I set the crystals down for the moment, wondering how to fix this. It didn't seem to want to work, and the fire crystal had burned part of my finger. The skin stung. It didn't really hurt, just highlighted that they didn't want to work together. It healed quickly, since it wasn't bad, but I decided to let them all cool down for the moment.

"Abby, do you know where Hammy is?" I asked. I wanted to see what I'd done with the fire and forest crystals again.

"He's in the workshop."

My head snapped to one side as I reached out with my senses. Yep, there was someone in the workshop building. Two others patrolled around the fence as well, which I hadn't noticed before. I went to snag the crystals, but Abby held up a bowl.

"You should eat something before you get lost in your work."

I took the bowl with a smile and sipped on the soup. Some sort of mushroom and meat filled the bowl, diced into tiny bits. The broth had a hint of spice, which was new.

[You have received the temporary status Empowered: +1% to all stats.]

"That's amazing, thanks for the soup," I said as I finished it, handing the bowl back. "Make sure you work on your fighting class as well. You don't want to be as lopsided as me."

Jennifer sniggered but didn't say anything as Hawk glared at her. He hadn't moved from her side.

"I'll join you." Sang stood up when I did.

Once we reached the cavern opening, she spoke up. "I think we need to boot Jennifer ASAP, before anyone else gets involved."

"She can't hurt me."

"Not physically, but people get swayed by the simplest things."

I thought back to the glare that Randy had sent my way. "I'll mention it to my dad once I figure this out."

While the sun hadn't come out yet, the rain had at least stopped, though dark clouds still ruled the skies. It felt damp and chilly outside of the cavern.

We both headed to the workshop, with Sang leading the way. To my shock, the inside had various tables, machinery, and equipment set up. Hammy was hard at work with what looked like a welder on a weird tube. He turned in our direction and turned off the flame.

"Hey guys, didn't expect to see anyone until John finished the dungeon run," he said with a grin. His face was covered in dark streaks and sweat trails.

"What are you working on?" I asked, moving to one of the tables that had chairs on either side.

"A surprise for John. I think I figured out how to get the concept design we have to work."

"What about your armor?"

"I'm getting there. The rifle helps a ton, and if I can get my big gun working reliably that will be enough for the types of fights I have in mind." He pointed back to the welder. "But I gotta get back to work."

I completely understood as I set the crystals on the table in front of me. Four round stones glowed softly. I wanted to get to work before the temporary status wore off.

Sang placed her bag in the center and pulled out the rest of the stash, including the bloomstone and the air marbles. She handed me one, and I used Insight.

[Communication Crystals, Bound to one another, able to pass messages across long distances.]

I tossed the marble into my pocket, it'd be good to take with me and test various distances, especially if it worked within the dungeon. I'd also be checking out the beetle situation, which would give me good range to try.

Focus!

I gathered the 4 crystals and sat on the stool, one of fire and water along with two of air. Sang sat across from me, working on her own project with a fire crystal and one of the air crystals.

I tapped my fingers on the table, not making a sound, before opening my stat sheet. Maybe something would jump out at me. I still had 21 free stat points, but I wasn't sure if I should just toss them into Intelligence, Fortitude, and Willpower. Last time I'd done that, and it'd helped me gain another couple of levels in Crystal Singing, and that might be the problem. My level in the profession might not be enough.

"Sang, what professional skills do you have for crystal singing?" I asked.

Her head tilted, and she placed the two crystals in front of her on the table.

"A few different ones, actually. Some about shaping crystals, using crystals and sensing crystals, plus a singing skill which helps when I need to sing."

"A singing skill?" I did not want to spend a ton of time learning how to sing to the presence of the crystals. There had to be a different direction for me to go here.

"Yes, it has boosted my output substantially. What about you?" she asked.

It boosted her ability with them? I'd need to remember that when fighting. Maybe if I hummed, I could increase my damage output with my knife.

"I only have the one, and all of what you mentioned is merged in."

"It might be because your class is your focus, while it's the opposite for me. I have only two skills for my class, with a ton of different things merged into it, but my crystal-based skills are more detailed."

I leaned back, careful to not fall off my stool. What she said made sense, but I didn't know how it'd help me create this energy battery that I could feed on. I knew how to create a battery for technology to run on, like the shuttle. Now I wanted to create something for my class, a personal object.

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I opened my stat sheet and allocated 10 points each to Fortitude and Willpower. The growth from the last time I'd checked was substantial.

Name: Alex

Level: 46

Race: Human

Traits: Survivability, Adaptation, Hangry

Class: Devourer, level 46

Profession: Crystal Singer, level 25

Temporary Status: Empowered - Not reflected in the stats 1% to all stats

Stats:

STR: 146(159)

QUICK - I: 200(213)

FLEX: 171(184)

TOUGH: 160(173)

INT: 158(182)

FORT: 158(192)

WILL: 158(192)

CHA: 118(131)

FREE: 1

Monstrosity: 6%

Titles & Achievements:

Jack-of-all-Trades

Lucky Stars

Slayer

Tenacious

Songweaver

Skill: 10/10

Adaptive Body - II

Crystal Singing and Attunement - II

Insight - II

Augmented Senses - II

Stealthy Camouflage - II

Blades and Polearms

Free Spirit

Venomous Chomp - II

Tensile Claw Strike

Field Dressing

Skills Categories: Condensed

Almost all my skills had a ranking to them, but a few remained as they were. Those were the ones I'd need to focus on in the dungeon run I planned to do. Get some last-minute growth in, before I leveled and eventually ranked up.

