Chapter 73

I woke for the forty-ninth time since joining the Pulse Of Eternity, which also marked the thirty-seventh week since I shifted the entirety of my [Focus] toward forming the [Vitality] Aspect.

Approximately twelve months in total.

Four more months, and it would be a full year since I became a trial Aspirant.

My physiological [Cultivation] [Cycle] was still being maintained without the slightest input.

My body felt rested.

My thoughts formed with perfect [Clarity].

My wings unfolded through their complete range.

I compressed my [Awareness] inward.

No lingering muscular strain.

No circulatory irregularity.

No traces of exhaustion.

No biological process functioning outside the ranges I had established as optimal.

Then I slipped into communion.

No advancement disorder.

No overly numerous density events, unexpected waves, or unusual flows.

My overdevelopment safety margin had recovered to an acceptable degree.

No anomalies.

I stopped communing with my Essence, raised one hand, and [Will]ed my concept of [Vitality] into being.

Golden light emerged over my palm.

Not a sliver interrupted by faint streaks anymore.

A strand.

Thin.

Pulsing.

It curled through the air like something caught between liquid and light, expanding and contracting according to a rhythm that resembled a heartbeat without truly imitating one.

One second passed.

Two.

Three.

Its structure remained stable.

Six seconds.

Nine.

Twelve.

Only after the twelfth second did the first signs of degradation manifest.

The outer edge blurred.

Its rhythm grew uneven.

One thread of gold separated from the whole and dissolved.

I released the rest before its collapse could distort my observations.

My energy reserves had diminished by approximately one hundredth.

A drastic improvement.

Months ago, manifesting something much less complete for less than a second had consumed enough energy to render continued experimentation irrational.

Now, I could maintain a stable strand for a dozen seconds at the cost of only a hundredth of my reserves.

Progress.

Still...

I was nowhere near fully conceptualizing my concept of [Vitality].

That would only occur when I successfully formed it as an Aspect.

Until then, every completed phase would amount to no more than another step toward that Aspect formation.

Passing from the [Vitality] conceptualization phase to the [Vitality] manifestation phase wouldn't make my concept complete.

Nor would passing whatever phase followed that one.

I would merely be approaching the threshold where my Essence recognized my [Vitality] concept as sufficiently intrinsic to my existence to manifest it as a proper Aspect.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

But the result before me should finally be enough.

I closed my hand around the empty air where the golden strand had existed, completed the rest of my waking routine, and departed for Xafsa's office.

The journey to the four hundred and fifth floor took little time.

By now, the Pulse Tower's internal routes had become as familiar to me as the pipe networks of Volow's past tower.

I knew which lifts were busiest according to the duty periods.

Which exterior passages were frequently obstructed by maintenance.

Which fairy-sized routes allowed me to cross between administrative sections without entering the primary corridors.

Which corridors were easiest to cross at high-speed without drawing attention.

Before long, I arrived at Xafsa's office and the door, as if recognizing me, opened on its own.

Xafsa remained anchored at the center of its adapted workspace, sensory and manipulative filaments spread across several piles of paperwork.

It continued sorting them as I entered.

"My manifested [Vitality] concept has reached twelve seconds of stable existence at an expenditure of approximately one hundredth of my energy reserves," I stated.

Several sensory filaments turned toward me.

"Demonstrate," it said.

I raised my hand.

My [Will] reached inward.

The strand of golden [Vitality] manifested once more.

One second.

Two.

Its pulses remained stable.

I sustained it until the twelfth second, then released it before degradation began.

Xafsa remained motionless for a few moments.

Its attention had never left the manifestation.

"You qualify to commence the [Vitality] manifestation phase."

Finally.

One manipulative filament extended toward a low compartment beside its central workspace and opened it.

Conveniently, it seemed, Xafsa had already prepared for this and possessed everything within filament's reach.

The first object it withdrew was a transparent sphere filled with a viscous, nearly colorless liquid.

Its diameter amounted to approximately half my height.

Ten centimeters or so.

Several openings had been integrated around its exterior.

One narrow insertion port.

One broader opening surrounded by a ring inscribed with strange symbols.

Two smaller channels whose purposes I couldn't immediately identify.

Fine patterns extended through the transparent material, too precise and complicated for me to distinguish without sustained examination.

