Ethan stood in the center of the AI core room, the sea of blinking lights stretching endlessly into the dark depths.
"Alright. Let's make a demi-plane."
>"Stay standing, most spells don't require you to be standing or sitting, but you're going to either move or be moved at some point during the casting process. Be prepared."
I closed my eyes. The mana inside flowing like gentle streams connecting. I start to reach for my core in the solar plexus. I wanted to use this as a more central unit, to control and adjust the other core nodes.
>"Visualize a cube. 3 meters per side. Perfectly symmetrical. This will be your anchor framework."
Anchor framework huh? I imagined a hollow black cube with blue edges. Perfectly 3 meters on each edges. The cube was completely surrounded by darkness. There was nothing besides the cube positioned stationary, floating without any sense of direction.
>"Now push mana into the visualization. Not all three cores, just the primary. Establish the anchor first, then expand."
I ran a string of mana from my core to the cube. I didn't see it directly but could feel it. The cube started to feel more real, to slowly come into existence. Slowly, I started to feel something interesting:
The cube was starting to form and take root in my solar plexus's core. Pressure started to build and my chest started to feel heavier, not immensely, but noticeable.
When the weight started to become noticeable, my other two cores started to contribute to the mana pool required to continue forming and solidifying the anchor.
>"Mr. Kang, you need to isolate the primary core. The anchor must be singular or it will fragment."
Of course it wasn't going to be super easy.
"Pros and cons to everything I guess." Reminding myself.
I try to feel out the mana pathways that are contributing to the main core, and after blocking one, another route is taken immediately. Trying to shut the cores down feels like flexing my muscles and keeping them still at the same time. Trying to still them hurts, trying to stop mana from moving into or out of them feels like cutting off circulation to my arm or legs. Making them be still would prove to be a feat in and of itself. Then I have a thought,
Could I force the other two cores to do a separate task?
Sure it's not a great idea, as I am currently working on something that killed the last guy who attempted it. But if I can force the other two cores to continually feed each other instead of pooling mana in the main core, I could strengthen the mana pathways while keeping them away from harming me.
Thankfully, these muscles are better working than keeping still. The other two cores make a connection and use every available pathway they can find to circulate mana throughout.
Looking back to my main core, the anchor's progress has paused. Stable, but without active intervention, the main core only provided enough mana to sustain the current state of the anchor. I refocus on the main core and start pulling mana from it to weave the anchor into reality. When suddenly something clicks, and my consciousness is keenly aware of the anchor.
The anchor was finally finished and locked into place, stationary in the center of my solar plexus's core.
>"Phase one complete. Anchor established. Structural integrity: 98%. Excellent. How do you feel?"
I gasp for air that I didn't realize I was holding. I was so enthralled in the mana pathways and creating the core, that I stopped breathing entirely. Sweat was soaking my under-arms and lower back, and some was dripping off of my hair.
"Like I just welded something to my soul. This thing is heavy too."
>"Accurate description. The anchor is permanent. There is no turning back now."
I opened my eyes briefly to wipe away the sweat that was now streaming down my face. I went to wipe my forehead just as I noticed a faint, translucent cube. A ghost image almost, and it is just waiting to solidify at any point.
>"Phase two will be more difficult. Are you ready?"
"Let's finish this."
>"Phase two: Hollow the space. You must push mana outward from the anchor, carving the dimensional fabric. Remember, this is not construction, but excavation where you are creating volume where none exists."
>"You must maintain 3 meters per side. If the dimensions warp, the pocket will collapse."
I looked inwards and felt the dimensional anchor. Right now it felt like the anchor was at the bottom of a sea, and I needed to figure out where it was attached. I followed the anchor's 'chain' and found a wall. Still in complete darkness, but I could go no further.
>"Activate all three cores for this. You're going to need the stability and power output."
