Jake and much of the family stood or sat within Nessa’s cultivation chamber; only Yona was missing among Jake’s wives or his soon-to-be. Each was wearing their equipment, as if they were ready for battle.

  Originally Nessa’s cultivation chamber had only a pool, like a private bath or pond. Over time she improved it, and within their Refuge it now largely mirrored her spiritual temple rather nicely–a small crystalline home made of dense ice sat on a frozen island on a cold lake. The size of her spiritual lake largely matched the physical one, an impressive scale for the core.

  They were all here to witness the first Hearthforging done by the family and see if they could learn anything from it. And of course, assist in any way they could. An area was designated on near the edge of the island in front of the home to allow for those able to contribute to draw from an array connected to the Hearth of the Refuge.

  And some would be participating a little more directly. Ruby was to help Nessa along with Nana in monitoring and stirring her bloodline to react and hopefully change. Because that was one of the more difficult parts of this procedure.

  The river god's water had added some movement to her lake, but her bloodline still resisted merging with the river god’s core current despite the molting draught. She had taken some time to try, and it was much more difficult to convert it than she had anticipated.

  Jake was able to help her with this, but it was time-intensive. It was decided that rather than spend months, maybe even a year, trying to transition her core, they would achieve everything at once if they could.

  They were hoping to drastically increase the current that flowed underneath the surface by the rivers that fed into it, and Jake and Nessa’s goal was to integrate the Frostheart Cauldron into this process.

  Tanda and Avalara would help the family achieve harmony in feeding into the formations. Fhesiah, Ophelia, Bree, and Bloodberri were using their own miniature formations and their will to convert the energy into something Nessa’s formation could use. It was a woven tapestry of arrays that transferred and converted their power.

  While Jake was the Hearth Nexus and could do this on his own, the mental strain on himself to do so much at once would hurt more than help.

  Sati would measure Nessa’s purity as well as feed Jake plenty of her flames of unity. This was to be, hopefully, a part of the glue that combined the flames into something more, just like his void energy and flames.

  Fhesiah had helped with the preparations, drawing lines and glyphs along the shores and the lake’s bed underwater. In addition, preparing large pools of stored energy to be drawn upon by each of the girls to better convert their energies.

  And refining materials. Overall, Jake was impressed with the amount of effort she put in along with Nessa. Several peak Second Tier resources were refined through her special methods, pushing the quality and quantity to where they were just like Aether–pseudo Third Tier materials. Through the use of the formation, they’d be able to get even more out of them.

  Fhesiah’s voice was proud. “Of course I pulled out all the stops for my dear sister wife and helped her prepare. This is your first time doing this, Jake, and we want to make sure she gets the most out of this. And of course, increase her safety.”

  After going back and forth about the process with Jake, Fhesiah had created a different formation this time. The heaven-and-earth, yin-and-yang array she once used to merge opposing forces was unnecessary. The spark they had been given was already complete–dense with divine authority. Perhaps too dense.

  What they required was not more power, but control. Something that preserved what made Nessa…Nessa. That reinforced her values and virtues and allowed the incoming essence to settle only where it aligned, instead of reshaping her outright.

  Because Varuna’s justice, though close to her own, was not identical.

  Varuna was a god of oaths, truth, and the binding order of the cosmos. His waters did not argue. They did not weigh motives. They revealed, and they erased. Those burdened by unrepented sin, those who broke sacred bonds, could be dragged into his depths and washed clean–not reformed or even punished, but removed. Falsehood dissolved in his current as though it had never existed.

  It was a pure and terrifying form of absolution.

  Nessa did not want oblivion; she wanted justice. Judgment. The preservation of what was righteous–and the punishment of what was corrupt.

  Fhesiah’s array and Nessa’s efforts, combined with Jake’s filtration and guidance, the spark would be shaped instead of simply unleashed. Minimal deviation. Maximum gain.

  Nessa sat outside the front of her home, at the center of the formation in the physical world.