That was it.

A [Vitality] globe.

It couldn't be anything else.

Xafsa placed it upon the work surface of its desk.

Next came a sealed container holding sixteen small capsules.

Each contained a suspended mass of pale green tissue no larger than the tip of one of my fingers.

Finally, it added a thin booklet.

"This is your [Vitality] globe, your introductory guide, and your weekly allocation of sixteen plantoid tissue samples. Before you ask, additional samples cost ten credits each."

Ten credits.

The equivalent of what many paid for a proper meal.

For one tiny mass of cultivated plantoid tissue that I would probably kill within minutes by the hundreds.

Oh well.

At least I finally found a practical use for my accumulated credits that had presently reached four thousand nine hundred.

At ten credits per sample, that would allow me to purchase four hundred and ninety additional samples.

Potentially enough to sustain an absurd quantity of testing.

Still, I resisted placing the order immediately.

Not because I doubted I would eventually need them, but because ordering hundreds of samples before learning how to properly use the apparatus would turn enthusiasm into waste.

[Guided] wholly agreed.

"Read the guide before your first test," Xafsa instructed.

"Naturally."

"And do not attempt to expose your own body to your manifested concept."

"I wasn't intending to."

"Intentions change when results appear promising."

"Never happened to me," saying so, I secured the [Vitality] globe, the samples, and the booklet with a large helping of sturdy threads.

The combined bundle looked notably heavy, particularly the [Vitality] globe, being half my height and filled with liquid, but it wasn't anything I couldn't deal with, and I simply adjusted my wings and flight form to compensate for the weight.

Not convenient.

But practical.

"Notify me before attempting any procedure not contained within the introductory guide," Xafsa added as I reached the door and it opened on its own.

"I will."

Then I left.

Transporting the bundle back to my room required a slight effort as I had to keep my flight slow and my movements exact, but ultimately, after half an hour of using the internal corridors of the Pulse Tower, I reached my room.

I first placed the [Vitality] globe upon my table.

Then, despite having long planned what I intended to do the instant I received it...

I opened the introductory guide first.

The first section detailed the construction and operation of the [Vitality] globe itself.

Interestingly, its transparent exterior wasn't ordinary glass, but an [Ether]-forged composite selected for its minimal biological reactivity.

As for the viscous internal medium, it was meant to stabilize the plantoid tissue samples, distribute manifested [Vitality] evenly, and preserve any compounds released during testing for later analysis.

The broad ringed opening served as the manifested [Vitality] interface.

The narrow port accepted tissue capsules.

One of the remaining channels allowed the internal medium to be sampled without opening the apparatus.

The last existed to recalibrate or replace portions of the [Ether] framework.

Before every use, I had to verify the globe's integrity.

Visual examination for fractures.

[Awareness] examination for distortions within the liquid.

Verification that every [Ether] pattern remained continuous.

Pressure response.

Temperature stability.

Residual contamination.

Internal medium density.

Reactivity baseline.

Seal integrity...

The guide explained every verification procedure, then explained them again through alternate methods in case the user lacked the required [Perception].

Following that came an exhaustive description of the globe's internal environment.

Temperature.

Pressure.

Composition.

Dissolved nutrients.

Trace metallic elements.

Acidity.

Viscosity.

Expected fluctuations after sample insertion.

Every variable had been designed to remain stable enough that nearly any change within the plantoid tissue could be attributed to the manifested [Vitality] concept interacting with it.

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Then came the plantoid tissue sample itself.

The tissue originated from a specially cultivated plantoid whose natural physiology possessed an excessive degree of responsiveness.

Its cells weren't specialized toward any one function.

Instead, they could alter their density, organization, metabolic output, chemical production, energy storage, and nutrient absorption according to the influences imposed upon them.

The tissue was alive.

Stable.

Self-sustaining for multiple hours within the globe.

And extraordinarily easy to distort.

The guide contained an extensive list of reactions.

If cellular regeneration became too slow, the tissue increased its density in an attempt to preserve functional mass.

If regeneration accelerated too far, density decreased as cells divided faster than supporting structures could mature.

Some imbalances caused the tissue to gather into clumps.

Others stretched it into filaments.

Changes in biological identity produced shifts in color.

