Aaron stretched and expected to hurt all over from spending the night sitting in a tree, nodding off for a bit and then waking up again because of the uncomfortable sleeping position. To his surprise nothing hurt at all. He was not even tired. Fact was he could go without sleep for much longer than he had expected and so one bad night in the wilderness did not do anything to dampen his mood. He still felt a bit off, but that was fine. Part of the reason he felt this good was his Qi vein system that had been perfected under the guidance of the great master. He had not thought it would make a difference, but it did, by a pretty big margin.

During the night when he had sat there in the darkness with nothing to do but stay out of sight and sleep, but without actually finding any sleep, he had focused on his cultivation instead. He had watched with a conscious gaze how his body absorbed magic and turned it into Qi. This slow and inefficient process was much more efficient with the Qi veins being perfect. If he had to guess he would say a 30% increase to before. Which was a lot considering everything. Of course only a small trickle of the Qi created passively by the fiend-god art actually made its way into his dantian. The rest was absorbed and used to make his body as resilient and powerful as it was. Still this little change to his Qi veins had a lasting impact on him. If he had done this properly from the start he might be more than a whole minor realm further ahead in cultivation. That was how much he guessed this mattered.

With the first light of the sun Aaron started to go through his routine. An hour for each kata, if possible and 3 hours of cultivation. It took a lot of time, but Aaron wanted to do this the right way when he had the time to spend. It was a bit like going to the gym and doing your training routine properly. He trained his muscles, but also his metaphysical abilities. After stretching from memory like Mei had taught him, Aaron felt unsatisfied. He needed that core back to compare himself and find little inaccuracies, because he had no doubt that those inaccuracies mattered. Anything his teachers had done was deliberate, focused, with intent behind it. How much he could learn from that depended on him alone. Without the core that was much more difficult.

The katas were slow, meticulous and boring at the start. But once he went over to train with the Unceasing Palm core, he switched in some Attacks from the Rejuvenating Fist kata as well. He missed the Rejuvenating Fist core just as much as the core Mei had given him and cursed himself for losing them. But he pushed those thoughts aside and he did not succumb to his curiosity about the third Heavenly kata. He had the core out in his fingers, tracing its lines, before he decided it was better to have the complete triplet before he tried to learn it. He also did not want to use up Qi he needed to progress to learn the technique. But on the other hand his curiosity was burning and he guessed that the third kata, finishing the triplet, would give him an incredible boost in combat power.

He vowed to attempt to learn it once he had done the errand for the alchemist Modestus. For now he kept up with the training, trying to be as accurate as possible. He tried his best not to rush and take everything he did seriously. It helped. He found one or two new options for using a stance he had never considered before. Which vindicated his training method. The more options he had to defend the better it would be. He itched to try them out in real combat, but the illusions the memory core conjured had to do for now.

During the three hours of cultivation, Aaron burned through mana stones like they were free. But his focus was less on cultivation as much or as fast as possible, but to be as efficient as possible. To guide the Qi correctly without losing even a little bit. It was tiring, mentally draining work and after three hours he felt like he had ran a mental marathon. His senses and Sensory Harmony had played a big role in maintaining his focus. He concentrated all of his senses on feeling the Qi. It was a strange mix of sensory impressions. On one hand it was almost 90% pure bodily feeling, but focused on a small part of his body, following Qi around. But there was also 10% of sight and sound impressions that were projected into his mind. He was not sure if it was just his imagination, but he could see and hear the Qi in his body. Hearing it was at least possible with his sensitive ears, he could listen to his own heartbeat after all if he really wanted to. But sight was impossible and strange. But it happened automatically. He saw it in his inner eye and in his focus the picture sharpened. When he checked with sensory harmony he did realize it was sight of some sort. Which made no sense at all.

He would have to ask the great master about that when he returned in a few days.

It was late morning when Aaron was finished with his routine, almost mid day. But he did not mind. He had nothing else to do while he waited for supplies from Iris. Sure he probably could go like this to a climb, but why would he if he could do it with some proper clothes and foodstuffs? So Aaron jumped to the construction site where Bohr's people were busy at work. He studied them for a bit and when he determined Iris had not been here yet, he settled down to wait.