I did as AXIOM advised: directing a flow of mana from both my left shoulder and right hip into my solar plexus and when I did, I felt a pressure building up inside my chest, welling with mana. I saw a very small glow deep inside the wall. Like a flashlight glowing underneath feet of ice. I imagined a cube, where the light was and my consciousness shifted to a third person view of the cube. It was small, bright, and unstable.
>"Push outward. Uniformly. Imagine the cube expanding, carving space as it grows."
I pushed mana into the center of the cube, it must have been 1cm cubed right now, maybe less. The flow of mana into each space had to be very precise and slow. Forcing a lot of mana into this now would cause it to fail.
When I pushed mana into the cube trying to carve out the space, I felt an immense pushback, as reality itself was fighting against me. Trying to do this was as easy as shoving my hand into solid concrete. But slowly, very slowly the concrete started to loosen, and the fabric of reality was beginning to stretch.
As soon as this happened I felt my mind go... wide? An immense headache accompanied my perception and my mind feeling like it was stretched too far, and too thin. Centimeter by centimeter, I kept carving out space. The once dim light was growing brighter by the second. I needed to concentrate on making it to 3 meters cubed.
I felt my mana cores work in concert, pouring in mana continuously. The load was across my whole body and the triangle of points started to ache immensely. My body felt lethargic, as my willpower and energy were being drained. It was hard to stay concentrated on the task.
>"Mana expenditure: 15%...20%...25%..."
That was only 25%? Give me a break! It felt like my soul was being taken directly out of my body. Time seemed to stretch forever onwards.
I saw it though, the fruit of my efforts paying off:
The cube was expanding. 1 meter... 1.5 meters... 2 meters...
After the large input, it seemed as if 'An object in motion stays in motion.' so to say.
Then I felt something give way a little too quickly.
>"Dimensional asymmetry detected. The northeast corner is collapsing. Compensate!"
AXIOM now spoke as if she was barely holding her composure. I'm surprised she has the composure to lose.
I can't see which corner is collapsing. The glow is too bright behind the now foggy glass like the veil before me and the cube. Pushing more concentration into seeing the once clear cube results in just seeing a blinding white light. I'm completely blind.
>"More energy to the top face, less to the bottom. You need to equalize the pressure here."
I push hard, try to redirect as much energy from flowing to the bottom face to the top. I am met with immense resistance and I am now blowing into a bottle to reverse a dent.
>"Almost there. Final push. Mana expenditure: 38%."
The cube is so close to 3 meters. I'm done. Finally.
>"Mr. Kang, the fabric is tearing!"
"What? The fabric?"
I scrambled to look around the cube as I spun it in all directions trying to spot any differences.
And I feel it.
There weren't any cracks on the cube, but it caught on something every time I spun it in a certain direction. I could feel it, it felt like glass splintering. I looked back at the ice wall in front of me and it started to crack and splinter. I could see them now, they were getting larger. I can hear them too, it sounded as if the cracks are spanning eons over realities.
>"If the fabric tears completely, dimensional backlash will-"
"I know! How do I stop it?!"
>"You must stabilize the boundaries before completing the hollow. This is phase three technique, but we have no choice. We need to stabilize it NOW."
>"Start to weave mana into the crack. Like stitching a wound. Use fine control, a single pathway at a time."
I pause. The worst thing that I could do right now is panic. I took a single thread of mana, pulling it from my left shoulder, and slowly weaved it into the cracks. I had to make sure each stitch was correct, and stable.
"Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast." I sighed, beginning to notice the sweat on my face.
Pulling on the string allowed me to wrench the fabric of reality back together. Just barely. But every time I sealed one up, another would open on a different side.
>"Multiple fractures. You must work faster."
I have no choice but to start working with multiple threads. I start to pull 2, then 5, then 10 threads from my solar plexus. The direct output of each thread of mana was managed by the separate cores, so all I have to do now is thread them into separate cracks, and make sure that they are perfect.
Easy.
I used my seemingly stretched consciousness to view all sides of reality surrounding my hollowed out cube of planar space, to start working on each crack. I felt the warmth in my body increase immensely as it was supporting my personal computation speed.