Some conceptual errors prompted the tissue to absorb metallic elements from the surrounding medium.

Others caused it to synthesize toxins.

An overexertion state could result in toxic compounds, excess heat, rapid nutrient depletion, or uncontrolled breakdown of stored structures.

False resilience sometimes manifested as rigid tissue incapable of adapting.

Uncontrolled adaptability could dissolve the tissue's stable morphology entirely.

Excessive preservation could prevent damaged cells from being dismantled.

Excessive renewal could destroy healthy structures alongside damaged ones.

And those were merely the basic reactions.

The guide continued.

Pages.

Tables.

Illustrations.

Sequences of reactions whose order mattered as much as their final result.

Combined manifestations.

Contradictory manifestations.

Delayed reactions.

False positives created by improper globe calibration.

Reactions which appeared beneficial until the tissue was exposed to stress.

Reactions that could only be detected through extensive [Assessment].

Once I finished reading the guide once, I started reading the sections concerning pre-test verification and baseline reactions again.

I knew with utmost [Clarity] that my first test would lead nowhere.

My [Vitality] concept was still far from complete.

It contained contradictions I hadn't yet identified.

Its very inability to persist indefinitely already demonstrated instability.

Exposing a sample to it would produce so many simultaneous reactions that isolating any one deficiency would be nearly impossible.

It would be a waste of informative overload.

But still...

I took one tissue capsule from the container.

And inserted it through the narrow port.

The capsule opened after entering the internal medium, releasing the pale green tissue into the center of the globe.

It floated.

Slowly unfolded.

Then settled into its baseline morphology.

A loose, irregular sheet composed of countless translucent cells.

I began the integrity checks.

Exterior.

No fractures.

[Ether] patterns.

Continuous.

Liquid density.

Within acceptable range.

Pressure.

Stable.

Temperature.

Stable.

Essence background.

Stable.

Tissue coloration.

Pale green.

Tissue density.

Baseline.

Nutrient absorption.

None beyond expected maintenance requirements.

Compound production.

Normal.

I recorded every result.

Then placed my hand against the broad manifestation interface.

I breathed once.

Manifested a sliver of my [Vitality] concept.

And allowed the apparatus to draw it inward.

Gold entered the globe.

The internal medium carried it toward the suspended tissue.

The first contact occurred.

Nothing happened.

For less than a second.

Then the tissue contracted.

Its loose sheet folded inward, producing several dense clumps.

Its metabolic activity surged.

The cells nearest the center began producing compounds I recognized from the guide as markers of overexertion.

Another reaction followed.

Then another.

Tissue density increased along the outer edges while decreasing at the center.

Thin filaments extended between separate clumps.

The pale green coloration darkened in irregular patches.

Trace metallic elements vanished from the liquid and accumulated within the densest regions.

Heat production rose.

Cellular regeneration accelerated.

Cellular degradation accelerated faster.

The tissue began synthesizing one toxic compound.

Then three.

Then compounds not present within the introductory list.

My [Awareness] expanded through the globe.

Dozens of reactions unfolded simultaneously.

Some appeared to compensate for others.

Some directly worsened what they should have corrected.

Some portions of the tissue attempted to preserve themselves by increasing density.

Others responded to that increased density by dismantling structural support.

Several cellular groups began differentiating into forms the original plantoid tissue didn't possess.

One filament developed channels resembling primitive vessels.

Another calcified.

A clump near the center entered a cycle of rapid destruction and replacement, consuming surrounding nutrients without producing any stable structure.

I sustained my manifested [Vitality].

The energy expenditure remained manageable.

Approximately one hundredth of my reserves every twelve seconds.

One minute costs slightly over five hundredths.

Two minutes, a bit more than one tenth.

I continued.

The purpose of this first test wasn't to preserve the sample.

It was to establish the complete consequences of my present concept.

I opened a blank notebook.

Recorded the start time.

Then wrote.

Initial contraction.

Multifocal clump formation.

Central density loss.

Peripheral density increase.

Filament extension.

Uneven coloration.

Metallic absorption.

Heat generation.

Toxic synthesis.

Accelerated regeneration.

Accelerated degradation.

Unstable differentiation.

Structural calcification.

False vascular development.

Nutrient overconsumption.

I kept writing.

Every reaction.

