Austin sat in quiet meditation. Since returning to Earth, he always begun his days with meditation. Meditation on Earth was very different from the Survival Game. The Aether was pure and uncorrupted. It did take forms that aligned with different affinities, but it did not have the same corrupting effects. This meant that it was easier to purify into Austin’s own metal affinity. While it was easier to purify the Aether, it still gave Austin less Aether than if he were aligned with it. They had found that since the small suburban town had plenty of greenery and even some farms, the Aether was nature-aligned.

  Throughout the last few months, the people from the Survival Game had made a life for themselves. Austin and Natasha came to an agreement about the leadership of the community. Austin took charge of the majority of decision-making with a council, while Natasha would handle most of the public speaking. Natasha actually seemed relieved to give up decision-making to Austin. She was good at talking to people, but she was not always comfortable with making decisions. Austin was just happy that they could come to an agreement without any problems.

  They had also created a command structure. Mike took command of external affairs. External affairs included scouting, hunting, and a protective military force. The scouts were led by Gavin and spent their time looking for dungeons and gaining an understanding of the new land. The hunters, led by Jess, hunted and gathered food. The military force mostly spent its time protecting the border of the town. Brian led this group.

  Beth took command of internal affairs. This mostly included farming and teaching. Grayson, due to his nature affinity, led most of the farming. As food was distributed from a nearby abandoned grocery, it was discovered that they would have to be self-sufficient. Grayson immediately took charge of this to make sure that there would be food when they ran out of supplies from the grocery store. Ava took charge of teaching and watching over the children. Since they no longer had to worry about surviving in the Survival Game, it was decided that children should obtain an education. Different children were put in different groups based on their age. While younger children were watched over, older children participated in learning activities.

  Austin was proud of what the community had been able to accomplish in the few months since returning to Earth. Everyone was able to scrape together and create a new way of living for themselves. There was still much more to come, but they had created a stable environment.

  Austin finished his morning meditation and opened his eyes to look over his office. He had turned one of the rooms of the house into an area for him to work. Books were stacked high along the edges of the room, and his small desk was covered with pieces of paper. He spent much of his free time studying or working on enchantments.

  Austin stood up from his cross-legged position on the ground and reached for the door handle of his office. As he opened the door, Maya was already standing in front of it. She had a cup of coffee in her hand as she waited expectantly for Austin.

  “Are you finally going to do it today?” Maya asked as she handed Austin the cup.

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” Austin said before he took a sip of coffee. He let out a satisfied sigh as the coffee went down his throat. “You know, we need to figure out how to grow coffee before we run out. I should talk to Grayson about it. We lucked out in finding seeds in that grocery, but I don’t think there were any for coffee.”

  Maya raised her eyebrow at Austin’s statement. “You know exactly what I mean, and you are trying to change the subject. When are you going to ascend to Iron?”

  “Hard saying,” Austin said before taking another sip. He walked out of the doorway and into the living room before he continued talking. “There is so much to do, I’m not sure if I can take the time to ascend.”

  “You can take a break to ascend. We are in a pretty stable position,” Maya argued. “So many people have become Copper since we returned to Earth. They are waiting to see you become Iron.”

  “It does not make that much of a difference whether I’m Iron or not,” Austin said. “It’s not like they are all waiting on me to become Iron. They still have a ways to go to reach it.”

  “That’s not the point,” Maya grew more frustrated. “You are their leader, and they want to see you as strong.”

  “And what if something happens when I’m out of commission from the backlash?” Austin argued back.

  “Then we deal with it,” Maya said flatly. “Didn’t you say the longer you wait, the more powerful the backlash will be. The more you delay, the longer you’ll be out of commission.”

  “It just feels like there is so much that needs to be done,” Austin said.

  “There are things that need to be done, but we have managed to gain some stability,” Maya reminded Austin. “This would be a good time to do it.”

  “You might be right,” Austin nodded. “I have noticed that I am pushing what my body can take lately. My Essence has been harder to control, like it needs a bigger area to expand.”

  “So, you’ve purposely been delaying it,” Maya rolled her eyes. “You could be causing yourself long-term harm.”

  “You’ve made your point,” Austin sighed. “I will get started on it today. I’ll just do my morning rounds, and then I’ll do it.”

  “No, you aren’t,” Maya shook her head. “You’ll start with morning rounds and find some job to do. Today, it’s all about ascending to Iron. Finish your coffee and get back to your room.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “There is no fooling you,” Austin groaned before he sat on the couch. He then took another sip of his coffee. “What are your plans for today?”

  “I don’t have any scouting assignments. So, the first part of the day I’m gonna train, and then after that I’m gonna spend some time with Elliot,” Maya explained as she sat next to Austin.

  “Any specific plans with him?” Austin asked.

  “I think we are going to go to a nearby hiking trail,” Maya said. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that he has been interested in going back to the ‘forest’ since we returned.”

  “Yeah, I guess his experience was a lot different from ours,” Austin chuckled slightly. “It is sort of relieving. I was worried how it would affect him, but I guess we shielded him from the reality of the situation.”

