The girls had fun with their shopping, picking out various outfits for wearing around town or at home. Luna and Fang wouldn’t miss out, as they made sure to grab them special items as well. Exploring and shopping, they spent a few hours before it got dark.

They stayed at the Silver Chalice for the night, and Nick’s family was pleased with the accommodations. Nick and Kaya went back and forth teasing about his lordly lifestyle, and they had a good time before heading to bed for the night.

There was definitely plenty of room in his large suite, which had several separate rooms for servants and more, but Rebecca headed back to her own room for propriety’s sake. There was also a small dojo which Nick had practiced his Blade Wave with Kaya before heading out, a routine he planned to repeat daily.

Nick’s morning was spent at the merchant’s guild, meeting with a few business owners. It appeared that the guild was one of Lord Silver’s special buildings, the inside of it expansive with plenty of room for various businesses.

Many traded all over the shard, and could get specialty items so long as Nick had the coin–which he did. However, it appeared a round trip on the ship was several months. That left him needing to be very selective about what he ordered to arrive at a later date.

He had a lot of funds, but those would only last him so long. Lumos’s fee, unless they drastically improved their income by delving deeper into the Ordeal, would leave him with very little income from the Ordeal each year. He would have to make money selling bikes and other products, and grow his city further.

Overall, Nick was impressed with how the inside of the Merchant’s Guild was larger than the outside, and the building’s size was already substantial. The special Ordeal building likely benefited the merchant classes in numerous ways, granting them quests in which to receive Orion’s essence upon completion.

They marked a few shops for supplies for their kingdom, but their intention was to wait and see just how many people they would convince to come back with them to Frosthaven. They gathered contacts for the can’t live without types of purchases, and also gathered details on meeting with mercenaries under the guise of gaining escorts for their many caravans.

The bikers arrived in the early afternoon, and Nick was once again more than a little impressed with their pacing. Nick’s party along with the early arriving orcs built up four small pavilion style tents, taking all the space provided, just before they did.

Signs were placed out in front of each of the tents, detailing in Orion Common just what would be provided. Free healing was to be provided at one of the tents, with food at another. One was for Nick’s orcs and his people, meant to coordinate anyone wanting to settle in Frosthaven, promising homes and jobs.

Lastly, a free talent check tent, which would determine if they had the affinity to join Seraphara’s Clergy, and could become a Climber of her Ordeal. They would likely spread details about Seraphara at all the tents, but it was there that they would go much further into detail about Seraphara and trying to convert people into adherents and join them in Frosthaven to visit her awe-inspiring Cathedral.

Nick looked over the tents and the people bustling around with surprise. People were already starting to line up and ask questions about what was going on, and the priestesses were quick to spread the word.

Rebecca looked on with a bit of pride. “It’s already looking like our trip was worthwhile. It’s been far too long since we’ve had so many new people interested at once.”

“You did get some people from Havendale interested, didn’t you?”

Kaya snorted. “Yeah, right. Probably had a few wondering how much they could sell off the stolen books at the first merchant they met.”

Rebecca blushed. “W-Well, I wouldn’t go that far. But few were interested in the lifestyle, even if they desired the…benefits. There was also…a single family of orcs that joined!”

Nick chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t think most orcs are interested in strength of wisdom–they are about the strength of the axe. Though, I suppose shamans are all about wisdom. Maybe in time, they will join you.”

Rebecca smiled. “They are welcome to join us in our libraries, we invite all to seek enlightenment.”

He looked over everything again, smiling with pride at how well it was already going. “Well, it’s about time for me to start on this aspect of my Quest.”

Sable hummed, as she looked over his quest entry. “Heal five souls, free ten slaves, and convince ten to become adherents of Seraphara while on the pilgrimage, right?”

Kaya looked at the people lining up, many needing healing. “That last one seems like the toughest one. How’s Nick of all people going to convince people to follow Seraphara’s teachings?”