Its location.

Its onset.

Its sequence.

Its interaction with every other reaction I could identify.

The first minute passed.

Then the second.

The tissue's original morphology vanished.

What remained was a collection of clumps and filaments repeatedly building, damaging, and rebuilding themselves according to incompatible instructions.

By the third minute, multiple regions had become necrotic.

Others remained violently active.

The central clump had absorbed enough metallic elements to become faintly reflective.

One filament continued extending despite no longer containing viable cells throughout most of its length.

The tissue synthesized another toxin.

Its internal energy reserves collapsed.

My manifestation continued pulsing through it, attempting to impose a conceptual [Vitality] that possessed neither the [Comprehension] nor [Mastery] required to recognize what the tissue actually needed.

Four minutes passed.

Most of the remaining viable cells entered terminal overexertion.

Their metabolic activity spiked.

Stored compounds were consumed.

Structural proteins were dismantled.

The tissue sacrificed everything it possessed to continue responding.

At four minutes and twenty-nine seconds...

Its last living region ceased functioning.

I released my [Vitality] manifestation.

The faint gold glow vanished from the globe.

What remained floated within the liquid as a discolored collection of dead clumps, brittle filaments, metallic deposits, and toxic compounds.

I stopped the timer.

Four minutes.

Twenty-nine seconds.

Exposure to my manifested [Vitality] had killed the sample in a way that hinted it was not much less dangerous than [Aura] in its present state.

Except my concept possessed no practical offensive application.

Maintaining contact for nearly five minutes to kill a small mass of extraordinarily sensitive plantoid tissue wasn't a weapon.

It was an inefficient biological catastrophe.

Not that I held any doubt whether [Vitality] could be weaponized.

One could force growth until structures ruptured.

Accelerate metabolism until reserves vanished.

Prevent damaged tissue from dying.

Induce uncontrolled regeneration.

Alter the balance between preservation and adaptation.

Potential applications were endless.

But none belonged to my current [Ambition].

I finished recording the test.

The sample's death had given me exactly what I needed.

A clear assessment of what my manifested concept currently produced.

It promoted activity without sufficient regulation.

Encouraged persistence without preserving stable identity.

Accelerated recovery without distinguishing recovery from replacement.

Mobilized resources without accounting for long-term depletion.

Opposed deterioration so indiscriminately that it created new forms of deterioration.

A mess.

A measurable one.

All that remained was to tune my [Comprehension].

Deepen my [Mastery].

Correct one deficiency after another until my manifested [Vitality] ceased behaving like an indiscriminate command for [Life] to continue at any cost.

I didn't perform a second test.

Repeating the same manifestation would only kill another sample through the same reactions.

I stored the dead sample according to the guide's instructions.

Initiated the globe's cleansing cycle.

Secured my notebook.

Then departed for the Aspirant repository floors.

From that day onward, my routine changed.

Only slightly at first.

For the first week, I restricted my use of the [Vitality] globe to learning.

How sensitive the sample was.

How long reactions took to manifest.

Which changes continued after I withdrew my [Vitality].

Which represented direct consequences and which were secondary responses.

How the internal medium altered the visibility of different compounds.

How to distinguish a conceptual failure from an improperly isolated manifestation.

I used my sixteen allocated samples.

Then purchased more.

Not four hundred and ninety.

Not yet.

Thirty-two.

Enough to sustain two additional weekly allocations' worth of experimentation.

By the end of the week, I could operate the globe without consulting either [Guided] or the introductory guide—not that I stopped myself from doing so whenever I found it warranted.

After another month, I had developed an entirely new [Cultivation] process around it.

I stopped testing my whole [Vitality] concept every time.

Instead, I separated it.

Preservation.

Recovery.

Adaptive expenditure.

Identity continuity.

Resource mobilization.

Resistance to deterioration.

Controlled destruction.

Systemic coordination.

I manifested each portion independently wherever possible.

Then in pairs.

Then in carefully selected combinations.

The tissue reactions became clearer.

One isolated conceptual thread caused excessive clumping.

Another produced rapid filament formation.

A third increased cellular resilience while preventing the removal of damaged cells.

One combination consumed metallic elements because my concept treated physical reinforcement as universally beneficial.

