Trying again, Ruwen created the clone a hundred fifty feet above him and in front of Shelly. The clone only fell a few seconds before smashing into a cloud and dissolving. It confirmed what Ruwen had suspected. Shelly had cloaked them, and to the outside world they looked like a bank of clouds.
“Shelly looks like a bunch of clouds from outside,” Ruwen said.
Sift looked up. “You are so awesome, Shelly!”
Ruwen felt a small vibration through his feet. Sift kneeled and patted the platform. “Yes, you are the best turtle in the world.”
“Probably the Universe, actually,” Ruwen said.
“For once, the stinky scarecrow is right. You are the best in the Universe.”
The vibration came again and Sift laughed. “So that means we’re hidden.”
“Yes,” Ruwen said. “I’m going to show you how to Refine Air Essence. When you have some, try to fly. Blapy said your Aspect would make it much easier.”
Sift’s eyes grew large. “Fly?”
It made Ruwen happy to see the joy on Sift’s face. He knew Sift had dreamed of flying his entire life. “The first thing we need to do is get your Core moving. Come sit over here.”
Ruwen sat, and Whiskers laid down beside him. Sift sat across from Ruwen, and the Falcon Aspect appeared, hiding most of Sift’s face under a fierce beak.
With Ruwen’s guidance, it only took Sift a few minutes to get his Core to move. Ruwen warned Sift about moving his Core too fast, explaining how painful the results had been in the Spirit Realm when Ruwen had tried to Refine with a high Core Velocity.
Ruwen smiled at Sift’s success. “Next, I’ll show you how to Refine Air Essence from the Spirit in your Core. Rami figured this out from watching your parents do their morning stretches.”
“Thanks, Rami,” Sift said.
You’re welcome, Rami replied.
Sift smiled. “It’s weird hearing your voice, Rami. Hey, can we bring Io in on this?”
For a horrified moment, Ruwen pictured never having silence again. From Ky and Sift, Ruwen knew Io loved to talk.
Rami spoke up. I already tried to reach him via Ruwen’s Chat ability. But I think it only works with people Ruwen has a connection with. So I think you might all hear Fractal at some point, but we can’t hear Io.
“That’s too bad,” Sift said. He looked down at his hip. “I’ll keep you up to date, Io.”
Rami continued. I’m only telling you this, Ruwen. If in the future we need to hear Io, I can communicate with him via vibrations and bridge him into our group. But, as a Champion, you’re forbidden from speaking with an Elder weapon. So I’ll plan on blocking your voice.
That might be really useful, Ruwen said. You’re the best. He reached up and patted his right ear.
Ruwen’s head, neck, and chest warmed as Rami hugged him.
“Well, you going to show me?” Sift asked.
Ruwen focused back on Sift and then stood, and Sift did the same.
Ruwen pointed at Sift’s left bicep. “Your Air Meridian connects to your center with those roots we took from the Bladed Blue Iris plants. They’re thin, and your Refinement might take a while. Be patient.”
Sift nodded.
“Okay, let’s get started,” Ruwen said.
Sift already knew the form as his parents had made him do warm-up stretches too. Ruwen explained the process of pulling a thread of Spirit from the Core, feeding it into the center’s pathway that connected to the Air Meridian, and then reattaching the Spirit thread to the Core when it came back through the return pathway.
Again, with Ruwen’s help, Sift made quick progress, and in just minutes had refined his first Air Essence.
“Can I move?” Sift asked.
“Yes, you just need to keep your Core Velocity high enough to keep the flow going. Refining is something you can constantly do.” Ruwen watched Sift for a few seconds. “Are you good?”
Sift tilted his head back so Ruwen could see his eyes. “Thanks, buddy. This means a lot to me.”
Ruwen nodded, stood, and walked into the hallway with the bedrooms. The walls here were blessedly opaque. Even though he knew they were safe inside Shelly, it still bothered him only clouds were visible in the main room. It was a constant reminder of how high they were. Plus, he thought as he sat down, if Sift started to fly around in there, no one would be safe.
Whiskers had switched into his urban scout form, a small black cat, and sat next to Ruwen. He stroked the cat’s head as he thought. They had only been back in the Material Realm for a day, but Ruwen had already missed using his Spirit.
Ruwen channeled twenty-five Energy into his level five Harden and focused on his Core, compressing it. In the first second, he compressed his Core more than anything he’d accomplished in the Spirit Realm with just the breathing technique. As his Core grew smaller, Ruwen channeled more Energy into Harden, while monitoring his total Energy.
A minute later, Ruwen’s Infinity Ring-shaped Core had shortened to just a few feet long. The Spirit, now densely packed, responded instantly to his mental touch. In the Spirit Realm, after he’d reabsorbed his Core along with the Plague Siren’s, it had taken a lot of effort to move his Core, and even then, it had remained sluggish.
Now, with a slight push from Ruwen’s mental hand, the Core spun so fast its shape blurred. He remembered how painful forcing too much Spirit into a pathway had been. It had injured him in the Spirit Realm, here it would likely kill him.
Standing, Ruwen pulled a sliver of Spirit from his Core, and then quickly completed the Refinement form, threading his Spirit through all twelve of his Meridians. It felt great to Refine again.
Lir had made it clear that the state of Ruwen’s body wouldn’t survive most of the Architect Role’s capabilities. Ruwen needed to level his body as quickly as possible, so when the time came, he could use those powers. While his shoulders, arms, and hands were Gold, the rest of his body remained Silver. And