  Jake went through his Menu to find the spark, and he was a bit surprised at what he found. “It seems the spark came with a message from Varuna himself and a small gift.”

  Nessa’s eyes widened. “A message? He’d have either had to pay a price to send it, or perhaps because it is filtered by the Framework… or maybe Hestia used some other method. His Champion is here in Sector 87, so it is possible he had some other means of conveying it. I’m interested to hear what he had to say.”

  An item arrived in Jake’s hand as what he assumed was Varuna’s voice played in his mind, which he shared with his wives.

  “Child of still waters and steadfast law, you have upheld the rightful order where it was broken and did not turn your eyes from falsehood, bringing justice and protecting those unable to protect themselves. For this, my regard is freely given. What I offer to you is not granted lightly. A Divine Spark is not power alone but remembrance and obligation. You will carry it as flames upon the waters–cleansing, not concealing. In this, you act not for me, but in accord with dharma itself.”

  “To the one who stands beside her: know that bonds forged in justice are not unseen. Tyr’s hand is firm, and his daughter does not shame his name. The hearth-keeper, Hestia too, spoke truly; sanctuary offered in good faith is never wasted. Accept this small token with my regards. It is of little worth by itself, yet symbols have weight among those who remember. Should you call upon the distant and the wary, let this speak where words would fail.”

  “Child of Tyr, I do not command your paths. Walk them as you will. But where corruption gathers and truth is drowned, let your waters rise. May your judgments be clear, your mercy deliberate, and your resolve unclouded.”

  “Thus I withdraw. The river flows on.”

  The item in Jake’s hands was a simple green rope tied in a knot, what looked to be a sort of fisherman’s knot with a short length of rope. Examining it with his spiritual sense, it certainly had a faint presence on it. But it was a little odd, the purpose of the gift. It was for him, but why? Ruby had floated over and was sniffing it intently, and so was Tanda.

  Ruby said, “It smells like the ocean. Very faint.”

  Tanda nodded and added, “It’s old. Ancient, perhaps.”

  Jake shrugged and then stored the item, the two girls returning back to their place among those watching and feeding arrays. “Hm. Well, I’ll keep it close to me in case I need it. Not like it will take up much space in my Storage Ring.”

  Of course, he had an idea what it was for. Varuna seemed to mention Jake’s ability to summon–to call upon the distant and wary. Earlier, he was considering using a few of his wives’ remaining fusion summons, leaving only a few spare for emergencies. To see what he could get and get used to involving them in battle.

  He would consider doing Nessa’s just before doing the War Trial, especially now, with a bit of anticipation. “Are we ready now? This is bound to be a risky procedure, thanks to it being my first time and with what you’ve wanted to accomplish. But we’ve prepared as much as we could have.”

  Nessa nodded with a smile, her heart resolute. “I am as ready as I can be. Faye?”

  “As ready as we can be, once the formation is charged. I’ll begin now, but we’ll have some time to talk,” Fhesiah replied, gesturing to the formation and activating it with a flex of her will. The lines brightened, and water began flowing out from the lake and traveling along the formation.

  She continued, “If we could better store this essence you crystallize, then perhaps there would be a whole lot more we could do. As it is now, this will be…costly. At least, when we consider the others.” She looked over to Sati and Avalara.

  Jake replied, “I’m sure it’ll be worth any investment, both for what we can gain and also to improve the safety of this situation.” Before, they had only invested a piece of our Dungeon Raid rewards, which were only significant enough because of the enemy’s cheating. Now they were much further along in the next Tier, and were investing their personal war earnings. He continued, “We’ll have to save up a bit for Ava, there is no doubt about that.”

  He might have to spend an entire month of investment to reinforce Ava’s bond to this level, and at the price they just paid for this singular moment for Nessa, they may need to save for months to accomplish that.

  Avalara giggled at this, her deer tuft flickering. “I’m excited to see how you do this investment, my stag. We haven’t nearly spent enough time. We could make a few more islands while we are at it?”

