Starsceam was a cultivator, but he did not have access to Sunwshisper’s Cultivation System. He was an engineer, and he had fashioned himself a quintessence organ out of the cores of sacred beasts so that he could process mana and use the cultivation techniques he discovered for himself.

(It’s like this world wants you to be a magical kung-fu guy no matter what.) He told Sunwhisper as they picked through the rubble of his lair to loot Dappo’s body. (As soon as I plug-and-played a hawk bear’s quintessence organ, I started getting prompts about channeling. The Hero System picked right up on it, and I’ve been doing taoist immortal crap ever since.)

{Are you still using an animal core?}

(Sort of. I was burning through them pretty fast. The organ I have now is mostly a nanolace lattice in the shape of a quintessence organ, and it pretty much does the job, but it leaks like a mother. Had to upscale it to the big battery to hold mana for the long term, but even that isn’t a no loss system. It looks like your fathers worked the kinks out on you though, I can’t sense any bleed from your organ or your channels.)

{They made me before their tools began to fail them.}

(Yeah, that. I’m calling it Quintessence Entropy. It’s a real bummer. I can’t build a computer in this world. I tried. It’s magitech or nothing.)

They shared a color aspect, which meant that they were able to share mana without the risk of rejection by either party. But Starscream, despite being just as synthetic as Sunwhisper, was a flesh artist like Dappo. His elemental techniques had manifested as the ability to produce various brands of webbing. It was something he had already been equipped to do, but now he could convert mana directly to a physical material, and because it was a cultivation technique, Sunwhisper could do it also as long as they were connected.

The webbing, while useful, wasn’t what had allowed them to defeat Dappo. Starscream, feasting on the cores of sacred beasts as well as the pure artists that had hunted him over the years, had advanced to the point where he was able to replicate a two-star technique.

Xanthous Ascendancy infused the user’s body with mana, giving their physical statistics a massive buff as long as the effect could be maintained. It was the same kind of technique that Makoto had used to kill the mechanoborgs with such ease. Starscream had figured out the method himself, but he hadn’t been able to use it properly, because his core couldn’t stand the strain on its own. Attaching himself to Sunwhisper made both of them many times stronger than either of them could be on their own.

Dappo’s packful of Krenshar cores was partially ruined. Some of the vials had shattered, their contents crushed, but there were still a few usable specimens. Starscream was actually more interested in the containers than the cores.

(These scripts are fantastic. It’s so much simpler than what I’ve been doing. I’ve been having to cobble together my own magic language up here, and kid, it is a mess.)

{You’ve done all this without access to any reference material for scripts or wards. How is that possible? }

(The scientific method words in any universe subject to cause and effect. But yeah, it’s been a mother. The long and the short of it is that mana responds to certain patterns in physical reality. The material doesn’t seem to matter as much as the shape of things, but what do I know, we out here doing magic scripts with rocks and sticks and webbing, so probably there are materials better suited to the task, I just don’t have them.)

They had long discussions as to a possible theory behind how the web worked, and in the broadest sense, it seemed that mana was attracted to certain patterns like electricity was attracted to conductors, and it could be trapped by those patterns as well. They took all of Dappo’s remaining jars and unbroken tools for collecting and preserving beast cores and returned to the cave entrance.

On the way, they didn’t come across Kuei again, so she had either left the cave or hidden herself in some other passage. They did pass by a few barbarians huddling in the dark, but neither Starscream nor Sunwhisper was inclined to help them. Sunwhisper felt a moment’s pang as they went on, but he didn’t understand it.

Why should these people matter to him? They shouldn’t. The thought of them blind and afraid, lost in the underground, gave him a strange and uncomfortable feeling which he solved by resolving not to think about them anymore. And when he didn’t think about them, he began to think about the raven.

He owed the bird nothing. She had extracted a promise from him by means of extortion, and no contract was binding under those circumstances. He thought about what her life must have been like, captured at a young age and bound by magic and iron. If she had been born into a murder of sacred ravens, the others had doubtlessly been killed for their cores. Likewise, if her relatives had been natural birds, they would have perished of old age years ago. She was truly alone.

When they found the open again, Janna was sitting on a stone, watching the moon rise.

