Not wanting to stay in the wet and dark cave the manticore had called home, Dan and the others left quickly. They continued on for about half an hour before there was any change to the labyrinth’s grey walls. Upon finding the next room, and only after Dan said there were no traps, the group all fell onto the soft grass before them happily. The dripping dankness of the foetid cave was easily forgotten amongst the blooms of wildflowers and soft breeze.

Laid out before them, seemingly for quite a distance, was a calm and relaxing field. Near the entrance, the ground and grass was churned, revealing mud and rock beneath. It suggested that this room, like the cave before, was not quite of the labyrinth itself. It was more apparent to Dan himself. His mana sense felt distant when it entered the spaces before he did, as though the threshold was both tiny and massive at the same time.

“A monster’s core is a thick coagulation of the ambient mana in the air. Stagnating in dark, gore-filled places, the mana sinks into whatever cracks or rot it can before the core itself goes to work. It starts to think, starts to get feral and twisted, until eventually it grabs whatever is close by and makes a body for itself.”

Dan listened to Xiaomei’s explanation without interruption. They had been sitting in the field for around ten minutes. Breath caught, Xiaomei took to explaining the workings of a monster core for both Dan and Hyun Soon. As she spoke, she held aloft the strange glistening orb in her hand. In the fake sunlight glow of the meadow, beams of multifaceted light arced from it like a crystal.

“A practitioner can subsume the core and become stronger. In most cases, it’s usually described as inflating your core, but we don’t really do it. Guan tradition is to become strong without the use of elixirs and cores, though if you leave Guan lands then I suppose we would seem the strange ones. Apparently some cores can make your abilities strange, though because we don’t use them like that I don’t know more.”

“And what do you think we should do with this one?” Hyun Soon asked, leaning close to the iridescent ball. “Are they valuable?” Hyun was looking at the orb, so he didn’t notice how Xiaomei managed to both shrink away from his closeness and lean in at the same time. Xiaomei held the orb higher, hiding her blushing face from Hyun’s imperceptive eyes.

“Only if you can sell them-” She stopped talking, but Dan could tell that Fa Lian had stopped herself from name calling. “Other than the dwarf, we haven’t seen anyone. There must be some people living down here, especially if there are places like this.” She gestured around to the scene surrounding them.

It really was wonderful, Dan accepted. Impossibly, bird calls could be heard. A brook babbled. Wind whispered over the grass. Fa Lian produced some flaky breaded pastries from the magical pouch she carried, and instead of feeling like they were eating rations, the group enjoyed a picnic. By the time that Dan realised he was staring at Fa Lian, she had noticed the same.

“What?” She asked, rubbing her lips to remove any trace of food that might be causing him to focus on her.

“Oh, sorry, I must have spaced out a little there,” Dan lied easily, “there’s no stream in here.”

“...What?” Fa Lian repeated, her confusion growing more and more abstract. Dan was nowhere near adept enough with his own feelings to explain what he was thinking though, so he just smiled and shrugged. Fa Lian rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Hyun Soon should use the core.” Dan said, shifting the conversation back. Dan nearly choked on the bread he shoved into his mouth as three heads snapped to look at him, all with different expressions. Xiaomei looked concerned, as though Dan had said Hyun should eat a hot coal. Fa Lian looked curious, if a little annoyed at the change in subject.

Hyun Soon looked almost troubled. “Why me?” He asked, clearly feeling an insult in the choice. Dan tried to disarm with a smile, but the jam and bits of bread in his teeth probably didn’t help.

“Well,” Dan said through a mostly chewed mouthful, “I’m already at the star stage. Our first step should be to get the three of you there..”

“Why does that start with me? I know I’m the least useful…” Hyun had stopped eating, now looking at Dan very seriously. He looked like a cold puppy asking to come in from the elements.

“Dan!” Xiaomei gasped, assuming Hyun’s version of things was the truth.

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“Calm, please.” Dan was calm even as his words were taken the wrong way. “I can see your energy, remember?” Dan tapped his temple, bringing attention to his now silvery eyes. “Fa Lian had a soul stone, and that will be enough to push her there eventually if it’s anything like mine, if not, she has the Dragon Bo. Xiaomei and you are around the same progression, but doesn’t it make more sense for you to be stronger when you’re closer to the fighting?”

The words worked instantly, and trepidation became a bashful attempt at being humble. “Well, I do keep the monsters looking at me, so I guess it makes sense. I’m not sure I need the help, but if you think it’s a good idea, maybe it is? What do you think, Mei?”

“I’m not sure.” Xiaomei mumbled, biting her lip. “I heard that they limit your growth down the line.”

“No more than dying would.” Fa Lian interjected. She dusted her hands of crumbs and stood up, stretching her back and shoulders as she did. “If it’s the choice between potential strength and power right now, I say take it. You’d be foolish not to.”

Without another word she stepped away from the group. Her posture very much suggested that she had nothing more to add to the conversation, and that she wasn’t going to try. Feeling like their time here was coming to an end, Dan rolled onto his back.