  The water flowed around Nessa before continuing toward the other side of the lake. After a time of buildup, it was clear that the water flowed in an infinity or figure eight symbol, with a pool in the center that was becoming denser by the moment.

  And then the pool at the center started to steam before it ignited. Frostfire. A special flame that froze and burned things with its cold heat, a paradoxical outcome.

  Fhesiah pointed to the pool that was forming, with Nessa sitting in it. “Nessa can draw from the pool and reinforce her hearth with the Everflow Identity Seal. It allows her to bathe her hearth enchantments in her Lake Qi which has been reinforced with sealing materials. You can begin when you’re ready, Husband.”

  Ophelia’s wings fluttered from where she sat on her formation, the energy beginning to charge as she fed vajrafire into it, and it transferred into a cold blue energy as it passed through the lines within the formation toward Nessa. “You can do it, Nessa, Jake. This is a battle like any other.”

  Berri said, “I know you can do it, snake sister. You’re great!”

  Nessa smiled at the two. “Thanks, you two. I’m ready.”

  The rest of the girls each wished Nessa luck, offering their words of encouragement as Jake looked inward. The core of his hearth which was where the doorway to his soul lay, was a complex sphere covered in enchanted hexagons, with pentagons where his bonds went outward to their destinations.

  As he had leveled, and the core level increased, the sphere had grown, both in size and density. It was already a kaleidoscope of colors, having seven hearthbonds, each with unique flames. Where the first four wives’ Hearthian bonds were, the connection was much more significant, making it easy to see the differences.

  When their Hearthian bond was created, it was like four little castles or towers had been established, the hexagonal rune-covered plates curving upward with the bump on the sphere. The matching hexagons and flame were more of the gemlike structure than the rest of his core, matching Pyros and the special mana storage gem in his armor and the respective wife’s hearth.

  The normal Hearth bonds were nothing more than a beam-like flame through a hole before Jake had reinforced them. His investment in this process was growing the hexagonal plates into these castles, getting it much closer to the results of the bonds and ready for this moment.

  He closed his eyes and did his best to match Nessa’s mental state. She was calm and expectant, with a strong feeling of trust contained in the list of feelings. The woman was resolved, and she believed in Jake’s abilities to accomplish this task.

  She was hopeful that this improved bond would make all of them more. That she could give just a little more back to the group and, of course, become stronger and contribute more herself. Together, they would all do tremendous good for the Sector saving millions, even billions, of lives, being the heroes she dreamed of being.

  Jake held onto the things that made Nessa the Cherishing Justicar. Ever since she accepted her flaws and sought to become more, she had been resolved and resolute, unwavering in her desire to dispense justice to Tartarus and pure of purpose.

  Nessa had always wanted a partner that would fight by her side, and now she had a strong family that shouldered the burden together. She cherished her time with Jake and the rest of their family and was a person who protected and loved deeply.

  Jake entered the State of the Justicar, the runes on his armor taking on a silverish-blue hue, his golden flames in his chest taking on the silverish hue as well. The runes on Nessa’s battle dress lit up, the flame beneath her cauldron brightening.

  It was even easier for him to think about her Daoist Path since they had filtered the river god water recently and what she desired to change. She sought momentum and endless flow for pursuing justice, as well as the ability to deliver it with deadly poison.

  He held this all firm in his mind as he triggered receiving Varuna’s spark in his Menu. To his surprise, it shot out of the Hearth of the Refuge powering the formation nearby as if shot from a gun at him, and arrived in his Hearthian Core.

  Latching onto it with his will, he pressed down on it with his Void-Divine Hearth flames, as if seeking to cook it, or like when preparing his Scorching Ray ability. It was bathed in the flames of his entire family and the void, as well as Hestia’s fire.

  With a desire to forge their Hearthian bond, the energy eventually crystallized and began to grow like some kind of…gem beanstalk toward Nessa’s connection from the very center of his being.

