Later that night, she used her new system to drive to the announced location without a hitch. This time, the portal was hidden in a public park in district twenty-two, closed at night. Nestra had to infiltrate the place via the expedient means of climbing over a fence. The camera detector proved useful by identifying the only camera around which pointed at the entrance, a fortunate side effect of being at the periphery. A sensation of relief announced the presence of a portal, then she followed her instincts until she found the familiar blue radiance tucked inside what looked like an abandoned enclosure. It was closed to the public, possibly why it was still undetected. Whoever directed her to these portals probably had a way to disable humans peacefully, like the janitor had been, but there were also no government employees around and those were the first to come once a portal had been declared. That meant that they were able to find portals that were hidden, matched the difficulty she could handle, and were dozens of kilometers apart from each other. That would require an ability to perceive portals that no humans could possess, at least to her knowledge. Between this and the book, it indicated what she’d suspected. She wasn’t alone. There were others like her. At least one. “You sure you don’t want to show up?” she asked the empty concrete. “I know you’re watching me.” Silence was the only answer. Nestra pushed her way through the portal. The cuts on the legs and arms were slowly healing but the one on its front torso was already closed, a darker shade of stone the only hint the creature had been damaged. That meant the core was there. The closer to the core, the faster the regeneration. She didn’t dare make some distance. It would be useless. Had to finish fast. Already, her heart drummed against her chest and her breath grew more labored. She needed a coated blade. Jumping over a low strike, Nestra thrusted into the center of the chest. The golem shuddered and took a step back. She could see it, a small bulge where the liver would be. Just at the right spot. Nestra drew her gun and shot. The thunderous blow almost deafened her. The revolver kicked like a mule on steroid, forcing her back even with her enhanced strength. Her forearm and elbow stung. A moment later, shards showered her. A cerulean radiance emerged from the shattered stone in the form of a dripping, thick liquid. The core. The golem shook from the damage. Weakness. An opening. A grin erupted on her lips. This was so great. The tip of the sword crashed into the core, breaking it with a ghastly crack. The golem stopped moving. It didn’t fall or collapse. No longer a foe, for the enemy was now a statue. “Hell yes. I’m the best!” Nestra felt like whooping. She’d done it! A serious foe defeated by herself! That was well done, if she dared say so herself. The Stalk of the Scorn Crescent really helped her guide her style. And it was versatile too! Nestra picked up golem crystal shards. The intact core could fetch a great price since they could be used to animate guardian constructs for wealthy houses. Sadly, the cores were excessively hard to harvest since, quite obviously, the golem objected. The shards would still fetch a decent price as a crafting material for heavy armor. Nestra hummed under her breath. Three mana crystals this time! She was rich. Well, not yet. But surely soon! The portal back was uneventful and there was another package with a letter waiting for her by the primate enclosure entrance. Nestra sighed and read. You have done very well but you need to eat more! I have found this for you. Here are the coordinates of your last playing ground before we start on the real fun! Quest: grow strong enough to use spells. Her prize this time was a basket of fruits. And some nuts. But that wasn’t the weird part. The weird part was that those were clearly outside world fruits. Wild ones. They were ripe too. Some of the nuts were still partially wrapped in damaged green pods. Mana fruits were considered particularly nourishing and those found in the wilds, even more so. They also helped with growth, at least for humans. And they were delicious. Nevertheless, Nestra felt treated like a child. Seriously, the benefactor was like a grandma. So far she’d seen them as a mysterious and powerful entity and clearly they were but… were they not also a little bit dumb? And since when were fruits an acceptable payment? There were some tiny fruits that looked like tiger bananas with black spots. She picked one. Had to have more. No, wait, she had to leave first. This place wasn’t secure. Nestra changed in record time then left the park at a brisk pace, carrying her ‘liberated’ new possessions like some sort of loot goblin. She drooled all the way back to her secret lair then had the AI drive her home so she could sample the fruits. They were really amazing. She only refrained from finishing everything because she had the jellyfish as well. Once home, she saw Stib had left her a message asking to meet and apologizing for going off grid. She would reply the next day. First, food! It took a long time for the jellyfish to be ready. She used her cooking robot to shred it and cook it at low temperature, but when it was done, she had it in sesame and soy sauce. It was crunchy and delicious. She cooked the mushrooms herself as a fricassee and felt very proud of herself. It was absolutely scrumptious. Her great mood was interrupted when her fangs found a mushroom of a slightly different consistency. A bit more spongy. As she bit down, a strange, leathery taste filled her palate. She immediately spat out her mouthful. One of the mushrooms was different. It looked like a morel. She hadn’t noticed. “I hope aaaawawa. Wa?” Nestra was super sleepy. Also, the room was now a bright yellow and the walls were leaking mustard. Her fork extended into infinity while the mushrooms danced themselves into an intricate, fractal pattern. Nestra’s mouth felt weird, paralyzed. A shape drifted down from the ceiling wearing a bathrobe. It was, she realized, a kangaroo. “Hey what's cookin’?” the marsupial asked in a husky voice. Then, he pulled boxing gloves from a waist pocket, which was silly because they definitely couldn’t fit. “I want you to know that I take no pleasure in this,” the kangaroo said. Nestra’s bowl grew in size until it covered the whole of creation. There were stars in there, an abyss that watched back with bloodshot eyes and asked her if she would make a run for tacos. She said hell no and laid down on the ground to contemplate the nature of her existence. Nestra’s mind palace looked like someone had used a shotgun on paint canisters. The walls twisted a little as she went by, checking the changes. There were no new resistances, however the storm core was just a little thicker and the interesting change came from the planet room. As Nestra entered, she felt a potential in the slowly rotating spheres, but the newest change was from the puddle over which the sphere rotated. It felt deeper, not by much, but enough that the ground underneath wasn’t so clear anymore. She dipped a finger in and felt the caress of quiescent potential. The color of the puddle was gray, just like her spells. Good to know that, just like every ability, it could be improved by killing things. Approaching the cores, she tried something new. The strength core had grown again. She felt that it was strong enough to… attach, somehow? Link. It was strong enough to link. There was only one other core that was developed enough to matter, the one that dealt with speed and precision.