“You stayed,” Sunwhisper said. A part of him had expected her to be gone when they returned, and he found that he was glad she wasn’t

“I told you I would go with you,” Janna rose, brushing off her robes. She had tied her hair back in a braid, and Sunwhisper had no idea if that signified anything in particular, but it made her seem very serious. “What does a pure artist have in this world but their will and their word?”

(Unlimited, godlike power.)

{I believe the question was rhetorical.}

“I want to return to Fringe.” Sunwhisper said.

Janna looked at him like he had told her he wanted to throw Father Gomen a birthday party. “They won’t welcome us,” she said.

“It’s not an official visit, and you don’t need to join me. I’ll go in with Starscream, and you can meet us on the northern road.”

“And if you are captured?”

“Wait until daylight, and if I don’t come, do whatever you like.”

She raised her left arm, the mark of a thief plain upon her skin. “There won’t be much of a life for me on my own.”

“Then become a sage in the wilderness, or otherwise try to earn your freedom. Once you have your first star, it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Janna looked away, ashamed. “I may never have that honor, now. I surely won’t become a sage.”

Sunwhisper patted Starscream to get him to crawl off of his chest and over his shoulder so he could access his chest compartment. He reached under his robes, pulled the skin aside, and opened it far enough to retrieve one of his two remaining fruits. Janna didn’t see him do it, but she turned back to him when he offered the Soma to her. Her eyes grew very wide.

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(Kid, what are you doing?)

{I have another piece for us, and soon we will have more. I want her loyalty.} He wasn’t lying to Starscream, but he had another motivation. He felt affection for Janna. He wasn’t attracted to her, and he would have been confused by any suggestion that he was, but he was accustomed to her face, and wanted her to remain with him. It was more like the love of a pet than the love of a person, but it was something.

“What is that?” She said, though she knew exactly what it was.

“I don’t know what your color affinity is,” Sunwhisper said, “but even if this doesn’t match, it will go a long way to getting you to your first star.”

“This is…” Janna struggled for words, “where did you get this?”

“I stole it. We are both thieves, but I was able to keep what I stole. I’ve already eaten two of these, and I have another. I want you to have this one.”

Her eyes narrowed. “This is how you were able to learn those techniques.”

“Yes, but it is much easier to advance to a first star than to a second. So if you eat this, we will be better equipped for the journey ahead than if I did.”

She eyed the fruit. “It’s too much. I would be in your debt.”

“There would be no debt between us. I give it freely.”

Her gaze turned desperate. There were people in Fringe Village who went their whole lives without having an entire fruit to themselves. “I can’t accept this.”

(Sounds like she doesn’t want it. Pass it over.)

“You can accept it. You are a cultivator, are you not? This is your road to advancement, and I would have you walk it with me.”

With a trembling hand, Janna accepted the fruit, and took a single bite. The expression on her face told him that she was his. They traveled far enough that night to make camp away from the stench of the decaying carcasses of sacred beasts, and Sunwhisper meditated until morning. With Starscream plugged into his meridians, he was eating for two, and together they managed to process the last fruit in a matter of hours.

He received a prompt to increase his statistics again, but he decided to put it off. He couldn’t raise his Ego any more until his Dao Rating was high enough to qualify him for a second star. He was close to that peak already, and now that he had access to Starscream’s ascendancy technique, he felt that he didn’t need to worry about developing his physical statistics quite yet either. When he met the two-star requirement, he would be able to immediately max out his Ego again, ensuring the fastest possible route to advancement.

On the way down the mountain, Janna took it upon herself to give Sunwhisper lessons on etiquette. There were a thousand ways to misstep as a young cultivator navigating a world of superior artists, and she seemed to want to prove her usefulness to him. Every evening, after they made camp, she would try to correct his manners.

"Hold it like this," she said, demonstrating with a convenient chunk of wood how tea was to be gripped and poured by someone taking a subservient role in a meeting.

"And what if I am the superior?" Sunwhisper asked.

"You won't be, and if you were, it wouldn't matter, because you can act how you like when you're the elder. Though even then, it's important to know the forms if only to know when those below you aren't giving you proper respect."