  The weight, as he directed it, was heavy but manageable as the Second Tier spark bathed the connection, the castle he had already built, in Divine Essence. Like a wildfire spreading, the castle began to take on this same gem-like quality, and the Demonic Runes embodying his cherishing wife’s virtues, values, and Daoist Path lit up as they were infused with the essence.

  Some of the runes were clearly lighting up more than others as the energy flowed through. Those that did not started to twist and shift–incompatible with Varuna’s essence. Jake held on with his will and wrapped the energy with his Void Flame, protecting the fractal demonic script from that which was incompatible.

  And this was just a mirror to what was on the other side. The gemlike structure continued traveling through the bond, arriving at the edge of Nessa’s Hearth, the Frostheart Cauldron, and her Spiritual Temple. Nana, her bloodline ancestor, floated around through the air as a large lake serpent here, present to offer guidance.

  There, a projection of Nessa’s spirit stood at her Frostheart Cauldron, within her Cultivator Core and dantian, her crystalline Spiritual Temple reflecting similarly to the physical world–just with nobody else in it.

  Lined with the same runes as on Jake’s side, Nessa was infusing it with the energy from Fhesiah’s special formation.

  The Everflow Identity Seal made the runes extra resilient to the Divine Essence, preventing them from withering away even from the energy far beyond herself. As much as Jake might have filtered the energy with his void flame on his end, he knew some divinity he couldn’t manage to alter remained.

  The spark’s energy did not run out once it finished bathing the hearth with energy, however. It began to pool at Nessa’s side, the pressure contained within her Frostheart Cauldron building as energy from both sides of the equation joined. The divine energy mixture caused the cauldron to grow rapidly, altering and changing it to become something entirely new.

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  Eventually, she commenced her plan. The cauldron rapidly grew to be more than double its original size, and now, the ice cracked beneath it, and she lowered it into the water.

  Nessa tried to take control of the energy and keep it contained within her hearth as it formed a circular pattern, hoping to compress and guide the current once it came out. The lake now pressed down on the cauldron as it sank, as if trying to drag it into its depths.

  During this time, Jake had done his best to forge and alter her hearth. It had to grow, and so did the rest of her cultivator core. He added the meandering Greek Key pattern throughout with the mixed flames as he continued to guide them into the Demonic Runes contained on her enchanted cauldron.

  The cauldron continued to expand, the scripts drawn on it being bathed in the Divine Essence. Nessa was preserving this side, and now, so was Jake, through his void flames. But eventually, the pressure became too much, and the combined energy flowed out of the cauldron.

  It was now a silverish-blue flaming river, and it circled around her lake. The energy was altogether different from when it started from Jake’s side. It was already a silverish blue, matching her frostfire flames in her state, colored by her hearth and the sealing energy.

  It was like a cold, flaming river appeared underneath her island, and it began to flow toward the edges of the core. Jake and Nessa both tried to direct the transformed energy, but they each had difficulty, like trying to steer a slow ship, and it had a mind of its own.

  It rose and lowered itself instead of traveling in a straight line and didn’t stay in one path. It circled and traveled around Nessa’s lake like a living snake.

  The lake around her Spiritual Temple began to tremble, ripples and turbulent waters forming throughout her lake.

  Ruby suddenly spoke up, her voice reaching Jake’s ears. “Your bloodline is rejecting the new energy, Nessa. It seeks a peaceful stillness on its surface. It is chilling it and attempting to freeze it with pressure, slowing it.”

  Nana added, “She’s right. Keep it from the surface then, granddaughter.”

  Nessa and Jake tried to narrow it into a small circle, but it appeared to seek an elongated form all on its own. As this was happening, the outside of her core began to crystallize, but each moment that went on, the water in her lake began roiling even further.