With nothing else to do he studied his new bit of equipment Modestus had basically forced him to take. The bag of holding. It was nothing short of incredible. Aaron's mana senses told him that there was an intricate spellform on that bag, much more intricate and complicated than anything he had ever seen before. Except maybe the Towers spellforms themselves. He compared the magical signature to the items he had taken from Agent Walter and the difference was so big it was like studying a computer chip vs a simple electrical circuit. Both were technically related and used some of the same basic principles, but in terms of complexity one was a lot more difficult to comprehend than the other. Not that Aaron was an expert in tech. He had always been more of a user of technology. Software had been more his kind of thing to work with. But this was definitively hardware. Well, it looked like software that became hardware to make any kind of accurate comparison.

The bag of holding was an intricate net of interlacing spellforms each of which had almost no leakage of mana at all and were as such only perceptible as a whole. While the enchantments on the armband that summoned the bolt of lightning for example were just as intricate at first glance, but nowhere close to a unified whole. It was fascinating and Aaron kept the magical items apart out of worry what the spellforms would do to each other. He switched to the pickax instead. The pickax was enchanted with magic, but it was even more tightly contained than the bag. Aaron had never seen anything like it. It was like the metal of the pickax itself was magical. He could not see or sense any spellforms at first, but when he held it in his hand he could sense them very faintly, deep inside of the metal. This was probably an even more valuable tool than the bag.

Curiously Aaron dove down into the forest and looked for a good opportunity to use said pickax. He found a rock after a while of looking around. Aaron used the opportunity to try to walk with Wind Steps active and that still gave him trouble and turned his search into a game. But it was fun to do to kill some time and he was eager to progress in any way he could. He found a suitable rock eventually and tentatively tapped it with the pickax. The rock was embedded into a small stream and water flowed around it merrily. Aaron used more force for the second strike and something weird happened. The pickax did not bounce off or dig into the rock like he had expected, but made a small dent into the rock like the material had given way on its own.

The newly created hole was entirely smooth and looked like it had been there the entire time. Slowly Aaron worked on the rock, experimented with his own strength and found out quickly that he could hammer away with his full strength without issue and it made barely any difference. Somehow the pickax transferred the kinetic energy of his strikes into denting the rock, changing its surface. There seemed to be an upper limit for kinetic force input to make the spell in the pickax work. So while he could use all of his strength, which was surprising and spoke of the craftsmanship of the tool, he would be fine with just a small amount of strength as well. It took almost 20 minutes to dig into the rock halfway and another 20 to dig out a basketball sized chunk. Aaron did not grow tired, but damn that was a lot of work. The result was fascinating though. It was an entirely smooth rock as if it had been smoothed out by water or sand. He then used the pickax on plants and other things and found just as miraculous results there. The pickax enchantment actually warped the plants and cut them at the same time. So if he hit a plant in the stem, it fused it through, closing the "cut" on both ends of the stem like it had been in two from the beginning. It was still a cut, it did tear the plant in half, it just morphed the plant to close the cut instantly.

"Very gentle huh." Aaron mused and did not try to use the thing on an animal. Even if it could be used as a weapon, he had no use for a weapon like that. The pickax was small and had almost no range so why would he not use his fists instead? He kept the armband that conjured lightning on his wrist though. A ranged option that recharged with magic was always nice to have. The shields were also interesting, but he ignored them for now. He did put the best shield on his ring finger though, just in case. He did not want to have a repeat of the fight with Walter. It was better to be prepared.

It was way past mid day when he was satisfied with his experiments. Aaron stretched and felt his hunger gnaw on him. Training and cultivating did always make him hungrier than normal. It was time to eat lunch. He dove up into the trees, jumping from tree to tree towards the construction site. When he got there his nose told him that Iris had not arrived yet, but he wondered if he could ask some of the workers to share their lunch. He smoothed out his rather disheveled clothes and hoped they would ignore the holes and rips. He landed out of site and then strode into the construction site as if he had just come from the town. When he asked some of the workers they told him that some of his supplies had already been delivered. A whole giant backpack's worth. One of the construction workers showed it to him and Aaron spent a few minutes digging into the pack.

It contained everything he had expected to climb with, well almost everything. A majority of the clothes were still missing. This had been delivered by a courier yesterday apparently. It meant he could go right now if he wanted to, but he decided to still wait for Iris and his memory cores. But this solved his food crisis for now. He asked to use one of the fires around the construction site and got some water from a nearby stream. Then he made some flatbread with the flour he had gotten as part of his supplies. He used a hint of spices in the dough mix and soon had the flatbreads bake over the coals. It would be easy to overcook or char these flatbreads over an open flame, but since Aaron was cooking himself, there was nothing but perfection allowed.