Another generated toxins because I had woven overexertion into my [Comprehension] of [Life] persistence without sufficiently distinguishing emergency survival from sustainable function.

Test.

Observe.

Record.

Correct.

Test again.

My [Vitality] globe transformed vague conceptual errors into visible biological consequences.

Every discolored patch became a question.

Every clump exposed an imbalance.

Every filament revealed an unsupported connection.

Every dead sample narrowed the possible shapes of what true [Vitality] could be.

Another month passed.

My manifested [Vitality] grew increasingly stable.

Its chaotic pulses smoothed.

Its gold coloration deepened.

The strand no longer trembled as conflicting principles pulled it apart.

It moved with a continuous rhythm.

Not perfectly regular.

Living processes weren't perfectly regular.

But coherent.

Sustained.

The energy expenditure continued falling.

The plantoid tissue samples still reacted badly.

But fewer reactions occurred at once.

A test that once produced dozens of simultaneous failures now produced ten.

Then six.

Then three.

I corrected those.

Discovered subtler ones beneath them.

Corrected those in turn.

Another two months passed.

Four months since I first received the [Vitality] globe.

Sixteen months since I joined the Pulse Of Eternity as a trial Aspirant.

A full year since shifting the entirety of my Path toward forming [Vitality].

By then, my intensive use of the [Vitality] globe had begun to decrease.

Not because I had exhausted its value.

Because I no longer developed doubts quickly enough to justify constant testing.

Every test required a specific question.

A defined uncertainty.

A conceptual component whose biological consequences I couldn't sufficiently predict or grasp.

Testing without that [Foundation] became blind experimentation.

My [Mastery] refused to let me waste samples in the hope that the globe would explain something I hadn't properly asked.

More importantly...

My manifested concept had finally begun to resemble the actual [Vitality] manifested by Xafsa and other Pulse members.

I inserted a fresh plantoid tissue sample.

Completed every verification.

Recorded its baseline state.

Then manifested the whole of my personal concept.

A sliver of gold entered the globe.

The tissue absorbed its influence.

I watched.

No contraction.

No uncontrolled expansion.

No clumping.

No filament formation.

No discoloration.

Its density remained stable.

Its metabolic activity increased slightly, then settled into a sustainable range.

Damaged cells were dismantled.

Replacements formed at a corresponding rate.

Energy reserves mobilized without collapsing.

The tissue absorbed the exact quantities of metallic and nonmetallic elements required for maintenance.

No toxins accumulated.

No portion attempted to preserve itself at the expense of the whole.

The sample simply...

Thrived.

Its cells functioned.

Repaired minor damage.

Maintained their identity.

Responded to imposed stresses without exhausting themselves.

When the globe reduced available nutrients, the tissue slowed nonessential processes.

When the temperature shifted, its internal chemistry adjusted.

When a minor toxin was introduced, affected cells isolated it and surrounding structures compensated.

No intense reaction.

No obvious deficiency.

Only living tissue using what I manifested to continue living more effectively.

I withdrew the [Vitality].

The sample remained stable.

Then I repeated the test with individual portions of my concept.

Negative reactions still appeared.

Preservation without renewal produced excessive rigidity.

Adaptation without identity continuity caused unstable differentiation.

Resource mobilization without restraint depleted reserves.

Recovery without controlled destruction preserved damaged material.

But those failures were expected.

Incidental.

The consequence of testing one part without the other parts required to balance it.

When the entire structure manifested together, those deficiencies corrected one another.

Not through coincidence.

Through relationships I understood.

Relationships I had acquired enough [Comprehension] and [Mastery] to command.

I observed the thriving tissue for another hour.

Imposed additional stresses.

Recorded every response.

Searched for subtle failures.

Nothing severe emerged.

Nothing I could identify as an immediate danger rather than an imperfection to refine over the following years.

For the first time, I looked at the golden [Vitality] pulsing within the globe and didn't see a conceptual weapon pointed indiscriminately at [Life].

I saw something coherent.

Still too imperfect to claim as being [Vitality].

Still not an Aspect.

But coherent.

I released the manifestation and watched the remaining gold dissolve into the viscous medium.

My next step had become evident.

I had acquired enough [Comprehension].

Enough [Mastery].

Enough certainty.

I was ready to enter the next phase.