We talked about Icons all the way back to the temple on Ring Four. For all that I had seen them in action multiple times, and had even experienced them being used against me, my knowledge of Icons was sparse at best. I was grateful to Hamsik for bringing up the topic.

  “First of all,” he said, walking through the streets of Ring Two towards the Preserve. “You’re probably not going to get an Icon easily.”

  I tutted. “Hamsik, there hasn’t been a single thing I’ve gotten easily.” I paused. “Unless you count getting my first mana core, but even then, I’m not going to call getting ritually sacrificed as something easy.”

  Hamsik had enough grace to wince. “Fair enough. But I’m simply setting your expectations. Like… well, like with everything else, you’ll only acquire Icons step by step over time before you can fully manifest it.”

  “Makes sense and isn’t surprising at all. So what are the steps?”

  We started going through the Preserve, the Scarthralls trailing us and exchanging waves and greetings with the effervescent Se-Targa who tended the Preserve. I breathed in the natural looking light and air. It was always refreshing.

  “An Icon is a manifestation of a person’s integral desire,” Hamsik said. “Not your moment-to-moment want or need. But what you’re truly seeking in your life.”

  “That’s deep, buddy.” I paused. “So… you’re seeking to blow the brains of unsuspecting and innocent people from other worlds?”

  Hamsik looked like he wanted to put another magic bullet through my brain.

  “No. It’s obviously not something you can crystallize in just a few words. I’m seeking…” He faltered, flushing a little. “I’m seeking balance. I’m seeking the ability to be and do whatever and wherever I want. I hate being restricted. I hate having my path determined for me. If you really needed a summary, then that’s as good as any.”

  I shook my head. “Can’t believe it took you, what, six—seven?— months before you finally opened up to me.”

  Hamsik grumbled. Honestly, I could have really done with some commentary from Thefris just then. It would be amazing to hear just how long it took her to get through Hamsik’s crusty shell.

  We were now walking through the streets of Ring Three, delightfully devoid of too many people as everyone had gone home after work.

  “Enough about me,” Hamsik said. “It’s time you started thinking about what you really want here, Ross.”

  I nodded. “Right, right. I’m more concerned about the mechanical side of things, though. Like I’m sure I can meditate as long as I want on what I really desire in Zairgon. But I have to do something with the mana too, right? Or some other thing the Weave will recognize.”

  “You will need to crystallize mana, yes.”

  “Is that what happens when you manifest your Icon? I remember seeing the threads turn solid and plate-like.”

  “Yes, basically. It’s a process that needs a certain level of mana control, but I think you’re in a good enough position to try it out. Just think of it like art pieces, Ross. As if you’re giving an artistic form to parts of yourself. There’s a reason it’s called the Weave. For Icons, you’re essentially weaving a small tapestry of yourself.”

  Hmm, that sounded a mite too esoteric for me, but I was familiar with it by now. I just had to practice manifesting my Icon with my mana control.

  It seemed odd that essentially “meditating” was all it would take to start on the path to getting my Icon. Shouldn’t there have been some sort of special Affix or Augmentation or something I needed? I had been forced to obtain Threaded Reinforcement to absorb the outflow of mana during my mana implosion, so was there something similar that would help with Icons?

  Hamsik said no, there wasn’t. However, there were Augmentations, especially for Thauma, that would improve things like breakthroughs even further.

  “I don’t have Thauma,” he said. “But for my Arcane, I have something called Comprehension. It lets my mind interact with mana at a very detailed level, and it obviously helped a lot for manifesting my Icon.”

  Sadly, I didn’t have Arcane, so I’d need to resort to some other means. I did have Thauma, though. More stuff to think about.

  After Hamsik left, I took the night off before resuming training the next morning. I focused only on gathering mana for my new mana core. It was getting easier and easier to manipulate my mana, though I didn’t feel like I was making a ton of progress towards a second core.