Nick snorted. “What’s that supposed to mean–are you doubting me again?”” He grinned as he thought of something fun. “You want to make a bet on it, Kaya?”

Kaya blushed at his look, and her ears went flat on her head. “N–No, never mind.” She cleared her throat, and pumped her fist. “Boss is the best, of course he can do it!”

Nick arched his brow. “What the hell is that? You okay there, Kaya?”

Sable laughed. “Fang’s not here, so she took her place.”

Nick smirked, and stepped toward her to scratch her ears at the base. “That’s a good girl, Kaya. That’s right, you can count on me. Leave it all to your boss.”

Kaya blushed, and looked a bit disturbed at how much she probably enjoyed his little reward.

Eirwen giggled, her tail swishing back and forth behind her. “That was cute! But I don’t think I’d bet against Hubby on this one.”

Rebecca smiled, her wings fluttering behind her. “I’d love to see how he does. Completing the Divine Concord is a respectable goal.”

“Alright, lemme get one of those monk outfits. I’m gonna knock that goddess’s socks off.”

Rebecca’s eyes widened. “W-What? Why would…”

Kaya laughed. “That one of your weird expressions again? At least it’s not something related to butts this time.”

Nick scratched his head, trying to think of the meaning of his phrase. “I guess it means… I’m going to surprise her so much, it’s like she got knocked down, her socks falling off? I don’t… Anyway, that’s what I meant…kinda.”

Despite the communication issue, Nick changed into one of the priest’s outfits–acting on behalf of Seraphara’s clergy for his Quest made him, at least temporarily, part of the church.

While Eirwen and Kaya spent much of the day in the tent with the settlers, Nick spent it working among the tents of Seraphara. His special brand of healing was rare to be required, but his Soul Sense had become even more sensitive as his Soul Rating and Power had increased.

He felt when something wasn’t right, and found a young child with a condition much like Winny’s.

A mother entreated the priestess, “I have taken her to see all the alchemists and doctors in the city. None can help her, only treat her symptoms. She is sick much of the time…”

The priestess ran her faith energy through her, and she shook her head. “I cannot seem to find anything wrong with the patient, though I can feel the damage within her. I don’t…see a cause.”

She seemed to catch Nick’s approach, and she recognized that he might be able to help. “Oh! Maybe Lord Noblefrost might be able to help. Can you check?”

Nick nodded with a smile. “I’d be happy to. Please, allow me to check your daughter.”

Placing his hand on the young girl’s back, he felt the small orb of her soul with his magic. While he could see that her soul was damaged much like Eirwen’s was, feeling it was a bit different. It wasn’t nearly as bad, perhaps, the essence absorbed wasn’t as much, or something else had caused a fracture.

“I should be able to help. It seems she might have absorbed some foreign essence into her core.”

The woman was shocked. “That… You know that, but you can help? I heard… nobody could help with that. P-Please, I’ll do anything!”

Nick shook his head, but gave her a reassuring smile. “You don’t need to do anything. Seraphara teaches us that as Folk, compassion is a necessity of civilization, not a luxury. I only ask that you and your daughter seek wisdom in your lives, and spread the word of this pilgrimage to those who might hear it.”

Calling upon his spell, he cast Soul Mend without the words. His magic wrapped around and cradled the child’s core, filling in the cracks and restoring it with a soothing light. Nick could tell the effect was even greater than before, as he saw some of Rebecca’s provided faith energy rushing inside through his spell.

This appeared to help feed the core of what it needed better, and the child only looked a tiny bit drowsy, a small smile on her face from the soothing energy from his spell.

It brought a smile to Nick’s own face, seeing the child’s smile. “There. Get some food in her, as she will be tired from the healing. Bring her to me tomorrow, so I may check on her.”

“Thank you so much! I will. I’ll come back, and I’ll learn more about this…Seraphara.”

The mother took her young child, and Nick noticed Rebecca smiling at him. It was then he noticed a bunch of the priestesses doing so.

“What is it, Becca? I found one I could help finally.”

