Fusion

"We'll start the fusion. To enter the first rank, you must be able to feel the energy. At this time, we're particularly focused on you being able to identify the energy from the core. You may have to weave through the natural energy of this room, I have tried to minimize it so hopefully it will be easier." The man moved to the other side of the mattress, allowing us a better view of the fusion.

"Essentially, try and go into a state of meditation, I will later try and give you several exercises for it though I advise only trying it once inside the realm. For now, we'll use meditation." I'm a natural overthinker so I'll probably have to start trying now if we want to finish within the day.

I imitate Lucian as he closes his eyes, I try to relax and envision the sense of emptiness and silence I felt when we left our realm. It was so quiet that you could probably hear a pin drop.

And it was then that I felt it, the sheer amount of energy in the room.

This has been minimized already?! I remind myself to look for the right energy.

As I felt around, I noticed a warm energy that was different from the majority. I inched towards it, enticed by the cozy warmth.

________

Tyr watches on as Lucian feels for the energy of the Aether core when he suddenly feels energy from elsewhere. It wasn't as obvious initially, after all, Lucian's energy was hot and roaring.

He's a Vermillion alright. Then he noticed that the blaze started cooling off, it wasn't being extinguished, it just wasn't as scalding.

It was then that he saw the hesitant approach of another energy. Interesting. For a first-timer to recognize another energy. You'd think they're best buddies.

Tyr was deliberating on whether to stop them since it'd be dangerous if they fought over the cores with their untrained energy.

If he didn't know any better it looks like Lucian was beckoning Eliana to get a core.

She probably doesn't know it yet, after all this would be the first time their energies materialized this way. She probably thinks that the core is offering itself for fusion. How amusing.

I'm sure that Lucian knows, such great control after just learning to feel for energy. I wonder why they appear hostile to each other. I could check, but it's not my place to do so. If they can get along like this then it won't be a problem.

________

It's good to know that the core seems pretty comfortable. Should I take it? I ponder on it as my energy grazes the core. Seems like it isn't as bad as I thought.

The imagery of embedding a gem in me wasn't nice but it's not like we have a choice. Might as well get it over with. I wonder how to fuse with this.

I start prodding the core. Maybe I should envision it fusing with me. Little by little, I could feel the change within the core, as if it had dematerialized into energy. Dragging it towards me wasn't as difficult as looking for the energy signature earlier.

Taking a moment before attempting to fuse, I marvel at the feel of this new energy. Very warm and reminds me of toasted marshmallows. I relax even further, preparing to welcome the core. It settles onto my chest and starts to re-materialize.

Good lord, it's become a literal gem.

After feeling that it's settled, I immediately feel it up, and I gasp at being able to feel something foreign. You'd think that when something that big is embedded in you, it would hurt, but I'm surprised that it felt like a hot compress.

"Eli, Eli! Are you okay?" Rina tugs at my shoulders and I see her very concerned expression.

"I'm fine."

"You just suddenly went slack so I got scared, but the man signaled not to touch you so we waited," Rina explains while clenching her fist.

"Sorry, I was trying to relax but didn't expect to find the core, so I just decided to fuse while I was at it." I pointed to the gem on my chest, which surprised the other three.

"How was it?" It was surprisingly Idris who asked. "I thought it was going to be difficult or uncomfortable, but it wasn't. I'm just very concerned that we'd have an obvious bulls-eye." I can already imagine enemies specifically targeting my core and I instinctively cover it with my hands.

"It's beautiful." Rina examines the core and repeatedly nods to affirm her statement.

"Thanks."

I look over to Lucian and the man, hoping to ask if there are methods to hide this bulls-eye.

Lucian was already seated upright, with the topmost buttons of his top unbuttoned, he seemed to be inspecting his new core. Such color, if I didn't know, I'd think he's gotten a third eye on his chest, it's too similar to his eyes.

"Oh! I guess they all look like that?" Rina scrunches up her face. "It was such a good contrast on your skin Eli, but since my cousin's eyes are of the same color, he looks like he's got a third eye." Even without looking back, I can feel Luci giving Rina a stink eye. And I struggle to say that "at least he'd have better vision", through bouts of laughter.

"Sir?" I ask the man. "Just call me Tyr." "Sorry, we've abandoned our manners and forgot to ask for your name." I realize that we've been here for a while and we've even let a nameless person embed gems on us.

"Sir Tyr, is there a way to hide the cores? It seems dangerous to just have it out." I point towards the exposed gem in all its glory. It's not fully displayed but a part as big as a coin is visible to the naked eye. Very pretty, but screams hit me here.