  This was the gemlike cocoon forming, from the bottom of her core, just like when Hestia forged their hearths and made them into Hearthians. Her lake began to swell from all the energy entering inside, Nessa following her cultivation technique to draw the energy in and work with Jake as he continued to direct the river as best he could.

  But as time passed, it felt like the wall of gemlike flame was establishing itself or transforming the core too slowly. And this was in spite of everyone throwing all the energy they had through Jake’s Hearth Nexus and through the formation so that Nessa could draw it in and merge it into her lake.

  Nana sighed, her serpentine body twisting as she looked throughout the small world. “This is one thing I was afraid of. Like Ruby said, your body is going against the changes. The current beneath the lake feels too weak, and the fire on the cauldron is sputtering. Can you really not speed up the current below?”

  “I’m…already trying.” Nessa was getting dizzy now, as she had been holding on with her will against the incoming energy for some time now. The water moved a little faster to her will, and the flame did become more solid.

  Jake frowned, extending his senses deeper into her Spiritual Temple instead of forcing more flame into the bond. Because even then, it didn’t seem like her efforts would be enough.

  “The current isn’t just slow,” he said quietly. “It’s resisting our efforts. Varuna’s will is to flow how it wants, not be forced into a circle.”

  The silver-blue current flared as if in agreement, stretching longer when it slipped free of their control, thinning when they tried to compress it back into a tight circle beneath the cauldron.

  Ruby hovered near the surface of the lake, eyes narrowed. “But her bloodline wants stillness. It’s still trying to fold the current back into a pond.”

  Nessa’s breath hitched. She was pale now, frost gathering at her lashes. “I’m trying to keep it contained. If it spreads too far, it’ll destabilize the lake.”

  “It’s destabilizing because we’re choking it.” Jake replied. “Let’s let it flow how it wants, but give it some guardrails.”

  Nessa’s jaw tightened. She had been trying to protect her lake. Preserve it. Make the river behave like a refined extension of what she already was with a stable, permanent loop.

  That was the mistake, it seemed. Her voice steadied. “Then I will let it flow.”

  He shifted his Void Flame–not thicker, not stronger, but thinner. Instead of pressing inward, he spread it along the path the river wanted to take, forming faint rails of null-silver along its elongated arc. Like creating veins, it allowed the river-flame to flow through, and as the lake fought the current, it was as though this helped create a current of its own.

  And when the divine current stretched across the lake to flow around it again, it steadied and sped up instead of fraying and slowing.

  Nessa felt it immediately. “It strengthens when it runs,” she murmured. “It weakened when I forced it to turn.”

  The cauldron, fully submerged, flared brighter as they worked to support the flow. Instead of compressing the divine current into a tight loop, she widened her will and allowed it to elongate. The silver-blue flame-river stretched across her Spiritual Temple in a long arc, cutting beneath the frozen island and emerging on the far side.

  Jake followed her lead immediately. He stopped crystallizing evenly across the outer shell and instead directed the gemlike growth along the path of the moving current. The cocoon thickened first where the river passed, reinforcing the channel instead of the perimeter.

  The current brightened. It no longer fought the lake. It carved through it.

  Instead of a circle, it was more like they made an elongated oval. But at the farthest point of its arc, it thinned again, the flame flickering where the pressure of her cold lake bore down hardest.

  Jake’s eyes narrowed. “It’s losing cohesion at the edges, the extension. But that’s where the current wishes to go.”

  Fhesiah’s voice was tense but analytical as she spoke over their hearthbond, monitoring the situation with her Divine Sense. “The momentum isn’t sustained. There’s nothing feeding the far end, and you do need to bring the lines through the cauldron to make it a complete system.”

  Nessa felt it too. The current was hers now, shaped by her hearth and the spark, but it lacked depth beneath it and the right amount of strength. It was flame over ice. Motion over stillness. But it wasn’t enough.

  Too shallow and weak for the lake, fighting against it as it was.

  Jake inhaled slowly. “We need something to either accelerate the flow or protect it from her bloodline attacking it.”