Was the sky simulated, or was it a real sky? Were they in a small pocket of the real world, which it felt like? Dan found himself pondering on the nature of the labyrinth as he lay staring up at the confusing clouds above. The decision on the orb didn’t have to be made right now, though in Dan’s mind it made sense to push Hyun forward. If nothing else, Hyun Soon himself would be happier if he were more capable of protecting Xiaomei. Dan would never say that aloud though.

Dan’s daydreaming was interrupted by a grunt, followed by a massive surge of mana in the area. In an instant, fluid motion, Dan was on his feet and ready to fight. How did something that strong-

“It’s fine!” Hyun Soon’s voice was pained. As Dan focused on the maelstrom of mana that had erupted, he saw that Hyun was right in the centre of it. Xiaomei had either been thrown aside or jumped away from the energy as it happened. “It’s okay. It’s fine.” Each word seemed more of a struggle than the last. It didn’t seem fine to Dan. A swirling mass of power was collapsing onto Hyun. Tendrils of shadowy mana writhed around his arm, invisible to everyone but Dan.

Dan himself was ready to jump into action, but he now had no idea what to do. Hyun had used the monster core right there. While Dan wasn’t paying attention, he must have shattered the core and began absorbing its power. “Does it always look like this?” Dan shouted, using his mana to make his voice heard over the growing maelstrom around Hyun Soon.

“No, they don’t.” Fa Lian jumped over to Dan’s side. “Maybe it’s just that core, or maybe it’s something to do with the labyrinth but I’ve never heard of it being a painful thing.” Dan moved a step closer to Hyun, but the boy suddenly whipped his head around, looking straight at Dan.

“I said,” through his gritted teeth Hyun Soon’s words sounded furious, “I’m… fine.” It seemed like it was costing him more energy keeping the others away than it did dealing with the mana, so Dan shouted back that they would stay where they were. Instead, he closed his eyes and did what he could. He focused on the mana within himself and started cycling every droplet of the river. While he focused his energy and prepared himself, hoping he didn’t need to be ready to heal Hyun Soon when the process was finished. No matter what he said, Dan was sure that there was no walking away from this without injury and channelled his mana to heal him regardless.

Xiaomei joined Dan and Fa Lian. All they could do was watch. The mana was dropping around Hyun Soon in thick heavy clumps, as though a tiny snowstorm of shadow was swirling around him. Without any protection from the elements, Dan could see Hyun was being scratched and torn apart by the aggressive mana. He screamed again, no words this time but just a true cry of agony and Dan grabbed the back of Xiaomei’s shirt to stop her from running forwards.

“He said he’s fine.” Dan said, watching his friend struggle through stoic, bleary eyes. He was almost completely obfuscated now by the dark wisps and spectral reflections, but Dan could see him fighting. On his knees, hands tearing the ground beneath him, Hyun Soon was holding onto to himself amongst the chaos. Dan hoped that maybe Hyun Soon was making the jump to star stage, the extra push from the monster core breaking that barrier and leading to the dramatic explosion of magic before them. “Jumping in there wouldn’t only be dangerous, it would be insulting.”

“But Dan-.” A protest died in Xiaomei’s mouth. She couldn’t feel the mana dissipate like Dan could, but she could hear that the screaming stopped just as well as anyone. The absence of that sound was terrifying in its own way, the speed of the transition between storm of shadow into the peace of the meadow felt like it must be a lie. Once shattered, like a cup, the comfort could not feel the same.

With a howl, Hyun Soon flared his mana stronger than Dan had ever felt it before. The black smoke exploded away from hyun as though it were scared, until he took a huge breath of air, sucking all the shadows into himself as he did. Like black eels escaping the light of the meadow, every tendril of power from the monster core fled into Hyun Soon. As the last wisps of power entered him, Hyun Soon’s gauntlets and armguards appeared on his still kneeling form. He raised his hands and brought them down with a thunderous crash, kicking up dust and making a small crater.

Then there was silence as the dust settled.

Silence for what felt like a lifetime.

Finally, Dan took a breath when he heard the first coughing and spluttering gasps from Hyun Soon started in full. His legs shook, and it was Xiaomei who found him first, her hands searching for his face to bring it in view of her own. Trying to take a step himself, Dan struggled. Relief stole the tension from his body and he stumbled. The mana that had been condensed and ready within his hands vanished and felt him feeling light, like he had carried heavy pales of water for an hour.

Fa Lian caught Dan mid-stumble. Her hands caught him under an armpit, her left arm around him, her right hand giving him leverage to stay standing. Only when Dan looked her in the eyes did he notice that it was not only his hand shaking. Her green eyes were full of worry and doubt, so Dan squeezed and thanked her, nudging her hip with his and bringing a forced smile to her face.

The pair turned to Hyun Soon. He was lying on his back now, panting like he had just finished running twenty miles with a weight strapped to his back. If possible he looked bigger, and a quick inspection from Dan’s mana confirmed that he actually was. It would be imperceptive to others, but he had grown at least an inch in all directions, maybe more.

“How do you feel?” Dan’s voice cracked as he spoke. Fear had closed his throat and only now that he could see that his friend was improving did the worry begin to truly dissipate. It took another few minutes of calm and more than a few mouthfuls from the canteen of unending water before Hyun Soon finally spoke.

“Ouch.” He said. “Why is it always me?”