“Hello…!” Micro called out as he entered a deep meditative state. “Are you still here?”

  WOOF

  “Good dog,” Micro greeted it cheerfully. As he came to stand before his broken core, he was greeted by a loud bark, and the dog’s soul peeked out from under the chaos-covered truck. It wagged its tail, though it chose to remain where it was. He then looked around at the spiritual world around him, and sure enough, the surrounding area was rich with energy. Although the energy in the air was thin, the energy in the ground beneath him felt warm and familiar.

  “This must be the earth element,” he said, taking a deep breath in through his nose. “It smells like metal!”

  With his core currently unable to channel energy, and his own internal energy barely held in place by the two protective rings of water and fire bestowed upon him by the two dungeon guardians, it was difficult for Micro to begin the process of constricting the components of his core, but he was excited to try.

  “Be careful, dog,” he called out to the dog beneath the truck. “I’m going to clean up before I get started.”

  The dog silently retreated farther beneath the truck, apparently having understood Micro’s warning, and Micro soon began. It took little concentration to fully dissolve the remainder of his broken core, allowing the energy to swirl around like a sparkling storm, but as he recalled the process Kel’s grandfather had assisted him with recently, he began the difficult process of constructing a core from scratch. Because some of the chaos energy around his soul had already dissipated, he could now harness a little of the energy around him. Unlike his previous experience with core construction, he was thankful that his core wasn’t yet fully exposed, as it limited the amount of energy which could be channelled all at once.

  “It’s easier to concentrate now, without that storm raging.” Micro thought aloud. “I’ll clean the chaos off once the garage is done.”

  It was easier for him to visualize each brick he slowly formed from the energy this time, having completed the process already, and the ground beneath him seemed to form out of his subconscious desire for somewhere to stand. He pulled up the energy from the ground using currents of his own energy, mimicking the technique he’d seen the Earth River Sect’s disciples using in combat the day before, and was pleased to find the energy could be used to make even stronger bricks than he’d made the last time.

  Micro lost track of time as he enjoyed the process of reconstructing the garage he longed for. Having grown more familiar with the nature of energy, he even found it easier to separate the impurities and compress it more efficiently. Soon, he had once again completed a jade core in the image of a radiant garage. He materialized the little old remote control in his hand to open the garage door, and walked into the garage with a wide smile on his face. The fluffy dog with black and white fur was now wandering around the inside of the garage, sniffing its contents curiously, but it ran to greet Micro as he entered.

  “Will you be happy in here until we find you a body of your own?” Micro asked just before the dog jumped up to place its front paws on his waist. “Feel free to eat your fill of energy if you’re hungry. Oh, here…”

  Micro gently pushed the dog down and scooped a handful of energy off the shelf nearest to him, then moulded it into the shape of a bowl. He then took another handful of energy and simply dropped it into the bowl.

  “Here you go,” Micro said to the dog. The dog took a small bite of the energy, and appeared content with the solution. It wagged its ghostly tail and barked at Micro once, then continued to eat happily.

  “Now, let’s get this cleaned up…” Micro said to himself as he turned his attention to his soul. Mostly covered in chaos energy, it was disorienting to look at for too long. Making sure not to stare too long at it, for fear of damaging his good eye, he still thought it was interesting how the energy itself acted as a strange window into a part of the universe he had trouble comprehending, with distant stars and clouds of coloured gasses swirling in the distance. But he was no longer interested in marvelling at the strange scene.

  With one hand, he started wiping the windshield vigorously, and he was relieved to see some of his soul beginning to shine through. He gathered the chaos energy which he wiped off into a small ball in his other hand, and continued to expose the glowing white truck beneath. Removing the sticky substance from the Core Cards in the bed felt particularly exhilarating. With each bit of chaos he removed, he could feel the energy beginning to flow in and out of his soul more and more. The feeling of energy circulating freely through his body again wiped away all of his fatigue so quickly that his concentration nearly broke, but he persisted in cleaning his soul until every sticky drop of the dense chaos energy was scrunched up in his hand.

  “What to do with this…?” he squinted his eyes, still fearing the effects of the energy on his vision, and looked around the garage for somewhere to put it. He thought of throwing it outside, but wasn’t sure what kind of effect that would have on Margo’s house.

  WOOF

  The dog next to him suddenly jumped up and scooped the ball of chaos energy from his hand, gulping it down before Micro had time to react to the sudden acrobatic display. He looked at the dog with concern, but the dog simply looked back at him while panting happily.

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  “Hmm…” Micro thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Just let me know if you get a stomach ache. See you later!”

  WOOF

  “Alright then.” Micro stretched his stiff neck, then left the garage and closed the door. He waved at the dog as it crawled underneath the truck with its tail wagging, and then he noticed something about his new garage. “It’s a little bit more yellow than before…”

  ~

  “What in the world was that?!” Margo shouted as Micro awoke from his meditative state, suddenly flinching as his aura filled the room, stirring up dust and causing the ceiling to shake.

  “Oh, sorry,” Micro said as he noticed her discomfort. He remembered Kel explaining that cultivators eventually learn to restrain their aura, and found it surprisingly easy to do with the assistance of the Turtle Art, forming a thin, nearly invisible shield around himself that prevented his aura from extending too far beyond his body. He bowed his head in apology as Margo caught her breath. “I was just making a new core. I forgot how windy that can get.”

