Hollow Henry

Behind them, Andy slid a heavy iron rod into the floor on both sides to lock them in. A pulse of light slowly creeped along the door until it was completely covered, and once it was, they could no longer hear the Tavern on the other side.

Henry shook his hand free of the big man's grip and took several steps back.

“Do one of you want to tell me what the fuck you think you're playing at?” He yelled, lifting his hands to fight. He didn't want to fight them, but he didn’t much like being kidnapped twice in the same day.

“Woah…” Andy said calmly, lifting his hands to show his empty palms. “It's nothing like that, I promise. We might have gotten a little over excited there,” he admitted with embarrassment. “It's just, your power is a rare one, and the less ears that hear it the better.”

“And how do I know your ears are the right ones to hear it?” Henry asked, taking another step back.

“You’re right, you don't know if you can trust us,” the blonde man admitted. “All I can give you is my word.” He held up a small medallion with a green crystal in the centre. “It might not mean much to you now, but I swear on my medal I bear you no ill will.”

He elbowed Hamish, and the big man quickly did the same thing with his own medallion.

Cautiously, Henry lowered his fists.

“What's so special about my power then?”

“It's a True Core Power,” Andy said again. “Any True Core Power is mountains above a normal core power. Mine is just called ‘Unnoticed’, and I have to train it harder than a pit dog to do just about anything. A True Core Power lets you develop skills and powers faster than anyone else. It covers the whole aspect of your power, rather than just one attribute.”

Henry squinted at him.

“So you’re telling me I'm special?”

“He's telling you that you're lucky,” Hamish said with a big smile. “You're gunna be able to do some wicked cool shite. I canny wait to see it,” he practically chuckled.

“Like what?” Henry asked, starting to catch a hint of the big man's excitement.

Andy shrugged and shook his head.

“No clue at all,” he admitted. “We'll have to see what it actually does in the first place before we can make any guesses.”

Both of them looked at Henry expectantly, waiting for something to happen. He looked between them a few times before breaking the growing silence.

“What do I do?”

Andy groaned and rolled his eyes.

“You just use the skill. Honestly man, we'll help you, but we canny hold your hand the whole way.”

“Rude… but fair,” Henry complained.

He summoned a representation of the Retreat to Temple skill onto his HUD, and focused on it. Feeling how the skill connected to him, he probed for a way to activate it. He didn't have to search for long. He felt as if he could flex the skill like a muscle, and it was as familiar to him as moving his fingers.

Once he flexed the skill, he felt a reserve of his strength leave him, and the room whipped around him violently. He never felt himself move while he watched the world around him twist and change until it took on a new shape. Once the tornado of reality subsided, the room and the Scotsmen were gone.

Instead, he found himself standing alone on what looked like a small island of dirt and stone. Surrounding the island was a thick grey fog, the light seeming to come from everywhere at once thanks to the way the cloud caught it. It was the most at peace that Henry had ever felt. Without knowing how exactly, he was completely sure that he was completely alone. His Temple might not have looked much like a temple, but he was immediately glad to have the place. He felt as if he was in control of even the air itself, and confirmed his thoughts when he waved his hand to move the fog.

It didn't clear, but rolled into itself in smooth waves. Somehow he knew there was nothing beyond the fog, because he was the fog. That wasn't quite right. He felt connected to the fog, but it wasn’t exactly him. The land beneath his feet wasn't him either, but they both represented what he was capable of. He felt the fog was his potential, and the land his foundations, but somewhere there in the fog, he knew his core rested. He focused on the thought, willing his core to come to him. It was hard, the closer his core got, the more confronted he felt. It was hard to look upon who he really was, but in his heart of hearts he knew he could handle it.

Once faced with his own core, he looked it over and felt at peace. He was sure he wasn't perfect, but he knew it didn't matter. He was who he was at his core, and there was no way he was going to change that. The wisdom of several lifetimes worth of self reflection echoed through him as if it had always been there.

