Nico leads the way for a few more hours until we finally find what might be a cave tucked into the side of the mountain.

  I wait outside for thirty more minutes before he returns. His body is covered in a clear, foul-smelling sludge that reeks like rotten fish. His fight with the former inhabitant has left him with a few injuries, but he heals much faster than a human, so he’ll be fine.

  “It smells in here,” he announces.

  I press my nose and approach him. “I’ve smelled worse,” I say, scanning the interior of the newly discovered cave.

  It’s the first cave we’ve seen in days and the only place not completely covered in white mist. We’ve come across our clicking friend about three times now. Our sheer luck and hiding skills have saved us every time. It appears we are indeed a great team.

  Unfortunately, though, I’m tired. I haven’t slept in days, and my body is on the verge of collapse. I’ve adjusted to the environment, but even my enhanced body has its limits.

  As I step into the cave, I do the obvious thing and lean against the soft wall beside me. I heave a sigh and try to relax for the first time in days. The smell isn’t so bad once you get used to it.

  The creature’s corpse lies at the end of the cave. Its body is spider-like, transparent, and faintly luminescent, bathing the cave in a soft bluish light.

  “Are you hungry?” Nico asks.

  “I don’t think I can eat with this odor. And that thing…” I glance at the corpse. “It’s not something I want to look at while I’m trying to eat. Did you obtain its soul?”

  “It’s not worth it. It’s not what I’m looking for if I’m going to become stronger.”

  “Ha! How greedy,” I giggle. “I thought you just wanted to be free.

  “I do. And to become free, I need to be strong enough to take over my own fate. The Nether is a resting ground for great beings that existed long before humanity. They fought here, and their battles turned this world into their graveyard. Bloodhaul is full of people who specialize in Soul Alchemy. Clones like us are soulless by natural order. That makes us the perfect test subjects.”

  “The greater the soul, the stronger the host,” I add something Doctor Wall once said during one of his lectures. “Since we’re soulless, we’re ideal vessels.”

  “Exactly. And the system suppresses the will and grants us the soul’s inherent abilities,” Nico continues. “Of course, all of this is theoretical since it’s never actually been tested.”

  “Well, we’re the practice,” I say with a bitter laugh.

  Nico doesn’t smile. My voice fades into silence.

  “Let’s eat something and rest for now.”

  He then summons a storage artifact, an iron chest streaked with glowing white lines.

  “I know you don’t want to eat, but you need food if you plan on training. Using star ether takes more strength than you realize.”

  He opens the chest and pulls out a food-and-water pack, tossing it to me. The silver bundle lands in my hands, and its warmth catches me off guard. I tear open the top, and the smell of a hot meal drifts up to my nose.

  Inside is a gooey mess of synthetic porridge, one of those high-nutrient, long-lasting explorer rations. It’s built to survive time and terrain. Up to a year without spoiling.

  I dig out the flimsy plastic spoon and take a bite. It’s chewy, too chewy. It slides down my tongue like warm rubber. The taste isn’t awful, but it’s far from good. It makes my skin crawl.

  Still, I eat.

  Nico chuckles. “Better than the stuff they fed us.”

  I scrunch my face in disgust and scoop another mouthful of porridge. It slides down my throat like lukewarm slime, and I stick my tongue out.

  “Is this all we have?”

  “No. I’ve got around thirty more packs. All self-heated. I’ve been collecting them for months, storing them in my artifact.”

  I pause, spoon in midair.

  ‘He’s had a storage item this whole time…? Does that mean he’s had access to the Nexus system all along?’

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “The storage item belonged to a Nexus Being I happened to befriend back at the facility,” he says casually, like he just read my mind. “Magic items can be lent to powerless humans. Have you forgotten?”

  I swallow another scoop and try not to look surprised.

  “Oh.”

  Desperate to keep the conversation going, I ask, “So you’ve been preparing for our Nexus Event all these years?”

  “Yeah.” He downs five quick spoonfuls of porridge before continuing. “I’ve been desperate to find a soul strong enough to give me what I need. Something powerful. You know, something that’ll let me rise above the rest of our kind. Maybe even turn me into a legendary-type Nexus Being.”

  One word sticks out in my mind.

  “Legendary-type? What does that mean?”

  Nico clicks his tongue and shakes his head like I just asked something stupid and he pitied my ignorance. “I’ll explain that after we make it out of this place.”

  After finishing his last scoop of meal porridge, Nico takes a long drink from his water pouch. On my end, I’m almost done with mine. I chew on the mushy mess, force it down, and reach for my pouch as well.

  “So…” I say between gulps, “how do I use Star Ether?”

  “From my observations, Ether is drawn from within. The Nexus is a union of stars, and the system lets us borrow energy from them. That energy is called Ether. It's pure, primal, and arguably the strongest energy in the universe,” he explains. “Human and non-human species can’t fully harness it the way you might expect.”

