Ray kept his eyes open but started to focus on his core. Spells were unique representations of the energy within his core.
"This should be easy." He laughed awkwardly as if begging his luck to do something remotely good to him for once.
The fireball spell, like all spells, was a series of sharp lines and curves drawn with careful precision on the scroll.
Ray drew a little energy from his fire core and started to shape it according to the lines of the spell.
The energy seemed a lot thicker and easier to manipulate than when in the previous Tier. Beads of sweat ran down his face as he focused on getting each line correctly.
Soon, an almost perfect replica of the spell was drawn within his solar plexus.
Ray smiled weakly, "Success." Only drawing the lines had mentally drained him. He reached for the core once more and drew energy from it.
He led the flicker of energy to the spell and once contact was made, something happened.
The lines suddenly burst with a bright red light that spread outward from the plexus.
"Please tell me nothing is going wrong!" Ray felt like crying but luckily, everything was going as it should.
A faint warmth spread through Ray's hand and he opened it just in time as a rather large sphere of fire materialized above it.
His eyes sparkled with joy and a little madness, "Yes. Yes! Yes!!"
The fireball hovered above his palm, casting dancing shadows across the room.
Ray turned his hand, watching the flames flicker wildly and for the first time in weeks, he felt like himself.
Then the fireball winked out.
Ray blinked. "Now, I—"
Onyx materialized behind him, clapping slowly.
"Beautiful. Truly. A Tier 2 spell, executed perfectly on the first try."
Ray spun around. Onyx's frown was deep, and his eyes glared with an ill-hidden contempt. "You almost seem talented."
Onyx walked closer, "Hey, here's a random thought. Use the dark core— my core— to cast that very same spell."
In the joy of having something finally work out for him, Ray had forgotten about the pest that never failed to bother him.
"I might be stupid but I'm not foolish." Ray scoffed and Onyx sighed.
Onyx walked around, mindlessly phasing through random objects, under Ray's scrutinizing gaze.
"Calm down," Onyx burst out laughing, "if someone saw how you look at me, they'd think I killed your parents or something."
Ray's frown deepened. That was too far!
A manic smile spread on Onyx's face, his eyes becoming crescents, "In fact, I should be scared of you. After all, you're the one draining cores to elevate your rank."
Ray opened his mouth to argue but a tsunami of memories burst through his mind, drowning him in flashbacks and sensations.
He fell forward, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pulled while gasping for air. The horrified look on Fluid Boy's face was the last thing he saw before he came to.
"What did you do?!" He screamed and tried to launch at Onyx but he lost his balance and his knees fell weakly to the floor.
Onyx faked an innocent frown, "What did I do? Think Ray. Try to remember how you felt then, was I in control of you?"
Ray wanted to retort. With everything within him, he wanted to argue but the longer he thought about it, he realized that Onyx was right.
'It wasn't like he had controlled me. I might've had a different mental process but it was still by my hands that he fell.'
Fluid boy was now hollow and even if he came through, he wouldn't be able to cultivate again.
'Is this why S.L. was killed?' It was easy to imagine that someone would want such a dangerous cultivation technique to go unknown.
Ray looked at his torso, where the tendrils had emerged from. He ran a hand on it and shivered slightly at the memory.
A smile spread on Ray's face and the one on Onyx's fell.
The former turned to the latter, "You tried to break me with that information but you'll have to try harder than that. At least I know now not to use your core."
Ray's eyes landed on the scroll, "And I won't need you anymore. My fire core is now stable enough to cultivate and cast spells. Once I find a way to get rid of you, you're done."
Onyx scoffed and vanished.
Ray remained silent for a long time after Onyx left, his mind in shambles.
'I technically didn't kill him… only ended his cultivation journey and that's if he becomes conscious enough to actually try to cultivate again.'
As much as he wanted to put it behind him, he couldn't. "Not while Marcus is aware of what I might have done."
"And who knows how much he might have seen. Would I have to threaten him? That might not be enough though. Kill? No, that'll be a waste of a core." Ray didn't notice that last thought. He smiled to himself, "I could always gaslight him."
He groaned and forced himself to his feet.
"I almost miss when my life was just 'Idiots and I', now it's 'Idiots, secret organizations, dead researchers, dark cores and I' and once again, I'm somehow on the receiving end."
Ray sighed and picked up the journal and scroll. He would need his sleep especially if he was going to handle Marcus.
"Handle? Sheesh, that sounds like I'm gonna kill him." He laughed as he sauntered off into his room.