Somewhere on the floor that was called the Basement, thought by most to be the lowest floor within Tenjou’s crystal boundaries, there was a wide stretch of land called the Wilds. The largest part of those vibrant hunting grounds was covered in wild forests, forming a lush habitat for a great variety of beasts and Reijuu. But one part of that forest was interrupted by a large swathe of rocky soil, a harsh landscape of grey and black where only few plants grew.

  Near the center of that tundra, where the colors shifted in places to include the pale hues of quartz and chalk, there was a chaotic formation of collapsed cliffs and fallen spires. It had formed from some small calamity, its many jagged slabs and shards of rock having only recently come to a stable equilibrium.

  Somewhere near the side of this great heap of white stones, where scorch marks still marred the floor, the rock shifted. A nearby bullbelisk shifted, looking on with curiosity as the rocks rose, then fell still again. They rose and fell in a regular rhythm, as if something was pounding at them, until finally, they bulged and a fist broke through.

  That dark-skinned fist, its knuckles covered by a thin dusting of white powder, was followed by a thickly muscled arm. Despite being covered in cuts and scrapes, the arm moved around with purpose, gripping the rocks around it until it found solid purchase. Then it heaved, until a white-haired head popped out. The female face that rose slowly from the expanding hole carried a fierce expression, but when its pale eyes looked up at the bright light and the crystal ceiling far overhead, it shifted to one of profound relief.

  More rocks were pushed aside as a strong woman’s body rose, clearly marred by battle, standing upright for a short moment before reaching back into the hole she’d crawled out of. When her arm rose again into the light, it was holding a pale-faced young man who slumped to the ground.

  “Come now, none of that. I just watched you climb the tower, you can walk the final stretch on your own two legs.”

  “You promise the stash is close by? And it has food?” Dario asked weakly. “And medicine?”

  “All of that, yes, as I have stated multiple times. It is not far; I hid it in one of the crevasses of that hill over there.”

  Dario looked in the direction she was pointing, then blinked as he took in the scenery and the ceiling above, only now seeming to realize where he was. He groaned as he pushed himself to his feet, but then he took a deep breath and let out a satisfied sigh.

  “Finally that smell of musty old stone and decay is gone. I think I was breathing it so long, I didn’t even realize it anymore. And the light! Bright and pure! Nothing like that gloomy, moss-tainted crap below.”

  He paused a moment, then grunted with annoyance as he shifted his gaze.

  “Beasts are still out to kill us, of course. Some things never change.”

  Nika went to meet the charging bullbelisk, its cragged stone hooves pounding the ground like heavy drums as it picked up speed. She met its charge with a quick one-two and Dario could see how the jab with her left sent a wave of Ki washing in and out of its head, followed by a heavy punch with her right, her Ki forming into an obsidian chisel. The lumbering giant came sliding to a stop as a crack rose through its skull, then fell to the ground.

  She gave her fist an appreciative look. “That was… considerably easier than before.”

  Dario wasn’t even paying attention, already limping over to the hill she’d indicated, moaning about food and medicine.

  It didn’t take him long to find the stash and devour a few healing pills and a bunch of stale bread and dried meat and fruits, before lounging against a rock as he rubbed his belly and still-aching ribs.

  “Aren’t you going to harvest that?” he asked, pointing a piece of dried meat at the remains of the bullbelisk. Nika shook her head.

  “I believe I’ll take the time to seek out a powerful alpha. My seams feel stronger and more durable than before, they will be able to handle the additional energy. It should not take long, and we still have time before the Ascension ceremony.”

  “Now that you mention it, my seams do feel nice and smooth. Reminds me a bit of polished wood.”

  In the heat of battle, he hadn’t paid much attention to what the process was doing to him, but it felt like his Ki flowed a lot more easily than before. He held out his hand and made a ball of light, then raised his brows. His eyes focused as the ball split and began to swirl in intricate patterns, ribbons of light moving in a fluid dance.

  Next, the ribbons joined into a weave, some of them changing color, until it all blended together into the image of a little mouse. Unlike the rough shapes he’d conjured before, this mouse lifted its nose into the air and sniffed in vivid detail. It was a bit rough around the edges, if you looked closely, but a lot better than before.

  “By the pillar’s shiny balls! Are you seeing this? It’s so much easier.”

  Nika, sitting next to him, gave him an annoyed look and a casual punch to the shoulder. “Don’t blaspheme against the pillar.”

  Dario jolted to the side, rubbing at his shoulder. “Ow! What the fuck was that?”

  She punched him again.

  “Stop it! How are you doing that?”

  “It is not difficult, even for a slow learner like yourself. One clenches the fingers into a fist, then stretches the arm like so.”

  This time he took the punch without flinching.

  “Huh. That one was normal. No, seriously, what was that? Were you using the emotional Ki on me?”

  Nika cocked an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? I did no such thing.”

  “Yes you did, I could feel it. Annoyance and disapproval. It was like… you were poking me with it. Wait, can we even properly use it anymore?”

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  He closed his eyes for a moment, sinking into a memory of bravery until the feeling felt solid in his chest, but when he opened his eyes, there was no orange smoke.

  “Nope.”

  “Of course we cannot create that Ki on this floor. People feel strong emotions every day. We would have known by now. But you’re saying you felt my disapproval?”

  Nika was frowning closely at her fist, investigating it from every angle as if it was a mysterious mineral. Then she closed her eyes and muttered a few things Dario couldn’t quite make out. But as he watched, a green glow became visible in her chest.

  “I can still see it!” Dario exclaimed, sitting up excitedly. “You’re thinking of truth, right?”

  Nika opened her eyes, then looked herself over. “Are you sure? I don’t see anything. But I was indeed considering my revelations. Perhaps…” She closed her eyes again, focusing, then hit Dario with a quick jab.

