“Today’s topic is something that I believe you all will find interesting.” The saffron-clad man said from his raised pedestal. “We will be talking about Remnants. Can anyone tell me what a Remnant is?”

The children instantly began chattering and the atmosphere became noisy as a few children raised their hands. Kiran raised his hand too. After all, with his father being a [Warrior], how could he not know what a Remnant was?

The saffron-clad man called onto Kiran with a nod.

“Umm, a Remnant is the sum of a Monster’s life. It manifests only after the monster dies. Living Monsters do not possess Remnants.” The boy paused for a few moments as he thought for a few moments.

“Remnants do not have any shape or form. They can manifest in any part of the Monster’s body. Even in bones, organs and fur.” The boy finished and a few children looked at him weirdly. After all, very few people dealt with Remnants directly and most only dealt with the finished products.

The only reason he knew as much as he did was because his father had been an active [Warrior] before he became an inspector. As a result, the boy had not only known about Remnants but had also dealt with them.

“Very good.” The gaunt man smiled. “As your classmate said, Remnants is the sum of a monster’s life experiences. It is not a monster’s life source or its mana source. And it is also not the source of a monster’s power, as many people believe.”

“This I quite evident from the fact that living monsters do not possess a Remnant. Only death causes it to manifest. Now, what do you understand, when I say, ‘sum of monster’s life experiences’?” The man asked again and this time only a few hands went up.

Surabhi too raised her hand this time. With her father being a person on the [Alchemist] path, the girl had to have dealt with Remnants that her father would have used to concoct pills, elixirs and potions.

The grey-haired man called onto Surabhi and the girl began speaking excitedly. “As a Monster lives, struggles and evolves, only to repeat the cycle once again, the experiences it accumulates are all contained into its Remnant after its death.”

“Indeed” The man nodded. “But how these experiences accumulate, and then manifest, is something difficult to understand. Though what we do know is that it involves Ego, the Bridge and the Gods.”

Expressions of confusion and bewilderment appeared on faces of the children and the man sighed. “I shall not be discussing these topics yet. They are something too high level for your all to understand.”

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“Nevertheless, getting back on the subject, can anyone tell me what a Remnant can be used for?”

As the hands went up, the bony man called upon one of the students sitting in the back. “Remnants are used to make all sort of thing. But they are most used for making tools and alchemy.”

The saffron-clad man nodded and the child sat down. “Monsters experience various things in their lives. And us Mortals use those experience to bring out the effect that we desire.”

The children began to murmur as the words, spoken by the gaunt man, made little sense to them. The Guru sighed and explained.

“Well, life experience is not the correct term to use here. Rather, the correct term would be Law Scars. As the monsters live, they experience and those experiences create Law Scars on their Bridges. We use these Law Scars to gain the desired effect.”

Several hands were raised and the man clucked his tongue. “I will not be explaining Law Scars. It is not something that 12-year olds can understand. Any other questions?”

All the hands went down at the rebuke but then a few hands went up again and the man called onto another child. “Guruji, do we Mortals also manifest Remnants?”

“Very nice.” The man smiled. “Yes, Mortals also manifest Remnants. But the Remnants that manifest into Mortals are quite weak when compared to their Monster counterparts.”

Several hands and the saffron-clad man guessed their question. “Why are Mortal Remnants week?”

The hands went down and the man chuckled.

“This is not quite well known as researching manifestation of Remnants is difficult at best and prohibited at worst. Though, as of now, it had been theorised that the struggle and strife suffered by the Monsters cause the Law Scars to be much more numerous within their Remnants.”

A few hands went up again and the dark-skinned man called upon the girl that had previously shown quite a strong feelings against the Manoos. “But Guruji, surely they must still be useful. Why don’t we just turn Manoos into week Remnant production industries?”

The man blinked at the malice laden words but ignored the child’s intent. Manoos were, after all, notorious pests that both killed and were killed quite regularly. The stories of their passing spoke of nothing but horror. And for any Mortal alive, death would be better than falling into the hands of Manoos.

“You are not the first one to come up with such a concept.” The man answered amicably. “But all the previous efforts were thwarted by the Gods themselves. Manipulation of a Mortal’s Remnant is strictly prohibited by all the Gods everywhere.”

The girl jumped up to stand at the man’s words. Her mouth fell open and her eyes went wide in disbelief. To her, it seemed like she had been personally betrayed. “They would protect even the Manoos?!”

“Yes. They would.” The man nodded gingerly. “For the Gods, Mortals are all alike. They see us kill each other and they see us destroy one another. They see our hate and they see our love.”

“To Gods, one species of Mortals is not that different from another. No matter how different they might seem to us, to Gods, we are all the same.” The man addressed the girl. “Now sit down before you say something that you might regret.”

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-