Energy coursed through Mike’s body, the source of which was a giant sigil in his soul space, and for the first time since fighting up the queue, he felt overwhelmed. Physically, he could destroy his opponent, it was only because he was allowing the fight to drag on to gain experience in mental combat that he was being overpowered.

He tried his best to grab all of the energy that had been injected into him, but it was entering too fast and had already begun leaking into the rest of his channels. After another minute of valiant effort, he activated Footsteps of the Wind and ran away. The invasive energy caused the skill activation to feel like his channels were burning slightly, making each step painful. Thankfully, as was the custom for the hosts waiting to enter the rift, he wasn’t pursued.

Cresting the nearest crater, he began running around the upward edge, where, upon reaching the far side, he ran down the slope and into the crater that lay beyond. Pupach was waiting there, their eyes darting around nervously as they checked their surroundings–a habit Mike had noticed multiple times over the previous weeks. Mike once again felt grateful for his ability to see energy signatures from a distance, since it made it so he could stay alert without looking like a lost schoolboy, or schoolsquid in this case?

“How did the training go? I noticed you were forced to retreat.”

“Yes, the injection rate was overpowering, and I couldn’t keep up with it.”

Pupach audibly hissed, though Mike had yet to see the creature’s mouth. He just knew it was somewhere on the underside of their jaw based on where sounds came from. It would be easier to find out if they would just share in some of my southern hospitality, he lamented.

“So you still have foreign energy? Have you allowed it to spread?”

“Well yeah, when I activated my skill it pretty much spread everywhere.”

*Tsssk* “That isn’t good. Is it causing pain?”

“A bit. I’d say it feels like a sore muscle. Nothing a little time won’t fix.”

“It may be more complicated than that depending on the type of energy injected. This one recommends isolation while you try to gather the energy and expel it forcefully.”

“Well can’t I just use up my energy stores?”

“In theory that could work. But there is no guarantee that the injected energy will be processed and not simply stay in the channels. There also is no guarantee that it won’t propagate or harm your channels by being used.”

The information made Mike’s chest constrict. “So the only option is to manually pick it out? That is like separating grains of sand in a large sprinkler system–it could take months. Who knows if we even have that long?”

“In the Hive we have a saying, It is better to build one’s foundation on stone than sand, even though it takes longer. You will be grateful you did this now rather than dealing with the consequences later.”

Idly wondering why the saying was so similar to biblical sayings, Mike agreed and followed the squid back to their base. Finding a comfortable spot, he turned inward and began locating the intruders. It was hard to explain. The energy within him wasn’t like pure water, it had small packets which he had never been able to explain. Some of those packets were the intruders and needed to be picked out.

“This is going to take forever.” he lamented as he buckled down and focused.

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Two days later, Mike sat on a rim overlooking the queue. The truth was, he had gotten bored of picking out the energy and had insisted that they at least catch some vitamin D through the rift while he worked, the constant dwelling on an asteroid was beginning to impact his farmers' tan. Which, if he was being honest, hadn’t been the same ever since his clothes had turned into little more than scraps.

He wasn’t a robot or super hippy, so when his life wasn’t on the line, he preferred to only focus on his channels for a few hours at a time, before taking a short break. During his breaks, he enjoyed watching the battles unfolding below him. It was a unique opportunity to learn from the strengths and skills of others. He had been working diligently until only a few minutes ago, when Pupach had nudged him out of his meditation with the agreed upon signal, which meant that the beast that had infected him was fighting again. He hoped he would be able to learn something about expelling the invasive packets faster by watching it battle again.

The three-headed cross between a vulture and lion towered over the small, slug-like creature below it, although Mike could see from Energy Sense that the slug actually had a slightly larger core. It was one of the weirdest battles he had ever witnessed, as neither of the beasts moved, both being soul-focused combatants. While he could see their channels, Mike couldn’t see their soul space–or the way they envisioned their inner world–which made the battle about as exciting as watching golf. Now there was a sport he had never gotten into. Real sports should include contact between two people, a fact he would argue with anyone.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

As the minutes dragged on without any visible changes, he stood up and crept closer to see if he could get a better idea of what skill fractals were at play. The three-headed, vulture, griffin had his injection skill active, which Mike was able to locate quickly having spent so much time under its pressure, but he didn’t see any skills active in the slug. In addition to the active skill, he knew that combat was taking place because energy was building up around the slugs core, proof that the griffin was going all out.