  I even squeezed in a visit to the academy, both to see Sreketh and to see if I could glean some information about core gaining processes from friendly professors like Urhei and Izithy. Normally, they wouldn’t be open to visitors dropping by without appointments, but Urhei was happy to see me, and even happier to learn the exact reason for my visit.

  “A second mana core!” she gasped. “That is incredible. These old scales have only seen that a handful of times in my whole life. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised since it’s you.”

  I cleared my throat, trying not to feel too pleased at the compliment. “Yeah, it was a small surprise. But I just need some guidance as to how to actually manifest it. For all that the Weave told me about it, there’s been no sign or clue I can follow or anything like that.”

  “You should have everything you need, based on what you’ve told me about your Affixes and Augmentations,” she said. “The only thing you’re truly missing are boosters.”

  “Boosters?” I thought for a second. “You mean pills to help push the process along.”

  “Some pills, yes. Some potions and runes can also help. Things of that sort. Here, let me draw up a list of the ones I think will truly assist you. But remember, the basic process is what you already know. You must focus enough mana and then keep it while also controlling and using it to ensure the Weave starts to acknowledge that yes, you indeed need a mana core.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  I took the list from her gratefully. Most of the things on it were available for purchase at Xokrist academy, so I wouldn’t have to go far. A couple of the recommendations would be more difficult to acquire, however.

  “You’ll need to put in an order for them,” Urhei explained. “And they’re likely to be more expensive too, unfortunately.”

  I frowned. “Do I really need a Veilhorn horn powder or whatever dungeon dust is?”

  “Not necessarily. As I said, these are things typically used for boosting various properties of mana, and the rarer ingredients have rather potent boosts. But if you are satisfied with the regular offerings, then there’s no reason to go after the rarer ones.”

  “Thanks for the recommendations, professor. I’ll make good use of these.”

  She smiled at me in farewell. “I’ll await news of your second mana core.”

  Before I went home, I purchased everything I could from the academy store. The shopkeeper had at first thought I was there to buy something for Sreketh, who had accompanied me. She seemed a lot happier and more chipper today. I wasn’t sure why, but I definitely wasn’t complaining. Hopefully, those other kids were staying away from her.

  “How are things going?” I asked Sreketh. “Seriously. I know you keep telling me about all the new things and fun you’re having. But you never tell me about any of your struggles, you know.”

  Sreketh kicked the ground idly. “It’s all just minor things. Why would I share things I don’t care about?” Her eyes sparkled and her voice turned a little breathless. “I’d much rather tell you how my first potion sent up these huge sparks right in the middle of the class, and when they dumped it in the lake, one of the lake monsters came up and ate it!”

  I didn’t know whether I was supposed to laugh or be alarmed that there were monsters in the lake, and the students could apparently create volatile potions so easily. Sure, the teachers at the academy probably knew their business much better than I did, but if there was a bullying problem…

  Then my estimation of the rest of their capabilities was going to sink into the gutter.

  “That does sound fun,” I said. “But I’d like to know about your problems because when you share things, it’s easier to deal with them. I’m not pushing you, of course. I’m just… reminding you I’m here. For anything. Alright?”

  Sreketh slowly nodded. “Alright, Ross. I’ll remember.”

  Smiling, I patted her head. I got to hear about a few more of her fun experiences before finally heading home.

  The next couple of days had me working on my mana core with all my resources. I didn’t use them directly, of course. No drinking the fancy potions, no ingesting or burning the other resources, no crushing the runes—well, no using the effect directly.

  Instead, I relied on Sacrifice to boost every single buff I received.

  [ Sacrifice

  You have Sacrificed 3 [Minor] Runes of Manaboost. Windfall bonus activated.

  You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Potion of Magical Storm. Windfall bonus activated.

  You have Sacrificed 2 [Minor] Potions of Enhanced Control. Windfall bonus activated.

  You have Sacrificed 5 [Minor] Continuous Pills. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: All generated mana replicated by 3x.

