Coach Russell stayed behind to talk to the guards. Letting me be on my way and urging me to return home as soon as possible.

Yet as I walked back under the dimming evening light, my mind remained alert and buzzing with emotions and thoughts that refused to leave.

'Of course this was going to happen. Of course she and everyone else here would make fun of aunt Cheryl and uncle Uter for being weak. That's the kind of town this is. One can't just be a layperson or a office worker or a homemaker. Everyone needs to be at least somewhat strong, because the weak get stepped on. By monsters and fellow humans alike.'

That in itself was nothing new.

I had been made aware of the reality of the situation on multiple occasions. It was part of the reason why I had agreed to help Mr. Robertson in the first place. So that more people on the outside could get cores. Because the weak will soon get crushed on the outside as well. It was inevitable, as the two-headed bird had shown me.

Those who could adapt would live and those who couldn't...

My mind then went to my family, to my aunt who'd gotten a basic core and to my uncle who hadn't gotten a core yet. To them and to Eva, who was more and more nervous about the prospect of the Dungeon with every passing day.

We'd talked about it, of course. All her friends blabbed so she couldn't have stayed in the dark forever, despite the rest of the family wanting to keep her out of it entirely.

She had cried when I brought over one of the watermelons for her to hit.

She'd said her arms hurt and that she didn't want to do it anymore. She'd said she felt bad for the watermelon.

"It looks like a hippo!" She'd cried in between sobs. "I don't wanna hurt the hippo!"

Then, I imagined her being bullied, as aunt Cheryl was being bullied. Being ostracized by lackwits and jerks with their heads so far up their rears that their breath smelt of methane and half-digested poutine.

"I have to be strong for them." I decided. "Now more than ever. I have to be so strong that no one even thinks of making fun of them."

And that meant going somewhere else.

"Come on Cupcake." I urged my new companion. "We're going to the Dungeon."

----------------------------------------

The entrance was unguarded. As always.

The only barrier being the rather heavy fortifications placed on the topside portions of the murder-hole.

There were alarms too, but those would only sound if something non-human was getting out.

"And even those are a formality." I mused aloud. "Whomever has the phone linked to the alarm system doesn't even bother getting off their butts for the odd Ripper that makes it out."

I assumed that would change if something other than a Ripper managed the feat, but in actuality the chances of that happening were so close to zero that it may as well be impossible.

There may be magic in the air, but there wasn't anywhere near enough for a monster to simply wander about. Not yet anyway.

I turned towards Cupcake then. Wondering how strong she was at the moment compared to a Ripper.

'Probably stronger up here, since she's used to moving around without magic. That, and the only powers she has are increased stats and those come from me. I don't think she experiences magic deficiency in the same way that monsters do. Down there though...'

That would have to be one of the things we test out tonight.

With such intentions, I put my hands on the heavy steel doors. Feeling my muscles tensing as I marshalled my power.

The doors groaned, but did not give way immediately.

I clicked my tongue.

"I suppose it won't be so easy without Marco, Drew and Ramji here to help me." I told Cupcake. "Guess it's time to start trying out those skills in depth."

I focused my gaze on the Analyzer and read the available skills once more.

Name:

Cecil Fowler

Core:

[Life] (7th Stage) / Gains skills from: [Adaptation] / [Constitution] / [Healing] / [Hunger] / [Effort] / [Animal] / [Plant]

Level:

1

Vitality:

7.9

Endurance:

7.7

Potency:

5.1

Precision:

5.2

Fortitude:

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7

Skills:

[Drain] / [Perseverance] / [Heal] / [Transform] / [Spawn] / [Terraform] / [Over-Mind]

The people here in Dunstonberry used the terms Skill and Spell almost interchangeably, but there were a few distinctions.

Spells were anything your core could do with the kind of magic it had. Such as specific results of free-form casting. There were too many applications to count and too many fluctuating inconsistencies with what people tried, so the Analyzer couldn't quite track them in the same way it could track skills.

I'd heard some obsessed people like coach Homer and James, Mr. Robertson's son, kept their own compilations of spells, but if they did, I hadn't seen them and neither had seen fit to consult me about them.

On the other hand, Skills were like automated highways that magic could pass through. Sort of how blood vessels formed through the body. Only, in the magical sense and around a core.

Each Skill was therefore much easier to trigger and new ones formed when cores branched out in new directions. Like roads being built by a growing city. So, one could use Skills much more easily than free-form spells and their effects could be be classified as pre-programed spells on top of that. Also, if you happened to use a spell that, for lack of a better word, clicked, then the Analyzer would pick up on it and use it as a Skill on the status from then on.

"I've been focusing on stats this whole time, but that's only part of what I can do. I need to use all the tools at my disposal, if I want to break through my current limits."

Moreover, practicing with my Skills would also let me fine-tune the oddities I was capable of.

Volatile as the beans had been, no one could deny that they punched far above their level. Especially if an abomination like coach Russell couldn't wipe them out for good.

'How strong could I get, if I managed to properly control them? How useful would they be, if I got them to provide free labor in the fields? Or as guards for my family?'

With those thoughts in mind, I began going over what I already knew.

[Drain] was fairly straightforward, as far as Skills went. I touched something and drained them of lifeforce and stamina, which then restored my own. I hadn't really used it much since I mainly fought with a spear, but perhaps it was time to change that.