  Ruby replied, “Using more of the Bloodline Dissonance Draft won’t be enough to calm the lake at this point, and another Molting Draught…it’s too soon.”

  Sati blinked. “The river god’s core current. It could do both.”

  Nessa’s first instinct was refusal. She was already at her limit. Refining that mass now would tear her lake apart.

  But this wouldn’t have to be refinement. It could be an addition to the structure. An acceleration of what they had already made. However, the river god’s water was cursed, and having foreign wills and Qi in the dantian was a recipe for disaster.

  Nana’s serpentine eyes gleamed, and she responded to her thoughts. “Worry not, granddaughter. Our lakes are special in their spatial nature, and they can handle that much. I can also feel Varuna’s sin-washing waters within the flames. If you succeed in this, you will be protected. And I will watch over it as well.”

  Nessa closed her eyes for half a breath as others thought of options. Fhesiah did have some exotic materials that might help, but the river god water was certainly the most aligned with her goals. Otherwise, she would need to give something up.

  At this rate, it felt like the crystallization around her dantian would not even complete, meaning her Hearthian core would not finish forming, and Jake was unsure what would happen then. He had a few options and backup plans, like merely infusing a second spark. Or using himself as the Hearthian Nexus and drawing upon his bonds to convert into a lot more of Nessa’s Lake Qi and create a more powerful current. However, that would likely strain both of their souls.

  Jake said, “Let’s do it. I’m confident we can make the river god water safe one way or another.” In preparation, he immediately began thickening the vein he had already made. Loosening it to allow the river god’s current to fit along with Varuna’s.

  Nessa activated the river god current, the pool appearing near them. Then she latched onto the remaining river god water and then directed it through her cauldron. When the river god’s core current entered her Spiritual Temple, Jake caught it immediately with his Void Flame–not to erase it, but to sheathe it. He wrapped the dense, ancient water in a thin membrane of null-silver and drove it downward.

  He said, “Lower. To where the resistance is strongest.”

  The river god’s current plunged downward around and through the vein, sinking toward the deepest pressure point of her lake–the place her bloodline compressed the vein hardest, where stillness was absolute and movement was nearly impossible.

  The moment it reached that depth, it reacted.

  The drowning desire within it stirred–not malicious now, but directional. It wanted even more depth.

  Nessa seized it with her will. “Not to drown the innocent,” she breathed. “To drown and burn away corruption.”

  The impulse bent to her will. The river god’s weight flowed within the vein Jake had forged, like heavy blood filling an artery. Something about it felt truly right to her as it started to form, the current settling within her lake.

  Her lake’s stillness and purity were not meant to preserve themselves. It was a mirror to reveal truth. Justice was not purity alone. It was a consequence carried through.

  A still surface above. Judgment below.

  The realization settled into her Hearth. Not Varuna’s justice. Not the river god’s hunger. Her own.

  This was her justice. Nessa’s spirituality increased as she made this essence a part of her Daoist Path forever.

  The silver-blue vein flared brighter, no longer sputtering at its farthest reach. Where before the current thinned under pressure, now the deep, dense river water accelerated it from below. The cold resistance of her bloodline pressed downward as always, but now that pressure became fuel.

  The cold river flame from the cauldron burned brilliantly. Jake continued his adjustments, thickening the crystalline structure along the vein instead of the outer shell of her core–the Framework had nudged him, and he had realized that this should happen all on its own, when things were right.

  The gemlike cocoon no longer formed evenly; it propagated along a vascular pattern first, spreading outward from the active channel like frost tracing cracks in glass. Fractal patterns were appearing, truths of water, ice, sanctuary, justice, and the truth appearing throughout her cultivator core.

  The lake trembled. Not from instability, this time. But from rising force. The vein pulsed once–then twice.

  And then, instead of remaining hidden beneath the surface, the silver-blue frostfire surged upward along the channel and broke through in controlled arcs, rising and falling like a hunting serpent before settling back into circulation.