"I'm going to try something," I muttered.

"Well, don't do anything dumb."

I reached out for the fire crystal, focusing on the presence inside it and how fire crystals burned energy. They recharged at a fast clip, but they used it up even faster. Like my spear tip, I had to funnel energy in to use the burning feature, otherwise it ran out really quick. When I created a battery for something like the shuttle, I focused on it using energy more slowly, and increasing the recharge rate.

The forest crystal charged faster still, and used energy slower at a steady rate. That's how I'd helped Hammy with his armor, by mixing the two.

Air bounced all over the place, spending energy freely and recharging as needed. Water was the weird one, it spent energy slowly, and took longer to recharge.

I only had fire, air, and water for this one, since I didn't have any spare forest crystals. My goal was to get the expenditure of the fire crystal, but the recharge rate of air and the healing ability of water, to cool down the energy from the fire stone, since I didn't want it to burn me. Just basic pure energy.

It shouldn't be that hard.

It was.

I tried to mix the three different colors multiple ways, but the fire and the water kept arguing. Or, at least, that's what it felt like. Air bounced around between them, but it wasn't enough for them to be able to mix.

Frustration built inside me, but I focused on keeping my cool and concentrated on trying to mix the three of them together.

Then, I tried something new. I mixed fire with the air. The air made the fire burn even brighter, almost like lava. Then I mixed water with air, and the air made the water even colder, it felt almost like ice.

Notifications pinged me, but I muted them to keep my concentration focused on the problem in front of me.

Lastly, I tried to get the two mixes to then meet, encouraging the air to reunite. The water grumbled, as did the fire, but then I asked a question. Which one would win?

Both took up the charge, and poor air got caught in the middle.

But then it happened, they touched. Again, I tried to direct them all to recharge faster and produce a steady safe output as soon as contact was made.

The cold and hot made my fingers tingle as I pushed more and more energy into them to orchestrate what I wanted.

The light grew brighter until suddenly it snapped off, making me blink.

I wobbled a little on my chair, but still used Insight and on the blob in front of me.

[Volatile Storm Crystal, capable of producing a plasma burn or a frostbite attack.]

My lips parted, but I quickly shaped it into a blade using a minimal effort, then tried again.

[Volatile Storm Crystal Blade, capable of producing a plasma burn or a frostbite attack.]

"What is that?" asked Sang, with an uncertain look on her face. "I mean, I just gained a level watching you create it, so it must be something special."

"I meant to create something completely different. This does fit my intention, I guess, just not in the way I wanted." I hoped it used energy differently than my current knife tip did, but I wouldn't know until I tested it out. First, I pulled open my notifications to see what had happened.

[You have created a lava crystal.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singer.]

[You have created an ice crystal.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singer.]

[You have created a Volatile Storm Crystal.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singer.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singer.]

I'd basically gained a level for the different types of crystals I merged together. If that held true, I'd get another one once I got more Forest crystal to combine it with water and air, both separately and then together. I really wished I had more of the Forest Crystal.

"You can create lava crystals by combining fire and air, and then ice by combining air and water."

"I'll need to try that," said Sang, studying the crystals in front of her. "I haven't combined any yet. I've only been focusing on fire crystals, and exploring the energy in the air crystal. The healing crystal you gave me is amazing, but I really hope to get a regular water crystal to experiment with."

"I think I'm going to replace my knife tip with this." I pulled out my knife and made the crystal on the blade malleable to remove it. I pulled the new blade closer and got to work. It didn't want to change shape as easily as the basic fire blades did to attach it to the weapon.

It resisted attaching to the weapon handle.

I pushed my intention to the storm crystal about how I would be able to use its abilities better once this was complete. The three presences inside the storm crystal rebelled, and it felt like the blade would shatter. Words escaped my lips, forming a song, pressing at the three of them to work together to remain whole, to become something new. My fingers sizzled with pain, then the voices changed. Inside, the crystal didn't feel like three separate presences anymore. It had combined into something new and attached to the handle.

Then I used Insight.

[Stormlash Knife. The durability and reach of the weapon has increased. Input energy to control the type of attack the blade can cause: Fire, Air, or Ice.]

Another notification buzzed.

[You have gained insight into Crystal Singing and Attunement - II. Crystal Singing and Attunement - III: By singing you can find and resonate with mana crystals. You can connect and manipulate the elemental presence inside each mana crystal. You can hear the voices within and convince them to evolve.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singer.]

[You have gained a level in Crystal Singer.]

"What did you do?" cried Sang. She clutched the crystals in front of her to her chest, and tears dripped down her face. She stared at the blade in front of me. "How could you?"

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