  He lifts his magic sword and tilts it so the dull glow of the cave catches its surface. In the center, I see faded inscriptions etched into the blade.

  “So we dormant carriers rely on inscriptions and special materials to conduct it. That’s how Ether becomes usable for most.”

  He glances at me to make sure I’m following, then continues. “But Nexus Beings are different. They can channel Ether directly. It’s said that as they clear more events, their overall strength increases, especially their Ether control. They’re not as perfect as the star children, but they’re powerful all the same.”

  I nod slowly, trying to process it all.

  “All I can teach you now,” he says, “is how to draw Star Ether from within… and channel it through a magical item or parts of your body, to give yourself temporary energy spikes. Watch.”

  Nico stands and turns toward the cave wall behind him. His expression hardens. He holds his breath, and the air grows heavier. It's thicker this time, as if it’s tightening around us. His green eyes begin to glow faintly.

  He lifts his fist. A bluish energy forms around it, wrapping his knuckles like a membrane of light. The glow intensifies for a second, then—

  Boom!

  He slams his fist into the wall. The impact echoes like thunder, and the stone groans before caving in on itself. Dust bursts outward. When it clears, there’s a perfectly punched hole left where solid rock once stood.

  Nico exhales sharply, releasing his breath as his shoulders rise and fall.

  “So… the key is holding my breath?” I ask, eyebrows raised.

  “That’s one of the keys,” he says, coughing. He winces and clears his throat. “I’m still not used to this awful air…”

  A few more coughs later, Nico continues, “The first key is to look within and find your pool. We’re dormant, but we’re carriers, so you have to hold your breath as you draw power from that pool.”

  The term pool isn’t unfamiliar to me. I’ve read a handful of fiction books in the past, mostly to kill time. In most of them, a pool refers to the reserve—a sea of energy that rests within a power holder. It usually determines how powerful someone is and how efficiently they can use their power.

  In this world, Star Children are said to have over 100% reserves of Star Ether in their souls. That’s a huge contrast to the typical 60 to 90 percent seen in most Nexus Beings. It’s why Star Children are so rare… and so devastatingly powerful.

  But if I had to guess, raw reserves don’t mean everything. Star Children might not even be that strong unless they fully understand how to use what they have. Knowledge is power. Strength is just the muscle attached to that knowledge—it only matters if you know how to use it.

  Keeping that in mind, I close my eyes. I don’t really know what a pool looks like, but according to Nico, I’ll feel it. I’ll know when I’ve found it.

  Time passes. I block out all noise. Even though my eyes are shut, I still sense Nico’s presence in the cave like a silent shadow watching me. I see nothing but darkness. It's thick and empty.

  My chest rises and falls slowly. Deeper and deeper I go.

  More time slips by. My body starts to feel strange from staying still too long. The edges of my fingers tingle, something’s shifting. Ether begins to flicker inside me like sparks on dry kindling.

  I knit my eyebrows and push further. My thoughts narrow. Then, suddenly, the darkness stills.

  I feel it.

  Something stirs within me. At first, it’s weak. Small. Limited. Like a dying ember deep inside my core. But then it starts to swell, just a little. It grows from a single point, breathing with me, pulsing in time with my thoughts.

  I begin to heat up. The ground beneath me no longer feels cold. Drops of sweat trail down my face, and my body grows light, almost too light.

  Something is growing inside me. It’s intense and feels alive. It seems to have heard me searching for it and is now responding.

  My eyes snap open, and a wave of raw energy bursts from deep within me and explodes outward. The cave trembles violently under the sudden release.

  Nico jumps to his feet and instinctively raises his sword, pointing it in my direction. His eyes are wide. He’s frightened.

  I gasp. My breath is shaky and uneven. “I… can feel it.”

  And I can. The Ether inside me is raging like a sea caught in a storm. It’s wild and violent, as if it’s angry that I’ve kept it caged for so long.

  The power is awakened now, but it’s hurting me. Tearing through my body like it doesn’t recognize its master.

  Nico drops his sword and rushes toward me. For the first time, I see genuine concern on his face.

  “This isn’t supposed to be happening…” he mutters. He grabs my shoulders, and the moment his hands touch me, he flinches. “You’re burning up. You’re at eighty percent, but that’s…”

  His words trail off as he reacts quickly. He summons a magical item that glows like a polished blue crystal and presses it against my chest. His lips move, chanting something I can barely hear.

  “Voice of Twilight… Song of Winter… Moon of the Universe… and Mother of Eternity… hear my prayer—”

  Then, suddenly, his voice is drowned out.

  The system speaks.

  [A Dragon without its breath is not a Dragon. Your bloodline has awakened.]