Soon an enticing scent of freshly baked bread over a wood fire spread in the camp, drawing the attention of some of the workers. Aaron traded a few of his flatbreads for some toppings. Meat and some vegetables he fried in a pan to perfection with a decent helping of the spices he had gotten from the pack, testing out the range of flavors he could get out of them. For Aaron the difficulty with cooking was not how long to cook what or when to turn down the heat. His nose and his ability to feel the heat accurately did all of that. The real problem was decision paralysis. What to make in what flavors and how each spice would interact with each other. Aaron looked forward to experimenting with it.

Frank Bohr, the construction sites Boss came out to greet Aaron and paused when he found half a dozen of his workers sit around the camp fire with Aaron, eating freshly baked flatbread with a spicy topping of stir fried veggies and meat.

"Greetings Aaron, you are having lunch here?" he asked confused.

"Apologies if I am disrupting the construction site. I am gathering some supplies I had delivered here. I am meeting up with my group to climb tonight and it was easier for me after my training to gather my things here. I hope you don't mind." Aaron lied. It was better to make the man and everyone else believe he was climbing with a group. Nobody climbed solo as far as he knew, or if they did they were exceedingly rare.

"Not at all." Bohr said and stepped closer.

"This smells fantastic, what is it?"

"Just a stir fry with some flatbread, basically just flour, salt, some spices and water. Quite simple."

"This is the best freaking lunch I had...I don't know ever." one of the workers said with tears in his eyes and Aaron paused. Really? He took a bite and thought it was delicious, perfectly cooked in any way. But he was not too keen on the spice mix he had used. It clashed a bit and he mentally dissected the flavor until he knew what spice not to add into the mix next time. He had eaten better combinations in the town if he was honest with himself.

"Are you a chef also?" Bohr asked with a chuckle.

"No, just used to cooking in the field. I am glad you like. Do you want a flatbread as well, Frank? Can I call you Frank?"

"Sure." the older man said with a chuckle. "You pay the bills, although most people call me Mister Bohr or something along those lines."

"Boss, have one of the flatbreads." one of the workers said and gave the boss a generous helping. Bohr thanked the man sat down and began to eat, while Aaron was busy cooking and eating himself. He hoped nobody would notice how much he ate. Because a majority of what he cooked was eaten without Aaron even sitting down.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Mmmh." Bohr said with full mouth and when he swallowed he chuckled. "You could easily sell this in any restaurant in the Town, the boys are right, this is fantastic!"

"Thanks. How is the project going?" Aaron asked, slightly embarrassed to be praised for something as simplistic as cooking.

"We drew up a plan for the water distribution system. It will take some time, but we have finished the excavation and are now only waiting for the plumbing. Next would be laying tiles or other flooring. Do you have any particular preference?"

"Not really, whatever Iris fancies will be best I guess. She is the one with taste."

"Very sensible. So...are the two of you?…" Bohr asked leaning in a bit, his tone of voice low and conspiratorial.

"Me and Iris? Oh no, not at all. She works for me, that is all."

"Ah, I hope I did not overstep my boundaries?" Aaron shook his head, still occupied by eating. "Anyway I think we will be done with this extraordinary root cellar in a few weeks." Bohr continued.

"Have you considered other shafts leading down there for ventilation and the like?"

"Yes, they are on the plans. There will be two extra ventilation shafts down there in the end."

"But can I ask, why out here? Why such a difficult project underground?"

"Property taxes." Aaron joked, but apparently that was not a thing here and he got blank looks. "No, I wanted to see if it was possible and besides I am a Climber. I don't fear any of the beasts on the first floor. Something surrounded by nature is preferable to the city for me."

"I see. It was quite a challenge to build underground. We dug a few deep cellars before in the town, but nothing this deep. So will this be a root cellar?"

"I will definitively store some things down there. The temperature should be consistently low down there no matter the season, cold in the summer, warm in the winter."

Aaron planned to inspect the ventilation shafts after they were done and maybe have them widened a bit. He still wanted multiple exits. Either way he would have to worry about hiding the exits and entrances when it was all done, for now it could all be in the open. Realistically he could have never built something like this himself, so this was the best solution to make himself a bunker. Because that was what they were building. A bunker that would be built to withstand magical bombardment and would be problematic to assault if it was ever found. In the future he could see this as a nice base for when he came down here to the first floor. He would need to have Iris buy furniture too once it was done. He looked forward to having his own bed again, although he guessed he would be rarely down here in the future.