  “You were a real cultivator?! But you—” Margo gasped, but she was interrupted when Spark finally gave up on catching Blue and changed her target to Micro. She ran as fast as she could, but tripped on a stone protruding from the floor with a yelp. However, before her head met the ground, she was wrapped in a glowing, green shell. The shell slowed her fall until she was resting on the ground, then it dissipated.

  “Always keep your eyes on the road, Spark,” Micro said with a stern look in his eye.

  “Micro!” Spark repeated, springing up from the ground as if nothing had happened. She climbed up onto his shoulders, giggling uncontrollably.

  Micro laughed along with the little girl whose weight he now hardly felt at all. He sprung to his feet and began to jog around the room, holding Spark’s feet with his hands as she laughed and screamed. Blue flew over to the pot of soup still simmering above the fire, and quickly scooped up a chunk of meat in each hand before returning to the table to savour them.

  “That really is good meat,” Blue remarked to the wide eyed Margo. “Did you find this near a dungeon?”

  “A dungeon?” Margo repeated with confusion. “I don’t think I’d know one if I saw it. Why? What’s wrong with it?”

  “It’s packed so full of energy that my core feels ready to explode after a few bites!” Blue proclaimed, thumping her chest with her fist.

  “Interesting…” Margo replied with a blank smile, unable to follow the conversation any further. “Maybe I should be a cook…”

  “Alright, let’s go,” Micro said as he gradually slowed down, much to Spark’s dissatisfaction. “Kel should be on his way to the temple too, don’t you think?”

  “It would be nice to find him before somebody else finds us,” Blue replied between mouthfuls of rabbit meat.

  “We’ll be heading back to the sect now,” Micro explained to Margo. He picked Spark up off his shoulders and placed her gently on the ground. Blue then jumped up and landed on Micro’s shoulder, while Spark looked sadly up at them.

  “Thanks for the soup, Margo,” he said with a deep bow. “And Spark, be careful. Human bodies are fragile.”

  Spark tried to grab hold of Micro’s clothes as he turned to walk to the door, but Margo lept forward and grabbed her by the waist.

  “Don’t touch him!” she cried anxiously, then looked up at Micro. “Forgive her, please! Forgive us for our discourtesy!”

  “Not this again… I’ll be going now. Thanks again, Mar—” Micro said, but the ground beneath the stone hut began to rumble, causing Micro to look around anxiously, unable to keep his balance. It wasn’t exactly like the earthquakes Micro had experienced on his own world, and the shaking stopped as suddenly as it had begun. “What was that?!”

  “Oh no…” Margo gasped, dropping Spark and running out the door. Micro followed after her, and together they confirmed the source of the noise. Thick clouds of dust billowed out of the mine’s entrance like smoke. “A cave-in! Kern…!”

  She ran to the mine’s entrance, shouting the blacksmith’s name, but she fell to the ground coughing after coming too close to the cloud of dust that continued to pour out of the cave.

  “What happened in there?” Micro asked as he approached her from behind. He grabbed her by the arm as she continued to cough, then helped her up and guided her away from the mine’s entrance.

  “I thought it would be fine…” Margo replied between coughs. “There hasn’t been a single cave-in for years, and now there’s been two in as many weeks!”

  “Do you think they’re alright in there?” Micro asked. “Caves are pretty dangerous.”

  “No…” Margo sobbed. “Why today…? Why, when there is nobody here to help!?”

  Micro frowned as Margo broke down beside him. Spark ran to jump on her, but her own expression quickly filled with anxiety as she began to understand the situation.

  “Ember…?” Spark called out feebly to the dusty cave’s entrance, the sound of falling rocks still echoing from deep within the tunnels. Margo grabbed Spark before she could run to the mine, staring solemnly into the dark and dusty entrance. Several elderly villagers began to emerge from their homes, silently gathering near Margo. They could only shake their heads as they understood the situation from Spark’s reaction.

  “Blue?” Micro called to the pixie on his shoulder.

  “What now?” she replied through a yawn. “Why don’t we get moving before that moon tiger brat catches up with us?”

  “We can help Lena find Feng later,” Micro continued. “Can you see Spark’s family in there?”

  “Ugh…” She looked up at the sky and sighed. “Enough caves… I’m sure they’re fine.”

  “Can you at least point me in the right direction?” Micro pleaded as another soft rumble echoed in the cave. “You know how dangerous caves can be, and they don’t have a pixie to help them like I did.”

  “Hmm…” Blue closed her eyes and massaged her head for a moment, then sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  “Thanks, Blue,” Micro replied with a smile. He walked into the cloud of dust, and immediately summoned the armour of the Turtle Art to keep the dust from filling his lungs. Blue simply dove into his pocket as the armour coated him to protect herself.

  “What are you doing?!” Margo shouted after him, now struggling to keep a firm hold of Spark.

  “Thanks for the soup!” Micro turned around and waved as he continued slowly into the mine. “See you soon!”

  Margo shouted something back to him, but he couldn’t here her as he vanished into the cloud of dust.