  “I agree,” Maya said with a smile. “I would hate for his first memory to be about how scary the Survival Game was.”

  “Hopefully, we can keep it that way,” Austin said. “I just have to make it so he doesn’t live in a world where he has to fight.”

  “You know what would help that? Ascending to Iron,” Maya teased.

  “You already made your point,” Austin chuckled. “I’m gonna do it.”

  “I know. I’m just teasing,” Maya chuckled. “I think it’s about time I get ready for the day.”

  “I was about to say the same,” Austin said before he took a large gulp of his coffee to finish it off. “The sooner I get this done, the better.”

  The two shared a kiss before they went their separate ways. Austin walked through the kitchen to the back of the house. Once there, he slid open a door to the backyard. He was not sure what his ascension would do, and he did not want to risk damaging the house. He knew there was an extreme energy output, and he was not sure how exactly it would manifest.

  Austin walked to the center of the backyard and sat down with his legs crossed. If he was going to ascend, he was not going to waste a second. He hoped that it would just weaken his body for a little bit, but there was still the chance it could knock him out. He figured that if it did knock him out, then he needed to get it done as quickly as possible.

  Austin spent a lot of time studying the process for ascending to Iron. So, he knew exactly how to get started once he sat down. He closed his eyes and began focusing on his Essence. His Essence had taken a much larger shape over the past few months. When Austin focused on it, it was like a massive metal orb that filled his chest. It had actually gotten to the point where it felt like it weighed him down. Maya was completely right that he needed to ascend to Iron. Otherwise, he was not sure how much longer he could stand having his Essence in its current form.

  Austin reached out his mind to touch his Essence. Over the past few months, he had added to it but did very little to actually shape it. So, it was a strange situation to directly focus on his core and touch it. His mind reacted as if it were electrocuted by the large orb. Using Essence was very different from touching one’s core. When someone used it, it was like using an electric outlet for an appliance. Touching it was like directly touching a power source. The feeling was intense and exhilarating. Austin was genuinely shocked at how powerful his Essence had become.

  There was no point in marveling at his Essence. Austin needed to get to work and shape it. So, he started to impose his will on it. The point of Iron was to start branching out one’s Essence. Austin would succeed at becoming Iron when he created a branch to one of his extremities. This required him to flow and shape the Essence into a pathway from his core.

  Forming a branch was a delicate process and could greatly affect the future of one’s path. A branch needed a careful touch to form. If someone were too aggressive, then it would create a branch with bad Essence flow. Because of this, many people never made it to Iron. They feared the damage it could cause their body. Rightfully so, if a branch went especially wrong, it could cripple a person. This was part of the reason Austin waited so long. He had a fear of creating a branch. That gave rise to a different problem. He waited so long that he had a lot of Essence that he needed to shape and needed to balance the strength of his Essence with a delicate touch.

  The process was strange. It was like moving a heavy object that could snap back into place like a rubber band. If Austin’s focus faltered for a moment, the pathway would snap back into his core. This meant that Austin had to carefully pull and shape it like heavy, dense clay. He pulled it upward through his chest and to his right shoulder. Everything Austin read made it clear that making a branch in his dominant arm would be the easiest for the first branch.

  Even with it being the easiest, Austin found the process difficult. His progress felt very slow, and each time he progressed, it felt like the heaviness in his chest moved to the branch he was forming. It began to feel like his shoulder would drop through the ground at any moment. Despite the time and difficulty, he knew that he could not stop.

  Austin knew that he had a lot of Essence stored up, but he came to realize just how much he had stored. As his branch took shape through his arm, he started to feel like one branch would not be enough. His branch took shape, but he still felt like he had a substantial amount of Essence in his core. Instead of relieving the weight, it just distributed it throughout his arm. His entire arm felt like it could slam through the ground.

  With this realization, Austin did the only thing he thought he could do. He decided to try to form another branch. He knew the decision was rash. A person was only supposed to form their first branch when reaching Iron, and by the time they reached Steel, they would have a full set of branches. But even with that knowledge, Austin knew that he needed to try to distribute the power.

  Austin’s mind was exhausted from creating his first branch, but he was not going to let that hold him back. He pulled at the other side of his core and started the process to form a branch in his left arm. Despite his exhaustion, there was an advantage he had when creating this second branch. He had already created one branch and had the principle down. People also waited to create another branch because they did not have enough Essence in their core to create one. Austin did not have that problem at all. He had allowed his core to grow so large that he had plenty to create another branch.

  Creating the branch proved not be too difficult for Austin. He was actually shocked by how much easier it was than when he did his first branch. As he finished his branch, the energy from his core started to distribute itself evenly throughout his body. His body felt much lighter as the energy flowed throughout his two arms. It was like his body was backed up and now could finally release itself properly.

  Austin marveled at the new state of his body. It was an incredible feeling. Before he could enjoy the feeling anymore, something unexpected happened. His body went limp as the exhaustion from the process completely took hold of him.