Three weeks of mostly walking followed. On the first day, I broke through the next stage of my mirror core using imprint, entering the second step.

The difference was more than clear. The amount of Qi had increased by quite a bit, and my core grew stronger. It would help my gateway repair itself faster, which was both good and bad. I didn’t exactly want it to be fully repaired before I had another chance to visit the other side.

Right now, the goal was to get that fragment, which should raise the integrity fairly high, then visit my family again, say I had a big trip coming up, then stay in Eden with the fully repaired gateway until it was strong enough to not be ripped out of my soul by the keepers.

But that was still a month in the future. For now, I focused on walking and cultivating. I spent the second day on voyage, taking a stroll through the shores. It went quite well, and I got close to a breakthrough there as well. Since it had so much to do with freedom, it and Imprint meshed well, and improving one would also help the other along.

Which was good. Having to cultivate two entirely different natures would have slowed my progress down far too much. I already had to split my contribution, so at least not having to cultivate twice as much was nice.

On the third day, we faced our first monsters. It had been a while, which was most likely because Orvan lit the beacon, attracting monsters from all around, but by then we’d crossed the line where there were more of them again.

Luckily, though, we only ran into a couple of bornins, the furred goblin-monkeys, and dispatched them quickly. Then we ran into another pack. Then another.

By the afternoon, we had each killed over 50 of the little bastards. They seemed very dominant in this part of the forest, and were probably attracted by the gateway. Honestly, it might be lucky it was just these things, and nothing we couldn’t handle.

It did mean that I spent the third evening trying to reign in my mirror Qi, just as I had spent the previous two. Orvan’s instructions were nebulous at best. Figuring out how to stop my core from outputting energy wasn’t exactly something I’d spent a lot of time thinking about, since the effects of having Qi going through your body were usually very beneficial.

That passive Qi output was what let martial artists be generally superhuman after all. It was what made us faster, stronger, and more durable overall. Of course, some types of Qi were better suited for that than others.

Liam’s shadow Qi, for example, also helped make him much more stealthy and quiet, while Emilia’s mineral Qi focused much more on endurance. I didn’t quite know what was special about the mirror Qi yet, honestly. It didn’t seem to reinforce me nearly as much as my metal Qi, but there had to be some effect.

Maybe I’d figure it out once I finally managed to shut it off.

Unfortunately, my efforts on the third day didn’t bear fruit, and by the end of it, I was still just as far away from managing to reign it in as I was before the day began. Which meant killing our way through more bornins. I didn’t even bother counting how many we killed.

By the late afternoon we were already exhausted and decided to set up camp, losing a few hours of travelling. At least the trees were slowly growing more sparse, we’d probably be out of the forest sometime soon. There weren’t many maps for the frontier, since people generally liked to stay away from it, so all it really had was rough sketches of the biomes, but according to the one we had, we’d soon be getting to some shrublands.

They were full of little rivers, since this time of year, the snow would melt and flow down from the mountains, but it was also too cold for many trees to live there.

Having to stop in the afternoon also meant that I spent more time trying to reign in my mirror Qi. Since it was quite important, the others set up the camp without me, letting me wholly focus on meditating.

It meant I had the time to go through the whole process. Sitting down with my legs crossed. Focusing my mind. Visualizing my cores, and the flow of Qi through me.

I began to lose track of time as my mind wandered inside. I traced the pathways the Qi took, where it ebbed and flowed. Sometimes, it seemed to grow hazy and diffuse into me, or forsake the pathways entirely, but a good bit still followed them.

Slowly but surely I got a picture of it. Where the energy in my body went, how it sunk into my muscles and bones. Taking care not to lose focus on it, I searched for something else, anything connected to it, and found the shifting glass underneath my skin.

The substance was malleable, and as I focused on it, I noticed that it, too, liked to follow those pathways. Perhaps it even guided my mirror Qi along them? The thought was pointless and I discarded it.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I focused on taking a deep breath. There were the pathways, which my Qi used to escape into the rest of my body, and the shifting glass. Then I tried wrapping the glass around the pathways.

It… seemed to work for a moment, but it also felt like there was pressure building up. After only a couple minutes it got uncomfortable, and after a little more, I started feeling like I’d throw up, which is when I decided to stop that little experiment.

Immediately, the Qi flooded out, making my muscles cramp. I grit my teeth for a few moments, until the sensation was gone. Everything still ached a little from the sudden influx of energy, but the nausea was gone and it would heal quickly.

