“What are you doing?” Andrew asked as he and Greg walked through the tunnels of the Maze, Greg sending his smoke into some of the plants.

“Two things. First, I'm collecting samples so I can make this stuff with my smoke if I want. Not sure why I'd need to make a cave mushroom, but who knows? Life is weird sometimes. And second, I'm draining their vitality, because that's how I get stronger and it feels good.” Greg explained, grinning as he felt the vitality flow into him.

“Gotcha.” Andrew muttered, before letting out a sigh. “Damn it, this crap is starting to piss me off.”

Greg cocked his head. “What part? The dim lighting, the fact that it's impossible to tell where the hell we're going, or is it getting killed over and over until we either kill the thing or it gets bored and leaves?”

“What- no, none of that.” Andrew shook his head. “I mean, I'm not exactly happy about any of that, particularly the fact that I can barely even hurt these things without a good form or ability, but I was talking about the fact that I can't figure out how to make my aura stronger. I mean yeah, I get the boost from you guys, but… well, I want to contribute too, you know?”

Greg nodded. “Sure, sure, I get you. What do you think the problem is?”

“I don't know!” Andrew groaned. “I've used literally every method I could think of to try to connect with other cores, and nothing works!”

Greg paused. “So… maybe you aren't supposed to connect with the cores?”

Andrew blinked. “Eh?”

“I mean, you aren't just the core guy, right?” Greg pointed out. “You're the aura guy. Maybe you're being too focused on cores, you know?”

Andrew had to stop walking as he bent over, burying his face in his hands and letting out a muffled, “Fuuuck!”

“Happy to help.” Greg chuckled.

“Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to figure this shit out?!?” Andrew exclaimed as he straightened back up. “How many cores I've torn apart!?! How many abominations I've created forcing them together?!? I just- fuck!”

Greg frowned. “Does it matter? I mean yeah, it sucks to spend a lot of time doing shit that ultimately doesn't get you anywhere, but that's not- you can't predict how fruitful any course of action will be, you know? You can make guesses sometimes, sure, but as long as you're doing something reasonable, then the results are kinda out of your hands. But at least you figured out focusing on cores isn't a good direction for you, right?”

Andrew paused. “Well, no, cause cores do still do some important things… like abilities and forms and all that.”

Greg threw up his hands. “Then what the hell are you complaining about?!?”

Andrew shifted awkwardly. “I'm- frustrated I didn't think to try experimenting with anything other than cores? It just- it seems so simple, but I was so focused on cores that it never even occurred to me! And that- makes me feel dumb?”

“So? It's good to feel dumb sometimes!” Greg retorted. “That's what makes you want to not feel dumb in the future! The only people who never feel dumb are people who are actually dumb, because they don't have the self awareness to actually examine their actions and feel bad about them.”

Andrew frowned. “Huh… that's a- perspective, I guess.”

Greg rolled his eyes. “Just go experiment with your aura already.”

Andrew nodded, searching for a good subject and landing on a small, mouse-like creature. He reached out with his aura, tapping the creature's core to suppress its aura and walking over to pick it up once it was too weak to move. He then tried to connect his aura to its aura and… “Damn it.” Andrew sighed.

“What? Didn't work?” Greg asked, cocking his head.

“No, it did.” Andrew grimaced. “And it was so easy! Fuck, I feel dumb.”

Greg gave him a look before reaching out and smacking him upside the head. “You're an idiot. Now come on! See what you can do with it!”

Andrew scowled at him, rubbing the back of his head before turning back to the mouse, trying to figure out what having his aura connected to it actually did. First, he now had a… sense for the mouse, sort of like his bond with Cathryn, actually, though it was hard to tell since the mouse didn't exactly have thoughts. He also seemed to be able to play with the mouse’s aura just as easily as he could his own, pulling it in and out of the core like it was nothing, not that the mouse had exactly put up a ton of resistance in the first place. Other than that… “Is- there anything you think I should try?” Andrew asked hesitantly. “Because the only thing I can think to do is pull it out, and that just sounds like it'll kill it again.”

Greg raised an eyebrow. “So? You aren't trying to avoid killing it, you're trying to kill it in a way that makes you stronger! But my thing works by draining, so maybe try that?”

Andrew grunted, frowning at the mouse and trying to drain it, but that didn't seem to do anything. He didn't really see any other option, so he pulled on the aura and… “Damn it.” Andrew groaned.

“If you're complaining about something working again, I will smack you.” Greg warned him.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Andrew shook his head, dropping the mouse's corpse. “No, it didn't work. I just pulled out the core, like-” He cut off, staring as the mouse core he'd just absorbed crawled out and skittered away. “Uh… hold on.” He yanked on the core, dragging it back until it was floating in front of him, revealing a spectral mouse that looked absolutely terrified. “Can you see this?”

“No?” Greg frowned.

“Huh… Well, I didn't figure out how to get stronger, but this is neat too, I guess?” Andrew muttered. “Apparently I can make ghosts.”

Greg blinked. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, like it's made of aura and nothing else.” Andrew explained. “I'm not really sure what to do with it though…”

“Can you control it? Like Chris and his minions?” Greg asked.