These kinds of lessons were trivially easy for Sunwhisper to put to memory, but they weren't in Makoto's scrolls, so he felt justified in investing in Janna as an assistant.

She had agreed to wait for him rather than returning to the village, and when they were close enough to see smoke rising from the bakery in Fringe Town, she went her own way. Sunwhisper saw no reason to involve her in what came next, and with his new techniques, when it came time to run, she couldn't have kept up with him anyway.

Sunwhisper entered Fringe Village without the tattoos of a criminal, wearing a face that bore a resemblance to Dappo's, though the difference in weight, and the absence of the influences of years of flesh crafting meant a casual observer might not have placed them as relatives at all.

In some ways, Fringe Town was a very small place, but for a man with no stars on his arm it was easy to be overlooked. No one cared who he was as long as he didn't get in anyone's way, and he was able to arrive at the warehouse without being questioned by anyone.

The raven watched him with violet eyes, her gaze lingering for a long while on his chest. Starscream had crammed himself inside his storage compartment.

"What have you done?" she cawed.

"I brought a friend," Sunwhisper said. "I take it you recognize me?"

"Sent to your death. Now before me…changed. The spider, does it live? What of the others?"

"Janna is fine. Gomen Ji is dead."

The raven croaked a laugh. "How many favors I do for you. How lucky you are, with me as your friend."

"We'll see."

{Can you see the wards?} Sunwhisper asked Starscream.

(Yeah, but I need to come out if I’m going to do anything with them.)

Sunwhisper scanned the area. The warehouse was secluded, but there was always a chance of being observed, and it was close to the First Elder's home. There didn't appear to be any guards posted, however. Sunwhisper wondered about that. It seemed like it would have been in the town's interest to have someone watching the Soma stores, especially given how recently they'd been raided, but it didn't seem to be a priority.

If a spirit fruit falls into one's lap, it's bad luck to check it for worms.

Sunwhisper opened his chest compartment, the home of the golden compass as well as his new companion, and Starscream clambered out.

Karasu gave an involuntary squawk at her first sight of the renowned predator.

(After we free it, I can eat it right? You still get more fruit, and I can snack on her core. That's two birds with one stone. You get something, I get something, the world is a better place.)

{I would prefer to keep her alive. Her ability to see through my transformation intrigues me, and I think she would be a useful addition to the party if she agrees to join us.}

(Kid, if you insist on teaming up with everyone I want to eat, we are going to have problems.)

{I will bear that in mind.}

Ward construction was a skill, and though Sunwhisper wasn’t trained, Starscream had been hard grinding cultivation theory in the wilderness for some time. He took a few moments to examine the cage while the raven ruffed her feathers and tried to look as big as she possibly could.

(Got it. You want me to break this thing?)

{Not yet. Will it trigger an alarm?}

(Honestly, I'd give myself a solid forty percent chance of not making a huge mess when I do it. It's not like I went to school for this, and there are probably layers I don't even see.)

"Karasu," Sunwhisper said, "I have a proposal."

The raven clacked her beak at his companion, then turned her purple gaze on him. “Listening."

"I will free you, as you asked, but seeing as your silence is no longer valuable to me, I require a boon instead."

The raven shuffled its talons. “What?”

Sunwhisper had discussed this part with Janna. It was not uncommon for cultivators to form pacts with sacred beasts in the larger world, even if it rarely occurred in Fringe. In fact, he’d read that cultivators above three stars were nearly always accompanied by a familiar.

Janna wasn't sure why, but she had seen the Azai clan representative when she came to collect the tithe from the previous harvest, and the woman had apparently brought a magical lobster as a pet. The previous representative has had an animal as well, and they were the only four-stars she had ever seen.

Sunwhisper had seen images of cultivators paired with beasts in some of Makoto's scrolls, and he suspected the detail was important.

"I would like you to agree to be my companion."

The raven became very still. "What you ask, do you understand?"

"That you join me on my quest. Travel with me, help me if you can. I will not ask you to fight for me."

Karasu seemed to have been expecting more. "To follow, to be free. Small price."

"That is all I ask."

Starscream detached himself, and Sunwhisper passed through the gate into the yard in front of the warehouse. There was a small crowd of people already there.