"Your aunt… is one giant asshole."

That was the first thing Ray Warner told me after he finally managed to catch his breath.

I agreed somewhat. She could be an asshole. Just… selectively. To anyone outside her immediate family.

"Man, I love you!"

That was the second thing he said, once he'd recovered completely.

Before I could even process that statement, he launched himself at me, arms wrapping around my shoulders in an overly enthusiastic bear hug.

I staggered back half a step, instinctively trying to pry him off.

"Get off!" I grunted. "You're heavy."

"I almost died," Ray declared dramatically, tightening his grip. "Actually— no! I did die. Or ascended. Or got spiritually violated. I don't know. But I'm so in love with you right now!"

I was rapidly losing oxygen. "Let go!"

When he didn't, I looked to the others for help…

Only to find them staring back at me with faces ranging from open amusement to quiet fondness.

No one moved.

Traitors. Every single one of them.

And as if things weren't bad enough, Vince suddenly rushed in and jumped into the hug too, nearly crushing me for real this time. My ribs protested, my head spun.

While I was fighting for my life, Michael stepped closer and nodded with an infuriatingly proud expression.

"You're such a big softie, Sam," he tsk'd playfully. "Such a big softie."

I took offense to that.

•••

In the end, I lived. Somehow.

After things finally settled down, Ray checked up on himself thoroughly and confirmed that he had, in fact, ascended to [B-rank], officially joining Michael and me.

The guy was ecstatic.

He couldn't stop running and jumping and spinning around, like a golden retriever having the zoomies.

"Man!" he shouted for what had to be the nth time. "I feel so energized right now! I can feel Essence! Feel it! Like, everywhere! In the air, in my body, in everything! I can even move it inside me! What the hell! It feels like electricity running through my veins! All my senses feel sharper, brighter, stronger! This is insane!"

I grunted, watching him bounce around.

Great.

Now instead of an idiot, we had ourselves a hyperactive idiot.

•••

We decided to rest for the day. The foot of the caldera wasn't too far away now. We'd reach it in two days at most. The climb to the top would take another two.

That meant that in just four days, we'd be face-to-face with Vaeghar the Devourer.

So when a rest day was suggested, I didn't object.

…Possibly because I was the one who suggested it.

Still, just because everyone else got to laze around didn't mean I did. Juliana didn't let me off training.

She pushed me through forms and drills until my entire body ached.

During practice, I noticed she seemed a little off.

When I asked to confirm with the others, they said they hadn't noticed anything different about her.

I almost facepalmed. Of course no one else would be able to read her neutral expression. If I didn't know her as well as I did, I would've also chalked it up to my imagination.

Still, I couldn't help but wonder what was on her mind.

Unfortunately, my own thoughts were occupied by far bigger things.

So I never got the chance to ask her that day.

•••

After practice, I went to find Michael. I needed to talk to him about something in private.

Luckily, I found him sitting at the edge of the camp by himself, idly flicking two Cards between his fingers.

If I remember correctly, he acquired those Cards upon slaying some of those shadow beasts in the dark region. They granted some sort of protection.

He looked up when I approached and greeted me with, "Hey."

I nodded in acknowledgment and sat down beside him, giving my legs some well-needed stretch after all that training. "What's up? Why're you sitting alone?"

"Lily and I fought," he groaned, rubbing his eyes. "Our first fight."

"God, Michael. Do you not know that when someone starts small talk, they don't actually care about your drama? They're just being polite."

"You're an asshole!"

I laughed.

He burst out laughing too.

"So what happened?" I asked, more seriously.

He thought about it for a moment, then waved a hand dismissively. "Meh. Leave it. It was something stupid. Why'd you come over? You look like you have something on your mind."

"Oh, right," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Listen, Michael. I've got enough Essence Stones to help rank up two people, since everyone's already pretty close to ascension. I'm already giving Juli a lot of those Stones. The other person I'm thinking of is Alexia. Ray's already [B-rank]. With two more, our chances of survival will be much higher."

He nodded at all the right places, and both of us kept staring straight ahead.

"But…" I trailed off. "I want you to—"

"You want me to teach everyone Essence Circulation," Michael guessed.

And he was spot on.

His Essence Circulation technique was special in many ways. At C-rank, it allowed an Awakened to circulate Essence. At B-rank, it allowed them to channel Essence into objects. At A-rank, it even allowed limited manipulation of Essence outside the body.

Basically, at every rank, it let an Awakened use abilities they normally wouldn't unlock until after leveling up. It let them punch far above their weight.

When I learned its first application, I was able to go toe-to-toe with ten Cadets of the same rank without even using my Divine Sword.

In short, it was a cheat code.

If everyone else learned it, we'd have a party capable of surviving… well, almost anything Vaeghar could throw at us.

In the game, the player was given the option to have Michael teach it to the other main characters.

Choosing it didn't just strengthen their bonds, it also drastically increased the team's overall combat potential.

I give him a small, grim smile. "Exactly. I want everyone to learn it. If we're going to make it out alive, everyone needs that edge. Also, while you're at it, teach me how to channel Essence."

Michael didn't answer right away. Thankfully, when he did, it was in my favor.

He bobbed his head in a nod. "You're right. I was already thinking about it. Now that we're not constantly on the brink of death, I'll do it."

I nodded back. "Good."

Then I turned my gaze forward as well, and for a long while, the two of us sat there at the edge of the camp, quietly watching everyone else move around or simply laze about.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.