“Nothing, you just seemed so…different. You did well, you were just like one of us!” Her smile was wide, and her blue eyes were shimmering in delight.

Nick smiled at her. “It’s the robes. I feel like if I’m wearing this, I gotta be at least half as nice as you gals. I’ve never been much fore role play for myself, but I can see why people do it now. It’s kinda fun.”

Rebecca blushed, her wings fluttering. “I…do like how they look on you, and I felt how you gently shared Seraphara’s wisdom to the mother and child was… quite attractive.”

Several of the other priestesses in the tent looked over with blushes and furtive glances. It seemed Nick’s priest role play session was winning him a bunch of points with them.

Spending much of the day healing others, Nick had found two others that needed his brand of soul healing, moving him forward in his quest. Later, he recruited an adherent by helping convince them to join them in Frosthaven when they were on the fence. Sensing their souls, he was able to vaguely tell what was wrong or why they were reluctant–a strong guess.

He had felt one of their sins, and guessed that they were ashamed of their past. Offering for them to earn their forgiveness by paying it forward and helping others and focusing on the impact an adherent or clergy of Seraphara could make, the person eventually accepted.

The other, they feared about their safety.

Nick wasn’t even sure how he guessed it, but it was like when the person lied about joining them with the caravan later, he could feel the reason somewhat. It wasn’t that Nick had a truly empathic ability, it was just that their soul wavered as they said the words, and it was like he could feel it was somewhat related to fear.

So Nick came up with an idea on how to address that. He addressed a few of the priestesses in the tent set aside for affinity tests and recruitment. Rebecca and Marissa were both there, among others.

“Ladies, why don’t you demonstrate to others the strength of wisdom and purity? It seems that the safety of those that follow Seraphara is a concern.”

They went outside the tent, and they called over a few of the orcs with their weapons. They lined up across from several of the priestesses, and a crowd began to form as they watched what was happening.

Nick and everyone got to see how Rebecca and the other priestesses could defend against attacks.

The orcs marched forward, brandishing their weapons and ready to strike. An aura spread from the priestesses, containing faith energy from their cores.

Rebecca led their prayer. “By the grace of Seraphara, let your heart find peace, and your violence find no outlet. Pacification!”

The pure white energy started to cover the orcs, and weighed down on them. Their steps slowed. The ability and its effect was almost like Nick’s Frost Aura, with the priestesses layering them on top of each other. Several of the orcs frowned and dropped their weapons outright as they got close, confused looks on their faces.

One of the orcs roared as he activated his blood rage, allowing him to somewhat overcome the effect as he marched the final few paces forward.

The orc swung his sword at Rebecca, causing the crowd to gasp–but the sword was covered in white light, and Rebecca caught it with an open hand. With a pull and twist of the blade, she brought the shocked orc forward unbalanced, and then she stepped in and threw them over her shoulder, his body slamming onto the ground with a thud.

While the orcs somewhat struggled, the priestesses quickly tied up the orcs, who could barely fight back against them. One managed to punch out, but it was like the slap of a child, the woman brushing it aside as she continued her efforts.

Nick could see that a number of the men in the crowd were skeptical. “I see some of you have doubts. Would any of you like to try? See if you can attack through their aura of peace, but just keep in mind–their power is even greater within Seraphara’s Cathedral. All those who bring violence to her peaceful temple will be turned away.”

He happily handed out a few maces and blades to a few men that looked like mercenaries, and none of them fared any better than the orcs. Many had their violence removed entirely, especially since they did not actually wish the nuns harm.

All but one, but even he could not manage to harm one of the other nuns. His blade struck the woman’s shoulder, but it was much like the punch from before. The crowd clapped and started to line up to join as adherents or clergy, and Nick found his quest had shifted by several members all at once.

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When the crowd had dispersed somewhat, Rebecca came over to him. “That was a brilliant idea! It seems they did not understand the strength of Seraphara’s Wisdom. Thank you, Nicholas.”

