While Kohaku was sleeping, I decided to take another dive into my status, this time looking for a way to unbind them from myself.

[Summoning Sub-class: Species] [Servant Species are beings brought from other locations to their new master, where they are then bound to the caster by a mana tether. Summoned beings tend to experience a short period of exhaustion after their body is reconstructed at the molecular level and needs time to recover.]

[Absorption: Sub-class: Mana] [Mana absorption acts like a sieve through the air, catching mana and channeling it into the caster. Certain forms of mana, such as special weapons, spirit beasts, and creature binds, are significantly harder to break than flowing mana such as spells or beacons.]

Well, that took a lot of attention, as I noted the sun already a few spaces further along.

Breaking binds is possible.

But its going to take ages to get to the point where ‘significantly harder’ would be possible to even attempt. It doesn’t have a metric to go off, but even I can take a hint. Level 2 isn’t going to break anything any time soon.

I mutter about unfair systems for a bit and turn my attention back to the person I’d summoned, who was now awake and looking at my gem with what I’d peg as curiosity.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” I tried.

Their ear twitched. That confirms that.

“S-So mah ti? Kah nura maa lur…”

Ah. Language barriers. That’s something I didn’t think of.

The only thing I could sense from their words was a feeling of confusion and questioning. Which, I suppose, is better than having nothing to go off at all.

“Do you know other languages?” I tried with false hope, already guessing the answer.

“Naan ur lum quan?” was the reply, a feeling of further confusion.

Unfortunate, but not unexpected. I started looking through my status boxes, and of course, there was indeed a universal language ability that I had missed on my first look through.

That would have been a much better choice than Unit Promoting.

With a silent curse, and some brief thinking, I turned to my [Absorb] ability and found what I was looking for. If language was currently going to be a barrier, then surely pictures will suffice just fine.

[Absorption: Fine Control] [With a high amount of focus, the caster of absorption can refine the consumed radius into a more desired size. This change is semi-permanent, lasting until the end of the day or if the user manually reverts its to default radius.]

It seems its time to play Pictionary.

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***Kohaku***

Of the many things I had experienced in the custody of the Masters, this trumped them all as the strangest.

The core was drawing.

How? Was the only thought on my mind.

A newly formed core, from what myths she could recall, was barely smarter than a Masters pup.

And yet it draws.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

In the grassy clearing, a small patch of exposed dirt was converted into a canvas for this tiny gemstone. It had drawn a long diamond first, and when she pointed to the core it formed a checkmark in the dirt.

This is no normal core.

Then, the image shifted, and the diamond that represented the core was shown embedded in a wall.

Before she could ‘respond’ again, the image changed and showed a circle with dots for eyes and lines for ears.

That’s… me? She pointed to herself.

It made another checkmark.

The image shifted once more, showing their little icon going to the pile of Master things and bringing it back to the core.

Suddenly she realized what this gem wanted, and she felt stupid for not figuring it out faster.

Its young! It needs materials to grow!

She shot up and over to the nearby junk and started shifting and dragging pieces over to the little crystal.

Whether or not this gem was a tool of the Masters, she knew what it felt like to starve, and would be damned before inflicting that pain upon others.

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***Core***

Kohaku was hard at work, and so was I, using [Absorb] on the bits and pieces they brought to me and them consuming them from my storage space. Sure, I hated the taste, and was slightly concerned with how hard the fox-kin was working away, but soon enough they tired and fell asleep on top of their blanket.

Should get a proper sleeping mat or something too.

I finished off the last of the materials they brought and fell into what was becoming my routine boredom. I decided to take a look over my status, careful to take note of any details that would let me help Kohaku.

[Lvl: 2 Wall Core (Unnamed)] [Str: 2 Con: 3 Int: 3 Wis: 3 Agi: 1 Dex: 1] [HP: 2*] [Current Influence: 5m] [Theme: Select One (Override: Kitsumari)] [Servant Species: Fox-kin]

[Abilities: Focus to view]

[Mana: 20/20]

[Credits: 0]

I sigh internally at my two points of health, and nonexistent mobility. Sure, I know some types of crystals are weaker than others, and the mobility is obvious considering my state as a shard of greenish-blue glass stuff, but I mean… couldn’t I have at least hovered or something?

Whatever, the positive at least is having some way of communicating now. Back to blue boxes.

[Abilities: Owned] [Absorption: Adjustable] [absorption abilities allow the caster to collect materials from a distance. With proper setup, an automated form can be constructed from runes.]

[Summoning: Species, Food, Cloth, Materials] [Summoning abilities allow a user to conjure matter either from storage items or form pure mana. Summoned items are always of lower quality than hand-gathered material, unless specified during the summoning process, or dealing with living matter. Living summons are tethered by the soul to their summoner.]

[Construction: Cloth, Materials] [Construction abilities draw from storage items or pure mana to assemble structures. Typically, the ability will project a ‘frame’ out of thin, blue-light mana, and then be filled with the desired material. Sub-sets like crafting are capable of having outputs with quality grades.]

[Servants: Promote] [Servant abilities focus on managing living beings through will-based domination and soul tethers. Certain servant abilities allow for specializations and caste variations. The promote ability allows the user to grant A promising servant more titles and roles, and even minor buffs.

My head feels like it’s going to burst from the stream of boxes filling my view. If only I had a head to clutch. Or hands. Or a way to move.

Sigh.

Going over all this information took a lot out of me… It seems like Kohaku is up again…

I think I can afford to rest… a bit…