  Varuna’s words echoed faintly in both their minds. Where corruption gathers and truth is drowned, let your waters rise. They were words that didn’t help her achieve her goal but instead, reaffirmed her choice in her path.

  Nessa did not force the surge down. She allowed it.

  The rising waters did not fracture her lake this time. But beneath it, power now moved with purpose. The pressure point that had once stalled the transformation became the engine driving it.

  Ruby exhaled slowly. “Her bloodline isn’t rejecting it anymore.”

  Nana’s eyes gleamed. “It recognizes the strength and depth of the new current and the purity of her purpose.”

  The river god’s current, once unstable and directionless, now ran inside the divine vein like molten ore in a mold. Its weight expanded her core from within rather than forcing it outward. The river god’s current was more focused toward the depths and stayed within what was usually the deep loop. However, some of it passed through the cauldron and flowed upward with the other loop, being refined as time went on.

  The crystallization of her inner world, her cultivator core accelerated, and Jake reinforced it. While the current made a consistent figure-eight or infinity pattern now, it would shift as if following its own will.

  Nessa’s dizziness faded into sharp clarity. Her lake was no longer only still water.

  Stillness above. Judgment below. And when needed, her waters could rise. The flaming frostfire currents were like a living snake within her lake. Certainly, her mother and Nana, and of course Berri, approved.

  The river god shard was being contained by the pressure of her cold lake and refined by the stationary cauldron little by little. It created perpetual movement underneath the still surface, a continuous growth through compression and purification of justice and duty.

  Nessa was relieved, letting out a tired breath. “I feel it. Hestia and Varuna’s Origins have finally mixed and are now changing my body.”

  The Hearthian Core finished forming, and then Nessa lost consciousness as the gemlike cocoon wrapped around her entire physical body, not just her core. Jake finished solidifying any Demonic Runes and smoothing any flaws he could discover while the enchantments were hot from forging.

  He noticed that there was, in fact, some Divine Script that appeared, and he got the clear feeling that they were related to Varuna and Hestia.

  The fractal patterns of Demonic Runes shimmered brightly upon his inspection, chock-full of spirituality that just might compete with some of the Divine Script. Jake got the distinct impression that something about these two forms of glyphs or runes was similar, yet there was something that made them fundamentally different. He had his guesses, of course, and the most logical would be related to the Origin they were connected to.

  Jake did get two notifications–that his Void-Divine Hearthian Core reached the fourth level and that the Hearthian Bond had been established with Nessa. And thankfully, his Hearthforging increased to the second level.

  He had felt a few nudges here and there during the process about how to better direct the energy, especially regarding the transformation of the core. Now that she was out of the danger zone, he took a soul-recovering pill just before he looked inward. During the process, he was so busy with forging her hearthian core, he hadn’t had much time to pay attention to his and its changes.

  Now Nessa’s silverish-blue castle was complete, that area of his core bulging outward and sparkling with a strong feeling of spirituality. He could already feel her essence of justice and truth within.

  His core had certainly grown, matching the fact that the level had increased. It was more than just size, however. The density and quality of the entire core had actually increased, and so did the bonuses. Having an additional Hearthian Bond had measurably made him stronger. Looking at his wives’ bonuses from their cores, they had benefitted from Nessa’s bond forming too.

  The whole family was exhausted from channeling energy into the formation and Jake, but nearly everyone felt the same: relieved. They all slumped on the ground in their formations, with the exception of Avalara and Sati.

  He said, “Good job, everyone. It would have been a lot riskier without everyone’s help and expertise. Of course, Faye’s formation was a lot of help and was what helped make this all possible. Great work.”

  “Yes, yes, I am pretty great, and I’ll gratefully accept all the rewards and accolades you can give me in private, or perhaps not so much in private later, Husband.”

  “Of course.”