Nick smiled. “That was even better than I imagined. Why didn’t you use that ability on the overseer, or the demons we fought? It seems useful.”

Rebecca shook her head. “This aura really only works when their violence is not being met with violence. It might work for a brief moment, but the pain from attacks will bring them out of the trance. So would a party coming after them with weapons, as they’d feel danger and fear–and so they’d shrug off the effect.”

Nick thought he understood it. A lot of their ability to pacify people might be due to their knowledge that on some level, they would not come to harm by Seraphara’s faithful if they relented. “Hm, so this is why the paladins paired with you would use their clubs to knock enemies out and disarm them. They have their own peaceful aura, thanks in part to their desire to do no permanent harm but protect others, is that right?”

Rebecca beamed, smiling with pride. “That’s right! You can see the strength of Seraphara’s wisdom. Part of why it worked against even that blood raged orc was because we overwhelmed him. A stronger foe or numerous coming at us with violence would have been much more difficult, but you can see how peaceful resolution can be found more often than not.”

Nick agreed with her, and let her know about his quest, and how it had five people had been convinced already.

“That’s wonderful, Nicholas. We are seeing a lot of people interested, and it’s thanks in large part to the prospects of Frosthaven. The bikes, the orc raiders, and even rumors about you, are getting people to come here in droves.”

“About me? What’s this now?”

“What that mayor said, about you defeating the Path of King’s tenth floor. It seems many understand you must be a prodigy. Your race is even being mentioned. They think you are a Rebirthed genius from a powerful faction of Frostalfs.”

Nick stroked his chin. “I wonder how I can use that. I suppose I can’t just scare away bad guys with threats from my faction, since this is a Frontier Shard. But I guess it helps explain why I might have so much money and a few other things.”

A sultry chuckle came from the shadow nearby. “I see you’ve been doing well, Boss. I’ve been exploring the city, and probing some of the sketchy areas. This ability of ours is such a cheat, it’s too easy.”

Nick smirked. “Yes, that’s right. We Frostalfs are amazing at seeking evil. Tell me about what you’ve found.”

“Well, it’s surprising. I’ve found some underground tunnels they use to steal people and goods out to the river, and thus the ocean. It leads to several warehouses as well.”

“How did you find the underground areas?”

She grinned. “My control over shadows is getting even better. I can feel them from further away, and make them flow like water and shift them to ice, and it goes into the cracks with ease. Besides, when a scent is heavy and you’re following it, then it disappears, you know something is near.”

That she found it in a single day showed that there was a huge problem here in Silverbrook, and it was quite worrisome.

“Good work. Let’s just keep gathering information for now. We’re going to be here for up to a month, and I want to get the lay of the land here. We’ll be meeting with mercenaries, the slave traders, and anyone else that matters in the city soon. It’d be bad if we cut a bunch of people down and have to run early.”

“You got it, Boss. I’ll try to find those involved for now and get you some names.”

***

“Are you sure this is going to work, Lumos?”

Jasmine stood within her enlightenment chamber. It was an odd, spherical room with channels for essence, much like the Blade Soulforge–just significantly smaller, and the colors more…prismatic.

Lumos shifted a tile on the floor in the center, placing the odd replacement. It was like a special gridded mat, but was covered in glyphs.

A sort of pole held a prism up above, and the pedestal nearby the mat held a Nexus Core. It looked like a small, dark, spherical honeycomb–the size of a marble. It was devoid of nearly all the original essence, ready to absorb its new essence and be bound.

“Yup yup! Well, I’ve done what I could, anyway. The enlightenment chamber is configured to send in pure light essence, and I’ve refined the Alpha Drake Core into a proper Nexus Core. For the bottled Concept, it’ll somewhat be up to you, of course. I think you should definitely wait to absorb it, until you’ve built up the core a few levels.”

Jasmine sighed. “I know you’re right. It’s just frustrating because I got a lot of stuff I wanna do!”