Iris showed up an hour later, when Aaron was cleaning up his utensils from the rather extravagant meal he had cooked himself. Iris, to Aaron's surprise was riding on a beetle with two big bundles she had the man guiding the beetle place down next to Aaron.

"Sorry I am late. There were...some complications. But I brought everything you could need. The tailor did a great job I think. But only two outfits were finished in time."

"No problem, show me what you got." Aaron said and looked at the clothes presented to him.

There were two combat outfits, the two he had seen last time he had been at the tailor. One a mostly black turtleneck and pants combo made out of spider silk quite similar to the destroyed one he wore right now and the other one that was reinforced magical beast leather. Iris also placed a dark blue suit next to the bundles as Aaron studied the material and the like.

"This is excellent." he said satisfied. "I did not think it would be done this soon."

"I put a rush order in, cost me quite a lot actually. Or rather it cost you a lot." Iris said blushing slightly. She pointed at the suit.

"This was just tailored to fit you so it was done as well, although I doubt you will need it while climbing."

Aaron chuckled and nodded. He went over and collected his cleaned utensils and the rest of the supplies. Then he packed everything into the big rucksack the courier had brought over. He checked everything while making a mental list, laid out the different pieces of equipment on the ground and then repacked it in a quick and efficient manner. Just like he had learned when he had been a Soldier in another life. 'Some things you never really forget if you learned them once.' Aaron thought to himself and he thought he had everything he could need for the journey, although he would be coming back soon. He placed a bunch of stuff at the top of the backpack, stuff he was planning to deposit into the bag of holding, but that could wait until he was out of sight.

Iris watched him pack and looked only mildly surprised by how quick and efficient he packed it all into the rather limited space of the backpack, even with its size. When he was done and shouldered the backpack she cleared her throat and looked around.

"About that other thing you asked me for." she said quietly and Aaron pulled her away from any prying ears or eyes towards the nearby forest.

"Now, what did you find out?" he asked and he could hear Iris heart beat quicken.

"I…" she paused and then took a deep breath before she looked up at him. "Its better if I tell the truth I think. Mars has both of the marbles."

"Mars?" Aaron said with a frown and Iris explained.

"I went on the hunt for the marbles as soon as I could. The first one was easy to get. I bought it from one of the kids who took it after your fight with that mage. The second one was quite a hassle. I had to look through a bunch of pawn shops and ask around for a mage that bought the marble from one of said pawn shops. Either way the district got wind of what I was doing and when I managed to track down the mage and negotiate a deal with him, the district came for me after that."

"Came for you?"

"Tex, Mars secretary found me. They knew where I would be and what I had been looking for. So I had no choice. Mars took the marbles and wants to study them for as long as he can. But I told him that I could stall you at most for two weeks."

Aaron was silent while he processed the information. So Mars had noticed Iris looking to find his memory cores and then got interested in them. But he surely could not use them right?

"Has he made any progress in studying the memory cores?"

"Memory cores? Is that what they are called?"

"Yes." Aaron said and waited for her to answer. Iris looked to the floor, slightly flushed and she was clearly embarrassed.

"Mars tried and so did a mage, but they could not get the cores to work. But...but I did."

"You?" Aaron asked surprised.

"Yes...when I found a button on one of the cores an illusion sprang up all around me of a beautiful woman. I have never seen anyone dance like that." Iris gushed.

Aaron frowned and put that on the list of what to ask the Prisoners when he got there after his errand for Modestus. Normal people could use his memory cores? That was odd.

"Who you saw was Mei, my teacher." he explained, giving back truth and a little bit of trust in return for the trust Iris had put into him. It was clear she had been told not to tell him anything, but she had decided against following that order.

"Your teacher?" she asked in awe.

"Does...does that mean she lives in the tower?"

"In a way, but not really. She is unreachable for anyone but a Cultivator or I guess Emnu himself." Aaron said contemplating this new development.