The whole experience lasted only a few minutes, but once it was over, he knew what he needed to know.

His core power gave him mastery over the entire realm. He and the realm were one. Without him, the space wouldn't exist. He knew intuitively that the fog was the essence of his spirit, and the core was his soul itself. He could feel his core leeching away at his essence slowly. Over time, it would condense that essence into itself, making him stronger.

He moved a cloud of fog towards his core, and focused on pushing it in. There was a small amount of resistance, but the more he focused the easier it got. His core started greedily taking in the extra essence surrounding it, and he felt the smallest of changes within himself. With a smile, he summoned his HUD. He was growing quickly familiar with how the HUD worked, and when he felt the change in his core he knew exactly where to look. The screen that came up governed his levelling.

Level: 1

Essence to next level: 0 / 2000

Tier: 1

Essence to next tier: 23 / 500,000

His smile grew even wider. It was no wonder the other players were excited about his power. It seemed like it had some potential. While he pondered the possibilities, an idea struck him. It was like the idea he had to push his essence into his core. Something about the thought felt familiar, as if it was something he'd always known.

He ran his fingers over the fabric of his shirt. It was nothing special, just the itchy cotton affront to fashion that he'd spawned with. With a little effort of his will, the shirt started to disintegrate into the fog. He felt a stirring in his HUD, and checked his notifications. He was surprised to find that he'd apparently missed a few. He changed the notifications from silent to on in his settings, and got reading.

ALERT:

You have been assigned the Demisis race. Please see your local innkeeper for more information

ALERT:

You have died! Respawn timer now set to [(10s + 5) × 2]. Respawn set back in [10d.14hr.37m.15s].

ACHIEVEMENT:

You have died 11 minutes and 12 seconds into your first spawn. Congratulations! You are the fastest player to die in 12 generations.

REWARD:

Title unlock: “Fragile” - reduces incoming damage of all types by 3%

Item Reward: Please see nearest Tavern Innkeeper to claim reward.

ALERT:

Players in the vicinity.

ALERT:

Allocated 23E to core.

ALERT:

Gained 2E

There were a few things for him to look into, but for the time he was more interested in the last notification. If he could transform material into essence so easily, he really could have an advantage. He promised himself he wouldn't get too excited however. After all, he had no idea what the other players out there were working with.

Picking up a piece of stone, he wanted to test one more thought before he tried to go back to the training room. For reasons he couldn't explain, he had an intimate understanding of how the stone was formed. He felt he understood the dirt just as well, along with something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. It felt like water in the back of his mind, but it was too dense. The more he focused on it, the more metallic it felt. It struck him suddenly why it felt that way. He reached out in his mind and tried to grab it, but mercury wasn't so compliant.

Changing his approach, he imagined himself scooping the knowledge out of the back of his mind, and it became clear to him.

With another effort of will, he gathered his essence together, pushing it into his hands over and over until he felt something slide through his fingers. Looking down, he saw the small reflective puddle of the liquid metal he'd just created from nothing. He would have been more excited if the act hadn't exhausted him so much. The fog around him had grown thin, and with a quick look at his essence he could see why.

ESSENCE: 3,478

He had used more than half of his stored essence to create what had to amount to just a few grams of the metal. The exchange rate was colossal in its inefficiency. There had to be a catch somewhere he supposed. He absorbed it back into his essence, and was pleased to see he got back everything he put in. He repeated the process again, making sure to monitor the amount of essence he put in. After 2000E, he had a small amount of the metal to show off his efforts.

Before using his skill to leave his Temple Realm, he decided to check his magic stat.

DiHEXAN: 64 / 80

For a moment he was concerned. The skill was only supposed to use 15 DiH, but then he considered the shirt he'd fed to his spirit. His clothes must have weighed at least a kilogram. It was nice to know, there's a chance he could leave things behind if he didn't have enough DiHexan.

He took one last blissful look around his peaceful little realm, then flexed his skill to retreat.