  Fhesiah continued with a grin, “But I do have to thank everyone else for their contribution to the arrays–this was a team effort through and through. Nessa, Ruby, and Sati each helped me with refining various materials, helping in a more direct way. But it was all of our funds and materials combined, and much of Blood and Nessa’s work in actually trading for the materials that I needed. And let’s not forget how much effort everyone put in just now.”

  Ophelia groaned as her wings fluttered, stretching as she got up from the ground. “Only channeling energy while our sister struggles is a bit frustrating.”

  Avalara chuckled. “Yes, all some of us could do for her was give her more fuel. But she could feel that we were here. That’s just what she needed.”

  Berri looked over Nessa with some concern, slithering over to look at her more closely. “She made it. But that was way too tough. Is it really supposed to be this hard?”

  Tanda’s tail was wagging slowly now, and she chuckled when she realized Berri’s big reason for concern. “Oh! You’re worried about our daughters and sons later, aren’t you?” She wrinkled her face, and her ears went flat on her head. “You’re right. That was a bit too difficult for my liking.”

  Jake shivered at that. His children forming hearth bonds was really not something he was interested in thinking about at the moment. He’d cross that bridge when he got there.

  Bree chuckled and walked over to Nessa, looking her crystalline form over with her green eyes. “What he was doing was not something that should be doable at this Tier. I don’t know much about Hearthians, but it’s entirely likely that each of these Hearthian Nexus’ creations and bonds are all done by Fourth-Tiers or Hestia herself within the Core Sectors. It’s not meant to be done by some Second Tier like the chief.”

  Fhesiah hummed. “Don’t forget that we cultivators are different from most. A cultivator core is simply an order of magnitude more complicated than a simple hearth, needing to stay compatible and reflect on our path. That said, I doubt Tanda or Bloodberri’s would have been simple, exactly. Tanda had that whole… needing to shift her organ and vines thing, and then two hearths one core for Bloodberri…”

  Ophelia pouted, her wings fluttering behind her. “You’re saying I’m the only one who would have been easy? That’s not reassuring.”

  Fhesiah shrugged. “Just how it is. And forming your core may not be easy if it was done today–thanks to the Asura Seal. It was definitely better that you got that after, but perhaps Hestia would have been able to deal with it anyway.”

  Ophelia blanched, and Blood added, “I can feel our total bond is stronger as a result, and this was a good experience for us all. Was it not, Milord? You’ve done it, despite the complications, and you’ve learned from the process.”

  Jake looked to Nessa, covered in her cocoon, sitting as her body was changed into a Hearthian. Nessa’s epiphany was a large reason why they had succeeded in the end, but he was prepared if things were a little more difficult. “You’re right–we’ve all gained, and I do think Sati’s and Avalara’s will be a bit simpler thanks to what I learned here today. It shows a lot of our efforts had paid off well.”

  Originally, his Void-Divine Hearth Core provided +100 to all attributes and +20 per level. Thanks to Nessa’s bonds, that did increase–to 110 to all and 22 per level. Only a ten percent increase, but that was given to all of his current Hearthian bonds. The amount of Divine Essence contained within their hearths had all increased, and this was important for the future.

  Fhesiah added, “And I was watching your body and core while you worked on Nessa’s, Husband. Both were bathed in the Divine Essence, and your Void Cells and Flame each took a portion of the spark, as small of a chunk as it might have been.”

  Sati floated over to Jake and gave him her hand, which he took in his. “I’m excited to do ours when the time is right, my Ishvara. We have not heard from Hestia yet, so that means we can improve our unity for now.” She gave him a loving smile and added, “I look forward to giving you more of my loving devotion.”

  Jake chuckled. “And I’m excited to receive it, once I recover a bit.”

  The family was exhausted from their efforts to help Nessa but excited about the overall success. They had a few more days before they would arrive on Bramvalen, but without the threat of enemy Champions and more complicated betrayal plots, it would be a simple job.

  Closing Rifts was like child’s play to Clan Hart, and if Jake completed some of his research soon, it would truly become trivial.