At least I knew that the shifting glass could contain Qi. Unfortunately, it also stopped my golden Qi, so that was a bit of an issue, and having it plug up my pathways seemed unhealthy. Then again, it was already suffused throughout my entire body, but usually seemed more passive than anything.

I let out a small sigh, then renewed my focus, trying to maintain my mental image of everything. It took me a little bit until I was properly in the headspace again. My mirror Qi still slowly leaked from the core into the pathways, then out into my body.

I was also annoyed that I didn’t even know at which step of the process it became detectable to monsters. Once it was in the pathways? In my body? Or did it then start leaking into the air? The Qi did coat the outside of my body as well, after all, so there was a chance that the monsters were detecting that.

Trying something else, I coated my mirror Core with the liquid glass rather than my pathways. It took longer for the pressure to build that way, but once it hit, it was worse. Way worse. I immediately abandoned that idea, and retched a little bit.

Then, I felt someone kick me.

“You alright there?” Matt asked. For once, I didn’t see much mischief in his eyes, though maybe I just couldn’t see it with his curls covering them a little.

I shot the man a crooked smile. “Yeah. Just fine. Trying to figure out how to stop emitting Qi.”

“Well, you’re going about it the wrong way,” he said matter-of-factly, making me grimace.

“I noticed.”

His lips curled into a smile, and he sat down on the ground next to me. “Alright. We both know my manipulation is better than yours, so let me show you the trick to it. It’s less about locking your Qi off, more about keeping it in. Like, uh, sucking in your stomach?” His smile turned a little awkward at the last bit, and I chuckled.

“Alright, wise guy. Like sucking in my stomach, huh?” I said, smirking.

“Yeah, it’s a good analogy!” he said, half-jokingly. “Think of it like breathing with your stomach sucked in. It’ll be uncomfortable, but not too horrible. Leave your core and pathways alone and focus on keeping the Qi inside your body, stop it from leaking.”

I turned a little more serious, considering his words. Matt seemed to notice my disbelieving glance, and sighed. “Okay, let me show you. I’m not perfect at it, but it should give you a decent picture. Watch closely.”

Then, he proceeded to close his eyes, take a few deep breaths. I watched him, and for a few seconds nothing happened. Then, suddenly, I blinked, and something changed.

The ever present smell of plum around Matt had disappeared. Instead of flowers, he smelled like earth and sweat. The constant buzzing of Qi I felt when around him was gone. Really, it felt like I was sitting next to a completely average guy, rather than someone who could probably slice a tree in half without breaking a sweat.

A moment later, that feeling faded, and the fragrance of plum blossoms returned. He flashed me a confident smile. “You got all that?” he asked.

Slowly, I nodded. I’d seen most of how he did it, at least. It was still a crazy feat of manipulation, kind of like… breathing in from all your pores rather than out? It was hard to find a metaphor, really.

“Oh, to think that I’ve got you speechless for once, Fio. Thought I’d never see the day,” he said, grinning.

I smirked back at him. “Yeah, sorry Rat, just didn’t expect you to smell so crappy underneath all that plum,” I quipped.

There was the tiniest hint of a blush on his cheeks. “At least I don’t usually smell like I wash myself in mud. Seriously though, Fio, hope this helped. I’ll set up my tent and leave you to it.”

“Alright, thanks,” I said, giving him another nod, before closing my eyes as he walked off.

Then, once more, I focused. Matt was far better at manipulation than me, that was certain. His skill with Qi was almost on par with Ann’s when it came to Mana. Which was insanity, since mages focused so much more on it. No doubt he had a knack for that.

But I didn’t need that knack. Slowly, I reached for that little switch in the back of my mind. I already knew the ability had helped me even understand what Matt was doing, now it was time to copy it. With another deep breath, I activated [Mirror Mind].

The scene flashed in front of my inner eye again, the way Matt’s Qi had flowed, then suddenly disappeared. The permanent thin haze around his skin suddenly gone, clouded, making him look entirely mortal.

I reached out. Breathed in deep. Then, my attention snapped away.

It went to my core and my muscles and my skin all at the same time. There were a thousand thousand bits of mirror Qi flowing through me, each one thinner than the last. I reached out to every single one of them, and drew them back inside, like sucking in my stomach.

There was a mild sense of discomfort and strain, but I could feel my golden Qi cover me. I held it for a few seconds, trying my best to breathe and maintain the technique.

Five breaths later, it fell apart. I opened my eyes with a smile. There had been discomfort, and now, I was feeling a little nauseous from straining. But I’d managed, even if just for a little.

I got up and patted my legs down. This would take some practice, but I should have it down in a few days, hopefully.