“Define control.” Andrew snorted. “It's made of my aura, so I can move it around and whatnot, but it doesn't seem to obey me or anything.” He couldn't even get the thing to stop squirming!

“Huh… maybe try putting it back?” Greg offered.

Andrew frowned. “Put it back where?”

Greg pointed at the mouse corpse. “There. You took it out, right? Why not try putting it back?”

Andrew glanced down at the corpse. “Huh… sure, why not?” He shrugged, sending the mouse core back into its body and… “Nope, nothing.” Andrew shook his head as the mouse ghost wiggled back out.

“Really?” Greg frowned. “Damn, I was sure that would work. Cause that's what you're supposed to do, right? Connecting minds and bodies?”

Andrew raised a finger, then paused. “Uh… hold on.” He sent the mouse back into its body, but this time tried to connect his aura to the body, and… “It worked!” He exclaimed as the mouse jumped to its feet and scampered off. “Still not sure what to do with it though…”

“Dude, you could have ghost scouts!” Greg exclaimed.

“Sure, but… who would want to be a ghost scout?” Andrew sighed. “It isn't like I can control them like Chris can, so I'd need things that would actually listen to me, which would mean something with at least a modicum of intelligence, and again, why would they be willing to actually do it? There are at least benefits to being connected to Chris!”

Greg frowned at him. “Dude… you literally just brought a mouse back to life! You really think people won't be interested in that? Plus, you literally just discovered this shit! You probably haven't even scratched the surface of what you can do with it.”

“That's- fair.” Andrew agreed. It did remind him of his bond with Cathryn… maybe there was some way to share abilities through it? “I still have no idea how to make my aura stronger though.”

Greg patted him on the back. “We'll figure it out. Or we won't, and you're stuck leeching off the rest of us. But hey, at least you'll have tried, right?”

“Right…” Andrew agreed noncommittally, before letting out a sigh. “Let's just get back to hunting.”

Greg grinned. “Sure thing, buddy. You want to bring your ghost mouse along?”

Andrew shook his head. “No. I think I've tortured the poor thing enough for one day.”

*

Chris stepped out of a portal, carefully examining the area for signs. He'd traveled a good few hours away from the foxkin clan by this point, giving everyone more than enough time to wake up and putting enough distance between them and the clan that they shouldn't need to worry about running into any random patrols. At least, not from the foxkin… They could be right next to a different clan for all he knew. Sometimes the Maze was a real pain.

“Should we call Greg and Andrew?” Tori asked as she joined him.

“Probably.” Chris agreed, opening a portal to them. “We're getting started if you two want to join us.”

“Sure, why not.” Greg agreed, stepping through. “It was getting pretty boring just watching Andrew torture small animals.”

“Hey!” Andrew protested. “I messed with one mouse! And it was your idea!”

Greg snickered. “Dude, torturing small animals because someone else told you to is not an upgrade.”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Fuck you. I was just experimenting with my aura.”

“Figure anything out?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, actually.” Andrew nodded. “I can connect my aura to things auras, which lets me pull them out of their body and turn them into ghosts.”

Tori blinked. “You make ghosts?”

“Yup.” Andrew nodded.

Tori paused. “Can you be a ghost?”

Andrew froze, disappeared for a moment, then let out a groan. “Okay, people need to stop figuring out things I can do before I do. I'm starting to feel bad about myself.”

“Ha!” Greg laughed. “Get good, scrub. Also, clothes.”

Andrew rolled his eyes as he quickly put his fallen clothes back on. “You suck, you know that?”

“Sure, sure.” Greg agreed, grinning slightly. “But what’re you going to do about it?”

Andrew paused. “Tell Tessa?”

“Shit, that'd work… okay, fine, I'll behave.” Greg sighed heavily.

“Who do I complain to about being the only one of us locked in a corporeal form?” Tori grumbled.

Chris raised an eyebrow. “I'm corporeal.”

Tori waved dismissively. “Yeah, but you can move around as just a portal, so it doesn't count. I mean, I can move around as just points, but I don't get to simply reform my body afterwards!”

“Are you sure?” Greg asked. “Just because you can't do it now doesn't mean it's completely impossible, you know. Also, it isn't like my smoke form is completely without downsides. I literally can't use energy in that form and I lose any I built up in the meantime. So, you know, watch out for that.”

“That's good to know.” Andrew muttered, frowning slightly. “Not something I want to risk in Beast world. Might try it in system world though.”

“So really, we should all be jealous of Chris for his ability to move through walls without giving up all his power.” Greg continued.

“To be fair, my thing is apparently space.” Chris commented. “Getting places easily seems to come with the territory.”

“I'm still confused about how that ends up with you being able to enslave people.” Tori frowned, holding up a hand before Chris could protest. “I'm not saying you do, but you can't deny that you're capable of it.”

Chris paused, then shrugged. “Fair. And I'm not entirely sure, but whenever I connect to someone there's a sense of… ownership? As if they belong to me now, you know? Or maybe that they belong to my space? Spaces are supposed to contain things, right? Not much point to them if they don't.”

“That… sort of makes sense, I guess?” Tori muttered.

“Welp, we should probably get to work, right?” Greg announced after a moment of silence.

Chris nodded. “We should. We have a long way to go before we're strong enough to make a difference here.”