The largest core dissolved slowly, sending enough power into my body that I had to tighten my other hand around the edge of the island.
I waited for the pressure to settle before reaching for another.
Then another.
The guys had stopped laughing by the time the last green core disappeared into my palm. They had each taken what they could handle and left the rest in the center of the island, but none of them had gone anywhere.
Yuche remained on the stool beside me, his arm close enough to catch me if I fell over. Lingyun had moved around the island at some point, while Zhenlan and Chenghai watched me with the same expressions they wore whenever they thought I was doing something stupid but knew better than to mention it.
I was surrounded by an unreasonable lack of faith.
"I'm fine," I said, pushing away from the island.