“It’s not a good idea to rush something like this. I know you’re talented with essence though. Masters of Essence are the peak of anyone on this shard, most likely. Who knows what you can accomplish.”

“Hm. I’ll go by how I feel, then. Thanks for your help, Lumos. You’re awesome!”

“Hehe, you’re welcome, Jasmine. I’m off to look over what the crafters are working on. We need to build tons of equipment, even for our loggers and stone carvers, and equip a ton of monsterfolk for the Ordeals!”

Lumos left, leaving Jasmine alone in the odd room.

Nexus Cores were a means for people who lacked compatibility in their bodies to absorb essence that would otherwise be painful or impossible for them to absorb, though some used it as a means of passively cultivating.

By filling the Nexus Core with environmental essence, her body, mind, and soul cores would slowly and safely be suffused with the energies, harmonizing her with them. The eventual goal was to ingest the core and merge with it, allowing it to remain within her body.

Usually, cultivators could only form a core that was highly compatible with their bodies, related to their bloodlines or other capabilities within them.

One could establish a Concept Core, but that was often through a similar means of harmonization. Ideal, Class, Path, all actions leading to harmonize a person until they form a Concept, and then eventually creating a core from that very same energy.

A petrasilk had nearly no compatibility with light, which was a pure element. If she attempted to establish the core the normal way, it would end up weak–defective.

Jasmine walked up to the Nexus Core. Activating the pedestal, the essence was pulled into the channels of the odd, spherical room. The prism up above lit up, and beams of light scattered all over the room.

All to be reflected back, and focused on the Nexus Core. It glowed white, much like her original body had–if they could see her soul.

She rested her spider torso on the tile, and essence from the Ordeal was suffused into her. One might think that this was a little backwards. If the owner of the Ordeal can just use the essence from within it, then why bother delving within it, endangering themselves?

It was because the density would be limited to the maximum floor they reached. They could still benefit and level up beyond their current completed floor, but eventually, they would become stuck, or it would become a detriment to continue.

It also heavily consumed the essence from the Ordeal which could be used for other things. Because Jasmine was using this room, this meant that she was drawing it from resources like the Frostspire mines, utilities like the Genesis Chamber, or from constructions of other buildings.

Jasmine would do the best not to waste it. She drew the essence in from beneath her, and began her visualization. Nick was using chains and ropes, a fitting choice for him. She had decided on a special lattice–a web. Before she was a folk, she merely ate everything. So much easier. Now she had to do this…cultivation thing.

Forming the lattice around her body, of the mind, body, and soul essence, she projected it with her aura–and into the Nexus Core.

The lattice overlaid the light energy, binding her mana and essence, along with the pure light essence, to the core.

But it wasn’t instantly. It took hours and hours, Jasmine’s attention nearly waning as she covered it with her aura, and the light of the chamber. It took forever, until the core finally was suffused with both her energy and the pure light, and it made a connection to her–down to her very soul core.

A pathway was created between her and it, and the ball of pure light energy became like an extra, magical limb to her.

[Nexus Core Created: Light Core. Purity: Grade A.]

[+.25 Body, +1.5 Mind, +1.25 Soul, 0.3 Mind, .25 Soul Per Core Level past Level 10]

[New Class choices now available.]

It was a method common among casters. As she cultivated in this room, she could build the cup that was the Nexus Core into a larger one. She could use it to fight, and spend the contents of the cup, without affecting its level. If she had to, she could sacrifice the core for a singular, powerful attack and start over.

Like a gentle rain, the essence from the core cascaded over her. She drew the essence into her cores, mixing it with the essence from the mat beneath her. The process went rapidly at first, only a few hours more of sitting there. After the core was brought to level 12, however, the process came to a near stop.

The essence just wasn’t dense enough to continue. The Samurai Ordeal had reached Level 12, and Seraphara’s Ordeal Level 19, but the Path of Kings still only had level 10 completed. It would take many hours to fill the Nexus Core now, and she could leave it within this location to build up.

But what was this, new classes available?