>"Mr. Kang, a single-core mage could not do this. They lack the parallel processing capacity. Your system is saving you."
There were too many cracks now. Each one required dedicated focus to create the stitch. I patch another one, and another, 3 more in this spot, another 5 here, 7 there.
And then nothing.
I scrutinized every inch on my perception. Not trusting for a moment that this was over. It couldn't be, why would it. Looking around most of the cracks have been sealed over with golden threads. The cube was dimmer now, like a slight shimmer over what used to be a blinding star.
>"The cracks have ceased. You still need to finish creating the pocket-dimension."
I make a final push into the cube to expand it and solidify the walls. And the cube seems to click and lock into place at the 3 meter mark. Looking inside, the space is truly hollow now. Carved from reality. I thought a void would have nothing but this was... something else. It wasn't cold. It wasn't hot. There was no breeze, I don't even think atoms were in this plane of existence.
>"Phase two complete. Mana expenditure 42%. You exceeded the estimate but succeeded."
My consciousness seemed to return to my body and I fell to a single knee. My breathing was ragged and my vision blurry. I couldn't focus as my mind felt like it was shutting down. The sweat in my eyes stung, around me were tiny pools of sweat that had collected over the past hour.
I feel the cores inside me pulse rapidly, recovering from the massive drain. They were working as fast as possible to replenish my physical and mental strength. I felt a slight breeze as all three of my cores start to take in mana to try and replenish what I've lost.
>"Mr. Kang, what's your status?"
I tried to stand but my legs wouldn't cooperate. The floor was slick with sweat; my sweat. How long had I been working? Minutes? Hours?
>"Mr. Kang, you need to respond. Are you capable of continuing?
"Just… give me a second." My voice came out hoarse. When had I started breathing again?
I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. The golden lattice beneath my skin pulsed erratically, the three cores struggling to synchrony after the massive drain. I could feel them pulling ambient mana from the air around me, but it was like trying to fill a swimming pool with a garden hose.
The translucent cube floated before me, golden threads sealing the cracks I'd stitched. It was real. I'd actually carved a hole in reality.
But it wasn't stable yet.
Even as I watched, one of the golden threads flickered. Dimmed. The dimensional fabric beneath it strained against the temporary seal.
>"Mr. Kang."
AXIOM's voice had an edge I'd never heard before. Not quite panic, she was an AI after all, but something close. Urgency. Fear?
"I'm here. I'm listening."
>"The temporary stabilization is failing faster than projected. The seals you created are not self-sustaining. They are degrading."
I watched another thread flicker. This one didn't just din, it snapped entirely, dissolving into motes of golden light that dispersed into nothing.
The crack beneath it immediately began widening.
"How long?"
A pause. Longer than AXIOM usually took to calculate.
>"Three minutes 23 seconds until structural failure. If the pocket collapses-"
"I know what happens if it collapses." I forced myself to my feet. My legs screamed in protest but held. Barely.
"Dimensional backlash. Ego dissolution. I become the next Witness."
>"Correct."
I rolled my shoulders, trying to work feeling back into my arms. Everything ached. My cores pulsed irregularly, still recovering from the massive expenditure. Forty-two percent of my total mana capacity, gone in one casting.
And now I had to do it again.
"What's phase three?"
>"Stabilization. You must weave mana into all six walls, creating a self-sustaining membrane. The membrane must regenerate itself using ambient mana."
"Self-sustaining." I stared at the cube. At the temporary patches already failing. "Like the cores in my body. Crystalline structure that propagates naturally."
>"Precisely. You will create a permanent lattice. Once established, it will draw ambient mana to maintain itself indefinitely."
Another thread snapped. Two cracks now, widening slowly but inexorably.
>"Two minutes 47 seconds."
I took a deep breath. Closed my eyes. Reached for my cores.
The solar plexus core responded sluggishly, like a muscle that had been worked too hard. The shoulder and hip cores were in better shape, they'd spend most of phase two supporting the primary rather than directly outputting power.
I could do this.