If I had absorbed that much energy, my channels would have been totally fried. He mused as he watched the core density grow. There must be something going on here that I haven’t noticed yet.

Stepping even closer to the battle, passing what was generally considered an appropriate distance for the queued beasts, he began tracing the slugs channels, eventually finding what appeared to be a filter of sorts. He wasn’t positive on its entire function, but what he did notice was that the energy on one side of the filter was slightly murky, and after passing through the filter, it glowed brightly. It was a minute difference, and one he wouldn’t have noticed a few weeks ago.

Is this creature able to simply filter out invasive energy? This could be perfect! Beasts were beginning to nip at him in warning, but he stayed a few more minutes as he tried to memorize the pathways. However, after only a few more seconds, it became apparent that he either needed to step back or else fight a dozen frustrated beasts who had been standing in line for weeks.

Backing away he began to formulate a plan.

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Pupach’s tentacles felt sweaty as they approached the waiting slug. How did I get roped into this again? He asked himself. He was still unsure how an interesting discussion on the principles of filtration fractals had turned into him approaching a beast that was quite a bit stronger than himself.

“Just distract it for ten minutes or so, that’s all it will take.” Mike had assured him. “I’ll make you a wonderful dinner as compensation.” The threat had been the only thing that had caused him to capitulate.

And to think he was mad I hadn’t brought up filtration techniques earlier? LIke it is just common to find such a symbol, let alone obtain it legally simply from viewing the owner of it. Their angst mellowed somewhat as the thought landed. He is going to be an absolute powerhouse one day if he survives all of this. What faction wouldn’t want him? Abyss, the Hive would likely take him on even if he foiled an integration.

Having reached the slug, they stepped in front of it, flaring their sigils in preparation for battle, only to find that nothing happened. The slug simply stood there, waiting for Pupach to make the first move. Aiming to prolong the fight, Pupach stood there as well, doing their best to remain vigilant as the minutes ticked by. Occasionally they would look over at the anomaly, only to see him staring with great focus at the slug.

So he can focus when he wants to. That’s good to know. Based on his diligence in clearing out his channels, I was beginning to worry.

Minutes turned to hours. Finally, after 12 hours, Mike took a gasp of air, as he came to his surroundings. With a thumbs-up in Pupach’s direction, he headed away from the beasts. Unsure what the gesture meant, Pupach waited a few moments before following after him.

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Pupach had been telling the truth, growing channels was even more agonizing now that Mike was at a higher tier–as well as more expensive. The only reason he had finished at all was because the filtration symbol was much smaller than the symbol for sucking energy. Even so, it had taken three days and the last of his cosmic water to finish the skill fractal. But the end result was worth it.

Mike watched as energy passed from one side of the filter to the other. When active, every single packet that entered the filter was broken down and vented outside of his body. The downside was that it cost energy to maintain the filter, but the upside was that it was thousands of times faster than picking out packets of energy on his own, plus it wasn’t boring.

Satisfied with the results, he turned to Pupach and thanked him for his help, before promising that he would make a satisfactory meal just as soon as he got his rest. The squidman squirmed slightly, before finally speaking.

“Mike, there is something you should know.” Pupach said nervously.

Worried that he had been betrayed, Mike was instantly on guard, but tried not to show it as he coaxed out the information. “Whatever it is, we will do our best to work it out.”

“I hate meat. Talking about it. Smelling it cook. Watching you eat it. It is worse than torture.” as Mike’s face fell, Pupach rushed onwards. “I’m sorry, I thought you already knew that and were using it as a means of torture all this time. It is only in the last hour of reflection that I realized you may not know at all.”

“Whaaaaat?! How is that even possible? What is better than meat? What do you even eat then?”

“Well as a pupach, we mostly lived on web sap. And as adults, my kind doesn’t eat much. Unless it is a cultivation treasure of some kind.”

No food? This would be my luck to befriend someone who is revolted by my greatest passion. And what on earth is web sap? Wait, I don’t even want to know.

After a moment, Mike probed further, “Well what about brownies? Have you tried those before?”

“This one is not familiar with what a brownie is.”

“Well it is no wonder that you don’t eat unless you have to then. Trust me, they are worth it. When we get back to earth, I’m gonna rock your world.” Mike declared, his resolve to return sooner rather than later growing.