"That was… new." Erik panted and put a hand on his chest. "I feel… full? I guess? Was that it? I mean, I feel strange, but it seems too easy. I haven''t gotten the urge to draw a symbol yet, so I doubt I have ess to the spatial affinity already."


    "Are you asking us…?" Astrid scratched her head and chuckled.


    "It seamed easy, because it was the easy part," Elora''s voice suddenly sounded through their link. "The dimension, or catalyst, has been absorbed by the spatial seed, and now exists inside you. Currently, the spatial seed is… sprouting, as it were. It''ll take a while before the affinity bes avable."


    "Alright, makes sense I guess," Erik nodded with a thoughtful frown. "So what about the dimension then? How do we get back in?"


    "Well, that''s where the hard partes in," Elora giggled with amusement. "The dimension is inside you, and now you need to find the entrance and open it. That''s going to take a little effort on your part. When that''s done, you should practice sending yourself inside, and sending others inside."


    "Right, I suppose I better get started then," Erik sighed, hoping it wouldn''t take too long, as he was already missing thefort of his new home.


    "Alright, getfortable," he smiled apologetically to the people surrounding him. "I''ll have to figure out how to find and open the entrance to the dimension."


    Most of the others shrugged, and decided to simply meditate a while. All except one. "Take your time, Master!" Eira eximed happily, as she was busy making snow angels, while continuing to look up at the sun with fascination and awe.


    Erik chuckled happily at her joy, and then closed his eyes to start meditating.


    He decided to begin by following that feeling of fullness he had felt from the moment he absorbed the spatial orb. ''Alright, dimension. Show me what you''ve got.''


    At first he couldn''t find anything, even in the ce where he felt that fullnessing from, but than he realized something. ''Wait, obviously this dimension isn''t actually physically inside me, so what if its more akin to an Arcanists aetherium storage? There, but not there. Acting more like a balloon on a string, or several strings, than an actual organ.''


    So he started prodding around with aetherium, and quickly realized that this would likely be far easier if he already had ess to his spatial affinity, but it was what it was.


    In the end, it took him a few hours to find and map the entire metaphysical area inside his body that held the dimension. ''Now to find the entrance,'' he thought to himself.


    Another few hourster, Erik suddenly disappeared from where he was sitting.


    No one noticed, however, as they were all meditating with their eyes closed, while Eira was still busy exploring the new outside world.


    Erik opened his eyes after he felt the air shift around him, and suddenly, he found himself to be back in the main hall of his new home.


    He looked around and blinked before nodding in satisfaction, "Looks like everything is still in the right ce. Elora?"


    A cloud of light specks left Erik''s body, and quickly morphed into the form of a particr fairy, who took her ce on his shoulder. "No problems here either, looks like everything got through that all right."


    "Plus…" she continued with a sly smile on her face, "It looks like one of the blocks has been removed because the sigils finally recognize you as a second ranker. Oh you''re gonna love this new ce."


    Erik''s amber eyes shone with curiosity as he turned his gaze towards Elora, "Well, don''t keep me in suspense, woman!"


    Unfortunately, Elora just giggled. "Sorry, love. I suggest you find a way to get the others inside first, otherwise you''ll just be antsy to get started the whole time."


    Erik rolled his eyes, "Well, that attitude isn''t helping, you know? But fine! How do I continue? There should be some kind of kind of doorway to the outside world now, right?"


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    "Right," Elora nodded. "It should be in the same ce it was before. You just need to open it."


    Erik understood what she meant, and made his way towards the doorway that held the portal to the outside world before. Only this time, when opening the door, he only found more of the sleek, ck wall that the main hall was made off.


    However, he could feel something there. Something that called to him through the dimension inside him. cing his hand on the wall, he closed his eyes, and followed that feeling. A light shed, and suddenly, the portal was back again.


    Erik smiled victoriously, and stepped through the portal, back outside. Only, when he did, the portal immediately disappeared behind him.


    "Eh?" he mumbled, surprised. "Why did it close again?"


    "Simple," Elora sounded in his head. "Because you''ve be the anchor now. The portal can only exist when you''re inside the dimension, but when you''re on the outside, you ''are'' the portal. See if you can teleported anyone back inside."


    Erik nodded and looked around, noticing that everyone was still meditating, and even Eira was still ying in the forest, apparently having found the joy of climbing a tree. The fact that she could simply float up there seemed to not have urred to her.


    ''I guess whether I''m inside or outside the dimension makes no difference to the distance she can move away from me… that''s good to know,'' Erik thought as he watched her y. He could see she was enjoying herself, but Erik suddenly felt a sting when he realized she was ying all alone.


    Looking back at the others, he realized they would likely be fine if he took a little longer, so with a slight smirk, he bend down and grabbed a handful of snow. ''I can''t remember thest time I''ve done this,'' he thought to himself with a chuckle.


    "Erik? What are you doing?" Elora asked from his shoulder, confused about what was going on.


    "Watch this!" he answered, as he pressed the snow in his hands into a ball, and cocked back his arm.


    "Hey, Eira!" he cried out to the minotaur construct who was a few dozen meters away.


    Blinking, Eira stopped looking out over the forest from her vantage point on one of the branches of arge tree, and looked down at Erik. "Y— Ye—" but before she could finish, a handful of snow hit her right in the face and she yelped, before toppling backwards and screaming as she fell down to the ground.


    It was a fall that could easily kill a physically unimpressive human specimen, but Erik just snickered. It''s not like a solid form sigil construct with the physical prowess of a second ranker would actually be hurt from that.


    Of course, that didn''t stop Eira from jumping of the ground with tears in her eyes as she pointed her finger at Erik, "Y— Y— You! Why would you do that! Meanie!"


    Grinning, Erik bend down and scooped up another handful of snow. "It''s called a snowball fight, Eira. We did it all the time before the awakening. Why don''t you try it?"


    "Snowball… fight?" Eira mumbled a little confused, but now that it was clear Erik wasn''t trying to be mean, she bent down and imitated Erik''s actions.


    Before long, Erik and Eira were facing each other withrge snow balls in their hands. Erik with a smirk, Eira with an uncertain smile. "So… what now?" she asked, a little confused.


    "I''m sure you already know what''s next," Erik grinned, before lifting his arm, and using his Runebound strength to lob that snowball at her like a cannonball.


    Eira yelped, and quickly hopped to the side to barely avoid Erik''s attack, before ring at him, and using her own second-rank Runebound equivalent strength to lob her ball right back at Erik. "I''ll get you for that!" she growled menacingly.


    Erik didn''t avoid her, though. He grinned and met her attack with arms wide open, until it hit him right in the face, and he had to take a step back.


    On the other side, Eira blinked in surprise, before a wide grin broke out on her face, and she started giggling. "Look at your face! It''s all white!"


    Before she could really enjoy her aplishment, however, another cannonball came flying straight at her and sheughed while just barely avoid it again.


    It wasn''t long before this turned into a true snowball war.


    Eventually, the others realized what was going on and joined in as well.


    It turned into a kind of rxed fun that most of them hadn''t seen in many years. They even switched to showing Eira how to make snowmen eventually and, surprisingly, Elora also joined in; albeit reluctantly, and begrudgingly.


    At some point, she even used her magic to puppeteer one of the snowmen for a while, after Emma had worn her down.


    After the day of fun, however, Erik finished learning how to control the dimension, and they all went back to training.


    With all the immediate problems taken care of, it was time to truly buckle down and spend the next three quarters of a year on relentlessly improving their strength.