[New Classes Available: Luminous Weaver–Epic, Shining Attendant–Rare Support, Stonelight Guardian–Rare]

[Luminous Weaver–2nd Stratum Epic Class. +.75 Body, +1.25 Mind, +.75 Soul Per level.]

[The Luminous Weaver is a sorceress class that merges the arcane powers of light with the intricate weaving abilities of a petrasilk, able to craft dazzling stonelight constructs and launch searing beams of energy. At later levels, unlocks powerful offensive or defensive traits. Starts with Stonelight Loom, Ray of Lumina, and Shimmerbind traits and skills. Note: Spells Require Light Nexus Core presence.]

That sounded like just what she wanted! It embodied a lot of what she was capable of before in her old body!

But she couldn’t help it. What about the Shining Attendant? That sounded a lot like a maid!

Looking it over, it had a neat aura that actually energized and improved the speed of allies, and light constructs that would keep things clean–like magic brooms. A shimmering curtain that blocked projectiles, and buffs that did similar to the aura–energized her allies. It sounded fun, but clearly inferior to the Luminous Weaver.

She made note of the names of the skills, as maybe she could find copies of them later. As much as she loved the idea of devoting her class to Master in that way, she knew it was an inferior choice.

Selecting the Luminous Weaver Class, her body shifted as it was altered by Orion. She actually lost several levels, bringing her all the way back down to level ten, when she had been almost level fourteen with her common class from all the hunting of demons she had been doing at night.

The Stonelight Loom trait altered her webbing, slowly creating a minor reservoir of the mixed energy webbing inside her…spider body.

Using her normal webbing would still be possible, but her body would slowly infuse small amounts of it with light energy, which she could infuse into spells such as Shimmerbind, or weave into interesting constructs.

The Ray of Lumina was merely a beam of searing light, and it was not anything all that special compared to what she could accomplish in the past. She would have to go somewhere else to try it out, though.

Probing the Light Essence within the Nexus Core, it responded immediately. It lifted off the pedestal and floated to her. Placing it in a simple rope pendant around her neck with the loop Lumos had left on the core, she would keep it close by unless it was on this pedestal, gathering the environmental essence.

The chamber could store up energy, but only to a certain limit. As she retrieved the core, the prism at the top of the room began building up essence, the beams of light being reflected toward it instead.

The choker Nick got for her might be even better for it, but she would have to wait until he gave it to her–of course, she always used her connection to snoop on him and everything he was doing!

Before she left the chamber, she took out the box containing the bottled Concept.

Jasmine could feel the light inside, like a warmth or heat, just waiting for her to consume it. But the Concept inside was like a blinding light, the pure nature of illumination. Hers were nearly all based on the energy of light. By empowering light photons, they could enter a solid state, making hard objects and surfaces, or energize them into devastating beams of light.

Of course, that was her understanding now, that she had learned some science and seen dozens of sci-fi movies with Nick on Earth. Before, her body was light, and could transform from solid to intangible, and even outside the visible spectrum at her desire! This was just how she could rationalize it now.

But with a sigh, she closed the box and put it away. She was not quite ready to shift the Concept, and she could feel it. Earning a few more levels was necessary first, as she harmonized with her new class and Nexus Core.

She left the enlightenment chamber in a hurry, heading to where she could do some proper tests.

Heading down the streets of Frosthaven, many scurried out of the way of her towering form, but many waved hello. Because most of her activities were done late at night, few had even seen her except the followers within the mall.

The city was becoming more and more impressive by the day, as people continued to work and improve upon it. While Mayor Steinweld may have foolishly used the slaves’ labor as a ruse to get access to them, the work to rebuild various buildings was very real and still underway.

Some ex-Havendale people along with numerous orcs and people from Zura chopped trees, collected stone from a quarry by the lake, while others used them to reconstruct the ruined buildings in the city.

Jasmine arrived at the Training Grounds, finding Lothar and Agatha training the orcs and new monsterfolk. Kobolds, snakefolk, and wolflings would constantly stream into the city, spending time in the wilderness but also integrating with the people of Frosthaven.