Did he actually care if they saw what was on the memory cores? Could it hurt him in some way? Maybe if they analyzed the Rejuvenating Fist kata...but no, the kata was not that shallow. It would not work for anyone but a cultivator to begin with, just like Wind Steps and any imitation would be just that, an imitation. The most they could get out of it was seeing snippets of his training and not the whole techniques. He was fairly certain that without Qi in the body the Rejuvenating Fist kata would not work, but that was the most accessible of his techniques and so maybe that memory core could actually teach them something.

"Since you got it to work. I am guessing that he asked you to study the cores." Aaron said following his trail of thought. Iris nodded and looked to the floor.

"I am sorry. I am sure these are valuable to you and I know that the district looking into this is a breach of trust. I had no choice…" she began but Aaron stopped her by gently touching her shoulder. She looked up to him again and Aaron shrugged.

"Its fine. As long as I know who has the cores and where they are I will get them back eventually. I will give you two weeks to study the cores. Then I will come for them. If you can learn anything from the cores, be aware that it is a taboo."

"A taboo?"

"Learning Cultivation techniques as a normal person. Its unlikely, but since you were able to activate the cores, there is a remote possibility of you having talent as a cultivator. Sadly teaching you cultivation would be trouble. As far as I can remember after the whole debacle with the gap, teaching Cultivation has been outlawed."

"Do...do you mean I can become a Cultivator if I study the cores?" Iris asked with wide eyes.

"No." Aaron chuckled. "Cultivation is not that easily accessible. But techniques might be dangerous enough. I have no idea what would happen, but if you are successful we will see."

Iris paused for a long moment, her eyes darting around as she processed the information.

"So you are saying...anyone can become a Cultivator?" she asked slightly out of breath.

"That is what I have been led to believe. But not everyone will be successful with it. In any case it would not be up to me to decide."

Iris looked at him intently, her eyes full of questions, but Aaron stayed silent and just smiled at her.

"You are not gonna say anything else?"

"No. Study the cores, tell me exactly what you find out and then give them back to me in two weeks. Alright?"

Iris hesitated only for a moment before she nodded.

"Understood. Thank you for understanding."

"It was always clear to me that Mars would bend and stretch the boundaries of our alliance. Don't worry. I am not naive. Our alliance stands because its useful for both of us. Not because I trust Mars."

Aaron fastened the backpack and checked over the straps so they would not get undone when he was jumping with Wind Steps. He looked at Iris who was still processing the information that everyone could become a Cultivator technically. Aaron had thought that was common knowledge after what happened with the gap. But then he considered that it had been centuries and that knowledge like that could be suppressed. The allure of power was strong and if it was known that Cultivation was an option for the people without talent for magic or to become a Vessel, then there might be problems for the establishment of the Tower. Honestly Aaron doubted anything would happen if he were to teach cultivation to even a dozen people. But that would change if they in turn taught cultivation to even more people.

He was not sure how closely the lord of the Tower kept an eye on things like that, but for now he did not want to risk it. Iris was an interesting candidate for a Cultivator, but he doubted he would actually do it. It would be a huge deal and from the teacher student relationship he had with Mei and Sylus it was clear that there was some baggage with teaching anyone cultivation. Responsibility. Aaron was not ready or willing to do any of that. All he wanted to do right now was rush to the Foundation realm.

"If that is all Iris?" he asked and Iris flinched, clearly deep in thought.

"What? Oh...yes." she pulled out a small bag and held it out for him.

"The manastones the district owes you."

"I get paid so I don't ask too many questions?" Aaron asked with a chuckle and Iris shrugged. Aaron opened the purse and emptied half of it into his own purse without counting it. He would make a full count eventually, but not today. He then closed the bag and put it into Iris hands, who looked up at him surprised.

"Your budget to finish all the orders for supplies and the root cellar. Tell me if you need more in two weeks. I don't mind doing some more work for the district. But I will be focused on myself for while."

Iris nodded and put the purse back on her hips.

"Listen, I am sorry about the cores. I thought I could hand them over to you just like that. But I did not think it through. Because I did it as fast as possible the district noticed. I was stupid. I really wanted to show you that you can rely on me."she said seriously.

"I am relying on you. You telling me the truth shows my trust is not misplaced. For now. I appreciate what you have done for me, but its not like you did not benefit from it, right?"

"I did and I am very grateful." she said and bowed in front of him. "Thank you."

"No, thank you for not lying. Is there anything else?"

Iris shook her head and Aaron nodded.

"I will be back in two weeks." he said and making sure he was still out of sight from anyone else he jumped up into the trees and dove away from the construction site.

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