  “Wow!” he breathed, rubbing softly at his shoulder. “It’s kind of subtle, but it’s definitely there. It suddenly felt like… like I made a discovery. The green glow was so obvious there, you didn’t see even a bit of it?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. But it was written in one of the scrolls, that some effects of ascending to Talc were subtle and individually different. I suppose it is not illogical that they would be tied to our Kaku somehow.”

  Dario scratched his head. “Huh. So you’re saying I can see emotions cause of the eye Kaku and you can… what? Punch them?”

  When she only shrugged in response, Dario couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. To his surprise, Nika joined in. It was the first time he’d actually heard her laugh; it started as a reserved chuckle, but turned into full-on laughter which was surprisingly feminine, her laughing voice somehow higher-pitched than her conversational one.

  “Well,” she said as she wiped a tear from her eye, “if nothing else, at least it’s a nice memento of the Asomatous Floor. Not that I’ll soon forget what we went through.”

  “Wait, you didn’t bring any, err… Well, let’s just call them souvenirs?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Dario grinned, then upended his bulging pack so that an assortment of scrolls, memory crystals, plant cuttings and even random pieces of rock came rolling out onto a huge pile.

  “Couldn’t help myself. Figured some of it might be valuable.”

  Nika’s eyes widened. “The scrolls! Of course, why didn’t I think of that?” She lifted one of them reverently, running a finger along the side. “Some of these contain long forgotten information and techniques. They might be priceless.”

  Dario’s eyes lit up and he pumped a fist. “Yes! I knew my gut feeling wasn’t off. You wanna sing the treasure song with me? Come on! Treasure, treasure…” He trailed off when he noticed Nika wasn’t joining in, her smile slipping away as she looked down at the scrolls.

  “I can hardly believe I’m about to say this. It feels like repeating the sins of my ancestors, but…” She sighed. “We must be careful not to spread any information of the floor below. No mention of its name, nor its buildings or inhabitants or techniques. None of it. What happened down there is a tragedy, but it must remain forgotten.”

  “Mmh, yeah, I guess so,” Dario muttered in between chewing on a piece of dried meat. Nika’s eyes locked onto his.

  “I need you to promise me, Dario. The potential risk is too great; those parasites destroyed an entire civilisation down there. I will look through the scrolls and remove any mention of that place. But you must swear to me that you will never speak a word of it.”

  “Sure, yeah, I got it. Won’t say a word.”

  “Swear it. On your mother’s soul.”

  Dario frowned, but Nika’s eyes were hard. He sighed and grumbled, but eventually complied. Nika seemed relieved at that, though she was tapping a finger on her chin as she looked back at the great pile of collapsed cliffs and spires that was covering up the hole in the ground.

  “We shall have to work on a better cover before we leave this place. I may need your help.”

  He had to admit the pile did not look particularly stable. It might only be a matter of time before it collapsed and someone went in to investigate. But with his new skills in manipulating plants, it wouldn’t be too hard to shore it up with some vines. In fact, if the goal was to keep people away…

  “I have an idea,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

  ***

  Several hours later, the both of them were looking at the results of their labor. From a safe distance.

  After Nika had reinforced some of the weaknesses in the load-bearing parts of this pile of rocks, they’d hauled some dirt over and poured it in the gaps. Meanwhile, Dario had used his new skills with splicing to form a flower that carried light pollen, shaping it so that it had poison as a dominant aspect, combined with some growth. With a surge of plant Ki, the stones were now not only reinforced with some threads of thorny vines, but also fully covered in poisonous flowers.

  “Yep, big rock monsters and poisonous flowers should probably be enough to keep nosey people away,” Dario said, feeling a lot better after taking some of Nika’s healing pills. His ribs and arm were still sore, but the soreness should ebb away over the coming days.

  Nika looked a lot less stressed as she looked out at the messy pile of white rock and brown dirt, dotted with purple flowers.

  “Thank you, for your help,” she said.

  He waved his hand. “No worries. You were right, it needed to be done.”

  “I don’t mean the flowers,” she said seriously, meeting his eyes. “Or not only that. You saved my life. I would have died twice over without your help. I owe you a great debt.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “That so? Tell me, how rich is your family exactly?”

  Nika shook her head with a chuckle. “Is there anything you care about, except food and treasure?”

  “Umm… Hammocks? And the occasional adventure. Just to keep busy, you know?” He grinned.

  There was a brief silence. He really had to get going, but after everything they’d gone through in the last days, he found it strangely difficult to just walk away.

  “Will I see you at the Ascension, then?”

  Dario grimaced for a moment as he considered that. “I guess so. I mean, there’s just a few stops I have to make. And a few people to talk to.” He sighed. “Ugh, I just hate it when the old man is right. That smug smile. He’ll be gloating, too. Almost worse than listening to Uso’s never-ending taunts.”

  Nika nodded as if she knew exactly what he was talking about.

  “Well then. I wish you strength for those conversations and good tidings for your ascension to Amber.”

  “Right,” Dario said with a sheepish grin as he scratched his head. “Almost forgot about that. Same to you.”

  He looked on with surprise, then burst out laughing as she gave a deep, formal bow.

  “What is it? Are you mocking me?”

  “No! Look, Nika, it’s just… you’ve gotta loosen up a little bit, you know? Everything’s always so formal with you.”

  She looked confused.

  “Alright, how about this: where I’m from, friends shake hands. Some might even go as far as hugging, but let’s take it one step at a time.”

  He reached out a hand, which Nika looked at like it was a slimy frog, but then she nodded, looking determined as she firmly clasped his wrist. When he gave her an encouraging smile, she even smiled back. Small steps.

  “See you around!”

  Then he was off towards the forest again, whistling merrily as he walked back in the direction of the Belt.