?”

“I pulled in the aether.”

Orson deep laughter rumbled through the streets: “ ’I pulled in aether’, he says. As if he only did some casual cultivating. Boy, you pulled in enough aether to destroy the district!” At Orson’s questioning gaze, Res only shrugged. “You are a special one. My, my. When I said that you could do some cultivating, I didn’t … Never mind. How do you do it? Not even I in the glory days could have pulled in that much aether.”

Res didn’t trust Orson in the slightest and so defaulted to a: “Hmmm.”

“Not a talkative one. Alright, keep your secrets. As long as you fuck up the Elite Guard, I am happy. I realize now why they were hunting you.”

“Did they come again?”

“They did. I didn’t stay to see it. As soon as you pulled in aether like I would chug down beer, I threw you over my shoulder and ran. It is a secret that I shouldn’t know, but there is a slight delay between the detection. Once they have your signal pinpointed, the elite guards will have you surrounded. Never underestimate the Elite Royal Guard. The requirement to join is being S-Rank. If I hadn’t run through registered power areas, we wouldn’t have remained undetected.”

“Wait, you are an S-Rank?”

“Not anymore. They used a special alchemy concoction to burn away my knowledge of the spells. I am in the middle of the B-Tier. Regardless, you need to go into hiding right now. Guards are already patrolling like crazy in the city and it will only get worse. I have to get back before sunup to avoid suspicion. My advice is to wait for all the workers to start their shift at sunup and then you join the throng.”

“One last question before you go. How much power can I use and not get noticed by the power tracker?”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t use the tiniest shred of power. I have to go now. Good luck.” With that, the bulking form of Orson vanished into the dim main street, and Orson left Res alone with his thoughts.

“Bro, you are never alone. No homo.”

Res couldn’t hold back and cried out loud: “Jason! Are you all right?”

“Yeah, Bro. Even though I still can’t believe you actually folded that piece of paper for a ninth time. Right! Try them out, man. Yo, you could straight up be superman if you push yourself away from the ground.”

“I am not that suicidal. They have a tracking device pointed at the city. Let’s go back to Granny’s shop first. They can’t track all aether users in the entire city after sunup.”

Now determined, Res made his way to Granny’s shop.