Luna and Fang would spend some time teaching them Orion Common, but it was a very time-consuming process to learn a language and be unable to speak it. Teaching their old tribe and the Ironpaw wolflings tribe was far easier than the new kobolds and snakefolk, and the beetlefolk… were a special kind of challenge.

A small group of beetlefolk were trying to follow the instruction of an orc along with some kobolds, but they bumped into each other clumsily, their bodies somewhat bulbous and unsteady on their feet.

She had seen them acting much more coordinated before, when she watched the beetlefolk by themselves. It seemed they did not work together too well with the other races, perhaps their need for the sound of clicks and the stomping of their feet to orient themselves in the din of combat was a necessity.

It was a problem that they would need to overcome on their own, for the most part. But she would do her best to help them.

She strode near them, her spider feet stomping in their direction. Their antennas quivered as they felt her approach, and she looked down on them with an unimpressed gaze. The orc had the sense to stop what they were doing, everyone watching her.

Jasmine looked at each of the beetlefolk, meeting their many compound eyes. “Beetlefolk–If you want to become more within Lord Noblefrost’s Kingdom, you must learn to fight alongside others. Do you want to become stronger?”

The beetlefolk hesitated. It seemed very little of what she said was really understood. They clicked their mandibles and stomped their feet, wanting to know more. They did want to become stronger, at least.

“Soon, I will take you all into the Path of Kings Ordeal. See your flaws, and hold in your hearts the desire to fight alongside others, and you shall change. It’ll be a speed run through, so prepare to bring lots of food and essence pearls!”

The beetles tilted their heads, and clicked and stomped. It seemed they didn’t quite get it. She motioned to the kobolds and snakefolk around them, “Try hard to better fight with friends, fight in tower, become more. I will help.” During her speech, she had pointed at the tower, and then made a ring with her arms around her belly and made it expand, as if she was becoming bigger.

Their antennae vibrated, and they clicked and stomped happily. It seemed they got it now. This was going to be a…very troubling Tower Climb with probably many pantomimes, but it needed to be done. For Master’s Kingdom.

Heading over to the archery training area, various targets were set up across a proper range. They looked like little straw men with targets and bulls-eyes drawn on them, and were kind of cute.

It was time to test out her Nexus Core. Filling and mixing the essence inside it with her mana, it behaved mostly how she hoped it would.

She tried the Ray of Lumina spell as it was granted to her. A condensed beam of light energy blasted from her Nexus Core, and shot at the straw target. It burst into flames, a hole pierced into it with a mild woosh sound.

“Not bad, but nothing special.”

Raising her finger above her head, she formed an orb of light. It glimmered in the sun, a brilliant white light pulsing as she infused it with mana and essence.

She then pointed at the target, forming a gun with her hand. “Pew…pew!”

The effect was much more substantial. Numerous beams of light struck out in rapid succession, miniature lasers being fired repeatedly. Like a chain gun, she fired hundreds of little beams and riddled the targets full of holes in just a few seconds as she fed her orb construct continuously.

For good measure, she gathered her body essence and her webbing, mixed with the light energy, and like throwing a ball, she shot out an orb which wrapped around three of the straw men.

Jasmine grinned at the result. The gestures were merely for fun, and she could do this while wielding her shield and weapon. Unfortunately, refilling the light essence took some time out in the sun or in the chamber, for now. Until she synchronized with it a lot better, and her body could supply some of it.

It was time to go hunting. Jasper the frostwarg was heading up North a lot, and perhaps she will go with him. But only for a bit–she needed to drag some beetlefolk through the Ordeal. She had to work on her transformation and this light core. With enough effort, maybe she could spark her Concept without the bottled Concept, and gain a lot more from it once she did.

It would be a busy week or two, but she didn’t want to take too much longer than that. She wanted to accomplish her goals and join Nick in Silverbrook as soon as possible, after all.