  Reward: A [Minor] surge of mana empowers your every action and decision.

  Reward: Control over mana within caster expanded by 4x, and without caster extended by 3x.

  Reward: 5 [Moderate] mana stores arise within caster’s body.

  Reward: Area of effect for applicable buffs engaged in a radius of 22 meters for 5 hours and 10 minutes. ]

  To call it a surge of energy rushing through me would be doing a disservice to the sheer overwhelmingness of the sensations in my body. Maybe I shouldn’t have used Sacrifice on every single one of those buffs. Now, I had turned into a bomb whose explosion I was barely containing.

  It was so much that the effects were even present outside me too. The ground cracked, the air swirled like a tornado being born. A heavy pressure had settled over the area, trying to choke the world around my location.

  No. I could do this.

  One of said buffs was control. I focused on it, on the gale of power that had come to life, and leashed it. No longer did the mana feel like runaway puppies I needed to cajole and entreat to follow my directions. Instead, it really was a cyclone now, winds ripping every which way with no seeming rhyme or reason, and with enough force to rip apart anything they touched.

  Winds like that might have been more difficult to control than puppies, but the enhanced control gave me new ideas. In the presence of unbreakable, unshakeable walls, the winds were nothing. And with those walls, I could guide exactly where those winds would go.

  Somehow, in the midst of feeling like a volcano moments away from erupting, I was somehow doing it. I was directly channelling and controlling a huge amount of mana, with no Aspects whatsoever.

  Of course, I tried to coalesce all that mana to one location. Namely, my head. If I could have it all compressed there, then the Weave would need to recognize it and start the second mana core process. As I did so, I was a little wary of another pounding headache, especially since I had even more mana to spare.

  Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened. The other boosters I had Sacrificed were helping me prevent that sort of blowback.

  It made me interested in how exactly that headache had arisen. After all, I wasn’t a stranger to channelling a tremendous amount of mana. Maybe there was something to be said for holding “untethered” mana within my body. As in, magical energy not inside Threaded Reinforcement threads or in my mana core.

  But I didn’t focus only on manifesting my second mana core. With Hamsik’s guidance, I tried to do some work for my Icon too.

  I just needed to crystallize what I truly desired.

  The first bit was easy. I had more or less settled into my new role—my new life—as the leader of the Cult of the Sun. To make it prosper, to help the cult and Ring Four, that was what I worked towards. It was so clear in my head, I felt like I could subsist on that truth alone like I could on oxygen.

  Not that it meant manifesting the Icon was effortless. I had to spend a whole day focusing only on that, determined to see some sort of tangible progress.

  There were distractions abound. I had to take care of cult duties like talking with people who wanted blessings despite me not possessing the Aspect yet—could I get that, now that I was a Hierophant?—and helping with more initiation ceremonies. Then Aqrea wanted to go over finances and such before I went off on the Nether Vein expedition. And then I had to reply to a letter from Linak stating he was starting to seriously work on our idea.

  But by the start of the next day, I had enough to impress even dour old Hamsik.

  I held out my hand to show the little construct of sun-gold mana I had conjured. It was basically shaped like a double helix that reminded me of DNA, just without the inner horizontal lines.

  “You’ve already manifested a part of your Icon?” Hamsik asked. He was squinting at it even though it wasn’t that bright. I wondered if the light was hurting him since he was a half-Scarseeker. “What even is that?”

  “I’m not sure. But this is what came to me as I was working on it. You didn’t… have your full gun from the start, did you?”

  “No, of course not. It was foolish of me to ask. The full picture won’t be clearer till much later.” His amazement slowly gave way to a smile. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You’re better at all this than anyone I know.”

  I did my best not to preen.

  Much as I wanted to keep focusing on training, there was another little distraction that took over a good chunk of my brain space.

  The Councillors were ready. The expeditioners were healed. According to the official letter I received, in three days’ time, we’d be heading out for the Nether Vein.