[Perseverance] was a tricky one, since I had never felt it's effects in a way I could describe. Apparently it was a passive sort of power that would increase my stats depending on how hurt I was. Other people who had it, like Sean for example, swore by its effects. Yet, I didn't know if I wanted to get hurt on purpose in order to test out its effectiveness.

[Heal] was both my most used Skill and the one I was most familiar with. The passive side of it gave me a self-regeneration effect that was always active and that I could always feel to some degree. The active effect was merely an overcharged version of it that I could use on others and I'd had plenty of practice using it in the hospital between my recent bouts of farm work. You touch someone and put magic into them and they heal up. Easy and straightforward.

[Transform] was when things got trickier. On the one hand, it was my second most-used Skill and I'd been practicing non-stop since getting my core as you could make an argument for it being my main form of magic. On the other hand, it had so many uses and interacted with so many different things in so many different ways that using it on anything unfamiliar was basically gambling.

I mean, yeah, I became more attuned to each kind of fruit or vegetable or in Cupcake's case, animal that I used it on and that helped me use it with more efficiency and direct control afterwards. But there were so many possibilities and hidden interactions between animals and plants and fungi that I basically didn't know what the upper limits would be.

Not a big problem in and of itself. Unless you counted all the ways in which interactions could go wrong. Cupcake coughing up her lungs a few hours ago came to mind. As did the ever evolving beans.

"Come to think of it. The beans have apparently been changing by themselves. Even after becoming separated from me. Is it some residual traces of my magic or is it that the things I change can also gain the power to change themselves? If so, why did only the beans go awol and not any of the other plants I used my magic on? Could Cupcake do something similar?"

I turned to her.

"Could you?"

She stared back at me. Lovingly wagging her tail back and forth. Eyes filled with love and that deep sense of connection that had formed between us after I saved her life.

I could get a vague sense that she understood my words from that connection. I could also sense that she only got one word in five, if that and that she was far more in synch with my emotions than with the precise thoughts and ideas I was having at the moment.

"A question for later, then." I said and continued to stare at the Analyzer as I descended the stairs.

[Spawn] was also weird, but for different reasons. It felt as if it was an extension of [Transform] in some ways, in that it affected the creatures I used my magic on. Only, it sort of lingered and I couldn't really tell where one Skill ended and another began.

Then there were the vines I could summon from my hands. Distinct plant matter that were created through [Transform] but that began to act as their own living beings when they got too big. Would they still have access to my magic if they detached themselves from me? Would they act like the fruits and vegetables I grew if they had been part of my body before that point?

Again, too many questions and not enough answers.

As for [Terraform] and [Over-Mind] they were actually much more straightforward. One let me change the terrain using plants as a catalyst and the other let me communicate with the creatures I had affected.

Though I did not know their limits either.

"Time to change that." I spoke aloud. Finally chancing across a couple of lone Rippers.

It was then that the absurdity of my current situation finally hit me.

Here I was. Fourteen years old and still shy of my next birthday. Not even able to drive yet. Waltzing alone in a monster infested pit. Without a weapon. Without fear.

And the thought of being hurt did not even cross my mind.

Then I focused on the magic coming from these monsters and calmed myself once more. I was not afraid because there was no reason to be afraid.

I leapt forward. Feeling my feet leaving the stone steps behind as the stale wind rushed past me. My form parting the air in front as I focused on the feeling of magic on my arms. On my hands. Willing my fingers to sharpen into claws.

Those razor-sharp implements found a Ripper as it lunged. Tearing its belly open with one swipe and travelling further to strike the one next to it.

It managed to whirl out of the way at the last moment. Evading a lethal blow by the narrowest of margins and swiping at me with one of its own claws.

The rending blow left a mark on my armored suit. A small one.

It was gone within a second.

My tracked the monster as it kept retreating. Never losing track of its form as it dashed from shadow to shadow.

It stared at me in turn. So distracted with the prospect of dodging my next blow that it didn't see Cupcake coming.

She tore into the Ripper's throat. Wooden fangs sinking deep into its blackened fur and tearing chunks of still-warm meat from its body.

Then blood gushed out and the monster was dead.

Without either of us breaking a sweat.

"You know Cupcake. It's moments like these that make me question if I'm sane or not."

Cupcake stared at me lovingly. Eyes filled with admiration and mouth filled with dripping blood.

"I mean, I somehow completely forgot you were a wolf until now. I knew it, of course. But it's as if the reality of it didn't fully hit me until now. You just felt so, normal."

Cupcake continued to stare. Saying nothing.

I shrugged in response and I was about to resume our descent, when a thought struck me out of the blue.

When making the beans, I had become lost in the process of merging with the plant life I had grown. To the point where I couldn't tell where I ended and they began. It had resulted in me literally fusing into the plants and the others having to rip me out.

In contrast, Cupcake was her own being. Separate from me. In that, she had never been directly connected to me in that manner.

Sure, she was strong now, but only compared to the emaciated Rippers up here.

What if...?

I willed my right hand to grow vines once more. Willing them to lengthen and to merge with pieces of my flesh that also sprouted from me. Turning the leaves and stems red as my own blood.

Then, I willed the new growth to separate and pressed it to Cupcake's body. Letting my magic flow into her and allowing her to direct the changes taking place.