"From what I was told, it should be possible. You see, the higher the rank, the better the concealment. But you won't be able to hide it from those ranked higher than you. Reaching the 4th rank should allow you to conceal your core. You can tell the rank by the shape of the core, so it would be very evident just by looking."

Puffing her cheeks, Rina angrily mutters, "Not only do we need to hide it fast, but if it's on the chest, we'd have to get used to being stared at by people wishing to confirm our ranks." Fuck. I did not think about that.

Even the guys seemed to hate the idea as they scowled at the thought. "I hope that the training plan will help with this, but for now, I'd like to ask for the next volunteer.

I suggest that you two move as far back as possible from here, and if you can, try circulating the energy of this room with the help of your new core. It would be best to gather as much pure energy as you can tolerate while you're here."

Wanting to check the difference in sensing energy with this new core, I moved away to the farthest possible end and sat down. I can feel Lucian stalking behind my back. His movements are quiet, he's well-trained after all. It's just that years of trying to avoid him when possible has honed my senses.

I chose a comfortable position, imagining what this smooth pebble of a core would look like when I reached 1st rank. Anything but bigger, anything but that.

Eyes closed, breathing steadily, I focus on my new core.

Earlier I was trying to do it with my heart. But if the core acts as a filter and storage then I should focus on sensing there.

To my surprise it did feel like a second heart, it's just that it wasn't blood that was being circulated. They were like vessels carrying energy instead. I tried to trace the flow of energy and even a non-medical student could see that was moving all over my body, like a second set of blood vessels. Tyr said to circulate, so let's try.

I tried thinking of it as a subway route, clearly much slower and much fainter. Does our abilities only translate to this much energy? Back in our realm the three of us already ranked at S-level. Is this because we got them through blood?

Back in Solandis, the focus was on improving mental power, of course, the body must keep up, but our technology was mainly powered by mental strength.

We were cycling our powers into the suits but not really in our bodies. Normally, we pilot the mechas by powering certain points. Maybe they're similar.

Tyr said that the cores can allow us to use the surrounding energy, so there must be a way to pull from outside. 

I attempted to replicate the experience of sensing the Aether core earlier, managing to sense much denser energy. Earlier the room's energy felt like a distraction but this is really dense. Is this because gods use this place? Slowly, I feel like I'll explode if I take too much of this dense energy.

Wow. I feel porous. This is probably what it feels like to photosynthesize.

My energy vessels are so tiny that if I don't regulate what I absorb, it'd be like trying to pass through a needle thread hole with a finger.

Gradually it felt more comfortable, not yet to the speed of a bullet train, but at least my inner mechanism was more evident and a bit faster.

I guess this is what pure energy is like. We'll probably never have a chance to do this once we leave this place. I wonder how long I'll be allowed to circulate. I still need to find the center of my original energy. We can't be that bad, it must be somewhere in my head if that's what we used the most.

I prod around and notice a small blockage. That's new. I don't recall feeling this earlier, or maybe because the vessels were too small earlier, they all looked blocked.

I tried poking, prodding, and tugging. None of them worked. Try absorbing it. The block seemed to move, more like disintegrate, it was a small block but it took a considerable effort to absorb it.

Now that it's unblocked, I should check what this is. Before I could proceed, I felt an energy surge. Like a dam suddenly opening and spilling over. Oh shit.

I must be clutching my chest right now because this feels like an incoming heart attack. It hurts and any more of this, and I'm about to have an out-of-body experience.

This must be what it's like if it's too much.

I need to scatter this or store it in the core or I'll likely explode. This fucking hurts, comfortable my ass.

I try my best to scatter the overflowing energy towards my core. If it's a blank, then maybe it could be filled. I have to reach the core first. I circulated the energy to my core, it felt like crawling because all the while, the large inflow of energy kept on trying to expand the vessels. I thought that reaching the core would be enough. But it was still surging, and the slight pain relief felt very brief.

Where do I go next? Panic was starting to settle in and just then I felt a warm tingle in my core, energy started splitting and to my surprise started leaving the core. Like a tour guide rallying tourists. The warm energy was rallying the overflowing energy.

I could feel it from my chest, gradually moving outwards, all the same time. How? I don't even know how to do that. But it's working, it's distributing it all over, and it's doing it fast. Suddenly, I saw vessels that weren't visible earlier. Clearly, the anatomy I had earlier was incomplete. No wonder it couldn't fit.

The feeling of cracking finally stopped and I could feel my heartbeat slowing down. But now I'm tired. Really tired.