While Kohaku was sleeping, I decided to take another dive into my status, this time looking for a way to unbind them from myself.

  Well, that took a lot of attention, as I noted the sun already a few spaces further along.

  Breaking binds is possible.

  But its going to take ages to get to the point where ‘significantly harder’ would be possible to even attempt. It doesn’t have a metric to go off, but even I can take a hint. Level 2 isn’t going to break anything any time soon.

  I mutter about unfair systems for a bit and turn my attention back to the person I’d summoned, who was now awake and looking at my gem with what I’d peg as curiosity.

  “Hello? Can you hear me?” I tried.

  Their ear twitched. That confirms that.

  “S-So mah ti? Kah nura maa lur…”

  Ah. Language barriers. That’s something I didn’t think of.

  The only thing I could sense from their words was a feeling of confusion and questioning. Which, I suppose, is better than having nothing to go off at all.

  “Do you know other languages?” I tried with false hope, already guessing the answer.

  “Naan ur lum quan?” was the reply, a feeling of further confusion.

  Unfortunate, but not unexpected. I started looking through my status boxes, and of course, there was indeed a universal language ability that I had missed on my first look through.

  That would have been a much better choice than Unit Promoting.

  With a silent curse, and some brief thinking, I turned to my [Absorb] ability and found what I was looking for. If language was currently going to be a barrier, then surely pictures will suffice just fine.

  It seems its time to play Pictionary.

  ***Kohaku***

  Of the many things I had experienced in the custody of the Masters, this trumped them all as the strangest.

  The core was drawing.

  How? Was the only thought on my mind.

  A newly formed core, from what myths she could recall, was barely smarter than a Masters pup.

  And yet it draws.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  In the grassy clearing, a small patch of exposed dirt was converted into a canvas for this tiny gemstone. It had drawn a long diamond first, and when she pointed to the core it formed a checkmark in the dirt.

  This is no normal core.

  Then, the image shifted, and the diamond that represented the core was shown embedded in a wall.

  Before she could ‘respond’ again, the image changed and showed a circle with dots for eyes and lines for ears.

  That’s… me? She pointed to herself.

  It made another checkmark.

  The image shifted once more, showing their little icon going to the pile of Master things and bringing it back to the core.

  Suddenly she realized what this gem wanted, and she felt stupid for not figuring it out faster.

  Its young! It needs materials to grow!

  She shot up and over to the nearby junk and started shifting and dragging pieces over to the little crystal.

  Whether or not this gem was a tool of the Masters, she knew what it felt like to starve, and would be damned before inflicting that pain upon others.

  ***Core***

  Kohaku was hard at work, and so was I, using [Absorb] on the bits and pieces they brought to me and them consuming them from my storage space. Sure, I hated the taste, and was slightly concerned with how hard the fox-kin was working away, but soon enough they tired and fell asleep on top of their blanket.

  Should get a proper sleeping mat or something too.

  I finished off the last of the materials they brought and fell into what was becoming my routine boredom. I decided to take a look over my status, careful to take note of any details that would let me help Kohaku.

  I sigh internally at my two points of health, and nonexistent mobility. Sure, I know some types of crystals are weaker than others, and the mobility is obvious considering my state as a shard of greenish-blue glass stuff, but I mean… couldn’t I have at least hovered or something?

  Whatever, the positive at least is having some way of communicating now. Back to blue boxes.

  My head feels like it’s going to burst from the stream of boxes filling my view. If only I had a head to clutch. Or hands. Or a way to move.

  Sigh.

  Going over all this information took a lot out of me… It seems like Kohaku is up again…

  I think I can afford to rest… a bit…